Diplomats scrambled Friday to save a peace plan for Syria in the face of 11th-hour objections from Russia that threaten a key international conference on ending the nearly 16-month long conflict.
Western governments have told UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan that there is no point in going ahead with Saturday's planned meeting in Geneva unless prior agreement can be reached on his proposals for a political transition in Syria, diplomats said.
With violence on the ground claiming 178 more lives on Thursday, 117 of them civilians, according to human rights monitors, Annan called crisis talks with senior officials of the major powers.
But diplomats said the fate of the peace conference could remain in the balance until a 1730 GMT meeting in Saint Petersburg between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Geneva conference, which had been due to be attended by Clinton, Lavrov, and the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey and Kuwait, had been intended as a public show of support for Annan's peace efforts.
Annan announced the meeting on Tuesday, having said he would only convene it if he was sure ministers would unite around his plan to end the worsening violence which human rights monitors say has left more than 15,800 dead since March last year.
Russia, the last major ally of President Bashar al-Assad, has objected to a proposal which could limit membership of a transitional unity government in Syria, diplomats said.
Annan's plan, obtained by AFP, said the interim government could include Assad officials and the opposition "but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation".
Diplomats have said this means that Assad could be ruled out of the government but did not automatically exclude his participation. Opposition figures could also be kept out under the same formula, they stressed.
Lavrov insisted on Thursday that Assad's fate "must be decided within the framework of a Syrian dialogue by the Syrian people themselves."
He said world powers had yet to agree on any final resolution based on Annan's proposals for Saturday's meeting.
"There are no agreed drafts. Work on a possible final document continues," he told a news conference.
Lavrov, who later held telephone talks with Annan, agreed that reforms were needed in Syria.
"It is clearly the case that a transitional period is required to overcome the Syrian crisis and finally establish stable, generally-accepted rules and norms that suit all groups of the Syrian population," he said.
But Lavrov said those changes had to come from inside Syria.
"Foreign players should not be dictating their solutions to the Syrians. We do not and cannot support any intervention or solutions dictated from abroad," he said.
But speaking in Latvia before her departure for Saint Petersburg, Clinton rejected any suggestion that Annan was proposing a transition imposed from outside.
"In his transition document it is a Syrian-led transition, but you have to have a transition that complies with international standards on human rights, accountable governance, the rule of law," she said.
The US top diplomat also insisted that by agreeing to attend the Geneva conference, Russia had implicitly signed up to Annan's proposals.
"It was very clear from the invitations that were extended by special envoy Kofi Annan that people were coming on the basis of the transition plan that he had presented," she said.
Russia has annoyed the West throughout the Syrian crisis by refusing to call for the exit of Assad, its last remaining ally in the Arab world. It has also defied pressure to stop delivering military hardware to his regime.
Amid the flurry of diplomatic activity, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was to hold Paris talks with Abdel Basset Sayda, head of the exiled opposition Syrian National Council, which has expressed its own reservations about any transition plan that does not require Assad to quit.
missile batteries "The opposition has not yet received the details of the Annan proposal and cannot reply to it," SNC spokesman George Sabra told AFP on Thursday.
"But its firm position remains that the opposition would not participate in any political project unless Bashar al-Assad is removed from power."
Thursday's heaviest death toll was in the northern Damascus suburb of Douma where a bombardment by the army killed 36 people, among them six women and six children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Footage postage by activists on YouTube showed the bloodied body of a young boy with a man standing over it screaming: "Was this child taking up arms against the Assad regime?"
Of the more than 15,800 people killed since the uprising broke out, nearly 4,700 have lost their lives since April 12, when a UN-backed ceasefire brokered by Annan was supposed to have taken effect, the Observatory said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-violence-rages-crisis-meeting-put-doubt-030708231.html
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Too Much, Too Soon? Early Learning and the Erosion of Childhood edited by Richard House. How to nurture young children's well-being and learning to reverse the erosion of childhood? In twenty-three hard-hitting chapters, leading educators, researchers, policy makers and parents advocate alternative ways ahead for slowing childhood, better policy-making and, above all, the 'right learning at the right time' in children's growth - learning when they are developmentally ready. 
The Genius of Natural Childhood: Secrets of Thriving Children by Sally Goddard Blythe. 55% of parents admit they never read to their child. Toddlers watch 4.5 hours of TV daily. So Sally Goddard Blythe draws on neuroscience to unpack the wisdom of nursery rhymes, playing traditional games and fairy stories for healthy child development. Young children love creative play, stories, nursery rhymes and games. These are not only good fun, but are also good for the brain. Sally explains why movement matters and how games develop children's skills at different stages of development. She offers a starter kit of stories, action games, songs and rhymes. 
You are your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy. This book is about what parents can do with and for their children from birth to age six. Rahima Dancy warns against rushing children through childhood. She advocates a "slow parenting" revolution which will allow children to develop at their own pace, and crucially, will help parents discover confidence in their own ability to parent and enjoy the magical first five years of raising a child. This book will help parents to understand their child's unique personal, mental, soul and physical needs at each stage of development; nourish their child's imagination with simple, home-made toys and materials; enjoy storytelling, arts, crafts, and musical activities with their child; create their own family rituals to ease the daily routine; and value their own ability to understand and care for their child. With bibliography and index. 
What Babies and Children Really Need by Sally Goddard Blythe. This book examines the crucial early years from a child's perspective. It sets out the cornerstones which underpin the making of healthy, happy children, including how good pre-conceptual and pre-natal care prepares the ground for healthy child development; how events during birth can affect later educational achievement; why mother, movement and music are the 3 Ms of pre-school education; the importance of "rough and tumble" play for emotional and social development; and the special and essential roles of mothers and fathers. With bibliography and index. 
The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning by Sally Goddard Blythe. The Well Balanced Child is a passionate manifesto for a "whole body" approach to learning which integrates the brain, sense, movement and play. This fully revised edition includes a new chapter on what parents can do to help children reach their full potential, physically and mentally. This practical, inspirational resource will help parents and educators to understand why movement matters; how music helps brain development; the role of nutrition in brain and child growth; and how to help children with learning and behavioural problems. With index.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Jun-2012
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Among the research institutions NCI funds across the United States, it currently designates 66 as Cancer Centers. Largely based in research universities, these facilities are home to many of the NCI-supported scientists who conduct a wide range of intense, laboratory research into cancer?s origins and development. The Cancer Centers Program also focuses on trans-disciplinary research, including population science and clinical research. The centers? research results are often at the forefront of studies in the cancer field.