The International Committee of the Red Cross has begun moving civilians including the wounded and children out of the Syrian city of Homs.

The announcement came as delegates from over seventy countries had gathered at the 'Friends of Syria' conference in Tunisia, aiming to increase pressure on the Assad regime. The conference ended with delegates adopting a declaration calling on the regime to end violence immediately and allow humanitarian aid.

The declaration read:

The UN's under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Valeria Amos, will be visiting Syria in order to negotiate access for aid workers to areas most affected by the conflict, announced the spokesperson to the UN Secretargy General Ban Ki Moon.

The spokesperson, Del Buey, said that Amos, a former member of the House of Lords, would be sent to "to assess the humanitarian situation and renew the call for humanitarian access".

Adding that a "comprehensive" approach was required, Ban Ki Moon said, 

The UN has accused Syria of committing ‘crimes against humanity’ against its people, in a report released today after an inquiry by a UN panel.

The panel was refused entry into Syria and had to gather information from outside sources including regime defectors and human rights activists.

Accomplished war correspondent Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times has been killed in the Syrian city of Homs. It was reported that the house she was staying in was shelled, killing her alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik.

Republican, Dana Rohrabacher, introduced a bill recognising Baluchi nation's right to self-determination last week.

The bill stated that the Baluchi nation “have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country; and  they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status.”

Rohrabacher said,

Writing in the Huffington Post, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallstrom, condemned sexual violence as a weapon of war and pledged to "push for an end to impunity and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice".

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The London-based International Campaign for Tibet has stated that a monk has died after setting himself alight in protest, at a monastery in South West China.

The monk, 18-year-old Nangdrol, has raised the number of Tibetans who have self immolated to at least 21 in the past year alone, as protests against the Chinese government’s control over the Tibetan regions continue to grow.

Chinese armed forces have cut off access to the Tibetan areas making independent reports almost impossible to verify, but it is known that security forces maintain a high presence in the area and monks are being forced to undergo “political re-education”.

A complaint against the British Government has been filed by legal charity Reprieve in regards to the failure of the government to secure the release of a Pakistani man, held in Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

Yunus Rahmatullah was captured by British forces in 20054 and was then handed to the US military who have held him without charges ever since.

The Iranian oil ministry announced on Sunday it has stopped all sales of crude oil to British and French companies.

A spokesman was quoted on the ministry’s website as saying:

"Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers. We have our own customers … The replacements for these companies have been considered by Iran."

A Chinese envoy on a visit to Syria has called on all sides to end the violence.

Zhai Jun has expressed Chinese support for the government’s plan to hold a referendum on the constitution on February 26.

However, the opposition has called for a boycott of the referendum and rejected the plans for as long as violence was still ongoing.

"The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the rebels to halt acts of violence immediately." said Zhai Jun.