The Arab League has decided to ask the UN Security Council to set up a joint peacekeeping mission to end the violence in Syria. The decision was taken at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo. From there, Jeremy Bowen reports.
The meeting ended without a news conference, but a statement was
circulated
that contained the Arab League's toughest language so far about the Syrian crisis. It remains to be seen how much of it will turn into concrete action. The statement called for the opening of communications and the financing of the Syrian opposition. It also called for a peacekeeping force approved by the UN to supervise a ceasefire, but without detailing the kind of force the Arab League had in mind. Perhaps they couldn't agree on that. But the fact that the league is even considering a peacekeeping mission into an Arab country shows the Assad regime's isolation.
An Iraqi government official has told the BBC that al-Qaeda and other militant groups have moved some of their activities away from Iraq and into Syria. The Deputy Home Minister Adnan al-Asadi said Iraq had noticed a decrease in the number of militant attacks because al-Qaeda had instructed its followers to move to other countries, including Syria.
Salvage workers in Italy have begun pumping fuel from the cruise liner Costa Concordia, which
ran aground
off Tuscany a month ago. There were more than 2,000 tonnes of oil and diesel in the tanks of the stricken vessel, and environmentalists say a fuel leak would be disastrous.