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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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.

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Assad 'Is At Stalemate And Wants Ceasefire'

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

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

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

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

A member of the Free Syrian Army holds an RPG launcher

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

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

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

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

Mr Putin says he can't be certain Syria will keep its side of the deal

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

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

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

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

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

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Rhino Poaching Deaths Set For Record High

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, in the Eastern Cape

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

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

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

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

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

Veterinarians work with a rhino injured by poachers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dr William Fowlds is the founder of Rhino Lifeline

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Rouhani: 'Iran Does Not Want Nuclear Weapons'

Iran has never sought and will never seek nuclear weapons, President Hasan Rouhani has said in an interview.

Speaking to NBC News in Tehran, Mr Rouhani addressed the possibility Tehran could be prepared to make concessions on its nuclear programme.

He said: "We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb and we are not going to do so.

"We have time and again said that under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever.

"We solely are looking for peaceful nuclear technology."

The Bushehr nuclear power plant was built in August 2010

Iran has made similar claims before and has insisted its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.

But the US and allies suspect Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon and doubts have been expressed that Mr Rouhani has the power to make concessions over the programme.

Talks to end the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme ended in April without a breakthrough.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is known to control all important matters of state.

Mr Rouhani added: "In its nuclear programme, this government enters with full power and has complete authority.

"We have sufficient political latitude to solve this problem."

Mr Rouhani, who was elected in June, is considered a moderate who campaigned on a promise to seek relief from sanctions that have cut Iran's oil exports by more than half in the last two years.

US President Barack Obama exchanged letters with the Iranian President after his election.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said there were no plans for the two to meet at the UN General Assembly next week.

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Assad To Destroy Chemical Weapons 'In A Year'

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

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

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

And he said that a UN report that found "clear and convincing evidence" of a sarin nerve gas attack in Syria last month is "unrealistic" and denied responsibility.

Mr Assad denied responsibility for the gas attack (pic: Fox News)

During an interview with the US crew at the presidential palace in Damascus, Mr Assad said destroying the weapons was "a very complicated operation, technically".

"And it needs a lot of money, about a billion," he continued.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr Ryabkov also said that Syrian officials had shown him "material evidence" implicating rebels in the sarin attack.

And the Russian diplomat criticised the United Nations for being "one-sided" in its recent report on the attack.

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Cop Killer Sets Fire To Himself In Siege

An Austrian gunman who shot dead three police officers and a paramedic has died after setting fire to himself at the end of a five-hour stand-off.

Alois Huber's burned body was discovered by commandos who stormed his home, 55 miles west of Vienna, shortly before nightfall  on Tuesday. 

The 55-year-old businessman had barricaded himself in the property and opened fire as dozens of elite armed Cobra officers surrounded the premises.

Commandos on their way to the stand-off

Huber first shot dead two police officers as they tried to arrest him in woodland near the Lower Austrian town of Anaberg, around 60 miles west of Vienna.

He then killed a paramedic who was treating a wounded officer at the scene, before taking an officer hostage and fleeing in a stolen police car.

Police warned motorists to be on their guard

That officer was later found dead in the car outside the killer's home at Kollapriel, near Melk.

A stand-off then took place with reports suggesting that Huber fired several times at officers and may have used grenades.

Huber was reportedly a known poacher, often leaving the heads of dead animals on roads.

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Mexico Storms: Tourists Evacuated In Acapulco

Emergency flights are starting to evacuate some of the 40,000 tourists stranded in a flood-hit Mexican holiday resort.

Landslides, rockslides, floods and collapsed bridges have cut off the resort city of Acapulco after Tropical Storm Manuel hit the coast on Sunday.

Planes began arriving in the city to evacuate thousands of Mexican and foreign tourists stranded in the city.

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

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

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

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

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

Two of Mexico's largest airlines, Aeromexico and Interjet, began running flights to and from the still-swamped international airport.

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

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

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

Twelve people were killed in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz when a landslide smashed a bus travelling through the town of Altotonga.

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

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Syria: 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 Cyrllic, 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 (the involvement of) 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, British 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.

:: Read the UN inspectors' 38-page report in full

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Washington Navy Yard Shooting: Several Dead

A former Navy reservist who gunned down 12 people in an attack on one of the US's biggest navy yards had previously carried out an anger-fuelled shooting and was traumatised by 9/11, it has emerged.

Aaron Alexis, from Forth Worth, Texas, was killed in a shoot-out with police after launching an early morning attack on the US Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters.

It comes after the White House was placed under lockdown following a security alert on Tuesday evening. The Secret Service later said a man threw firecrackers over the north fence line before he was arrested.

The FBI released a picture of Aaron Alexis in an appeal

The US Navy confirmed Alexis, a military contractor, was a full-time Navy reservist between 2007 and 2011 when he was discharged as a petty officer third class for misconduct.

He was working for the fleet logistics support squadron No 46 in Forth Worth, Texas, when he left the service in January 2011. No further details of his discharge have been revealed.

Seattle Police Department have released details of an incident in May 2004 in which Alexis shot out the tyres of a car claiming he had been traumatised by the 9/11 attacks.

A helicopter lifts a person from the roof at the navy yard

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

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

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

Alexis grew up in Brooklyn with his mother, Sarah, and father, Anthony Alexis, his aunt Helen Weeks told the Washington Post.

The command headquarters is building 197 in the Washington naval yard

She said: "We haven't seen him for years. I know he was in the military. He served abroad. I think he was doing some kind of computer work."

Despite the shooting incident he became a Navy reservist, however, a Forth Worth Police Department incident report from April 2010 shows Alexis was arrested for discharging a firearm in an apartment.

According to the report, seen by Sky News, Alexis told police it went off accidentally when he was cleaning it.

He was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal prior to his discharge

The FBI launched an appeal for further information about Alexis as police officers confirmed they were hunting a second man, dressed in military uniform, who has been described as a "potential gunman".

The Senate building and ten schools have been shut down as security precautions and residents have been advised to remain in their homes as the operation continues.

The attack on building 197 at the sprawling naval yard came at around 8.20am as people arrived for work at the command centre, which houses 3,000 military and civilian naval personnel.

Hundreds of police officers and airborne SWAT teams were drafted in within minutes of the first emergency calls and exchanged fire with Alexis.

The Washington naval yard

A police officer was wounded in the firefight and was being treated for critical injuries in hospital.

It has been suggested Alexis may have used the identification card of another person to gain entry to the complex.

He was said to have been armed with an AR-15 rifle, the same weapon used by gunmen in last year's shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the cinema in Aurora.

Police confirmed that 13 people, including Alexis, died in the incident but said that no motive had been established for what President Barack Obama described as "yet another mass shooting".

SWAT teams on the roof at Navy Sea Systems Command

Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that police were still hunting a black man, between 40 and 50, and dressed in olive military uniform. He was holding a "long gun".

Police said they had ruled out a white man dressed in a tan military uniform that they had previously described as a "potential gunman".

They said he was no longer a suspect or a "person of interest".

Washington DC Mayor Vincent C Gray said that there was no reason to suspect the incident was a "terrorist" attack but that it had not been ruled out.

Witnesses earlier described a gunman opening fire from the fourth floor, aiming down on people in the first-floor cafeteria. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway.

One employee at the Navy Yard, Patrica Ward, said she had just paid for her breakfast at a cafeteria when shots rang out.

A helicopter in the skies above the naval base

"I was waiting for my friend to pay for when we heard the gun shot. It was three gun shots straight in a row, 'pow-pow-pow,'" she said.

"Three seconds later it was 'pow-pow-pow.' So it was like a total of seven gun shots. And we just started running."

The guard "told all of us to just run, to get away as fast as you can."

Responding to questions about the level of security at the base Ms Ward said: "It's not secure enough for me."

Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a hallway of their building on the third floor.

"He just turned and started firing," he said.

Teams on the ground at America's oldest navy yard

Terrie Durham, an executive assistant, said she also saw the gunman firing toward her and Mr Brundridge.

"He aimed high and missed," she said. "He said nothing. As soon as I realised he was shooting, we just said, 'Get out of the building.'"

One man in his 60s was taken to George Washington University Hospital with a gunshot wound to his head but died shortly after arriving. Dr Babak Sarani, director of trauma and acute surgery, said his injuries were so severe they could not be survived.

Janis Orlowski, the chief medical officer at Washington Hospital Center, said three victims had been taken to the hospital and while they were in a critical condition they were alert and able to speak. Two were women civilians.

She said: "They haven't been able to give us any information about what happened to them. Obviously, they're in pain and distress."

She said she thought the weapon must have been a semi-automatic "because they're talking about gunshots they heard in rapid succession."

Officials at MedStar Washington Hospital Center said two shooting victims had been brought there.

Speaking ahead of a planned speech on the economy, President Barack Obama, who was being regularly briefed on the rapidly unfolding situation, said the attack was a "tragedy" and confirmed a number of people had been killed.

He said: "We are confronting yet another mass shooting and today it happened on a military institution in our nation's capital.

"It's a shooting that targeted our military and civilian personnel. These are men and women who were going to work doing their job protecting all of us.

"They are patriots and they know the dangers of serving abroad but today they faced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't expect here at home."

He later thanked the FBI for its quick response to the fatal shooting.

Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the Navy's five system commands and accounts for a quarter of the Navy's entire budget.

It builds, buys and maintains the Navy's ships and submarines and their combat systems.

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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: 2:22am UK, Monday 16 September 2013

British doctors write an open letter in the Lancet medical journal calling for attacks on hospitals and medics to halt in Syria.

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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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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Syria Has One Week To Detail Chemical Weapons

Syria: How The Crisis Has Developed

Updated: 2:33pm UK, Saturday 14 September 2013

:: March 2011 - Protesters stage demonstrations in Damascus and 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 - Barack 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. David Cameron and Barack Obama agree there is "no doubt" the Assad regime is responsible for the alleged attack.

:: August 28 - Britain tables a draft UN resolution condemning the alleged attack and "authorising all necessary measures".

:: August 29 - David Cameron is forced to rule out military action after narrowly losing a Commons vote on the principle of intervention.

:: August 31 - President Obama says the US "should take military action" in Syria but confirms he will seek authorisation from Congress before launching any strikes against the Assad regime. He says the US is "prepared to strike whenever we choose".

:: September 2 - a French intelligence reports claims the Assad regime was responsible for a "massive and coordinated" chemical attack in Damascus.

:: September 3 - Israel says it has carried out a joint missile test with the US in the Mediterranean.

:: September 4 - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approve a draft US resolution authorising the use of military force in Syria. Meanwhile, MPs in France debate whether to join any possible military intervention, although they do not vote on the subject.

:: September 5 - World leaders meet at the G20 summit in Russia, with the crisis in Syria high on the agenda.

:: September 6 - Britain pledges £52m in aid to Syria, as David Cameron hits back at a reported jibe from Russia that Britain is a "small island".

:: September 8 - The RAF sends up two Typhoon jets in Cyprus as warplanes, thought to have come from Syria, enter international airspace. Meanwhile John Kerry says more nations than his country can use are prepared to join military action against Syria.

:: September 9 - Russia urges Syrian President Bashar al Assad to hand over his chemical weapons to avert a US-led military strike on Damascus.

:: September 10 - President Barack Obama delays a Congress vote on air strikes as Russia gives the US its plan for putting Syria's chemical weapons under international contral.

:: September 11 - A UN report confirms at least eight massacres were carried by the Assad regime and one by rebels over the past 18 months.

:: September 12 - Syria formally applies to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. Russia and US hold two days of talks on the issue.

:: September 14 - The US and Russia agree on a giving Syria a deadline of one week to produce a list of chemical weapons they possess. 

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