Syria rejects Arab League proposals
CAIRO, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Syria dismissed Arab League calls for President Bashar Assad to relinquish power to his deputy and for the country to form a unity government within two months.
Syrian officials said the league's proposals weren't in the best interests of the people and would interfere with internal governance, the BBC reported Monday.
One official said Syrians have "rallied around" Assad during the unrest in the country.
The Arab League urged Assad to step down as part of a timetable for a transition of power, Britain's Guardian reported.
Proposals made at an Arab League meeting in Cairo Sunday call for negotiations between the government and the opposition within two weeks and the establishment of a national unity government within two months, The Washington Post reported. They also called for Assad to transfer power to his deputy and multiparty elections observed by international monitors within three months.
In addition, the proposals would extend the Arab League monitoring mission for one more month and call on both sides to end the violence.
Saudi Arabia said it plans to pull its Arab League monitors from Syria, with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal accusing the Syrian regime of acting in bad faith and not implementing any of its obligations n the Arab League resolution that set up the monitoring mission, The Guardian reported.
"My country will withdraw its monitors because the Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan," he said.
Ex-Taliban official: Insurgents ready to talk
KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Afghan officials have been meeting with a former Taliban ambassador who says the insurgents are ready to talk peace.
Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's ambassador to neighboring Pakistan prior to his capture, and other former Taliban officials have been meeting with Afghan officials, The Washington Post reported.
The meetings have been going on while Kabul awaits developments from Qatar, where the Taliban plan to open an office for talks with the United States.
Zaeef, who has become a frequent visitor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's palace and other former Taliban officials are being consulted for guidance and help in mediations, the Post reported.
Afghans are unhappy with Qatar, which reportedly has not kept the Karzai administration informed of its contacts with the Taliban leadership.
Zaeef and his colleagues, many of whom also were imprisoned and reintegrated, live close to Kabul, the Post said.
Zaeef is trying to convince Kabul the Taliban are serious about peace if preconditions can be met, the Post reported.
"They are ready to discuss peace," he was quoted as saying in an interview. "They have received the message from their leadership, and they are ready."
The report said thousands of former Taliban members, many of them low-level fighters, have already laid down their arms, but because of their status, their peace with the government has not received much attention.
Arkansas hit by twisters, 3-inch hail
CONWAY, Ark., Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Rain-wrapped tornadoes struck at least six spots in Arkansas and severe weather rocked parts of the South and Midwest from Mississippi to Indiana and Ohio.
The storms were part of a weather front that brought freezing rain and fog to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states early Monday.
A tornado moving northeast at 55 mph touched down and damaged at least two houses, ripping down trees and power lines near Fordyce, Ark., 70 miles south of state capital Little Rock, police said.
At least five other tornados touched down in the state, AccuWeather said.
No injuries were reported.
Tornado watches were in effect for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee early Monday.
Nearly 3-inch hail was reported in Griffith Spring, Ark., 40 miles northeast of Fordyce, police said.
The same weather front brought freezing rain and fog to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast early Monday, creating a treacherous glaze of ice and low visibility from Washington and Baltimore through Allentown, Pa., with freezing rain and drizzle stretching through New York's Hudson Valley and parts of Connecticut north to Albany, N.Y., Worcester, Mass., and Boston's suburbs, AccuWeather said.
Romney, Gingrich throw mud in Florida
ORMOND BEACH, Fla., Jan. 23 (UPI) -- White House hopeful Mitt Romney painted rival Newt Gingrich as a failure and a fraud, while Gingrich said Romney is inauthentic and politically vulnerable.
The personal attacks came as a poll indicated Gingrich maintained his momentum after his South Carolina primary win Saturday, leading Romney 34 percent to 26 percent in the Sunshine State.
The Insider Advantage poll of 557 Republicans showed Rep. Ron Paul of Texas with 13 percent support and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania with 11 percent.
Paul leads all GOP candidates in Florida with 30 percent support among voters age 30 to 44. But Gingrich leads Paul among voters age 18 to 29, the poll conducted Sunday for conservative Florida news outlet Newsmax Media found.
The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Romney, who came in second in South Carolina Saturday, attacked Gingrich at a Sunday evening rally in Ormond Beach, Fla., ahead of the state's Jan. 31 primary.
"We're not choosing a talk show host -- we're choosing the person who should be the leader of the free world," Romney said.
On the CBS News program "Face the Nation" Gingrich belittled Romney as fake and politically open to attack because of his shifts away from more liberal positions he held as Massachusetts governor.
