Afghanistan Massacre: Sgt Robert Bales In Court

The US soldier accused of one of the most notorious atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has appeared in a military courtroom, where prosecutors were laying out their case against him.

Prosecutors allege Staff Sergeant Robert Bales killed 16 people on March 11, including children, during a pre-dawn raid on two villages in the Taliban's heartland.

Prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Jay Morse testified on Monday that Bales returned to his base the night of the killings wearing a cape and with the blood of his victims on his rifle, belt, shirt and pants.

The suspect was incredulous when fellow US soldiers drew their weapons on him when he returned to Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan last March, Lt Col Morse said.

Bales, 39, is accused of slipping away from a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan with an M-4 rifle outfitted with a grenade launcher to attack the villages of Balandi and Alkozai in Panjwai district of Kandahar Province.

A married father-of-two from Lake Tapps, Wash., Bales is facing 16 counts of premeditated murder, as well as other charges of attempted murder, assault and steroid use.

Nine of the dead were children, and 11 were members of the same family. Six others were wounded, and some of the bodies were set on fire.

The prosecutor said on Monday that Bales returned to the base at one point, telling a colleague about shooting people at a village.

The soldier apparently took it as a bad joke and responded: "Quit messing around."

Prosecutors played for the first time a video captured by a surveillance blimp that showed a caped figure running toward the base, then stopping and dropping his weapons as he's confronted. There is no audio. Lt Cl Morse said Bales was the caped figure.

According to Lt Cl Morse, after being taken into custody Bales said: "I thought I was doing the right thing."

The session at Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord marked the start of a preliminary hearing before an investigative officer charged with recommending whether Bales' case should proceed to a court martial.

During such hearings defendants have the right to make sworn or unsworn statements, but Bales' lawyers said he would not speak because they do not think he would gain anything by doing so.

"This hearing is important for all of us in terms of learning what the government can actually prove," said Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne.

Part of the hearing was to be held overnight to allow video testimony from witnesses in Afghanistan.

For his appearance, Bales wore green military fatigues and said "sir, yes, sir," when asked if he understood his rights.

Bales joined the Army in late 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and as his career as a stockbroker imploded.

He was serving his fourth combat tour after three stints in Iraq, and his arrest prompted a national discussion about the stresses posed by multiple deployments.

No motive has emerged in the attacks. Bales remembers little or nothing from that time, his lawyers have said.

American officials have said they believe Sgt Bales broke the slaughter into two episodes - walking first to one village, returning to the base and slipping away again to carry out the second attack.

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Breaching Whale Lands On Boat Injuring Three

Three men have been injured, one seriously, after a breaching whale leapt out of the sea off South Africa and landed on their boat.

"The men claim they were motoring slowly off-shore when a whale breached in front of their boat and came onto their boat, causing the boat and all three men to go under water as the whale sunk back into the water," said Ian Gray, NSRI Port Elizabeth station commander.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) used flares to find and rescue the men off Port Elizabeth, in the coastal province of the Eastern Cape.

A 41-year-old was taken to hospital in a serious condition with suspected rib fractures and injuries to his arm, leg and soft tissue.

A 25-year-old was also taken to hospital with soft tissue injuries, while the skipper, 35, had minor injuries.

"The boat has sustained extensive damage," said Mr Gray.

While the species of whale is unknown, he said breaching humpback whales have been spotted in the area.

South Africa is on the humpback's migratory route, with the ocean giants returning to Antarctic waters toward the end of the year.

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Obama: Key States May Swing It For President

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

Barack Obama looks on course to secure a second term in the White House as the most expensive and negative campaign in history finally reaches election day.

Mr Obama looks to have the narrowest of leads over rival Mitt Romney in a number of critical swing states.

The Republican candidate has even added two election day campaign stops in Ohio and Pennsylvania, a break with election tradition.

Mr Obama wrapped up his campaign with a rally in Iowa, the state where his 2008 campaign sparked into life, and he called on Americans to give him a second chance.

"I came back to ask you to help us finish what we started because this is where our movement for change began, right here," he said.

Barack Obama's final rally in Iowa

"After all we've fought through together, we cannot give up on change now. We know what real change looks like."

The two candidates have criss-crossed a handful of swing states in recent days as they try to energise supporters and secure every last vote. Both have sounded weary and hoarse at times.

The result is that national opinion polls put Mr Obama on 48% and Mr Romney on 46%.

In swing states, Mr Obama maintained a four-percentage point lead in Ohio and was ahead by slimmer margins in Virginia and Colorado. Mr Romney led in Florida.

The other states to watch include Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania, where Mr Romney has poured money into a late run.

The electoral college system and the way the state polls are going suggests that Mr Obama could be headed toward re-election partly due to his lead in Ohio, according to Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

Mr Romney called on New Hampshire voters to back him

A victory in US presidential elections relies not on a popular vote count but reaching 270 electoral college votes. They are allocated to each state based on population size.

Ms Clark said: "Obama only needs a couple of these swing states and the data suggests that he'll win one or two of them."

Mr Romney's advisers dismiss those polls and believe they have the momentum.

He said: "The same course we're on isn't going to lead to a better destination. The same course we're on is going to lead to $20bn in debt. Unless we change course, we also may be looking at another recession."

And speaking at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, he said: "Tomorrow is a moment to look into the future and imagine what we can do, to put that past four years behind us and build a new future.

"Walk with me. Tomorrow, we begin a new tomorrow."

The economy has been the key issue in the campaign and both candidates have been driving grassroots efforts to mobilise support.

Mr Romney told them:  "We have one job left, and that's to make sure that on election day, we make certain that everybody that's qualified to vote gets out to vote."

In the last few days, Mr Obama has been accompanied by stars including Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z and with appearances from former president Bill Clinton.

While Mr Romney makes those extra stops in blue-collar districts, Mr Obama will spend the day in his home-town of Chicago. He has recorded a number of television and radio interviews which will air today.

Both campaigns have victory rallies lined up, in Chicago and at Romney HQ in Boston, and the candidates will address the nation once the results are known.

There have already been some allegations of irregularities at polling stations and if the numbers are close, recounts and absentee ballots could mean it is days before the result is known.

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Syria: Bomb Explosion Near Damascus Hotel

An explosion caused by "terrorists" has hit an area near a hotel used by foreigners in the Syrian capital, state media has reported.

"An explosion caused by terrorists went off near to the Dama Rose hotel and the union federation, which left a number of people wounded and causing damage to the area," Syrian TV said.

The governing Assad regime regularly uses the term "terrorists" for armed rebels in the spiralling civil war.

State news agency Sana said the blast wounded 11 people, adding that the explosive "planted by terrorists" weighed an estimated 50lbs.

Damage to a building near the Dama Rose hotel

The Dama Rose hotel hosted UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi during his visits to Damascus.

The office of the ombudsman, headed by diplomat Mokhtar Lamani, is also located at the hotel.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, also reported plumes of smoke rising near Ommayad Square after a "powerful explosion" rocked the area close to the hotel.

The district also houses several security centres and military headquarters.

On September 26, twin blasts blamed on suicide bombers targeted the same military headquarters, killing four guards.

Meanwhile rebels fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and captured an oilfield in the country's east on Sunday after three days of fierce fighting, according to activists.

Hillary Clinton has led calls for western help for rebels

Further afield, a leading Syrian dissident has denied he planned to head a government-in-exile as the main opposition group began a meeting aimed at broadening its membership.

Riad Seif rejected claims he was jockeying for control of the opposition at the start of a four-day meeting in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.

The less-than-inclusive nature of the Syrian opposition has been criticised by its key western supporter, the United States.

Details have emerged of plans to reshape the Syrian National Council (SNC) after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was not representative.

Washington is pressing for an opposition makeover during the Doha meeting, with long-time dissident Mr Seif reportedly touted as the potential head of a proxy government dubbed the Syrian National Initiative.

But the prominent opponent to President Bashar Assad's regime was adamant that he does not want to lead such a government.

"I shall not be a candidate to lead a government in exile ... I am 66 and have health problems," he told reporters before the Doha gathering.

Rebels launched a rocket attack against a Syrian air base on the weekend

Some 286 members of the SNC are taking part in the meeting that was scheduled some time ago.

But both host Qatar and the Arab League have extended invitations for another "consultative" meeting on Thursday, believed to be aimed at promoting a body with a broader opposition representation than the SNC.

A Western diplomat said the initiative is "supported by the United States, Britain, France, and possibly by some Arab countries, Qatar and also Turkey".

"It is a balanced plan, which will bring together the components of the Syrian community: the Alawites, Christians and Syrians inside and outside the country," the unnamed diplomat said.

Mr Seif and some two dozen Syrian opposition figures gathered in Amman, Jordan, last Thursday and came up with proposals for a new body to represent the disparate groups opposing President Bashar al Assad.

Among those in attendance were some SNC members, former premier Riad Hijab who defected in August, Ali Sadreddin Bayanuni of the Muslim Brotherhood and Kurdish and tribal representatives.

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Boy, 2, Killed In Wild Dogs Enclosure At Zoo

A two-year-old has been killed at Pittsburgh Zoo in the US after he fell off a railing into an enclosure for wild dogs.

Police say the boy's mother put him on top of the railing to view the African painted dogs.

He then fell 11 feet into the enclosure, where he was attacked by the wild animals.

Visitors to the zoo immediately told staff members when the boy fell from the railing.

Zookeepers called off the dogs, and seven of them immediately withdrew from the child.

Three other dogs were eventually drawn away from the boy, but the last dog had to be shot.

The accident occurred at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in Pennsylvania

Barbara Baker, the president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, said staff "tried everything" to save the boy.

"They responded immediately when visitors alerted them to the fact that a child was in the yard," she said.

"They responded immediately and were able to get several of the dogs into the backup building."

Police say it is unclear whether the boy died from the fall, or from injuries inflicted by the dogs.

African wild dogs are also known as cape hunting dogs, spotted dogs, and painted wolves.

They have large, rounded ears and dark brown circles around their eyes and are considered endangered.

Lieutenant Kevin Kraus, of the Pittsburgh police, described the accident as "horrific".

Authorities are yet to release the name of the boy or his 34-year-old mother.

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Call To End 'Gang Warfare' In Obama's Chicago

By Gary Mitchell, in Chicago

Matt DeMateo clearly remembers the day he had to tell his five-year-old daughter that her schoolmate had been shot dead on a porch.

The girl, Aliyah Shell, six, was an innocent victim in one of the hundreds of shootings that have blighted some of Chicago's poorest communities this year.

Her death in March refocused attention on gun violence in America and led to the Windy City's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, publicly challenging the unknown killer, telling a news conference: "How dare you?"

In some of Chicago's most deprived areas, where Barack Obama prepared for his political career as a community activist, people such as Mr DeMateo are hoping whoever is elected president will act to end the bloodshed.

Guns are easily bought in his neighbourhood of Little Village, in the west of the city.

A youth in Matt DeMateo's mentoring scheme was shot dead earlier this year

The 30-year-old pointed to scenes of shootings on virtually every block as he gave Sky News a tour of the area.

They are easy to spot because they are often marked with shrines made of beer bottles left by fellow gang members. Gang graffiti tags are everywhere.

He told how Aliyah's murder just a short drive from the house he shares with his wife and three children left his daughter fearing that they too would be shot.

"When you see and hear those kind of things growing up in a neighbourhood, it has a deep effect on people," he said. "It's traumatic."

Mr DeMateo runs a mentoring scheme for teenagers who have been put on probation for firearms offences.

Gangs use graffiti to taunt rivals in Little Village

He said his employer, Christian organisation New Life Centres, has had huge success turning young people's lives around and he insisted the area is mostly a vibrant and friendly community, not the "Godforsaken place" he said it is often portrayed as.

Sporting events run by the centre along with the YMCA tend to coincide with a drop in violence reported to police, he said, because teenagers who would otherwise be causing trouble are off the streets.

But he said they face an uphill battle as rival gang factions, whose members include boys as young as 13, engage in a turf war in which innocent victims such as Aliyah Shell are caught in the crossfire. The shooting in which she died was a retaliation to the killing of a 19-year-old man who had been helped by New Life Centres.

"We try to show young people that there's more to life than violence, but it's hard," he said. "There's no magic bullet. It's not easy to keep hearing moms wailing at funerals. I don't want to hear that sound any more."

Mr DeMateo questions whether his organisation's funding could be hit if Mr Obama were to lose to Mitt Romney, although the president is currently predicted by polls to be in line for a second term in the White House.

Emmy Lozano's grandson, 16, is a member of a gang

"A lot of the things we've got in the neighbourhood could be cut back," he said. "It could be harmful."

Emmy Lozano, 56, has lived in Little Village for 30 years. Each night as she goes to bed, she wonders if she will see her 16-year-old grandson alive again.

The boy, Manuel, has been sucked into a gang and not long ago he needed surgery after rivals set upon him, smashing his elbow with a plank of wood. She found him bleeding in the street.

"The president needs to do more for us," said Ms Lozano. "We need more money here. We have so many empty plots of land that aren't being used - why can't they create green spaces where these kids have something to do?

"It's scary here. I want to leave. I hear gunshots every week. We've lost a lot of young kids and too many mothers have suffered."

Support for Mr Obama remains strong - these posters are in the South Side

One ex-gang member helped by Mr DeMateo's team, a 17-year-old who cannot be named, told Sky News how he was arrested when he was 14 for carrying a gun. "I was on my way to kill a guy from another gang. I don't know why, I just had it in my head to do it."

He had joined a gang a year earlier when he started using marijuana and cocaine. "It was dumb. Being in a gang seemed like a good life. It was all b*******."

Chicago's murder rates have fallen in the past 10 years, but so far this year more than 440 people have been killed - greater than the death toll for all of last year. The murder rate here is higher than in New York or Los Angeles.

The city has attempted to deploy extra police to the worst-hit areas, but Mr DeMateo shrugs when he is asked about the police. "Police alone aren't the answer," he said. "There are many parts to the puzzle. We need to get to the cause of the problem."

A few miles away from Little Village, in Chicago's South Side, Father Michael Pfleger spent Sunday morning urging his congregation to vote and offering them free lifts to polling stations.

The unconventional Catholic priest at Saint Sabina's church is one of the city's most outspoken critics of guns and says he wants "whoever the next president may be" to ban assault weapons. Outside his church is a glass display containing pictures of local people who have been gunned down.

Fr Pfleger is quite a presence as he preaches in a style hard not to compare to an evangelist. On Sunday he danced to gospel music against the backdrop of a huge painting of a black Jesus and in front of a predominantly African-American audience before telling them: "You must vote. It is your obligation."

There is clear support for Mr Obama here - one parishioner was wearing a jacket bearing a large print of a smiling president, while others wore T-shirts branded with the Obama campaign logo.

Fr Pfleger hinted at his own liberal political leanings when he said things such as: "You can't be pro-life and not be against strong gun control in the community where these guns are killing our children."

Parts of the South Side show signs of neglect and lack green spaces

After the Mass he told Sky News the local neighbourhood of Auburn Gresham had recently seen a drop in shootings after several gangs agreed to stop fighting. He hopes gang members stick to the truce, but says that cannot happen unless jobs or education opportunities are found for them.

"Communities have post-traumatic stress from this violence that's rampaged... where teddy bears and police tape have become the new landmarks," he said.

"It's an undeclared war in urban America, but America has pretty much turned its back because the primary victim of this war is black and brown, and so they've ignored it.

"Whoever becomes the next president on Tuesday, we've got to put the pressure on them to deal with the guns, violence, education and poverty."

Asked if he felt it was Mr Obama's direct responsibility to tackle the issue, he said: "I don't think anybody in America or in the last generation of presidents has done enough to deal with violence. Part of that is our fault - we haven't forced them."

Koron Nash thinks the media exaggerates violence in his neighbourhood

Koron Nash, 32, who works for a scheme that finds jobs for young people in Auburn Gresham, said it was "unfair" to expect Mr Obama to do everything and said the media made too much of violence in the city.

"The majority of people here are good people," he said. "There is violence, there is anger, but I don't have a problem with that anger - it's just directed at the wrong people.

"We've got brothers shooting brothers, instead of directing that frustration at getting out of the mess that they're in."

His friend Tina Wallace, 35, a stay-at-home mother, said: "Things aren't as bad as they used to be."

Teacher Delores Wedgeworth, who lives near the church, said people were "realistic" that Mr Obama cannot tackle violence on his own.

"We know it's not going to happen overnight, that unemployment is just going to go away. But it's human nature to be impatient."

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Chicago: First US Gun Tax 'Will Stem Carnage'

By Gary Mitchell, in Chicago

A leading anti-gun campaigner has told Sky News a new tax on guns will help end "carnage" on the streets of Chicago - where firearms now change hands for as little as $20.

There have been more than 440 murders in Barack Obama's adopted home city so far this year, surpassing last year's total of 435.

Most involved gang shootings in the south and west of the city. It has been dubbed America's "murder capital" with a higher rate of killings than New York or Los Angeles.

Cook County, which takes in Chicago, is believed to be the first city in the US to introduce a firearms tax. It was approved by county officials on Friday.

Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of St Sabina Church in the city's South Side, said the $25 levy is a start.

"Guns are causing carnage on our streets," he said.

"Anything that makes them harder to get hold of, no matter how small, is to be welcomed.

Father Michael Pfleger has lobbied hard over gun laws

"We tax things like alcohol and cigarettes, but we haven't been taxing firearms.

"But I'd prefer if the tax was a lot higher, and if every single bullet was taxed."

A proposed tax of five cents per bullet was abandoned by Cook County because the tax would, in some cases, have exceeded the price of ammunition.

Officials said nearly a third of guns used in Chicago crimes were purchased legally in Cook County.

However, despite the surge in fatal shootings, gun control is not one of the big issues in the current presidential race - it was discussed only briefly in the second election debate.

Mr Obama, who has been attempting to win over conservative voters in battleground states, has refrained from stricter restrictions.

Father Pfleger, whose church is in the troubled Englewood area, has for years been lobbying for stronger gun laws, which are opposed by the National Rifle Association.

No fewer than 12 people have been shot dead in the three-square-mile Englewood district since the start of this year, according to RedEye, which tracks the latest figures from Chicago police and hospitals.

It lies a short drive away from the Kenwood family home of Mr Obama, who was a community activist in the South Side before entering politics. A man was shot a block away from his mansion in August.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel

In the summer, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was in Englewood to announce a move to secure or demolish vacant buildings to stop gangs using them as gathering places.

He has also attempted to increase policing in the worst-hit areas, but the death toll continues to rise and the police force has been hit with budget cuts.

Hermene Hartman, publisher of N'Digo, a Chicago magazine focused on African-Americans, said the South Side was like a "war zone". Whoever ends up in the White House for the next four years needs to do more to focus on urban crime, she said.

"Nobody is talking about urban America, the fear that people suffer," she told Sky News.

"Here in Chicago, people have been dying in greater numbers than in Afghanistan.

"People are afraid of letting their kids go to school, play outside. They fear doing everyday things because people are being killed.

"How do we figure out what's making these kids so violent? We've got to focus on these crime areas."

Cook County's gun tax is expected to raise $600,000 (£375,000) next year, which will be contributed to healthcare for survivors of shootings.

The tax has been criticised by the Illinois State Rifle Association, which said people will simply travel elsewhere to buy guns.

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Syrian Tanks 'Cross Into Israeli-Held Territory'

Israel says three Syrian tanks have entered the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights for the first time in 40 years.

Israel restricted its response to complaining to the UN peacekeepers who monitor the de facto truce in the area, which was captured from Syria in 1967.

But the entry highlights the threat of the ever-worsening conflict spreading beyond its borders.

It was not immediately clear why the tanks had crossed the frontier, but Israeli media said the tanks had been in combat in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam where rebels have been trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad.

Stray ordnance has previously exploded on the Israeli side as Syrian forces have conducted operations nearby.

Rebels also launched a major assault on the Taftanaz airbase in the northern province of Idlib, which is used to deploy regime air power.

Video posted on the internet is said to show rebel fighters firing rockets at the airbase, and being fired on as they try to secure a strategic north-south corridor.

Israel seized the Golan Heights in 1967

The attack on the Taftanaz base, from where helicopter gunships raid opposition positions and rebel-held areas, comes after troops launched an unprecedented wave of air strikes to try to reverse the rebels' gains.

The video said eight battalions were taking part in the attack, including the radical Islamist Al-Nusra Front.

It showed a missile launcher mounted on the back of a pick-up truck firing on regime positions.

The development came as video emerged from Syria which purportedly shows rebels filming as an attack jet targeted them.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase".

Analysts said rebel forces clearly have the momentum in the battle for Syria's northwest.

"The rebels' gains in the north seem irreversible," said Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh's Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies department.

He said regime forces appeared to be concentrating their efforts in the region on defending the embattled commercial hub of Aleppo, which has been cut off from Damascus and the Mediterranean coast due to rebel advances in the past month.

"The problem with this strategy is that the Aleppo garrisons are now largely isolated. It is likely they will fall in the months to come," he said.

The fresh clashes came as the opposition prepared for key talks starting in Qatar on Sunday, where the United States is expected to push for a new umbrella organisation to unite the country's fractured regime opponents.

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Obama And Romney Hit Key US Swing States

The King Is Dead Long Live The King

Updated: 6:26pm UK, Saturday 03 November 2012

By Kay Burley, In Las Vegas

Elvis rocked the '60s with Viva Las Vegas. Almost half a century later and the two presidential candidates are hoping they can do the same.

Nevada is one of a handful of crucial swing states which will decide whether there's a new man at the White House or the present incumbent stays at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for four more years.

Such then is the importance of the Silver State to both candidates that the President broke off from visiting those worst affected by superstorm Sandy to make a flying visit to Vegas.

Mitt Romney has also spent much of his time in the desert gambling on being able to woo the locals.

Barack Obama is counting on the Latino, Hispanic and female vote. Mr Romney is hoping for some divine intervention with the support of fellow Mormons, who make up 10% of the vote in Nevada.

In fact, so deep is their faith, they put aside contempt for drinkers and gamblers and reluctantly attended a celebration party in a Vegas casino when their man won the party nomination here.

It was all so different four years ago. Back in 2008, Mr Obama found it easy to walk voters up the aisle of the little White Chapel where thousands of others tie the knot each year in Vegas.

He won the state convincingly with a 12-point margin. But did the President not pay his new companions enough attention? Could he be heading for a messy divorce in 2012?

The Obama campaign is spending a fortune on TV advertising to try to make sure they forget any indiscretions and give him another chance.

Vegas residents are bombarded with more political ads than any other viewers in the country. Apparently those watching the local news, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are particularly vulnerable to the TV appeals.

So what's the message? Well, the challenges of the economy have taken their toll on the USA and Nevada in particular. No longer are the streets paved with gold, certainly not for the residents at least.

If the issues this time are jobs and the economy then it should be easy for Mr Romney to convince the voters here to say "I do".

Nevada has the highest unemployment in the country (11.8% in September) and 60% of mortgages are underwater - negative equity - here, that's almost three times higher than the national average.

The city of northern Las Vegas has been described as the Ground Zero of the housing market. Foreclosure racked neighbourhoods sprawl way beyond the strip - and beneath it too.

More than 1000 people live in dirty, rat-infested underground flood tunnels way beneath Caesar's Palace and the Luxor casino hotels.

Disease and highly poisonous spiders are the major concern. Begging and "dumpster diving" for food is how they survive.

Many of those who call this home are former war veterans or those who came to Las Vegas in pursuit of the American dream.

Drink, drugs and depression are now their way of life. So, who do the residents of underground Vegas want to win on Tuesday?

I'll be finding out as I spend the next few days broadcasting for Sky News from Nevada.

But it's not just Vegas baby. There are another half a dozen swing states where the election can be won and lost.

My Sky News colleagues have fanned out from Washington to Florida, Ohio to Colorado to find out who the American people want to see victorious on Tuesday.

Using wireless digilinks we'll have correspondents strolling down mainstreet Des Moines and beach side Tampa. We'll be presenting across all the US time zones and have a pop up newsroom in Chicago.

Coverage starts in quite reserved Las Vegas with quite reserved me at 0600 Monday morning. Worth remembering that Nevada has backed the winning candidate in every election since 1976.

By early Wednesday morning UK time we should know who'll be King of Vegas and most probably the USA for the next four years.

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Syrian Rebels 'Execute' Government Soldiers

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in Jerusalem

Syrian rebels are suspected of murdering a group of captured government soldiers undermining a strategic victory which gave them control of the main highway between Aleppo and Damascus.

An unverified video of the killings, believed to have been in Saraqib, shows a group of about 20 armed men wearing rebel head bands standing over at least eight captured soldiers.

One of the soldiers pleads with the militia insisting that he did not shoot anyway.

A rebel can be overheard saying "gather them together for me".

Young men, many of them already wounded, are flung into a pile and then riddled with bullets.

Fighting in Aleppo

The executions are a reminder of a similar atrocity in Aleppo in August when a group of rebels murdered local people they accused of being members of Assad's Shabiha (ghosts) militia.

The capture of Saraqib is a significant strategic gain for the rebels. It controls the road to Damascus, and cuts the government forces main supply route to its Aleppo line.

It also severs the regime's links to Latakia, the main coastal city in the heartland of Assad's brethren in the Alawite community.

Rebel successes in the past have come from the valuable contribution of former regime soldiers who have changed sides, bringing their tactical skills with them.

Syrian refugees near the Turkish border

But recently deserters have been reluctant to contact revolutionary fighters for fear of summary execution. Last week a group of about 20 government soldiers gave themselves up in Turkey claiming asylum and saying they would not have surrendered to rebel forces for fear of retribution.

Amnesty International's Ann Harrison, the deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said that the footage appeared to show "a potential war crime in progress".

She said that the human rights group would continue to investigate the alleged atrocity.

The government is accused of widespread war crimes including the murder of civilians who have been found with their hands tied close to the government held air force headquarters in Aleppo.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

The rebel gains, which are reported to include a 25km radius around Saraqib, have come at a time when the exiled Syrian national Council and other groups are facing international criticism for their apparent failure to unite.

Two days ahead of key talks among the opposition in Qatar, the Syrian National Council lashed out at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent statement that it was not fully representative of the country's diverse dissident forces.

"Any discussions aimed at passing over the Syrian National Council or at creating new bodies to replace it are an attempt to undermine the Syrian revolution by sowing the seeds of division," the SNC said in a statement.

Clinton said the SNC was not representative of on-the-ground opposition forces and that it "can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition".

It is likely that Washington will be pushing for an overhaul of the opposition at a meeting in Qatar this weekend. But US influence will depend on Qatari support.

Washington contributes a pittance, and only in the form of non-lethal aid, to rebels who receive hundreds of millions of pounds in support from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, much of it donated by individuals.

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