BBC News with Charles Carroll.
The White House says if President Obama authorizes military intervention against Syria it will be solely in response to last week's apparent chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus. Earlier, the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said US armed forces were ready for military action. From Washington here's David Willis.
There is a growing sense that the United States is preparing for the possibility of a military strike against Syria. A White House spokesman said the Obama administration was firmly of the view not only that chemical weapons had been used in Syria but that it was the Syrian government that had used them. The US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC that armed forces were ready to go should the president give the order. But Mr. Obama is still said to be weighing his options.
The British Prime Minister also stressed that any military action would aim specifically at deterring the future use of such weapons. Meanwhile, Syria's key allies, Russia, Iran and China have stepped up their warnings against intervention. The Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, said that his country would defend itself by all possible means if attacked. He described the allegations about chemical weapons as lies.
Police in Spain have arrested a former investment banker wanted by the US over a 2012 fraud scandal which led to senior resignations at JP Morgan and several government probes into bank practices. Here's Tom Burridge.