Suicide bombing in Syrian capital kills 10

BEIRUT (AP) -- Two weeks into a cease-fire agreement, there still was no peace in Syria: Security agents in Damascus collected the remains of 10 people killed in a suicide bombing. Activists reported troops firing on protesters. Video showed a crowd carrying a slain boy to U.N. observers as proof of regime violence.

The head of the United Nations said Syrian President Bashar Assad's continued crackdown on protests has reached an "intolerable stage," and that the U.N. will try to speed up the deployment of up to 300 monitors to Syria. Only 15 are there now.

"The government of Syria must live up to its promises to the world," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets across Syria for weekly anti-regime marches after Muslim noon prayers Friday. Amateur video from the central city of Homs, where the presence of U.N. observers helped halt weeks of artillery attacks, showed rows of men lining up in a main street, holding each other by the shoulders as they sang and danced.

CDC: Most Alabama outbreak victims knew twisters were coming, but for many, it didn't matter

ATLANTA (AP) -- Most of the victims of last year's epic tornado outbreak in Alabama had at least one thing in common: They knew the storm was coming.

A year after the onslaught of dozens of twisters killed at least 250 people in Alabama and more elsewhere in the South, federal researchers are completing a study of who died and where they were when it happened. Among the conclusions so far: Nearly half of the people who died had been advised to take shelter. Indeed, most of them did.

But many of the tornadoes were so fierce that few structures were able to withstand them.

"These were catastrophic winds that could destroy pretty much anything in its path," Cindy Chiu, an epidemic intelligence service officer, said in reporting preliminary findings this month at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conference in Atlanta.

Tymoshenko daughter says condition worsening

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- The daughter of Ukraine's jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Friday that her mother's condition has deteriorated badly since alleged beatings by prison guards and that she fears her mother will be force-fed to get her to stop a hunger strike. German doctors who have examined Tymoshenko said they don't believe she can get proper treatment at home.

The charismatic heroine of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution protest movement is serving a seven-year prison sentence on charges of abusing her powers in a Russian energy deal. The West has strongly condemned the verdict as politically motivated and threatened to freeze cooperation with Ukraine.

Tymoshenko launched a hunger strike a week ago to protest the alleged prison abuse. She claims that guards punched her in the stomach and twisted her arms and legs while transporting her to a local hospital against her will to be treated for her spinal condition.

The opposition leader's daughter Eugenia Tymoshenko told The Associated Press that her mother's health is rapidly declining and she fears the prison will force-feed her.

FTC brings in former government prosecutor to dig deeper into Google's business practices

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission has hired a prominent trial lawyer to oversee its broad investigation into Google's business practices, signaling the agency is troubled by what it has discovered so far in its year-old probe.

Former Justice Department prosecutor Beth Wilkinson will take the reins as the FTC digs deeper into allegations that Google Inc. has been abusing its dominance of Internet search to stifle competition and drive up online advertising prices. The FTC announced the move Thursday.

Wilkinson is best known for helping to convict Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1997. Now a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, in Washington, D.C., Wilkinson also has experience in antitrust law and white-collar criminal cases.