Truce plans scuttled
Truce plans scuttled
beirut
A U.N.-brokered plan to stop the bloodshed in Syria effectively collapsed Sunday after President Bashar Assad’s government raised new, last-minute demands that the country’s largest rebel group swiftly rejected.
The truce plan, devised by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, was supposed to go into effect Tuesday, with a withdrawal of Syrian forces from population centers, followed within 48 hours by a cease-fire by both sides in the uprising.
But on Sunday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said that ahead of any troop pullback, the government needs written guarantees from opposition fighters that they will lay down their weapons.
Afghans, US ink deal
kabul
The U.S. and Afghanistan signed a deal Sunday giving Afghans authority over raids of Afghan homes, resolving one of the most contentious issues between the two wartime allies.
The majority of these raids are nighttime operations in which U.S. and Afghan troops descend without warning on homes or residential compounds searching for insurgents.
Car bomb kills 38
lagos, nigeria
A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday morning on a busy road after apparently turning away from attacking Nigerian churches holding Easter services, killing at least 38 people in a massive blast that rattled a city long at the center of religious, ethnic and political violence in the nation.
Witnesses said it appeared the explosive-laden car attempted to go into the compound of the churches before it detonated, but was blocked by barriers in the street and was turned away by a security guard as police approached.
Does autism link to obesity in pregnancy?
chicago
Obesity during pregnancy may increase chances for having a child with autism, provocative new research suggests.
It’s among the first studies linking the two, and though it doesn’t prove obesity causes autism, the authors say their results raise public health concerns because of the high level of obesity in this country.
Study women who were obese during pregnancy were about 67 percent more likely than normal-weight women to have autistic children. They also faced double the risk of having children with other developmental delays.
US sends team to help after avalanche
islamabad
The U.S. sent a team of experts Sunday to help Pakistan search for 135 people buried a day earlier by a massive avalanche that engulfed a military complex in a mountain battleground close to the Indian border.
Pakistani army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas said Sunday evening that it was unclear whether any of the people who were buried are still alive. At least 124 soldiers from the 6th Northern Light Infantry Battalion and 11 civilian contractors are missing.
Pacts expire at AT&T
new york
About 40,000 AT&T landline workers are staying on the job this week without a contract, their union said Sunday.
The workers’ contracts expired over the weekend, raising the possibility of a strike. But the Communications Workers of America and AT&T Inc. said that they’ll keep working on a new deal. CWA spokeswoman Candice Johnson said union representatives met with AT&T on Sunday after talks ended late Saturday. She doesn’t know how long it will take to reach an agreement.
Associated Press