A dissident's prison sentence is seen as a signal: The boundaries of what can be said publicly have narrowed. DAMASCUS, SYRIA — Anwar Bunni's wife had seen this moment often in her nightmares: the secret police emerging from the shadows, forcing her activist husband into a waiting car.
UNDER increasing pressure, the Bush administration has begun to move toward diplomacy with Syria and Iran to help stabilize Iraq. However scanty the contacts have been, they are an encouraging sign that the White House is changing its rejection of dialogue recommended six months ago by the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group.
The RCMP has notified Interpol about a Vancouver woman who has been missing in Syria for five weeks.
In a highly anticipated meeting, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Syria's foreign minister of U.S. concerns about his country's porous border with Iraq on Thursday -- the two nations' first Cabinet-level talks in years.
The Syrian ambassador to the United States has called a meeting between Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "significant."
The United States and Syria could hold their first substantive high-level talks in years as early as today, energizing an international gathering on Iraq's future.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Syria to help improve security in Iraq on Thursday during the highest-level talks in three years with a government Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice broke diplomatic ice with Syria and Iran this week at a summit in Egypt. Where does the U.S. go from here, asks State Department reporter Charles Wolfson .
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, the first meeting between Syrian and U.S. officials in two years.
In a diplomatic turning point for the Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Thursday with Syria's foreign minister and expressed U.S. concerns about the country's porous border with Iraq.