BBC News:麦凯恩呼吁向叙利亚叛军提供重型武器

BBC News with Nick Kelly

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has again condemned the demonstrators, who staged the third day of protests, calling them anti-democratic. Crowds again converged on Taksim Square in Istanbul and there were clashes in Ankara. Mr Erdogan said protesters weremarginal groups and dismissed criticism that his government is autocratic and too Islamist.Turkey has a big economy and huge economic potential. During this government's rule, the Turkish economy stepped forward, but today we see some circles, some marginal groups who have international roots and support protest in Taksim Square and Besiktas area against the government by using the wrong arguments. They chanted slogans, threw stones at shops and buildings, they demolished pavements, burnt cars, this is not democracy.

As international concern grows about a possible violent overspill from Syria civil conflict into neighbouring Lebanon, Gulf Arab countries have added their voice to the intensifying debate. The Bahraini Deputy Foreign Minister said the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council will consider action against Hezbollah if it continues its arm support of President Assad's forces. Separately, the influential American Senator John McCain has called for the West to arm the rebels with heavy weapons. As David Willis reports from Washington.

Speaking on CBS' Face The Nation program, Senator McCain said rebel forces in the Syrian town of Qusair were being badly outgunned by the forces of Bashar al-Assad. He said theinflux of foreign fighters into Qusair long a key supply route for weapons and fighters crossing into Syria from Lebanon had left the rebels surrounded, given the Assad's regime the upper hand, and that cast doubt over the prospects of the Syrian peace conference.

The Czech government has declared a nationwide state of emergency as rising rivers threatened to burst their banks and flood the capital Prague and other towns. From Prague here's RobCameron.

As the rain falls and the river rises, the people of Prague arrange for an anxious night. Metal flood barriers and sandbags have gone up along the embankments. Most of the metro is closed, and all of the city school children have been told to stay at home tomorrow. A riverside hospital has been evacuated, the city's iconic Charles Bridge is closed. Across the country the floods brought destruction and at least two deaths with several people missing. The river Vltava rises in the woods and hills of South Bohemia, it's burst its banks in many places and its tributaries are overflowing. Other countries in central Europe are also reinforcing their flood defenses, water levels on the Rhine, the Danube and many tributaries are at dangerous levels.

World News from the BBC

Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababademanding the release of jailed journalists and activists. Protesters, many of them from anopposition movement, shouted slogans calling for freedom and justice. The rally was the first major demonstration since 2005, and hundreds were killed in postelection unrest. Here is our Africa Editor Richard Hamilton.

The sight of thousands of protesters on the streets of Addis Ababa is a rare show ofopposition to the governing party, the EPRDF, which maintains strict control over public life. However, the fact that was given permission to be held at all and passed off peacefully, suggest that the Ethiopia's new Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, who succeed Meles Zenawi after his death last year may be more tolerant than his predecessor, as such a large rally would have been unthinkable under Prime Minister Meles.

The government of Niger says 22 inmates are now known to have escaped from a prison in the capital Niamey during an attack by gunmen on Saturday. The Justice Ministry said several people were described as terrorists were among those on the loose and three guards have been killed.

It's emerged that three storm chasers were among the ten people who were killed when aviolent tornado hit parts of Oklahoma City in the United States on Friday. Storm chasing has become a popular draw for growing number of the people in the United States, who attempted to get the closest they can to storms in order to track them and collect scientific data.

And Brazil and England have drawn a friendly game that marked the re-opening of the world's famous Maracana football Stadium which was closed for renovation three years ago. The match ended 2-2, all goals came in the second- half. Nearly 70,000 people turned out for the match in Rio de Janeiro, many travelling from distant parts of Brazil to take part in what they described as a historic moment. Brazil will host next year's World Cup.