Cameron defends air strike after Gaddafi's son killed

David Cameron has defended Nato's choice of targets in Libya after an air strike apparently hit a building where Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was staying and killed his youngest son.

The Prime Minister insisted individuals were not being targeted, and UN Security Council resolutions permitted attacks on "command and control" bases.

But the Libyan regime reacted furiously, branding the missile strike an illegal assassination attempt.

Mobs also stormed diplomatic premises belonging to the UK and other Nato members in Tripoli, prompting Foreign Secretary William Hague to expel Libya's ambassador from London.

Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, 29, the dictator's sixth son, died when his house was hit by at least one missile fired by a Nato warplane, according to Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.

He "was playing and talking with his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked for no crimes committed", Mr Ibrahim said.

"This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country. This is not permitted by international law."

Pilgrims flock to Pope's Mass

Around 1.5 million pilgrims flooded Rome to watch Pope John Paul II move a step closer to sainthood in one of the largest Vatican Masses in history.

The turnout for yesterday's beatification far exceeded even the most optimistic expectation of one million people.

'War crimes' report blasted

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans have used May Day rallies to reject a UN report calling for both sides in the civil war to be investigated over possible war crimes.

In Colombo, government supporters carried placards criticising senior UN figures. The report said shelling by government forces killed thousands of civilians.

It also said Tamil Tiger rebels had used civilians as human shields. The government has rejected the report.

Japan backs tsunami budget

Japan's parliament was set to pass a 4 trillion yen (29 billion) tsunami recovery budget today, but even that covers only a fraction of the cost of the disaster. Mounting frustrations over the government's response and nuclear crisis, meanwhile, are threatening to topple the country's unpopular prime minister.

Plane's black box recovered

One of two flight recorders from an Air France plane that crashed in 2009 off the coast of Brazil has been recovered.

France's Bureau of Investigation said the device was "in good physical condition". Search teams last week found the outer casing of the black box recorder, but not its memory.

Chinese hotel fire leaves 10 residents dead

China: Police say they suspect arson was the cause of a fire at a hotel that killed ten people. The blaze yesterday in the city of Tonghua sent noxious smoke pouring on to the upper floors.

Syria: The military has intensified its vigorous assault on the besieged city of Daraa at the centre of the country's uprising as defiant residents pass along information and bury their dead. President Bashar Assad is eager to crush the six-week-old revolt.