Tens of thousands of Egyptians have surrounded the presidential palace in Cairo to protest against a controversial draft constitution. The (demonstration) has been mainly peaceful, although there was a clash with security forces when some protesters breached a barbed wire cordon. Jon Leyne was there.

 

This is yet another huge crowded protesters, opponents of President Mursi heading off in a series of marches and rallies to the presidential palace. And you can hear them the further the anger here, they are so angry about where President Morsi has taken the country even two weeks into these protests. They are just agitated as they were at the beginning. they are really really determined that they don't want him to lead the country in a direction that they are not happy with. In a statement, the security forces said President Mursi had left the building and they (appealed) for calm.

 

As civil war rages across Syria, both sides say a school close to Damascus has been hit by shell fire killing around 30 people, almost all of them children. Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.

 

Both rebels and the regime agree that a school to the northeast of  Damascus was hit by shell fire or mortars, but both accuse one another of being (responsible)  for what the state news agency called: a horrific massacre with almost all the victims school children. On virtually all sites of the capital there were clashes and heavy bombardments as government forces battled to keep rebels from pressing in on the central core of the city, the seat of the regime's power. With the international airport now generally considered too unsafe to risk landing Damascus is increasingly looking like a city coming under siege.

 

The NATO Military Alliance has approved the request from Turkey for Patriot intercept missiles to counter any threat from across its border with Syria. More shells from Syrian conflict landed inside Turkey on Tuesday. NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels also expressed grave concern at reports that Damascus may be considering using chemical weapons in its conflict with rebels. The NATO head, Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that any such use will provoke an international response.

 

The authorities in Brazil have arrested at least 60 policemen accused of receiving regular payments from drug dealers to turn a (blind-eye) to their activities in several shanty towns on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Eleven suspected drug dealers from Rio's main criminal gang - the Red Command - were also arrested. Leonardo Rocha reports.

 

Prosecutors say police officers in Duque de Caxias, in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro were getting up to $1,200 a week from drug-gangs to overlook their criminal activities. When pay was delayed, the officers conducted security operations against them. The policemen are accused of involvement in all the criminal activities, from selling weapons to gangs to kidnapping drug lords relatives for ransom.

 

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The first direct talks have been held between the government of Mali and rebel groups that seized the north of the country following a coup earlier this year.

 

Representatives from the Tuareg (rebel) group and one of the Islamist militias controlling northern Mali are at the talks in Burkina Faso. The delegations have now issued a statement agreeing on the need for territorial integrity and rejecting terrorism.

 

The International Olympic Committee has suspended India for breaking Olympic rules over political interference in the election of officials. The IOC had repeatedly warned the Indian Olympic Committee to follow the Olympic (charter) in electing a new president and not the government Sports Code. Alex Capstick reports.

 

The Indian Olympic Committee has been repeatedly warned over its conduct regarding its election for a president. The buildup to the vote has been mired in controversy and internal divisions. The former President Suresh Kalmadi bowed to pressure and decided not to stand for reelection. He was jailed for corruption involving the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Dehli. Suspended national bodies do not receive any (funding) from the IOC, their officials are banned from Olympic meetings and events, and their athletes are not allowed to compete under their national flags of the Olympics.

 

The United Nations Secretary General has said abnormal weather has become the new norm and is a challenge to mankind's existence. Ban Ki-moon was addressing deadlocked talks in Qatar, where 200 nations are seeking a common effective response to global warming. Disagreements center on emission cuts acceptable to both developed and developing countries.

 

A court in France has ordered one of the country's richest men to take a paternity test to determine whether he fathered a child with the former government minister Rachida Dati. Dominique Desseigne who owns a chain of luxury hotels, restaurants and casinos says he briefly dated Ms Dati, but insists he couldn't have fathered her 3-year-old daughter.

 

Those are the latest stories from BBC News.