Pro and anti-Syrian groups clash in north Lebanon

Security officials say clashes between pro and anti-Syrian groups in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli have killed at least one person and wounded five. The officials say the fighting started shortly before midnight Friday and continued Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which are easily enflamed. Clashes in Tripoli last month killed at least eight people in a spillover of the conflict in Syria. The split is between Sunni Muslims who support Syrian rebels trying to oust Nike Free 2012 Mænd President Bashar Assad and members of the tiny Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Alawites are Assad's most loyal supporters. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights body voted overwhelmingly Friday to condemn Syria over the slaughter of more than 100 civilians last week, but Damascus appeared impervious to the crescendo of global condemnation following a string of horrific massacres. Syria's most important ally and protector, Russia, voted against the measure by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Russia has refused to support any move that could lead to foreign intervention in Syria, Moscow's last significant ally in the Middle East. New bloodshed was reported across Syria on Friday, with troops firing on protesters and more execution-style killings coming to light, while U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan urged Syrian President Bashar Assad once again to stop the violence. As Russian diplomats in Geneva dismissed the resolution as "unbalanced" and voted against the text, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to press the Syrian government for an end to the violence and insisted a political solution was still possible despite mounting frustration over the lack of diplomatic progress. "It requires a certain professionalism and patience," Putin said in Germany. Russia, along with China, has twice used its veto power to shield Syria from U.N. sanctions. Although Syria has come under deep international isolation since its forces launched a ferocious crackdown on dissent nearly 15 months ago, the May 25 massacre in a cluster of villages known as Houla has brought a new urgency in calls to the crisis. "Syria is on the edge, it is on the edge of a catastrophic situation, if we can imagine one even worse than the current situation," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on the sidelines of a conference in Turkey. A majority of countries in the 47-nation rights council supported a U.S.- and Arab-led resolution condemning the "outrageous use of force against the civilian population" in Houla. "We believe that the acts committed by the Syrian regime may amount to crimes against humanity and other international crimes, and demonstrate a pattern of widespread and systematic attacks against civilian populations," Hague said. He said evidence from U.N. observers and independent witnesses confirmed that security forces shelled Houla and that "government militia then went house to house slaughtering entire families without compassion or mercy." New satellite images posted on the website of U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford showed signs of what look like freshly dug mass graves. A senior intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do so publicly, confirmed the authenticity of the images. Only Russia, China and Cuba voted against the resolution, with Uganda and Ecuador abstaining. The Philippines was absent. The resolution blamed "pro-regime elements" and government troops for the massacre. But Moscow echoed the Syrian government's explanation for the killings, blaming rebels that the Kremlin says are trying to stir up a civil war. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the Houla massacre was a well-planned attempt to thwart a political solution to the crisis and "lead the situation in Syria to a new circle of gory violence." Moscow's pro-Syria stance is motivated in part by its strategic and defense ties to Damascus, including weapons sales. Russia also rejects what it sees as a world order dominated by the U.S. Speaking late Friday in Paris, Putin said Russia was not backing the Syrian regime, but trying to "reduce the violence to a minimum." "We are not for Bashar Assad or for his adversaries. We want to arrive at a situation where the violence is ended and the possibility of a civil war is completely avoided," he said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she doesn't quite buy the claim that Moscow is neutral in the Syrian conflict, saying in Oslo that Russia is viewed in the United Nations, in Damascus and around the world "as supporting the continuity of the Assad regime." "The continued supply of arms from Russia has strengthened the Assad regime," and "that Russia has maintained this trade ... has raised serious concerns," she said. Activists say as many as 13,000 people have died in Assad's crackdown against the anti-government uprising, which began in March 2011 amid the Arab Spring. One year after the revolt began, the U.N. put the toll at 9,000, but many hundreds more have died since. Despite the relentless violence, the Houla massacre stands out for its sheer brutality. Many of the dead were women and children who were gunned down in their homes. Since then, two other mass killings were reported, both on Thursday. Thirteen bound corpses, many apparently shot execution-style, were found in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, near the Iraqi border. Gunmen also killed 11 people on their way to work at a state-owned fertilizer factory in the central province of Homs, activists said. There is no clear idea of who carried out the killings, although both sides traded blame. U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the U.N. has sent two teams to the area of the reported killings. "We cannot yet confirm the reports but teams are right now working on this," del Buey said in New York. The violence has grown increasingly chaotic in recent months, and it is difficult to assign blame for much of the bloodshed as the country spirals toward civil war. The government restricts journalists from moving freely, making it nearly impossible to independently verify accounts from either side. While Putin urged patience in the crisis, Annan called for immediate action, saying Assad must take bold steps to end the violence. "I know we are all impatient, we are all frustrated by the violence, by the killings," Annan told reporters in Beirut. "We really want to see things move much faster." Annan is trying to salvage a peace plan that he initiated six weeks ago, which calls for a cease-fire by both sides. The plan has never really taken hold, but world leaders have pinned their hopes on it, since the U.S. and others are unwilling to get deeply involved in another Arab nation in turmoil. On Friday, activists said Syrian security forces fired on thousands of protesters in different parts of the country as crowds poured into the streets to mark the Houla massacre. An amateur video said to be taken in the posh Damascus neighborhood of Mazzeh showed scores of people inside a mosque chanting "Death is better than humiliation!" and accusing the Syrian army of being traitors. Protests erupted in the capital Damascus, the southern province of Daraa, the northern regions of Idlib and Aleppo, Latakia on the coast and Hama and Homs in central Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the shooting at protesters Nike Free tilbud occurred in Daraa, the suburbs of Damascus, and Aleppo, the country's largest city. Several people were reported killed, but there was no way to confirm the toll. On Friday, the Red Cross said thousands of people who have been displaced because of the Houla massacre need urgent help. "People left everything behind as they ran for their lives," said Marianne Gasser, the head of the ICRC delegation in Syria. "Most of the displaced are women and children." Many are taking shelter in schools and other public buildings in a nearby village. "There was not enough food, water and medicine for everyone, which put a great deal of pressure on the small village," she said. Del Buey, the U.N. deputy spokesman, said 210 detainees in Damascus and 13 in Daraa were released Thursday in the presence of U.N. military observers. He stressed that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Annan "have said repeatedly we must see the release of all detainees being arbitrarily held and that clearly many more must be released." Gen. Robert Mood, head of the U.N. mission, welcomed the release. "This is a positive act in these challenging times," Mood said in a statement. ___ AP writers John Heilprin and Frank Jordans in Geneva, Geir Moulson and David Rising in Berlin, Christopher Torchia in Istanbul, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations in New York, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Kimberly Dozier in Washington, D.C., and Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.

Eight States That Will Shape 2012 Election

JUDY WOODRUFF:And as Romney heads to those two key swing states, we assess the presidential contest.And for that, we are joined by NewsHour political editor Christina Bellantoni, and Stuart Rothenberg of The Rothenberg Political Report. He's also a columnist for Roll Call.Thank you both for being here on this Memorial Day.So, only five months to go. Tomorrow is really the kickoff of the summer campaign season. I want both of you to tell me how you see the state of this race right now.Stu, what do you -- what does it look like to you?STUART ROTHENBERG, The Rothenberg Political Report: Well, Judy, I look at two things.I look at the fundamentals, how states have performed in the past, how the country has gone. And then I look at where we are right now with the economy, the reputation of the parties, the president's standing. It looks like a real horse race. I know everybody is saying it, but that doesn't mean it can't possibly be true.I think the race is very close and it's going to be decided by what happens between now and November. So events are really going to matter and how the two candidates respond to them.JUDY WOODRUFF:Christina, what does it look like, 50/50?CHRISTINA BELLANTONI:Yeah, absolutely.You've got -- first of all, you're going to NFL Jerseys Cheap see dozens and dozens of polls over the next five months. And some of them are going to be a little bit more important than others. But one of the things that you're seeing nationally is that, since it's been clear that Mitt Romney is the presumptive Republican nominee here, he's starting to inch up a little bit on the president in national perspective.But in the battleground states, where the president's team has really invested a lot of money in their ground game, their campaign infrastructure, hiring a lot of people and registering voters, you're seeing it a little bit stronger for the president in some of them and then Romney having a little bit of ground to make up in both.JUDY WOODRUFF:So, speaking of those battlegrounds states, if you look at a map of the United States -- and we just happen to have our Vote 2012 Map Center right here to show everybody -- you see those states in blue that are considered either solidly or leaning Democratic. In red, we're showing the states that are solidly or leaning Republican, and then yellow, eight states that are tossups.So, Stu, let's talk about those. And let's start on the East Coast and work our way west with Florida, which keeps everybody guessing, at least at this stage of the campaign. What does Florida look like?STUART ROTHENBERG:Right, certainly as it did in 2000.Well, there's a recent NBC News/Marist poll that has the president up by four points, 48 to 44. That's among registered voters. If you look historically at Florida, Judy it performs more Republican than the country as a whole. That is a few points more Republican. So, although President Obama won it last time, he didn't win it by anything close to the over seven points he won nationally.I think you have to look at Florida in a number of ways. Hispanics are an important constituency, senior citizens, of course. But really Florida is three states in one. North Florida performs the way the South does. It's conservative. South Florida, particularly the Gold Coast, the Miami-Broward portion of the state, is more like New Jersey. So Florida is going to be determined probably by swing voters in the I-4 Corridor, that central part of the belt stretching from Orlando all the way over to Tampa-St. Pete.JUDY WOODRUFF:Which we hear about in every election.So, let's move up a little bit north there to Virginia.CHRISTINA BELLANTONI:Right. Virginia is the battleground of all battlegrounds. Of course, it did not vote Democratic -- it voted Democratic in 2008, but it hadn't since 1964. This was a big win for Barack Obama in 2008.And they did that in part by targeting a lot of the expanding suburbs in the Washington area in Northern Virginia and also looking at this military region, Hampton Roads, and also targeting younger voters and the changing demographics of Virginia.So, this is something -- you're going to see this, both campaigns put a lot of energy and resources there. It's very easy for the president to cross over into Virginia and campaign here. You saw him hold one of his first reelection rallies in Richmond.And you're going to see a lot more there. And Mitt Romney has made very clear he's going to contest here. When you look at where these campaigns are advertising, Virginia is almost always on the list for the campaigns and the super PACs that are backing them.JUDY WOODRUFF:So long, as you say, a state the Republicans could almost take for granted, but not anymore.So, Stu, let's turn to the Midwest, and quickly look at three states there, starting with Ohio.STUART ROTHENBERG:So there's a recent NBC News/Marist poll that shows the president up by five points, though only in the mid-40s, against Mitt Romney. Ohio went for Bush in 2000 and 2004.It then went for President Obama, not the way it did it nationally. Nationally, the president won by seven. In Ohio, it was about 4.5 points. I think one of the interesting things about Ohio is the economic recovery. The automobile industry and the overall sense that the economy is coming back, will that help the president enough to help him carry a state that, all things being equal -- and they are never equal, Judy -- but all things being equal, the Republicans have a slight advantage in.JUDY WOODRUFF:Okay, and near and still in the Midwest, Christina, Iowa.CHRISTINA BELLANTONI:Iowa, this is a really interesting state because it has swung for both parties over the presidential years.And, obviously, it's very near and dear to President Obama's heart because it is where he was able to sort of start his path to the Democratic nomination in 2008 by winning the caucuses. He put a lot of investment in getting the young college voters in that state to get engaged for him. He has campaigned there many times.He has sent the vice president there many times. But it's also an interesting state because the economy is a little bit better in Iowa than it is in other parts of the country. And you're also seeing a pretty strong Republican effort in some of the down-ballot races. So, you have got some competitive congressional races. You're seeing a lot of advertising at that level.So, this is not a state that the Obama campaign can take for granted this year.JUDY WOODRUFF:And, Stu, quickly to Wisconsin, which is a state that all -- that also has a very closely watched governor recall.STUART ROTHENBERG:Right. Right.And the state is very polarized. The recall shows the race close, as Gov. Scott Walker facing a recall against Tom Barrett. Fascinating state, Judy. In Nike Free tilbud 2000 and 2004, this state went Democratic by each time less than one-half of 1 percent. And yet in 2008, it blew open. The president won it by almost 14 percentage points.The question is, now, is it going to come back? Some of these Upper Midwest states like good government candidates who talk about bringing the country together. I think the thing to watch here is white working-class voters and to what extent are they dissatisfied with the economy.JUDY WOODRUFF:All right, we're going to touch just very briefly now on these last few states we want to talk about.Christina, in New Hampshire, it's only four electoral votes, but in a close race, that could matter.CHRISTINA BELLANTONI:Especially when you have got Mitt Romney, who was the governor of Massachusetts. He owns property in New Hampshire. He has spent a lot of time there. He's beloved by a lot of these residents and it really has got this independent streak. It backed President Obama in 2008, but they do like to make a little bit of a switch here.JUDY WOODRUFF:And, Stu, moving out west, Colorado?STUART ROTHENBERG:I would say the two keys here are Hispanics and suburban voters. This is the West, but it's not the West like Wyoming or Arizona or Montana.There are a whole bunch of suburban voters here around the Denver area that probably will decide this election and again the Hispanic turnout.JUDY WOODRUFF:And, Christina, the last of these swing states we're looking at is Nevada.CHRISTINA BELLANTONI:Yes. And the Hispanic turnout is very, very important in this race.And you have also got the president was able to activate a very strong Democratic base in that state in 2008. He helped Senator -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid win reelection in 2010 with that. And that's what he's trying to do now. And we have noticed these campaigns are not advertising there, in part because the president is standing strong.JUDY WOODRUFF:So let's finally look at the map again and talk just quickly about what the president and what Gov. Romney have to do to get to that 270, which is what they need. Several paths, Stu, for the president, but maybe only a few for Gov. Romney.STUART ROTHENBERG:That's true. Romney must win Ohio and Florida.And then I think the key is going to come down to Wisconsin, Virginia, Colorado. I think Virginia is going to be a crucial state, Judy. And I don't say that just because we're located in Virginia at the moment. You know, when you do the math, if the Republicans win the states that they have in the past, if Romney wins them, it's going to come down to a handful of states.The president has a lot more opportunities. If he can pick off Ohio, for example, he makes it impossible for Mitt Romney to win.JUDY WOODRUFF:Quick last word.CHRISTINA BELLANTONI:And you can take a look on our Map Center.