UN envoy: Syrian war poses a threat

UN envoy: Syrian war poses a threat

united nations

Syria’s civil war is worsening, and there is no prospect of a quick end to the violence, international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Monday in a gloomy assessment to the U.N. Security Council.

The new envoy leavened his message, however, saying he was crafting a new plan that he hoped could break the impasse, but refused to give details.

Despite President Bashar Assad’s refusal to end his family’s 40-year grip on power, some tentative hope of a solution remained, Brahimi said in his first briefing to the council since he took over from Kofi Annan on Sept. 1 as the U.N.-Arab League special representative for Syria.

2 Marines will be court-martialed

washington

Two Marine noncommissioned officers will be court-martialed for reportedly urinating on the bodies of Taliban fighters last year in Afghanistan and posing for unofficial photos with casualties, the Marine Corps said Monday.

The charges against Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin and Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola are in addition to administrative punishments announced last month for three other, more junior Marines for their role in the urination episode.

Pakistan disowns bounty on filmmaker

islamabad

The Pakistani government on Monday distanced itself from an offer by one of its Cabinet ministers to pay $100,000 to anyone who kills the maker of an anti-Islam film that has sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.

The film, “Innocence of Muslims,” has enraged many Muslims for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester. At least 51 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have been killed in violence linked to protests over the film, which also has renewed debate over freedom of expression in the U.S. and in Europe.

New SARS-like virus is detected

london

British health authorities have alerted the U.N. of a new respiratory virus that resembles SARS in a severely ill patient who recently traveled to Saudi Arabia — where another man died of a similar illness this year.

The man in the new case was sickened by a coronavirus, which causes most common colds but also causes SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. In 2003, SARS killed hundreds of people, mostly in Asia, in a short-lived outbreak.

Britain’s Health ProtectionSFlbAgency and the World Health Organization said in statements that the 49-year-old Qatari national became ill Sept. 3, having previously traveled to Saudi Arabia. He was transferred from Qatar to Britain on Sept. 11 and is being treated in an intensive-care unit at a London hospital for problems including kidney failure.

Ex-prof gets life over shooting rampage

huntsville, ala.

A Harvard-educated biologist was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday after being convicted of going on a shooting rampage at a faculty meeting at an Alabama university, killing three colleagues and wounding three others in 2010.

The jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting Amy Bishop. The former professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville showed no reaction as the verdict was read. She did not speak in court, but her attorney said she has often expressed great remorse for the victims and their families.

Associated Press