Globe Trot 10.26

The Syrian government declared a four-day ceasefire to honor the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, the first ceasefire in the more than 19-month old civil war. But residents in Aleppo are skeptical the truce will last even through the day, as scattered gunfire in the city continued and residents in Christian neighborhoods report that rebel forces have moved in with strength, raising fears that those neighborhoods will become targets of government attacks. Here’s the word I have today from a Syrian just leaving Damascus:

“PLEASE encourage your readers to pray for the Christians in Syria they are being slaughtered.”

If elected, Mitt Romney should run the Pentagon like he ran Bain Capital. In other words, rather than increase defense spending as he proposes, he should make “tough decisions—especially when it came to cutting costs—to strengthen bottom lines.” In other words, he’s a good businessman to cut defense and a bad businessman to hold the line on other spending.

Two hours after the U.S. Consulate came under attack in Benghazi, Libya, the White House was told that a militant group claimed responsibility for the violence that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. A State Department email to intelligence officials and the White House situation room said the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility—and called for an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.

Terrorist suspects in the Benghazi attack have been caught in Turkey and killed in Egypt, all but confirming that a wider terrorist network was at work in the Sept. 11 attacks the Obama administration originally blamed on an anti-Islamic video.

Anyone can decode the barcode used by U.S. domestic airlines on passenger boarding passes, making it possible for would-be terrorists to assign themselves a “pre-check” status that allows them to skip some security protocols.

Hurricane Sandy has made landfall in the Bahamas, and looks headed to combine with an Arctic front over the northeastern United States next week, making for “a perfect storm” not seen in a century. Already the Category 1 hurricane has killed 11 in Cuba and 29 or more across the Caribbean.