Syria Hands Over Chemical Weapons Details

The Assad regime has given details of its toxic weapons programme to the world's chemical weapons watchdog.

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

It will 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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Mexico Landslide: Search Continues For Victims

Mexican soldiers are digging through tons of mud and dirt in their continuing search for landslide victims.

Authorities are also looking for a police helicopter that went missing while carrying out relief operations on the flood-stricken Pacific coast.

The helicopter had three crew members on board and was returning from the remote mountain village of La Pintada, where the mudslide occurred, when it went missing on Thursday.

A house wrecked by the landslide

Federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said: "We still don't know anything. (The helicopter) was in La Pintada and then we didn't hear anything more from it."

Search efforts continued in the town north of Acapulco, where 68 people were reported missing following Monday's slide.

Mexican soldiers work on the site of the landslide

Two bodies have been recovered, but it was unclear if they were among those on the list of missing.

Police have been helping move emergency supplies and aid victims of massive flooding caused by Tropical Storm Manuel, which washed out bridges and collapsed highways throughout the area, cutting Acapulco off by land and stranding thousands of tourists.

A damaged road near La Pintada

The country's Transportation Department said Friday that a patchwork connection of roads leading to Mexico City had been partially reopened around midday on Friday.

Thousands of cars, trucks and buses lined up at the edge of Acapulco, waiting to get out of the flood stricken city.

An aerial view of the landslide

Survivors of the La Pintada landslide staying at a shelter in Acapulco recounted how a tidal wave of dirt, rocks and trees exploded off the hill, sweeping through the centre of town.

It buried families in their homes and swept wooden houses into the bed of the swollen river that winds past the village on its way to the Pacific.

Residents walk along a road leaving La Pintada

Resident Marta Alvarez said: "Everyone who could ran into the coffee fields. It smothered the homes and sent them into the river.

"Half the homes in town were smothered and buried."

A stray dog rummages for food among debris

La Pintada was the scene of the single greatest tragedy in the twin paths of destruction wreaked by Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid, which simultaneously pounded both of Mexico's coasts over the weekend, spawning huge floods and landslides across hundreds of miles of coastal and inland areas.

More than 100 people have now been killed as a result of the flooding and landslides in Mexico.

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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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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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Washington Gunman Alexis 'Had 9/11 PTSD'

US Deadliest Shootings

Updated: 10:49pm UK, Monday 16 September 2013

The shooting at the Washington navy yard has been described by Barack Obama as "yet another mass shooting". It is part of a grim list in modern US history.

:: Sandy Hook, Connecticut, December 14, 2012:

Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother before opening fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children and six adults. He then turned the gun on himself.

It is the worst school shooting in America's history and second only to the Virginia Tech massacre in terms of the country's deadliest ever attacks.

Both attacks make up a grim history of mass murders using firearms in the US.

:: Aurora, Colorado, July 20, 2012:

A masked gunman burst in on the Century 16 cinema during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises throwing tear gas before opening fire.

He killed 12 and injured 58. James Eagan Holmes, 24, is the sole suspect and was arrested at the scene. He will appear in court in January.

:: Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas, November 5, 2009:

A 42-year-old US Army Major, serving as a psychiatrist, opened fire inside the US military base killing 13 and wounding 29 in an attack deemed an act of terrorism. Hasan was shot and captured and is paralysed from the waist down.

Before the killing he had been in touch with the late al Qaeda recruiter Anwar al Awlaki to ask whether he would be considered a martyr if he died shooting US soldiers.

:: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 16, 2007:

Seung-Hui Cho, 23, killed 32 and injured 17 in America's deadliest shooting. He launched two separate attacks at the campus two hours apart before killing himself.

Cho had a history of mental illness and was in therapy through his school years.

:: Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2, 2006:

Charles Carl Roberts shot dead five and injured five in an attack at an Amish school. The 32-year-old dish washer at a local restaurant then killed himself.

He was driven by anger at God over the death of his premature daughter.

:: Red Lake Indian Reservation, March 21, 2005:

Sixteen-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's companion before opening fire at Red Lake High School. He killed nine and injured seven, then took his own life.

He blamed years of school bullying for the attack.

:: Forth Worth, Sept 25, 1999:

Unemployed white supremacist Larry Gene Ashbrook opened fire on the congregation of Wedgwood Baptist Church, killing seven and wounding seven. He then turned the gun on himself.

Ashbrook, 47, was a member of a group that advocated killing minorities.

:: Atlanta, July 29, 1999:

Mark Orrin Barton, a trader, opened fire in two investment offices killing nine and wounding 12. He killed himself after a six-hour police manhunt.

The 44-year-old had been upset by big financial losses.

:: Columbine High School, Colorado, April 20, 1999:

Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire on schoolmates after bombs they had planted in the cafeteria failed to go off. They killed 13 and injured 21 before killing themselves.

The students were motivated by their anger at society. Harris had a history of depression.

:: McDonald's, San Ysidro, California, July 18 1984:

Welder James Huberty walked into a McDonald's and opened fire killing 21 people and wounding 19 before being shot by a police sniper.

The 51-year-old thought society was about to collapse. When asked where he was going as he left the house for the killing, he told his wife: "hunting humans".

:: University of Texas, Austin, August 1, 1966:

Engineering student Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, opened fire on students from the 28th floor of the main campus building. He killed 13 and wounded 32 before being shot dead by a police marksman. He also killed his wife and mother.

In a note he said he was suffering irrational thoughts and wanted to relieve his wife and mother from suffering but offered no explanation for the university attack.

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Syria: Chemical Weapons Were Used, UN Says

A report which provides "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used in Syria makes for "chilling reading", the UN Secretary-General has said.

Ban Ki-moon said the evidence published by UN weapons inspectors was "overwhelming and indisputable".

He described the attack in Damascus on August 21, in which the US believes more than 1,400 people were killed, as a "war crime and a grave violation ... of international law".

In their 38-page report, the 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.

UN chemical weapons inspectors collected samples in Damascus

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.

The inspectors said the findings had left them with the "deepest concern".

The report does not blame forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad or opposition fighters for the attack.

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

Russia is a close ally of Syria and strongly opposed threatened US air strikes against the Assad regime.

Fierce fighting has left towns and cities across Syria in ruins

Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said: "It doesn't prove Mr Assad's army had (the weapons) because so many were looted by the opposition.

"Nevertheless, many experts will say much of the evidence points to Mr Assad."

Both the UK and the US claimed the evidence presented by the UN proved the Syrian government was behind the attack.

Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the UN, said there was "no remaining doubt" the Assad regime was responsible.

White House spokesman Jay Carney added: "The information ... that the sarin agent was delivered on surface-to-surface rockets that only the Assad regime has makes clear the responsibility."

William Hague, Lauren Fabius and John Kerry in Paris

Earlier, Foreign Secretary William Hague met his French counterpart Lauren Fabius and US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the Syrian chemical weapons handover hammered out by the US and Russia.

Speaking after the UN published its findings, he said: "We're hopeful, but very mindful of all the difficulties of identifying and securing probably the largest arsenal of chemical weapons in the world in a country that is a contested battlefield.

"However, this report illustrates the very pressing need to do so."

Meanwhile, Mr Kerry warned Mr Assad the allies would "not tolerate anything less than full compliance" with the agreement.

They want the agreed framework to be put into a "strong and binding" UN resolution, under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which can authorise both the use of force and non-military action.

However, Russia believes a military option should only be on the table in the event of non-compliance from Syria.

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Syria: Nervous Children Return To School

By Sky Arthy, Sky News Producer, in Damascus

Five million pupils were due back in school on Sunday in Syria at the start of the new year.

It is a scene that is played out across the world and it looks no different in Damascus.

Excited five-year-olds with new backpacks clutching their parents' hands not knowing what to expect on their first day.

Teenage girls wearing the latest fashions walking arm in arm catching up on gossip after the long summer break. Young boys playing football before the bell goes for the start of classes.

The Assad regime watches over Syria's returning pupils

But it is different here.

Before  the conflict that has left 100,000 people dead, many children used to walk to school. Now most are dropped off by their parents. 

In a city where fighting is raging in the outer suburbs and the boom of shelling is heard in the background it is not hard to fathom why.

More than 2,000 of Syria's 22,000 schools have been destroyed in the war, according to the government. Unicef puts the figure at nearer 3,000.

One father, who lives six miles (10km) from Damascus said he had taught his children at home for a year because their school had been shelled.

This morning he arrived at the Dar es Salaam school in the centre of the capital with his two daughters. 

"This is the first time they have come to this school," he said.

"There is new hope now (following the deal in Geneva) ... American military strikes are not the solution. Dialogue is the only way."

Another father, who has been trying to emigrate to France, said: "There is some hope now. Last year the situation was bad. Now there is progress."

At least most children in Damascus still have the chance to go to school.

For the one million Syrian youngsters that are now refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt their education is far more precarious.

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Syria Chemical Weapons Report Due For Release

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

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

The rescue effort, which is expected to last about 12 hours, will see the giant ship gradually rotated and rolled upright.

Five hundred engineers and divers are working on the salvage

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

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 five or six thousand."

The cruise liner capsized in shallow water 20 months ago after smashing into rock, causing the deaths of 32 passengers.

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, prompting the evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew.

Experts have said there is little danger of pollution

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.

How the ship will look if it is successfully righted

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.

He added that 29,000 tons of water will pour out of the ship as it is pulled upright, 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.

:: Live Coverage on Sky News

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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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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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