4.10pm GMT

Here is a summary of today’s key events:

Syria

• At least one explosion at the University of Aleppo has killed up to 15 people. The Syrian government said the explosion was caused by rockets from a rebel-held area and called it a terrorist attack. Two major opposition groups, Wahhab Tawhid and the Ahrar al-Sham, told the Guardian's Martin Chulov that they were not responsible. Another opposition group, the Jabhat al-Nusra, had not responded at the time of writing. Opposition activists blamed the government. Videos, which could not be verified, purported to show extensive damage to the university buildings and a number of casualties.

• Opposition activists reported another high death toll across the country today. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an activist group which is part of the opposition National Coalition, reported that 154 people had been killed nationwide, including 10 women and 15 children. Sixty-nine of the dead were in Aleppo, although it was not clear how many had died in the university attack, 43 in Homs, 13 in Damascus and its suburbs, 13 in Hama, 10 in Daraa, two in Deir Ezzor, two in Raqqa and two in Idlib. These figures cannot be verified because of the difficulties posting western journalists to Syria.

• Videos posted by activists purported to show dead bodies, including children’s, in Homs and the effects of bombing in Damascus. Others purported to show attacks on and casualties in Idlib, in the north, and the surrounding area. These videos cannot be verified.

• Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, said yesterday that Bashar al-Assad would not step down and would run in next year’s presidential elections. "The president and many other candidates who may run will go to the people put their programs and to be elected by the people," Mekdad said. "It is a coup d'etat if we listen to what the armed groups and those enemies of Syria are proposing.”

• Russia's foreign ministry said a letter sent yesterday by Switzerland and 56 other states – including the UK, France, Germany, Libya and Tunisia – calling on the UN security council to refer Syria to the international criminal court for war crimes was "ill-timed and counterproductive". "We believe this initiative is ill-timed and counterproductive to resolving the main task at this moment: an immediate end to the bloodshed in Syria," the Russian foreign ministry said.

Israel

• Israeli soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian near the village of Boudrous in the occupied West Bank. Early reports suggested the boy, Samir Amad, was shot when a group of students went to the separation wall to throw stones at soldiers, who opened fire. Later reports said the teenager was on a bus to school when clashes erupted with Israeli soldiers, and it was unclear whether the dead boy was shot on the bus or whether the bus passengers had taken part in a demonstration against the soldiers. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident. A spokeswoman said several Palestinians had approached the wall near Boudrous and damaged it as they attempted to “infiltrate” into Israel, prompting the soldiers to “respond immediately in order to secure the area and to prevent the infiltration”. Israeli military spokesman Captain Eytan Buchman said troops "initiated standard rules of engagement, which included live fire".

• The UN Human Rights Council has said that Israel appears to be reluctant to submit to a routine review of its record. HRC spokesman Rolando Gomez said Israel had asked for the 29 January review to be postponed, and its ambassador had missed a meeting to discuss the situation.

Libya

• Italy has withdrawn its staff from its consulate in Benghazi after a gun attack on its consul at the weekend. Guido De Sanctis was unhurt, but the attack was a reminder of the assault on the American mission in September that killed Chris Stephens, the US amassador, and three other Americans. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is to give evidence next week about that attack.

Jordan

• The largest opposition group in Jordan has said it will step up its campaign against next week’s parliamentary elections and against King Abdullah’s reforms. The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, has renounced violence but is boycotting the 23 January poll.

Iraq

• Police say a Sunni legislator, Ifan al-Issawi, has been killed in a suicide bombing in Fallujah. Anbar province, which is dominated by Iraq's Sunni minority, has been the scene of more than three weeks of protests against Iraq’s Shia-led government. They were sparked by the arrest of bodyguards assigned to Iraq's Sunni finance minister.

Iran

• A religious decree issued by Iran's supreme leader banning nuclear weapons is binding for the Iranian government, the Foreign Ministry said today, suggesting that the edict should end the debate over whether Tehran is pursuing atomic arms.

Egypt

• Egypt's top court has postponed a ruling on a case that challenged the legitimacy of the upper house of parliament and threatened further political uncertainty. The decision means the upper house, which has legislative power in the absence of a lower house, can continue working for now and could ensure its stays in place until a new lower house is elected in an election expected to start in April, Reuters reports. It also lifts the immediate pressure from president Mohamed Morsi, who would have had to take back legislative powers had the upper house been declared invalid, opening him up to the possibility of renewed criticism that he is monopolising power.