Syria holds referendum on a new constitution

Syria holds a national referendum on the country's new draft constitution. The new draft is said to leave out Article 8, which states that the ruling Ba'ath party of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the "leader of state and society".

Members of the drafting committee have been working on the document since October. The referendum was announced by Syria's state-run news agency after days of continued bombings of the city Homs, where most of Assad's opponents are situated, by the Syrian army.

Amendments to the Syrian constitution were demanded by opposition groups at the beginning of the protests against Assad in March, but the groups now say they accept nothing less than Assad resigning from office.