“If more people fail to speak up, Burma could be headed towards Buddhist xenophobia similar to the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.

And that’s the concern that we see today in Burma that if this continues, if the Burmese monkhood continues to come out and press against the Rohingya in this way, we will be on the road to a kind of Sri Lanka situation with the Rohingya, where you have the Buddhists across Burma raising their hands against Rohingya.

Members of the European Union have warned Iran of fresh sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme.

Russia has rebuffed calls by the US to increase pressure on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Secretayr of State Hillary Clinton urged Russia to support the UN in taking action to end the conflict, saying that Congress may abolish trade restrictions still in place since the Cold War.

The Canadian government has decided to close its embassy in Tehran and kick out all remaining Iranian diplomats from Canada.

An Amnesty report released on Wednesday, ‘The Other Side of Paradise’, has accused the Maldives government of several actions amounting to violations of human rights. It outlined that there would be no meaningful reconciliation unless there was an end to the campaign of violent repression, abuses and impunity.

The accusations include many instances of arbitrary arrest and torture by security forces with complete impunity.

Security forces are also said to have increased attacks against peaceful demonstrations, which were instigated by the controversial resignation of the first democratically elected President, Mohameed Nasheed, who later claimed he was forced to resign at gunpoint, suggesting a coup by forces aligned with the previous leadership.

“Why should Russia be the only one reassessing its position? Perhaps our negotiating partners should reassess their position”

“To us, the most important thing is to end the violence, to force all the sides in the conflict to sit down at the negotiating table, determine the future and ensure the security of all the participants of the domestic political process,” he said.

“Only then move on to these practical steps about the internal organisation of the country itself."

An Ethiopian man, only identified as Mr O, could sue the British government over the alleged funding of a project which led to human rights abuses.

Mr O, a farmer from the Gambella region, said a “villagisation” scheme, which received funding from the Department for International Development (Dfid), caused him to be evicted and beaten. He also claims he was forced to witness the rape of several women.

"There have been allegations in the Pakistani media that Dr Afridi was somehow linked to Save the Children. It is absolutely untrue. He has never worked for us, we have never paid him, we have never run a vaccination programme in Abbottabad.

Mauritanian state media has announced that former Gaddafi-aide Abdullah al-Senussi has been extradited to Libya.

"He was extradited to Libya on the basis of guarantees given by Libyan authorities," a Mauritanian government source told Reuters news agency.

Al-Senussi fled Libya during the uprising and was arrested for entering Mauritania illegally.