BEIRUT

Al-Qaida leader supports 11-month-old Syrian revolt

Al-Qaida’s leader has called for the ouster of Syria’s “pernicious, cancerous regime,” raising fears that Islamic extremists will try to exploit an uprising against President Bashar Assad that began with peaceful calls for democratic change but is morphing into a bloody, armed insurgency.

The regime has long blamed terrorists for the 11-month-old revolt, and al-Qaida’s endorsement creates new difficulties for the United States, its Western allies and Arab states trying to figure out a way to help force Assad from power.

On Sunday, the 22-nation Arab League called for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria, but Damascus rejected it immediately.

In an eight-minute video message released late Saturday, al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to support Syrian rebels.

“Wounded Syria is still bleeding day after day, and the butcher (Bashar Assad) isn’t deterred and doesn’t stop,” said al-Zawahri, who took over al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces last May. “However, the resistance of our people in Syria is escalating and growing despite all the pains, sacrifices and blood.”

The United Nations estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March. But that figure is from January, when the U.N. stopped counting because the chaos there has made it all but impossible to check the figures.

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuelan opposition picks Chavez’s challenger

Youthful state governor Henrique Capriles won Venezuela’s first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday by a wide margin, emerging as the single candidate who will try to end President Hugo Chavez’s 13 years in power.

Capriles, 39, the governor of Miranda state, faces a tough task in ousting Chavez, a charismatic campaigner with a loyal following and the full powers of the state to back his candidacy in Oct. 7 elections.

Opposition election chief Teresa Albanes announced the preliminary results, saying that Capriles won about 62 percent of the vote, beating Zulia state Gov. Pablo Perez by more than 30 percentage points.

Chavez’s critics lined up to vote in many areas, surpassing most expectations with a turnout of about 2.9 million ballots cast out of Venezuela’s 18 million registered voters.

Capriles had been the front-runner in pre-election polls among five contenders, presenting a younger, energetic alternative to Chavez, 57, who has recently battled cancer.

Some of Capriles’ supporters say they think he has a good chance because he has taken a largely nonconfrontational approach toward Chavez while promising solutions to problems including 26 percent inflation and one of the highest murder rates in Latin America.

WASHINGTON

Top Republican wants vote on contraception mandate

Conservatives said Sunday the flap surrounding President Obama’s birth control mandate was far from over, with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell saying he’ll push to overturn the requirement because it’s another example of government meddling.

While a senior White House official shrugged off such remarks, declaring the issue resolved and new legislation unlikely, the heated rhetoric from Republicans suggested the GOP would try to keep the debate alive in an election year to rally conservatives and seize upon voter frustration with big government.

“It’s riddled with constitutional problems,” McConnell said of Obama’s broader health-care plan. “And this is what happens when the government tries to take over health care and tries to interfere with your religious beliefs.”

Last week, Obama backed down on a mandate that religious-affiliated employers such as Catholic hospitals and colleges cover birth control in their health insurance plans. In a tweak of the rule, those employees would be offered free coverage directly from their insurer. But employers would not provide or pay for it.

The White House says the plan won’t drive up costs because birth control, similar to other preventative-care measures, is less expensive than pregnancy. But opponents say that unless drugmakers stop charging for contraception, the cost is likely to get passed on to employers regardless.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

Man to face Alabama trial in wife’s death in Australia

A dream honeymoon to scuba dive on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef turned into a terrible nightmare, and the horror is about to play out years later in a courtroom in Alabama.

An Alabama man who already served prison time in Australia after pleading guilty to a reduced charged in the death of his bride goes on trial today, accused of murdering her for insurance money. Tina Thomas Watson drowned during a scuba dive on the reef just days after her wedding in October 2003.

Gabe Watson is charged with capital murder – which normally is punishable by death – but faces life in prison without parole if convicted because of a deal the state made years ago with Australian officials to guarantee his return to the U.S.

He is accused of killing Tina Watson by turning off her air supply and bear-hugging her as she drowned while diving on a shipwreck in 2003. Don Valeska, an assistant state attorney general handling the case, argues Watson killed the woman believing he could collect on a modest life insurance policy.

Originally charged with murder in Australia, Watson avoided a jury trial there by pleading to a charge of manslaughter and serving 18 months for not doing enough to save his wife.

The defense will argue during the trial that Tina Watson’s death was an unintended, horrible mishap.