CAIRO (Reuters) – The Arab League threw its support on Sunday firmly behind the opposition mounting an uprising against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, and called for the U.N. Security Council to send peacekeepers to halt bloodshed.

A resolution approved by Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo called for “opening communication channels with the Syrian opposition and providing all forms of political and material support to it.” It also urged the Syrian opposition to unite.

CAIRO/AMMAN (Reuters) – Arab ministers stepped up diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria on Sunday and Saudi Arabia advocated giving all forms of support to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

At a Arab League meeting in Cairo, Tunisia said it would host the first meeting on February 24 of a “Friends of Syria” contact group made up of Arab and other states and backed by the West.

CAIRO/AMMAN (Reuters) – Arab ministers stepped up diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria on Sunday and Saudi Arabia advocated giving all forms of support to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

At a Arab League meeting in Cairo, Tunisia said it would host the first meeting on February 24 of a “Friends of Syria” contact group made up of Arab and other states and backed by the West.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Arab ministers called on Sunday for swift Arab and international action to end bloodshed in Syria after Russia and China blocked a Western-backed Arab peace plan at the U.N. Security Council.

Arab ministers met in Cairo to revive diplomatic efforts after the Arab initiative that called for President Bashar al-Assad to step aside was stalled by the double veto in New York.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Arab ministers met in Cairo on Sunday to discuss efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria after Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed Arab League peace plan at the U.N. Security Council.

A Syrian opposition official said Gulf ministers would discuss a proposal to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council, a move that would further isolate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. League officials said such an idea was not formally on the agenda but could be raised during talks.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt said on Wednesday it would not be swayed by threats to aid when investigating foreign-funded pro-democracy groups and NGOs, a case that has prompted Washington to warn that U.S. military support worth $1.3 billion a year may be in jeopardy.

The United States wants Egypt to drop travel bans on at least 19 U.S. citizens involved in the case but Egypt’s government says it cannot intervene in a judicial probe of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) over whether they violated laws such as receiving foreign cash without official approval.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army hurled rocks at police guarding the Egyptian interior ministry on Sunday and were forced back with volleys of tear gas.

It was the fourth day of clashes outside the ministry, in which seven people have died. Protesters accuse the ministry of failing to prevent the deaths last week of 74 people after a soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said. Five more have died in Suez.

DUBAI/CAIRO, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Middle East stocks are
set to extend gains this month as investors’ risk appetite
increases, though much of this optimism is based on a bullish
start to the year by world markets, so any ill winds globally
could cool the regional rally.

The Dubai and Abu Dhabi bourses slumped to
multi-year lows on Jan. 16, but have since risen 11.7 and 7.5
percent, while Saudi Arabia’s benchmark is at an
eight-month high. These gains came despite less-than-stellar
fourth-quarter corporate earnings; sharply higher trading
volumes in the past week confirm money is returning to the
markets.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Polls opened on Sunday in an election for Egypt’s upper house of parliament, with Islamists seeking to repeat the success they enjoyed in elections for the lower house.

The parliamentary votes, which began in late November, are the first since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak last February.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Arab League foreign ministers proposed on Sunday that Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad hand over power to a deputy and set up a new unity government, after their earlier peace plan failed to end 10 months of bloodshed.

They said the League would ask the U.N. Security Council to endorse its new plan. It appeared highly unlikely that Assad, who has mocked the League and pledged in a recent speech to intensify a crackdown on “terrorists” and “conspirators”, would agree to it.