WORLD BRIEFS

SYRIA: An opening for UN aid

Syria has agreed to allow humanitarian workers and supplies into four provinces hit hardest, a sign of some relief in a nation where 1 million people need aid urgently during the fighting, officials said Tuesday in Geneva. At the same time, Damascus plunged itself into further international isolation by labeling U.S. and European envoys as unwelcome in retaliation for Western expulsions of Syrian diplomats. UN aid officials cautioned that they won't declare success until the regime of Bashar Assad delivers on its promises.

CANADA: Bodies parts turn up in West

Packages containing a human foot and hand were discovered Tuesday at schools in Vancouver in perhaps the latest gruesome twist in the case of a porn actor suspected of dismembering and eating his former lover. It could not immediately be confirmed whether the body parts were the missing extremities of Chinese student Jun Lin, whose hand and foot were mailed last week to Canada's top political parties. Suspect Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, was caught Monday in Berlin. He told German authorities he would not fight extradition. Vancouver police said a package containing what appeared to be a human hand was opened by staff at False Creek Elementary School. Another package containing what appeared to be a human foot was found at St. George's private school for boys.

RUSSIA: The Duma causes a stir

The do-as-it's-told parliament showed unusual signs of defiance Tuesday when a minority of lawmakers seized on a mostly unexplored tactic here, the filibuster, and fought hard and long against a law to impose huge fines on protesters. They had no hope of success; Vladimir Putin's United Russia party holds 238 of the 450 seats in the state Duma. But they scored a victory nonetheless, making Russians pay attention to a normally rubber-stamp body. The Duma dominated Twitter as opposition deputies took turns talking about nearly 400 amendments to the law. Nearly 90,000 viewers saw a webcast of the proceedings.