World/Nation Briefs April 11, 2012
Syria defies cease-fire with new attacks
BEIRUT - Syrian troops defied a U.N.-brokered cease-fire plan on Tuesday, launching fresh attacks on rebellious areas, but special envoy Kofi Annan said there was still time to salvage a truce that he described as the only chance for peace.
More than a year into the Syrian uprising, the international community has nearly run out of options for halting the slide toward civil war. On Tuesday, Annan insisted his peace initiative remains "very much alive" - in part because there is no viable alternative.
The U.N. has ruled out any military intervention of the type that helped bring down Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, and several rounds of sanctions and other attempts to isolate President Bashar Assad have done little to stop the bloodshed.
Lawyers withdraw
from Florida shooting case
SANFORD, Fla. - The Trayvon Martin case took a bizarre turn Tuesday when George Zimmerman's attorneys quit, complaining that they have lost all contact with him and that he called the prosecutor and talked to a TV host after they told him not to speak to anyone.
The lawyers portrayed the former neighborhood watch captain as erratic and his mental state as shaky, and they expressed fear for his health under the pressure that has been building in the month since he shot and killed Martin, an unarmed black teenager.
"As of the last couple days he has not returned phone calls, text messages or emails," attorney Craig Sonner said at a news conference outside the courthouse. "He's gone on his own. I'm not sure what he's doing or who he's talking to. I cannot go forward speaking to the public about George Zimmerman and this case as representing him because I've lost contact with him."
Study: Death and taxes may go hand in hand
CHICAGO - The two certainties in life - death and taxes - may be more intertwined than Ben Franklin ever imagined: A study found that deadly auto accidents increase on Tax Day.
Drivers recklessly racing to the post office to meet the deadline might be one reason. Or it could be that stressing over taxes distracts motorists and contributes to human error, researchers said.
They looked at 30 years of data and found 6,783 traffic-related deaths on Tax Day, or 226 per day. That compares with 213 per day on one day a week before the deadline day and another day a week after.
Drivers were slightly less likely than passengers and pedestrians to be killed.
Teacher says she was fired over victim fund drive
DETROIT - A teacher fired from a Michigan middle school after encouraging students to raise money for the family of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin said Tuesday she is confused by the dismissal and wants the school's administration to explain.
Brooke Harris was dismissed in March from Pontiac Academy for Excellence after she supported students' efforts to plan a wear-a-hoodie-to-school day. Martin was wearing a hoodie Feb. 26 when he was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
A number of groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., have called for Harris to be reinstated.
Loyal Instagram users fret about Facebook's reach
NEW YORK - Poor Instagram users.
First, their beloved photo-sharing application moves from iPhone-only exclusivity to the Android phone masses. A week later, Facebook swallows up the tiny startup behind the app for $1 billion. The purchase sparked worries that Facebook might shutter Instagram or change it for the worse by harvesting their personal information or shoving ads into their carefully curated photo streams.
"I've tried very hard not to be part of the Facebook ecosystem," says Darwin Poblete, a Brooklyn, New York-based architect who has used Instagram since its early days. "Now I feel like the purchase has sucked me in. I'll have to see how the privacy settings change to decide if I will leave it."
- Associated Press