Clinton to testify on Benghazi on January 22






WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will appear before US lawmakers on January 22 to be quizzed about a damning inquiry into a deadly militant attack on a US mission in Libya, a senator said Tuesday.

Clinton had initially been due to testify to US lawmakers in late December after the scathing probe blamed "grossly inadequate" security at the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, eastern Libya, for failing to protect staff there.

But she was forced to cancel her testimony and send in her two deputy secretaries instead when she fell ill with a virulent stomach bug, and later suffered a concussion and blood clot.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed when hordes of heavily-armed militants overran the compound and a nearby annex on September 11, unleashing a bloody and terrifying eight-hour assault.

Senator Bob Corker, ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, told MSNBC television he had been in discussions with Clinton's top aides about setting a new date for her to testify.

"My sense is her hearing probably will take place the morning of the 22nd," Corker said.

"She's anxious to want to come up and testify on Benghazi, and I think that's an important thing both for her and for our entire country."

Clinton returned to work on Monday after a month-long absence, and is busy drawing up her schedule for her final weeks in office.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated Tuesday that the plan was for Clinton to testify about the Benghazi attack while still in post, and before a confirmation hearing for veteran senator John Kerry.

President Barack Obama has tapped Kerry to replace Clinton, who will be stepping down after four years in office, but his nomination requires Senate confirmation.

- AFP/jc



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Arjun Munda resigns, seeks dissolution of Jharkhand assembly

RANCHI: The political crisis in Jharkhand deepened on Tuesday with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha formally withdrawing support from the Arjun Munda-led NDA government and the cabinet recommending the dissolution of the assembly to the governor.

Munda called an emergency meeting and apprised governor Syed Ahmed of the cabinet decision just an hour before JMM chief Shibu Soren met the governor with his 18 MLAs, and handed over a formal letter of withdrawal of support.

Shortly after Soren's visit, Munda and his MLAs from BJP, AJSU Party and JD(U) trooped in and handed over his resignation to the governor. Accepting Munda's resignation, governor Ahmed asked him to continue until an alternate arrangement was made.

"In the interest of the state, the cabinet has decided to dissolve the assembly and seek fresh mandate," Munda said, adding that the cabinet's move will prevent any possibility of horse trading by opportunist parties.

Shibu Soren said the step taken by Munda was unethical and constitutionally invalid. With JMM withdrawing support, the BJP-led NDA government has support of only 26 MLAs in the 81-member assembly.

"How can a government in minority recommend the dissolution of the assembly?" asked deputy CM Hemant Soren, also the leader of JMM legislative party. The party, he said, has requested the governor to not accept the cabinet's recommendation.

Munda justified his move and said the governor was informed of the cabinet's decision before JMM leaders formally withdrew support. "JMM is claiming that it made a public announcement and even sent a fax to the governor, but as far as I know such important letters cannot be faxed and have to physically submitted to the governor," he said.

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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James Holmes' Elaborate Booby Trap Plan Revealed













A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today.


FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told a Colorado court about Holmes' complex plans to booby trap his apartment. Gumbinner said he interviewed Holmes on July 20, hours after he killed 12 and wounded 58 during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."


"He said he rigged the apartment to explode to get law enforcement to send resources to his apartment instead of the theater," Gumbinner said.


Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.


His plan failed to prompt someone into triggering the bombs.


Gumbinner said Holmes had created two traps that would have set off the blast.


The apartment was rigged with a tripwire at the front door connected to a mixture of chemicals that would create heat, sparks and flame. Holmes had soaked the carpet with a gasoline mixture that was designed to be ignited by the tripwire, Gumbinner said.


"It would have caused fire and sparks," the agent said, and "would have made the entire apartment explode or catch fire."


Holmes had set his computer to play 25 minutes of silence followed by loud music that he hoped would cause a disturbance loud enough that someone would call police, who would then respond and set off the explosion by entering the apartment.








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Gumbinner said Holmes also told him he rigged a fuse between three glass jars that would explode. He filled the jars with a deadly homemade chemical mixture that would burn so hot it could not be extinguished with water.


Holmes set a second detonation system outside the building, the agent said.


Holmes, Gumbinner said, rigged one of the triggering devices, called a "pyro trip box" with a remote control. He then took the remote control outside and placed it on top of a white trash bag near the apartment building.


Next to the remote, Holmes placed a remote control car. Inside the trash bag, he put a portable stereo set to play 40 minutes of silence, followed by loud music, the agent said.


The plan, Gumbinner explained, was for someone to hear the music and be drawn to the remote control car with what appeared to be the remote control lying next to it. When that person picked up the remote to activate the car, he or she would have unknowingly triggered the explosion in the apartment.


Holmes also left rows of white powder on the floor, which Gumbinner said was ammonium chloride. The powder, Gumbinner believes, was meant "to scare us" and would have created a large amount of smoke if it had ignited.


Prosecutors showed several photographs of the devices in court.


Earlier in the day, prosecutors played two 911 calls in court, including the very first call from movie goer Kevin Quinonez as the shooting was still underway.


At least 30 rapid-fire gunshots could be heard in the background of the 27-second call, along with screaming.


"Gunshots?" Quinonez can be heard saying.


The dispatcher pleads with Quinonez to give the theater address, but the sound of gunshots and chaos drowns him out.


"Say it loud," the dispatcher pleads before the call goes dead.


In a second call, Kaylan Bailey calls to say her two cousins, Ashley Moser and Veronica Moser Sullivan, have been shot. One is breathing and the other is not, she says.


"Are there officers near you?" the dispatcher asks.


Amid the noise and confusion, the dispatcher pleads with the Bailey to start CPR on 6-year-old Veronica Moser Sullivan, who has stopped breathing. Veronica later died.


Victims and families listening to the calls in the courtroom were weeping openly and holding hands. One woman buried her face in her hands. Holmes showed no emotion.






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Five accused in India rape case charged in court


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Five men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student were read the charges in a near-empty courtroom on Monday after the judge cleared out lawyers for bickering over whether the men deserved a defense.


The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died two weeks after being gang-raped and beaten on a moving bus in New Delhi, then thrown bleeding onto the street. Protests followed, along with a fierce public debate over police failure to stem rampant violence against women.


With popular anger simmering against the five men and a teenager accused in the case, most lawyers in the district where the trial will be held refuse to represent them.


Before the men arrived for a pre-trial hearing on Monday, heckling broke out in a chamber packed with jostling lawyers, journalists and members of the public after two of the lawyers, Manohar Lal Sharma and V. K. Anand, offered to defend the men.


"We are living in a modern society," declared Lal Sharma, defending his decision. "We all are educated. Every accused, including those in brutal offences like this, has the legal right ... to defend themselves."


One woman lawyer prodded V. K. Anand in the chest, saying: "I'll see how you can represent the accused."


Unable to restore order, presiding magistrate Namrita Aggarwal ordered everyone to leave except the prosecution, and set police to guard the entrance.


She said the trial would now be held behind closed doors because of the sensitivity of the case.


FACES COVERED


Reuters video images showed the men stepping out of a blue police van that brought them from Tihar jail and walking, their faces covered, through a metal detector into the South Delhi court building.


The court was across the street from the cinema where the victim watched a film before she was attacked on her way home.


Aggarwal gave the men copies of the charges, which include murder, rape and abduction, a prosecutor in the case told Reuters.


Police have conducted extensive interrogations and say they have recorded confessions, even though the men have no lawyers.


If the men, most of them from a slum neighborhood, cannot arrange a defense, the court will offer them legal aid before the trial begins.


Two of them, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta, have offered to give evidence against the others - Mukesh Kumar, Ram Singh and Akshay Thakura - possibly in return for a lighter sentence.


Mohan, describing what he called a heinous crime, said: "The five accused persons deserve not less than the death penalty."


The case has sharpened long-standing anger against the government and police for a perceived failure to protect women.


A male friend who was assaulted with the woman on December 16 said on Friday that passers-by left her unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour and that, when police arrived, they spent a long time arguing about where to take them.


The woman lived for two weeks after her attack, dying in a Singapore hospital where she had been taken for treatment.


FAST-TRACK COURT


Aggarwal said the next hearing would be on January 10. The case is due to move later to another, fast-track court set up since the woman was attacked to help reduce a backlog of sex crime cases in Delhi.


Legal experts say the lack of representation for the five men may give grounds for appeal if they are found guilty. Convictions in similar cases have often been overturned years later.


Some legal experts have also warned that previous attempts to fast-track justice in India in some cases led to imperfect convictions that were later challenged.


The sixth member of the group alleged to have lured the student and a male friend into the private bus is under 18 and will be tried in a separate juvenile court.


The government is aiming to lower the age at which teenagers can be tried as adults, acknowledging public anger that the boy will face a maximum three-year sentence.


The victim was identified by a British newspaper at the weekend but Reuters has opted not to name her.


Indian law generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes. The law is intended to protect victims' privacy and keep them out of the glare of media in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating.


The dead woman's father repeated on Monday that he wanted her identified and said he would be happy to release a photograph of her.


"We don't want to hide her identity. There is no reason for that. The only condition is it should not be misused," he told Reuters.


He said he was confident the trial would be quick and reiterated a call that the perpetrators be hanged.


(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Robert Birsel and Tom Pfeiffer)



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Israel commentators unfazed by Hagel nomination






JERUSALEM: Israeli commentators played down the impact on relations with the United States of Monday's nomination as Pentagon chief of Republican former senator Chuck Hagel, criticised by heavyweights in his own party for being anti-Israel.

"Barack Obama did not choose Chuck Hagel because of his views on Israel and the president will not base his Israel policy on the views of Chuck Hagel", said the commentator of Israel's Channel Two television.

"On the contrary, as the president underlined, he will remain the commander in chief of foreign policy," the commentator said, adding that he did not expect US military aid to Israel of more than US$3 billion a year to be affected if Hagel's appointment was confirmed by the Senate.

The commentator of Channel 10, also privately owned, said Obama had nominated the Republican primarily to help push through major spending cuts within the US military.

He said the one person who might struggle with Hagel as defence secretary was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had bad personal relations with him. Hagel "is not an enemy of Israel but an enemy of Netanyahu," he said.

Rightwing pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom said in an editorial before the nomination that his appointment would be "problematic".

"Hagel believes that Israeli-Palestinian conflict destabilises the Middle East. Let's hope there are people in the Pentagon who remind him from time to time of the existence of Iran," it said.

Pro-opposition daily Haaretz countered that Hagel's positions on the peace process were "shared by a large number of Israelis on the centre and left of the political spectrum."

Despite the fact that he is a fellow Republican, heavyweights in his party have accused him of hostility toward Israel and naivety on Iran.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, pointing to Hagel's calls for direct US negotiations with Iran and for Israel to negotiate with Hamas, said he would be "the most antagonistic defence secretary towards the state of Israel in our nation's history."

Another Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, said he would oppose the nomination, charging it would be the "worst possible message we could send to our friend Israel and the rest of our allies in the Middle East."

Hagel himself pledged on Monday to give his "total support" for Israel.

There is "not one shred of evidence that I'm anti-Israeli, not one vote (of mine) that matters that hurt Israel," he told The Lincoln Journal Star newspaper in his home state of Nebraska.

- AFP/jc



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Trains to fog-hit Delhi running up to 2 days late

NEW DELHI: Sudhir Kumar was to appear for a job interview in Delhi on Monday. To make sure he arrived well in time, the resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar had booked himself in a train that was to reach Delhi on Saturday. But the Bhagalpur Garib Rath that he boarded had not arrived in Delhi till Monday morning. The railway website said the train was 48 hours behind schedule.

Like Kumar, the schedules of thousands of passengers have been thrown totally off-track across fog-hit north India and beyond. The delays this season have been more severe then previous years, exposing the Railways' inability to deal with the situation.

"I waited in the station with my wife and children for more than 20 hours before my train, Purvottar Sampark Kranti Express, finally left the New Delhi station... What's really frustrating is that neither the rail enquiry service nor any official could give me updates on when the train would start," said Tarun Sharma, a passenger.

A hapless Railways is waiting for the weather to clear in the fog zone — a 700km stretch between Ghaziabad and Mughalsarai — for the situation to normalize.

On Monday, 16 express trains and another dozen passenger trains were cancelled. Despite that at least seven trains was delayed by over 20 hours and another 16 for more than 10 hours.
The Rewa-Anand Vihar Express was 33 hours late, the Porvortar Sampark Kranti Express by 26 hours, the West Bengal Samparkranti Express also by 26 hours and the Bihar Sampark Kranti by 30 hours. Sources in north central railway said shallow fog was setting in from as early as 10.30pm and in the Kanpur-Tundla stretch (which trains enter early morning in order to reach Delhi), it lifts only around 10.15am.

"It is an unusual situation," said a northern railway spokesperson, denying any lack of preparedness. "Everything is put up on enquiry number 139 and we are monitoring each train real time, through GPS. Every delay is put up on the notice board. We are ensuring none of the restrooms get too overcrowded in this challenging weather. We have placed teams led by mechanical and electrical engineers at all our stations and the station master controls the movements of empty coaches entering the washing line. We are readying trains for the return journey within five hours even as the minimum primary and secondary maintenance requires at least four to six hours,'' said the spokesperson.

Railway employees deployed at the stations felt the failure of the fog safety device to take off has proved. The Railways' preparation to run trains safely in foggy conditions depended on this device.

The GPS-based fog safe device though has failed to produce the desired results during trials in the past two years. The trials were carried out in trains in the Delhi-Ambala section last winter, which is known for its dense fog cover.

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Organ donations fall in Germany after scandal


BERLIN (AP) — Organ donations have dropped sharply in Germany following a scandal over alleged corruption at several transplant clinics.


The German Foundation for Organ Transplantation says the number of organs donated fell almost 13 percent to 3,917 last year, the lowest figure in a decade.


Several German clinics are being investigated over allegations that doctors manipulated waiting lists to help some patients appear sicker than they were and so receive transplants sooner.


The foundation said Monday that the scandal had "massively shaken" the public's faith in the transplant system.


Some 12,000 people in Germany require organ transplants each year.


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Accused Shooter Was 'Relaxed' After Massacre













Accused movie theater gunman James Holmes was "relaxed" and "detached" when police confronted him just moments after he had allegedly killed 12 people and wounded dozens more in the Aurora, Colo., massacre, a police officer testified today.


A preliminary hearing for Holmes began today in Colorado, with victims and families present. One family member likened attending the hearing to having to "face the devil."


The first two witnesses to take the stand were Aurora police officers who responded to the theater and spotted Holmes standing by his car at the rear of the theater.


Officer Jason Oviatt said he first thought Holmes was a cop because he was wearing a gas mask and helmet, but as he got closer realized he was not an officer and held Holmes at gunpoint.


Holmes allegedly opened fire at the crowded movie theater during a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20, 2012. In addition to wearing the body armor and gas mask, Holmes had dyed his hair red.


Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.


Throughout the search and arrest, Holes was extremely compliant, the officer said.


"He was very, very relaxed," Oviatt said. "These were not normal reactions to anything. He seemed very detached from it all."


Oviatt said Holmes had extremely dilated pupils and smelled badly when he was arrested.






Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo











Aurora, Colorado Gunman: Neuroscience PhD Student Watch Video









Officer Aaron Blue testified that Holmes volunteered that he had four guns and that there were "improvised explosive devices" in his apartment and that they would go off if the police triggered them.


Holmes was dressed for the court hearing in a red jumpsuit and has brown hair and a full beard. He did not show any reaction when the officers pointed him out in the courtroom.


This is the most important court hearing in the case so far, essentially a mini-trial as prosecutors present witness testimony and evidence—some never before heard—to outline their case against the former neuroscience student.


The hearing at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo., could last all week. At the end, Judge William Sylvester will decide whether the case will go to trial.


Prosecutors say they will present potentially gruesome photos and videos in addition to 911 calls from the night of the shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. They will aim to convince the judge that there is enough evidence against Holmes to proceed to a trial.


It is expected that the prosecution's witnesses will include the Aurora police lead detective, first responders, the coroner and a computer forensic specialist.


In an unusual move, defense attorneys may call two witnesses. Last week, the judge ruled that Holmes can call the witnesses to testify on his "mental state," but it is not clear who the witnesses are.


A court-imposed gag order days after the shooting has kept many of the details under wraps, so much of the information could be new to the public.


Hundreds of family members and victims are expected to attend the hearing.


Holmes has been charged with 166 counts of murder, attempted murder, possession of explosives and crime of violence. The district attorney has not decided whether to seek the death penalty, and Holmes' defense team believes Holmes is mentally ill. He has not entered a plea.


One of the attendees will be MaryEllen Hanson, whose great-niece Veronica Moser Sullivan, 6, was killed in the shooting. Veronica's mother Ashley was shot and is now a quadriplegic and suffered a miscarriage.






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Assad "peace plan" greeted with scorn by foes


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace talks with his enemies on Sunday in a defiant speech that his opponents described as a renewed declaration of war.


Although the speech was billed as the unveiling of a new peace plan, Assad offered no concessions and even appeared to harden many of his positions. He rallied Syrians for "a war to defend the nation" and disparaged the prospect of negotiations.


"We do not reject political dialogue ... but with whom should we hold a dialogue? With extremists who don't believe in any language but killing and terrorism?" Assad asked supporters who packed Damascus Opera House for his first speech since June.


"Should we speak to gangs recruited abroad that follow the orders of foreigners? Should we have official dialogue with a puppet made by the West, which has scripted its lines?"


It was his first public speech to an audience in six months. Since the last, rebels have reached the capital's outskirts.


George Sabra, vice president of the opposition National Coalition, told Reuters the peace plan Assad put at the heart of his speech did "not even deserve to be called an initiative":


"We should see it rather as a declaration that he will continue his war against the Syrian people," he said.


"The appropriate response is to continue to resist this unacceptable regime and for the Free Syrian Army to continue its work in liberating Syria until every inch of land is free."


The speech was seen by many as a response to U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who has been meeting U.S. and Russian officials to try to narrow differences between Washington and Moscow over a peace plan. Brahimi also met Assad in Syria late last month.


"Lakhdar Brahimi must feel foolish after that Assad speech, where his diplomacy is dismissed as intolerable intervention," said Rana Kabbani, a Syrian analyst who supports the opposition.


The United States, European Union, Turkey and most Arab states have called on Assad to quit. Russia, which sells arms to and leases a naval base from Syria, says it backs a transition of power but that Assad's departure should not be a precondition for any talks.


REPETITIONS


Assad's foreign foes were scornful and dismissive of the speech: "His remarks are just repetitions of what he's said all along," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.


"It seems he's locked himself up in a room and only reads the intelligence reports presented to him."


British Foreign Secretary William Hague said "empty promises of reform fool no one". In a Twitter message, he added: "Death, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are of his own making."


EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Brussels would "look carefully if there is anything new in the speech, but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition".


The 47-year-old Assad, tall and mustachioed, in a business suit and tie, spoke confidently for about an hour before a crowd of cheering loyalists, who occasionally interrupted him to shout and applaud, at one point raising their fists and chanting: "With blood and soul we sacrifice for you, oh Bashar!"


At the end of the speech, supporters rushed to the stage, mobbing him and shouting: "God, Syria and Bashar is enough!" as a smiling president waved and was escorted from the hall past a backdrop showing a Syrian flag made of pictures of people whom state television described as "martyrs" of the conflict so far.


"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word," Assad said in the speech, broadcast on Syrian state television. "This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation."


Independent media are largely barred from Damascus.


Giving the speech in the opera house, in a part of central Damascus that has been hit by rebel attacks, could be intended as a show of strength by a leader whose public appearances have grown rarer as the rebellion has gathered force.


Critics saw irony in the venue: "Assad speech appropriately made in Opera House!" tweeted Rami Khouri, a commentator for Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper. "It was operatic in its other-worldly fantasy, unrelated to realities outside the building."


DEATHS


The United Nations says 60,000 people have been killed in the civil war, the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts to emerge in two years of revolts in Arab states.


Rebels now control much of the north and east of the country, a crescent of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital and the main border crossings with Turkey in the north.


But Assad's forces are still firmly in control of most of the densely populated southwest, the main north-south highway and the Mediterranean coast. The army also holds military bases throughout the country from which its helicopters and jets can strike rebel-held areas with impunity, making it impossible for the insurgents to consolidate their grip on territory they hold.


Assad, an eye doctor, has ruled since 2000, succeeding his late father Hafez, who had seized power in a 1970 coup.


The rebels are drawn mainly from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad, a member of the Alawite sect related to Shi'ite Islam, is supported by some members of religious minorities who fear retribution if he falls.


The conflict has heightened confrontation in the Middle East between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Arab rulers, particularly those in the Gulf who are allied with the West against Tehran.


The plan unveiled in Sunday's speech could hardly have been better designed to ensure its rejection by the opposition. Among its proposals: rebels would first be expected to halt operations before the army would cease fire, a certain non-starter.


Assad also repeatedly emphasized rebel links to al Qaeda and other Sunni Islamist radicals. Washington has also labeled one of the main rebel groups a terrorist organization and says it is linked to the network founded by Osama bin Laden.


Diplomacy has been largely irrelevant so far in the conflict, with Moscow vetoing U.N. resolutions against Assad.


U.N. mediator Brahimi has been trying to bridge the gap, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials to discuss his own peace proposal, which does not explicitly mention Assad's fate.


National Coalition spokesman Walid Bunni said Assad's speech appeared timed to prevent a breakthrough in those talks, by taking a position that could not be reconciled with diplomacy.


"The talk by Brahimi and others that there could be a type of political solution being worked out has prompted him to come out and tell the others 'I won't accept a solution'," Bunni said, adding that Assad feared any deal would mean his downfall.


(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Gulsen Solaker in Ankara and Tim Castle in London; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)



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