Jan. 6 Photo Brief: Assad peace plan angers opponents, 14,833 drummers attempt record, Epiphany Day, inauguration preparations underway
Speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad angers opposition, 14,833 drummers attempt world record, Epiphany Day celebrations, inauguration preparations underway for President Barack Obama and more in today’s daily brief.
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- Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks at the Opera House in Damascus in this still image taken from video January 6, 2013. (Syrian TV via Reuters)
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- Syrian people watch Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad making a public address on the state-run Syrian TV, on January 6, 2013 in Damascus. Bashar al-Assad in a rare speech Sunday denounced the opposition as “slaves” of the West and called for a national dialogue conference to be followed by a referendum on a national charter and parliamentary elections. (Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Pakistani man looks through a broken mirror on the Jaffar Express train after an attack at a railway station in Quetta on early 6, 2012. Unidentified gunmen fired at a train in Pakistanâs restive Baluchistan province, killing at least five people and seriously injuring 20 others. (Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Riders compete during the Stage 1 of the Dakar 2013 between Lima and Pisco, Peru, on January 5, 2013. The rally will take place in Peru, Argentina and Chile from January 5 to 20. (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets French actor Gerard Depardieu during their meeting in Sochi January 5, 2013. Depardieu arrived in Russia on Saturday to meet Putin, who granted him citizenship after a public spat in France over his efforts to avoid a potential 75 percent income tax. Picture taken January 5, 2013. (Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti via Reuters)
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- A vendor finishes a makhbaza, a traditional tool used for putting bread dough into ovens, at his shop in the Old Sanaa city January 6, 2013. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)
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- A tunnel, recently discovered by the Municipal Department of Public Safety (DSPM), is seen underground within a cellar in downtown Mexicali city January 5, 2013. The security authorities located the tunnel, measuring 98 feet long and 33 feet deep, which was used for drug trafficking from Mexicali to Calexico, California, in the U.S. after an anonymous tip. The newly discovered tunnel had ventilation and lighting, according to local media. (Stringer/Reuters)
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- Haitian merchants survery the damage at Mache Public De Tabarre, a public market, after a fire in Port-au-Prince January 6, 2013. The fire, which according to officials, was started deliberately, damaged more than 85 percent of the market and affected jobs, in the Caribbean nation where 78 percent of the population live on less than $2 a day. (Swoan Parker/Reuters)
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- A man dressed as Hindu goddess Kali, the goddess of power, performs with a burning camphor tablet on his tongue during a religious procession ahead of the “Kumbh Mela” or Pitcher Festival, in the northern Indian city of Allahabad January 6, 2013. (Jitendra Prakash /Reuters)
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- A total of 14,833 Assamese people on Sunday attempted to enter the Guinness Book of World Record by playing the drums for 15 minutes non-stop at a field in the Titabar town in the northeastern Indian state of Assam January 6, 2013. (Utpal Baruah/Reuters)
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- Men jump into the waters of a lake in an attempt to grab a wooden cross on Epiphany Day in Sofia January 6, 2013. Orthodox priests throughout the country bless the waters by throwing a cross into it as worshippers try to retrieve the cross. It is strongly believed that catching the cross brings health and prosperity to the person who catches it. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)
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- A faithful holds a cross after retrieving it from the sea during the blessing of the waters marking the Epiphany Day in the city of Volos, in central Greece’s region on January 6, 2013. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Newly appointed bishops Nicolas Henry Marie Denis Thevenin, Pope Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Georg Gaenswein, Nigerian Fortunatus Nwachkwu and Angelo Vincenzo Zani lie during the Epiphany mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on January 6, 2013. (Alessandro Di Meo/AFP/Getty Images)
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- German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of Germany’s Free Democratic party (FDP) reacts during the traditional FDP epiphany meeting in Stuttgart January 6, 2013. (Ralph Orlowski/Reuters)
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- An actor portraying the Holly Man arrives by rowboat at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the South Bank of the Thames River, during Twelfth Night celebrations in London January 6, 2013. A troupe of actors took part in Wassailing, an ancient English tradition with the purpose of waking the apple trees and scaring away evil spirits, in order to ensure there will be a good harvest the next autumn. (Chris Helgren/Reuters)
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- People attend a ceremonial burning of dried oak branches, the Yule log symbol for the Orthodox Christmas Eve in front of a church in Sabac, Serbia on January 6, 2013. The Orthodox faith uses the old Julian calendar in which Christmas falls 13 days after its more widespread Gregorian calendar counterpart on December 25. (Andre J. Isakovic/AFP/Getty Images)
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- This picture taken on January 5, 2013 shows people visiting Ice and Snow World at the opening ceremony of the 2013 Harbin Internatoinal Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke (R) and teammate Ed Cowan run between the wickets on the fourth day of the third cricket Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 6, 2013. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A woman jogs past a roadside souvenir stall displaying T-shirt with U.S. President Barack Obama’s picture in Washington, DC, on January 5, 2013. Preparations are underway for Obama’s second inauguration which will take place with a public ceremonial oath of office on January 21, 2013. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Ray Lewis #52 of the Baltimore Ravens greets fans during warm ups against the Indianapolis Colts during the AFC Wild Card Playoff Game at M&T Bank Stadium on January 6, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Assad “peace plan” greeted with scorn by foes
Peter Graff and Erika Solomon
Reuters
10:25 a.m. EST, January 6, 2013
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.
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