The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a positive review of a breast cancer drug from Roche that could soon become the first pharmaceutical option approved for treating early-stage disease before surgery.

In documents posted online, FDA scientists said women who received the drug Perjeta as initial treatment for breast cancer were more likely to be cancer-free at the time of surgery than women who received older drug combinations. Although the results come from mid-stage trials of the drug, FDA scientists recommended accelerating approval of the drug.

The price of oil dropped Wednesday after President Barack Obama said he asked U.S. lawmakers to postpone a vote authorizing the use of military force against Syria.

Obama, in a televised speech to the nation late Tuesday, said he wanted to give Syria a chance to turn over its chemical weapons before he asks Congress for consent to intervene in the country's civil war.

Iraqi authorities are resorting to desperate measures to quell rising violence, ordering huge numbers of cars off the roads, bulldozing soccer fields and even building a medieval-style moat around one city in an effort to keep car bombs out.

Many Iraqis question the security benefits of the heavy-handed efforts, lampooning them online and complaining that they only add to the daily struggle of living in a country weathering its worst bout of bloodshed in half a decade.

President Barack Obama used a nationally televised address Tuesday night to make his case for military action against Syria, even as he recognized that diplomatic steps could render attacks unnecessary. He told war-weary Americans that the use of chemical weapons poses a threat to U.S. security and that America, with modest effort, "can stop children from being gassed to death."

Citing the new diplomatic efforts, Obama said he had asked congressional leaders to postpone a vote on legislation he has been seeking to authorize the use of military force against Syria — a vote he was in danger of losing. But he also said he has ordered the U.S. military to remain prepared to carry out attacks if needed.

Germany's relocation program for Syrian refugees is getting under way with 107 people gaining temporary new homes.

U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Tuesday the refugees — including survivors of torture and others with special needs mainly those with untreated medical conditions — are due to leave Lebanon on Wednesday headed for Hannover under the temporary program announced by Germany in March for up to 5,000 Syrian refugees.

A new study of the Monarch butterflies' winter nesting grounds in central Mexico says small-scale logging is worse than previously thought and may be contributing to threats facing the Monarch's singular migration pattern.

The reserve's 33,482-acre (13,550-hectare) core zone lost 41 acres (16.6 hectares) of pine and fir trees so far in 2013, about half of that because of illegal logging, said the study by Omar Vidal, head of Mexico's chapter of the World Wildlife Fund, the WWF, and other authors. The rest of the loss was due to drought or disease-control removal of trees.

Two scientists who illuminated how brain cells communicate, three researchers who developed implants that let deaf people hear and philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have won prestigious Lasker Awards for medical research and contributions to public health.

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced the recipients of the $250,000 prizes on Monday. The awards will be presented Sept. 20 in New York City.

France said Tuesday it would submit a resolution to the U.N. Security Council calling on Syria to put its chemical weapons beyond use or face military action.

The resolution, to be presented in New York later in the day, will also demand that the individuals responsible for an August 21 chemical attack on Damascus suburbs be put on trial at the International Criminal Court, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told a press conference.

Richard Van As, a South African carpenter, lost four fingers from his right hand to a circular saw two years ago.

He was unable to afford the tens of thousands of dollars to get a myoelectric hand, which detects a muscle's electric impulses to activate an artificial limb.

Senior Israeli politicians have voiced skepticism about Russia's proposal for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons to international control.

Avigdor Lieberman, who chairs the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, told Israel Radio on Tuesday that Syria could use the proposal to "buy time."