Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has expressed his concern over Buddhist violence in Burma and Sri Lanka, and once again called on Buddhists to put it to an end.

Speaking to his devotees on the first day of his teachings on Nagarjuna’s Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning, The Dalai Lama said,

“Earlier there were crisis among Buddhist and Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka. Burmese monks were even regarded as terrorists and it is very sad,”

“Recently, I visited Prague, Czech Republic to attend Forum 2000 and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was also there. I spoke with her and she was really concerned,”

“Have faith in your own religion but respect all other religions,”

Earlier this year the Dalai Lama issued a similar appeal, saying,

"Killing people in the name of religion is really very sad, unthinkable, very sad."

"Nowadays even Buddhists now involved, in Burma and Sri Lanka also. Buddhist monks ... destroy Muslim mosques or Muslim families. Really very sad."

The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has announced wide-ranging reforms, including the granting of more rights to Kurds and the removal of the headscarf ban.

Erdogan said towns will be able to use their Kurdish names and education in the Kurdish language would be allowed in private schools, although it would still be restricted in state schools. He has also proposed to change the rule that currently requires parties to receive more than 10% of votes before being able to enter parliament, which has excluded Kurdish parties.

The Chinese government has allegedly detained a human rights activist, who was involved in a sit-in outside the Foreign Ministry to press for the public to be allowed to contribute to a national human rights report.

The capital of the autonomous province of Kurdistan in Iraq has been the target of bomb attacks, the first such violence in over 6 years.

The headquarters of the Kurdish security forces, the asayesh, and the interior ministry were hit by the attacks, leaving 6 asayesh dead and dozens injured.

A government spokesperson said that the violence could be linked to the Syrian conflict, which had recently seen fighting between Kurds and fundamentalists.

Human Rights watched criticised the UN security council’s recently passed resolution of failing to deliver justice for the Syrian conflict’s victims, today

The UN director at Human Rights Watch, Philippe Bolopian, said,

Sudanese police have killed at least 50 civilians during protests over fuel prices last week, reported Amnesty International and the African Centre for Justice and Peace studies.

Both rights groups urged the Sudanese government to end the assault on civilian protesters.