The much talked-about spectre of civil war is already a reality in parts of Syria like the town of Busra al-Harir in the south, where an army unit loyal to President Assad and backed by tanks is reported to have fought for several hours today with armed opposition forces, leaving some military vehicles in flames and an unknown number of casualties. There were similar reports from the northwest close to the Turkish border. The city of Homs has experienced daily gun battles for several weeks. Human rights groups fear the army is now preparing an operation to retake control of the city. The opposition had also called for a general strike today - a strike for dignity, they called it, which appears to have been widely observed.

There are signs of serious disagreement between the two parties in Britain's coalition government over the outcome of Friday's European summit. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats says he's told the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron that the result of the summit was bad for Britain. Mr Cameron blocked a deal on the euro debt crisis at the summit, saying it was not in Britain's interests.

Britain's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, will publish a report on Monday into the collapse of one of the country's biggest banks, which will be highly critical of its own role in the affair. The report says the regulator's supervision of the Royal Bank of Scotland was "inadequate" and "deficient".