Syria New Presidential Election

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  Syria's Bashar al-Assad Ready to Stand in New Election: Russian Lawmaker

  Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is willing to eventually hold parliamentary and presidential elections and is ready to run himself for president, a Russian lawmaker told AFP from Damascus today.

• Syrian Vote Isn't Obstacle to Peace Talks: Russia

  Russia's United Nations ambassador insists that Syria's presidential election on Tuesday is not an obstacle to a political settlement of the devastating war and is urging the U.N. chief to quickly appoint a new envoy to revive stalled peace talks.

• Reformists hopeful as Iran votes for new president

  Iranians are voting today to choose a new president in an election the reformists hope their sole candidate will win in the face of divided conservative ranks, four years after the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

• Barack Obama re-election signals new phase in Syria war

  Within hours of President Barack Obama's re-election the deadlocked Syrian conflict moved into a new phase on Wednesday, with Britain's prime minister urging the U.S. to join him in working directly with Syrian rebels and Turkey saying Washington has discussed protecting a safe zone inside Syria with Patriot missiles.