BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday to press for a political solution to Syria’s year-long uprising and bloody crackdown in which thousands of people have been killed.

Syrian television reported that the two men had begun talks in the presidential palace. Annan met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Cairo before flying to Damascus in a mark of the pivotal part Moscow, one of Assad’s few foreign friends, could play in a solution.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus on Saturday to press President Bashar al-Assad for a political solution to Syria’s year-long uprising and bloody crackdown in which thousands of people have been killed.

Airport sources said Annan headed for a hotel after Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met him at the airport.

LONDON (Reuters) – As tensions over Iran’s nuclear program ratchet higher once again, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s aversion for the West remains a formidable barrier to any diplomatic solution.

A visit by U.N. nuclear inspectors to Iran last week, a few days after Tehran wrote to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton promising “new initiatives” in negotiations, suggests the door to diplomacy has not slammed shut.

BEIRUT, March 1 (Reuters) – Elite Syrian forces trying
to destroy rebels besieged in Homs pounded the shattered
district of Baba Amro on Thursday, despite international alarm
at the plight of civilians trapped there.

Snow blanketed the city, slowing down the military assault,
but also worsening conditions for civilians, activists said.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Elite Syrian forces trying to destroy rebels besieged in Homs pounded the shattered district of Baba Amro on Thursday, despite international alarm at the plight of civilians trapped there.

Snow blanketed the city, slowing down the military assault, but also worsening conditions for civilians, activists said.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria is expected to announce a vote of approval for constitutional changes on Monday when it announces the result of a referendum dismissed as a sham by opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

At least 59 Syrian civilians and soldiers were killed in the country’s bitter political violence on Sunday, the day of the vote on a new constitution that could keep Assad in power until 2028. The result is viewed as a foregone conclusion.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – At least 59 Syrian civilians and soldiers were killed on Sunday in bloodshed that coincided with a vote on a new constitution that could keep President Bashar al-Assad in power until 2028.

Assad says the referendum shows his commitment to democratic reform while Western powers and Syrians involved in an 11-month-old revolt against his rule have described it as a farce.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Explosions shook several embattled Syrian cities on Sunday before polls opened for a vote on a new constitution that could keep President Bashar al-Assad in power until 2028.

Human rights campaigners reported blasts in Homs, Hama, Deir al-Zor, Deraa and some smaller towns caught up in an almost year-long uprising against four decades of Assad family rule.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often surprised his foes, but next week’s parliamentary poll may make him a lame duck for the rest of his presidency, a penalty for defying the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader.

Vilified in the West for his barbs against America and Israel, his defiance on Iran’s nuclear work, and questioning of the Holocaust, the blacksmith’s son has long relied on his charismatic appeal to the poor and devout, as well as his links to the elite Revolutionary Guard and Basij religious militia.

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Western and Arab nations will demand that Syrian forces implement an immediate ceasefire to allow relief supplies to reach desperate civilians in bombarded cities such as Homs when they meet in Tunis on Friday.

Piling pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, U.N. investigators accused his security apparatus of crimes against humanity as world outrage mounted over violence that has cost thousands of lives during an almost year-long popular revolt against his 11-year rule.