Iran “favourably welcomes” a Russian plan to head off threatened US strikes on Syria by securing a deal to destroy the regime’s chemical weapons, the foreign ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday. Marzieh Afgham told a media conference in Tehran that the proposal should include the destruction of chemical

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she hoped “action” would follow Russia’s proposal to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control, and that it was not just a way to buy time.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic is going to visit Bulgaria next week at the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart Rosen Plevneliev, announced Plevneliev’s foreign policy adviser Tihomir Stoychev.