Top news: Over the weekend, as U.N. observers investigated a reported massacre in the Syrian village of Tremseh, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that the 16-month-old crisis in Syria now constitutes a civil war -- or, as the organization put it, a "non-international armed conflict."

The ruling implies that "international humanitarian law applies throughout the country," the Associated Press explains. "[H]umanitarian law grants all parties in a conflict the right to use appropriate force to achieve their aims. The Geneva-based group's assessment is an important reference for determining how much and what type of force can be used, and it can form the basis for war crimes prosecutions."

On Monday, activists reported heavy clashes between Syrian troops and rebel fighters in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Ahead of a visit to Moscow by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of resorting to "blackmail" in an effort to persuade Russia to back a U.N. resolution involving sanctions against Syria.     

North Korea: The state-run Korean Central News Agency is reporting that the politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea decided to relieve North Korean military chief Ri Yong Yo of his duties because of "illness" during a meeting on Sunday. Ri was once seen as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's mentor, and analysts are greeting the explanation for the dismissal with skepticism.