Midday Roundup: Pakistan upholds death penalty for Christian mom

Wrongful death sentence. An appeals court in Pakistan last week upheld the death sentence for a Christian mother accused of insulting the prophet Muhammad. Asia Bibi, a mother of five, has been in jail since 2009, when some of her Muslim co-workers in a field asked her to fetch water. They then told her it was unclean, to which she claims to have responded, “Are we not all humans?” She was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging in 2010. She plans to appeal the sentence to Pakistan’s Supreme Court, which likely will take several more years. The case shines new light on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, by which a person can be convicted based on scant evidence. Accusers do not even have to repeat the allegedly blasphemous statements, only testify that they heard someone say something insulting.

Safe passage. Turkey announced today it will support Iraqi Kurdish fighters who are defending the Syrian town of Kobani from ISIS. Kobani sits on the Turkish border. If the town fell to ISIS, the extremist group would have an easy crossing point into Turkey. Calls for assistance from the Turkish government had fallen on deaf ears until today, partly because Turkey has a poor relationship with the Kurds in its own borders. But it will now allow Iraqi Kurds in Turkey to cross into Syria to help break the siege on Kobani, where the United States has already been supporting the Kurds with airstrikes and drops of weapons and supplies.

Broken record. Quarterback Peyton Manning broke Brett Favre’s record for touchdown passes yesterday, leading the Denver Broncos to a win over the San Francisco 49ers. Manning passed Favre’s record of 508 by throwing three touchdown passes in the first half of the game, then went on to add another in the third quarter, bringing his own total to 510. Manning said he was honored and humbled by the achievement. “I certainly think about how grateful I am for all the teammates and coaches that I’ve played with and played for throughout my career, not only here in Denver—in Indianapolis and all the people that have helped me along the way,” Manning said.

Sad developments. Police believe the human remains they found on an abandoned property outside Charlottesville, Va., belong to missing college student Hannah Graham. While they are awaiting official identification, police said they have shifted from investigating Graham’s disappearance to investigating her death. Graham, 18, was a sophomore at the University of Virginia. She was last seen in the early morning hours of Sept. 18 on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville with Jesse Matthew Jr. Authorities have arrested Matthew, 32, for his potential role in Graham’s disappearance. They have also linked him to several other sexual assaults and the murder of a Virginia Tech University student in 2009.

Serial suspect. Police have uncovered the bodies of seven woman whose deaths are all linked to a man arrested this past weekend in Gary, Ind. The man, whom police have not identified, was taken into custody after a 19-year-old woman was found strangled in a motel in Hammond, Ind. He provided the police with locations of several other bodies. “It’s quite possible that there may be more victims,” Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson told CNN.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.