Syrian ceasefire with Russian backing key to peace talks, say European leaders

The Syrian ceasefire and its continued backing from Russia will help build a momentum behind peace talks in the war-torn country, European leaders have said.

The truce, which is broadly holding, began last weekend. The leaders of Russia, Germany, France, Italy and the UK held a conference call on Friday in which they agreed to use the “positive dynamic” to restart peace talks, a spokesperson forDavid Cameron said.

“The main point that the European leaders made on the call to [Russian president Vladimir] Putin was that we welcome the fact that this fragile truce appears to be holding,” the spokesman said.

“We have got to use this as a positive dynamic now to create some momentum behind the talks … so we can move from a truce into a more lasting, durable peace with a political transition away from Assad.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/05/syrian-ceasefire-russia-peace-talks-european-leaders

 

GOP TAX PLANS BENEFIT RICH DESPITE POPULIST CAMPAIGN TALK

 Jeb Bush went to Detroit and talked about leveling the playing field. Marco Rubio wrote a book about helping the working class. Rand Paul is promising to expand the Republican Party beyond its traditional base.

Yet all three Republican presidential candidates have offered tax proposals that would, for reasons such as nomination politics and tax rate realities, overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_TAXES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT