Attacks in Syria

Attacks in Syria

BEIRUT

In fresh attacks on symbols of state power, twin suicide bombs exploded Monday near a government security compound in northern Syria, and rockets struck the central bank in Damascus, killing nine people and wounding 100.

The regime and the opposition traded blame, accusing each other of dooming a United Nations plan to calm violence that largely has failed so far. The head of the U.N. observer mission acknowledged that his force cannot solve the country’s crisis alone and urged both sides to stop fighting.

Group protests store’s tobacco sales

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

A group of anti-tobacco activists is protesting Matthews, N.C.-based Family Dollar’s recent decision to start selling cigarettes, saying the stores will push more cigarettes on low-income consumers, who already smoke more than average.

Family Dollar responded that its decision was driven by customer demand.

But in a letter to Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Break Free Alliance said the increased availability of tobacco at Family Dollar’s 7,100 stores will add to customers’ health problems.

AAA: Problems at site where 7 died

NEW YORK

The section of highway where an accident sent seven members of a Bronx family flying over a guardrail and plummeting to their deaths has narrow lanes, steep hills, tight turns, inadequate guardrails and no breakdown lane, an auto- safety group said Monday. The Bronx River Parkway “lacks modern transportation engineering features,” said Robert Sinclair, spokesman for the American Automobile Association’s New York City affiliate. He said it was conceived in 1907 and opened in 1925.

Combined dispatches