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U.S. denies secret deal with Iran to stay out of future war with Israel
Mark Felsenthal, Reuters | Sep 3, 2012 3:25 PM ET
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NATIONAL POST
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks with U.S. president Barack Obama in March 2012. The two have a frosty relationship
TOLEDO, Ohio – The White House on Monday denied an Israeli newspaper report that accused Washington of secretly negotiating with Tehran to keep the United States out of a future Israel-Iran war.
The Jewish state also played down the front-page report in its biggest-selling daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, which followed unusually public disagreement between the allies about how to tackle Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
“It’s incorrect, completely incorrect,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told Reuters while accompanying President Barack Obama on a campaign trip in Ohio. “The report is false and we don’t talk about hypotheticals.”
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Without naming its sources, Yedioth said Washington had approached Tehran through two unidentified European countries to convey the message that the United States would not be dragged into fighting if Israel carried out threats to attack Iran.
Yedioth said the United States told Iran it should in return refrain from retaliating against U.S. interests, including its military in the Gulf.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli official, who asked not to be identified, described the report as illogical.
“It doesn’t make sense,” the official said. “There would be no need to make such a promise to the Iranians because they realize the last thing they need is to attack U.S. targets and draw massive U.S. bombing raids.”
In appearances on Sunday and Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers to set a “clear red line” for Tehran’s atomic program that would convince Iran they were determined to prevent it from obtaining nuclear arms. Such remarks have been portrayed in Israel as criticism of Obama.
Obama, who seeks re-election in November, is fighting accusations from his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, that he is lax in support for Israel.
The Obama administration says it is strongly committed to Israel’s security and to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and has vowed far-ranging reprisals if attacked.
Israelis in Tel Aviv protest against a possible Israeli strike on Iran. Tensions between the two countries have risen over Iran's nuclear program, which Israel says is meant to eventually produce nuclear weapons.
The United States and Israel both accuse Iran of secretly seeking the means to make nuclear arms and say they reserve the right to take military action to prevent Iran from getting them.
However, the Obama administration has repeatedly made clear in public that it thinks diplomacy and tough new sanctions have not yet run their course, even as Israeli officials say the window for effective military action is rapidly closing.
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said he still believed Obama’s assurances that Washington was prepared to use force if needed to prevent Iran from developing a bomb.
“I don’t know what kind of messages Yedioth Ahronoth heard,” Meridor said.
“But I think the Iranians understand … that if they cross a line towards a bomb, they could encounter very strong resistance, including all the options that are on the table – as the American president has said.” Obama has had frosty relations with the right-wing Netanyahu, who is due to visit the United States this month.
The Nov. 6 presidential election is seen hinging mostly on the U.S. economy with foreign policy taking a back seat. But support for Israel is an important issue for many U.S. voters, including evangelical Christians as well as Jews who could prove critical in battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania.
The Iranians realize the last thing they need is to attack U.S. targets and draw massive U.S. bombing raids .
Obama wants to shore up his advantage among Jewish voters. He received 78% of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election, but a nationwide Gallup poll in June showed him down to 64% backing versus Romney’s 29%.
Administration officials have also made clear they regard the prospect of an Israeli attack on Iran with alarm.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was quoted in Britain’s Guardian newspaper as saying of a prospective Israeli attack on Iran: “I don’t want to be complicit if they choose to do it.”
The Obama administration and the European Union imposed harsh new sanctions on Iran in July. U.S. officials say they hope that this will persuade Iran to curb its nuclear projects.
Of Dempsey’s comments, Meridor said: “I’m sorry we’ve reached the situation where Dempsey said what he said, but this campaign [against Iran] is continuing and it must be conducted very wisely.”
Netanyahu’s cabinet is divided over the wisdom of attacking Iran, and Israeli officials have dropped heavy hints of a retreat on their strategy, under which Netanyahu would shelve threats of an attack now in return for a stronger public pledge from Obama on conditions that would provoke U.S. action in the future.
“The greater the resolve and the clearer the red line, the less likely we’ll have conflict,” Netanyahu said on Monday.
***
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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Diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria 'nearly impossible', says new UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi
Finding a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict is "nearly impossible", Lakhdar Brahimi, the man given the job of trying to do it has admitted.
No hope: Lakhdar Brahimi gave a pessimistic view of the situation in Syria Photo: AP
By Richard Spencer
11:02AM BST 03 Sep 2012
Lakhdar Brahimi, the new envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League to Syria, gave a pessimistic view of the situation in Syria, where at least 25,000 people have already died in 18 months of revolution. He also said there was not much he could do about it.
"I know how difficult it is – how nearly impossible. I can't say impossible – nearly impossible," Mr Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister appointed to replace Kofi Annan this month, said in an interview with the BBC.
Although few would disagree with Mr Brahimi's assessment, his sense of hopelessness will raise new questions about the choice of peace envoy. Algeria has historically been one of Syria's closest allies, and he has little trust from the opposition, particularly after he refused to agree to the Arab League's own position that President Bashar al-Assad needed to step down for a solution to work.
He said he had taken the job on out of a sense of duty but with little expectation of being able to achieve anything that Mr Annan, with whom he had discussed the situation throughout, had not achieved. Mr Annan had ended up facing a brick wall, he said. "I'm standing in front of that same wall," he said.
"I don't see a crack." He said he was "scared" of the task ahead.
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"People are already saying people are dying, what are you doing?" he said. "Indeed, we are not doing much. That in itself is a terrible weight."
With the regime unable so far to push the rebels out of Aleppo or fully secure its own capital Damascus, and fighting on multiple fronts across the country, the rebels feel no need to step back from their basic demand for Mr Assad to go as a precursor to any negotiations. The regime has ruled that out, as have its external backers in Iran and Russia.
On the other hand, there is little sign of any external action that might accelerate a military victory for either side. A Turkish proposal for a "safe zone" for refugees in the north of the country, which could become a secure base for the rebels, fell on deaf ears at the United Nations security council last week.
The Washington Post on Monday quoted senior US officials as saying a safe zone would require a no-fly zone and the taking out of Syrian air defences – something they described as a "very slippery slope".
"We could get dragged into this, no question, but we’re just not there yet," one said. The conflict appeared to be settling into a long war of attrition, they said.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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Rebels hit army headquarters in Damascus
1 of 21. Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover after Syrian forces fired a mortar in the El Amreeyeh neighborhood of Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo August 30, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Youssef Boudlal
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
AMMAN | Sun Sep 2, 2012 11:02pm EDT AMMAN
(Reuters) - Syrian rebels said they planted bombs inside the Syrian army's General Staff headquarters in central Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad's forces bulldozed buildings to the ground in parts of the capital that have backed the uprising.
Syrian state television said four people were wounded in what it called a terrorist attack on the General Staff compound in the highly guarded Abu Rummaneh district, where another bomb attack killed four of Assad's top lieutenants two months ago.
"The operation targeted officers in the Assad army who have been planning and giving the go ahead for the massacres against the Syrian people," said a video statement by the Grandsons of the Prophet brigade, a division of the Free Syrian Army.
"Bombs were planted inside the army headquarters," said the video statement, which was broadcast on Arab satellite channels.
But as the rebels demonstrated they could strike at the heart of the security apparatus, residents said army bulldozers moved on al-Zayat and Farouk neighborhoods to the west, and destroyed at least 20 buildings in the Sunni Muslim areas that have sheltered the insurgents.
In the eastern Damascus neighborhood of Hazza, footage taken by activists on Sunday showed several buildings on fire. Opposition sources said the army had earlier stormed the area and executed 27 young men.
"Any youth of fighting age seems to have been captured and killed," said activist Obadah al-Haj, who had fled the area.
Activist video footage from the area showed a young man lying dead beside a yellow taxi, shot in the face. Another dead youth was in the driver seat, blood covering his head and chest.
Assad belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated power since members of the sect led a military coup in 1963. Assad's father took power in 1970.
Loyalist forces killed at least 25 men on Sunday when they shelled and stormed al-Fan, a Sunni village in the province of Hama, opposition campaigners said.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said most of the men appear to have been killed by shelling, but an unspecified number were executed when troops stormed the village later. The official state news agency said a military operation on Fan targeted "terrorists who were scaring citizens".
Video footage from Fan taken by activists showed women and family members crying over bodies wrapped in white sheets and placed in a row on the floor of a mosque.
AIR ATTACKS
As the uprising in Syria has spread, it has taken on a more sectarian bent, with activists saying Assad's best trained forces from the mostly Alawite Fourth Division and the Republican Guards are spearheading the fight in the capital.
Assad, who is backed by Shi'ite Iran and its Hezbollah Lebanese proxy, has lost control of rural areas in northern, eastern and southern regions and has used helicopter gunships and fighter jets to try to subdue the opposition.
But the aerial bombardment has driven fresh waves of refugees into neighboring countries, reviving Turkish calls for "safe zones" to be set up on Syrian territory.
With Russia and China blocking action by the U.N. Security Council however and little appetite among Western states, or Turkey itself, for committing troops to secure such zones, there is scant chance they will be set up any time soon.
Rebels said they seized an air defense facility and attacked a military airport in the eastern province of Deir al Zor on Saturday. Video footage showed a walled army command centre in the province coming under attack.
In the southern city of Deraa, which stands between Damascus and Jordan, troops continued razing and bulldozing houses in the old part of the city for a third day after army shelling and aerial bombardment drove 40,000 people from there to Jordan.
Free Syrian Army fighters had left, their light weapons no match to the firepower of Assad's forces, residents said.
"There are around 20 homes that have been demolished and 200 burnt," said Ahmad Abu Nabout, a resident of Deraa. "Old Deraa is deserted. Troops cover up their looting by burning the homes or in some cases blowing them up."
(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi and Laila Bassam; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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Syria: Double blast hits army post in Damascus
By JAMAL HALABY | Associated Press – 12 hrs ago
Associated Press - In this image made from video and accessed Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, a Syrian rebel fires his weapon at Syrian Army positions during fighting in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian troops bombarded the …
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Two bombs exploded near the Syrian military's joint chiefs of staff's offices in central Damascus on Sunday, lightly wounding four army officers and causing damage to a building and cars, state television said.
The twin blasts in the posh Abu Rummaneh district of the Syrian capital were the latest in a wave of bombings to hit Damascus in the recent month as clashes between government troops and rebels reached the tightly controlled capital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's bombings, which Syrian government officials said appeared to target a building under construction near the offices of the joint chiefs of staff. The building, which is officially known as the Guards Battalion and was empty at the time of the blast, serves as a base for army officers who guard the joint chiefs of staff offices, which are located some 200 meters (yards) away.
Several past bombings have targeted the security establishment in Damascus, most notably a July blast that killed four senior security officials, including the defense minister and President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law.
The government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media, said the wounded Sunday were army officers and that they were hospitalized with unspecified "minor wounds" and later discharged.
Footage broadcast on Syrian state TV broadcast showed a damaged building with debris strewn across the street. The blasts punched a hole in one of the building's walls, and blew out the windshield and windows of an SUV parked nearby.
Sunday's twin bombing was the second in recent weeks to hit Abu Rummaneh. On Aug. 15, a bomb attached to a fuel truck exploded outside the Dama Rose hotel where U.N. observers stayed before ending their mission to Syria. That blast, which hit a military compound parking lot, wounded three people.
Late Saturday, a car bomb near a Palestinian refugee camp in a suburb of Damascus killed at least 15 people, according to Syria's state news agency. SANA said Sunday the explosion in the suburb of al-Sbeineh also wounded several people and caused heavy damage to buildings in the area.
It blamed the blast on an "armed terrorist group," the term it uses to describe the rebel Free Syrian Army seeking to topple Assad, but did not provide further details.
When Syria's unrest began last year, the country's half-million Palestinians at first struggled to remain on the sidelines. But in the past months, young Palestinian refugees — enraged by mounting violence and moved by Arab Spring calls for greater freedoms — have been taking to the streets and even joining the rebels.
Syrian's uprising began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests, but has since morphed into a civil war in the face of a brutal government crackdown. Activists say at least 20,000 people have been killed so far.
While the military largely has been able to quell the offensive rebels launched in Damascus in July, it is still struggling to stamp out a rebel push in the northern city of Aleppo.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the military pounded rebel holdouts in Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial capital, on Sunday. There was also fighting in central city of Homs, Idlib province on the border of Turkey and suburbs near Damascus.
The Observatory said several people were killed in the violence, but did not have any figures.
___
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus contributed to this report.
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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conbenho
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Assange lawyer stopped at London airport
AAP Updated September 3, 2012, 6:48 am
An Aussie lawyer representing Julian Assange has been named on a border control list, reports say.
An Australian lawyer representing Julian Assange has been named on a border control list, a British newspaper reports.
Human rights legal specialist Jennifer Robinson, who is part of the WikiLeaks founder's team, said she was stopped as she attempted to board a flight to Australia in April.
"Why would I need clearance to travel to my own country? So far, I have not received a proper explanation," 31-year-old Ms Robinson told The Mail on Sunday.
Virgin Atlantic crew at London's Heathrow airport told Ms Robinson she must have "done something controversial" to be on the "inhibited person list", which WikiLeaks supporters say is a secret database operated by British and US authorities.
Both governments deny the practice.
Ms Robinson was eventually issued with a boarding pass and allowed to catch her flight.
Meanwhile Mr Assange, who remains holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden for an investigation over sex assault allegations, has sent a message to his faithful supporters.
During an interview filmed inside the embassy Mr Assange said people staging a 24/7 vigil outside should leave for their own welfare.
Some supporters have spent more than two weeks camped outside the Knightsbridge address amid fears Mr Assange will be forcibly arrested by British authorities.
In the interview Mr Assange says he feels safe and that his supporters should care for their own health.
***
Explore more:
Arrests outside Ecuadorian London embassy
By Andrew Drummond, AAP August 16, 2012, 8:56 pm
At least five supporters of Julian Assange have been arrested outside London's Ecuadorian embassy.
Tension is high outside London's Ecuadorian embassy where police are clashing with supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
An announcement is expected from Quito at 1pm London time (2200 AEST) on whether or not Ecuador has granted asylum to Assange, who is inside the embassy.
At least five people have been arrested, some forcibly led away by uniformed officers, as some protesters use loudspeakers to condemn the actions of British authorities in threatening to breach the embassy's diplomatic immunity.
"Hands off Assange," yelled one supporter.
"So much for freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate," cried another.
More than 40 police line Hans Crescent in the exclusive suburb of Knightsbridge, where the WikiLeaks chief has been holed up for 57 days in his bid to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations.
The UK government has not ruled out entering the building to arrest the 41-year-old fugitive, in what WikiLeaks said would be "a hostile and extreme act".
Assange has said he feared he could eventually end up in the US if he was sent to Sweden.
***
Sweden could drop case, says Assange
By David Hughes, AAP Updated August 31, 2012, 7:17 pm
British Foreign Secretary William Hague says there is no solution in site over Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could remain holed up inside Ecuador's embassy in London for a year, he has predicted.
The 41-year-old Australian, who faces arrest and extradition to Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual offences if he sets foot outside the building in Knightsbridge, insisted that he believes the case against him will be dropped.
In a television interview broadcast in Ecuador, Assange said he believed it would take between "six and 12 months" for the issue to be resolved.
His comments follow Foreign Secretary William Hague's admission that "a solution is not in sight" to the row which has strained diplomatic relations with the South American country.
Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador after seeking sanctuary in the country's diplomatic mission in June.
He says he fears further extradition to the United States over documents published on his WikiLeaks website.
In an interview inside the embassy, Assange told Telesur he believed the issue "will be solved through diplomacy", the BBC reported.
Assange added: "The Swedish government could drop the case. I think this is the most likely scenario. Maybe after a thorough investigation of what happened they could drop the case. "I think this will be solved in between six and 12 months. That's what I estimate."
Ecuador has claimed that Britain threatened to storm its embassy after the Foreign Office highlighted available powers to enter the building and make the arrest, an assertion strenuously denied by Hague.
The Foreign Secretary said on Thursday: "This may go on for a long time so we are not making a threat against the embassy of Ecuador."
While talks aimed at finding a way of ending the stand-off would continue, he added: "Given Ecuador's position on what they call diplomatic asylum and our very clear legal position, such a solution is not in sight at the moment."
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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Syrian Rebels Say They Have Seized an Air Defense Post and Its Missiles
By KAREEM FAHIM
Published: September 1, 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Opposition fighters in Syria said early Saturday that they had captured an air defense base in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, taking at least 16 soldiers captive and seizing weapons and ammunition in what appeared to be part of a broader rebel offensive against Syrian military installations in several parts of the country.
Joseph Eid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Prisoners walked out of the central police station in Damascus on Saturday after the authorities released 158 detainees there
Rebel fighters in the province also attacked a military air base, according to activist groups, the third attack on an air force site in the past few days. Last week, rebel commanders claimed to have destroyed several helicopters during attacks on two separate military airports in the northern Idlib Province.
The latest attacks came as the new Syria representative for the United Nations and Arab League, seeking to revive stalemated diplomacy, said he would travel to Damascus in the coming days. The representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, also said he intended to base himself in Damascus if that would be more useful.
“Damascus is the right, natural place to be,” Mr. Brahimi said in an interview at the United Nations during his first official day on the job. “Whether it will be possible or not is something I’m going to find out.”
Videos that activist groups said showed the aftermath of the air defense base attack raised the possibility that rebels had captured shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, known as Manpads, but it was unclear whether some had the components to make them functional. One video, uploaded on Friday, appeared to show a man holding a complete system.
Rebel groups have been eager to acquire the weapons to counter the government’s increasing use of warplanes and helicopters. There have been several recent sightings of Manpads, possibly smuggled from abroad or seized in raids on government arsenals.
That seemed likely to raise concerns about the spread of the weapons, which can also be used against commercial airliners.
The videos from the air defense base, in Al Bukamel, near Syria’s border with Iraq, could not be independently verified. They showed rebel fighters strolling through a darkened building, with the bodies of at least two government soldiers lying on the ground.
One of the dead soldiers is covered in what looks like ash. Soldiers stand over another body, caked in blood, as someone pokes the dead man’s head with a rifle. After the capture of the base, antigovernment groups said that several people were killed when government warplanes attacked the area, raising questions about the rebels’ ability to hold the site.
Also on Saturday, Syria’s state news agency said that the government had released more than 300 people detained during recent fighting in the Damascus suburbs, Homs, Aleppo and Dara’a. The news agency said the detainees had been “involved in recent events,” but had committed no crimes.
A reporter with Agence France-Presse who interviewed some detainees as they emerged from a Damascus police station said several appeared to have been beaten. Some left the station wearing nothing but underwear and others were shoeless. One detainee said that he had spent 32 days in solitary confinement for having a damaged identity card.
In recent days, activists and international filmmakers have expressed concern about the fate of Orwa Nyrabia, a leading figure in Syrian cinema believed to have been arrested at the Damascus airport on Aug. 23. Mr. Nyrabia, founder and artistic director of the Damascus Dox Box Film Festival, had been en route to Cairo, said Mohammad al-Attar, a Syrian playwright and friend.
“He has left the country many times before, for short trips,” Mr. Attar said. “For me there was no clear reason” for the government to arrest Mr. Nyrabia. “They have their own plans. You never know when it’s the time.”
C. J. Chivers and Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from the United Nations.
A version of this article appeared in print on September 2, 2012, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Syrian Rebels Say They Have Seized an Air Defense Post and Its Missiles.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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conbenho
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Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
2 September 2012 Last updated at 01:49 GMT
Syria conflict: Jordan 'needs more money' for refugees
BBC
Jordan houses the refugees in camps - such as here in Za'atri - and local communities
Jordan has sharply increased the amount of money it says it requires from the international community to cope with the influx of refugees from Syria.
In a joint appeal with the UN's refugee agency, Jordan said it now needs $700m (£440m) to deal with the crisis. Only a few days earlier, it asked for $400m.
The request comes as fighting continues to rage across Syria, increasing the number of fleeing civilians.
Meanwhile, Algerian Lakhdar Brahimi has taken up his post of UN peace envoy.
Mr Brahimi, who took over from Kofi Annan, has sought to reduce expectations for his mission.
The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says there is no sign of a change of heart by either party within Syria, and conditions will have to change before Mr Brahimi can step in with a workable political solution.
'Limits reached'
The humanitarian emergency on the country's borders is intensifying, with Jordan saying it is struggling to cope with the flow of refugees.
On Saturday, Planning Minister Jafaar Hassan said he expected the number of Syrians in Jordan to rise soon to 240,000, up from 180,000, putting the country's scarce water and energy sources under increased strain.
The influx, he said, was "reaching limits that the government cannot continue to shoulder".
Mr Hassan added: "We have made this joint appeal continue providing humanitarian assistance to our Syrian brothers."
Jordan's plea came as the Syrian government said it had repelled a huge attack on an air base near Aleppo on Saturday, while rebels claimed victory in another battle in the east of the country.
The rebels have increasingly targeted the air force in recent weeks, accusing it of launching attacks on cities with helicopter gunships and fighter jets.
State TV said government forces at the Rasm al-Abboud air force college near Aleppo had repelled a sustained rebel assault.
The pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists said government troops had been killed and wounded in the attack.
The Observatory also said rebels had seized another air force building in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, killing its commander and capturing at least 16 personnel.
Footage posted on the internet by activists showed captured regime officers and seized weaponry.
It is impossible to independently verify the claims, as reporting by foreign journalists is severely restricted in Syria
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02092012
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Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
New UN Syria envoy puts pressure on regime
Originally published: September 1, 2012 5:03 AM Updated: September 1, 2012 5:44 PM By The Associated Press HAMZA HENDAWI (Associated Press)
Photo credit: AP | This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, purports to show the funeral of Ahmed Ismail Zaqzuq, killed in fighting with pro-government forces in Damascus, Syria. Despite weeks of intense bombardments by the Syrian military, the civil war shows no sign of ending soon. Arabic on coffin reads " the fatah," the name of the first chapter of the Quran. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS CITIZEN
BEIRUT - (AP) -- The U.N.'s new envoy to Syria told President Bashar Assad's regime on Saturday that change is both "urgent" and "necessary" and that it must meet the "legitimate" demands of the Syrian people, words that will not win the seasoned Algerian diplomat and international trouble shooter any friends in Damascus.
Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/world/new-un-syria-envoy-puts-pressure-on-regime-1.3944146
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conbenho
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02092012
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Syrian regime forces filmed dropping 'barrel bomb' on Homs
The Hamidiya neighborhood of the city of Homs was shaken by a homemade "barrel bomb" attack on Saturday, according to claims by activists.
Video: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9514698/Syrian-regime-forces-filmed-dropping-barrel-bomb-on-Homs.html
6:25PM BST 01 Sep 2012
According to the video's uploader, the footage shows the moment that the barrel bomb fell on the Hamidiya neighborhood on Saturday.
Several activists claim the video was filmed in the area, however the Telegraph is unable to independently verify the location.
The clip follows the first reports, as disclosed in the Daily Telegraph, that the Syrian regime have begun using the improvised "barrel bombs" in Syria's second city, Aleppo.
Filled with TNT, oil and chunks of steel, the exploding barrels kill and maim across a wider area than high explosives.
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
02092012
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Foreign bid for Cubbie Station raises concerns
By Lindy Kerin, staff, ABC
Updated September 1, 2012, 11:41 am
.It's a disgrace'
The sale of Australia's largest farm to a Chinese textile firm has stoked controversy in parliament.
Concerns have been raised over the Government's approval of a foreign bid for Australia's largest cotton farm, with Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce labelling it "a disgrace".
Cubbie Station went into administration in 2009 with debts of more than $300 million.
Treasurer Wayne Swan has approved a consortium made up of Chinese and Japanese investors to make a bid for Cubbie Station, near Dirranbandi in southern Queensland.
The station was placed in administration three years ago with debts of more than $300 million.
Mr Swan said in a statement yesterday that the consortium, textile manufacturer Shandong Ruyi, had given undertakings on employment, management and water use.
But critics of the decision say Australia's national interests are at stake.
Dale Miller, a policy officer at rural lobby group Agforce, says the Federal Government must be careful when approving foreign purchases of agricultural assets.
"Agforce Queensland is not opposed to commercially motivated foreign investment, so let's make that clear," he said.
"Our main concerns are that that foreign investment doesn't compromise market competition or pricing for Australian commodity products.
"So as long as that foreign investment is effectively monitored and regulated, we do see some benefit in that capital flowing into our enterprises."
Mr Miller says the Government needs to be aware of Australia's national interests.
"One of the things Agforce has been calling for is the establishment of a national register to make sure that we've got the information that we need to effectively monitor foreign investment and to be able to make decisions about where that investment might be compromising our national interests," he said.
Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce says Cubbie Station is vital to Australian agriculture, and described the decision as "a disgrace".
"If the ownership of Australia's biggest water licence, if the ownership in commercial terms of one of Australia's biggest properties - the biggest farm in the Murray-Darling Basin, a property responsible for in excess of 10 per cent of our nation's cotton crop - is not in our national interest, then the national interest is a farce, there is no national interest in agriculture," he said.
However, Mr Swan said a successful sale would be in the national interest.
"In the event the consortium is successful in acquiring Cubbie Group, it will report to the Foreign Investment Review Board every 12 months on its progress on meeting its undertakings," he said.
"The Government welcomes foreign investment in Australia and continues to ensure that investments are consistent with Australia's national interest."
Mr Swan says the consortium would initially have an 80 per cent stake which would reduce over time.
Lempiere, an Australian-owned wool company, will initially own the other 20 per cent of the company.
"Critically, Ruyi has undertaken to sell down its interest to no more than 51 per cent within three years," Mr Swan said.
Read more
Video "Largest Aussie farm sold to Chinese": http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/14726633/foreign-bid-for-cubbie-station-raises-concerns/
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01092012
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
