Syria: Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday the US has proof that Syria used sarin nerve gas in its Aug. 21 attack on its own citizens. It’s the first time the Obama administration has identified the chemical agent as nerve gas. “Hair samples and blood samples have tested positive for signatures of sarin,” Kerry said to NBC News.

 President Obama is already meeting resistance to his call for Congress to approve an attack on Syria, even from Democrats. Some are saying the language of the draft resolution is too broad and does not limit the insertion of troops, despite what President Obama promises. Russia says it is unconvinced that a gas attack took place and that the US is not fully disclosing what it claims to know. But the Arab League, an alliance of 22 countries, passed a resolution calling for action against Syria.

Egypt: Deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is being sent to trial on charges that he incited the killing of protesters outside his presidential palace. Morsi is charged along with 14 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood for inciting the killing of 10 people, according to Egypt’s high court. The accusations stem from an incident on Dec. 4, 2012, when Morsi declared he was immune from judicial oversight and he was ramming through an Islamist constitution. Morsi supporters attacked protesters camped outside the palace, killing 10 of them. Of course the irony is that only in late August Morsi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarek, who was thrown out in the Arab Spring, was acquitted of corruption.  

Big: The wildfire now burning into the western side of Yosemite National Park in California is the 4^th largest in the history of the state. The Rim Fire, as it has been named, has burned 348 square miles. The fire has burned few houses, but has cost $60 million to fight so far. A fire east of San Diego that burned 427 square miles in 2003 remains California’s biggest.

Big Swim: Distance swimmer Diana Nyad this morning was within 10 miles of Key West, in good position to finish her 112 mile swim from Cuba to Florida. Now 64, this is Nyad’s fifth attempt to make the swim in 35 years.

Bust: Mexican police have arrested drug cartel leader Alberto Carrillo Fuentes, nicknamed “Ugly Betty.” Fuentes is the brother of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as the “Lord of the Skies”, who died in 1997 undergoing plastic surgery to change his face. We’re reporting this only because we like the nicknames.

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