Activists have accused the Syrian government of killing over 300 people in Daraya, on the outskirts of Damascus.

Government forces have seized control of the area after 5 days of intense battles against opposition fighters but local activists have reported dozens of summary executions.

“We are in the process of identifying the bodies and documenting how they died,” Mohammed Hur told the Reuters news agency.

“Initial evidence shows that they were mostly shot at close range in the face, neck and head, execution style.”

“Female members from at least two families say that soldiers shot their brothers in front of them.”

The British Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt has denounced the killings and called on the international community to condemn the atrocities.

“If confirmed, it would be an atrocity of a new scale, requiring unequivocal condemnation from the entire international community.” he said.

“Your visit will grant legitimacy to a regime that is the greatest threat to world peace and security.”

“We think that Iran is going to try to use the event for propaganda purposes and to try to cover up the extreme isolation Iran is feeling politically and economically.”

“That said, if people choose to participate, we believe they should take the opportunity of any meetings that they have with Iran’s leaders to press them to comply with their international obligations without further delay.”

“Tehran is not the place for the U.N. secretary general to visit, not at this time, not to meet with this Iranian regime.”

“We are stunned that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would honor a regime that consistently ignores both him and the world body he heads in ways that threaten regional and global security.”

"You never know their names, you never talk with them, they always cry, shit in their pants … There are those annoying moments when you're on an arrest mission, and there's no room in the police station, so you just take the kid back with you, blindfold him, put him in a room and wait for the police to come and pick him up in the morning. He sits there like a dog …"

"Sadly enough this is the moral consequence of prolonged occupation of the Palestinian people,"

"For years credible reports of human rights abuses against children living under Israeli military occupation have emerged,"

"These latest testimonies from young soldiers given the task of enforcing the occupation provide further evidence of its deeply corrosive effects on all. The testimonies lay bare the day-to-day reality of the occupation. These are not isolated incidents or a question of 'a few bad apples'. This is the natural and foreseeable consequence of government policy."

“I think that in Israel, in view of … our common history and some similar elements and moments, you will hardly find people who will deny the genocide, who will say, like we unfortunately hear, that all this is fabrications and lies.”

“So I think that unfortunately — I stress, unfortunately — in this area our peoples have quite a lot in common, quite a lot for mutual understanding”.

“Nobody in Israel denies the fact of Armenian Genocide.”

The past week has seen China force at least 1000 refugees back into the combat zone in northern Burma, with alleged plans to deport a further 4000 displaced people, warned Human Rights Watch.

Human rights watch urged the Chinese government to provide temporary protection for the refugees instead of repatriating them to Burma.

It noted that the refugees have been living in make shift camps with no protection or aid provided to them. Although China has provided sanctuary to 7000-1000 refugees, the United Nations and humanitarian groups have not been allowed to visit the refugees.

A motion, backing the ‘inviolability of diplomatic missions’ has been passed by the Organisation of American States, amidst the ongoing row over Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s avoidance of facing extradition to Sweden by hiding in Ecuador’s embassy in London.

Ecuador called for the vote saying the UK threatened to storm the embassy to arrest Assange, however the resolution was reworded after the UK insisted it made no such threat.

Although the motion expressed solidarity with Ecuador, strong pleas by Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino to include the alleged threat fell on deaf ears and it was not mentioned in the final version of the resolution.

The US dropped its initial opposition after the changes were made.

“It’s bullsh**, just spinning. People aren’t doing anything there except writing and reading reports.”

“The entire expensive mission depends upon the individual whims of military prosecutors”

“undisciplined, corrupt, undertrained, and grossly underfunded… There were several occasions during the year when [state security force] members arbitrarily and summarily killed civilians, sometimes during apprehension or while holding them in custody, sometimes during protests, and often when victims did not surrender their possessions, submit to rape, or perform personal services.”

"The Syrian regime should be smashed fast"

"After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr Bashar al-Assad doesn't deserve to be on this earth."

"It is an operation of destruction of an entire people that he is trying to accomplish"

"The sooner this regime leaves, the better... Every single day gives Bashar Assad regime time to use for bombing his own people."

“On the military level, what we have done is we have responded to a request by the Syrian National Council and the Syrian resistance to provide a certain number of non-lethal elements... means of communication and protection”.

"We did express concerns quite strongly that one of the cornerstones of a vibrant democracy is a free press and respect for freedom of expression and called on Egypt to ensure that it is protecting those freedoms moving forward."

“The Egyptian Government was very much aware and has been aware that we made some comments here about media freedom and took note of those”.

“It’s clear that what happened to me is a message to all people of opinion to muzzle their mouths and not to speak freely,”

“Prison shouldn’t be the fate of those who express their opinions.”

 “Jail sentences for publishing crimes haven’t been abolished,”

“What he did was deal with the detail and not the principle — the branch and not the root”.

"Such exclusion and discrimination bring to mind ideas of racist nature which the government of South Africa, more than any other, should have wholly rejected."

"This is in line with South Africa's stance that recognises the 1948 borders delineated by the United Nations and does not recognise occupied territories beyond these borders as being part of the state of Israel".

"Israel is an occupier country which is oppressing Palestine, so it's not proper for South Africans to associate with Israel,"

“We discourage people from going there except if it has to do with the peace process."

"A committee from the prosecutor general's office has completed its investigation into the crimes committed by Seif al-Islam from the start of the revolution on February 15 (2011) and has prepared the charge sheet,"

"We believe that this evidence is sufficient to condemn and judge him."

United Nations announced on Wednesday that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be attending a summit with leaders of 120 non-aligned nations next week in Tehran, despite a strong call to boycott the meeting by the US and Israel. 

Ban is expected to have “meaningful and fruitful discussions” revolving around human rights issues, nuclear program and the ongoing crisis in Syria with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and with top diplomats of the Iranian government.

US State Department’s spokesperson Victoria Nuland said

“Iran is going to manipulate this opportunity and the attendees to try to deflect attention from its own failings."

“We hope that those who have chosen to attend, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, will make very strong points to those Iranians that they meet about their international obligations.”

Last week President Muhmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters that there was no place for a Jewish state in the future in the Middle East and Ban was quick to criticise the comment as “offensive and inflammatory.”

Iran continues to serve four sanctions imposed by UN Security Council for its continual progress in nuclear enrichment.

"Australian governments, through commission and omission, had been complicit in allowing torturers, murderers and architects of the most gross inhumanity to come and live,in peace and without fear of consequences, in Australia."

"My  Australia. Our Australia. In the country that had taken in so many good and decent people who had rebuilt their lives and rebuilt the nation. Australia – which held itself up to the world as an exemplar of decency."

"There had been a gross distortion of decency, allowing fugitives to take places of refugees… with the result being a moral stain on our country."

“This decision almost screams from the rooftops that Australia lacks the will to redress a great historic wrong.”

“It’s a very sad day for Australia, a very sad day for justice and a very sad day for the victims of the Holocaust, their relatives and anyone who has any sense of empathy with the victims of the Holocaust”.

“It pains me to criticize Australia, but it has officially confirmed its status as the worst of the Anglo countries which sought to take legal action against Nazi war criminals”.

“It does not come as a surprise. Yes, I am disappointed. Yes, I am sad. But I am not surprised.”

“This is why it hurts. I can’t understand it. I would have liked to live long enough that at least one would be convicted, so that we would show the world we care.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron has joined Barak Obama in warning Syria that any planned use or threat of use of their chemical weapons stockpile would be ‘completely unacceptable’.

A Downing Street official said that the two leaders spoke on the telephone and said that if Assad made such a move it "would force them to revisit their approach so far”.

Mr Cameron also discussed ways to increase support to the Syrian opposition with French president Francois Hollande.

They agreed to "work more closely to identify how they could bolster the opposition and help a potential transitional Syrian government after the inevitable fall of Assad".

Russia meanwhile has criticised western nations of doing nothing to urge the opposition to start a dialogue with the Syrian government and instead ‘openly instigating’ armed resistance.