In brief: Syrian National Coalition disbands military council

Amman, Jordan – As the Obama administration seeks $500 million in additional aid for Syrian rebels, a leading figure of the major U.S.-backed Syrian opposition coalition has ordered the disbanding and complete restructuring of the group’s military wing.

The shake-up is the latest sign of disarray within the Syrian National Coalition, the exile-based opposition umbrella group backed by Washington and its allies. The Obama administration has touted the coalition as an alternative to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has backed the group with funds and equipment.

Ahmad Tomeh, prime minister of the coalition’s opposition government, ordered the dissolution of the Supreme Military Council, which oversees the Free Syrian Army, the affiliated rebel faction fighting in Syria. He referred members of the military command to a financial and administrative oversight committee “for investigation.”

A statement late Thursday from Tomeh did not specify any charges of wrongdoing.

Vatican defrocks former envoy

Vatican City – The Vatican has defrocked its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic for sexually abusing boys. It’s the first time a top papal envoy has been convicted of the crime.

The Vatican said Friday that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was found guilty by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and sentenced to the harshest penalty possible against a cleric under canon law: laicization, meaning he can no longer perform priestly duties or present himself as a priest.

Wesolowski has two months to appeal. After the canonical case is finished, he faces a separate criminal trial in the Vatican City State’s tribunal, which could carry a jail term if he is convicted.

Electrical outage sweeps Venezuela

Caracas, Venezuela – A power plant failure knocked out electricity across a big swath of Venezuela on Friday, darkening the lights at a nationally televised presidential ceremony and forcing a suspension of subway and train services across the country.

The outage affected at least 14 of the South American country’s 23 states and caused several hours of traffic snarls and darkened homes and offices in the capital, Caracas.

A power plant that supplies electricity to Venezuela’s central and western regions failed in early afternoon, Electricity Minister Jesse Chacon said. Electricity was mostly restored in Caracas by nightfall, but remained out in other parts of the country, where power failures are more common.