Clashes erupt after Syria claims pullout

Clashes erupt after Syria claims pullout

BEIRUT

Syrian troops clashed with army defectors and shelled rebellious districts in the central city of Homs on Wednesday, killing at least 11 civilians a day after the government claimed it had begun a troop withdrawal ahead of the deadline to implement an international truce plan.

Activists said the latest deaths included a man and his son who died in gunfire during fighting in the Qusour district of Homs. They said the renewed violence proved President Bashar Assad’s regime was not serious about implementing the cease-fire brokered by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan.

Students angry over cost pepper-sprayed

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

The dozens of student protesters who were pepper-sprayed by police at a California community college weren’t angry just about not getting into a meeting of school trustees.

They were fuming about a new Santa Monica College plan that would let students who did not get into a needed, high-demand course take the class anyway, but only if they paid hundreds of dollars more.

On Wednesday, the state agency that oversees the state’s community colleges called on the attorney general to judge whether the plan was legal. Agency officials also called for the college to temporarily halt the program.

10, including 3 GIs, die in bombing

KABUL

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed at least 10 people, including three American soldiers, at a park in a relatively peaceful area of northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, part of an increase in violence at the start of the spring fighting season.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, are targeting Afghan and NATO security forces as they fight to assert their power and undermine U.S. efforts to try to build up the Afghan military, which will take the lead in combat responsibility over the next couple of years.

Ex-Sen. McGovern admitted to hospital

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.

Former South Dakota senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern has been hospitalized in Florida, his daughter said Wednesday.

Ann McGovern told The Associated Press her 89-year-old father was admitted to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., on Tuesday evening for tests to figure out why he occasionally passes out and loses his ability to speak, she said.

Hospital officials said the elder McGovern is in stable condition.

Nursing director: I was target of attack

OAKLAND, Calif.

The nursing director at a California college where seven people were killed said Wednesday she believes the gunman was targeting her over a financial dispute, but she was teaching elsewhere when he opened fire on others at the campus.

“In talking to several of the students and faculty who were there, I think he was looking for me. I have that weight on my shoulders, and I don’t know what to do with it,” Ellen Cervellon, director of the nursing program at Oikos University, told The Associated Press.

“Every single one of those students were going to be an excellent, excellent nurse. They’re in my heart, and they always will be,” she said.

A portrait of suspect One Goh, 43, as an angry, unstable man at the school emerged Wednesday as he made his first appearance in court. He was charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, plus a special circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders that could make him eligible for the death penalty.

Associated Press