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time since the 2010 presidential election, may fail in regions grappling with power outages. About 1,000 portable generators have been transported to problematic areas.
• The official election watchdog, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said it has received reports of some breakdowns, including in metropolitan Manila. The supplier said it had expected 200-300 units to malfunction but it had 2,000 replacements on standby. Elections Commission Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the problems were minor and the polling generally smooth.
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• BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian troops have taken full control of a town near the highway linking the capital Damascus with Jordan, a new advance in the regime's campaign to drive rebels from the strategic south, an activist group said Monday.
• Rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad are trying to carve a pathway from the Jordanian border through the southern province of Daraa, in what is seen as their best shot at capturing Damascus.
• A few weeks ago, they scored significant gains, but have since suffered setbacks in a regime counteroffensive.
• In recent days, regime troops and rebel fighters battled over Khirbet Ghazaleh, a town near the Damascus-Jordan highway.
• Regime forces retook Khirbet Ghazaleh on Sunday and rebels withdrew from the area, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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• NEW YORK (AP) -- The government is running out of time to try to halt implementation of a federal judge's ruling that would lift age restrictions for women and girls wanting to buy the morning-after pill.
• U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn last week refused to delay enforcement of his month-old decision while the government challenges his ruling, but said it would have until Monday to appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

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