Chemical weapons regulator says Syria requests assistance

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Friday that Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, had contacted it with a request for technical assistance. Syria became a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the country's U.N. envoy said, a move that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised as part of a Russian plan to avoid U.S. strikes. (Reporting by Sara Webb; editing by Andrew Roche)