The United States military’s prosecution of Iraqi war crimes received a huge blow today, after the US military’s highest court overturned a murder conviction against a US marine.

In what newspapers described as the most significant case against American troops from the war in Iraq, the Court of Appeals for Armed Forces concluded that the marine was improperly denied a lawyer when investigators questioned him in Iraq.

The marine was kept in solitary confinement for seven days and interrogated about the killing, in what judges claimed was a violation of his constitutional rights.

The Sudanese ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has warned expelled foreign aid groups not to re-enter the country.

The NCP secretary of ogranisations alleged that aid groups were seeking entrance in order to collect information on the humanitarian situation in Sudan and fabricate reports with the help of world powers such as Amnesty International and Transparency International, in an attempt to damage the nation’s image.

The aid organisations were initially expelled in 2009, after being accused of aiding the formation of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir.

Further aid organisations were evicted from the region as Sudan continued to clamp down. Sudan currently refuses entry to any new aid groups.

The outgoing US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has said that the lack of action in relation to the Syrian conflict was “a stain” on the organisation.

Rice, who will become President Obama’s national security adviser, said that although her time as ambassador was “remarkable”, she regretted not more was done on Syria.

"I particularly regret that the Security Council has failed to act decisively as more than 90,000 Syrians have been killed and millions more displaced," she said.

"The council's inaction on Syria is a moral and strategic disgrace that history will judge harshly."

"I don't know how in any circumstance one could ascribe that to a failure of US policy or US leadership, when the vast majority of the council was ready and willing to move ahead."

Bahraini activist Zainab al-Khawaja has been jailed for two months after she was found guilty of insulting the police.

Khawaja has already spent several months in prison and the latest sentence would mean she would be held until February next year.

Her father Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a prominent human rights activist, is also in prison, serving a life-sentence for plotting to overthrow the Bharaini regime.

The island is ruled by a Sunni royal family, but the majority Shia population have been protesting and calling for reform, alleging discrimination by the state. The regime is accused by human rights organisation of committing grave human rights abuses, including detention of human rights activists.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the deployment of a peacekeeping force in Mali today.

The UN peacekeeping force, MINUSMA, from the start of July, will take over peacekeeping responsibilities from the French army in Mali.

“There was a unanimous agreement by Security Council members that we should move to the next phase of Mali’s recovery with the deployment of MINUSMA from July 1, “ said the president of the UN Security Council, British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.

The MINUSMA peacekeeping force will consist of soldiers from the Chadian army and other West African nations.

The UN has announced that US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister will meet next week to discuss Syria.

UN, Russian and US diplomats held talks in Geneva, over organising an international conference to attempt to solve the Syrian conflict.

"The discussions were constructive, and focused on ways to ensure that the Geneva Conference on Syria can take place with the best chances of success," the UN said in a statement after the meeting.

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"Sexual violence is a crime under international human rights law and a threat to international peace and security."

"When used as a weapon of war, it can significantly exacerbate conflict and hamper reconciliation."

"Today’s resolution sends yet another strong signal to perpetrators that their acts will no longer be tolerated.  They will be held accountable."

"For the survivors of sexual violence the war has not ended."

"While the perpetrators have enjoyed the fruits of peace and have been free to rebuild their lives, their victims continue to walk in shadow and shame, unable to lay the past to rest and to move forward."

"For these crimes happen not because they are inherent to war, but because the global climate allows it."

The Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has landed in Taiwan, after leaving China for the US last year.

Chen is thought to be planning to meet opposition politicians to discuss human rights. China is likely to be angered by the trip to the island, over which China claims sovereignty.

"I am impressed by the success of Taiwan's democracy. Taiwan should be proud of it," he said, saying that democracy was "an important treasure".

Chen was allowed to leave China after fleeing house arrest and seeking refuge in the US embassy in Beijing last year.

The Egyptian Army has issued a warning ahead of planned mass-protests against President Mohammed Morsi.

Army head General Abdel-Fatteh al-Sisi said the armed forces would "not remain silent as the country slides into uncontrollable conflict".

"There is a state of division in the society, and the continuation of it is a danger to the Egyptian state.

"There must be consensus," he said.

Opposition groups claimed to have gathered 13 million signatures calling on Mursi to step down, a week before Mursi's anniversay of his presidency.