BBC News with Sue Montgomery

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has denied ordering his military to kill or be brutal towards anti-government protesters, saying only a crazy person would kill his own people. Mr Assad told the American network ABC News that he didn't own the country or the army but admitted mistakes in handling the uprising. Paul Wood reports from Beirut.

A UN report accuses the Syrian government of mass arrests, torture, using sexual violence against protesters and of killing some 300 children. In his interview, President Assad did seem to accept there had been excessive force by his police and troops, but he said these were individual acts, not policy. That would be met with scorn by the demonstrators while the international community is concerned that Syria is moving from crackdowninto something more and more resembling a civil war.

The leaders of France and Germany have been setting outin more detail some of their controversial proposals to strengthen the eurozone ahead of Friday's crucial EU summit. Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have also repeated their call for a tax on financial transactions. From Brussels, here's Chris Morris.