1There is mounting evidence that the Syrian regime used nerve gas against its own civilians in the battle for control of Damascus. More than 1400 people, including over 400 children, have been killed. The United States says it has evidence of this horrendous war crime. President Obama wants to launch a limited military action against Syria to strike at the country's chemical weapons resource. But Russia has expressed its vehement opposition to any military intervention and is likely to veto any move on the part of the United Nations to mandate one. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has declined to rule out absolutely any New Zealand involvement in a military intervention and promised it would be subject to a parliamentary debate, but says the final decision will be a matter for the Government alone to make. Interview with the Labour Party's Foreign Affairs Spokesman Phil Goff.

2At two Wellington region hospitals, nurses are being forced to 'ration' patient care. The Executive Director of Nursing at the Wairarapa and Hutt Valley District Health Boards, Helen Pocknall says that when the patient to nurse ratio becomes too tight, nurses need to give essential care priority over matters of patient comfort. Essential services include giving medication, monitoring intravenous fluids, dressing wounds and taking observations. But families are complaining that patients are facing long waits for pain relief and even for the replacement of a lost drip line. Is rationing patient care confined to just a couple of Wellington hospitals? Who draws a line between essential care and patient comfort? Why is the line being drawn at all?