By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Thu May 24, 2012 6:29pm EDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N.-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan may travel to Syria soon, possibly before the end of the month, to meet with Syrian officials about a peace plan that neither the government nor the opposition is adhering to, U.N. envoys said on Thursday. "It was supposed to be around (Sunday) May 27, but it hasn't been confirmed yet," a U.N. diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.Other envoys confirmed Annan's tentative plan to visit Syria, where a 14-month conflict between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and an opposition determined to oust him continues to rage.An April 12 ceasefire, brokered by Annan, had been intended to suspend an uprising which ... Continue reading →

By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Thu May 24, 2012 6:28pm EDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday renewed the mandate of the world body's human rights chief Navi Pillay, but she was given an abbreviated term as part of a compromise deal with the United States, which dislikes her criticism of Israel, envoys said. Syria also made clear it was not a fan of Pillay, a South African jurist whom the Syrian delegation described as "hostile" towards Damascus.Despite Washington's attempt to block a renewal of Pillay's mandate, a deal was reached after South Africa and others persuaded U.S. officials to back a two-year term for Pillay, instead of the normal four years, U.N. diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity."It ... Continue reading →

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Thu May 24, 2012 9:22am EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - The main Syrian National Council opposition group said it had accepted the resignation of its president, setting the stage for a showdown between the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and its political rivals over who will be the new leader. The internal conflicts have come to a head over the position held by Burhan Ghalioun, a secular sociologist backed by the Brotherhood, who offered to step down as leader of the 313-member council last week if a replacement could be found.Squabbling in the council has undermined international support for the opposition, as a military crackdown against the 14-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, now coupled with an armed insurgency against his rule, ... Continue reading →

By Andrew Quinn and Justyna Pawlak BAGHDAD | Thu May 24, 2012 5:35am EDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iran accused world powers on Thursday of creating "a difficult atmosphere" that hindered talks on its atomic energy programme, signaling a snag in diplomacy to defuse fears of a covert Iranian bid to develop nuclear bombs. The nub of the dispute was not immediately clear as the high-stakes talks went into a second day in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.But Iran had served notice that it wanted immediate relief from economic sanctions as part of any deal to scale back uranium enrichment, whereas Western powers insisted Tehran must first rein in its activity.Pro-government Iranian media said Tehran's negotiators were demanding a principle of "reciprocity" of concessions, which they said ... Continue reading →

By Stephanie Nebehay and Mariam Karouny GENEVA/BEIRUT | Thu May 24, 2012 10:41am EDT GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A United Nations investigation said Syrian government forces and rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad had both committed serious human rights abuses despite an attempted ceasefire in the conflict and opposition activists reported fighting in several regions on Thursday. The investigators' report said government forces had killed entire families, and their insurgent foes had kidnapped for ransom and tortured prisoners.Separately, a Syrian Islamist said he was trying to broker the release of Lebanese Shi'ites kidnapped by Sunni insurgents fighting Assad's forces, the latest strand of Syria's conflict to entangle its smaller neighbor.In Damascus, Assad told a visiting Iranian minister that Syria would recover from the unrest."Syria was ... Continue reading →

AMMAN | Wed May 23, 2012 7:01am EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's political opposition in exile, the Syrian National Council, called on rebels in Syria on Wednesday to help secure the release of 13 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims abducted near the north Syrian city of Aleppo. The 13 were among dozens of Shi'ite pilgrims on a bus that was stopped by armed rebels as it crossed the border from Turkey to Syria on Tuesday on the way back from Iran, families of the abducted men said.The abduction took place two days after fighting in the Lebanese capital between supporters of the 14-month-old Syrian revolt and people loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, a spillover of Syria's unrest into its smaller neighbor."The Syrian National Council condemns any kidnappings, ... Continue reading →

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA | Wed May 23, 2012 5:39am EDT VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog director said on Tuesday he expected to sign a deal with Iran soon to unblock an investigation into suspected work on atom bombs, potentially brightening prospects for big-power talks with Tehran to stop a drift toward conflict. Yukiya Amano was summarizing the outcome of rare talks he conducted in Tehran on Monday, two days before six powers meet Iran's security council chief in Baghdad to test Iranian willingness to curb its nuclear program in a transparent way.Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said his wish for access to Iran's Parchin military complex where nuclear weapons-relevant tests may have occurred would be addressed as part of ... Continue reading →

By Jason Szep and Aung Hla Tun YANGON | Wed May 23, 2012 2:55am EDT YANGON (Reuters) - As long-isolated Myanmar opens up, its people are flexing their newly democratic muscles and testing the boundaries of freedom in a series of protests over chronic power outages. On Tuesday evening, several hundred people in the commercial capital Yangon marched at Sule Pagoda, the focal point of demonstrations in 2007 and 1988 that were crushed by the military which ruled for nearly half a century until last year.About 1,000 people protested for a third straight evening in northern Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, the biggest demonstrations since a 2007 monk-led uprising in which dozens were killed and hundreds arrested."We have plans to hold similar protests in all these ... Continue reading →