UN vote on Syria delayed until Thursday

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council delayed a vote on a new Syria resolution until Thursday in a last-minute effort to get key Western nations and Russia to agree on measures to end the dramatically escalating violence.

International envoy Kofi Annan contacted several governments Tuesday and urged the council to postpone Wednesday's scheduled vote so its deeply divided members could "unite and take concerted and strong action that would help stem the bloodshed in Syria and build momentum for a political transition," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.