The Arab League demanded Syria end its brutal crackdown of peaceful protest on Tuesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria could descend into "civil war" and criticised Assad's regime for failing to "listen to the voice of the people."

The Turkish Prime Minister recently embarked on a tour of Arab Spring states emerging from the shadow of repressive dictators. Currently in Egypt, Erdogan is due to visit Tunisia and Libya shortly.

The UN estimate on the number of protesters killed was raised to 2600 on Monday at the UNHRC.

Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated, “the situation in Syria is still dire.”

Amid such casualty figures and harrowing tails of torture and abuse by Syrian security forces, the appointment a three member panel to investigate the allegations was announced on Monday.

However it remains uncertain how the investigation will take place, as President Assad has not granted the panel permission to visit the country.

Speaking at the world's largest arms fair, held in London, the British Defence Secretary Liam Fox defended the UK's export licensing procedures as "amongst the most rigorous in the world"

Fox added,

In a letter to the United Nations, the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN) severely condemned the lack of adequate inquiry and prosecution of Sri Lankan soldiers accused of systematically raping Haitians women and girls as young as 7, whilst posted as UN peacekeepers in 2007.

Ezilo Dantò, HLLN president writes,

“In 2007, it was discovered and reported that girls as young as 13 were having sex with U.N. peacekeepers for as little as $1 in Haiti.” 

“Moreover, Sri Lankan soldiers were accused of systematically raping Haitian women and girls, some as young as 7 years old.”

“If only a dozen UN peacekeepers were punished for sexual abuse and rape, then that means, for instance, most of the 114 Sri Lankan soldiers deported back to Sri Lanka from Haiti in 2007 for sexual abuse and rape in Haiti did not get punished,”

“Humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers accused of sexually abusing and sexual trafficking children in Haiti should have their names and their country’s identities exposed so that this matter may be cleaned up once and for all.”

However, Brigadiear Nihal Hapuarachchi, spokesperson for the Sri Lankan Army is reported to have stated the matter is closed. A full inquiry was carried out and those soldiers who were found guilty were prosecuted he asserted.

Anti-Israeli protesters disrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on Sep 2nd.

The Crown Prosecution Service is looking into findings of a report which found British soldiers guilty of a “very serious breach of discipline”, which caused the death of Basra hotel employee Baha Mousa.

26 year old Mousa was arrested by members of the 1st Battalion The Queen’s Lancashire regiment (QLR), along with 9 other Iraqis.

After being detained Mousa was subjected to a prolonged period of abuse, while being deprived of sleep and food. A post-mortem found 93 injuries on his body and evidence of asphyxiation. He died 36 hours after being detained.

Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the actions of the British soldiers and hinted at prosecution of individuals involved if further evidence emerges from the inquiry.

"The British Army, as it does, should uphold the highest standards. If there is further evidence that comes out of this inquiry that requires action to be taken, it should be taken."

During a court martial relating to the case in 2007 Cpl Donald Payne became the first British soldier convicted of a war crime. He was imprisoned for 1 year and dismissed from the army.

Videos of Syrian soldiers callously beating prisoners and laughing whilst snipers fire from rooftops have emerged.

President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed Monday, that the Palestian Authority are to seek UN membership for the state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly, beginning 20th September.  
 
Responding to accusations by Israeli and American officials that such a move is provacative and undermines peace negotiations, Abbas stressed that the two moves were not mutually exclusive and negotiations remained an absolute priority.

Despite an attributed commitment to ‘non-interference’ in other countries, China is now well recognised for its pragmatism when it comes to international affairs. Libya is a case in point.

China had substantive investments in Libya and good relations with Muammar Gaddafi’s regime when the rebellion against it began this year.

Nonetheless, amid international outrage at the regime’s attacks on civilians, China stood aside at the UN Security Council vote in February on resolution 1973.

The resolution also imposed an arms embargo on Libya.

NATO adopted resolution 1973 as the mandate for its military intervention in Libya. However China also stridently criticised the NATO air campaign against Gaddafi’s forces.

As the opposition showed itself to be a credible challenge to the regime, Beijing began reaching out.

In early June the regime’s Foreign Minister Abdelati al-Obeidi was welcomed to Beijing. Barely two weeks later, so was the opposition’s top foreign affairs official, Mahmud Jibril.

On June 22, China recognized the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) as "an important dialogue partner."

At the same time, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said:

"China is not seeking any private interest on the Libyan issue. China believes the Libyan issue is essentially Libyan internal issue."

Stressing "the future of Libya should be left to be decided by Libyan people," he urged the two sides in the Libyan conflicts to "truly give peace a chance," saying "this will work for the fundamental interests of the Libyan people."

However, as recently as late July, despite the UN arms embargo, Chinese arms firms were discussing weapons sales worth $200 million to the regime’s beleaguered forces. They include pistols, missiles and rocket launchers.

See The Telegraph’s report here.

A European Union judge has decided to put a senior Kosovo politician and former rebel leader on trial for the alleged execution and torture of Serb prisoners during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.