UN Security Council permanent members to meet on Syria.

UN Security Council permanent members to meet on Syria.(HD).

Envoys from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - the permanent veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council - will meet Sept. 11 to discuss the situation in Syria, diplomats said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier in the day that the failure to halt atrocities in Syria had become a new stain on the reputation of the world body and the Security Council powers.

France, Britain and the United States on Sept. 10 pressed for a tough Council resolution that would impose tough consequences should Damascus fail to hand over control of its banned chemical weapons.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be "unacceptable" for the 15-nation council to pass a text that puts the blame on President Bashar al-Assad for an August 21 attack in the Damascus suburbs.

A Council meeting scheduled for Sept. 11 was cancelled at the last minute at Moscow's request.

EU foreign policy chief Ashton urges Syria to comply, UN Security Council to take responsibility.

EU foreign policy chief Ashton urges Syria to comply, UN Security Council to take responsibility.(HD).

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sept. 11 urged Syria to "fully" follow up on a pledge to give up chemical weapons and the U.N. Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities.

"I have consistently emphasised the need to continue efforts in the Security Council," Ashton told members of the European Parliament.

Most European Union nations have consistently opposed calls by Britain and France to join U.S.-led military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad, calling instead for a political solution and a U.N. role.

"The role of the Security Council is crucial and irreplaceable," Ashton said. "It is regrettable that the Council has been unable to reach agreement on how to shoulder its responsibilities with regard to the Syrian conflict." Speaking during a debate on Syria in the 751-member parliament, Ashton said it was vital to seize the momentum created by Russia's proposal to place Syria's chemical weapons arsenal under control and eventually destroy it.
"However we need to proceed with prudence and examine these developments," she said. "First and foremost the Syrian regime must agree to such an international action fully and without conditions." She also reiterated the EU stand that there was "no military solution" to the protracted conflict that began in March 2011, costing more than 110,000 lives.

Efforts to hold a peace conference, known as Geneva II, "must move ahead as soon as conditions permit," she said.

Ashton's spokesman: no new offer on table for Iran’s nuclear issue.

Ashton's spokesman: no new offer on table for Iran’s nuclear issue.(TAZ).

The EU foreign policy chief and chief negotiator for the P5+1(the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) Catherine Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann dismissed articles on offering new proposal to Iran to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, Radiofarda reported.

He went on to note that the Almaty proposal is already on the Table.

Iranian media outlets quoted Suadi Arabian Okaz newspaper as saying that the P5+1 has new offers for Iran on its nuclear issue.
"We are interested on starting the negotiations as soon as possible," Mann said, adding that "however, we can not say what will be the next step."

The p5+1's Almaty proposal offers halting some imposed sanctions against Iran during six months as long as Tehran agreed to decrease Fordow site's activity, suspend uranium enrichment to 20 percent.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ashton agreed to meet on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session in New York in late September to discuss a resumption of negotiations over Iran's nuclear issue.

Iran and the P5+1 group have held several rounds of talks on a range of issues, with the main focus being on Iran's nuclear issue. The two sides wrapped up their latest round of negotiations on April 6 in the Kazakh city ofAlmaty. An earlier round had been held in Almaty on February 26-27.

On Thursday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani officially assigned the country's Foreign Ministry to take charge of future nuclear talks with the P5+1 group.

In his Friday phone conversation with Ashton, the Iranian foreign minister reaffirmed Tehran's determination to resolve the Western dispute over its nuclear energy program "if Iran's rights are respected," and if the other side is also resolved to settle the issue.

IAEA unable to quarantee Iran not creating nuclear weapons - Amano.

                                                    'Dancing with the Nukes'

IAEA unable to quarantee Iran not creating nuclear weapons - Amano.(TI).Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano said today at the press conference that the agency is unable to quarantee that Iran is not working on creating nuclear weapons, RIA Novosti reported. Amano made the remarks at the general IAEA conference today.

"IAEA continues to check for nuclear materials leakage in Iran, yet Iran does not give the necessary co-operation, so that we could make a statement on the absense of undeclared materials, an we also cannot make a statement that all of the nuclear materials in Iran are being used in peaceful purposes," Amano underscored at the conference. 

The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution on Thursday voicing "serious concern" about Tehran's nuclear program asserting it wants a peaceful resolution for the case. IAEA Governors Board imposed the 12th resolution against Iran, demanding it to allow the agency inspectors to visit Parchin military base, which is suspected to conduct nuclear-related tests. IAEA chief Yukia Amano has asked Iranian government's allowance for inspection of Parchin since last October. Iran on its part says Parchin is a military base, not nuclear facility, and thus it does not have any commitment to open access to it for the agency's inspectors. The European Union is to resume nuclear talks with Iran this week, the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed on Monday, dpa reported. Ashton is to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili late Tuesday in Istanbul, her office said, confirming a report by Iran's Fars news agency. "While it is not a formal negotiating round, the meeting will be an opportunity to stress once again to Iran the need for an urgent and meaningful confidence-building step," Ashton's spokesperson said. Read the full story here.

Arab League to hold emergency session on Syria massacre: Kuwait.

Warning Video Contains extremely graphic and violent images + 18.




Arab League to hold emergency session on Syria massacre: Kuwait.(AA)Arab League foreign ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on a massacre in Syria in which U.N. observers say government forces killed 92 people, the bloc’s current president Kuwait said on Sunday. “Kuwait will contact members of the Arab League to hold an emergency ministerial meeting to study the situation and take measures to put an end to the oppressive practices against the Syrian people,” said a foreign ministry statement cited by the official KUNA news agency. Kuwait has also made contacts at regional and international levels “to urge the international community to assume its responsibility to stop the bloodshed,” the ministry said. It strongly condemned the “brutal crime carried out by the Syrian regime forces in the town of Houla which resulted in the killing of dozens, most of them children and women.” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan called Saturday for an urgent Arab League meeting, saying the “massacre shows the failure of Arab and international efforts to stop the violence against civilians in Syria.” The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, grouping Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, also urged the international community to “assume its responsibilities.” Hundreds of Kuwaitis including several MPs rallied outside the Syrian embassy on Saturday to condemn the massacre. The protesters demanded that the Kuwait government send arms to the rebel Free Syrian Army. The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town of Houla on Friday. The carnage underlined just how far Syria is from any negotiated path out of the 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. “This morning U.N. military and civilian observers went to Houla and counted more than 32 children under the age of 10 and over 60 adults killed,” the head of U.N. team monitoring the ceasefire negotiated by former U.N. Secretary general Kofi Annan - which has yet to take hold - said. “The observers confirmed from examination of ordinances the use of artillery tank shells,” Major General Robert Mood said in a statement, without elaborating. “Whoever started, whoever responded and whoever carried out this deplorable act of violence should be held responsible.” Mood described the violence as “indiscriminate and disproportionate.”U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the deaths an “atrocity” and said Washington would work with the international community to heap pressure on “Assad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end.” “Those who perpetrated this atrocity must be identified and held to account,” she said in a statement. Britain said it was in urgent talks with allied countries on “a strong international response” while France said it was making plans to host a “Friends of Syria” meeting in the wake of the latest deadly violence. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was “appalled by the reports of the brutal massacre” and called on the Syrian regime to immediately cease all forms of violence and to abide by Annan’s peace plan. She said she would talk with the former U.N. chief on Sunday to affirm Europe’s support and would urge the U.N. Security Council members “to remain seized of the matter.” “The international community must continue to speak with one voice, demanding an end to the bloodshed and urging Assad to step aside and allow a democratic transition,” Ashton said. In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded “the government of Syria immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers.” Activists said Assad’s forces shelled the town of Houla evening after security forces killed a protester and following skirmishes between troops and rebels fighters. A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Houla residents fled, fearing more shelling. It said one person was killed in the northern town of Saraqeb when troops fired on a protest against the killing. Syrian state television aired some of the footage disseminated by activists after the killing in Houla, calling the bodies victims of a massacre committed by “terrorist” gangs. It also showed video of bodies with what looked like gunshot wounds to the head, sprawled on bloodstained mattresses.Read the full story here.