Midday Roundup: Russia prescribes a curious cure for Syrian conflict

Taking the lead. Russia is circulating a plan at the United Nations aimed at ending the Syrian civil war. It calls for drafting a new Syrian constitution that would be put to a popular vote within 18 months, followed by a presidential election. Even more surprisingly, Moscow’s plan calls for certain opposition groups to take part in peace talks scheduled to restart Saturday in Vienna. The Russian plan says little about Syrian dictator and Russian ally Bashar al-Assad except that he should not chair the committee that would draft the new constitution. The United States and allies are sticking with their demand that Assad must go.

Suspicious sympathies. The college student who stabbed four people at the University of California, Merced reportedly had a printout of the ISIS flag among his belongings. Initially, Sheriff Vern Warnke said there was no evidence of a jihadist connection. But an anonymous law enforcement official told the Merced Sun-Star that among 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad’s things was a printout of the black ISIS flag and a two-page manifesto. In it, he allegedly wrote a detailed plan of attack and indicated his motive was anger over being booted from a study group.

Church shootout. Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on an evangelical church near Cairo today, setting off a gunbattle with police. No one was killed, but a police officer was shot in the shoulder, the Egypt Independent reported. The MENA news agency said the three attackers escaped after the firefight. Attacks on churches and Egypt’s Christian minority have increased over the past decade as tensions with the country’s Muslim majority have grown, sometimes exacerbated by officials. Egypt’s Coptic Christians now make up about 10 percent of a population of around 90 million, making them the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

Epic audience. Tuesday night’s GOP debates scored record ratings for the Fox Business Network, with 13.5 million people watching the primetime event at 9 p.m. It was easily the biggest audience ever for the 8-year-old network and nearly equaled the 14 million viewers for last month’s debate on CNBC, which reaches more cable subscribers. Another 1.4 million viewers watched the primetime debate online, and almost 5 million people tuned in for the so-called “undercard” debate at 7 p.m.

WORLD Radio’s Kristen Eicher, Jim Henry, and Mary Reichard, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.