Boeing 787 probe results weeks away, says NTSB chief

WASHINGTON: The results of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the causes of a battery fire on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner are expected in the coming weeks, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman said on Wednesday.

"We're probably weeks away from being able to tell people what happened and what needs to be changed," Hersman said at a news conference.

The NTSB chief said investigators were "proceeding with a lot of care" in probing the cause of a January 7 lithium-ion battery fire on a Japan Airlines 787 that occurred as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan airport.

Hersman said the most concerning issues seen in the probe so far were short circuits and thermal runaway, an uncontrolled chemical reaction that produces rising temperatures.

"These factors are not what we expected to see in a brand-new battery," she said.

The battery problem on the JAL 787, and another on an All Nippon Airways 787, led to a global grounding of all 50 Dreamliners in service until the issue is fixed.

The NTSB will hold a news conference on Thursday to update the public on the 787 investigation, Hersman said.

- AFP/de

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5 consequences of Dell's $24.4 billion deal to go private

Will Dell PCs make a comeback?

(Credit:
Dell)

Dell's $24.4 billion deal to go private is a sign of the times. The PC market is collapsing, Microsoft is trying to save it, and the IPO isn't what it used to be.

The company is about to get a major transformation. Once the deal is completed (with a $2 billion loan from Microsoft as part of the financing), it will be owned by Silver Lake Partners and Dell founder Michael Dell. But what exactly does going private mean for the company? What impact will it have on the markets?

Here are a few potential consequences of the deal:

1. Dell be nimble, Dell be quick

Part of the reason Dell decided to go through the trouble of a leveraged buyout was that it would help it become a nimbler company. Without the public markets, analysts, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to answer to, Dell CEO Michael Dell can theoretically make quicker decisions that will let it respond to Apple and Google.

It remains to be seen whether Dell will actually become more nimble -- it is still a multibillion-dollar corporation, after all -- but if Dell didn't do anything drastic, it was never going to make a significant recovery.

There is another potential benefit to going private: Dell can now implement long-term strategies that may eat up short-term profits. Dell would be hammered on the public markets for declining profit margins, even if they were going to help long-term, but the company will face no such problem as a private entity.

Michael Dell

(Credit:
Dell )

2. Microsoft's awkward relationship with OEMs becomes more awkward

One of the most interesting parts of the deal is that Microsoft chipped in a $2 billion loan to help get the deal done. In the past, Microsoft just offered the software (Windows) and the OEMs provided the hardware to go with it. Microsoft didn't play favorites or hold stakes in any of its partners.

Of course, that was thrown out the proverbial window (ha) when it created its own competing hardware -- the Surface
tablet. It resulted in strained relationships with HP, Dell, and many of its longtime partners, and I doubt the Dell deal will help, even if Microsoft promises total independence.

3. Can anyone stop the decay of the PC ecosystem?

Let's face it: the PC ecosystem is in free fall. Sales dropped by 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2012. Dell itself was down a mind-blowing 20.8 percent from the last holiday quarter. This isn't a new phenomenon -- PC growth has been declining since the iPad was released.

Dell's move would not have come if the foundations of the PC ecosystem weren't crumbling.
Windows 8 sales are lagging, despite what the people in Redmond would like you to believe. The move to privatize could give it leeway to try riskier strategies, such as adopting other operating systems (despite Microsoft's $2 billion loan).

I doubt this move will change the state of the PC ecosystem, though. Everyone sees the decline, and PC tablets probably won't be enough to stem it.

4. Michael Dell's legacy

Michael Dell is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our generation. He created a multibillion dollar company from his garage and became a billionaire in the process. He strongly identifies with the company that bears his name. But his return to the helm after he stepped down as CEO in 2004 has not been smooth, and it certainly can't be compared to Steve Jobs' return to Apple.

Some speculate that Michael Dell is preparing to step down as CEO, but I don't see the evidence. Why step down when you have the greatest opportunity in your life to make an impact at the company you founded?

The company going private will define his legacy, and he knows it. If the privatization deal succeeds, he will be known as one of the great CEOs of our time. If he can't turn things around, he will be a footnote in the history books.

5. Is this the beginning of the end of the IPO?

In the past, the IPO was the culmination of an entrepreneur's hard work, building an empire from the ground up. But now, companies are finding ways to avoid the IPO and the regulatory nightmare that accompanies it.

It's well-known that Mark Zuckerberg never wanted to take Facebook public, but essentially had no choice. And who can blame him? Quarterly financial reports, stock market roller coasters, and hostile takeovers just aren't fun.

Dell's move to privatize just underscores how burdensome being a public company actually can be. And with recent SEC rule changes making it easier to stay private for longer, why go public?

Let's be clear: most companies will still go public, because the early investors expect it. But don't be surprised if that mindset changes over the next decade. We may have to rewrite all the rules of the IPO if this trend continues.

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Ireland admits involvement in Catholic laundry slavery

DUBLIN Ireland has admitted some responsibility for workhouses run by Catholic nuns that once kept thousands of women and teenage girls against their will in unpaid, forced labor.

The apology comes after an expert panel found that Ireland should be legally responsible for the defunct Magdalene Laundries because authorities committed about one-quarter of the 10,012 women to the workhouses from 1922 to 1996, often in response to school truancy or homelessness.

"To those residents who went through the Magdalene Laundries in a variety of ways, 26 percent of the time from state involvement, I am sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment," said Prime Minister Enda Kenny on behalf of the Irish government, according to Reuters.

Survivors said they were unsatisfied with the prime minister's response. Steven O'Riordan, spokesperson for Magdalene Survivors Together, told Irish paper The Journal the apology was a "cop out."

Ireland stigmatized those that had been committed as "fallen" women - prostitutes - but most were simply unwed mothers or daughters of them.

The report found that 15 percent lived in the workhouses for more than five years, and police caught and returned women who fled. They endured 12-hour work days of washing and ironing.

The state apology could pave the way for payments to survivors.

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Boy Rescued in Ala. Standoff 'Laughing, Joking'

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid and the boy was taken away from the bunker in an ambulance.

Ethan's thrilled relatives told "Good Morning America" today that he seemed "normal as a child could be" after what he went through and has been happily playing with his toy dinosaur.

"He's happy to be home," Ethan's great uncle Berlin Enfinger told "GMA." "He's very excited and he looks good."

Click here for a psychological look at what's next for Ethan.

"If I could, I would do cartwheels all the way down the road," Ethan's aunt Debra Cook said. "I was ecstatic. Everything just seemed like it was so much clearer. You know, we had all been walking around in a fog and everyone was just excited. There's no words to put how we felt and how relieved we were."

Cook said that Ethan has not yet told them anything about what happened in the bunker and they know very little about Dykes.

What the family does know is that they are overjoyed to have their "little buddy" back.

Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead Watch Video

"He's a special child, 90 miles per hour all the time," Cook said. "[He's] a very, very loving child. When he walks in the room, he just lights it up."

Officials have remained tight-lipped about the raid, citing the ongoing investigation.

"I've been to the hospital," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters Monday night. "I visited with Ethan. He is doing fine. He's laughing, joking, playing, eating, the things that you would expect a normal 5- to 6-year-old young man to do. He's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he's out safe and doing great."

Ethan is expected to be released from the hospital later today and head home where he will be greeted by birthday cards from his friends at school. Ethan will celebrate his 6th birthday Wednesday.

Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge told ABC News Monday. FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and used two explosions to gain entry at the door and neutralize Dykes.

Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes?

"Within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated and Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun," the FBI's Richardson said. "At this point, the FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child."

Richardson said it "got tough to negotiate and communicate" with Dykes, but declined to give any specifics.

After the raid was complete, FBI bomb technicians checked the property for improvised explosive devices, the FBI said in a written statement Monday afternoon.

The FBI had created a mock bunker near the site and had been using it to train agents for different scenarios to get Ethan out, sources told ABC News.

Former FBI special agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said rescue operators in this case had a delicate balance.

"You have to take into consideration if you're going to go in that room and go after Mr. Dykes, you have to be extremely careful because any sort of device you might use against him, could obviously harm Ethan because he's right there," he said.

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Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences.

Mursi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, kissed Ahmadinejad after he landed at Cairo airport and gave him a red carpet reception with military honors. Ahmadinejad beamed as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

But the Shi'ite Iranian leader received a stiff rebuke when he met Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar later at Cairo's historic al-Azhar mosque and university.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old seat of religious learning, urged Iran to refrain from interfering in Gulf Arab states, to recognize Bahrain as a "sisterly Arab nation" and rejected the extension of Shi'ite Muslim influence in Sunni countries, a statement from al-Azhar said.

Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a news conference he hoped his trip would be "a new starting point in relations between us".

However, a senior cleric from the Egyptian seminary, Hassan al-Shafai, who appeared alongside him, said the meeting had degenerated into an exchange of theological differences.

"There ensued some misunderstandings on certain issues that could have an effect on the cultural, political and social climate of both countries," Shafai said.

"The issues were such that the grand sheikh saw that the meeting ... did not serve the desired purpose."

The visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.

"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his trip.

He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.

Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES

At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of improving relations and resolving the Syrian crisis "without resorting to military intervention", Egyptian state media reported.

Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr sought to reassure Gulf Arab allies - that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran - that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.

"The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt," he said in remarks reported by the official MENA news agency.

Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.

"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.

"We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I'm very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship," he told Reuters. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: "Trade and economics."

Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.

Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.

Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a mosque beside Cairo's mediaeval Citadel alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir, Marwa Awad and Alexander Diadosz; Writing by Paul Taylor and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Roche and Robin Pomeroy)

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BP profits slide on US oil spill fallout

LONDON: British energy giant BP on Tuesday said its net profits slumped by more than half last year on fines and asset sales linked to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, ahead of a US trial later this month.

Earnings after tax tumbled 54 percent to $11.58 billion (8.6 billion euros) in 2012, compared with $25.7 billion in 2011, BP said in a results statement.

Adjusted net profit, stripping out fluctuations in the value of inventories, plunged by almost 50 percent to $11.99 billion.

The London-listed group took a pre-tax charge of $4.1 billion for the fourth quarter in relation to the Gulf of Mexico disaster, taking its total clean-up bill to $42.2 billion.

Profits were hit also by divestments, including the sale of BP's 50-percent stake in the troubled Russian joint venture TNK-BP to the main Russian oil producer Rosneft.

BP added it was still assessing the impact of the deadly attack at its joint venture in the In Amenas gas site in Algeria last month, but remained committed to the country.

The energy major also revealed it had reached its target to sell $38 billion of assets a year earlier than originally planned, as it sought to meet the bill for the oil spill costs.

However, the sell-offs pushed annual production lower. Output sank more than five percent to 2.319 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, excluding TNK-BP's output.

The results were issued one week after a US judge approved a $4.5-billion deal in which BP pleaded guilty to criminal charges from the 2010 oil spill.

The devastating blast on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010 killed 11 people and unleashed some 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.

Later this month, BP will face a mammoth trial consolidating scores of remaining lawsuits stemming from the worst environmental disaster to strike the United States.

It must also still resolve a civil case on environmental fines which could amount to as much as $18 billion if gross negligence is found. BP also remains on the hook for billions in economic damages, including the cost of environmental rehabilitation.

Despite plunging profits, chief executive Bob Dudley argued that the group was well positioned for long-term growth.

"We have moved past many milestones in 2012, repositioning BP through divestments and bringing on new projects. This lays a solid foundation for growth into the long-term," said Dudley in Tuesday's earnings release.

"Moving through 2013 we will deliver further operational milestones and remain on track for delivery of our ten-point strategic plan, including our target for operating cash flow growth, by 2014," he added.

BP shares rose 1.67 percent to stand at 469.75 pence in late trading on London's FTSE 100 index, which was up 0.71 percent to 6,291.47 points.

The company's results were meanwhile published three weeks after a fatal Islamist attack on the BP-operated In Amenas gas plant, in a hostage-taking siege that ended with the deaths of almost 40 captives, mostly foreigners.

"We are working with our partners to assess the impact of the incident and intend to resume activities when it is safe to do so," BP said on Tuesday.

"BP remains committed to operating in Algeria, where we have high-quality assets and have been present for over 60 years."

The In Amenas gas field is a joint venture between BP, Norwegian group Statoil and Algerian state-owned oil firm Sonatrach.

-AFP/ac

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Privacy groups tell U.S. to stop lobbying EU on data law changes

A coalition of privacy groups has written to leading U.S. politicians to seek assurances that policymakers "advance the aim of privacy" in Europe, rather than hinder the development of new European data protection and privacy laws.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and more than a dozen other groups are seeking to meet with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and U.S. Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, to ensure that new European data law proposals are bolstered and not weakened.

When made final, the European Union's Data Protection Regulation will govern the data and privacy laws of Europe's 27 member states.

In the letter (PDF) sent today, the 18 groups claim that U.S. and European citizens' privacy and personal data are "being abused by both the commercial sector and governments" and that the "line is increasingly blurred as personal data passes between both with few restrictions."

While European politicians continue to debate ever-amended drafts to the new EU Data Protection Regulation -- which seeks to replace an outdated 1995 directive -- U.S. policymakers are "mounting an unprecedented lobbying campaign to limit the protections that European law would provide," the letter states.

"The U.S. should not stand in the way of Europe's efforts to strengthen and modernize its legal framework," the letter states.

Administration 'working to protect' the lobby?
The new EU data protection and privacy law is meant to further protect the 500 million-plus European citizens' rights in an ever-globalizing world and borderless cloud.

A major concern is the extra-territorial effect of U.S. law on European citizens, notably with the FISA Amendments Act 2008 and sections of the Patriot Act for monitoring communications between Americans and foreigners.

One leading U.S. consumer protection and privacy organization warned that EU officials are being pressured by the U.S. to weaken the proposed privacy protections in the drafts of the data protection laws.

Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester told ZDNet that despite the pro-privacy tone from President Obama, his administration is "working to protect the U.S. data lobby."

The privacy groups also noted that updating the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) -- under which authorities need only a subpoena approved by a federal prosecutor, rather than a judge, to obtain electronically stored messages six months old or older -- "would be a good start for the strengthening of U.S. law and policy" to bring the country in compliance with international human rights norms.

EU 'fed up' with U.S. lobbying
A year ago, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said the lobbying effort had been "absolutely fierce" and unprecedented in scale, according to The Telegraph.

On Sunday, the head of an influential pan-European industry group criticized "intensifying pressure from U.S. lobbyists on behalf of Google and Facebook," in order to suit the needs of Silicon Valley technology companies, according to the Financial Times of London.

Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the EU's Article 29 Working Party -- a group of data protection officials from each of the EU's member states -- said European lawmakers are "fed up" with U.S. lobbying.

In sharp words aimed at the Americans, he said: "You're not going to change your Fourth Amendment because of a business model in Europe, are you?"

The European Parliament is expected to vote on the draft regulation around the end of April, according to the European Union.

Read more
of "Privacy groups call on U.S. government to stop lobbying against EU data law changes" at ZDNet.

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Boy held captive may celebrate birthday as hostage

(CBS News) The Alabama hostage drama is now in its seventh day. The 5-year-old boy held captive underground by Jimmy Lee Dykes remains underground and could spend his birthday as a hostage. The boy, identified only as Ethan, turns six on Wednesday.

Police tell CBS News they still have an open line of communication with the Dykes, but almost a full week into this standoff, very little has changed.

Details about communications with the suspect Dykes, remain scarce. Dykes did allow police to lower crackers and a red hot wheels car into the underground bunker for his hostage.

Cindy Steiner, a friend of Ethan's family, told CBS News he has autism. She said, "He's crying, he wants his momma, he's never really been away from her."

Police said Dykes appears to be caring for Ethan. Sheriff Wally Olson said in a recent press conference, "Thank you for taking care of our child."

Neighbors remember Dykes for his anti-government rants. A source told CBS News senior producer Pat Milton that Dykes is a decorated Vietnam-era veteran. He served in the Navy in the late 1960s, based in Japan and California and received awards for good conduct.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former FBI assistant director, who has been involved in other hostage and standoff situations, said there are some good signs in this situation. He said Dykes' caring for the boy is a sign of bonding. "You can see that when Dykes asks for coloring books, crayons. He allows medication to come in," he said. "He's trying to provide for this boy, so as time goes on, that bond should increase.

For John Miller's full analysis, watch the video in the player below.

"It also happens with the negotiators. There's going to be a primary negotiator who started this conversation and a backup negotiator and then over this many days they're going to be others. He's going develop relationships and trust as he asks for things and they give him things and they ask for things in return. ... That can only get better, probably not worse."

Miller said the situation with Dykes may be controlled to some extent by negotiators, but depends largely on Dykes' own rollercoaster or emotions. Miller explained, "One would argue this might not be a stable person, so they have to manage that in that conversation and sometimes they may want to do a controlled probe to stir things up if there's no conversation, but otherwise they may want to talk him down if he's getting excited. But they want to keep that even if they can."

Explaining what a controlled probe is, Miller said it's a possible tactic "when somebody breaks off conversation, you can stir things up. Make some noise, do something provocative. That will usually generate a phone call. And then at least you've got a conversation going on. On the other hand, when somebody is getting very excited for perspective, they say, let's see where things are. 'The kid's fine, you're fine, let's bring this down a notch.'"

Children in the area will return to school Monday for the first time since the shooting.

On Sunday, just miles from the standoff, hundreds gathered to remember slain bus driver Charles Poland, Jr. Police say Dykes shot Poland Tuesday, when he stormed this school bus demanding child hostages.

Robbie Batchelor, a fellow school bus driver, said of Poland, "He laid down his life for the kids on the bus."

Twenty children on that bus escaped.

Watch Manuel Bojorquez's full report in the video above.

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Syrian opposition chief says offers Assad peaceful exit

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib urged President Bashar al-Assad on Monday to respond to his initiative for dialogue, saying it was aimed at ending the bloodshed and helping "the regime leave peacefully".

Speaking after meeting senior Russian, U.S. and Iranian officials at the weekend, Alkahtib said none of them had a plan to end the civil war and Syrians must find their own resolution.

"The big powers have no vision ... Only the Syrian people can decide on the solution," the Syrian National Coalition leader told Al Jazeera Television.

The moderate Islamist preacher announced last week he was prepared to talk to Assad's representatives. Although he set several conditions, the move broke a taboo on contacts with authorities and dismayed many in opposition ranks who insist on Assad's departure as a precondition for negotiation.

Alkhatib said it was not "treachery" to seek dialogue to end a conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed, 700,000 have been driven from their country and millions more are homeless and hungry.

"The regime must take a clear stand (on dialogue) and we say we will extend our hand for the interest of people and to help the regime leave peacefully," he told the Qatar-based channel. "It is now in the hands of the regime."

Assad announced last month what he said were plans for reconciliation talks to end the violence but - in a speech described by U.N. Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as narrow and uncompromising - he said there would be no dialogue with people he called traitors or "puppets made by the West".

Syria's uprising erupted 22 months ago with largely peaceful protests, escalating into a civil war that pits mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad, who is from Syria's Alawite minority and whose family has ruled Syria for 42 years.

POWERS DIVIDED

The violence has divided major powers, with Russia and China blocking U.N. Security Council draft resolutions backed by the United States, European Union and Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states that could have led to U.N. sanctions on Assad. Shi'ite Iran has remained his strongest regional backer.

Alkhatib said that the international deadlock meant that only Syrians could stave off further humanitarian disaster.

"We will find a solution, there are many keys," he said. "If the regime wants to solve (the crisis), it can take part in it. If it wants to get out and get the people out of this crisis, we will all work together for the interest of the people and the departure of the regime."

One proposal under discussion was the formation of a transitional government, Alkhatib said, without specifying how he thought it could come about. World powers agreed a similar formula seven months ago but then disagreed over whether that could allow Assad to stay on as head of state.

Activists reported clashes between the army and rebel fighters to the east of Damascus on Monday and heavy shelling of rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs. The Jobar neighborhood, on the southwestern edge of Homs, was hit by more than 100 rockets on Monday morning, one activist said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 180 people had been killed across the country on Sunday, including 114 rebel fighters and soldiers. Sunday's death toll also included 28 people killed in the bombardment of a building in the Ansari district of the northern city of Aleppo.

Assad has described the rebel fighters as foreign-backed Islamist terrorists and said a precondition for any solution is that Turkey and Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states stop funding, sheltering and arming his foes.

Rebels and activists say Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite military group Hezbollah have sent fighters to reinforce Assad's army - a charge that both deny.

ECONOMIC SUPPORT

"The army of Syria is big enough, they do not need fighters from outside," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in Berlin on Monday.

"We are giving them economic support, we are sending gasoline, we are sending wheat. We are trying to send electricity to them through Iraq, we have not been successful."

Another Iranian official, speaking in Damascus after talks with Assad, said on Monday that Israel would regret an air strike against Syria last week, without spelling out whether Iran or its ally planned a military response.

"They will regret this recent aggression," said Saeed Jalili, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

Salehi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden all met Alkhatib in Munich at the weekend and portrayed his willingness to talk with Syrian authorities as a major step towards resolving the war.

But Alkhatib is under pressure from other members of the exiled leadership in Cairo for saying he would be willing to talk to Assad, albeit on condition that Assad releases 160,000 prisoners and issues passports to the tens of thousands who have fled to neighboring countries without travel documents.

Walid al-Bunni, a member of the Coalition's 12-member politburo, dismissed Alkhatib's meeting with Salehi.

"It was unsuccessful. The Iranians are unprepared to do anything that could help the causes of the Syrian Revolution," Bunni, a former political prisoner, told Reuters from Budapest.

Bunni said the Coalition was preparing a meeting of all its 70 members in Cairo to hear from Alkhatib about his diplomatic moves.

Alkhatib, whose family are custodians of the Umayyad Mosque in the historic centre of Damascus, is seen as a bulwark against the radical Islamist Salafist forces who wield heavy influence in the armed opposition.

(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai and Stephen Brown in Berlin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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