Syria's 'confident'

Syria's Assad 'confident' of Iranian and Russian support

music

The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has said he is confident he has the continuing support of key allies Iran and Russia.

A fresh push is under way to resolve Syria's four-year conflict, leading to speculation Mr Assad could be forced out to reach a settlement.

But Mr Assad said Russia and Iran did not abandon their friends.

Meanwhile France has said that that the "neutralisation" of the Syrian leader was essential to ending the crisis.

French President Francois Hollande said: "We must reduce the terrorist influence without maintaining Assad. The two are bound up together."

Iran and Russia though have maintained he needs to be part of a political solution.

origina post found herhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34058893

Donald Trump owes Megyn Kelly

Fox News chief: Donald Trump owes Megyn Kelly an apology

music

Fox News chief Roger Ailes said Tuesday that Donald Trump owes the network's Megyn Kelly an apology for an unprovoked Twitter attack that "is as unacceptable as it is disturbing," but Trump isn't backing down.

The Republican presidential front-runner-turned-TV-critic had welcomed Kelly back from a vacation Monday night by tweeting that he liked her show better while she was away. Trump said Kelly "must have had a terrible vacation" because "she's really off her game." He retweeted a message that referred to her as a bimbo.

"Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at Fox News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise," said Ailes, the Fox News Channel chairman. "I could not be more proud of Megyn for her professionalism and class in the face of all of Mr. Trump's verbal assaults."

Trump, in a statement, said he disagreed with Ailes and that he doesn't think Kelly is a quality journalist. "Hopefully in the future I will be proven wrong and she will be able to elevate her standards to a level of professionalism that a network such as Fox deserves."

In a news conference later Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa, Trump again refused to apologize to Kelly, saying, "She should probably apologize to me, but I just don't care."

He added, "I think Fox treats me terribly."

Trump has been attacking Kelly ever since her tough questioning of him during the first GOP presidential debate, seen by 24 million people on Fox on Aug. 6. A day after the debate, he said Kelly had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever."

That led to a private, clear-the-air conversation between Ailes and Trump two weeks ago, but that clearly hasn't led to peace.

In his tweets, Trump repeated his contention that Kelly, host of a prime-time Fox News show and one of the network's biggest stars, was sent on an unplanned vacation that ended Monday. Fox said her time off had been scheduled long before the debate. Trump also tweeted that Kelly was afraid to confront a guest, Dr. Cornel West, and that she had "no clue" on immigration.

Ailes again backed Kelly for her questioning during the debate, which he said was tough but fair.

"Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should," Ailes said. "We have never been deterred by politicians or anyone else attacking us for doing our job, much less allowed ourselves to be bullied by anyone and we're certainly not going to start now."













origina post found her

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ceb26956e4de4fe4a09eaff0a49d6898/donald-trump-critiques-megyn-kellys-return