German Election: Angela Merkel's Lead Tightens

Will There Be Victory For 'Mutti'?

Updated: 11:19pm UK, Friday 20 September 2013

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent, in Berlin

The elections in Germany this weekend could produce a Pizza, a Jamaican or a Lebanon, but "Mutti" is still likely to be in charge.

With a system of proportional representation, two ballots per person and little difference between the main parties, political analysts have been focusing on the possibility of a new coalition.

Although the CDU/CSU alliance, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to take the largest share of the vote, the collapse in support for its liberal coalition partner FDP means the existing government may not survive.

That has thrown up a number of possible coalition permutations, which have been given bizarre names mostly based on the combination of the party colours.

So a combination of the CDU, the Free Democrats and the Greens has become known as the "Jamaica coalition", echoing the various hues on the national flag.

A "traffic light" would be a link up between the main opposition Social Democrats, the FDP and the Greens, and so on.

It just hints at the complexity of the German electoral system which allows each voter to make two choices: one for a local representative and another for their choice of party.

The second vote has become known as the vote for chancellor, but it increases the scope for tactical voting, especially as the FDP has been fading at the polls.

For a party to be represented in the Bundestag, it must achieve at least 5% of the overall vote.

At a recent local election in Bavaria - admittedly a conservative heartland - the FDP saw its vote disintegrate, leading some to predict it could come perilously close to being kicked out of the national parliament.

Meanwhile another new party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has been stealing support from disaffected CDU voters, who have tired of the euro crisis and want to see a return to the Deutsche Mark.

If it gains a foothold in the national parliament, it could make it nearly impossible for the CDU to govern without a Grand Coalition between Ms Merkel's CDU and the opposition SPD.

That was the outcome after the election in 2005 when Ms Merkel first became chancellor, but her relationship with the SPD leader Peer Steinbrueck has soured since he was her first finance minister.

That red/black combination is the one most favoured by German voters, but not by the parties' top brass.

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Super Typhoon Usagi: Winds Could Reach 180mph

Communities in southeast Asia have been warned a super typhoon bearing down on the region could potentially be "very destructive".

Usagi, the most powerful cyclone of 2013 so far, could unleash gusts of 180mph, as well as torrential rain and tidal surges, on the Philippines and Taiwan.

A boy clings to rocks in Manila Bay in rough seas brought by Usagi

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and ferry services cancelled, while the Red Cross has begun stockpiling first aid kits and food packs.

In Taiwan, more than 1,600 soldiers have been deployed to areas most at risk of flooding and a further 24,000 remain on standby.

Dark clouds loom over Navotas City in the Philippines as Usagi passes by

A spokesman for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration warned damage could be "very heavy".

"The situation is potentially very destructive to communities," he said. "All travel and outdoor activities should be cancelled."

A man uses a makeshift raft to paddle through waves in Manila Bay

Usagi, which is more than 1,000km (620 miles) in diameter, was upgraded to a super typhoon as it roared towards the Luzon Strait dividing the Philippines and Taiwan.

The cyclone's northeast quadrant, which usually packs the strongest winds, is expected to clip Taiwan's southern tip as it moves westwards.

Super typhoon Usagi is moving westwards towards the Vietnamese coast

In China, 23,000 fishing boats have already taken shelter in Fujian province, after the country's meteorological authority upgraded its typhoon warning to orange, the second highest level.

The storm is expected to weaken as it moves towards Hong Kong, although officials  warned the weather would "deteriorate significantly, with strengthening winds and rough seas".

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Syria Hands Over Chemical Weapons Details

The world's chemical weapons watchdog is examining details of Syria's toxic weapons programme handed over by Bashar al Assad's regime.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the body tasked with dismantling Syria's stockpile of nerve agents, said the Syrian government had given an "initial declaration" outlining the extent of its arsenal.

It would not release the details of the declaration and is now seeking to verify what has been outlined.

OPCW is looking at ways to fast-track moves to secure and destroy Syria's arsenal of poison gas and nerve agents as well as its production facilities.

Under a US/Russia agreement brokered last weekend, under which Syria is expected to put its chemical weapons stocks under international control, inspectors are due to be on the ground in Syria by November.

However, on Thursday Russia's President Vladimir Putin conceded he could not be 100% certain that his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al Assad, would fully give up his deadly weapons stash.

Mr Assad says the US should foot the bill for destroying chemical weapons

American officials said last week that the US and Russia agreed that Syria had roughly 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons agents and precursors, including blister agents, such as sulfur and mustard gas and nerve agents like sarin.

OPCW postponed a meeting of its executive council, which was due to take place on Sunday, at which it was to discuss how to dismantle the country's chemical weapons programme.

The body said it would set another date for the meeting.

In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Mr Assad said he was committed to destroying his stockpile of chemical arms - but warned it would take a year to do so and coast at least £600m ($1bn).

A man suffering the affects of the sarin attack on August 21

He said: "It needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion (US dollars). If the American administration is ready to pay those money, and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

UN weapons inspectors on Tuesday released a report in which they said there was "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used in an attack in Damascus on August 21.

According to reports and chilling pictures of the horrific attack, 1,400 people were killed, including scores of children.

In their 38-page report, the UN inspectors said chemical weapons had been used on a "relatively large scale".

Rockets tested at the attack site were found to contain sarin, while the area in which they landed was contaminated with the deadly gas.

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Rhino Poaching Deaths Set For Record High

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, in the Eastern Cape

The number of rhinos killed in South Africa looks set to exceed last year's record total.

With just three months left in 2013, the number of rhinos killed is more than 500 and appears almost certain to top 2012's death toll of 668.

The South African Government has already sent in the military to the country's flagship game reserve, the Kruger National Park, to help in the fight against poaching.

There is also a plethora of independently-funded efforts to save the animal which faces extinction for the second time in a century.

One man doing his fair share is veterinarian Dr William Fowlds who is the founder of Rhino Lifeline and managed to persuade the South African bank Investec to help financially support his efforts.

Veterinarians work with a rhino injured by poachers

The Investec cash has helped pay for helicopters and medical supplies so Dr Fowlds can track rhinos from the air, fire tranquilisers into them, then drill tiny holes in their horns into which chips are inserted so the rangers can keep track of them.

DNA is also taken and stored on the national database in Pretoria.

:: Warning: The video on this story shows animals in distress and receiving medical treatment.

Dr Fowlds was the first vet on the scene when three rhinos were attacked by poachers 18 months ago on the Kariega Game Reserve. One was so badly mutilated, he died hours later.

But somehow Dr Fowlds' prompt work managed to bring the other two back from the brink.

The rangers were traumatised by the sight of these animals with their horns and part of their faces ripped off by the poachers.

They were lying motionless, heavily tranquilised by the thieves. Dr Fowlds set about injecting them with antibiotics, pain-killers and vitamins and tidied their wounds.

Dr William Fowlds is the founder of Rhino Lifeline

They were named Thandi and Themba and the vet team worked frantically to save the two of them. But 24 days later, Themba was found drowned in a waterhole.

Internal injuries were to blame. The vet team was distraught. Dr Fowlds was determined he wasn't going to lose Thandi too.

He performed procedure after procedure on the animal, even performing pioneering skin graft operations on the rhino, snipping skin away from behind her ear and growing it over the bloody hole where the horn had been.

Less than two years on, Thandi is alive and has a new mate. Her mate's horn has had to be cut off to try to protect her from his amorous advances but they are both alive and far less of a poachers' target.

The story of Thandi's survival is well known to South Africans who responded in their hundreds with money and offers of help when the news of Thandi and Themba was first reported.

"Thandi's will to survive has been inspirational," Dr Fowlds told Sky News.

"We would never have put her through all those procedures if she hadn't shown us that. I don't think I have ever come across any animal with such a desire to live. And that's what the world needs to know. These animals want to live and we need to help them."

:: Read the second part of Alex Crawford's report this Sunday as she looks at the drastic protection measures introduced in an attempt to save rhinos from poachers in South Africa.

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Assad 'Is At Stalemate And Wants Ceasefire'

Bashar al Assad's forces are at a stalemate with rebels and the government will soon call for a ceasefire, Syria's deputy prime minister has said.

Speaking on behalf of the Government, Qadri Jamil told The Guardian that neither side was strong enough to win the two year conflict.

"Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side," he said. "This zero balance of forces will not change for a while."

He added that the Syrian economy had lost about $100bn (£62bn) during the war, which has killed more than 100,000 people.

Qadri Jamil said the Syrian economy has collapsed due to the war

Mr Jamil said a ceasefire would be called for at a long-delayed conference in Geneva.

However, leaders of the armed opposition have repeatedly refused to go to what it called Geneva Two unless Mr Assad resigns.

His comments came as US Secretary of State John Kerry said "It is a fact" Mr Assad was responsible for August's chemical weapons attack in Damascus.

He said a UN report was "unequivocal" in its conclusion that the sarin gas attack bore the trace of the regime.

Last week the US and Russia hammered out a deal for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, which America, France and the UK now want enshrined in a United Nations resolution.

A member of the Free Syrian Army holds an RPG launcher

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he cannot be 100% certain that Syria will carry out its commitments to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles.

"Will we be able to accomplish it all? I cannot be 100% sure about it," he told a news conference.

"But everything we have seen so far in recent days gives us confidence that this will happen ... I hope so."

Mr Putin, who has been Mr Assad's staunchest ally, said he had strong grounds to believe the chemical attack outside Damascus on August 21, which is believed to have killed 1,400 people, was staged by opponents of the Syrian government.

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Chicago Park Shooting: Child Among 12 Injured

Twelve people, including a three-year-old child, have been shot in a park in Chicago.

It is thought the attack happened in the Back of the Yards neighbourhood on the city's South Side at 10.15pm on Thursday.

Chicago Fire Department officials said the child was in a critical condition, as are two of the other victims.

"We had multiple victims shot, who were transported to various hospitals throughout the city," said James Mungovan, deputy district chief of the Chicago Fire Department.

Detectives at a sealed off basketball court

No one is believed to be in custody.

Witness Julian Harris told the Chicago Sun-Times that men fired at him from a grey sedan before turning towards Cornell Square Park and firing at people in the area.

He said his three-year-old nephew was wounded in the cheek.

He said: "They hit the light pole next to me, but I ducked down and ran into the house.

"They've been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night, just gang-banging stuff. It's what they do."

Francis John, 70, said she was in her apartment when the attack happened.

Chicago has recently been named America's murder capital

She said she went down to see what was going on and "a lot of youngsters were running scared".

Ms John said she was surprised by what had happened, saying she has lived in the area for 30 years.

She told the Chicago Sun-Times there has not been much gun violence in the neighbourhood in recent years.

FBI figures have shown that Chicago has overtaken New York to become the murder capital of the US with 500 deaths in the last year.

President Barack Obama returned to his adopted hometown earlier this year to appeal for an end to the "senseless" gun violence ravaging Chicago.

He pressed for ambitious gun control measures, which so far have been stalled in the US Congress.

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Assad To Destroy Chemical Weapons 'In A Year'

Syrian leader Bashar al Assad has said he is committed to destroying his stockpile of chemical arms - but warned it would take a year to do so.

In an interview with Fox News, Mr Assad said he was committed to getting rid of the arsenal but conceded it would cost at least £600m ($1bn).

And he also challenged America to foot the bill.

"It needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion (US dollars)," he told the US crew at the presidential palace in Damascus.

"If the American administration is ready to pay those money, and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

Mr Assad also insisted that his decision to destroy the weapons was not forced upon him by the threat of US strikes.

He said destroying the weapons was "a very complicated operation, technically".

"So it depends, you have to ask the experts what they mean by quickly. It has a certain schedule," he said.

"It needs a year, or maybe a little bit more."

Mr Assad also said a UN report that found "clear and convincing evidence" of a sarin nerve gas attack in Syria last month is "unrealistic", and denied responsibility for it.

"Sarin gas is called kitchen gas," he said.

Mr Assad denied responsibility for the gas attack. Picture: Fox News

"You know why? Because anybody can make sarin in his house. Any rebel can make sarin.

"Second, we know that all the rebels are supported by governments. So any government that would have such chemical can hand it over."

He also used the one-hour interview to criticise the American stance in the Syrian crisis.

He said that, unlike Russia, Washington had tried to get involved in Syria's leadership and governance.

Mr Assad's comments came after a senior Russian diplomat said Damascus would stick to its commitment to eliminate its chemical weapons by mid-2014.

After talks in Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Mr Assad was "very serious" about the disarmament plan.

Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain has penned an opinion piece in Russian media in which he criticises Russian President Vladimir Putin's close ties with the Assad regime.

Mr McCain's column was in response to Mr Putin's piece in The New York Times last week.

In his widely quoted piece, Mr Putin criticised Barack Obama's plan to bomb Syria, demanded that Moscow's plan to secure Syria's chemical weapon stockpiles be given time to work and slammed Washington for "relying solely on brute force" to conduct its international affairs.

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Egypt Troops Surround Kerdasah After Gun Battle

Egyptian troops backed by helicopters have encircled an Islamist stronghold after exchanging gunfire with suspected militants who killed a senior police officer.

General Nabil Farag was shot dead as troops stormed into the Kerdasah district to arrest people accused of torching a police station and killing 11 security officers in August, according to state TV.

State news agency MENA said Gen Farag, an aide to the police chief of Giza city, was killed on the outskirts of the town by "terrorists and criminal elements".

Security sources said dozens of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades had been seized and 15 arrests were made as police hunted 140 wanted people.

Interior ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said: "The security forces will not retreat until (Kerdasah) is cleansed of all terrorist and criminal nests."

Footage broadcast by the privately-owned Mihwar TV channel showed armoured personnel carriers, police and soldiers in the streets.

Security forces reportedly imposed a curfew of the area, which police had effectively been barred from entering for almost two months following violence over the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi.

Cairo authorities also briefly shut several lines on the metro system after two unexploded bombs were found on the tracks 100m from Helmeyet el Zaytoun station in the northeast of the city.

The Interior Ministry later said the bombs were "fake", AFP reported.

Mr Morsi's exit was triggered by mass protests that led to counter-protests nationwide.

Violence between his supporters and security forces included large-scale attacks on police stations, individual security officers and churches.

At least 1,000 people have died in the violence with most deaths coming during the security forces' dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo on August 14.

About 100 police officers also died in the clashes.

Nearly 2,000 Islamist activists and politicians have been arrested since Mr Morsi was forced from office.

Kerdasah, known for producing and selling fancy fabrics is 14km from Cairo and known to be an Islamist stronghold.

Residents of the area said on Wednesday they were not in control but do not want police there.

"We don't trust them as we know they will come to arrest people we know and respect whom they blame on the violence that we know was done by outsiders, not by our respectable sheikhs," Ahmed Aly said.

Egyptian security forces had last Monday stormed the town of Delga in Minya province, about 300km south of Cairo, clearing barricades set up by Mr Morsi's supporters there who were almost in control of the town.

Some 56 residents were arrested.

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McCain To Russia: 'Putin Doesn't Respect You'

Vladimir Putin's Letter To America

Updated: 1:25pm UK, Thursday 12 September 2013

By Vladimir Putin, Russian President, for The New York Times

Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the Cold War. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organisation - the United Nations - was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations' founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America's consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorisation.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the Pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders.

A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government.

The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organisations. This internal conflict, fuelled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today's complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos.

The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defence or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack - this time against Israel - cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America's long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan "you're either with us or against us".

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen non-proliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilised diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government's willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction.

Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president's interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States' policy is "what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional".

It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

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Tony Abbott Sworn In As Australia PM

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

Australia's third prime minister in as many months has been sworn in at a ceremony in the nation's capital, Canberra.

Centre-right conservative politician Tony Abbott officially became Australia's 28th prime minister amid criticism over his cabinet, which has just one woman.

In the 19-strong front-bench the sole woman is Julie Bishop, the foreign minister. The previous Labour government had six women in cabinet.

In the past questions have been asked about Mr Abbott's attitude to women - he was famously called a misogynist in a speech in Parliament last year by Australia's first female prime minister, Julia Gillard.

He responded to the criticism by saying: "Plainly I am disappointed that there are not at least two women in the cabinet.

"Nevertheless there are some very good and talented women knocking on the door of the cabinet and there are lots of good and talented women knocking on the door of the ministry, so I think you can expect to see, as time goes by, more women in both the cabinet and the ministry."

The new Prime Minister promised immediate action to slow the stream of asylum seekers arriving by boats from Indonesia and to repeal an unpopular carbon tax levied by the previous administration.

Both issues were key policies during Mr Abbott's election campaign.

"Today is not just a ceremonial day, it's an action day. The Australian people expect us to get straight down to business and that's exactly what this government will do," Mr Abbott said.

"It's so important that we send a message to the people-smugglers that, from today, their business model is coming to an end."

Mr Abbott poses with the members of his new cabinet

Mr Abbott's Liberal Party defeated former prime minister Kevin Rudd's centre-left Labor Party earlier this month.

He said: "We are determined to honour our commitments to scrap the carbon tax, to stop the boats, to get the budget under control and to build the roads of the 21st century.

"We aim to be a calm, measured, steady and purposeful government that says what it means and does what it says."

Australia has seen an increase in the number of such asylum-seekers from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Vietnam and other countries, many of whom pay smugglers up to $10,000 (£6,000) to get them to Australia from Indonesian ports.

The incoming government has announced a former army chief will oversee the issue.

As well as turning boats round before they reach Australia, the new policy includes a scheme to buy fishing boats before they fall into the hands of people smugglers.

Australian officials would also pay villages for information about people smugglers under another controversial aspect to the policy.

Refugees who arrive by boat will also be given temporary protection visas from Wednesday instead of being permanently resettled in Australia.

Mr Abbott, whose cabinet met for the first time shortly after the swearing in ceremony, also plans to scrap as soon as possible a controversial carbon tax.

It taxed Australia's biggest polluters, but was of a concern to many householders who believed it was causing fuel bills to increase.

His government instead favours a "direct action" plan that includes an emissions reduction fund to pay companies to increase their energy efficiency, and money for schemes to replenish soil carbon and plant 20 million trees.

Mr Abbott, who once said that evidence blaming mankind for climate change was "absolute crap", said he would immediately instruct officials "to prepare the carbon tax repeal legislation".

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Mexico Storms: Tourists Evacuate Acapulco

Emergency flights are starting to evacuate some of the 40,000 tourists who have been left stranded at a Mexican holiday resort cut off by floods.

Landslides, rockslides, floodwaters and collapsed bridges severed links to Acapulco after Tropical Storm Manuel hit the coast on Sunday.

Thousands of stranded tourists lined up outside an air force base north of the city to try to get a seat on one of a handful of planes flying to Mexico City.

Families dressed in shorts and sandals stood for up to eight hours outside the base as they waited for a flight.

As well as two passengers planes being used in the evacuation operation, the army has pressed five helicopters and seven cargo aircraft into service.

Acapulco's international airport is swamped by floodwaters

Some flights were also being operated out of the swamped international airport by two of Mexico's largest airlines, Aeromexico and Interjet.

Priority was being given to those with tickets, the elderly and families with young children.

Passengers were being taken directly to the runway from a concert hall which is being used as a shelter and operations centre for the airport.

"We're deciding whether we return by plane or wait for the road to open, but the problem is food," Andres Guerra Gutierrez, a Mexico City resident with 14 family members, said as he waited in line.

Guerrero state's government said 40,000 tourists were stuck in the city, but the head of the local chamber of business owners said reports from hotels indicated the number could be as high as 60,000.

The military is helping with the relief effort

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was aware of the problems being caused to British tourists by the storms.

A statement said: "We are in close contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance to British nationals in the affected area.

"British people who require assistance should contact the British embassy in Mexico City."

David Jefferson Gled, a 28-year-old from Bristol, who teaches English at a private school in Mexico City, said: "It's probably one of the worst holidays I've ever been on.

"It wasn't really a holiday, more of an incarceration."

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told Radio Formula that 27 people had been killed in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.

Up to 60,000 tourists are believed to be in Acapulco

Another 20 people have died across the country, many as a result of former hurricane Ingrid, which struck the Gulf coast on Monday.

It is the first time since 1958 that two storms have hit both the country's coasts within 24 hours, according to meteorologists.

Many parts of Acapulco are without water or electricity, with knee-deep floodwaters inside the city's airports.

Federal officials said it could take two more days to open the main road to the city, which was hit by more than 13 landslides during heavy rain, and to bring supplies to the more than 800,000 people in Acapulco.

The US National Hurricane Centre said Manuel was expected to strengthen near resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula.

More than 23,000 people have fled their homes in the state and at least 20 highways and 12 bridges have been damaged.

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Syria: New Evidence 'Implicates Rebels'

Syria has handed Russia new materials which it claims implicate rebels in a chemical attack in Damascus, says a Russian minister.

"The corresponding materials were handed to the Russian side," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"We were told that they were evidence that the rebels are implicated in the chemical attack."

Speaking to Russia's state news agency RIA, Mr Ryabkov also said his country had serious reservations about the United Nations report into the August 21 attack.

"We are disappointed, to put it mildly, about the approach taken by the UN secretariat and the UN inspectors, who prepared the report selectively and incompletely.

"Without receiving a full picture of what is happening here, it is impossible to call the nature of the conclusions reached by the UN experts ... anything but politicised, preconceived and one-sided," he said.

Mr Ryabkov was talking after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Damascus.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the report's findings were "indisputable"

The UN report into the attack, which was published earlier this week, said chemical weapons had been used on a "relatively large scale".

It did not lay any blame for the atrocity, but the US, France and the UK all believe that it shows the Syrian regime was responsible.

Rockets tested at the attack site in Damascus were found to contain sarin, while the area in which they landed was contaminated with the deadly gas.

Blood and urine samples taken from patients injured in the attack tested positive for the nerve agent, while survivors said they had experienced symptoms including loss of consciousness, shortness of breath and blurred vision, all of which are consistent with intoxication.

Photographs taken by the inspectors also appeared to show possible Cyrillic, or Russian, engravings on one of the rocket casings.

Speaking at the publication of the report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it gave "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used and described the incident as a "war crime".

The US believes more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack but some other estimates are lower. The Syrian regime maintains that rebel forces were to blame.

Russia, a close ally of Syria's, has strongly opposed threatened US air strikes against the Assad regime.

More follows...

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Costa Concordia Salvage Operation Completed

By Tom Kington, on Giglio

Twenty months after it capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people, the Costa Concordia has risen from the Mediterranean after a successful £500m salvage operation

Dozens of giant pulleys hauled the cruise ship back to an upright position in a 19-hour operation, exposing a section of the white ship's exterior that was stained by rust and algae after months under water.

By 4am on Tuesday, the 950-foot-long, 114,000-ton vessel had been pulled through 65 degrees to stand on a bed of over 1,000 concrete sacks and six huge underwater platforms.

Italy's civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli speaking at a late night press conference on Giglio, where he was applauded and cheered by residents, said: "The rotation has finished its course, we are at zero degrees, the ship is resting on the platforms."

The image shows how the ship was righted overnight

Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer working on the salvage for ship owner Costa Cruises, said: "It could not have gone better than this. It was a perfect operation."

The Costa Concordia grounded near the port of Giglio in January 2012 after its captain, Francesco Schettino, smashed it into coastal rock during a so-called "sail past".

He is now standing trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning his ship.

The ship eventually stood on 1,000 concrete sacks and underwater platforms

Some 4,200 passengers and crew scrambled into lifeboats or plunged into shallow water after the ship ran aground and came to rest impaled on its side on two underwater outcrops of granite.

As it rose out of the water in the early hours of Tuesday, two large indentations could be seen on the side of the ship where it had been pinioned on the rocks.

After the operation started on Monday morning, 6,000 tons of pressure were required to pull the ship free from the rock, which had penetrated 18ft into the hull.

The ship was tilted heavily on its side before the operation

The ship was then slowly turned through the afternoon until 11 massive metal boxes welded to the exposed side of the ship, some the height of 11-storey buildings, splashed into the water.

By midnight, salvage workers were able to switch off the pulleys and open valves in the boxes to allow water in at 1,000 cubic feet a minute, adding the necessary ballast to bring the ship down onto the platforms.

When the ship is deemed stable, metal boxes will also be added to the formerly submerged side of the ship. Then, water will be pumped out of the boxes, floating the vessel so it can be  towed next spring to a port, probably on the Italian mainland, for breaking up.

More than 30 people were killed when the ship hit rocks

Mr Porcellacchia said: "We have already looked at the side of the ship to see where the boxes will go and we will quantify the work to do. The starboard side looks pretty bad, as we expected."

Fears that a polluted slick of paint, residual fuel, small quantities of heavy metal and rotting food would emerge from the ship, proved unfounded, officials said on Tuesday.

Sergio Girotto, the project manager for Italian salvage firm Micoperi, which has managed the salvage with US firm Titan Salvage, said: "Now we will see what support and adjustments the ship needs."

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Beijing Airport 'Bomber' In Court On Stretcher

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, in Beijing

The one-day trial of a man who detonated a bomb at Beijing's international airport has taken place in the Chinese capital.

Ji Zhongxing, who is in a wheelchair, set off his homemade device at the arrivals hall of Beijing's International Airport on July 20.

Ji Zhongxing watches as CCTV footage of in incident is shown in court

He is accused of endangering public safety but claims the bomb was detonated accidentally.

He arrived at Chaoyang People's Court in the Chinese capital this morning in an ambulance and was stretchered into the courtroom.

During the trial, which lasted for three hours, he was shown the amateur video footage of the moment his bomb exploded.

In the footage, Ji is seen in his wheelchair sitting just outside the doors where arriving passengers emerge. He argues briefly with a policeman before the bomb explodes.

Remarkably, no one died. Ji himself was badly injured. However, he was already paralysed having been beaten up, allegedly by police, in 2005.

Eight years of being ignored had driven him to this extreme form of protest.

Outside court, which was closed to foreign media, his lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan explained his defence.

"The reason he brought a bomb to the airport was to draw attention to his case eight years ago when he was beaten and paralysed," Mr Liu told Sky News.

Ji Zhongxing was brought to court on a stretcher

"He was holding the bomb but not to commit suicide or even to detonate. When the police arrived, he detonated the bomb by accident."

Ji's father and brother had travelled from Guangdong Province in China's far south for the trial. They were visibly upset as they spoke to us.

"For the past eight years, I have been looking after him since the police paralysed him ... Nobody cared about him," his father said.

"I want the people who beat my brother to receive punishment for what they did. Our family is broken. My brother was about to get married. They broke my family," Ji's brother added.

Ji Zhongxing faces Chaoyang People's Court

The family are yet to receive any justice for Ji's beating. Instead, they watched in court as he was tried for his crime.

Outside, a small gathering of people used Ji's case and the presence of the media to highlight their own tragic stories.

Known as petitioners, they travel from all corners of China to the capital in the hope that someone, perhaps the central government, will listen to their grievances.

"Injustice, injustice ..." one tiny elderly woman screams. She is pulled away by man in a green T-shirt; a plain-clothes policeman.

All of them have their stories written down. One carries a photo of her daughter in her hand.

Cameras record the hearing but it was closed to foreign media

She says her daughter was raped and murdered, and the police, she claims, did nothing.

Another tells us her family house was pulled down by the authorities, a familiar problem in China as land is cleared for new housing.

The woman says her relative was killed in the process.

"We just want our rights," she tells me.

The formal verdict is expected later but Ji will be sentenced in the coming weeks. He will almost certainly be jailed.

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Navy Base Shooter Arrested Over Guns Before

A defence contractor and former Navy reservist who shot dead 12 people at a US naval yard had been arrested twice before for shooting incidents, it has emerged.

Aaron Alexis, 34, was killed in a gun battle with police following his rampage at the US Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington DC on Monday morning.

Alexis, from Forth Worth, Texas, was arrested over gun-related incidents in 2004 and 2010 in Fort Worth and Seattle and was described in police reports as "seething with anger".

The police report also said Alexis - who was discharged from the Navy in 2011 - had been traumatised by being present at the 9/11 attacks. 

Despite his run-ins with the law, Alexis had access to the highly secure Navy Yard as a defence contractor for IT giant Hewlett-Packard and used a valid pass to enter the base to carry out the shooting, the FBI said.

Police ruled out the possibility Alexis had an accomplice

Police have named seven of his 12 victims as Michael Arnold, 59; Sylvia Fraser, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Frank Kohler, 50; Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46, and Vishnu Pandit, 61.

Another eight people - including three who were shot - were also injured in the shooting.

Mayor Vincent Gray said the motive of the shooter - who appears to have acted alone - was not known.

But Mr Gray said there was no indication it was a terrorist attack, but that possibility had not been ruled out.

"This is a horrific tragedy," he said.

Alexis was discharged from the Navy in 2011

Seattle police said in May 2004 Alexis shot out the tyres of a car, claiming he had been traumatised by the 9/11 attacks.

According to the report, Alexis claimed men on a construction site had been mocking him and he had suffered an "anger-fuelled blackout".

The report said: "Alexis also told police he was present during 'the tragic events of September 11, 2001' and described how those events had disturbed him.

"Detectives later spoke with Alexis' father, who lived in New York at the time, who told police Alexis had anger management problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that Alexis had been an active participant in rescue attempts on September 11, 2001."

In April 2010, Alexis was arrested for shooting a bullet through his apartment ceiling in Fort Worth, according to a police report.

He claimed the weapon went off accidentally when he was cleaning it.

Alexis had been a full-time Navy reservist from 2007 to early 2011, leaving as a petty officer third class, the Navy said.

The Navy did not say why he left, but his four-year stint in the Navy was reportedly troubled.

A helicopter evacuates a man from the base during the shooting

After being discharged, Alexis - a convert to Buddhism who grew up in New York City - worked as a waiter and delivery driver at a Thai restaurant in Fort Worth.

At the time of the rampage, Alexis was employed as an IT subcontractor for a company called The Experts, which was working on a Hewlett-Packard contract to upgrade equipment for an intranet network used by the US Marine Corps and Navy, HP said in a statement.  

It was unclear if the military or HP had been aware of Alexis' brushes with the law, including reportedly two shooting incidents, before he was hired for the IT job.

Witnesses said the gunman opened fire from the fourth floor of Building 197 at the sprawling naval yard at around 8.20am on Monday as people arrived for work.

The shooting happened as people arrived for work at the naval yard

He was carrying three weapons during the shooting - an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene, officials said.

"It's unbelievable that someone could get a rifle in there," David Stevens, a Navy contractor who was on the third floor of Building 197 when the shooting began, told The Washington Post.

The shooting sparked a massive show of force as police and federal agents descended on the Navy Yard, which is less than 3km (2 miles) from the Capitol.

Flights out of the nearby Reagan National Airport were briefly delayed and several schools were locked down.

The US Senate adjourned for the day as a precaution.

Alexis's brother-in-law Mr Little spoke outside the Alexis home in Brooklyn

Outside the Alexis family home in Brooklyn, Alexis's brother-in-law Anthony Little said his relatives were distraught.

"Very stressed out. Tears. You know they just didn't see it coming, it's very hurtful. And their hearts are going out more to the victims who got hurt because you know it's more lives lost and we don't need that right now," Mr Little said.

US President Barack Obama lamented "yet another mass shooting" in America and paid tribute to the rapid response of emergency personnel on the scene.

In the confusion, police said around midday on Monday that they were searching for two accomplices who may have taken part in the attack.

But as the day wore on, police dropped the others as suspects.

Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said: "We do feel comfortable we have the single and sole person responsible for the loss of life on the base."

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Turkey: Police And Protesters In New Clashes

Riot police fired rubber bullets and water cannon at thousands of anti-government protesters overnight in two Turkish cities.

In the Kadikoy district of Istanbul a rally began peacefully with a series of concerts, but as night fell chaos erupted when police charged at protesters who wanted to march to the ruling AK Party's headquarters.

Protesters set fire to barricades in the street while police tried to control the crowd by firing plastic bullets and tear gas.

Several demonstrators were arrested and an elderly man was taken to hospital.

Meanwhile, demonstrators and riot police faced off for a sixth straight night in the southern city of Antakya in Hatay Province, near the border with Syria.

Police used gas canisters on the protesters, who had blocked off a street with barricades that were set on fire.

Thousands took to the streets in downtown Istanbul

They later moved in with water cannon to extinguish the flames.

There have been ongoing but relatively minor protests across Turkey since the major clashes of three to four months ago.

But anger intensified again last week after a 22-year-old man, Ahmet Atakan, died during clashes between demonstrators and the police in Antakya.

Mr Atakan died after falling from a building, but investigations are ongoing.

His family claim he was hit by a gas canister while police deny responsibility for his death.

The latest unrest comes six months before local elections, the start of a voting cycle which also includes a presidential election next August - in which Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is expected to run - and parliamentary polls in 2015.

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Costa Concordia Salvage Operation Under Way

By Tom Kington, in Giglio

Salvage officials have begun the mammoth task of righting the crippled Costa Concordia as jacks hoist it off rocks near the Tuscany coast.

The operation was delayed by about three hours due to bad weather, and began at 9am (8am UK time).

"All checks have been carried out and the operation has begun," said Fabrizio Curcio, the deputy Civil Protection chief.

The rescue effort will see the giant ship gradually rotated and rolled upright.

It is expected to last up to 12 hours, taking it into Monday evening. Engineers say the lifting can continue after darkness falls.

The officials have warned the stranded vessel will bend and suffer enormous internal damage during the €600m (£503m) operation, known as "parbuckling".

Five hundred engineers and divers are working on the salvage

But they are confident the ship's hull will remain intact as 56 massive chains tighten around it, avoiding the nightmare scenario of the 114,000-ton vessel shattering and spilling its contents into the waters around the Italian island of Giglio.

Sergio Girotto, project manager for Micoperi, the Italian firm that has teamed up with US company Titan to raise the Concordia, said: "The ship will probably bend during the operation and metal inside will buckle.

"We have 12,000 tons of pressure to use, which would lift two Eiffel Towers, but I hope we will only need 5,000 or 6,000."

The cruise liner capsized in shallow water 20 months ago after smashing into rock, prompting the chaotic evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew, and causing the deaths of 32 people.

Experts have said there is little danger of pollution

Two bodies are still missing, and officials hope they will now be found.

Much will depend on how firmly the ship is wedged onto two pinnacles of underwater granite where it came to rest on the night of January 13, 2012.

The two outcrops, which are embedded six metres into the hull of the ship, are the great unknown at the heart of the operation, which will see the ship hoisted by jacks on to a bed of 1,000 cement bags and six underwater platforms bigger than a football pitch.

Franco Gabrielli, who has supervised the Italian government's role in the operation, told reporters ahead of the salvage attempt that the operation had a 100% chance of success.

The ship is due to be hauled 65 degrees back to upright position.

Within the first hour or two, the ship should be wrenched free from the two granite outcrops it is impaled on, said Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer working on the salvage for ship owner Costa Cruises.

Four to five hours will then be needed to pull the ship upwards before gravity takes over, and its final descent into an upright position, also taking four to five hours, is controlled by adjusting the buoyancy of the massive metal tanks attached to its sides.

A 12-man team will control the pulleys and tanks from a barge close to the wreck.

Marine biologist Giandomenico Ardizzone, who has been monitoring the sea bed for the ship's operator Costa Crociere, said he had dived under the vessel on Saturday to fix cameras on the points where the rocks plunge into the hull.

"We have been told to get ready for loud noises during the lifting," said Mr Ardizzone.

How the ship will look if it is successfully righted

He added that 29,000 tons of water will pour out of the ship as it is pulled upright, and an even greater amount, 43,000 tons, will enter the ship.

"That means less of the ship will be visible out of the water after the parbuckling," he said.

What does come out will be polluted water that has swilled inside the ship for months in a mix of residual fuels, heavy metals and rotten food, including more than three tons of melon, 500 litres of olive oil, 14,000 packets of cigarettes, 18,000 bottles of wine, eight tons of beef and over 11 tons of fish.

Mr Ardizzone said the quantities of heavy metals and fuels were too small to create concern for the surrounding protected marine park, a view shared by Maria Sargentini, the head of a public commission set up to monitor the operation.

However, an Italian navy patrol ship, the Cassiopea, which specialises in pollution control, was stationed off the coast of Giglio in case any pollutants spill from the Costa Concordia.

Officials also played down reports that a large cloud of stinking gas would be released from the ship as the rotting food emerges.

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Syria: West Seeks 'Precise Timetable' On Deal

Doctors' Plea For Syria Medical Aid

Updated: 7:15am UK, Monday 16 September 2013

British doctors have written an open letter in the Lancet medical journal calling for attacks on hospitals and medics to halt in Syria. This is the letter in full:

The conflict in Syria has led to what is arguably one of the world's worst humanitarian crises since the end of the Cold War.

An estimated 100 000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, and many more have been wounded, tortured, or abused.

Millions have been driven from their homes, families have been divided, and entire communities torn apart; we must not let considerations of military intervention destroy our ability to focus on getting them help.

As doctors and medical professionals from around the world, the scale of this emergency leaves us horrified.

We are appalled by the lack of access to health care for affected civilians, and by the deliberate targeting of medical facilities and personnel.

It is our professional, ethical, and moral duty to provide treatment and care to anyone in need.

When we cannot do so personally, we are obliged to speak out in support of those risking their lives to provide life-saving assistance.

Systematic assaults on medical professionals, facilities, and patients are breaking Syria's health-care system and making it nearly impossible for civilians to receive essential medical services.

According to WHO, 37% of Syrian hospitals have been destroyed and a further 20% severely damaged.

Makeshift clinics have become fully fledged trauma centres struggling to cope with the injured and sick.

According to the Violations Documentation Centre, an estimated 469 health workers are currently imprisoned, and about 15 000 doctors have been forced to flee abroad according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Of the 5,000 physicians in Aleppo before the conflict started, only 36 remain.

The targeted attacks on medical facilities and personnel are deliberate and systematic, not an inevitable nor acceptable consequence of armed conflict.

Such attacks are an unconscionable betrayal of the principle of medical neutrality.

The number of people requiring medical assistance is increasing exponentially, as a direct result of conflict and indirectly because of the deterioration of a once-sophisticated public health system and the lack of adequate curative and preventive care.

Horrific injuries are going untended; women are giving birth with no medical assistance; men, women, and children are undergoing life-saving surgery without anaesthetic; and victims of sexual violence have nowhere to turn to.

The Syrian population is vulnerable to outbreaks of hepatitis, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.

The lack of medical pharmaceuticals has already exacerbated an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a severe infectious skin disease that can cause serious disability, there has been an alarming increase in cases of acute diarrhoea, and in June aid agencies reported a measles epidemic sweeping through districts of northern Syria.

In some areas, children born since the conflict started have had no vaccinations, meaning that conditions for an epidemic, which have no respect for national borders, are ripe.

With the Syrian health system at breaking point, patients battling chronic illnesses including cancer, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, and requiring long-term medical assistance have nowhere to turn for essential medical care.

The majority of medical assistance is being delivered by Syrian medical personnel but they are struggling in the face of massive need and dangerous conditions.

Governmental restrictions, coupled with inflexibility and bureaucracy in the international aid system, is making things worse.

As a result, large parts of Syria are completely cut off from any form of medical assistance.

Medical professionals are required to treat anyone in need to the best of their ability. Any wounded or sick person must be allowed access to medical treatment.

As doctors and health professionals we urgently demand that medical colleagues in Syria be allowed and supported to treat patients, save lives, and alleviate suffering without the fear of attacks or reprisals.

To alleviate the effect on civilians of this conflict and of the deliberate attacks on the health-care system, and to support our medical colleagues, we call on the Syrian Government and all armed parties to refrain from attacking hospitals, ambulances, medical facilities and supplies, health professionals and patients; allow access to treatment for any patient; and hold perpetrators of such violations accountable according to internationally recognised legal standards.

We call on all armed parties to respect the proper functions of medical professionals and medical neutrality by allowing medical professionals to treat anyone in need of medical care and not interfering with the proper operation of health-care facilities.

Governments that support parties to this civil war should demand that all armed actors immediately halt attacks on medical personnel, facilities, patients, and medical supplies and allow medical supplies and care to reach Syrians, whether crossing front lines or across Syria's borders.

We call on the UN and international donors to increase support to Syrian medical networks, in both government and opposition areas, where, since the beginning of the conflict, health professionals have been risking their lives to provide essential services in an extremely hostile environment.

We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

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Peru Drugs: Melissa Reid 'To Plead Guilty'

Why Peru Became The Cocaine Hotspot

Updated: 2:26am UK, Sunday 15 September 2013

By Pete Norman, Sky News Online

Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's leading cocaine producer, according to experts.

Home to the ancient Inca civilisation, Peru is rugged, remote and the ultimate source of the mighty Amazon river.

It is also home to a long-running guerrilla campaign by the leftist Shining Path group.

While urban and coastal inhabitants have benefited greatly from market-focused economic development since the early 1980s, when military rule ended, the rural poor have gained little.

Its hilly, isolated and fertile regions are home to the guerrillas, who rely on cocaine production, hostage-taking and corruption for funds.

According to the CIA, Peru was the world's largest coca leaf producer until 1996, when neighbouring Colombia took the lead.

It says that in 2009 Peru had 100,000 acres under coca leaf production compared to Colombia's 286,000 acres - with the potential to produce 225 metric tons of pure cocaine.

US-supported efforts to reduce or eradicate coca leaf in Colombia have now tipped the scales of production towards Peru.

Aerial spraying of herbicide in Colombia has affected coca crops covering 250,000 acres while manual eradication has been done on another 150,000 acres.

The UN has said Colombia reduced its area under coca cultivation by 25% in 2012 - the biggest annual reduction since the international body began monitoring it in 2001.

Around 30 Britons are now in Peruvian prisons on drug-related convictions, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime is expected to release its official 2012 Peru coca crop estimate in September.

Its World Drug Report 2011 said that although the area under coca leaf production was around 75% of the 1990 area, the current yield might be up to a third greater.

While Colombia still supplies virtually all of North America's cocaine, the CIA said much of the drug exported from Peru through land, air and sea routes is destined for Europe and other markets.

North America and Europe cocaine consumption has stabilised in recent years while growth has increased in Oceania and Asia Pacific regions.

It said: "Finished cocaine is shipped out from Pacific ports to the international drug market, (while) increasing amounts of base and finished cocaine, however, are being moved to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia for … trans-shipment to Europe and Africa."

Smaller quantities are carried through air routes by so-called drug mules, while larger loads travel by sea to west Africa prior to distribution throughout Europe.

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Syria: US Strike Threat Remains If Plan Fails

US President Barack Obama has indicated that the threat of military action remains should Syria fail to comply with a plan to destroy its chemical weapons.

Mr Obama welcomed the newly-brokered US and Russian plan, calling it an "important, concrete step", but warned that "if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act".

In a statement, he said the diplomatic solution was working partly due to America's "credible threat" of military force.

Earlier he told the US public, in a television address, that the country would "maintain our military posture in the region to keep the pressure on the Assad regime".

The US and Russia have given Syria one week to submit a "comprehensive list" of its chemical weapons stockpiles - otherwise, the US will seek a UN resolution that could still authorise strikes.

The US says last month's alleged gas attack killed more than 1,400 people

On their final day of talks in Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that once the details had been handed over the Assad regime would have until November to allow UN inspectors access to the sites.

Destruction of the regime's chemical weapons must then be complete by mid-2014.

Syria has previously said it would need a month to hand over initial details of its weapons stash.

The disarmament plan - instigated by Russia - managed to avert a planned US Congress vote on potential military strikes earlier this week, which President Obama looked liked losing.

Speaking in Geneva, Secretary of State Kerry reiterated that he now expected no stalling tactics from Syria.

He said: "The world will now expect the Assad regime to live up to its commitments ... there can be no room for games. Or anything less than full compliance by the Assad regime ... Syria must allow immediate, unfettered access to chemical sites".

UN inspectors are due to deliver their report in the coming days

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also hailed the US-Russia agreement as "excellent" and said its significance was "hard to overestimate".

The rapport between the two men is seen by many experts as having played a crucial part in getting a difficult deal done.

Russia has long backed away from sanctioning the Syrian regime and strongly resists the possibility of military action.

Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry also told journalists their teams of experts had reached "a shared assessment" of President Bashar al Assad's existing stockpile.

The US has estimated that Syria possesses around 1,000 metric tonnes of various chemical agents, including mustard and sarin gas, sulfur and VX.

The Russian estimates were initially much lower, according to US officials, but Mr Kerry said the two countries had reconciled their different assessments.

A US official told reporters that Washington believed there were 45 sites across Syria linked to the country's chemical weapons programme.

France's Laurent Fabius will host more talks on the plan's implementation

"Roughly half have exploitable quantities of chemical weapons materials," the official said, adding that all of the sites were currently under the control of the government.

France, an important ally for the US in recent weeks, welcomed the chemical weapons deal.

"The draft agreement reached in Geneva about eliminating the Syrian regime's chemical weapons is an important step forward," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

Fabius said a Russia-U.S. deal to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons was an important first step and called for a political solution to address the mounting death toll in Syria.

He made the comments to reporters in Beijing after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Fabius will then hold more discussions on the plan's implementation on Monday, when Mr Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague travel to Paris.

Mr Hague said the UK government was also firmly behind the plan.

The war has claimed more than 100,000 lives and devastated some cities

He tweeted on Saturday: "Have spoken to Secretary Kerry. UK welcomes US-Russia agreement on #Syria chemical weapons. Urgent work on implementation now to take place."

He added: "The priority must now be full and prompt implementation of the agreement, to ensure the transfer of Syria's chemical weapons to international control.

"The onus is now on the Assad regime to comply with this agreement in full. The international community, including Russia, must hold the regime to account."

But influential US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said the agreement was a debacle.

In a joint statement, the two Republican lawmakers voiced fear that Washington's friends and foes alike will view the agreement as an "act of provocative weakness on America's part."

Syria's opposition also rejected the US-Russian initiative.

Speaking from Istanbul, the Free Syrian Army's chief said the move would not solve the crisis, claiming Assad's forces had been moving their chemical weapons stockpiles to Lebanon and Iraq over the last few days.

"We in the Free Syrian Army are unconcerned by the implementation of any part of the initiative ... I and my brothers in arms will continue to fight until the regime falls," General Selim Idriss said.

The alleged poison gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21 killed more than 1,400 people, according to the US government.

However, the Syrian regime has long denied the claims and says rebel forces were responsible.

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Syria Weapons Deal Boosts Putin's Profile

Between The Lines Of Putin's Letter

Updated: 3:04pm UK, Thursday 12 September 2013

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

The Russian President has again seized the initiative with his opinion piece in the New York Times in which he speaks "directly to the American people and their political leaders".

By the latter I assume he means members of Congress and not President Barack Obama.

He makes a tightly argued, albeit debatable, case against US air strikes on Syria and pushes several buttons designed to resonate with the American people and political class:

(Text of Putin article in italics, comments by Tim Marshall in bold):

"The potential strike by the United States against Syria ... will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders."

He then says the pre-Second World War version of the UN became irrelevant and collapsed, hinting that unless everything Syria related goes through the UN, it will suffer the same fate.

This is a riposte to the White House view that unless the UN signs up to action against Syria, it too will become irrelevant:

"No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorisation."

There follows a long section listing the dangers of a military intervention:

"The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the Pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders.

"A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance."

There are references to the al Qaeda-inspired groups operating in Syria made up of thousands of foreign fighters, and then a sentence which will sit uncomfortably with many Americans:

"Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan 'you're either with us or against us'."

He backs that up with references to three countries in the following paragraph - Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq - saying that intervention there has made things worse:

"But force has proved ineffective and pointless."

There is a hint that if the USA restrains itself in Syria, then Russia might cooperate elsewhere:

"If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues. My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust."

That might come as a surprise anyone who has seen the body language between the two men recently.

Finally, he takes on the argument made by President Obama about American "exceptionalism" - the idea that the US is the indispensable nation or, in layman's terms, the world's policeman:

"I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States' policy is 'what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional'. It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation."

The article ends by telling us that Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia. The V? It stands for Vladimirovich.

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