Syria govt 'violates rights on alarming scale'

Syrian government forces have committed human rights violations, including executions, across the country "on an alarming scale" during military operations over the last three months, United Nations investigators said on Wednesday. In their latest report, the team led by Paulo Pinheiro said that it was unable to determine who carried out a massacre of more than 100 people in Houla in May, but "forces loyal to the government may have been responsible for many of the deaths". It also had multiple reports of killings by armed opposition groups who are increasingly using improvised explosive devices in their revolt against the rule of President Bashar Assad.