BBC News with Sue Montgomery
An Italian cruise ship with 1,000 people on board is floating adrift in the dark in an area of the Indian Ocean where Somali pirates have been active. The crew of the ship Costa Allegra issued a (distress signal) when a fire knocked out the ship's generators. David Willey reports.
The 28,000-tonne liner, the Costa Allegra, belongs to the same Italian cruise line as the Costa Concordia, which went aground off the coast of Italy last month with a loss of more than 30 lives. Rome (coastguards) say three merchant ships and two fishing boats in the area have been directed towards the stricken vessel. The authorities in the Seychelles have also dispatched a tugboat, a coastguard ship and a plane to the area where the Allegra is drifting without power.
The Syrian government says around 90% of those who voted in the referendum on Sunday approved the (constitutional) changes put forward by President Bashar al-Assad. His opponents rejected the vote as a farce. The American State Department said it was absolutely (cynical) to hold the referendum when Syrian government guns and tanks were still firing into Syrian cities. Activists say at least 40 people were killed today. With more, Jim Muir.
As reports of (violence) came in from many parts of the country, the interior minister announced the results of the referendum on the constitution. The referendum results showed a turnout of just 57% of the (electorate). Of those who voted, nearly 90% said yes, but three quarters of a million people voted no. The figures were probably much more credible than the opposition and its supporters had expected they would be. Under the new constitution, the next step should be (general elections) within 90 days with a number of newly licensed parties for the first time competing with the ruling Baath party.
The senior political leadership of the Syria-based Palestinian group Hamas has left Damascus. The Hamas (deputy leader) Moussa Abu Marzouk is now living near Cairo. He said he and his colleagues had left Damascus because they rejected the Syrian president's solution to the crisis there.
The German parliament has voted to approve a financial rescue package for Greece agreed by eurozone ministers last week. The measure passed comfortably despite growing public unease about the bailout. Chancellor Angela Merkel had urged parliament to support the package, saying it carried opportunities that (outweighed) the risks.
British police have revealed they are investigating payments made by journalists to a network of corrupt officials in many areas of public life. The Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sue Akers, said there had been a culture of (illegal payments) at The Sun newspaper to people in government, the health service and the armed forces. Some informants had received thousands of dollars in return for information. The Sun is owned by the media (tycoon) Rupert Murdoch.
BBC News
