U.S., others to send aid to Syrian opposition

A coalition of more than 70 partners, including the United States, pledged Sunday to send millions of dollars and communications equipment to Syria’s opposition groups.

The summit meeting of the “Friends of the Syrian People” follows a year of failed diplomacy. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other participants at the conference in Istanbul expressed concern that a peace plan by U.n.-arab League envoy Kofi Annan might backfire if Syrian President Bashar Assad tries to manipulate it to prolong his hold on power.

Clinton said the United States is providing communications equipment to help anti-government activists in Syria organize, remain in contact with the outside world and evade regime attacks.

Plane crashes in Siberia; 12 hospitalized

A passenger plane carrying 43 people crashed in Siberia shortly after taking off this morning from Tyumen, and some of those on board survived, Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said. The state news agency Ria-novosti, citing rescue workers, said 12 survivors were being taken to a hospital.

Images show N. Korea rocket launch site

New satellite images of a North Korean rocket launch site show a mobile radar trailer and rows of what appear to be empty fuel tanks, evidence of ramped-up preparation for what the United States calls a cover for a long-range missile test.

An analysis of images by the U.s.-korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies shows Pyongyang “has undertaken more extensive preparations for its planned April rocket launch than previously understood.” The images were taken Wednesday.

“These pictures are new and important evidence that the North’s preparations for its rocket launch are progressing according to schedule,” said Joel Wit, visiting fellow at the institute and editor of its website on North Korea, 38 North. The