"Turkey is committed to taking all the necessary steps against this unjust disposition which reduces basic human values and public conscience to nothing."

"When I say total rupture I include things like I can leave definitively."

"You can also expect that now diplomatic relations will be at the level of charges d'affaires not ambassadors anymore."

"This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights."

No sooner had the Arab League annonced its decision to seek support from the UN Security Council to bring about a peaceful end to Assad's rule through a national unity government and elections held within 6 months, than the Assad regime declared it was rejecting it.

According to Syria's official news agency, SANA, the Assad regime has rejected the Arab League's proposals outright as a "conspiratorial scheme".

In a statement, broadcast on SANA, the regime said,

The European Union has imposed severe new sanctions on Iran due to its refusal to suspend its nuclear activities.

Sanctions include a ban on all new contracts to import Iranian oil to EU member states and the freezing of assets of Iran’s central bank in the EU.

Anti-government protesters came out onto the streets of Sanaa to celebrate the departure of Yemen's ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, on Sunday.

According the Yemeni government's spokesperson, Muhammad Albasha, Saleh was travelling to New York for medical treatment, with a possible detour via Oman.

US weapons will not be sold to Vietnam until the country reverses its "backward movement" on human rights, said US senators on Friday.

Following a recent visit to Vietnam, the US delegation "specifically stated to the Vietnamese that our security relationship will be directly impacted by the human rights issues", said John McCain, who was a member of the delegation.

McCain added,