BBC news with Julie Candler.

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games is underway in London. The event masterminded by the Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle is an eccentric, exuberant and a times-moving celebration in British culture. The ceremony started when Bradley Wiggins, the first British winner of the Tour de France, ran a huge bell. The opening scene had a delicate depiction of the British country life made way for pandemonium of the industrial revolution. Scenes in tabloid included references to the Beatles, the armed forces, James Bond and Britain's colonial past. After the entry of the Queen Elizabeth and IOC president Jacques Rogge, the show continued with an extraordinary visual and musical tribute to the British National Health Service and to the magic of children's literature. The Olympic athletes are due to enter the stadium shortly before the official opening of the 30th Olympiad.

Diplomatic pressure is growing on Syria to call off an assault on rebels in the city of Allepo. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian government hold its offensive. He also demanded a clear statement that chemical weapons would not be used. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the world could not remain a spectator to the military built up in the Allepo. From neighboring Lebanon, Jim Muir reports.

Activists said helicopter gunships have carried out their attacks in several parts of Allepo, including the rebel-held Salah al-Din quarter and Hamdaniya. There has also been more shelling. And activists issued unverified video showing the wounded including young children being treated in makeshift field hospitals. Government newspapers have heralded what they are calling "the mother of all battles" about the break over Allepo. All these have prompted the defection of one of its newly elected member of parliament, Ikhlas Badawi. She crossed the border into neighboring Turkey; she is the first MP to do so.