378-BEIRUT, Lebanon - President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he faced no real domestic opposition in the 15-month-old uprising against him, the violence in his country is entirely the work of foreign-backed terrorists, and the boycott of parliamentary elections last week was a fiction. Related The Lede Blog: Syrian Activists Question U.N.

368-By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Wed May 16, 2012 5:00pm EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that countries trying to "sow chaos" in Syria could be infected with it themselves, an apparent warning to Arab Gulf nations that back the insurgency aimed at forcing him from power. Assad's remarks, to a Russian TV channel, came after U.N.

477-BEIRUT ? In his first interview in nearly half a year, Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed Wednesday that his regime had captured foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition in a bid to show his forces were fighting terrorists instead of pro-democracy activists. Assad spoke in an interview broadcast on Russian state news channel Rossiya-24, signaling he has no intention of softening his position despite an international peace plan that includes a cease-fire.

257-BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A convoy of unarmed United Nations monitors got caught up in a violent confrontation between protesters and Syrian government forces on Tuesday, with activist organizations putting the casualty toll at around 20 killed and dozens wounded.

368-By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Wed May 16, 2012 1:32pm EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that countries trying to "sow chaos" in Syria could be infected with it themselves, an apparent warning to Arab Gulf nations that back the insurgency aimed at forcing him from power. Assad's remarks, to a Russian TV channel, came after U.N.

482-BEIRUT (AP) - In his first interview in nearly half a year, Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed Wednesday that his regime had captured foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition in a bid to show his forces were fighting terrorists instead of pro-democracy activists. Assad spoke in an interview broadcast on Russian state news channel Rossiya-24, signaling he has no intention of softening his position despite an international peace plan that includes a cease-fire.

388-MOSCOW (AP) - In his first interview in nearly half a year, Syrian President Bashar Assad denounced the opposition Syrian National Council as both ineffective and working against their own people's interests. Assad also said in the interview broadcast Wednesday that his country has captured foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition and is ready to show them to the world.

304-By Jonathan Saul and David Brough LONDON | Wed May 16, 2012 11:14am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Escalating violence in Syria has slowed sugar refining to a virtual standstill, with smuggling set to rise as Western sanctions hobble trade finance and disrupt imports of the staple sweetener, trade sources said.

455-By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Wed May 16, 2012 10:53am EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Six ceasefire monitors, who were caught overnight in the crossfire of Syria's civil conflict, were handed back to their U.N. colleagues on Wednesday by rebels fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. The stranding of the observers in a gun and bomb attack at a funeral that killed at least 21 civilians underscored the relentlessness of the violence challenging a U.N.

425-BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's state media is fighting hard to cast the country's unrest as an Islamist terrorist conspiracy rather than a popular uprising against the dynastic rule of President Bashar al-Assad. State television airs interviews with men confessing to acts of violence, sullying the image of Assad's opponents. But the interviews are mocked by many Syrians and an ex-producer says that many confessions are bogus.

439-Syria's rebels have seen an influx of arms including anti-tank weaponry for their fight against President Bashar al-Assad regime, in an effort coordinated with the help of the United States, a report said Wednesday. Officials in President Barack Obama's administration insist it is not directly supplying the weapons or providing funding, with Gulf states paying for the new arms, the Washington Post said, citing US and foreign officials.

369-A convoy of UN truce observers came under bomb attack in a Syrian town during a funeral procession in which a monitoring group said regime forces "massacred" 20 people. The incidents took place as Syria's anti-regime revolt entered a 15th month of relentless violence that has killed more than 12,000 people and amid growing fears that a UN-backed peace plan will fail.

79-Ze zijn opgehaald met een VN-voertuig en gaan terug naar de hoofdstad Damascus.

488-BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 21 people were killed on Tuesday in an attack in northern Syria, activists said, and members of a team of U.N. monitors caught in the incident said they were in rebel hands "for their own protection." When Reuters asked one of the four monitors by phone if they were being held prisoner, he said: "We are safe with the (rebel) Free Army." A spokesman for the rebel military council said the rebels were working on a safe exit for the monitors. An internal U.N.

463-Peter Brookes Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. - Niels BohrIn the unknown future of US national-security challenges, safe still beats sorry - especially when those challenges already appear daunting.Which is why the current defense-spending debate - especially the matter of another $500 billion in cuts, beyond the half-trillion dollars' worth already being lopped off - may be as consequential as any budget decision in recent history.

255-President Obama plans to issue an executive order Wednesday giving the Treasury Department new authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of anyone who "obstructs" implementation of the administration-backed political transition in Yemen. Read full article

468-BEIRUT, Lebanon - A convoy of unarmed United Nations monitors got caught up in a violent confrontation between protesters and Syrian government forces on Tuesday, with activist organizations putting the casualty toll at around 20 killed and dozens wounded. Enlarge This Image Khaled Al-Hariri/Reuters Members of the United Nations observers mission in Syria from Jordan gather at a hotel in Damascus, before heading to areas where protests were being held, on Tuesday.

291-BEIRUT | Tue May 15, 2012 2:02pm EDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - A splintered Syrian opposition voted on Tuesday to keep a secular academic exile seen as a consensus builder as its top figure to further a quest for recognition from wary big powers in its struggle to unseat President Bashar al-Assad.