Norway Declines Request to Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons, Says It Can't Make Deadline

Norway was asked to destroy 50 of 300 existing metric tons of nerve agent

Norway has turned down a request request by the United States to receive and destroy the bulk of Syria's chemical weapons, saying the country doesn't have the capabilities to do so by deadlines that have been set.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende said Friday that the country would not be able to treat some of the waste products that would result from destroying the weapons, the Associated Press reports. Norway had been asked to help with the destruction of 50 metric tons of chemicals and an estimated 300-500 metric tons of materials to make nerve agents.