UK Goes to Security Council for Syria Resolution Top news: As Western nations grindingly move toward taking military action against Syria, Britain said it will present a resolution to the Security Council that would authorize "necessary measures to protect civilians," a diplomatic move likely to define the coalition of states willing to strike against Sryia. Though the Security Council measure is unlikely to pass, the United States appears headed toward some form of military action against Syria, though the exact nature of those plans remain unclear. In retaliation for the use of chemical weapons, the United States is likely to launch missile strikes in what Obama administration officials describe as a "limited" action intended to "deter and degrade" the Assad regimes ability to use their chemical weapons stocks. On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf emphasized that missile strikes would not be launched with the goal of regime change. But as the United States plots its move against Syria, regional tensions are heating up, and Syria's neighbors show no willingness to enthusiastically back a U.S. strike. On Tuesday, the Arab League condemned Assad's use of chemical weapons but declined to back military action in retaliation for the attack on a suburb east of Damascus thought to have killed as many as 1,000 people. The Arab League's decision leaves President Obama without the regional backing he might have used to legitimize military action in the absence of a Security Council resolution. Meanwhile, Iran, which has aggressively backed the Assad regime with guns and money, pledged to launch retaliatory strikes against Israel if the United States launches a strike against Syria. Amid concern for a coming strike, global markets are down and the price of oil has jumped. FP Exclusive: Shortly after last week's chemical weapons strike east of Damascus, U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted a phone call between a panicking Syrian Defense Ministry official and the commander of a chemical weapons unit. That call is partly why American officials are certain the Assad regime is responsible for carrying out the attack. The trial of four men -- one of whom is the singer of a prominent PLA singer -- charged with gang-rape began in Beijing and is the latest legal proceeding to cast light on the privileges enjoyed by the party elite. A U.S. special envoy will visit North Korea on Friday to try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, the imprisoned American missionary. The Indian rupee continued its decline, notching its largest single-day drop against the dollar in 20 years. Tunisia blacklisted the Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia, which is thought to have been behind the assassinations of two prominent secular politicians. A series of bombings Wednesday morning left some 65 people dead in Baghdad. The Iraqi Supreme Court struck down a measure imposing term limits on the prime minister, clearing the way for Nouri al-Maliki to seek a third term. The Colombian government agreed to enter into talks with striking agricultural workers who have shut down roads and caused chaos on the country's roadways. A review of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's most recent background check was found to be cursory and inadequate. Syrian hackers struck the website of the New York Times and claimed to have also compromised servers belonging to Twitter. The radical Ukrainian feminist group Femen accused police of planting guns and explosives in a raid on their headquarters. A former JP Morgan banker responsible for supervising the so-called "London Whale," the trader who racked up billions in losses at the bank's London office, was arrested in Spain. Russian police seized a painting depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in women's underwear and stroking hair of his prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev. Fighters thought to be affiliated with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed 20 people belonging to a vigilante group. After all 25,000 applicants failed the university admissions exam, Liberia's main state-run university agreed to take on 1,800 of those students. Zimbabwe plans to build a "Disneyland in Africa" near the iconic Victoria Falls waterfalls. Tama/Getty Images