Chemical weapons watchdog reinstates Syria

The world's chemical weapons watchdog reinstated Syria on Thursday, noting a "significant change in circumstances" since the fall of Bashar al-Assad and "concrete steps" to dismantle his deadly stockpile of banned substances. The new Syrian government has "committed to fulfilling Syria's obligation under the (Chemical Weapons) Convention and... since taken concrete steps to cooperate... to achieve this goal," the OPCW said in a statement.