NPR 2012-04-09

 A United Nations plan to stop the fighting in Syria fell apart today. The Syrian government had agreed to withdraw its troops from rebel-held areas Tuesday. Both sides had agreed to a ceasefire to begin Thursday. Now the Syrian government is demanding a written guarantee from the rebels that they’ll observe a truce 1. The rebels say they will abide 2 by the plan but won't put it in writing because they don't recognize the Syrian regime. Meanwhile, NPR's Grant Clark reports the bloodshed continues.

 
The British-based Syrian Observatory 3 for Human Rights says troops have launched an attack on an area just outside the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour. They said explosions were heard and dozens of military vehicles involved in the assault. Syrian forces also reportedly shelled a rebel-held neighborhood in the flashpoint central city of Homs today. Opposition 4 activists 5 say more than 120 people were killed in violence across Syria yesterday. Almost half of them died in a Syrian army raid on the central village of al-Latamneh. Grant Clark, NPR News, Beirut.
 
The US and Afghanistan signed an agreement today to change the way night raids are conducted, operations in which US and Afghan troops barge 6 into Afghan homes at night, looking for insurgents 7. Now Afghan officials will have to approve the raids. Afghan troops will take the lead in carrying them out and will take control of any prisoners. US forces will still be involved in an advisory 8 capacity. Afghan President Harmid Karzai has complained the raids cause civilian 9 casualties. 
 
Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma arrested two suspects today in a series of shootings that left three people dead and two people injured last week, but NPR's Alison Keyes reports they aren't yet talking about a motive 10 in the case.
 
All of the victims were African-American. Police identified the suspects as 19-year-old Jake England and 32-year-old Alvin Watts 11. One city counselor 12 and other community leaders characterized the shootings early Friday as racially motivated. Police said they had no evidence of that. But on a Facebook page allegedly belonging to England, there’s a posting using racial slurs 13 against the black man accused of killing 14 England's father two years ago. Tulsa police spokesman Jason Willingham says he can't discuss motive.
 
“I can't confirm that that is his page, but obviously those are, those are all aspects of the investigation 15.”
 
Willingham says police will present evidence to federal prosecutors 16 who will decide whether to pursuit hate crime charges against the men. Alison Keyes, NPR News. 
 
CBS News reports Mike Wallace died last night. The veteran newsman was there at the beginning for "60 Minutes" as one of the original host of the news magazine. His colleague Morley Safer said it's hard to believe. But when Wallace was born in 1918, there weren't even (slip) many radios in most American homes. Wallace semi-retired in 2006. He (slip) told reporters at that time he wanted to be remembered as tough but fair. Mike Wallace was 93. 
 
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About 400,000 AT&T landline employees are working without a contract as of midnight last night. Union officials say they’ll keep working while contract talks with the company continue. The main outstanding issues appear to be job security and how much workers should pay for health care premiums 17 and co-pays. 
 
Maryland's High Court of Appeals is deciding whether to grant a divorce to a same-sex couple, while same-sex marriage is not legal in Maryland. From member station WYPR, Mary Rose Madden reports.
 
Jessica Port and Virginia Anne Cowan have been trying to get divorced for two of the four years they’ve been married. The couple was living in Maryland when they began their proceedings 18. In 2010, their judge denied their request, saying that it was contrary to the public policy of Maryland. Shannon Minter is the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. He says other couples have had success getting divorced in their home states, even if same-sex marriage is not legal in that state. Trial court judges are quietly granting their divorce, but “there are some cases where trial court judges will not do it, and then couples end up really stuck, and those cases are starting to go up on appeal. So I think we’re going to see a lot more of this issue in the coming years.” For NPR News, I'm Mary Rose Madden in Baltimore.
 
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is acknowledging that Mitt 19 Romney will most likely be the GOP nominee 20, but he said he’s still not dropping out of the race. Gingrich told “Fox News Sunday” he’s being realistic and saying Romney will be a good choice. He also said he’ll do all he can to help Romney win. Gingrich said he’s glad he ran for president, but he said it turned out to be harder than he thought.