GENEVA U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura ended four days of Syria talks on Friday, saying there had been \"incremental progress\" and he planned to reconvene negotiations in June. <\/p>\n
But the warring sides still showed no sign of wanting to be in the same room, let alone on the same page in terms of negotiating Syria's political future. <\/p>\n
Syrian government negotiator Bashar al-Ja'afari told reporters the talks had not included any discussion of the four main agenda items - reformed governance, new elections, a new constitution and the fight against terrorism. <\/p>\n
He suggested the United States had tried to undermine his negotiating position by saying at the start of the round that a crematorium had been built at Sednaya prison north of Damascus to dispose of detainees' remains. [nL2N1IH0TY] <\/p>\n
Ja'afari called the accusation \"a big lie\" and \"a Hollywood show\" and said the timing was \"no coincidence\". <\/p>\n
Syrian opposition delegation leader Nasr al-Hariri said it was not possible to reach a political solution or to fight terrorism as long as Iran and its militias remained in Syria, and reiterated the opposition's demand to remove President Bashar al-Assad. <\/p>\n
The U.N. talks no longer aim to bring an end to the fighting - that objective has been taken up by parallel talks sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran - but they do aim to prepare the way for political reform in Syria, if the six-year-old war ends. <\/p>\n
\"Any momentum provides some type of hope that we are not just waiting for the golden day but we are actually working for it,\" de Mistura told a news conference in Geneva. <\/p>\n
\"History is not, especially in a conflict environment, written by timelines that we set up artificially. They could be a target, a dream, a wish, a day for us to try to aim at.\" <\/p>\n
Among the modest goals of this sixth round of talks was a more businesslike format for meetings and less rhetorical grandstanding by the warring sides. <\/p>\n
(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Janet Lawrence) <\/p>\n
DUBAI\/BEIRUT Iranians yearning for more freedom at home and less isolation abroad have emphatically re-elected President Hassan Rouhani, throwing down a challenge to the conservative clergy that still holds ultimate sway. <\/p>\n
DUBAI Iranians yearning for detente abroad and greater freedoms at home have handed President Hassan Rouhani a second term, but the hardline forces he defeated in elections on Friday will remain defiantly opposed to his plans. <\/p>\n
ANKARA A mild-mannered cleric known for decades as an establishment insider, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani reinvented himself as a rabble-rousing political street fighter to secure a decisive re-election victory against a united conservative bloc. <\/p>\n
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UN sees 'incremental progress' after Syria talks - Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GENEVA U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura ended four days of Syria talks on Friday, saying there had been \"incremental progress\" and he planned to reconvene negotiations in June. But the warring sides still showed no sign of wanting to be in the same room, let alone on the same page in terms of negotiating Syria's political future Continue reading