A look at how the past days' parallel tracks - pushing for approval of a military attack while pausing to give diplomacy a chance - unfolded.

In an intriguing tour, Pamela Wade gains insight into the horror inflicted on Europe during World War II.

America's threat of military action against Syria's regime receded into the distance yesterday as Washington and its allies decided to test a Russian proposal.

Syria says it's ready to state where its chemical weapons are and to halt their production, but the US says it'll have to do more than sign up to a treaty.

Syria says it has accepted Russia's proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for subsequent dismantling.

Prime Minister John Key says a UN-backed suggestion to destroy all of Syria's chemical weapons as a way of diverting an increasingly violent situation is an "interesting proposal".

Thirty former guards at the Auschwitz death camp could face charges of being an accessory to murder.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seemed calm and was surrounded by only light security when he talked to a French journalist this week.

The prospect of air strikes in Syria has grown with political developments driving towards military action.

The graves had run into each other, mounds of red earth washed by the rain, blown by the wind.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the Opposition will be offered a formal briefing on Syria before any parliamentary motion is put by the Government.

'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" - so the British Parliament decided that it didn't want to be shamed over Syrian intervention, writes Gwynne Dwyer.

Syria's civil war has driven almost a third of the country's population from their homes, causing the humanitarian calamity of the century, says the United Nations.

Amid signs in Washington of deep anxiety about unintended consequences and unforeseeable outcomes.

President Barack Obama, working to persuade sceptical lawmakers to endorse a US military intervention in civil war-wracked Syria, hosted two leading Capitol Hill foreign policy hawks for talks.

The Syrian crisis and Opposition leader Tony Abbott's competence to deal with international affairs have become a central issue in the fight for power in Australia.

Western powers' best option for responding to regime's gas attacks in Syria is to arm selective rebels, writes Alexander Gillespie.

The British Government was accused of "breathtaking laxity" in its arms controls after it emerged that officials authorised the export of two chemicals to Syria.

Editorial: Barack Obama said Syria's use of chemical weapons would be a "red line", yet flicking the issue of a US response back to Congress looks a lot like passing the buck.

New Zealand has been asked to pledge moral support for a potential US military strike against Syria but the Government says it is yet to make any commitment.

US President Barack Obama has lifted the threat of immediate punitive air strikes on Syria, announcing he will seek congressional approval for any military action.

Edging toward a punitive strike against Syria, President Barack Obama said he was weighing "limited and narrow" action as the Administration bluntly accused Bashar Assad's Government of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1429 people.

President Barack Obama is poised to become the first U.S. leader in three decades to attack a foreign nation without broad international support or in direct defense of Americans.

The New Zealand Defence Force is issuing new recruits with waterproof Bibles, endorsed by TV adventurer Bear Grylls, in a worldwide military first.

The US administration has bluntly accused Bashar Assad's government of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1,429 people - far more than previous estimates- including more than 400 children.