Key powers at UN reach agreement on Syria’s chemical weapons
UNITED NATIONS — The five permanent members of the deeply divided U.N. Security Council reached agreement Thursday on a resolution to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, a major step in taking the most controversial weapon off the battlefield of the world’s deadliest current conflict.
Senior U.S., Russian, British and French diplomats confirmed the agreement, which also includes China. Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said he would introduce the text to the Security Council’s 10 nonpermanent members Thursday night.
A vote on the resolution still depends on how the full council responds to the draft, and on how soon an international group that oversees the global treaty on chemical weapons can adopt a plan for securing and destroying Syria’s stockpile. Diplomats said the earliest the Security Council could vote would be late Friday.
On Twitter, Lyall Grant said the five veto-wielding members, known as the P-5, had agreed on a “binding and enforceable draft … resolution.” A senior U.S. State Department official said the Russians agreed to support “a strong binding and enforceable resolution.”
But the draft resolution, seen by The Associated Press, makes clear that there is no trigger for any enforcement measures if Syria fails to comply with the provisions of the resolution or the dismantling of its chemical weapons stockpile. Instead, it states that in the event of noncompliance, or any use of chemical weapons, the Security Council will “impose measures under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter,” which will require a second resolution.
Ex-Mont. teacher freed after jail term for rape
BILLINGS, Mont. — A former Montana high school teacher registered as a sex offender and checked in with his probation officer during his first day of freedom after completing a 30-day sentence for raping a 14-year-old girl.
Stacey Rambold, 54, was picked up at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge by a family member Thursday, even as the state Supreme Court reviewed the sentence and critics called for the removal of the judge who handled his case.
District Judge G. Todd Baugh drew outrage last month over the sentence’s leniency and comments he made that appeared to pin some of the blame on the victim, Cherice Moralez.
The teen committed suicide in 2010 before Rambold went to trial.
Rambold’s been registered as a level 1 sex offender — meaning he’s considered a low risk to re-offend — and will remain on probation through 2028 unless the original sentence is overruled.
Drones cost Justice Department $5M
WASHINGTON — The FBI has been using drones to support its law enforcement operations since 2006 and has spent more than $3 million on the unmanned aircraft, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog said Thursday.
The disclosure came in a new report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, who revealed the department also has awarded $1.26 million to at least seven local police departments and nonprofit organization for drones.
In addition, the IG said another Justice Department component, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, plans to use drones to support future operations. To date, the ATF has spent almost $600,000, the IG report stated.
From 2004 to May 2013, the Justice Department spent almost $5 million on the unmanned aircraft.
In June, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress the FBI occasionally uses the unmanned aerial vehicles but was developing guidelines in anticipation of issues that will arise “as they become more omnipresent.” In one instance earlier this year, the FBI used drones at night during a six-day hostage standoff in Alabama.
By wire sources
