ChemWeps: The UN weapons report says chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian civil war “on a relatively large scale.” The report does not say which side used nerve gas in the Aug. 21 attack, but it does say, “In particular, the environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used.” The rebels don’t have that kind of rockets. The report said the cool air in the early morning attack increased casualties by keeping gas close to the ground.

Shooting:  Investigators say a former Navy reservist who went on a shooting spree yesterday at the Washington Navy Yard had mental health issues. The final count is 13 dead, including the shooter, identified as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, a civilian contractor from Queens, NY who spent four years as a Navy reservist. Alexis, who had a semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, was killed by a DC police officer. Alexis had some disciplinary problems while in the Navy, including two firearms charges.

National: President Obama is campaigning against a potential government shutdown by the Republican opposition in Congress. Facing a fight over once again raising the national debt ceiling, The White House released an economic report saying, “The last thing we can afford right now is a decision from Congress to throw our economy back into crisis by refusing to pay our country’s bills or shutting down the government.” The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party wants to trade raising the debt ceiling for defunding healthcare reform.

• Drug resistant infections kill 23,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 2 million people a year contract antibiotic resistant infections from drug-immune “suberbugs”. The CDC says there’s a danger of returning to a time when disease was unchecked by medicine. The agency says overuse of antibiotics in both animals and humans contributes to their loss of effectiveness.

Upright: The Costa Concordia cruise ship has been pulled off the rocks and set upright onto an underwater platform in an ambitious engineering effort to float and haul away the stricken ship. The ship is 951 feet long, bigger than the WWII battleship Iowa. It ran aground in January 2012, killing 32 passengers. The next step is to attach air tanks to the starboard (right) side of the ship so it can be floated and towed away.

Art News: A Manhattan dealer has admitted a 15-year multi-million dollar art fraud. She sold art galleries $30 million worth of fakes attributed to Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko that were really painted by a 73-year-old Chinese immigrant in Queens. The galleries later sold the paintings to collectors for $80 million, revealing that the real scandal in art is that the dealer makes more than the artist.

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