Annan: Syria plan to focus on most violent areas

Syrian President Bashar Assad has agreed to a new UN-brokered peace plan focusing on containing the most violent areas of the country, then expanding to the entire nation, international envoy Kofi Annan said Tuesday.

At a news conference in Iran, Annan said the plan still must be presented to the opposition. But he said Assad suggested trying to calm specific areas a day earlier during talks in the Syrian capital aimed at ending the violence, which activists say has killed more than 17,000 people since March 2011. (AP)