President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him.

Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line," suggesting it would trigger greater American intervention in the two-year crisis.

The bodies of two people were found in the most destructive fire in the history of the U.S. state of Colorado, authorities said.

Sheriff Terry Maketa said crews on Thursday found the remains of one person reported missing. About an hour later they found the remains of a second person.

Ships and helicopters were scouring seas in the central Philippines for survivors of a ferry that sank early Friday with about 60 people aboard. Two people have died, and 41 have been rescued, officials said.

The inter-island ferry left Pio Duran port in Albay province and sank three hours later at about 5 a.m. near Burias Island, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away across a strait. Coast guard and navy vessels and helicopters were called in to conduct the search and rescue, aided by local fishermen.

Ambulances and helicopters took at least 30 people from a burning chemical plant after an explosion Thursday in Louisiana, officials said.

Early tests did not indicate dangerous levels of any chemicals around the plant in Geismar, southeast of Baton Rouge, but area residents were told to remain indoors with doors and windows closed, said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta defended Lionel Messi against allegations of tax fraud on Thursday, a case that experts say could carry a prison sentence for the Argentina star.

A Spanish state prosecutor filed a fraud complaint on Wednesday alleging that Messi and his father Jorge avoided paying 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in back taxes through illegal overseas tax havens.

Germany forward Andre Schurrle is close to completing his protracted switch from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea, in what would be Jose Mourinho's first signing since returning as manager of the Premier League club.

Chelsea said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Leverkusen over the transfer of Schurrle, who must now complete personal terms and pass a medical.

More than half of Americans polled in a survey released Thursday said they agreed with the statement "We are really in the era of Big Brother."

The survey from the University of Southern California was conducted last year, before recent revelations of large-scale, secret U.S. government surveillance programs. It found that some 35 percent of respondents agreed that "There is no privacy, get over it."

The head of AEG Live LLC told jurors Wednesday that he knew Michael Jackson as a sophisticated, forceful businessman and not the drugged-up performer who's been described throughout an ongoing civil trial filed over the singer's untimely death.

Jackson was a far more complex figure than has been portrayed during the trial of a case filed by the singer's mother against AEG Live over her son's death, said Randy Philips, the company's president and CEO.

Jennifer Lopez says Latinos in the United States are starting to realize their power in politics and media, and that makes the timing good for her latest undertaking: Lobbying for greater diversity in TV programming.

The entertainer spoke Wednesday at the Cable Show, a communications convention, ahead of new programming set to launch July 18 on the NUVOtv network. Lopez serves as chief creative officer of the English-language Latino channel.

The Duchess of Cambridge will officially name the new "Royal Princess" cruise liner at a gala ceremony.

The former Kate Middleton plans to board the vessel for the naming ceremony, which will include a blessing and the traditional smashing of a bottle across the hull.