Montreux , January 23
UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi meets Syria's warring sides behind closed doors today to gauge if they are willing to sit down face-to-face after the first day of a peace conference ended in bitter exchanges.

Brahimi will hold separate meetings with delegations from President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Opposition before full talks resume in Geneva tomorrow.

The UN-sponsored conference, the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's devastating civil war, opened in the Swiss town of Montreux yesterday with heated disagreements among the two sides and world powers.

But neither side walked out and Brahimi said he would talk with both parties today to see "how best we can move forward".

"Do we go straight into one room and start discussing or do we talk a little bit more separately?... I don't know yet," Brahimi said.

Officials have said the talks could last between seven to 10 days and possibly resume after a break.

Expectations are very low for a breakthrough at the conference, but diplomats believe that simply bringing the two sides together for the first time is a mark of some progress and could be an important first step.

With no one appearing ready for serious concessions, mediators will be looking for short-term deals to keep the process moving forward, including on localised ceasefires, freer humanitarian access and prisoner exchanges.

Brahimi said he "had indications" from both sides that they were willing to discuss these issues.

Hadi Al-Bahra, a member of the opposition National Coalition's delegation, said they would be meeting with Brahimi in Geneva to work out the details of Friday's talks.

Bahra told AFP the opposition was feeling confident after the regime adopted an aggressive tone for the start of the conference.

"What happened yesterday was clearly in our interest. We have heard very positive feedback from inside Syria and it is the first time we've felt so much support from Syrians for the Coalition," Bahra said. In a vehement attack during his opening speech, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused the opposition of being "traitors" and agents of foreign governments. — AFP

Singapore, January 23
Singapore has assured Indian workers that they will not be affected by a new bill that gives special powers to the police in Little India, the scene of the country's worst riots in over 40 years.

Law and Foreign Minister K Shanmugam said the bill was among "temporary measures to try and nip things in the bud" at Little India, a precinct of Indian-owned businesses, eateries and pubs where South Asians working in Singapore spend their day off.

He said the bill was confined to Little India as it was the government's duty to do what it can to prevent another incident.

The public has little to worry about it, he said, adding that the bill was not discriminatory.

"If you are coming in, taking in the air, going into the restaurants, enjoying the open air, walking about - none of these powers would impact on you," Shanmugam told over 400 workers in Tamil at foreign workers' dormitory last night.

"We are trying to restrict it, to keep it contained. The incident (riot) took place there. There is where you get a large concentration of foreign workers coming on weekends. We haven't yet seen a similar situation in other places," the minister was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.

Shanmugam also noted that the mood of the workers was "much more positive". "They were (then) concerned about themselves, as to...whether they would be sent back," he said, recalling his previous visit.

Shanmugam visited the dormitory in the Jurong industrial region on December 17, in the wake of the December 8 riot.

"I assured them that if they did nothing wrong, nothing would be done...Now they know that that assurance is true...so they feel a certain sense of confidence," he said. Shanmugam also assured the workers, mostly from Southern India, that action would be taken to improve their welfare, such as the costs within the dormitories. — PTI 

Moscow, January 23
The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev today appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama to broker peace talks to end the deadly violence rocking Ukraine. "I am sure that you are capable of achieving this aim. The sides fighting each other must sit down together for talks," the 82-year-old statesman said in an open letter published on the website of his Gorbachev Foundation.

"Vladimir Vladimirovich, Mr Obama. I ask you to find the opportunity and take a decisive step to help Ukraine to return to the path of peaceful development," he added, using a respectful form of address to Putin.

Ukraine's anti-government protests escalated into fierce fighting this week that have so far resulted in five deaths and opposition leaders are now in talks with President Viktor Yanukovych demanding concessions including early elections.

Gorbachev warned that the conflict could "threaten not only Ukraine itself and its neighbours but also Europe and the whole world." "We must not allow Ukrainians to wage war against Ukrainians. That is a terrible absurdity. But the situation seems to have taken such a turn that without help, without the cooperation of the authoritative representatives of our two countries, this could lead to catastrophe," Gorbachev wrote.

In the emotional letter, he described his deep personal links to Ukraine.

"In my family, my mother was Ukrainian while my father was Russian. My late wife Raisa Maximovna was Ukrainian," he said. — AFP 

Washington, January 23
Nearly 22 million women, about one in five, have been raped in their lifetimes in the US, with nearly half of the victims subjected to sexual assault before the age of 18, according to a White House report. Though women of all races are targeted, but some are more vulnerable than others, it said.

The report said 33.5 per cent of multiracial women have been raped, as have 27 per cent of American-Indian and Alaska Native women, compared to 15 per cent of Hispanic, 22 per cent of Black, and 19 per cent of White women.

Most victims know their assailants and a vast majority (nearly 98%) of perpetrators are males, according to the report released yesterday.

The report was issued by the White House ahead of a cabinet-level meeting of the White House Council chaired by President Barack Obama on women and girls with the council representatives from each agency to examine the progress made and to renew a call to root out abuse wherever it exists.

Later, Obama signed a Presidential memorandum to set up a task force to protect students from sexual assaults. "The President believes that the prevalence of rape and sexual assault in our Nation's schools is both deeply troubling and a call to action. When 1 in 5 young women is sexually assaulted while in college, we must do more," the White House said in a fact sheet.

According to the report, young people are especially at risk with nearly half of female survivors raped before they were 18, and over a quarter of male survivors raped before they were 10.

College students are particularly vulnerable, one in five women has been sexually assaulted while in college, the report said.

Repeat victimisation is common with over a third of women who were raped as minors were also raped as adults, it said.

Men and boys, however, are also at risk, the report said, adding that one in 71 men or almost 1.6 million have been raped during their lives. — PTI