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