BBC News with Jonathan Izard

An influential US senate committee has authorized military action over the use of chemical weapons in Syria. A similar motion is been discussed by a committee of the House of representatives. Jane O'Brien reports.

The Obama administration expected military action to be a tough sell. And today's initial vote by members of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee was close, passing by 10 votes to 7. This is only the first hurdle though. The resolution granting the president’s 60 days to use force against Syria with a guarantee that American troops won't be used in ground combat now goes to the full senate.

A possible military intervention has also been debated in the French national assembly. The Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate Committee that inaction involved much greater risks than intervening against the government of President Assad.

“We know that Assad will read our silence, our unwillingness to act, as a signal that he can use his weapons with impunity.”

And President Obama has said the credibility of the international community and the US Congress is on the line over the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Speaking during a visit to Sweden, Mr. Obama said, not just he, but the entire world had drawn a red line by banning such weapons and warned that inaction would erode international norms.

The world set a red line when governments represent 98% of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. He said that he would continue to engage with Russia and saying it could still change its approach over Syria and the crisis would be ended more quickly if Russia was on board.

Four of Syria's neighbors have expressed their frustration and dismay of the lack of the help they’re receiving for the two million Syrian refugees who've fled to their countries. After a meeting at the UN and Geneva, government ministers from Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey said they would determine to put pressure on the international community to do more to tackle the refugee crisis, which they said was destabilizing the entire region. Cecilia Malmstrom, the European commissioner for Home Affairs called on European countries to take in more than the 50,000 Syrian refugees who have arrived so far.

Austria have just offered 500 places, and Germany offered 5,000 just before the summer, well, but many countries do not take one single, and I think this is an European responsibility to our neighborhood and we could give shelter to allow extended than today.

The Vatican has recalled its ambassador to the Dominican Republic and launched an investigation after local media reports accused him of pedophilia. Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski has served as Papal Nuncio in Santo Domingo for more than five years. He had not commented on the matter. Pope Francis has said he wants the Catholic Church to act decisively to rule out child abuse by priests and ensure the perpetrators are punished.

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The German President Joachim Gauck has paid the first visit by a German leader to the site of one of the worst massacres in Nazi occupied France during the Second World War. In June, 1944, more than 640 people died in the southwestern town of Oradour-sur-Glane when members of a SS division drove the population into buildings before setting them alight. Standing alongside the President Francois Hollande, Mr. Gauck said it was an emotional experience.

The crime here that was committed was perpetrated by soldiers under German command. Consequently it is for every German a tough task to come here, regardless of how much time has passed.

A coroner in the American state of Ohio has confirmed that Ariel Castro, the man who kidnapped three women and held them as sex slaves for nearly a decade has committed suicide. He hanged himself with a bedsheet in his prison cell after just one month of his life sentence. Castro had been in protective custody and was checked every half hour. His lawyer said the prison authorities had denied him access to a psychologist.

Researchers in the US say they’ve found a way to reverse down syndrome in newborn mice. Writing in the Journal Science Translation Medicine, the scientist said that by injecting an experimental compound into genetically engineered mice, they were able to prompt the brain to develop normally. Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an additional chromosome and is associated with intellectual disabilities, growth delays and distinctive facial features. The team at Johns Hopkins University said this might lead to new treatments for humans.

Japanese delegates at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee have been making the case for Tokyo to host the 2020 summer Olympic Games. Madrid and Istanbul are the other candidates. Japan has had to address concerns about a leak of radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. The leader of Japan's bids said the water and food in Tokyo were safer than New York, Paris or London and there was no need to worry.

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