WORLD BRIEFS

SYRIA: France sending aid to Syrian rebels

France has started providing direct aid and money to five rebel-held Syrian cities as it intensifies efforts to weaken President Bashar Assad, in the first such move by a western power, a diplomatic source said Wednesday in Paris. The aid comes as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized the Security Council for failing to take action to protect Syrians as thousands have died. Amid mounting calls for the international community to do more to prevent bloodshed, France, Syria's onetime colonial ruler, has pushed to secure "liberated zones" in Syria. In other developments, Turkey accused Syria of "state terrorism" Wednesday and Iran came under new scrutiny with the United States alleging that Tehran is flying weapons to Assad's regime across Iraqi airspace. In Cairo, President Mohammed Morsi urged Assad to take a lesson from the Arab Spring uprisings and step down.

LIBYA: Ghadafi spy chief brought back

Deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi's notorious spy chief was extradited from Mauritania, Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib said Wednesday. A plane carrying Abdullah al-Senoussi landed at Metiga air base in Tripoli and he was flown by helicopter to the Hill Prison in the capital. Al-Senoussi is accused of complicity in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, as well as the Abu Salim prison massacre of more than 1,200 inmates by Gadhafi's regime in 1996 and another airplane bombing in 1989.

BRITAIN: Tory government leaders heckled

Prime Minister David Cameron and Treasury chief George Osborne faced a chorus of boos at the Paralympic Games, a rare flash of hostility toward their belief that a sharp austerity drive is the best way to repair the economy. Cameron made the first major overhaul of his cabinet Tuesday, leaving most senior allies in place, but promoting a crop of young fiscal conservatives.