BBC News with Stewart Mcintosh

The French President Francois Hollande says the agreement between Russia and the United States to destroy Syria's chemical weapons could be put to a vote of the United Nations Security Council by the end of the week. Speaking on French Television, he described the deal reached on Saturday as an important step, but he said the threat of military force had to remain in order to keep up the pressure on the Syrian government to comply. Christian Fraser reports from Paris.

"France takes a hawkish position on Syria, the majority here think it's too hawkish. But the French government has made a commitment to the Syrian coalition and they’re worried disagreement will embolden the position of President Assad. 'Let me be clear', said Mr. Hollande, 'there is no place for President Assad in a future Syria, not him and not the Jihadist'. 'There will be', he added, ‘the threat of sanctions that attached to the resolution they put forward should the Syrians fail to comply.’ Note the world sanctions, they’re unspecified to suit the Russians, but he did talk in this interview of military strikes which is still seemingly on the table."

A minister in the Syrian government has described the agreement as a victory. The Syrian Minister for Reconciliation Ali Haidar said it helped the Syrians out of crisis and averted war. But a spokesman for the rebel council in Qusair, an area affected by the chemical attack last month, told the BBC that it was the worst kind of triumph.

“It's a victory, they managed to kill 1,500 people with chemical weapons in the 21st century and they got away with it, just like they killed over 150,000 people. And until now, no one puts an end to this savage, brutal, fascist regime, so they are absolutely correct, they have won.” Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Damascus was already drawing up document to declare details of its chemical weapons, something it has one week to do.

President Obama says he has exchanged letters with the new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. In an interview with the American television network ABC, Mr. Obama said the Iranian authorities understood that Tehran's pursuit of nuclear weapons was a far larger issue for the United States than the use of the chemical weapons in Syria.

“My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn't draw a lesson that we haven't struck to think we won't strike Iran. On the other hand, what they should draw from this lesson, is that there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically.”

Officials in Italy say the operation to lift the cruise ship which ran aground off the Tuscan coast last year and pitched over onto its side will go ahead on Monday as planned. Thirty-two people died when the Costa Concordia's struck a rocky outcrop of the Tuscan island of Giglio. If the vessel is successfully raised, it will be the biggest ever salvage of a passenger ship.

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Almost 50 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a series of car bomb attacks in Iraq. The city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, was hit by four car bombs, two of which went off near a busy market. In Baghdad, the convoy of a provincial official was hit by a car bomb killing two people including his bodyguard.

The first openly gay Mayor in Mexico's history has been sworn in at a ceremony in the northern city of Fresnillo. Benjamin Medrano says he hoped to make a difference for the people of Fresnillo who have been caught in the middle of a turf war between drug cartels. From Mexico City Will Grant reports.

“A former singer who lived for several years in the United States, Mr. Medrano told the BBC Spanish language service, BBC Mundo, his political opponents had used his sexuality as a key part of their campaign against him. Mayor Medrano says he has a particular affinity with minority groups in Zacatecas that in general has taken a tough stance on issues such as gay marriage. I wouldn't marry, he told BBC Mundo, and suggested that it was right for Mexico City where same sex marriage is legal didn't necessarily apply to northern Mexico.”

One person has been killed and several others injured in clashes between police and protesters in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against the declared results of July's national election which gave a narrow victory to the Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party. The opposition leader Sam Rainsy says the vote in July was rigged and threatened that his party will boycott the new parliamentary session.

One of the most senior Anglican clerics in Nigeria who was kidnapped by armed men more than a week ago has been freed. Police said Archbishop Ignatius Kattey was released on Saturday evening and was in a stable condition. The archbishop was abducted near his home in Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta along with his wife, but she was freed earlier.

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