BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
Russia has urged Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control and have them destroyed to avert US-led military strikes. Bridget Kendall reports on the international reaction.
Russia’s diplomatic initiative to put Syria’s chemical weapons beyond reach seems to have taken the world by surprise. It was instantly welcomed by the Syrian foreign minister, though he did not confirm that Damascus would accept. The French foreign minister said it worth scrutinising. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was considering asking the UN Security Council to call for Syria’s chemical arms stocks to be moved to sites where they could be destroyed. And the Obama administration said though it remained sceptical, it was prepared to give the idea a hard look. It said the campaign to try to persuade Congress to vote for military action would continue.
A commission of lawyers looking into the death of the former United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold has recommended that the UN reopen its investigation. Mr Hammarskjold’s plane was travelling to Congo on a peace mission in 1961 when it crashed in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. A UN investigation in 1962 failed to find the cause of his death. Some experts believed the plane was shot down. The commission said there was significant new evidence to merit the inquiry being reopened.
Voting in parliamentary elections has just finished in Norway. Exit polls indicate the centre-right opposition led by Erna Solberg’s Conservative Party is on course to win. She may need the support of the anti-immigration and anti-tax Progress Party in order to form a government. Lars Bevanger reports from Oslo.