World / Nation Briefs April 1, 2012

Search suspended for woman missing in fire

CONIFER, Colo. - The search for a Colorado woman missing in a wildfire has been suspended after rescuers found human remains in her burned home.

Jefferson County authorities said they don't know yet whether the remains found Saturday are those of Ann Appel, reported missing since Monday.

If the remains belong to Appel, she would become the third fatality in a wildfire that has scorched about 6 square miles southwest of Denver.

An elderly couple found dead in one of the more than two dozen homes damaged or destroyed by the fire were buried Friday.

Residents of about 180 homes remain evacuated.

Firefighters have contained more than 90 percent of the wildfire, which was apparently sparked by a state controlled burn that sprang to life Monday in strong winds.

Jefferson County has tightened its fire restrictions to temporarily ban anything producing an open flame in unincorporated parts of the county, including federal land.

Protesters march where teen was shot by volunteer

SANFORD, Fla. - Thousands joined a march Saturday through the Florida town where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, vowing to continue protesting until an arrest is made.

Protesters carried signs, chanted "Justice for Trayvon," and clutched the hands of their children while they walked to the Sanford Police Department from a local high school that served black students during the segregation era. The march was organized by the NAACP was one of several taking place over the weekend.

"We live in the middle of an American paradox," Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd. "We can put a black man in the White House but we cannot walk a black child through a gated neighborhood. We are not selling out, bowing out or backing down until there is justice for Trayvon."

Martin was shot to death by 28-year-old George Zimmerman on Feb. 26 as he walked from a convenience store back to his father's fiancee's home in a gated community outside Orlando.

Whitney Houston memorabilia auctioned in LA

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - A bustier worn on stage by Whitney Houston fetched $18,750 at an auction in Beverly Hills of memorabilia from the late pop star's career.

Julien's Auctions said the sale of 13 items Saturday brought in a total of $80,187 from bidders in the gallery, on the phone and online.

A grey velvet gown the singer wore to music mogul Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party in 1996 went for $11,250.

Pearl drop earrings worn by Houston in "The Bodyguard" sold for $2,812, while a vest she sported in the film commanded $3,437.

Other items included a plum velvet dress, which sold for $7,500, and a black and gold pants outfit that fetched $2,125.

Houston drowned in a bathtub at a Beverly Hills hotel on the eve of the Grammy Awards in February.

Dissident Aung likely elected to parliament

WAH THIN KHA, Myanmar - Myanmar held a landmark election Sunday that was expected to send democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament for her first public office since launching her decades-long struggle against the military-dominated government.

Sunday's by-election, to fill a few dozen vacant seats, followed months of surprising reforms by a nominally civilian government that does not relish ceding ground to Suu Kyi, but which must appear more democratic in order to emerge from decades of international isolation that have crippled the Southeast Asian nation's economy.

Suu Kyi's party and its opposition allies will have almost no sway even if they win all the seats they are contesting, because the 664-seat parliament will remain dominated by the military and the military-backed ruling party.

Syrian army will not be first to lay down arms

BEIRUT - Syria rejected international envoy Kofi Annan's call for the regime to halt violence first just days after the government agreed to a cease-fire plan. A senior official declared victory over the opposition.

It was the government's first response to an appeal by Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy, to stop military operations first as "the stronger party" in a "gesture of good faith" to the lightly armed opposition. Annan brokered the agreement aimed at stopping the bloodshed and Assad agreed to it on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi said the government will not pull tanks and troops from towns and cities engulfed by unrest before life returns to normal there.

"The battle to bring down the state in Syria has already ended and the battle of reinforcing stability has started," Makdessi said in an apparent reference to a string of recent regime offensives that drove rebels from key strongholds. He spoke on state TV late Friday.

Activists reported fresh violence Saturday that killed more than two dozen people. The U.N. estimates more than 9,000 people have been killed since the uprising to oust Assad began a year ago.

- The Associated Press