Merkel welcomes Putin with military honours

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin with military honours Friday ahead of talks expected to be dominated by the deadly strife in Syria. Merkel met Putin on a red carpet stretched out before her offices in Berlin as a small group of shouting and whistling protesters rallied outside. One young man held a banner in the shape of a Russian flag with the Russian words "Putin is a thief" emblazoned across it. Others waved Syrian flags. Putin arrived from Belarus on his first foreign tour since returning to the Kremlin for a third term amid unprecedented demonstrations against his rule. During his stops in Berlin and then Paris later Friday Putin is due to face pressure to accept tougher UN action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Germany, France, Britain, the United States and other Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats in protest at the slaughter last week of 108 people in the town of Houla, many of whom were summarily executed according to the UN. Syria allies China and Russia, which have both blocked previous attempts at the UN Security Council to condemn Damascus, joined other council members on Sunday in backing a statement condemning the Houla killings. But Moscow has insisted that Sunday's rebuke went far enough.