U.S. President Barack Obama says he has decided to take military action against Syria but would first seek authorization from Congress. 

Obama said in a statement at the White House that after careful deliberation he's decided the United States should take military action against Syrian targets.

He said this would not be an open-ended intervention. And the US would not put boots on the ground, echoing a refrain repeated by his administration in the past days. 

In a dramatic turnaround, Obama said he would first seek authorization from Congress, as demanded by some lawmakers, before acting to punish Syria for its use of chemical weapons in an attack in the suburbs of Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Aug. 21.

Putin calls U.S. claims on Syria's chemical weapons use "utter nonsense" 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as "utter nonsense" the U.S. claims that the Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons.

He's told reporters in Vladvostok that the Syrian government troops are on the offensive ... So giving a trump card to those who are calling for a military intervention is utter nonsense.

UN rejects suggestions inspectors' Syria exit opens window for strikes

A UN spokesman says UN inspectors have conducted "a wide range of fact-finding activities" at a site outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, where alleged chemical weapons attacks killed hundreds of people.

However, there could be no report on whether banned poison gas had been used until laboratory tests are completed.

The UN inspectors have taken the samples to The Hague and will be moved to two laboratories in Europe. 

The spokesman vehemently rejected suggestions that the departure of UN inspectors from Syria on Saturday somehow opened a window for U. S. military strikes.

Yemeni PM escapes assassination attempt: official

Yemeni Prime Minister Mohamed Basindwa has escaped an assassination attempt unharmed near his home in the capital of Sanaa.

His media adviser told Xinhua that unidentified gunman went out from a car and opened fire at the prime minister's convoy on a street close to the Political Security Agency in Sanaa on Saturday.

The bodyguards of Basindwa fired back, but the assailants run away.

The Interior Ministry says it is investigating the incident.

Indian juvenile court finds minor guilty in Delhi gang rape case

Nearly nine months after the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student by six men on a moving bus in the Indian capital shocked the country, a juvenile court gave the first verdict in the case -- it convicted a teenager of the horrific crime and sentenced him to three years in a reformatory. 

Four other adult suspects in the case, currently being tried at a fast-track court, face death penalty. The main accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail in New Delhi by hanging himself. A judgement is likely to be given next month.

Four dead after 5.9-magnitude quake jolts SW China 

Four people died and 10 others were injured after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck southwest China on Saturday morning.

The quake hit the border area of Shangri-La and Deqen counties in Yunnan Province and Derong County in Sichuan Province Saturday morning, according to the China Earthquake Network Center. 

The quake has toppled 600 residential units and damaged 55,500 others, and some 9,200 local residents have been forced to relocate.

Local authorities have rushed to carry out rescue and disaster relief work. They have sent tents, clothes, quilts, folding beds and mattresses to the disaster-hit area.

Liquid ammonia leak kills at least 15 in Shanghai 

Fifteen people were confirmed dead and 25 others injured, five critically, after a liquid ammonia leak at a refrigeration unit in Shanghai on Saturday, local authorities said.

The municipal government says in a statement that the accident took place Saturday morning in a factory at Shanghai Weng's Cold Storage Industrial Co., Ltd. in Baoshan District.

It says rescue work has concluded and all the injured have been rushed to hospitals. Five are in critical condition.

China to freeze bank accounts of defaulters 

China's Supreme People's Court has signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned banks which allows bank accounts of those who default on a judicial execution to be investigated, frozen and transferred. 

The SPC and headquarters of commercial banks will establish an exclusive channel to share namelists of the defaulters, according to the SPC. 

An official with theSPC says the cooperation between courts and commercial banks will help address the difficulty courts face in enforcing judicial execution, and build a society-wide credit system.

12th Chinese National Games opens 

The 12th National Games, billed as China's mini-Olympics, opened on Saturday afternoon.

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the games open in the Olympic Sports Center in the capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning Province. The games will run through to Sept.12.

The quadrennial games, which features all the 28 Olympic sports as well as baseball, softball and Wushu, attracted more than 9 thousand athletes.