WORLD DIGEST || Teen breaks up with teacher after arrest

Teen breaks up with teacher after arrest

MODESTO, Calif.

A Northern California teen who made national news when she and her high school teacher moved in together says she has broken off the relationship after allegations that he sexually abused another student.

Jordan Powers, 18, told ABC News that when her now former boyfriend, James Hooker, called her from jail she told him, “We’re done.”

Hooker, 41, was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing a different student more than a decade ago.

US warns Syria it can’t deceive world

BEIRUT

The U.S. warned Syria it won’t be able to deceive the world about compliance with a cease-fire that is just days away, as regime forces pounded more opposition strongholds Saturday in an apparent rush to crush resistance before troops must withdraw. Activists said more than 100 people were killed, including at least 87 civilians.

Almost half died in a Syrian army raid on the central village of al-Latamneh, activists said. Amateur video from the village showed the body of a baby with bloodied clothes and an apparent bullet wound in the chest. On another video, a barrage of shells is heard hitting a neighborhood of Homs as the restive city’s skyline is engulfed in white smoke.

Egypt’s Brotherhood picks new candidate

CAIRO

Egypt’s most powerful political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, announced Saturday it is nominating the head of its party as a back-up candidate for president in the face of attempts to disqualify their primary nominee.

The decision to put forth a second candidate was spurred by fears that the ruling military council may use Egypt’s election committee to disqualify Islamist presidential hopefuls in order to make room for former regime officials to win.

The upcoming election, slated for the end of May, is the first presidential vote since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power.

Gay students come out in Web video

Students from a strict Mormon college that prohibits “homosexual behavior” have launched a Web video aimed at reassuring other gay and lesbian youth struggling with their faith and sexual orientation.

The video recently posted to YouTube by 22 Brigham Young University students is the first of its kind with ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which forbids gay sex and marriage. By posting the video, the students could face excommunication from the church and expulsion at BYU, where gay students are prohibited from touching or kissing.

The campaign is part of columnist Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project, which seeks to give voices and hope to bullied gay and lesbian teenagers.

Associated Press