A team of UN weapons inspectors has arrived in Beirut after leaving Syria this morning.

Syria has agreed to a United Nations investigation into last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.

The United Nations yesterday demanded Syria give its chemical weapons experts immediate access to rebel-held Damascus suburbs where poison gas appears to have killed hundreds just a few miles from the UN team’s hotel.

France’s foreign minister says the international community may have to use force if it is proven that Syria used chemical weapons in an attack the opposition says killed more than 100 people.

The Syrian government has agreed to a conference on the country’s future proposed by Russia and the United States, Russia’s foreign ministry said today.

Russia is seeking to revive last summer’s peace plan for Syria in talks with a senior Syrian diplomat and an international envoy, according to Moscow’s foreign ministry.

A Syrian passenger plane intercepted by Turkey’s air force was carrying military communications equipment, Turkish media has reported as Damascus branded the incident piracy amid growing tensions between the two countries.

Russia has warned Britain it will respond tit-for-tat if London imposes any travel restrictions on Russian officials.

Russia has harshly criticised Britain for pressuring a Russian-operated ship heading to Syria with a load of weapons to turn back.

UN observers have found another 13 bound corpses in eastern Syria, many of them seemingly shot execution- style, said the monitoring mission.

Thirteen bound corpses, many apparently shot execution-style, have been discovered in eastern Syria, days after the massacre of more than 100 people provoked international outrage.

United Nations observers have inspected the site of an explosion which flattened a block of houses in the central Syrian city of Hama and killed at least 16 people, while the government and the opposition blamed each other for the blast.

North Korean space officials said today that all assembly and preparations for a planned satellite launch have been completed, while denying it is a cover for a missile test.

Two Western journalists killed in Syria were today identified as French photojournalist Remi Ochlik and American reporter Marie Colvin.

Russia has urged the United Nations to send a special envoy to Syria to help co-ordinate security issues and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The Arab League has reportedly condemned yesterday's air strikes in Libya, despite the organisation appealing to the international community to enforce a no-fly zone.