Syrian Army Kills 38 In North, Reports Say

Most of the deaths took place in Jisr al-Shoughour, where residents said 25 people had been killed by helicopter gunships bombarding the town and machine gun-mounted armored cars prowling the streets. Ten were reported to have died in the nearby village of Khan Sheikhoun, where tanks stood sentry between the main highway and the city center and a sniper perched in the minaret of one of the town’s main mosques.

“It is a big massacre,” said Abu Hussein, a resident of Jisr al-Shoughour with family in Khan Sheikhoun. “The civilians have no electricity or water, and there are no ambulances to hospitalize the wounded.”

Syria has been gripped since mid-March by a popular uprising against four decades of iron-fisted rule by the Assad family, and the government has responded to the revolt with a violent crackdown occasionally tempered by offers of political reform.

But there was little holding back over the weekend. The government unleashed the helicopter gunships, and residents in several cities said security forces appeared to move north to join the attack on its towns. Terrified residents streamed through the fields to escape the fighting, with dozens crossing the Turkish border and a large number reported arriving in the nearby port city of Latakia. On Sunday night, local activists said many of the fields had been set alight, and smoke hung over the town.

“They are trying to punish the residents for protesting,” said Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Association for Human Rights. “Dozens have been arrested over the last two days.”

The number of protesters in Idlib swelled so much in recent weeks that “the whole area is rising up,” said Wissam Tarif, a rights activist. Parts of the province had come to the kind of standstill associated with the besieged southern town of Dara’a, he said, where the arrest and torture of 15 schoolchildren for spraying antigovernment graffiti sparked the wave of uprisings.

Government tanks were reported to have pulled back slightly from the city of Hama on Sunday, a day after they were sent in to confront mourners for the 65 protesters killed Friday. The city was the site of a 1982 massacre when security forces commanded by President Hafez al-Assad, the current president’s father, bombarded it in a siege that killed at least 10,000 people.

Bracing for a new onslaught, residents barricaded the streets with large trash-hauling bins on Saturday night, but a tense calm reigned on Sunday night.

Tanks remained “very close” to the city, said Radwan Ziadeh, an exiled human rights activist and visiting scholar at George Washington University, but residents reached by phone said many had appeared to move north. One resident, who gave his name as Abu Mohamed, said he watched 40 tanks move north from the city’s eastern approach along the road to Idlib, past barricades and burning tires laid in the road by protesters.

Tensions remained high in Hama, Abu Mohamed said. A general strike closed all the shops on Saturday and Sunday. And rumors swirled that the secret police were still lurking, recruiting cab drivers to kidnap “rebels” off the streets and infiltrating hospitals to kill the wounded.

Residents reported quiet in the central city of Homs as army units moved north toward Hama and Idlib, but its suburbs Rastan and Talbiseh remained under siege. Shelling killed at least 70 in Rastan last week, and both were reeling Sunday from days of arrests, said Abu Omar, a resident reached by phone. “They arrested almost everybody,” he said. “There are no more people.”

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App City: Commuter Reports From, Well, Commuters

 

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Among smartphone apps for New Yorkers, the most longed for remains one that will get you to work on time. So it’s probably not surprising that the city is experiencing a boom in transit apps, with dozens of options including beginner-level offerings that give basic directions and more advanced ones, like Exit Strategy, which counsels riders on which subway car will get them closest to the most convenient exit. The city government and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are encouraging this trend by providing public data and running app contests.

Roadify, which aims to use the wisdom of the crowd to inform drivers and transit riders, recently won the grand prize in the city’s Big Apps 2.0 competition. It was originally a text-messaging group that let drivers in Park Slope, Brooklyn, announce when they were leaving a parking spot. Last year, several developers expanded on that idea, creating an app to swap information about driving and public transportation. Roadify also includes subway and bus timetables and scheduled service changes, and the developers are gradually adding more ways for users to share information about their commutes. An Android version is in the works.

It is easy to see how Roadify could be useful. But it is the kind of service that gets better as more people sign up, and it has not reached critical mass. It is not uncommon to click on, say, the E train at Queens Plaza, only to find an update saying the station is crowded — from six hours earlier. There is also some development work to be done: More than 20 bus lines have yet to be entered into the database, meaning that if you live in many parts of Queens, you’re out of luck. And the subway information is arranged by line, not by station. Trying to decide which train to take from Times Square? You have to check each line individually. Roadify is also largely nonfunctional underground, a serious shortcoming for something you want to use on the subway.

In the future, there may be a way for New Yorkers to exchange useful information about their commutes in real time. Roadify may even end up being that app. But not yet. JOSHUA BRUSTEIN

 

Airstrike Killed Qaeda Figure, NATO Reports

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A NATO airstrike this month killed a senior operative of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan who was a regional commander in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow, the international military coalition said Tuesday.

NATO identified the man killed in the air attack on April 13 in the Dangam District of eastern Kunar Province as Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani. The military alliance said the strike also killed a number of other insurgents, including a Qaeda leader known as Waqas.

Mr. Najdi, a Saudi, directed Al Qaeda’s operations in Kunar Province and traveled regularly between Afghanistan and Pakistan, NATO said. He coordinated suicide bombing attacks and kidnappings, and oversaw the transfer of money.

An American official in Washington described Mr. Najdi as a “significant commander” and said that he had been one of fewer than a dozen such Qaeda commanders in Afghanistan.

NATO said it had been chasing Mr. Najdi since 2007 and finally found him while he was meeting with Mr. Waqas, who like many Afghans used only one name.

In Paktia Province, the provincial governor narrowly escaped what appeared to be an assassination attempt. A roadside bomb exploded behind a vehicle that was taking the governor, Juma Khan Hamdard, to his office, said Rohallah Samon, a spokesman for the governor.

Mr. Hamdard was not hurt, but three police officers in another vehicle were slightly wounded, Mr. Samon said.

 

Xerox Reports Rise in Profit and Revenue

Net income was $281 million, or 19 cents a share, in contrast to a loss of $42 million, or 4 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Excluding some costs, profit was 23 cents a share. Analysts estimated 21 cents on average.

Sales climbed 16 percent, to $5.47 billion, led by services, which gained 27 percent.

Sales from equipment and supplies was little changed, which may have disappointed some investors, said Keith Bachman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. “It’s uninspiring,” Mr. Bachman said. “It’s a reasonable report, but it doesn’t give anybody a reason to go out and buy the stock.”

Shares of Xerox fell 63 cents, or 5.81 percent, to $10.22.

The company, based in Norwalk, Conn., has been reducing costs, including 5,000 job cuts last year, as it integrates Affiliated Computer Services. The company may save more than $375 million in three years as a result of the takeover, Xerox has said.

Xerox said profit this quarter, excluding some costs, will be 23 cents to 26 cents a share, a larger range than the company typically gives for its quarterly forecasts as it assesses its business in Japan. That compares with analysts’ estimates of 25 cents.

The company, whose Fuji Xerox joint venture manufactures and distributes copiers and printers for Japan, China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, said it expects last month’s earthquake in Japan to affect its equity income this quarter and the third quarter.

While Fuji Xerox factories were not damaged, several of its suppliers were affected by the earthquake, the chief executive, Ursula M. Burns, said. The company is making alternate plans for supplies and expects to have increased supply chain costs, she said.

 

Xerox Reports Rise in Profit and Revenue

Net income was $281 million, or 19 cents a share, in contrast to a loss of $42 million, or 4 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Excluding some costs, profit was 23 cents a share. Analysts estimated 21 cents on average.

Sales climbed 16 percent, to $5.47 billion, led by services, which gained 27 percent.

Sales from equipment and supplies was little changed, which may have disappointed some investors, said Keith Bachman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. “It’s uninspiring,” Mr. Bachman said. “It’s a reasonable report, but it doesn’t give anybody a reason to go out and buy the stock.”

Shares of Xerox fell 63 cents, or 5.81 percent, to $10.22.

The company, based in Norwalk, Conn., has been reducing costs, including 5,000 job cuts last year, as it integrates Affiliated Computer Services. The company may save more than $375 million in three years as a result of the takeover, Xerox has said.

Xerox said profit this quarter, excluding some costs, will be 23 cents to 26 cents a share, a larger range than the company typically gives for its quarterly forecasts as it assesses its business in Japan. That compares with analysts’ estimates of 25 cents.

The company, whose Fuji Xerox joint venture manufactures and distributes copiers and printers for Japan, China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, said it expects last month’s earthquake in Japan to affect its equity income this quarter and the third quarter.

While Fuji Xerox factories were not damaged, several of its suppliers were affected by the earthquake, the chief executive, Ursula M. Burns, said. The company is making alternate plans for supplies and expects to have increased supply chain costs, she said.

 

France Joins Britain in Sending Military Advisers to Libya Rebels, Reports Say

PARIS — The French government said Wednesday it would join Britain in sending a small number of military liaison officers to support the ragtag rebel army in Libya, news reports said, offering a diplomatic boost for the insurgent leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil who planned to meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

The French and British decisions to send advisers marked the latest development in the international community’s search for a means to break a bloody battlefield deadlock that has killed hundreds in the contested cities of Misurata and Ajdabiya and left the rebels in tenuous control of a few major coastal cities in their campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi

But the moves, likened by some critics to America’s decision to send military advisers to Vietnam, raised worries in both countries that their military establishments were being drawn closer into the conflict. The French government spokesman, Fran?ois Baroin, told reporters on Wednesday that the number of military liaison officers would be small, but did not give details. French government ministers stressed that they do not plan to send ground troops to support the rebels.

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said on Tuesday that the British advisers would help the makeshift rebel forces “improve their military organizational structures, communications and logistics.”

Britain and France — the European nations at the forefront of the diplomatic drive against Colonel Qaddafi — have strived to maintain a united front since they promoted a United Nations Security Council resolution almost five weeks ago authorizing NATO air strikes to protect civilians from loyalist forces.

France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé, told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that he remained “absolutely opposed to a deployment of troops on the ground, “ words echoed on Wednesday by the defense minister, Gérard Longuet, who said the Security Council resolution permitting air strikes did not authorize the use of foreign ground forces.

On Wednesday, nonetheless, the satirical and investigative French weekly, Canard Encha?né, reported that, along with Britain and the United States, France dispatched covert special forces to Libya three weeks to assess the impact of allied airstrikes.

The Libyan government criticized the British decision to send advisers , saying the move would prolong conflict. Instead, Libya’s foreign minister, Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, used a BBC interview broadcast on Wednesday to renew the Tripoli authorities’ frequent call for a cease-fire and a suspension of NATO bombing to permit a settlement negotiated by Libyans themselves without foreign interference.

“We think any military presence is a step backwards,” Mr. Obeidi said, “and we are sure that if this bombing stopped and there is a real cease-fire we could have a dialogue among all Libyans about what they want — democracy, political reform, constitution, election. This could not be done with what is going on now.”

President Sarkozy of France met Mr. Abdel-Jalil, formerly Colonel Qaddafi’s justice minister, to try to find a means to break the deadlock and, according to a statement from the French presidency, to debate “the process of democratic transition.

The French prime minister, Fran?ois Fillon, who also planned to meet Mr. Abdel-Jalil, was quoted in news reports as saying France would intensify air strikes “to prevent Qaddafi forces from pursuing their attacks on civilian populations.”

“But at the same time, we will need to find a political solution, that is, conditions for a dialogue so that the Libyan crisis can be resolved,” he said in Kiev, Ukraine, according to Agence France-Presse.

Libya’s state television reported on Wednesday that NATO warplanes had struck telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure. But it did not say where or when the reported attacks took place.

The Libyan rebel leader held talks on Tuesday in Rome with Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, and urged NATO to increase its airstrikes against Colonel Qaddafi’s forces. But, publicly at least, he appeared to have secured no firm commitment of increased military aid similar to Britain’s offer.

Italy, France and Qatar are the only countries to formally recognize the rebel administration in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Britain had previously been providing what Mr. Hague described as “nonlethal assistance,” in the form of telecommunications equipment and body armor. He maintained that the new deployment fell within the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the international community to protect Libyan civilians but ruling out an occupation force. The military team will work with British diplomats who are already in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital, he said.

The officers will be deployed “quickly,” said Britain’s Defense Ministry, but it declined to provide further details on the timeline or the number of soldiers. The Associated Press reported that there could be as many as 20.

A government official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorized to discuss operational matters, said that though some of the soldiers had special forces backgrounds, they were not directly drawn from Britain’s elite Special Air Service and Special Boat Service teams.

The move was cause for concern among some current and former politicians. Sir Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, which is now part of a governing coalition with the Conservatives, said Tuesday that the advisers “must not be seen as a first installment of further military deployment.” He added, “Vietnam began with an American president sending military advisers.”

Current members of Parliament have also called for a fresh debate. “This is clear evidence of mission creep,” said John Baron, a Conservative member. “Now we are beginning to put military personnel on the ground, something that wasn’t even discussed when we debated this issue.”

Allied bombing sorties and Tomahawk missiles have failed to tip the balance decisively in favor of a rebel group with disjointed leadership, limited weapons and many inexperienced fighters. And civilian casualties have continued to mount. On Tuesday, the United Nations said that at least 20 children had been killed in the siege of Misurata.

Alan Cowell reported from Paris, and Ravi Somaiya from London. Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris.