Thousands flee to neighbouring Lebanon as regime cracks down ahead of ceasefire

Russia offered heavily-qualified support yesterday for a United Nations initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria, as opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime faced an intensifying struggle to oust him.

As Burma prepares for by-elections, a new report accuses the army of the rape, torture and murder of ethnic people, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) saying that the abuse of civilians has deepened since fighting against ethnic Kachin rebels in the country's north-east was triggered last year after a 17-year ceasefire. Up to 75,000 people have been forced from their homes.

The United States and Russia clashed over Syria at the U.N. today after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the divided Security Council to speak with one voice and help the Middle Eastern nation "pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe."

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos headed to the shattered central Syrian city of Homs today, where activists have accused regime forces of trying to cover up evidence of a month-long military assault and alleged execution-style killings.

China urged the Syrian government and rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad to end all acts of violence, especially against civilians.

Tunisia's president has said he is ready to offer asylum to Syrian leader Bashar Assad as part of a negotiated solution to the Syrian conflict.

Britain is to recognise the Syrian opposition as a "legitimate representative" of the country's people, William Hague said today.

Architecture is traditionally one of the more lasting human endeavours.

Typically, beautifully, the 12-line title poem of a volume that embodies Heaney's return from illness begins with a "close-up" of aid workers on TV swinging "bags of meal" one to another as soldiers fire.

Linda Norgrove has been shortlisted for a posthumous humanitarian award for her "selfless" work in Afghanistan. The 36-year-old aid worker died in a failed rescue attempt by US special forces after being seized by militants in September.

Members of the US Special Forces have been disciplined after an investigation into the death of Linda Norgrove, a British aid worker in Afghanistan, revealed she was killed by a grenade thrown by her would-be rescuers.

The parents of aid worker Linda Norgrove today spoke of their "nightmare" at learning of their daughter's death in Afghanistan.

A British aid worker has been abducted while working in eastern Afghanistan after an ambush by insurgents.