New Zealand on Monday said it will accelerate its timeline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan but denied that the decision had anything to do with recent casualties.

John Key, New Zealand’s prime minister, said his country would be withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan earlier than planned. Rather than leaving by October 2013, New Zealand’s troops could be headed home as early as April, he said.

Key said the decision was not made in response to combat deaths, and stressed that New Zealand would reach an agreement on the timing of the withdrawal with the U.S.-led coalition.

Ten U.S. soldiers have been killed in the last two weeks by people dressed as Afghan soldiers or police.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The last few remaining United Nations monitors were seen pulling out of Syria Monday morning after their mandate ended Sunday night amid U.N. squabbling, Reuters reports.

Somalia has delayed its presidential vote that had been expected for Monday, the day the mandate for the U.N. mission there ended. [Associated Press]

The wife of disgraced former Chinese official Bo Xilai received a suspended death sentence Monday for the alleged murder of a British businessman, paving the way for China's Communist Party to announce its plans for dealing with Bo himself in the country's worst political scandal in decades. [Wall Street Journal]

Burma abolished direct censorship of the media on Monday, the most dramatic move yet toward allowing freedom of expression in the former military dictatorship. [Associated Press]

"The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks," said Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Officials could not validate reports Assad's No. 2 defected, but said the reports were further signs of the regime's instability. 

Obama spokesman says U.S. is "disappointed" in Russian band's guilty verdict and cites serious concerns about musicians' treatment.

Lakhdar Brahimi, a former United Nations envoy in Afghanistan and Iraq, will replace Kofi Annan as the international mediator in Syria.

The secretary generals of both the United Nations and the Arab League confirmed Brahimi's appointment on Friday.

The White House said it looked forward to working with Brahimi, calling him a seasoned and capable diplomat. But a spokesman for the White House said he needed to hear more about the mandate of Brahimi’s new position.

“Our position and our view about the solution to this problem hasn't changed: that it's time for President Assad to step down and to allow this political transition to move forward,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the controversial Law of the Sea pact will have better prospects after the campaign ends.

The United Nations peacekeeping operation in Syria will officially disband Sunday after the U.N. Security Council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon agreed the mission had lost its effectiveness.

The two conditions required to extend the peacekeeping mission were not met, Ban said in a statement to the Security Council on Thursday.

“The cessation of the use of heavy weapons and the reduction in violence by all sides sufficient to allow the UN to implement its mandate have not been achieved,” Ban said.