Fighting intensifies in Syria’s largest city

Fighting intensifies in Syria’s largest city

BEIRUT

The Syrian regime pounded Aleppo with warplanes and artillery shelling Saturday as ground forces seeking to regain momentum in the country’s largest city advanced on three neighbor-hoods, activists said.

The new fighting came as Russia soundly rejected U.S. calls for increased pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to relinquish power, citing its commercial interests.

Shelling and air raids against the eastern Helwaniyeh neighborhood caused a large number of casualties, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist group called the Local Coordination Committees. Amateur videos showed wounded people bleeding on the floor of a crowded makeshift hospital as they received treatment.

Owner thanks workers with cash

ANN ARBOR, Mich.

Before retiring, a Michigan car-dealership owner wanted to thank his employees in a special way.

All 89 employees at the Howard Cooper Import Center in Ann Arbor were given $1,000 for each year of service to the 47-year-old auto dealership.

“The lady behind me had tears running down her face,” employee Sandy Reagan told AnnArbor.com. “I sat next to a person who drives the parts van, and he’s been here almost 28 years. He doesn’t make a ton of money, but he got almost $28,000.

“I watched his face, and he just said, ‘Oh my God,’” said Reagan, who has been with the company 46 years.

3,000 evacuated as volcano spews ash

MANAGUA, Nicaragua

The San Cristobal volcano spewed out a column of ash and gas 21/2 miles high Saturday, leading Nicaraguan authorities to evacuate about 3,000 people from nine communities around the country’s tallest mountain.

Residents reported hearing three powerful explosions in the volcano as the cloud began billowing skyward and ash drifted over nearby villages.

“This activity could affect some 500 families totaling 3,000 people, so we decided to evacuate them,” said Guillermo Gonzalez, executive director of the government’s disaster agency.

Civil defense personnel said 300 soldiers were sent to evacuate people and care for them.

hChina steps up quake rescue efforts

BEIJING

Rescue workers cleared roads Saturday so they could search for survivors and rush aid to a remote mountainous area of southwestern China after twin earthquakes killed at least 80 people.

More than 200,000 villagers were evacuated after Friday’s quakes toppled thousands of homes and sent boulders cascading across roads in a region of small farms and mines near the border between Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, where some of China’s poorest people live. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted local officials as saying the death toll could climb further because the quakes seriously damaged roads and communications, making it difficult to collect information.

Associated Press