BALDWIN: A lot of fast developments here on the crisis in Syria, brand new information coming in from the U.N. Secretary-General's Office. Syria says it wants to join this chemical weapons ban, this global ban on chemical weapons. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live at the U.N. Nick, this isn't a big step in the plan here to avoid military action. Isn't that really what this is all about? They don't want the pressure coming from the U.S.?</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In many ways. Let me talk you through what this actually means. This means that Syria has written to the U.N. secretary-general, according to the secretary- general's spokesman and delivered a letter saying it wants to be part of these chemical weapons convention established in 1993. That basically means it has to destroy all its chemical weapons, anything that can be used to make a chemical weapon or any facility that can be used to make chemical weapons, too, so a big step for them. We have heard from Bashar Al-Assad. His caveat, we haven't seen the full text of the letter, but we do understand from the U.N. spokesman that that is what they have received. Now how does this work? Well, effectively once you this sent the letter, you're part of the convention. You have accepted its terms. So within 30 days it's legally binding on Syria and they could be subject to inspections or verification from the organization that carries out this particular convention. And then 60 days from now, they have to make a declaration of all the chemical weapons they have. By sending this letter, Syria has agreed to a whole series of time tables and deadlines in the forthcoming couple of months.</s>BALDWIN: And destroying, and incinerating of said chemical weapons could take years, according to experts. Have a long way to go. Nick Paton Walsh at the United Nations. Nick, appreciate it. Coming up, Tom Hanks performing his civic duty. He served on a Los Angeles jury this week and a lawyer says he actually affected the outcome of the trial. What happened? That's next.
Syria Moves to Avoid U.S. Strike