As a busy day on diplomacy got underway in New York. Secretary Clinton said she would be meeting with the new leaders of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen to talk about the Democratic transitions underway in those countries. She is calling on everyone to stand up against extremists who have led violent protests at U.S. embassies and the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

 

The people of Benghazi sent this message loudly and clearly on Friday. When they forcefully rejected the extremists in their midst and reclaimed the honor and dignity of a courageous city. 

 

Clinton says President Obama will be speaking more about that on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the United Nations.

 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is again attacking President Obama on foreign policy, describing it is weak. Before traveling to New York, Romney told voters in Pueblo, Colorado today that Mr. Obama's response to the Syrian unrest was " a policy of paralysis". He also criticized President Obama's recent description of the new Democratic challenges confronting Arab countries as "bumps in the road."

 

Bumps in the road, We had an ambassador assassinated. We had a Muslim Brotherhood elect a member, elected to the presidency of Egypt, 20,000 people have been killed in Syria.

 

The Syrian conflict was the subject of a closed-door meeting at the U.N. Security Council today. International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters the situation was getting worse but gave little indication that the panel is able to break the impasse anytime soon over how to end Syria's civil war. 

 

Two marine sergeants are facing courts martial for their part in an incident last year where marines desecrated the remains of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. More from NPR's Tom Bowman.  

 

The two staff sergeants  Joseph Chamblin and Edward Deptola are from camp Lejeune, North Carolina and assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. The charges include dereliction of duty and failing to properly supervise junior marines. Deptola is also charged with unnecessary damage to an Afghan home and indiscriminately firing a captured enemy machine gun. The incident came to light earlier this year. When a video surface showing four marines laughing and urinating on the corpses of dead insurgents in Helmand province. This is the first criminal charges. Already three junior marines received minor disciplinary action. They could result in loss of pay or reduction in rank. The Marine court says it expects actions against still more marines. NPR's Tom Bowman. 

 

This is NPR.

 

One of Britain's most radical Islamist clerics Abu Hamza al-Masri  is a significant step closer to be extradited to the United States. The British government says Masri lost his appeal in the European Court of Human Rights and will be handed over to U.S. custody soon. The 54-year-old is wanted in the United States, will face terror related charges.

 

The privately held company that owns the Village Voice newspaper and many other free alternative weeklies across the nation is selling them to a group led by a top executive. NPR's David Folkenflik reports the move will enable the papers to shed an ongoing controversy.

 

Weekly papers are financially troubled these days undermined by drops in readership, advertising and relevance. For Village Voice and its sister papers, one financial bright spot has been backpage.com an online classified ad site. But it has been denounced by religious activists. A U.S. senator and New York Times Economist  Nicholas Kristof for enabeling child prostitution. Backpage says it has spent much time and millions of dollars to ensure that its classifies involve only legal activities and consenting adults. But the headaches endured. Village Voice new executives Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey will sell the papers to a group run by several colleagues, but will hold onto backpage.com. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

 

More than the third year in a row, sales of General Motors vehicles in China have hit the two million mark and it hit the milestone earlier than ever before on September 21st.

 

After gains early in the day, Dow off again 20 points at 13,559 at last check; NASDAQ off 19 at 3,161 and the S&P 500 down three points.