Nation & World

The Associated Press

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about today:

1. SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON THE MOVE

Intelligence agencies in the U.S. and other countries have detected the movement of chemical-weapons components by the Assad regime. Are they trying to keep the stockpile from falling into rebel hands, or is there something more sinister going on?

2. RISKS OF TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

Analysts warn that pulling back too much could slow the Afghan army’s development, while keeping too many would prolong its dependence on the U.S.

3. SERIAL KILLER’S BLOOD COULD CRACK COLD CASES

The AP’s Don Babwin reports Illinois police are creating DNA profiles of executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy and others to see if the killers had more victims.

4. JAPAN’S AGING TUNNELS

The country orders new inspections after nine people are killed in the collapse of a 1970s-era tunnel.

5. WHERE THE SCHOOL YEAR IS GETTING LONGER

Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee are adding at least 300 classroom hours to the calendar.

6. TRACING A KILLER’S CONFESSION

The suspect in the killing of a barista in Alaska implicates himself in as many as nine killings in four states before killing himself in jail.

7. POPE SEEKS FOLLOWERS … ON TWITTER

The Vatican announces the pontiff will begin tweeting from a new personal handle, @Pointifex.

8. A NEW STAB AT AVOIDING WASHINGTON’S `FISCAL CLIFF’

Nancy Pelosi says she will try to force a House vote on a Senate-passed bill favored by Democrats to break the deadlock. Each chamber is sitting on tax bills the other chamber passed. Washington Sen. Patty Murray, meanwhile, stands firm on the last-resort idea of taking the country over the cliff.

9. K.C. CHIEF AND SLAIN GIRLFRIEND SEEMED `FINE’ BEFORE MURDER-SUICIDE

A friend says linebacker Jovan Belcher and Kasandra M. Perkins had argued about “normal couple stuff.”

10. WHAT `STUPID HUMAN TRICKS’ CAN GET YOU

David Letterman receives Kennedy Center honors, along with rockers Led Zeppelin, actor Dustin Hoffman, bluesman Buddy Guy and ballerina Natalia Makarova.