Syria deaths reach 500, say rights groups

Human rights groups say the death toll from the clamp-down on anti-government protests in Syria has risen to 500.

Protests there are continuing. In the south of the country 200 members of the ruling Baath party are reported to have resigned over the violence.

Overnight, the UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement on condemning the crackdown.

The BBC's World affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge reports.