Reports from Syria say at least three people have been killed and scores injured in clashes between anti-government protesters and security personnel in the city of Deraa. State media blamed the violence on what it called "infiltrators". Owen Bennett-Jones reports.
The video footage posted on various websites shows large crowds said to be in Deraa chanting slogans against corruption, and reports from the city say the authorities responded with water cannon and then live fire that killed at least three people and wounded many more. The official news agency in Syria said infiltrators in Deraa had provoked chaos and set cars and shops on fire there by obliging the security forces to
intervene
. There are also reports of protests elsewhere in the country, and security officials broke up a demonstration after Friday prayers in the main mosque in Damascus.
The Japanese government has acknowledged that it could have reacted more quickly to last week's earthquake and tsunami. It said
contingency
plans had failed to anticipate the scale of the disaster. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the situation at the nuclear plant was still serious, but had not worsened significantly in the past 24 hours.
World News from the BBC
The United States has signed a nuclear accord with Chile despite growing
misgiving
s in the country about the safety of nuclear power. The Chilean government said the deal focused on training nuclear engineers