10 things you need to know today: September 6, 2013

This is a good week to have Peyton Manning on your fantasy football team.

(Image credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. G-20 leaders split over attacking Syria

World leaders at the G-20 summit remain split on President Obama's push to launch a military strike against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons. On Thursday night, Russian officials, backed by China and the E.U., said attacking without United Nations approval would violate international law. At the U.N., U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Russia was blocking the Security Council from holding Syria accountable for war crimes. [BBC News]

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U.S. intelligence officials say they have intercepted an order from Iran telling militants in Iraq to attack Americans in Baghdad if President Obama launches a military strike against Syria. The U.S. Embassy is considered a likely target, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. As Obama urges Congress to authorize a strike, the State Department urged Americans to avoid all but "essential" travel to Iraq. [Reuters, Wall Street Journal]

Egyptian military officials on Thursday called an assassination attempt against the interim government's interior minister the beginning of a wave of terrorism, raising expectations for a renewed crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and other supporters of ousted former President Mohamed Morsi. Brotherhood leaders said they renounced violence, but an Interior Ministry spokesman said the attack showed the world "they are a terrorist group." [The Wall Street Journal]

Apple is examining claims of labor abuses at a Jabil Circuit Inc. factory in China that worker advocates say is making a component for a new, less-expensive iPhone. China Labor Watch says in a new report that the violations include excessive working hours and forcing women to take pregnancy tests before they are hired. The case is the latest in a string of complaints of conditions at Apple's overseas suppliers. [Bloomberg]

Investigators have determined that a hunter's illegal campfire got out of control and caused the massive Rim Fire burning in and around Yosemite National Park. No charges have been filed. The blaze has burned 370 square miles since Aug. 17, making it the third largest in California history, but is now 80 percent contained. Earlier reports had suggested that the Rim Fire was started by a secret marijuana growing operation. [Los Angeles Times]

The Afghan Taliban killed an Indian-born author, Sushmita Banerjee, known for a 1995 memoir about her dramatic escape from the Taliban, police said Thursday. Banerjee married an Afghan businessman in 1989 and moved to Kabul. She became an advocate for women, running a small pharmacy from her home. She fled after the Taliban harassed her for her work. Her story was turned into a 2003 Bollywood movie. She had only recently returned to Afghanistan. [Los Angeles Times]

The Dutch supreme court has ruled that the Netherlands was responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, because Dutch peacekeepers ordered the victims to leave a U.N. compound being overrun by Bosnian Serb forces. The ruling marked the first time Dutch soldiers had been found liable for failings in a peacekeeping mission, and could open the door to a wave of compensation claims. [BBC News]

George Zimmerman's wife, Shellie, filed for divorce on Thursday, her attorney said. The decision came less than two months after his acquittal on murder charges for the killing of Trayvon Martin, and a week after Shellie pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge for lying about the family's finances in a bail hearing. Last week, she said the scrutiny from the case forced them to "live like gypsies" and strained their marriage. [Associated Press]

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.

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