In a historic vote, the Scottish parliament voted through the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill today, which allows the people of Scotland to choose whether or not Scotland should be an independent country.

The Bill dictates that the vote will take place on September 18th, 2014, and will pose the question - "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said,

The Prime Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic has called for both Serbia and Croatia to withdraw pending genocide lawsuits they have against each other and to "put an end to all the open issues from the past".

Speaking to reporters in Belgrade earlier today, Dacic said that Serbia "has no reason to be afraid of these trials more than Croatia", adding,

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has stated that his fighters will remain in Syria, fighting for the Assad regime, as long as necessary in a speech on Thursday.

Speaking to thousands of people at a Lebanese Shi'ite ceremony, Nasrallah said

"As long as the reasons remain, our presence there will remain,”

He went on to add,

A court in France has approved the extradition of two suspects, who are wanted for their alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

One of the men, 52-year-old Claude Muhayimana, has been a French citizen since 2010. The extradition ruling, which also includes 41-year-old Innocent Musabyimana can still be challenged and will go to a higher court for a final ruling.

French prosecutors stated that while the men could not be extradited for may of the crimes they stand accused of, they could for genocide and crimes against humanity.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that further sanctions against the Iranian government could lead to the failure of ongoing nuclear talks.

Kerry told the BBC that the so-called P5+1, US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany, came “extremely close” to finalising a deal with Iran over the weekend.

Speaking to reporters before meeting senators on Wednesday, he said:

A former Argentine army officer, convicted of crimes against humanity, has escaped in Buenos Aires.

Alejandro Lawless was sentenced in 2010 for crimes committed during military rule between 1976 and 1983.

Lawless was being taken to a court in the capital when he absconded from a van, making him the third convicted military officer to escape from prison this year.

 Bangladesh’s former State Minister for Agriculture, Syed Mohammed Qaiser, was charged, this week, with 18 war crimes that were committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

The charges were filed by the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) which initially issued the arrest warrant for Qaiser in May.

Chinese soldiers arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday to take part in disaster relief exercises along with their US counterparts - the first time soldiers from China's People Liberation Army would have drilled on US territory.

Speaking to the press last Tuesday, Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command said,

"These types of exercises give us a good place to start and to kind of get into the rhythm of understanding and trusting each other,"

"I think it'll be a great exercise."

Fourteen countries were elected to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, to sit in the 47-member council for a three year term starting in 2014.

The new members Algeria, China, Cuba, France, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Vietnam, Russia, and the United Kingdom were all elected by a secret ballot at the UN headquarters in New York.