Friday,  May 11, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 302 • 34 of 39 •  Other Editions

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said the cease-fire brokered by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan was "in crisis" because it lacks teeth.
• Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Ghalioun said there would be "no peaceful solution" to the violence in Syria "unless a threat of force against those who don't implement the plan."
• In Damascus, workers were paving over two massive craters caused by the bombs that struck a Syrian military compound Thursday. The attack, which also wounded more than 370 people, was the deadliest against a regime target since the Syrian uprising began 14 months ago.
• Security forces armed with Kalashnikov rifles were guarding the compound Friday.
• ___

West Bank village fears Israeli barrier will destroy ancient farming landscape

• BATTIR, West Bank (AP) -- One of the last Palestinian farming villages that still uses irrigation systems from Roman times says its ancient way of life is in danger as Israel prepares to lay down its West Bank separation barrier.
• With construction possibly beginning in the coming weeks, the people of Battir hope a legal battle, backed by recent U.N. recognition of the village's agricultural practices, will help change Israel's mind.
• Battir's 6,000 inhabitants live in limestone-faced houses built into a hillside southwest of Jerusalem. On the lands around the homes, stone retaining walls have transformed scrubby hills into orderly terraces of olive trees and vegetable gardens.
• Terraces are a common Palestinian farming technique in the hilly West Bank terrain. But in Battir, they are unique for their extent -- stretching uninterrupted over nearly 2,000 hectares (800 acres) -- and for the centuries-old network of irrigation canals that direct springwater over the stepped hills.
• This combination prompted the U.N.'s cultural agency, UNESCO, to award the village last year with a $15,000 prize for "Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes."
• ___

Authorities: Miss. kidnap-slaying suspect shoots, kills himself; 2 missing girls rescued

• GUNTOWN, Miss. (AP) -- Authorities who tracked down a fugitive accused of

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