AP News in Brief
Obama wants more certainty on Syrian chemical weapons use before deciding on US response
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said he wants more information about chemical weapons use in the Syrian civil war before he decides on escalating U.S. military or diplomatic responses, despite earlier assertions that use of such weapons would be a "game-changer."
• With the U.S. disengaging from the unpopular war in Afghanistan and still smarting from the difficult conflict in Iraq, Obama has been reluctant to unleash American military power in the Syrian fighting, a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people. The president said at a Tuesday news conference that the conflict is a "blemish on the international community generally."
• Obama said the evidence available does not yet merit the quick use of American military power. He has called for the United Nations to investigate.
• "What we now have is evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside of Syria, but we don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them. We don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. And when I am making decisions about America's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapon use, I've got to make sure I've got the facts. That's what the American people would expect.
• The president said, however, that if it is determined that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons "we would have to rethink the range of options that are available to us."
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Bangladesh May Day crowds demand worker safety as death toll in collapsed building tops 400
• SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- Thousands of workers paraded through central Dhaka on May Day to demand safety at work and the death penalty for the owner of a garment factory building that collapsed last week in the country's worst industrial disaster, killing at least 402 people and injuring 2,500.
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