A Russian-built plane used by the Syrian air force conducted a sarin gas attack in the spring that killed at least 83 civilians and sparked a retaliatory US strike, a UN investigation has found.

Analysis of samples taken from a deadly sarin gas attack in Syria earlier this month "bears the signature" of President Bashar Assad's government and shows it was responsible for the deadly assault, France's foreign minister has said.

The US Congress is holding its first public hearing about plans for military intervention in Syria as Barack Obama tries to convince the country of the need to respond to the chemical weapons attack.

HUNDREDS of British police and emergency workers yesterday staged a major exercise testing their response to a terrorist strike on London, an attack that police believe is inevitable sooner or later.

The doomsday cult behind the 1995 deadly gassing on the Tokyo subway is growing steadily and reasserting influence through the Internet, the Japanese government said today.