Syria: Napalm-Like Burns After School Attack

People suffering from Napalm-like burns have been speaking of an attack in which a plane apparently dropped an incendiary bomb on students in Syria.

Video said to be from the town of Urum al Kubra, close to Aleppo, shows a man reported to be a school teacher, who says the students were attacked as they tried to escape from an attack nearby.

"The plane hit a residential area in Urum al Kubra," he explains.

"We tried to get out quickly so we don't get hurt, but it seems someone's fate caught up with them today.

"A gathering of students formed, which is normal as the students needed to leave under these circumstances, and the plane hit us."

The injuries were like those caused by Napalm, according to doctors

The video, posted on the internet, is said to have come from an account associated with a rebel group in Aleppo.

In another video filmed in the aftermath of the attack, a doctor reports seven deaths and 50 injuries - and says the burns resembled Napalm injuries.

However, the use of the substance has not been confirmed.

Separate footage showed other victims of the alleged attack and a features a woman who introduces herself as Dr Roula, from organisation 'Hand in Hand for Syria'.

She says: "There was an attack on a college in an area close to here.

"It seems to be a chemical attack similar to Napalm, which causes huge burns. There are seven people dead so far and around 50 wounded.

UN chemical weapons inspectors will end their Syria mission by the weekend

"What we can do here is give wounded people first aid. Most of the cases can be treated here so we keep them here, and we sent some cases to Turkey, I mean the dangerous ones. "

A BBC television crew who witnessed the bombing reported no shrapnel injuries and said the victims resembled "the walking dead".

Napalm is not classified as an outlawed chemical weapon although it can cause devastating burn injuries.

Infamously used in the Vietnam War - and the Second World War - the jelly-like substance sticks to skin and burns at very high temperatures.

A United Nations convention prohibits using incendiary weapons against civilians, or against military targets located near civilian populations.

The pictures of the school attack emerged after MPs voted against military action over alleged chemical weapons gas attacks by the Syrian regime.

Some have described the outcome as a "humiliation" for the Government and it means the US may have to go ahead alone with any military strikes.

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UN Chemical Weapons Inspectors Leaving Syria

UN weapons inspectors have left their hotel in the Syrian capital Damascus and are heading to Lebanon, according to reports.

The 20-strong team were seen leaving in vehicles for the border after investigating an alleged gas attack that the US claims killed more than 1,400 people.

Yesterday, they finished collecting samples from the site of the atrocity, which they will now take to The Hague to be analysed.

A UN spokesman stressed that all available information, including lab analysis of the samples, had to be evaluated "before the mission can draw any conclusions about the incident".

The UN mandate is to determine if a chemical weapons attack took place.

They left hours after the US outlined the evidence it believes proves the Syrian regime was behind the attack.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said President Bashar al Assad's personnel were on the ground making preparations for a chemical assault for three days before the nerve gas atrocity in Damascus.

A US intelligence report blamed Syria's government for the attack with "high confidence" and said it was "highly unlikely" the atrocity was plotted by rebels.

The report said 1,429 people were killed, including 426 children, and the assessment was based on "multiple" streams of intelligence.

The Assad government has denied using chemical weapons, saying the assault was carried out by rebels, and dismissed the US report as "entirely fabricated".

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama is preparing for a possible military strike in response to the atrocity.

He said he has not made a final decision on attacking Syria but was mulling a "narrow and limited" strike - which reports say would probably be carried out using Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The American leader said of the suspected gas assault: "This kind of attack is a challenge to the world", adding it threatens US allies like Israel, Turkey and Jordan.

"We cannot accept a world where women and children and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale," he told reporters at the White House.

Any attack, most likely with cruise missiles from five US Navy destroyers already stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, had been considered unlikely before UN experts left the country.

Late last night, America revealed that a sixth US warship -  the USS San Antonio - is now operating in the eastern Mediterranean.

Mr Kerry said any action would be a "tailored response" to punish Mr Assad for the "brutal and fragrant" attack.

Veto-holding members of the United Nations are at odds over a draft Security Council resolution that would authorise "all necessary force" in response to the alleged gas attack.

Mr Kerry insisted the US was not alone in its quest to punish the Syrian regime, citing the support of France, America's "oldest ally".

Key US ally Britain dropped out of the coalition planning military strikes following a parliamentary vote.

The UK's traditional role as America's most reliable military ally was called into question when David Cameron became the first British prime minister in history to be blocked by MPs over the prospect of military action.

America is mulling whether to strike Syria without UN backing despite some of the more hawkish figures in the US cautioning against military action.

Former president, George W Bush, told Fox News Mr Obama had a "tough choice to make" but would not be drawn on what he should do.

He added: "I was not a fan of Mr Assad. He's an ally of Iran and has made mischief."

Former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who helped spearhead US invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: "There really hasn't been any indication from the administration as to what our national interest is with respect to this particular situation."

He said, if anything, the US should be more concerned with Iran.

More than 100,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in March 2011 and two million have become refugees, half of them children, according to the UN.

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Syria Gas Attack: 'My Eyes Were On Fire'

Survivors have described the horrific aftermath of the "gas attack" in Syria in a series of chilling interviews from Damascus.

Victims told how a gas with "a faint green colour" stung their eyes "like needles", causing their legs to buckle and making their bodies convulse in pain.

One told how he regained consciousness after succumbing to the gas, seeing wild hallucinations "like Alice in Wonderland" with his "eyes on fire".

Others described how they saw hundreds of suffocating, twitching victims in the streets and in hospitals following a barrage of "whistling" rockets.

Girls who survived rest in a mosque in Damascus

In several interviews, released by the Associated Press news agency, witnesses told how the rockets made a "strange noise", never heard before.

The rocket assaults came around the same time on two suburbs on opposite sides of the capital: Moadamiyeh to the west and several districts to the east.

Ammar, a resident who said he miraculously survived the barrage on Moadamiyeh, where 80 people were killed, said he was awakened by shelling around 5am. 

He said he heard a screeching sound, followed by the sound of people screaming on Rawda street below his apartment - and saw the green gas.

A boy who survived and took cover in a Damascus mosque

"I ran out to see what was going on and saw people in various stages of suffocation and convulsions. I tried to help, but then my legs buckled and I fell to the ground," he said.

Ammar woke up at a makeshift hospital, where he said he spent five days getting oxygen and injections of atropine, which counteracts the effects of nerve gases.

A week later, Ammar said he has not fully recovered. He suffers bouts of cold sweats, exhaustion, hallucinations and a runny nose.

Worst of all, he said, were the nightmares.

"I can't sleep anymore. I keep seeing the people who died, the scenes from the hospital of people twitching and foaming. I can never forget that," said Ammar, 30.

A child victim of the attack

His father, who identified himself by his nickname, Abu Ammar, was at the nearby al-Rawda mosque waiting for dawn prayers when the first rockets hit.

He said some people ran outside and then came back in immediately, shouting: "Chemicals! Chemicals!"

He put water on a tissue and covered his mouth and nose, and then went out.

"I saw at least seven people lying on their backs, completely still," he said.

Qusai Zakarya said the rockets crashed with a strange whistle "like a siren".

Friends took him to the hospital, where he saw dozens of people crowding the rooms and corridors, many of them in their underwear.

Nurses and doctors doused them with water. That was when he fainted. When he came to, doctors were injecting him with atropine and he started vomiting.

"Strange colours came out of my stomach," the man said. He fainted again and later woke up in the street outside in his underwear, apparently moved out to make room for others.

Later, he felt well enough to go home and said he slept for 13 hours.

Many children fell ill after the assault

"When I woke up I felt like Alice in Wonderland," he said.

"Everything looked distorted and I couldn't remember anything.

"My eyes felt as if they were on fire, and every time I tried to smell something I felt terrible pain. My chest also ached," he said, his speech interrupted by a hacking cough.

To the east of Damascus, some 600 patients poured into a makeshift hospital in the district of Arbeen. Of those, 125 died, including 35 children.

Abu Akram said he was told by several medics that some people were found in their homes, with wet towels on their faces or hiding with their children in bathrooms.

"People didn't die in their sleep; they tried to save themselves," he said.

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Syria Crisis: US May Act Without Allied Support

Syria: Russia 'To Send Ships To Mediterranean'

Updated: 9:08pm UK, Thursday 29 August 2013

Russia and the US have sent further warships to boost their military capacity in the Mediterannean as expectations grow of an imminent strike on Syria.

Syria's ally Russia is sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

An armed forces source reportedly said the planned deployment was in response to the "well-known situation" - a clear reference to the conflict in Syria.

The navy has denied the deployment is linked to events in Syria, saying it is part of a planned rotation of its ships in the Mediterranean.

In the US, a defence official has said a fifth destroyer, the USS Stout,  has been deployed to the Mediterranean and is "heading and moving east".

The guided missile destroyer is due to relieve the Mahan, but both ships might remain in place for the time being, the official said.

Other destroyers in the region - the Ramage, the Barry and the Gravely - criss-cross the Mediterranean and could launch their Tomahawk missiles toward Syria if so directed by US President Barack Obama.

As military action inched closer, Syrian President Bashar al Assad's forces removed several Scud missiles and dozens of launchers from a base north of Damascus, possibly to protect them from bombardment, opposition sources claimed.

The White House said it is on track to release an unclassified intelligence report on Syria this week, although the information is not a "slam-dunk" that will make an open and shut case for military action.

A spokesman added that what the US is contemplating in terms of its response is "very discrete and limited".

Russia and the US have taken part in an "urgent" meeting of the five permanent UN Security Council members in New York - the second such meeting in two days.

Russia is strongly against any military intervention in Syria, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believing it would seriously destabilise the region.

Mr Lavrov has said any attack without UN Security Council approval would be a "crude violation" of international law.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has spoken to German leader Angela Merkel by phone, with the pair agreeing the Syrian conflict can be solved politically, the chancellor's spokesman said.

"The chancellor called on the Russian president to use negotiations in the UN Security Council for a quick, unanimous international reaction," he added.

Public opinion in Germany is overwhelmingly against military action in Syria, less than four weeks before an election in which Mrs Merkel hopes to win a third term.

The warship reports come after US President Barack Obama said the US had studied evidence and concluded that the Syrian government was behind the alleged attack.

Mr Obama said any strike would be to "send a shot across the bow" and give a "pretty strong signal that [Syria] better not do it again".

He added the US had not yet made a firm decision about how to respond, but that it could take action even without the backing of allies or the United Nations.

The president's national security adviser Susan Rice, intelligence director James Clapper, defence secretary Chuck Hagel and secretary of state John Kerry are to brief Congress on Syria later, according to Reuters.

Questions are said to remain about who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons and whether President Assad himself explicitly ordered the alleged attack.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta told state radio that his country condemned the Assad regime but would not join any military operation without UN Security Council authorisation.

The Syrian leader was shown meeting Yemeni politicians on state television on Thursday.

It quoted President Assad as saying the country would defend itself in the face of any aggression.

A draft resolution by the UK on authorising a strike failed to win the approval of the UN Security Council on Wednesday as Russia reiterated its objections.

China has also entered the discussion and warned the West against any military action. 

"China calls on all parties to exercise restraint and remain calm and to remain committed to the correct track of political solutions," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

British involvement in any strike will be debated today by politicians in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, United Nations weapons inspectors set out on Thursday morning for the Damascus suburbs in a third day of investigations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded for all sides to hold off on any military strikes.

He said his inspection team would soon finish its investigation, leaving Syria on Friday and reporting their findings to him the following day.

Samples they have collected will go to labs around Europe for testing, AP reported.

Last week's alleged chemical attack is claimed to have killed 1,300 people.

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Syria: Phone Calls 'Prove' Regime Behind Attack

Syria: How Crisis Has Developed

Updated: 12:51pm UK, Wednesday 28 August 2013

:: March 2011 - as protesters stage demonstrations in Damascus, security forces in Daraa shoot dead several campaigners, leading to unrest and violence.

:: May - the Syrian military deploys tanks in a bid to quash demonstrations.

:: July 19 - the UK freezes £100m of Syrian assets.

:: August 18 - US President Barack Obama calls on Bashar al Assad to step down. The US freezes all assets of the Syrian government.

:: November 16 - the Free Syrian Army attacks a military base near Damascus.

:: February 4, 2012 - a UN Security Council resolution on Syria is rejected for a second time by Russia and China.

:: March 1 - government troops seize the Baba Amr district of Homs after an intense battle lasting for several weeks.

:: April 12 - a UN-brokered ceasefire comes into force after fierce fighting in the country.

:: May 23 - dozens of people, many of them women and children, die in Houla, near Homs. Foreign Secretary William Hague says they were "massacred at the hands of Syrian forces". The UN later accuses the Syrian military of committing war crimes.

:: August - Mr Obama says the use of chemical weapons against civilians would represent the crossing of a "red line".

:: March 6, 2013 - Foreign Secretary William Hague says Britain will provide opposition forces with "non-lethal equipment for the protection of civilians".

:: April-May - Britain says there is credible evidence to suggest Syrian forces have used chemical weapons in Adra, Darayya and Saraqiq and calls for an investigation by the UN.

:: April 29 - Syrian prime minister Wael Nader al Halqi survives an assassination attempt as a car bomb explodes in Damascus.

:: May 14 - footage of a Syrian rebel commander apparently cutting out a soldier's heart is condemned by the country's National Coalition.

:: June 6 - Syrian forces, backed by Hizbollah fighters, recapture the strategic border town of Qusair.

:: June 6 - Human Rights Watch releases footage which it claims shows Syrian troops shelling school buildings.

:: July 25 - the UN says the number of people killed in the civil war has reached 100,000.

:: August 21 - an alleged chemical attack in Damascus kills 1,300 people, according to the opposition. Doctors Without Borders says 335 people died from "neurotoxic" symptoms.

:: August 25 - Foreign Secretary William Hague says a chemical attack by the Syrian government is the only "plausible explanation" for the deaths.

:: August 26 - UN inspectors brave sniper fire to gather "valuable" evidence from one site of the alleged chemical attack, as the US Secretary of State John Kerry says the Assad regime would face action over the "moral obscenity".

:: August 27 - the UK recalls Parliament to hold a vote on August 29 on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Prime Minister David Cameron and Mr Obama agree there is "no doubt" the Assad regime is responsible for the alleged attack.

:: August 28 - a draft UN resolution condemning the alleged attack and "authorising all necessary measures" is due to be put forward at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

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Syria Vote Will Not Permit UK Military Action

Direct British military involvement in Syria will not be authorised in Thursday's House of Commons vote, after Labour threatened to oppose the Government's motion.

Any direct action by UK forces will require a further vote in the Commons once the United Nations has considered a report from weapons inspectors investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Damascus.

But the motion will ask MPs to agree the principle that a "strong humanitarian response" is required from the international community and "this may, if necessary, require military action that is legal, proportionate and focused on saving lives by preventing and deterring further use of Syria's chemical weapons".

Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: "This motion looks very bland, very uncontroversial.

"(Prime Minister David Cameron) has put off a decision really and that will be seen as a climbdown."

Labour had said it would oppose the Government's motion on Syria unless it insisted on waiting for UN inspectors' report.

David Cameron cut short his holiday to return for the talks

It tabled an amendment outlining conditions it said should be met before any intervention to deter the further use of chemical weapons, after last week's attack that allegedly killed more than 1,300.

It demanded "compelling evidence that the Syrian regime was responsible for the use of these weapons", that action would be legal in international law and that the Parliament can vote on UK participation.

A Labour source said: "We cannot give the PM a blank cheque. We should see the UN evidence before making a decision. This conflict has been going on for two and a half years. If it takes another two and a half days we will do so."

In New York, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also told the British Government that the United Nations Security Council should not consider a draft resolution before inspectors reported their findings there, saying it was necessary "to wait for the results"

US President Barack Obama said he had not made a decision on Syria and that American engagement in a civil war in the country would not help.

But he said the US had "concluded" that the Syrian government had carried out the chemical attack, while a State Department spokeswoman said the US would respond even in the absence of UN backing.

A UN weapons inspector visits wounded Syrians after the alleged gas attack

Marie Harf said: "We cannot be held up in responding by Russia's intransigence - continued intransigence - at the United Nations. The situation is so serious that it demands a response."

Earlier Foreign Secretary William Hague had said the UK may act whether or not a consensus was reached by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

"We believe that it's time the United Nations Security Council shouldered its responsibilities on Syria, which for the last two and a half years it has failed to do," he said.

"We have to confront something that is a crime against humanity. If we don't do so we will have to confront even bigger war crimes in the future."

Mr Hague said "all the evidence" pointed to Bashar al Assad's regime being behind the chemical weapon attack.

But he later said the motion eventually put forward "reflects the deep concerns in this country about what happened in Iraq" and stressed the Government's desire for a "consensual" approach.

Syria's deputy foreign minister claimed Britain, the US and France helped "terrorists" use chemical weapons in Damascus.

"The terrorist groups are the ones who used them with American, British and French encouragement. This encouragement should stop," said Faisal Al-Miqdad.

More than 1,300 are said to have died as the result of the alleged attack

But the US is reportedly certain the poison gas attack in Syria was carried out by the Assad-regime after listening to intercepted telephone calls.

Intelligence officers allegedly overheard panicked conversations in which a Syrian defence official demanded an explanation for the attack from a leader of a chemical weapons unit.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged all sides to prioritise a diplomatic solution and said his team needs until Sunday to establish the full facts of the alleged chemical attack.

UN weapons inspectors visited at the site of the alleged attacks again on Wednesday morning, a day after suspending their mission over safety concerns.

The inspectors came under sniper fire when they began their operation on Monday.

This afternoon's NSC meeting discussed intelligence gathered by UN inspectors from their initial visit to Mouadamiya.

General Sir Nick Houghton, chief of the defence staff, was also expected to outline a series of options for targeted attacks.

It is understood the most likely military response would be a strike launched from US Navy warships, several of which have been repositioned in the eastern Mediterranean, against targets such as command and control bunkers.

A child is treated after the alleged chemcial attack

But defence analyst Francis Tusa told Sky News: "I'm not necessarily sure it puts any particular pressure on the regime to change its behaviour. Losing the odd bit of hardware that the Russians will replace for free doesn't seem to be that much of value."

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responded to the rising tensions, reportedly saying that US military intervention would be "a disaster for the region".

"The region is like a gunpowder store and the future cannot be predicted," Iran's ISNA agency quoted him as saying.

Turkey and Iraq both say they have placed their military on high alert.

Nato has given its support for tough action against Syria, "condemning in the strongest possible terms these outrageous attacks" and saying "those responsible must be held accountable".

But hundreds of protesters, carrying banners and chanting slogans such as "Hands off Syria" and "Cut War Not Welfare", gathered outside Downing Street to oppose any Western intervention in Syria.

While political momentum towards intervention mounts, the British public has yet to be persuaded.

A YouGov survey for The Sun revealed that nearly three-quarters of people oppose the deployment of British troops to Syria.

And a majority of 3-1 believe the Government should be bound by Parliament's vote.

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Bo Xilai Attacks 'Vile' Police Chief At Trial

China's Bo Xilai 'Left Party Wincing'

Updated: 10:41pm UK, Sunday 25 August 2013

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

He was the thorn in the side of China's political hierarchy and right to the end Bo Xilai refused to exit the political stage quietly.

In his much-anticipated trial, everyone thought he would humbly accept the allegations against him in a contrite fashion which belied his flamboyant personality.

Instead he has given the performance of his life and no doubt left the Communist Party of China wincing.

That he robustly defended himself, refusing to roll over, may seem pretty un-shocking to people outside China.

The western world is used to a relatively transparent court system where people are innocent until proven guilty.

Not so in China. That Bo Xilai has been allowed to cross-examine key witnesses and hog the limelight for more than even just one day has been sensational.

Usually Chinese justice is swift, without even an attempt to provide an opportunity for a real defence.

We must remind ourselves that in China it is the party which controls the judiciary and it doesn't have an ounce of independence.

When Mr Bo's wife Gu went on trial accused of the murder of the British businessman Neil Heywood the trial was done and dusted in hours.

No pouring over evidence, just a meek acceptance of guilt.

Now Mr Bo is accused of covering up her crime - actions which sent his police chief fleeing to the American consulate in the city of Chengdu.

He may think he has nothing to lose with a final throw of the dice and a refusal to accept his fate.

Perhaps with his son Bo Guagua safely ensconced in the United States he doesn't. His wife is already serving a suspended death sentence.

Let's not forget that Mr Bo was always a self-serving politician keen to bolster his public image and fan base.

The modern Communist Party is only interested in one thing - its survival.

They hated that Mr Bo was tapping into the notion of personality-politics.

Mr Bo was the most charismatic figure who's come to public attention since Chairman Mao.

The new era of leaders under Xi Jinping has promised a get-tough policy on corrupt officials, insisting that no-one is above the law.

They had hoped that by putting Mr Bo on trial for bribery, corruption and abuse of power that they would be showing that their pledges are not hollow.

It was quite a gamble, because by default they have shone a spotlight on the inner workings of the party - something which makes them very uncomfortable.

But they may yet have the last laugh. Mr Bo will have to be sentenced in a few weeks' time.

The party still has the power to get their revenge when they - not the court - decides his sentence.

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Mubarak Back In Court After Prison Release

Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak has appeared in court to answer charges in connection with the killing of protesters in 2011.

It was the 85-year-old's first court appearance since he was released from prison last week and transferred to a military hospital.

Mubarak appeared at a heavily fortified courtroom in eastern Cairo in a wheelchair, wearing sunglasses and dressed in white.

He sat next to his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, and his former security chief Habib al Adly, who are being tried in a separate corruption-related case.

Around a dozen of the ousted leader's supporters gathered outside the court holding placards and chanting: "Hosni Mubarak is the most honourable Arab, Hosni Mubarak is close to our hearts".

Supporters of Mubarak outside court

Mubarak has been in detention since April 2011.

He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to stop the killing of around 900 protesters in the 18-day uprising, but his sentence was overturned on appeal.

In April, his retrial opened along with those of his security chief and six top police commanders.

His next hearing has been scheduled for September 14.

Defence lawyer Magdy Hafez said: "The court is moving in its natural course, the court does not have to go into reasons for its primary decisions. The court adjourned to September 14th to listen to the rest of the demands of the defence team regardless of whether they have looked at the documents or not."

A judge announces the adjournment of the Muslim Brotherhood trial

In another courtroom across the city, three leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood faced a separate trial on similar charges of involvement in the killing of protesters.

With Egypt now under an army-installed government after last month's overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi, local media seized on the symbolism of scheduling both sessions on the same day.

The al Shorouk daily newspaper ran with the headline: "Trial of two regimes".

Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's supreme leader, and his deputies did not appear at the opening of their trial for security reasons, a judicial source said. 

The court postponed proceedings until October 29.

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China's Bo Xilai Admits 'Some Responsibility'

The disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has admitted "some responsibility" for 5m yuan (£514,000) of embezzled public funds.

Bo denies embezzling the money, intended for a local government construction project, but said: "I feel I should take some responsibility" for the money ending up in his wife Gu Kailai's bank account and for failing to investigate.

"I feel ashamed. I was too careless, because these are state funds," he said, according to transcripts that the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, in eastern China, is providing on its account on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

The courtroom scenes come after a lurid scandal triggered by the death of British businessman Neil Heywood - for which Bo's wife Gu was convicted of murder - that rocked the ruling Communist Party.

The trial has gripped millions.

Until the admission Bo's performance had been defiant, denying charges of bribe-taking and embezzlement totalling 26.8m yuan (£2.8m).

He also faces accusations of abuse of power in connection with the investigation into Mr Heywood's death, and Wang Lijun, his police chief and right-hand man in Chongqing, appeared in court to testify against him.

Earlier, Bo launched a scathing attack on a key witness, saying even the most stupid official knew not to discuss bribery where they could be overheard.

Wang Zhenggang, a former planning official in Dalian, where Bo was the mayor in the 1990s, told the court the politician had telephoned Gu in front of him in connection with the 5m yuan.

The claim did not make sense, Bo argued.

"It is not even what the most stupid corruption offender would do. Corrupt offenders with even the lowest IQ would ask who else in Dalian was aware of the money," he said.

He added: "All those who know me know that I ask them to switch off their mobile phones before I speak. I am quite cautious."

The court is posting regular but delayed transcripts of the hearings, and no live audio or video is available, nor are any foreign media or independent observers present in the room.

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Cameron And Obama Condemn 'Chemical Attack'

Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama said they were both "gravely concerned" over an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

The two leaders spoke with Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper by telephone on Saturday as calls increase for UN investigators already in the country to be allowed access to the site of the alleged attack.

A Downing Street spokesperson stressed that any significant use of chemical weapons would merit a "serious response".

The spokesperson added: "The fact that President Assad has failed to cooperate with the UN suggests that the regime has something to hide.

Medecins Sans Frontieres has said 355 people died in the attack

"They reiterated that significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response from the international community and both have tasked officials to examine all the options.

"They agreed that it is vital that the world upholds the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons and deters further outrages."

Mr Obama met with top aides on his National Security Council as US intelligence continues to gather evidence on the alleged gas attack.

The attacks took place in the Damascus suburbs of Zamalka and Ein Tarma

It comes a day after US military officials revealed a fourth warship, the USS Mahan, was remaining in the Mediterranean region and Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel said military options had been presented to Mr Obama.

He is under mounting pressure to act over the alleged use of chemical weapons, which humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said had killed 355 people due to "neurotoxic" symptoms.

The group said victims flooded three Syrian hospitals after a "chemical massacre" on Wednesday.

MSF director of operations Bart Janssens said the reported symptoms "strongly indicate mass exposure to neurotoxic agent".

A boy recovers after the alleged toxic gas attack on Wednesday

He said: "Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress.

"The reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events - characterised by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers - strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent."

Rebel groups have claimed the attack was carried out by Assad's forces and that more than 1,000 people had died. The Syrian regime has denied the allegations.

On Saturday, Iran warned the West against military intervention in Syria and claimed the alleged gas attack was carried out by rebels.

UN disarmament chief Angela Kane has arrived in the capital to press the Assad regime to allow weapon inspectors to assess whether a chemical attack has taken place.

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