N Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon has called for the death penalty to be abolished.Addressing a panel on the issue convened by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ban said, taking of life is too absolute and too irreversible even when backed by legal process.Mr Ban was especially concerned that the death penalty is still used for juvenile offenders.According to the UN, 150 nations have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it.Since the General Assembly endorsed a call for a death penalty moratorium in 2007, several nations have abolished the death penalty, including Argentina, Burundi, Gabon, Latvia, Togo and Uzbekistan.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has resisted diplomatic pressure from Western nations to support tougher action against Syria's government. Mr Putin, an ally of Syria, called for more time to be given to the peace plan of envoy Kofi Annan.

The United States and Britain have called on Moscow to strengthen its condemnation of the Syrian regime since last week's massacre in Houla, where 108 died.

Earlier, Moscow opposed a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Syria.

In an emergency session yesterday, the council condemned Syria over the Houla massacre and called for an investigation. But Russia voted against the US-backed resolution, arguing that it was unbalanced.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Ms Navi Pillay today said last week's killing of more than 100 civilians at Houla in Syria may amount to crimes against humanity. She called on the international community to make all efforts to end impunity and ensure accountability for perpetrators of such atrocities. She has also urged the Syrian government to protect the civilians. Ms Pillay was addressing an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the violence Syria.

The UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay has said western nations should lift sanctions on Zimbabwe and its President Robert Mugabe. Speaking on her first visit to the country, Ms Pillay said the sanctions are hurting the poor. She urged Zimbabwe to pass reforms to avoid violence in the next election which is expected within a year.

The European Union has already lifted some sanctions but restrictions on Mr Mugabe and his close aides remain. The president and more than 100 others are still affected by the freezing of assets and travel bans in European countries.