Tens of thousands of protesters in Syria have

thronged

the streets of Homs as Arab League observers visited the city to monitor a peace agreement. Opposition activists have accused the Syrian government of hiding tanks outside Homs to avoid detection by the Arab League mission. Jim Muir reports.

It was baptism by fire for the Arab observers. After a meeting with the governor of Homs, they went to the city's Baba Amr district, which had been heavily pounded by security forces' tanks and artillery in recent days. There, the observers found themselves confronted by angry residents eager to show the damage and pools of blood. Even as they were talking, gunfire could be heard. The team is staying on in Homs, though its leader is returning to Damascus for meetings. Although he said it had been a good day and that both sides had responded, it's been a pretty mixed result, must have brought home to the observers how complex and deadly the situation is. Jim Muir

Human rights activists in Egypt have welcomed a court order to stop the military from making female prisoners undergo

virginity

tests. The case was brought by a woman who said the army forced her to undergo a virginity test after she was arrested during a protest in Tahrir Square in March.

World News from the BBC

The lower house of the Indian parliament has passed a bill to create an anti-corruption

ombudsman

. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told MPs his government was determined to combat the problem. The vote came as the popular activist Anna Hazare began a fast in Mumbai to demand much tougher legislation against official corruption.