Retribution for a chemical attack seems to be in the works for Syria – Numbers are way down at the Muslim Brotherhood’s latest attempt at a protest – Portugal burns – Russia’s Far East floods – India wonders when the madness will end.

The US is moving Navy ships closer to Syria’s Mediterranean coast, in anticipation of a possible strike against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.  It would be in retaliation for what the west is increasingly convinced was a government chemical weapons attack on civilians.  The ships are capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles against potential inland targets. 

The UN says the number of children forced to flee Syrian civil war has reached one million, more than half of the 1.7 million refugees from the conflict.  The death toll is mover 100,000 lives lost.  And 40,000 Syrians have poured over the border into Iraq’s Kurdish region in just the past week.

More than 40 people were killed when two huge bombs were detonated near mosques in the northern Lebanon city of Tripoli.  The mosques were both Sunni, and the preacher at one of them is known to be an opponent of the Syrian government and its Shi’a allies Hezbollah.  It’s the deadliest attack since the end of Lebanon’s civil war 23 years ago. 

The Muslim Brotherhood “Friday of Martyrs” in Egypt kind of fizzled out.  Rallies drew far fewer people than before the interim government’s crackdown on the Brotherhood, which included the arrests of several key leaders.  Protests were limited to outside mosques still affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

A child who was living with incarcerated parents was one of 30 people killed in a prison riot at Palmasola maximum-security prison in the eastern city of Santa Cruz.  The UN has complained to Bolivia about the policy that allows kids up to age six to live with parents in prisons.  The riot was a battle between rival gangs, which ended with the ignition of propane tanks. Many of the wounded had second- and third-degree burns and were taken to hospital. Television footage showed images of charred bodies and ambulances taking away the dead and wounded.

Colombia’s government recalled its negotiators from peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels.  This follows the rebels calling for a pause in the negotiations to study a proposal that any peace deal must be put to a referendum.  Some 220,000 people have died as a result of the five decades of internal conflict in Colombia.

Mumbai police are holding five suspects in the gang rape of a photojournalist on Thursday night.  The case renewed India’s national outrage the followed similar attacks on a physiotherapist last year in which the victim died, and on a European tourist.  Activists say violence against women is increasing in Mumbai, and they’re blaming cops who are harassing women for the way they dress or for going to clubs, rather than enforcing the law and arresting criminals.

Fallen former Chinese politburo member Bo Xilai dismissed the testimony of his wife as “insane”, after she implicated him in corruption.  Once a rising star, Bo is on trial on charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power.  Totally coincidental are his neo-Maoist leanings that run afoul of Beijing’s wealthy, market-loving leadership.  Bo is expected to cross-examine prosecution witnesses on the 3rd day of the trial.

Three people are still missing after an oil rig helicopter off ditched into the North Sea near the Shetland Islands north of Scotland.  15 people were rescued from freezing waters after the Super Puma AS332 L2 chopper got into difficulties as it came in to land just south of the islands.  The chopper is operated by CHC, which just resumed oil rig runs after another ditching last year.

A fire four times the size of Lisbon is ravaging wooded hillsides near Tondela, Portugal.  One firefighter died in the line of duty, and at least nine more people are hurt.  France and Spain are helping out, sending in water-bombing planes to douse the flames.

Meanwhile, an area of Russia’s Far East, larger than France and Germany, is enduring unprecedented flooding.  The Amur River near the city of Khabarovsk is at the highest level recorded in more than a century.  Critics say complacent local officials allowed development in flood plains that have been dry since 1984.

Ben Affleck as Batman?  Really?  Bat-fleck?