The Syrian government denied that heavy weapons and helicopters were used in clashes in Tremseh last week, reports Reuters.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Jihad Makdissi, rejected the accusations, asserting that 37 rebel fighters and two civilians were killed by security forces in the village, from which the government claims rebels were attacking other areas.

Speaking at a news conference in Damascus on Sunday, Makdissi said:

"The least that can be said about this [statement by Kofi Annan - see below] about what happened in Tremseh is that it did not rely on facts. As diplomatically as possible, we say that this letter was very rushed,"

"Government forces did not use planes, or helicopters, or tanks or artillery. The heaviest weapon used was an RPG (rocket propelled grenade),"

"What happened was not a massacre ... what happened was a military operation. They were clashes between security forces, whose duty is to defend civilians, and heavily armed forces that don't believe in a political solution."

Condemning the Tremseh atrocities in statement released on Friday, Special Envoy Kofi Annan said,

"I am shocked and appalled by news coming out of the village of Tremseh, near Hama, of intense fighting, significant casualties, and the confirmed use of heavy weaponry such as artillery, tanks and helicopters,"

"This is in violation of the government's undertaking to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres and its commitment to the six-point plan."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has placed a new arrest warrant for the Congolees general, Bosco Ntaganda, on the basis of alleged war crimes, varying from murder, rape and sexual slavery. Ntaganda is already wanted by the Hague based court for using child fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The new warrant is linked to suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred between September 2002 and September 2003, in the DRC’s Kivu provinces, a mineral-rich area, which has been conflict ridden for decades. The ICC have pursued the arrest of Ntaganda for 6 years with Ntaganda consistently denying any responsibility for war crimes.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Sylvestre Mudacumura, the leader of another militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), operating in the provinces of Kiru, saying that he was suspected of more recent war crimes during 2009 and 2010.

The mostly Hutu FDLR were also involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died. The group was also involved in the Congolese conflict from 1998-2003, where over 5 million people are thought to have died.

The International Cmmitte of the Red Cross has declared the Syrian conflict a civil war, meaning that combatants are now officialy bound by the Geneva Conventions, which will make them more liable for war crimes prosecutions.

The ICRC said the fighting has now spread beyond the three main areas of fighting around Idlib, Hama and Homs.

Spokesman Hicham Hassan said Syria was now regards as a "non-international armed conflict", the technical term for civil war.

"What matters is that international humanitarian law applies wherever hostilities between government forces and opposition groups are taking place across the country," he said.

The Geneva Conventions ban indiscriminate attacks on civilians and medics and allows prosecution of transgressions as war crimes.

Syria rejects massacre accusations (15 Jul 2012)

A humanitarian catastrophe is imminent in western Burma, aid workers say, as tens of thousands of displaced ethnic Muslim Rohingya are being isolated in camps.

Described by a worker as “open air prisons”, the Burmese government has made it clear that the camps for the Rohingya would remain in place for one year.

Those affected by the sectarian unrest have been struggling to receive aid, as Burmese authorities continue to hamper aid efforts. As many as 10 aid workers have been arrested by police, including 5 UN staff.

Chris Lewa, a member of the Arakan Project, which monitors abuse of the Rohingya, noted that a group of monks had allegedly prevented food aid from entering Rohingya displacement camps. Lewa expressed concern that it was an attempt to “starve them out” and drive them out of the country.

The Muslim Rohingya minority community have had to cope with the brunt of emergency measures implemented due to fierce rioting in early June between the minority group and the majority Arakanese.

The official death toll after the rioting has been put at 78, though the real figure may be much higher.

International observers have been banned from visiting the north Arakan state, where the majority of the Rohingya reside.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) have noted that whilst both sides were involved in “terrible violence” the arrests have been focused on the Rohingya.

President Thein Sein, who was recently commended for driving Burma’s reform, unsuccessfully requested UN help in relocating abroad almost one million Rohingya.

Many critics have likened this to mass deportation.

Deputy Asia director at HRW, Elaine Pearson, said the group “would expect a strong international response” to any attempt to deport the Rohingya.

See The Guardian's report here.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged a "full transition to civilian rule" during the first visit by a senior US official to Egypt since elections last month.

Clinton spoke to the new president, Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, at an hour-long meeting which was described as candid and cordial by a US official.

"I have come to Cairo to reaffirm the strong support of the United States for the Egyptian people and their democratic transition.

"We want to be a good partner and we want to support the democracy that has been achieved by the courage and sacrifice of the Egyptian people." she said to reporters after the meeting.

Clinton also said she would meet the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi on Sunday.

She praised the role of the military in ruling the country after the fall of Mubarak, but added that the US supports the return of civilian rule and for the armed forces to take on a “a purely military role".

The attack on the village of Tremseh by Syrian government forces, which left over 200 people dead, was mainly targeting homes of rebels and activists according to the UN, contrary to initial reports, claiming a massacre of civilians.

UN monitors inspected the site and said in a statement, the preliminary findings correspond with government claims that it was attacking rebel hideouts.

However residents disputed the claims, saying that armed pro-government militia entered the village after prolonged shelling by the army and massacred innocent civilians.

Talking to The Observer, residents said that the armed men shot “anything that moved”.

“I swear that we don't have any terrorists, Salafists, or anyone from the outside here,” said one resident.

"People have been terrified ever since [regime forces] came to the village in January and killed 40 of us. This time they stole from our homes, they robbed jewellery from women. All of this because we support the revolution?"

A second Tremseh resident said:

"The bombardment started at 5.30am and ended at 2pm. The incursion started at midday from the north of the village. Shabiha and regime military men entered the village and occupied the roofs of high buildings and shot at anything moving.

"They shot many civilians in the head and then burned the bodies. They handcuffed civilians and then shot them in the head. They burned shops and houses with families inside. After what happened, the FSA [Free Syrian Army] members tried to get inside the village to help with burying the martyrs and tending to the wounded but they couldn't.

"The criminals took many martyrs' bodies and wounded civilians with them and there are many missing people and burnt dead bodies with no way to identify them."

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Chinese counterpart have announced on the sidelines of the ASEAN regional forum in Pnomh Penh that the two countries will cooperate on issues concerning Asia.

"I am delighted that we are going to be issuing a joint media note,'

''It is an important signal that the United States and China not only can but will work together in Asia." she told the meeting.

Mr Yang told reporters on Thursday that China was ready to ''enhance'' dialogue and ''expand... common ground'' with the US.

"China and US relations have continued to make progress this year," he added.

The Asean meeting is overshadowed by tensions over several countries’ claims over the oil rich South China Sea.

Mrs Clinton urged the countries to "work collaboratively and diplomatically to resolve disputes without coercion, without intimidation, without threats and without use of force''.

She stressed the US will not ''take sides'' in the disputes and has no territorial claim in the region.

"But we do have an interest in freedom of navigation, the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law and unimpeded lawful commerce in the South China Sea."

Critical questions about the UK’s arms export licenses have been raised by a cross-party Parliamentary group.

The Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) asked the government whether 600 licenses to Arab countries complied with the UK’s government policy.

The CAEC - made up of MPs from the business, defence, foreign affairs and international development committees – urged for sales of arms to be reviewed to ensure that authoritarian regimes did not use equipment to repress citizens.

Ministers were also strongly rebuked for equipment such as sniper rifles and armoured fighting vehicles being classified as “crowd control goods.”

The committee’s Scrutiny of Arms Exports report said that the revocation of 158 licenses since the start of the Arab Spring showed that the process of issuing licenses was flawed.

"Whilst the promotion of arms exports and the upholding of human rights are both legitimate government policies, the government would do well to acknowledge that there is an inherent conflict between strongly promoting arms exports to authoritarian regimes whilst strongly criticising their lack of human rights at the same time," the report said.

Read Channel 4’s analysis of the report here.

The United Nations insisted that Kazakhstan allow an international investigation into deadly riots in oil towns, which exposed human rights abuses and growing inequality in Central Asia’s largest economy.

U.N high Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay said that the December riots in Zhanaozen, during which police opened fire on protesters, should show Kazakhstan that economic prosperity must not be prioritised above human rights.

President Nurlsultan Nazarbayev has habitually put economic growth ahead of democratic freedom in more than two decades of leading Kazakhstan, a former Soviet state with 3 percent of the world’s recoverable oil reserves.

“Ignoring this was the mistake made in Tunisia, where very positive economic indicators masked the despair of a population deprived of many of their fundamental human rights” Pillay told a news conference during her first visit to Central Asia.

She went on to say, “I have recommended to the government that the only way to credibly answer these questions once and for all, and draw a line under these tragic events, is to authorise an independent international investigation into the events themselves, their causes and their aftermath”.

Kazakhstan’s economy has expanded by an average of 8% annually over the last decade. But the unrest in December, where at least 12 people were killed in the height of a labour dispute by oil workers, shattered Kazakhstan’s image of stability.

The ban on U.S investment in Burma has been formally lifted, allowing investment by American companies.

The act was one of the most substantial steps taken by the US on their path of normalising relations with Burma.

These steps come in the midst of calls for caution from human rights groups and Burmese activists.

US President Barack Obama said in a statement that the US remained concerned about the Burmese economy.

“The United States Government remains deeply concerned about the lack of transparency in Burma’s investment environment and the military’s role in the economy.”

Obama also issued an order that expanded existing sanctions against human rights violators to include those who threatened Burma’s political reformation process.

While opposition leader Suu Kyi has generally supported the lifting of restrictions in response to government reforms, she has asked for caution until the reforms have fully taken place.

Many activists have focussed their concerns on Burma’s state owned energy company , which lacks transparency and has strong connections with the military.

Commenting on the lifting of sanctions, business and human rights director at Human Rights watch, Arvind Ganesan, said:

”The U.S government should have insisted that good governance and human rights reform be essential operating principles for new investments in Burma,

"By allowing deals with Burma’s state-owned oil company, the U.S looks like it caved to industry pressure and undercut Aung San Suu Kyi and others in Burma who are promoting government accountability.”

The US energy sector in particular argued that business was being lost to international competitors due to the sanctions.

The US Treasury has announced a further tightening of sanction on Iran, over its controversial nuclear programme.

It said it had blacklisted several companies and individuals connected to the programme, including several companies and banks acting as front organisations to help Iran get around existing sanctions.

"We will continue to ratchet up the pressure so long as Iran refuses to address the international community's well-founded concerns about its nuclear programme," US Treasury official David Cohen said in a statement released on Thursday.

“Today’s actions are our next step on that path, taking direct aim at disrupting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs as well as its deceptive efforts to use front companies to sell and move its oil.”

Iran continues to maintain that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and that sanctions are harming efforts to engage with the US to find a solution to the problems.

Iran warned of tougher sanctions (20 Jun 2012)

More than 200 Syrians, mostly civilians have been killed in a village in the rebel dominated region of Hama according to opposition activists.

Residents told activist that helicopter gunships and tanks had bombarded Taramseh, before militiamen stormed the village and executed several civilians.

The regional opposition group said in a statement:

"More than 220 people fell today in Taramseh. They died from bombardment by tanks and helicopters, artillery shelling and summary executions,"

Syrian state television reported that three security personnel had been killed in fighting in Taramseh, where it accused “armed terrorist groups” of committing a massacre.

Fadi Sameh, an opposition activist from Taramseh who had left the village before the incident but was still in touch with the residents said:

"It appears that Alawite militiamen from surrounding villages descended on Taramseh after its rebel defenders pulled out, and started killing the people. Whole houses have been destroyed and burned from the shelling.”

"Every family in the town seems to have members killed. We have names of men, women and children from countless families,"

The Taramseh massacre would be the single worst incidence of violence in the 16 months of conflict in Syria.

"If you commit war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide you will not be able to rest easily in your bed: the reach of international justice is long and patient, and once set in train, it is inexorable.”

“We have learnt from history that you cannot have lasting peace without justice, accountability and reconciliation”.

“The Arab Spring has shattered the idea that nations can maintain long-term stability and prosperity without human rights, political participation and economic freedom for their citizens”. 

“Our coalition Government is firmly of the view that leaders who are responsible for atrocities should be held to account, whether nationally or internationally. Institutions of international justice are not foreign policy tools to be switched on and off at will.”

There should be no hiding place or sanctuary for people indicted for crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. And states that are not party to the Rome Statute should consider the message they send to the outside world when they harbour or welcome indictees under the guise of regional solidarity”

“There has been a global revolution in accountability. It is an unfinished revolution, but it is unprecedented in history.

“The presumption that leaders of nations are immune from prosecution has been eroded.”

“The idea of sovereignty as a barricade against international justice has been all but eradicated.”

“And the referrals of leaders in Libya and Sudan shows that not signing up to the Rome Statute cannot be relied upon as a way of avoiding being held to account.”

“The lesson of the last two decades is that if you commit war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide you will not be able to rest easily in your bed: the reach of international justice is long and patient, and once set in train, it is inexorable.”