BBC News with Jonathan Izard
The UN special envoy for Syria Kofi Annan has told President Assad that Syria is at a tipping point following the killing of more than 100 civilians in the town of Houla. In talks in Damascus, Mr Annan said the Syrian army and all militias supporting it must stop all (military operations), and he urged Mr. Assad to take immediate bold steps to implement the six-point peace plan.
"In my meeting with President Assad, I conveyed in frank terms the great concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including the recent shocking events in Houla. I should note that he condemned the killings too. The Security Council has made clear the need for these killings to be investigated and for those responsible to be (held accountable)."
The United Nations human rights office says its investigations into the killings in Houla show that the majority of the (victims), including children, were summarily executed. A UN spokesman said its monitors in Syria found that fewer than 20 died from artillery fire. He said eyewitnesses had blamed pro-government militias.
A top Vatican official has called the recent series of leaks of confidential papal documents a 'brutal (personal attack)' on Pope Benedict. He said they included private thoughts and even strong criticism from people who had written to the Pope in confidence. The documents allege corruption and bitter power struggles to the high level in the Roman Catholic Church. David Willey is in Rome.
The Vatican is undergoing the biggest scandal of Pope Benedict's 7-year pontificate, and, one of its potentially most damaging scandals of modern times. For the first time, the official newspaper the Holy See, L’Osservatore Romano, has given its account of the theft in an interview with Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the No.3 of the Vatican. Publication of these letters was a criminal act than usual gravity, the archbishop said. The archbishop said he was sad that a (distorted image) of the Vatican had been put around by the media.
An earthquake in northern Italy has killed 16 people. The (epicenter) was near Modena, close to a similar quake nine days earlier. Factories and a warehouse collapsed, crushing employees. Several churches were wrecked. A parish priest was killed by a falling beam as he tried to rescue a statue of the Virgin Mary. Several hundred people were injured. Among them was a woman pulled out alive after being buried under rubble in her kitchen for more than 12 hours.
The Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in neighboring Thailand on her first foreign trip in 24 years. She'll meet Burmese migrant workers as well as government and business leaders before returning home and taking a longer trip to Europe next month. She refused to leave Burma until now for fear that the government wouldn't let her return.
World News from the BBC
Six retired Turkish generals, including the former heads of the army and air force, have been arrested in connection with a (bloodless coup) that toppled an Islamist government in 1997. It's the fifth wave of arrests in the last two months relating to the overthrow of former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan 15 years ago. Two of the generals are already in custody accused of plotting to overthrow the current government.
The Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has suggested that professional football in Italy should be suspended for two or three years in the wake of a match-fixing scandal. On Monday, Italian police arrested 14 people allegedly involved in match-fixing. Alex Capstick has more.
Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, delivered his stinging message with a proviso that it was not a government proposal, rather a question he was asking as a passionate follower of football. Still, it illustrated his deep unease on a scandal which has tarnished the reputation of the game in Italy. Around 50 people have been arrested as part of a widespread probe into (match-fixing) which began last year. The Lazio captain Stefano Mauri and the Juventus coach Antonio Conte have become the latest high-profile names to become embroiled in the investigation.
The Spanish company Repsol has announced it's pulling out of Cuba after failing in a recent attempt to find oil of the island. A spokesman said the company assessed the high costs and low success rate involved in (offshore drilling) and decided it wasn't worth continuing. Repsol is likely to be replaced by the Malaysian company Petronas. Cuba's Communist government is relying on potentially huge offshore oil and gas reserves to provide a much needed boost for the economy.
A convoy of automated Volvo cars has completed a 125-mile journey on a Spanish motorway in the first public test of such vehicles. Three cars and a lorry were wirelessly linked to each other to track a lead vehicle. Volvo says the system allow drivers to work on their laptops or read a book when connected together.
BBC World Service News