Syria hotspot enjoys lull with monitors

Syria hotspot enjoys lull with monitors

beirut

The deployment of U.N. truce monitors brought a lull in shelling of the Syrian opposition stronghold of Homs for a second day Sunday while President Bashar Assad’s troops kept up heavy attacks on other areas where observers were not present.

International envoy Kofi Annan expressed hope that despite continued violations of the cease-fire he brokered, an expanded team of up to 300 observers — up from eight now on the ground — can help end 13 months of violence and lead to talks between Assad and the opposition.

No new clues in search for Ariz. girl

tucson

The parents of a missing 6-year-old Arizona girl asked their parish priest for prayers Sunday as volunteers passed out fliers across Tucson and more than 150 law-enforcement officers tried to figure out whether she had been abducted.

Tucson police chief Roberto Villasenor said at an afternoon news conference that officers working the case had served at least two search warrants but had no new clues in the disappearance of first-grader Isabel Mercedes Celis.

He said the girl’s parents, identified by friends as Becky and Sergio Celis, were helpful as police worked to find their youngest child. He said police were still classifying the case as a “suspicious disappearance/possible abduction.”

Zimmerman awaits release from jail

sanford, fla.

All eyes remain on the Florida jail where the man charged with murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is awaiting release on bail, and it could be several days before he leaves.

George Zimmerman’s attorney was still working Sunday to secure money for bail and a safe place for the 28-year-old neighborhood- watch volunteer to stay. But residents in Sanford, where Martin was killed, don’t expect a ruckus once Zimmerman is released.

Iran: We recovered data from US drone

tehran, iran

Iran claimed Sunday that it had recovered data from an American spy drone that went down in Iran last year, including information that the aircraft was used to spy on Osama bin Laden weeks before he was killed. Iran also said it was building a copy of the drone.

Similar unmanned surveillance planes have been used in Afghanistan for years and kept watch on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. But U.S. officials have said little about the history of the particular aircraft now in Iran’s possession.

Tehran, which has also been known to exaggerate its military and technological prowess, says it brought down the RQ-170 Sentinel, a top-secret drone equipped with stealth technology, and has flaunted the capture as a victory for Iran and a defeat for the United States.

More firings are predicted in scandal

washington

The chairman of a House committee investigating an alleged Secret Service prostitution scandal predicted more firings as key lawmakers and a top adviser to President Barack Obama expressed confidence Sunday that the agency will effectively deal with the incident.

“Every possible lead is being examined,” said Rep. Peter King, who heads the House Homeland Security Committee. King, R-N.Y., said he expected that in the “near future, several other” members of the Secret Service will leave.

So far, the scandal includesSFlb12 Secret Service employees and 11 military members.

Associated Press