Meet Obama's Defense Secretary Nominee

President Obama nominated former Senator Chuck Hagel as the next U.S. secretary of defense. To those who haven't followed the Senate closely in the past decade, he's probably not a household name.

Hagel is a former GOP senator from Nebraska and Purple-Heart-decorated Vietnam veteran, but he wouldn't necessarily be a popular pick with Republicans in Congress.

At age 21, Hagel and his brother Tom became the next in the family to serve in the United States Army. They joined the masses of Americans fighting an unfamiliar enemy in Vietnam.

In his book, he describes finding himself "pinned down by Viet Cong rifle fire, badly burned, with my wounded brother in my arms."

"Mr. President, I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve our country again," Hagel said after Obama announced his nomination Monday.

In 1971, Hagel took his first job in politics as chief of staff to Congressman John Y. McCollister, a position he held for six years. After that, he moved to Washington for the first time, where he went on to work for a tire company's government affairs office, the 1982 World's Fair and in 1981, as Ronald Reagan's Deputy Administrator of the Veterans Administration.

Obama Taps Sen. Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary Watch Video

Sen. Chuck Hagel's Defense Nomination Draws Criticism Watch Video

Obama's Defense Nominee Chuck Hagel Stirs Washington Lawmakers Watch Video

He worked in the private sector for most of the 80s and 90s before his first election to the Senate in 1997.
Since the turn of the century, Hagel has followed a curvy path of political alliances that puts his endorsements all over the map. Hagel's record of picking politically unpopular positions could be a large part of why Obama is naming him for the job, as Slate's Fred Kaplan surmises the next Defense secretary will be faced with tough choices.

In 2000, he was one of few Republican senators to back Sen. John McCain over then-presidential-candidate George W. Bush.

After that election, Hagel fiercely criticized Bush for adding 30,000 surge troops to Iraq, in place of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's proposal of a draw-down and regional diplomacy, which Hagel preferred. When Bush instead announced that more troops would go to Iraq, Hagel co-sponsored a nonbinding resolution to oppose it, along with then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

"The president says, 'I don't care.' He's not accountable anymore," Hagel told Esquire in June 2007. "He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends how this goes."

Hagel's fierce opposition to America's involvement in Iraq – he called it one of the five monumental blunders of history, on par with the Trojan War – will be of substantial importance as the Obama administration charts our course out of Afghanistan, deciding how to withdraw the last of the troops in 2014 and how much of a presence to leave behind.

Hagel's support for McCain, which was substantial in his competition against Bush, disappeared in the 2008 election. Hagel toured Iraq and Afghanistan with Obama during his first campaign for the presidency.

In October 2008, Hagel's wife, Lillibet, announced her support for the Obama team, after the Washington Post reported on her donations to his campaign. She donated again in 2012.

Before the 2008 election, Hagel wrote: "The next president of the United States will face one of the most difficult national security decisions of modern times: what to do about an Iran that may be at the threshold of acquiring nuclear weapons."

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West vs Asia education rankings are misleading

Western schoolchildren are routinely outperformed by their Asian peers, but worrying about it is pointless

MATHEMATICS and science are as essential to modern economies as coal was to the industrial revolution. So when the results of international tests show Western schoolchildren lagging behind their peers in countries like Singapore and Japan, alarm bells start ringing.

The latest results to cause consternation are from a comparison of mathematical and scientific knowledge called TIMSS, or Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. This is given every four years to 9-10-year-olds and 13-14-year-olds from more than 50 countries.

The results, released last month, show that students from the UK, US and Australia continue to perform disappointingly. In maths, for example, English, American and Australian 13-year-olds were outperformed by their peers in South Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan and Russia. It was a similar story in science.

Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth. US secretary of education Arne Duncan lamented that "a number of nations are out-educating us today... If we as a nation don't turn that around, those nations will soon be outcompeting us in a knowledge-based, global economy."

Australia's Education Standards Institute director Kevin Donnelly said the results proved that the country's education system had gone "pear-shaped".

However, there are reasons to think that such worries are misplaced.

First of all, although the results are not world-beating, they are far from terrible. All were above average, and better than many other developed nations. For the US at least, they continue a trend of long-term improvement. In the first international mathematics survey, conducted in 1964, the US finished second from bottom.

Second, the common-sense connection between test scores and future economic success doesn't necessarily hold up. For developed nations, there is scant evidence that TIMSS rankings correlate with measures of prosperity or future success. The same holds for a similar test, the Program for International Student Achievement (PISA).

In 2008, Christopher Tienken, then at Rutgers University in New Jersey, compared 1995 TIMSS scores with the 2006 Growth Competitiveness Index. This index was devised by the World Economic Forum to measure a nation's future economic health. Tienken found that for developed countries there was no statistically significant relationship (International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership, vol 3, no 4).

Tienken, now at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, has since done a similar analysis of the 2003 PISA mathematics rankings and two measures of economic success: per-capita GDP in 2010, and the 2010-2011 Growth Competitiveness Index. The study, to be published in April, again found no statistically significant relationship.

These findings make TIMSS and PISA rankings seem irrelevant. But it could be worse than that. In many cases, high test scores correlate with economic failure.

Japanese students, for example, have always been near the top of the TIMSS. You might expect those high-flying students to be driving a high-flying economy. Yet the Japanese economy stagnated throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

There may be no causal connection, but the same negative correlation is seen elsewhere.

In 2007, Keith Baker of the US Department of Education made a rough comparison of long-term correlations between the 1964 mathematics scores and several measures of national success decades later.

Baker found negative relationships between mathematics rankings and numerous measures of prosperity and well-being: 2002 per-capita wealth, economic growth from 1992 to 2002 and the UN's Quality of Life Index. Countries scoring well on the tests were also less democratic. Baker concluded that league tables of international success are "worthless" (Phi Delta Kappan, vol 89, p 101).

A more recent analysis of 23 countries found a significant negative relationship between 2009 PISA scores and ranking on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's measure of perceived entrepreneurial capabilities. This counts the percentage of people in a country who feel confident that they could start a business.

With so many indicators showing a negative relationship, perhaps we need to reconsider how we interpret success - or failure - on international education scores. "If we believe that these tests actually tell us how well a kid or a country is doing, and then we hold people accountable for that, those people are going to focus on what's most likely to be tested, and they're going to cut out everything else," says Tienken.

This is especially relevant to the UK, where the education secretary Michael Gove has justified some of his controversial reforms by referring to the country's performance on the international educational stage.

We might instead consider that in a global economy, where the answers to almost any standard question are a few smartphone taps away, skills like creativity and initiative will be the true drivers of prosperity. None of these traits can be measured easily by tests. When testing consumes precious educational time, focus and money, they get squeezed out.

"Standardised tests reward the ability to find answers to pre-existing questions, but finding the question is more important," says Yong Zhao, an education researcher at the University of Oregon in Eugene who found the negative relationship between PISA scores and entrepreneurship.

We must, of course, continue to promote the importance of mathematics and science, but fixating on international tests as a way to achieve this could prove counterproductive.

MacGregor Campbell is a New Scientist consultant based in Portland, Oregon, and a former teacher

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TP students present innovations at exhibition

SINGAPORE: More than 60 nifty inventions were presented at this year's Engineering Project Show at Temasek Polytechnic on Monday.

Some ideas included a baby pram that can function as a high chair and a tray return system. The ideas are the final-year projects of the polytechnic's engineering students.

Five students created an "Ah Long" detector, which could be attached to front doors to deter loansharks from vandalising.

When paint is poured over the door, the system detects the paint fumes and sends the information and a screen shot of the culprit to relevant authorities.

The project is thought to be the first in the market, and was created by students Chelsea Koh, Nur Syairah Baharuddin, B Nisha, Ryan Fan and Haris Fadhillah Ismail.

The team said they were initially looking at creating a bomb detection system, until the Singapore Police Force suggested the paint detection idea.

Ms Syairah said: "The rate of (crimes committed by loansharks) is increasing in Singapore, and it also benefits the Singapore Police Force to attend to the matter in a shorter period of time, thus it's a very important job for us to help them to make their task even easier."

Another timely creation at the show was a coin-operated tray return system.

The team behind the idea was inspired by a supermarket's trolley-lock system. Users slot a coin into the trays, slide them out of the tray racks. They would then collect their food, and slide the the trays into specially-designed tables.

Not returning the tray after a meal would mean forfeiting the coin.

The team of three, comprising Sadish Rao, Effendy Parman and Chen I Chieh, said the idea came about following a tray return campaign conducted by the National Environment Agency (NEA) in 2012.

Mr Rao said: "During the peak hours, there are a lot of customers, and cleaners can't cope with the cleaning. Sometimes when we want to go and eat, we find a table to sit down, but nobody clears the utensils and trays. With this system, every table will be clean and we'll have a lot of space to sit down and we won't have this kind of problems to face in the future."

The project has been nominated for the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors Award. Mr Rao said it cost the team about S$250 to make one section that accommodates four trays. Each tray with the attached lock system costs S$40. His team is in touch with NEA on the project.

The Engineering Project Show is open to the public till Tuesday.

- CNA/xq

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NHL, players reach tentative agreement

From Maria P. White and Josh Levs, CNN

updated 1:11 PM EST, Sun January 6, 2013

Mike Brown of the Toronto Maple Leafs strips the puck from Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings during a game last January.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Games could resume "hopefully, within a few days," Fehr says


• Fans react with a mix of frustration and excitement


• The two sides reach an agreement after a marathon negotiating session


• If approved, the agreement would end a three-month lockout

(CNN) -- The National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association struck a tentative agreement early Sunday that may end a three-month lockout of unionized players, league and union officials announced.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the "basic framework" of a deal had been agreed upon after a 16-hour negotiating session at a Manhattan hotel. The details must be approved by both the players and the league's governing board, Bettman told reporters in a predawn news conference, and he said it was too early to provide details about what it might mean for a shortened hockey season.

But players' union chief Donald Fehr said he expected those steps to follow "fairly rapidly and with some dispatch."

Breaking down the new deal

"Hopefully, within a very few days, the fans can get back to watching people who are skating and not the two of us," Fehr said.

Sunday's deal could salvage the second half of the season and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The NHL scrapped its preseason and all games through the end of 2012 after its contract with the players expired on September 15, with no agreement between the two sides. There were 526 games, nearly 43% of the season, scheduled from the start of the regular season on October 11 through December 30, the NHL said.

A similar labor dispute canceled the entire 2004-05 NHL season. Bettman has said any abbreviated regular season should probably have a minimum of 48 games per team.

Some players had a "crucial role in the final stages" of reaching the agreement, the union said. "Players in the room early Sunday for the announcement were: Craig Adams, Chris Campoli, Mathieu Darche, Shane Doan, Andrew Ference, Ron Hainsey, Jamal Mayers and George Parros," the players association said.

Sports Illustrated has tracked the intricacies of the talks and flashpoint issues, and argued that the NHL is "in dire need" of a new way of handling labor relations.

Initial reactions shared with CNN on social media were mixed.

"They waited too long. I think they're gonna take a well-deserved hit from hockey fans," HBobbie McLeod wrote on Facebook.

But some fans expressed excitement.

"Now time to see the LAKings raise their banner! #Finally," wrote Lisa, a self-described former hockey fan, on Twitter. But, she added, "after being a fan for 23 years through 4 lockouts, enough is enough."

What do you think? Post comments below or weigh in at Facebook or Twitter.

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Google head Eric Schmidt in North Korea

Updated 4:15 a.m. EST

BEIJING The Google chairman wants a first-hand look at North Korea's economy and social media in his private visit Monday to the communist nation, his delegation said, despite misgivings in Washington over the timing of the trip.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of one of the world's biggest Internet companies, is the highest-profile U.S. executive to visit North Korea -- a country with notoriously restrictive online policies -- since young leader Kim Jong Un took power a year ago.

Schmidt and a delegation led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has traveled more than a half-dozen times to North Korea over the past 20 years, arrived in Pyongyang Monday on a flight from Beijing. Richardson called the trip a private, humanitarian mission.

"This is not a Google trip, but I'm sure he's interested in some of the economic issues there, the social media aspect. So this is why we are teamed up on this," Richardson said without elaborating on what he meant by "the social media aspect."

"We'll meet with North Korean political leaders. We'll meet with North Korean economic leaders, military. We'll visit some universities. We don't control the visit. They will let us know what the schedule is when we get there," he said.

Richardson also said the delegation plans to inquire about a Korean-American U.S. citizen, Pae Jun Ho, detained in North Korea.

"We're going to try to inquire the status, see if we can see him, possibly lay the groundwork for him coming home," Richardson said. "I heard from his son, who lives in Washington state, who asked me to bring him back. I doubt we can do it on this trip."

The four-day trip, which is taking place just weeks after North Korea fired a satellite into space using a long-range rocket, has drawn criticism from U.S. officials. Washington condemned the Dec. 12 launch, which it considers a test of ballistic missile technology, as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions barring Pyongyang from developing its nuclear and missile programs. The Security Council is deliberating whether to take further action.

"We don't think the timing of the visit is helpful, and they are well aware of our views," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters last week.

The trip was planned well before North Korea announced its plans to send a satellite into space, two people with knowledge of the delegation's plans told The Associated Press. AP first reported the group's plans last Thursday. Schmidt, a staunch proponent of Internet connectivity and openness, is expected to make a donation during the visit, members of the delegation told AP. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to divulge details of the delegation's plans to the media.

The visit is the first by a Google executive to North Korea and comes just days after Kim, who took power following the Dec. 17, 2011, death of his father, Kim Jong Il, laid out a series of policy goals for North Korea in a lengthy New Year's speech. He cited expanding science and technology as a means to improving the country's economy as a key goal for 2013.

Computer and cell phone use is gaining ground in North Korea's larger cities.

However, most North Koreans only have access to a domestic Intranet system, not the World Wide Web. For North Koreans, Internet use is still strictly regulated and allowed only with approval.

Schmidt, who oversaw Google's expansion into a global giant, speaks frequently about the importance of providing people around the world with Internet access and technology.

Google now has offices in more than 40 countries, including all three of North Korea's neighbors: Russia, South Korea and China, another country criticized for systematic Internet censorship.

Accompanying Schmidt is Jared Cohen, a former U.S. State Department policy and planning adviser who heads Google's New York-based think tank. The two collaborated on a book about the Internet's role in shaping society, called "The New Digital Age," which comes out in April.

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Silent Skype calls can hide secret messages

Got a secret message to send? Say it with silence. A new technique can embed secret data during a phone call on Skype. "There are concerns that Skype calls can be intercepted and analysed," says Wojciech Mazurczyk at the Institute of Telecommunications in Warsaw, Poland. So his team's SkypeHide system lets users hide extra, non-chat messages during a call.

Mazurczyk and his colleagues Maciej Karaś and Krysztof Szczypiorski analysed Skype data traffic during calls and discovered an opportunity in the way Skype "transmits" silence. Rather than send no data between spoken words, Skype sends 70-bit-long data packets instead of the 130-bit ones that carry speech.

The team hijacks these silence packets, injecting encrypted message data into some of them. The Skype receiver simply ignores the secret-message data, but it can nevertheless be decoded at the other end, the team has found. "The secret data is indistinguishable from silence-period traffic, so detection of SkypeHide is very difficult," says Mazurczyk. They found they could transmit secret text, audio or video during Skype calls at a rate of almost 1 kilobit per second alongside phone calls.

The team aims to present SkypeHide at a steganography conference in Montpellier, France, in June.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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WP hopes to raise S$1.5m to purchase headquarters

SINGAPORE: The opposition Workers' Party (WP) is hoping to raise S$1.5 million for the purchase of its own headquarters.

The party's secretary-general Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim said this at the party's first musical concert, titled "Brick in Blue".

Ms Lim said since the 2011 general election, the party has raised some S$500,000.

The money came from monthly contributions from its elected Members of Parliament, as well as private donations from friends and acquaintances.

The rest of the money, she said, will be raised through public donations.

Ms Lim said the S$1.5 million will be used for the down payment of the property, while the balance of the purchase price will be financed through a loan.

Speaking to reporters during the intermission of the musical, Mr Low said the party has yet to find a suitable property.

He said proceeds from the concert will go towards the party's building fund.

The party is currently renting an office along Syed Alwi Road.

- CNA/xq

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Armstrong's lawyer: No mea culpa talks

By Jillian Martin and Chelsea J. Carter

updated 1:06 PM EST, Sat January 5, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The New York Times report cites unnamed associates and doping officials in its report


• Cyclist's lawyer says his client was not in discussion with U.S. or world anti-doping agencies


• Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life


• Cyclist has repeatedly denied using banned performance-enhancing drugs

(CNN) -- Lance Armstrong's attorney denied his client was in discussion with the U.S. or world anti-doping agencies following a report by The New York Times that the disgraced cycling icon was contemplating publicly admitting he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Attorney Tim Herman in an email to CNN Sports late Friday did not address whether Armstrong told associates -- as reported by the newspaper -- that he was considering the admission as a way to restore his athletic eligibility.

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life last year after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency found there was overwhelming evidence that he was directly involved in a sophisticated doping program.

Silence falls as Austin awaits Armstrong's 'last word'

Lance Armstrong over the years

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Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is the subject of annual Bonfire Night celebrations in the British town of Edenbridge. An effigy of Armstrong will be burned during the celebrations, which mark the foiling of Guy Fawkes' "gunpowder plot" to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I in 1605. The Edenbridge Bonfire Soceity has gained a reputation for using celebrity "Guys," including Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein.

Up in flames

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Armstrong has repeatedly and vehemently denied that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs as well as illegal blood transfusions during his cycling career.

In the past, Armstrong has argued that he took more than 500 drug tests and never failed. In its 202-page report that detailed Armstrong's alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions, the USADA said it had tested Armstrong less than 60 times and the International Cycling Union conducted about 215 tests.

The agency did not say that Armstrong ever failed a test, but his former teammates testified as to how they beat tests or avoided the tests altogether.

The New York Times, citing unnamed associates and anti-doping officials, said Armstrong has been in discussions with USADA officials and hopes to meet with David Howman chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency. The newspaper said none of the people with knowledge of Armstrong's situation wanted to be identified because it would jeopardize their access to information on the matter.

Under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, an athlete who confesses to using performance-enhancing drugs may be eligible for a reinstatement.

Armstrong has been an icon for his cycling feats and celebrity, bringing more status to a sport wildly popular in some nations but lacking big-name recognition, big money and mass appeal in the United States.

He fought back from testicular cancer to win the Tour from 1999 to 2005. He raised millions via his Lance Armstrong Foundation to help cancer victims and survivors, an effort illustrated by trendy yellow "LiveSTRONG" wristbands that helped bring in the money.

The cyclist's one-time high-profile relationship with singer Sheryl Crow also kept him in the public eye.

But Armstrong has long been dogged by doping allegations, with compatriot Floyd Landis -- who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after failing a drug test -- making a series of claims in 2011.

Armstrong sued the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last year to stop its investigation of him, arguing it did not have the right to prosecute him. But after a federal judge dismissed the case, Armstrong said he would no longer participate in the investigation.

In October 2012, Armstrong was stripped of his titles and banned. Weeks later, he stepped down from the board of his foundation, Livestrong.

It is unclear whether Armstrong would face criminal prosecution for perjury should he confess. Armstrong was involved in several cases where he gave sworn testimony that he never used banned drugs.

Armstrong and his publicist did not immediately respond to a CNN requests late Friday and early Saturday for comment on The New York Times report.

Armstrong's demise: How he fell from grace

Part of complete coverage on

Lance Armstrong

updated 1:21 PM EDT, Mon October 22, 2012

Lance Armstrong's feat of winning seven consecutive Tour de France titles was like the demigod Hercules achieving his "Twelve Labors."

updated 3:40 PM EDT, Mon October 22, 2012

The International Cycling Union announces hat Lance Armstrong is being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

updated 11:45 AM EST, Thu December 6, 2012

Forty days alone in the wilderness was enough for Jesus, but Lance Armstrong is facing an altogether longer period of solitude.

updated 4:43 PM EST, Wed November 7, 2012

Lance Armstrong's fall from grace has left one of the cyclist's former sponsors not only "sad" -- but also without one of its biggest marketing tools.

updated 2:15 PM EDT, Fri October 26, 2012

Lance Armstrong has been asked to return all prize money from his seven annulled Tour de France victories by the sport's governing body.

updated 2:57 PM EDT, Wed October 24, 2012

For years, as Lance Armstrong basked in the glow of an adoring public, his critics frequently were banished to the shadows, dismissed by the cycling legend and his coterie as cranks or worse.

updated 4:55 PM EDT, Sat October 20, 2012

Connie and Daniel Roddy did all they could to support Livestrong, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the cancer charity. Now they want their money back.

updated 10:59 AM EDT, Mon October 22, 2012

Lou Hablas has supported Livestrong for years and worn the iconic yellow bracelet in honor of his uncle, stepmother and friends who have lost loved ones to cancer.

updated 5:44 AM EDT, Mon October 22, 2012

For years, Lance Armstrong carried a growing burden of doping accusations up increasingly steep hills, accumulating fans, wealth and respect along the way.

updated 9:38 AM EDT, Wed October 17, 2012

Johan Bruyneel has become the first victim of a U.S. government investigation into Lance Armstrong and doping.

updated 8:45 AM EDT, Wed October 17, 2012

The 84 million bright yellow wristbands distributed by Lance Armstrong's cancer charity have become a well-known symbol of strength and perseverance.

updated 5:45 AM EDT, Mon October 22, 2012

The systematic use of performance enhancing substances within Lance Armstrong's former U.S. Postal Service team has been detailed by one cyclist who resisted the temptation to dope.

updated 9:57 PM EDT, Wed October 10, 2012

Cyclist Lance Armstrong was part of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

updated 5:53 PM EDT, Sat October 13, 2012

A former teammate of Lance Armstrong says there was no question why U.S. Postal Service team members doped during big races.

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Syrian president to give speech

BEIRUT Syrian President Bashar Assad will deliver a speech on Sunday in a rare address to the nation, state media said, as rebels fighting to topple his embattled regime pressed ahead with an offensive on the capital.

The official SANA news agency said in a brief statement Saturday that Assad will speak about the latest developments in Syria. The speech would be the first by the leader since June, and comes amid intense fighting between government troops and rebels on the outskirts of Damascus.

Assad has rarely spoken in public since the uprising against him began in March 2011. In each of his previous speeches and interviews, the president has dug in his heels even as Western powers have moved to boost the opposition in Syria's civil war.

In his last public comments, Assad vowed in an interview with Russia Today on Nov. 8 that he would "live and die in Syria."

Fighting has raged for weeks in the neighborhoods and towns around Damascus that have been opposition strongholds since the Syrian revolt began. The uprising started with peaceful protests but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to a recent United Nations recent estimate.

The rebels are trying to push through the government's heavy defenses in Damascus, prompting the regime to unleash a withering assault on the suburbs that has included intense barrages by artillery and warplanes.

Diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian crisis have failed so far to bring an end to the bloodshed, although the international community continues to push for a peaceful settlement.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told reporters after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart in Riyadh that there should be an immediate end to the bloodshed in Syria and called for a peaceful political transition.

Play Video

A savage week in Syria

Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both called on Assad to step down, and Riyadh has also been an outspoken supporter of the rebels.

The president of the U.N. Security Council said Thursday there are important developments in efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the 21-month conflict in Syria and there could be another U.S.-Russia meeting with international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week.

Brahimi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov both said after their meeting last Saturday that the Syrian crisis can only be settled through talks, while admitting that neither the government nor the opposition has shown a desire to compromise. Neither official hinted at a possible solution that would persuade the two sides to agree to a ceasefire and sit down for talks about a political transition.

But Lavrov said Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down — a key opposition demand — and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise. Russia is a close ally of the Syrian government, and has shielded it from punitive measures at the U.N.

It was not clear what kind of initiative, if any, Assad may offer in his speech.

Meanwhile the violence continued unabated Saturday.

Rebels and government troops clashed in suburbs south of Damascus, including Harasta and Daraya, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Fighting in Daraya alone left 10 dead, including six rebels, according to the Observatory, which relies on reports by activists on the ground.

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Gun Show Near Newtown Goes on Despite Anger

A little more than 40 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where last month 20 first graders and six staff members were massacred, gun dealers and collectors alike ignored calls to cancel a gun show, and gathered for business in Stamford, Conn.

Four other gun shows with an hour of Newtown, Conn., recently cancelled their events in the wake of the shootings, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza broke in to the elementary school with a semi-automatic assault rifle and three other guns.

The organizers in Stamford emphasized their show only displayed antique and collectible guns, not military style assault weapons like the one used by Lanza in Sandy Hook.

Still, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia had called for the show to close its doors, calling it "insensitive" to hold so close to the murders.

Gun show participant Sandy Batchelor said he wasn't sure about whether going ahead with the show was "insensitive," but said the shooter should be blamed, not the weapons he used.

"I don't have a solid opinion on [whether it is insensitive]," Batchelor said. "I'm not for or against it. I would defend it by saying it wasnt the gun."

In nearby Waterbury, the community cancelled a show scheduled for this weekend.

"I felt that the timing of the gun show so close to that tragic event would be in bad taste," Waterbury Police Chief Chief Michael J. Gugliotti said.

National Rifle Association News Conference Interrupted by Protesters Watch Video

Gugliotti has halted permits for gun shows, saying he was concerned about firearms changing hands that might one day be used in a mass shooting.

Across the state line in White Plains, N.Y, Executive Rob Astorino also canceled a show, three years after ending a had that had been in place since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. He said he felt the show would be inappropriate now.

But across the country, farther away from Connecticut, attendance at gun shows is spiking, and some stores report they can hardly keep weapons on their shelves with some buyers fearful of that the federal government will soon increase restrictions on gun sales and possibly ban assault weapons altogether.

"We sold 50-some rifles in days," said Jonathan O'Connor, store manager of Gun Envy in Minnesota.

President Obama said after the Sandy Hook shooting that addressing gun violence would be one of his priorities and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would introduce an assault weapons ban this month.

But it is not just traditional advocates of gun control that have said their need to be changes in gun laws since the horrific school shooting.

Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat but a long-time opponent of gun control who like Hutchison has received an A rating from the NRA, have both come out in support of strengthening gun laws.

In Stamford, gun dealer Stuart English said participants at the gun show there are doing nothing wrong.

"I have to make a living. Life goes on," gun dealer Stuart English said.

ABC News asked English, what he thought about the mayor of Stamford calling the show "insensitive."

"He's wrong," English said. "This is a private thing he shouldn't be expressing his opinion on."

If you have a comment on this story or have a story idea, you can tweet this correspondent @greenblattmark.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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