BBC News with Sue Montgomery

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed outrage at the latest reported mass killing in Syria and said any failure by the international community to take action would be a license for further massacres. In a letter to the UN Security Council, the international peace envoy Kofi Annan said the Syrian government had violated its commitment to stop using heavy weapons in population center. From UN, here is here is Nata Tophic.

Western nations are pushing for a new UN resolution to strengthen sanctions on Syrian if it does not stop the use of heavy weapons. The draft resolution calls for diplomatic and economic but not military sanctions under chapter 7 of the UN charter. This will give President Assad ten days to cease violence before the sanctions are imposed. Russia has said it will veto such a move but western diplomats said there was no room for negotiation on the issue, insisting Russia need to realize now with the time for more pressure on its Syrian ally.

Police in Nigeria say five people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack outside a mosque in the city of Maiduguri. The blast took place after prayers at the central mosque -- narrowly missing government officials and the spiritual leader of Borno state who was left splattered with blood. The bombing happened in a stronghold of the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The first cargo ship to sail from Miami to Cuba in 50 years has arrived in Havana. The ship was carrying humanitarian supplies such as food medicine that are exempted from the US trade embargo against the communist-run island. Its cargo was made up of charitable donations and gifts to relatives from Miami's large Cuban exile population. The vessel will now operate a weekly service linking Miami and Havana for the first time since 1962.