Obama open to talks with Syrian opposition umbrella group

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he was encouraged by the recent formation of an umbrella group for the Syrian opposition fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, but he stopped short of recognizing it as a government in exile.
   
Obama, holding his first news conference since being re-elected last week, said he would speak with the group and considers it "a legitimate representative" for the Syrian people.
   
Obama said he also shares Israel's concern about the movement of chemical weapons in Syria during the current fighting and turmoil.

President  Obama  vowed to push for a diplomatic resolution to Iran's suspected attempt to build a nuclear weapon, while restating his insistence that Tehran will never be allowed to acquire a bomb.
   
"I will try to make a push in the coming months to see if we can open up a dialogue between Iran and - not just us but the international community - to see if we can get this thing resolved," he said.
   
"We're not going let Iran get a nuclear weapon, but I think there is still a window of time for us to resolve this diplomatically," added Obama.


REUTERS