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Source: http://twitter.com/EconMatters/statuses/220646238134075392
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Thursday, July 5, 2012
Van Persie turns down new Arsenal deal
[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/van-persie-turns-down-arsenal-deal-175811734--sow.html
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Senex Scores A Double Oil Strike In Australia's Cooper Basin
Australia's Senex Energy said Wednesday that it has scored a double oil strike in the onshore Cooper Basin, South Australia.?
The company's first score was with an intersected 13 feet (4 meter) gross oil column in the Snatcher-5 appraisal well on PEL 111.?
?
Net oil pay of 7 feet (2.4 meters) was interpreted from wire line logs, with the well recovering 2.6 barrels of oil and minor oil-mud emulsion on testing. The well has been cased and suspended to allow for further evaluation of its use.?
?
The drilling rig, Ensign Rig 48, is now being moved to the Mustang-1 site in PEL 111, around (2 miles) 3 kilometers southwest of the Snatcher field.?
?
Senex holds a 60-percent stake in PEL 111, while Australia's Beach Energy holds the remaining 40-percent stake.
?
Senex's second score came with an intersected 20 feet (6 meter) gross oil column in the Cuisinier-6 appraisal well on the Barta Block of ATP 725P. Wire line logs confirmed the presence of an 18 feet (5.6 meter) gross oil column in the oil-bearing sands of the Murta formation with an interpreted net oil pay of 12 feet (3.8 meters).?
?
The drilling rig, Saxon Rig 184, is now being moved to the Cuisinier North-1 appraisal well, around (2 miles) 3 kilometers northeast of the Cuisinier-1 discovery well.?
?
"The well is to be cased as a future oil producer," Canada's Bengal Energy, one of the partners of ATP 752P, said in a statement.?
?
Australia's Santos is the operator of ATP 752P and the company holds a 45-percent interest. The remaining stake is held by Bengal (25-percent), Senex (15-percent) and Arrow Energy (15-percent).?
?
Quintella has reported on the upstream and downstream oil and petrochemicals markets from 2004. Email Quintella at quintella.koh@rigzone.com.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
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Source: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=119099&rss=true
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Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Fertility preservation with cryopreservation of ovarian tissue: From experimental to mainstream
ScienceDaily (July 4, 2012) ? Although the first successful preservation of fertility from the freezing, thawing and grafting of ovarian tissue was reported eight years ago,(1) the technique has remained experimental and confined to a few specialist centres. Now, with the announcement of a first pregnancy (and subsequent live birth) in Italy following the transplantation of ovarian tissue, there are indications that fertility preservation is moving into the mainstream of reproductive medicine and into a greater number of centres.(2)
"Fertility preservation is now a key component of the management of young cancer patients," said Dr Gianluca Gennarelli from Clinica Universitaria Sant'Anna in Turin, presenting details of the Italian pregnancy at the annual meeting of ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology). "Though still a challenging procedure, the cryopreservation of ovarian cortex should still be offered to young women and girls ahead of potentially gonadotoxic cancer treatments with a high risk of ovarian failure," he said.
The Italian case described by Dr Gennarelli was remarkable not just because it is Italy's first successful pregnancy and delivery, but also because -- with a gap of seven years -- it represents one of the longest time intervals yet between the date of tissue freezing and the date of successful transplantation.(3) "It demonstrates that pregnancy can be obtained by this technique even after several years of cryostorage," said Dr Gennarelli.
The case involved a 21-year-old patient scheduled for high dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. Just before treatment, in July 2003, she was referred for fertility preservation, with ovarian cortical tissue collected by laparoscopy. Bilateral biopsies of ovarian cortex were sampled (ie, from both ovaries), frozen by slow freezing and stored in liquid nitrogen. As feared, chemotherapy was followed by ovarian failure.
In March 2010, following the patient's request and investigation for fertility restoration, 32 cortical tissue fragments were thawed and sutured to prepared sites. Two months after the tissue grafting, some ovarian function returned and spontaneous follicular development was observed. Over the following months spontaneous menstrual cycles were repeatedly evident and ovulation was confirmed in at least six cycles. In July 2011, 15 months after the ovarian tissue transplantation, the patient became spontaneously pregnant, and a healthy baby was delivered in March 2012.
The birth is believed to be the 22nd in the world from this technique, and a new indication that the restoration of fertility by this technique is feasible, rapidly evolving and worthwhile for a growing number of patients. Given the increase in cancer survival, and the likelihood that many successfully treated young women and girls will live to enjoy their "reproductive" years, interest in the technique -- from both patients and doctors -- is sure to grow, said Dr Gennarelli.
The cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is not the only technique suitable for young women, and there is also growing interest in oocyte cryopreservation (especially with developments in vitrification). However, both embryo and oocyte storage require a cycle of ovarian stimulation and collection, which may not be suitable for women with hormone-dependent cancers or for those who need immediate cancer treatment. The storage of ovarian tissue -- which may be performed at short notice -- overcomes both those problems.
Nevertheless, Dr Gennarelli conceded that the number of successful cases of fertility restoration is not great, especially in relation to the number of tissue samples now in storage. A further poster presented at this congress -- from some of the leading groups in the field -- reported that most patients having autologous transplantation of ovarian tissue did so with the intention of having a child, but the recovery of hormonal function was also very important to them. Most transplanted women did recover their ovarian function.(4)
"We and other groups now believe that ovarian tissue freezing for fertility preservation should not be considered experimental but be recognised as a routine clinical practice to be offered in appropriate cases," said Dr Gennarelli. "Age, for example, is one important consideration."
On the question of time between tissue biopsy, freezing and transplantation, Dr Gennarelli said: "We are not aware, so far, of any time limit for cryopreserved ovarian tissue. The recent report by the group of Jacques Donnez further prolongs that time interval even further."
Despite the wider application of ovarian tissue storage for fertility preservation, the relatively small number of babies born suggests that far fewer women after their cancer treatment are taking up their options for pregnancy. "The reasons are probably many," said Dr Gennarelli, "but the simplest might be that not so many patients have reached the age or the decision to conceive. Nevertheless, the babies born worldwide so far indicate that we're moving in the right direction."
Notes 1. Donnez J, Dolmans MM, Demylle D, et al. Livebirth after orthotopic transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue. Lancet 2004; 364: 1405-1410
2. Future fertility is of increasing importance to cancer patients. One study of more than 600 women with breast cancer indicated that 73% of them expressed some concern about the possibility of becoming infertile after treatment. As a result of earlier detection, advanced treatments and better survival rates in female cancers, interest in fertility preservation techniques is growing. The main techniques for women are embryo and oocyte cryopreservation (which each require ovarian stimulation and egg collection), ovarian suppression (with drugs) during chemo- and radiotherapy, and ovarian tissue cryopreservation. Many research questions remain, but all techniques require the collaborating involvement of specialists in cancer and reproductive medicine.
3. Until very recently, this live birth in Turin was believed to represent the longest time interval between tissue freezing and transplantation for pregnancy. However, an online report on 14 June from the Belgian group of Jacques Donnez describes a gap of ten years between freezing and pregnancy (Donnez J, Jadoule P, Pirard C, et al. Live birth after transplantation of frozen-thawed ovarian tissue after bilateral oophorectomy for benign disease. Fertil Steril 2012; doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.05.017).
4. Sanchez-Serrano1 M, Dolmans MM, Greve T, Pellicer A, Donnez J. Yding Andersen C. Ovarian function after ovarian tissue autotransplantation; global results in Belgium, Denmark and Spain. Poster 348, ESHRE annual meeting 2012.
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Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/TEmEyM3YXPA/120704124317.htm
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Tiphani N. Montgomery: 31 Ways To Live Life On Your Own Terms: A Fourth Of July Manifesto
I was born on the Fourth of July... 31 years ago. When I was little my mom told me that all the red, white, and blue shenanigans were just for me. The fireworks, she confessed, were a gift from President Reagan, and he had called every American, on my behalf, to celebrate.
July 4th, as I had known it to be, was special only because I was born.
Can you imagine what all the family reunions, BBQs, and parties can do to a little girl's ego when she thinks that the only reason you're having a great time is because she is alive?
Well, I can tell you firsthand that you feel like a star. A queen. Untouchable. And then one day, somewhere in between me learning about the tooth fairy and my beloved Santa Claus, I found out that my life was all a hoax. That the Fourth of July was actually America's birthday. And the 40th president? Well, he had no idea who I was!
My life as I had known it was all a scam. And it all came tumbling down from there. The invisible crown I wore disappeared, and the life that once filled me with the feeling of being special was now replaced with the cold reality that I was normal like everyone else.
And because I believed what seemed to be a fact, I settled into a life of mediocrity.
Because it was easy.
Comfortable.
Safe.
My fireworks within had fizzled and I was officially... ordinary!
But something funny happens when you get older. The time flies by and the fear of not going after "that dream" -- the one that keeps you up at night -- starts to sink in. Reality becomes your enemy and you realize that the life you sat back and watched happen... sucks!
Well, my friend, I had had enough. I chose to design a lifestyle that would capture the beautiful, jaw-dropping firecracker that I am and it all gets done with no apologies!
My life is good because I designed it that way. I didn't give my life over to fate and sit back twiddling my thumbs, hoping that my dreams would fall into place. No! I decided to live a life free from everyone's expectations of me. Wild. Free. Full of integrity. And an insatiable desire to edify everyone who came into contact with me.
I'm bold.
Fearless. And a voice for people who don't have their own.
So in the spirit of me turning 31 years old, I want to share with you 31 quotes that I live by, and I challenge you to live your life on your own terms. Break all of the rules and make your own as you go along.
The "Live Life on Your Own Terms" Manifesto:
1. First rule of business: Stay out of everyone else's and be about yours!
2. Keep your circle small and honest. Everyone is not for you.
3. Stay away from people with questionable character.
4. Closed doors are really a blessing. If you can't pray a door open, don't try to pry a door open.
5. "Don't do shit you don't believe in." -- Russell Simmons
6. "Not sure what to do next? Ask how can you help!" -- Chris Guillebeau
7. Wear your invisible crown. Daily.
8. Pick your battles.
9. "No one on earth can do what you do, in precisely the way that you do it!" -- Alexandra Franzen
10. If you want to know where you'll be five years from now, listen to your words. You're prophesying your future.
11. "If you're not willing to go all the way, don't start the journey at all!" -- Charlemagne
12. If you're feeling guilty, embarrassed or ashamed about the blessings of God, let that go. You were created to show off His goodness.
13. "Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest to you." -- Mother Teresa
14. Work for a cause, not for applause.
15. Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure you aren't, in fact, surrounded by a-holes!
16. You are more important than you realize.
17. Be the type of person you want to meet.
18. "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift!" -- Steve Prefontaine
19. Be so good that they can't ignore you!
20. Don't ever be too prideful to ask for help. Asking for help when you need it is one of the wisest things you can do.
21. Commit to not giving a f*ck what people think. Daily.
22. "Excessive fear and self-doubt are the greatest detractors of personal genius." -- Robert Kiyosaki
23. "When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt!" -- Henry J. Kaiser
24. "You can either throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face!" -- Gatorade
25. "Don't change so someone will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you!" -- DailyLove.com
26. Examine what you tolerate!
27. "Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." -- Rumi
28. Stop waiting on God to drop a blessing in your lap. Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work!
29. I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that. Then I realized: I am the "somebody!"
30. Repeat after me: "I can do this!!!"
31. Never, never, never, never, never, never give up. Never!
This is your life. Commit to living it passionately. Don't let the world dictate what that means for you. Show up. Show out. And rise to the occasion every single time.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" -- Mary Oliver
Tiphani Montgomery founded KNOCKED UP NOW WHAT?, an event that teaches young moms the fundamentals of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. She's raising money to put on this powerful event at indiegogo.com/knockedupnowwhat. Tiphani writes on entrepreneurship and living life without limits at TiphaniMontgomery.com.
For more by Tiphani N. Montgomery, click here.
For more on becoming fearless, click here.
?
Follow Tiphani N. Montgomery on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Tiphani_M
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tiphani-n-montgomery/fourth-of-july-manifesto_b_1644724.html
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Officials: Ala. Airbus plant will employ 1,000
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) ? Airbus's planned aircraft assembly plant in Alabama will cost $600 million to build and will employ 1,000 people when it reaches full production, officials said ahead of a formal announcement Monday.
The European company's first aircraft assembly plant in America will produce A320 single-aisle passenger planes that will compete with Boeing.
New Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier arrived in Mobile late Sunday and will unveil details Monday, according to two officials with knowledge of the France-based company's plans.
Two state officials said the plant in Alabama's port city of Mobile should create about 2,500 construction jobs, and it will turn out about four planes a month in 2017. All four officials spoke to The Associated Press condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the plant ahead of Monday's announcement.
The plant will be located at Brookley Aeroplex, which was an Air Force base until its closure in 1969.
News of the plant broke last week, and details about it have gradually emerged in media reports.
The dean of the business school at the University of South Alabama, Carl Moore, said attracting a company like Airbus could have a transforming effect on Alabama like Mercedes-Benz had when it picked Alabama for its first American assembly plant in 1993.
"It's a prestige name that's internationally known," Dean Carl C. Moore of the University of South Alabama said.
Mercedes' plant was so successful that it was soon followed by Honda and Hyundai assembly plants and a Toyota engine plant that reshaped the manufacturing economy in a state still reeling from the loss of textile and apparel jobs.
The Airbus announcement comes as Alabama struggles to recover from the recession. Unemployment has dropped from 10.0 percent in July 2011 to 7.4 percent in May, but part of that drop came from people leaving the work force rather than finding jobs.
Moore said one job at an aircraft assembly plant can create up to three jobs at suppliers. "It will be a tremendous economic impact for Mobile, the surrounding area and the state," Moore said.
The project marks the second time that Airbus' parent company, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., has been attracted to Mobile. EADS planned to build a $600 million, 1,400-employee assembly line at Brookley for Air Force refueling tankers if it won a federal contract, but the company lost the five-year competition to Boeing in 2011.
Boeing is a longtime employer in Alabama with defense and rocket operations that employ 2,700 in north Alabama. It used the upcoming announcement to criticize what it sees as European government subsidies that help Airbus compete. "While it is interesting once again to see Airbus promising to move jobs from Europe to the United States, no matter how many are created, the numbers pale in comparison to the thousands of U.S. jobs destroyed by illegal subsidies," the company said in a statement.
Airbus also criticizes Boeing's subsidies, and the two companies have had a long-running international trade dispute.
The Mobile operation will join Airbus assembly plants in in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.
"It's going to have a very positive impact on Mobile and hopefully it will lead to an interest in Mobile for more aerospace jobs," said former Gov. Don Siegelman, a Mobile native who recruited some of Alabama's auto plants and suppliers.
Airbus' 150-seat A320 is generally used on short- and medium-haul flights, and Airbus makes more of them than any of its other planes. Boeing is also ramping up production of its 737, which competes directly with the A320. Both companies are putting new, more fuel-efficient engines on the planes, hoping to extend their appeal as airlines try to cut their fuel bills. Airbus made its new-engine decision earlier than Boeing and got a big jump on orders.
___
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
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Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Rifts split Syria's opposition at Cairo meeting
Exiled Syrian opposition figures meet in New Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 3, 2012. The Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite at a meeting as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Exiled Syrian opposition figures meet in New Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 3, 2012. The Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite at a meeting as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Exiled Syrian opposition figures meet in New Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 3, 2012. The Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite at a meeting as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Egyptian security stands guard as a waiter carries away a tray from a Syrian opposition meeting in New Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 3, 2012. The Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite at a meeting as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
FILE - In this Wednesday, July 22, 2009 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, meets with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad said he regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces, and that he will not allow tensions between the two neighbors to deteriorate into an "armed conflict," a Turkish newspaper reported Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/SANA, File) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
FILE - In a March 30, 2011 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, addresses the Parliament, in Damascus, Syria. A Turkish newspaper says Assad, speaking in an exclusive interview, has expressed regret over the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces. (AP Photo/SANA, file) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
CAIRO (AP) ? Syrian opposition groups struggled to form a united leadership Tuesday at a meeting in Cairo that exposed the vast disagreements that have prevented them from effectively leading the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
The conference ended late Tuesday with an agreement on two documents, both of them vague. One provides a general outline to guide the opposition through a transitional period, while the other lays out the fundamental principles envisioned for a post-Assad Syria.
The delegates agreed in general terms on support for the Free Syrian Army, the dissolution of the ruling Baath Party and the exclusion of Assad or other senior regime figures from a place in the transition.
But they failed to reach an agreement on forming a unified body to represent the opposition.
Arguments were rife among the roughly 250 conference participants over key questions, including whether to ask for foreign military intervention to halt the violence and what role religion would play in a post-Assad Syria.
In other developments Tuesday, Assad told a Turkish newspaper that he regretted that Syria shot down a Turkish warplane last month, and a U.S.-based human rights group said the Damascus regime was running a network of torture centers across the country, citing victims' accounts of beatings, sexual assaults and electric shocks.
Opposition group members interviewed at the Cairo conference by The Associated Press brought into sharp relief their vast disagreements on issues not addressed in the draft charter, suggesting it papered over the divisions that have prevented them from presenting a united front to the international community.
"It's very dangerous at this point," said Abdel-Aziz al-Khayyar, who spent 14 years in Syrian prisons and is now part of the Syrian National Coordination Body. "If we fail to unify as the opposition, it is the greatest gift to the regime."
Since the March 2011 start of the uprising that activists say has killed about 14,000 people, Syrian exiles have organized scores of organizations to collect aid, distribute information and lobby the international community.
But all along, infighting has hampered their ability to court international support. And most groups are led by exiles who have lived outside Syria for years or decades, giving them little credibility with activists inside the country.
Indeed, many inside Syria resent the exile leadership, saying they have taken the glory without sacrificing to face the regime.
"We only recognize those who are working inside the country," Jamal Akta, a rebel commander in the northern Syrian city of Ariha, said recently. "We'll only recognize those people outside when they are standing in the ranks with us, when we see something tangible from them, real help, not words."
Syria's uprising began in March 2011 with protests calling for political reforms that Assad's security forces violently quashed. The dissent grew, and many in the opposition have since taken up arms against the regime, transforming the uprising into an armed insurgency. Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed.
The vast differences among opposition groups were clearly on display at the Cairo conference, hosted by the Arab League, where participants argued late into the evening over the wording of a document meant to define their movement.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington applauded the conference for bringing together a broad range of opposition elements, and she said there was "significant progress" on "a political vision statement and a transition plan."
However, the meeting failed to resolve many large issues facing the opposition after 15 months of deadly violence.
The two largest opposition groups at the meeting distrust each other. Members of the Syrian National Council accused the Syrian National Coordination Body, known as the NCB, of being too close to the regime. For its part, the NCB accuses the SNC of being a front for the Muslim Brotherhood and Western powers.
Late Tuesday, it appeared that efforts to bring all groups under a unified leadership might collapse - not least of which because Kurdish activists walked out over how the draft charter spoke of their minority.
Sheik Morshid el-Huznawi, one of the Kurds to storm out, declared the conference a "failure."
Even members of the same group disagreed on key issues.
Al-Khayyar, the former prisoner, dismissed those calling for foreign military intervention as "voices that are not very important ... waiting for the world to give its kids to die for our cause."
Another member of the NCB, Abdel-Basit Hamo, said foreign help was welcome.
"When you're drowning and someone gives you a hand, do you ask whose hand it is first?" he asked.
Others disagreed on the role of religion in a post-Assad Syria.
"The revolution came out of the mosques, so with my respect to minorities, we want a civil state but we must also remember that more than 80 percent of Syria is Muslim," said Abdel-Ilah al-Mulham, a tribal leader from the besieged city of Homs and an SNC member.
He said he opposed laws that made men and women equal, saying this counters Islamic law in issues such as divorce and inheritance.
At one point, one attendee broke down in tears outside the meeting room.
"Thousands of martyrs and they can't unite?" said Thaer Al-Hajy, part of a group called the Syrian Revolution Coordination Union. "We are sitting here in hotels and they are down there dying."
One independent activist said all agreed that Assad must go, but that there are many different views of what follows.
"These are sensitive issues that go back to people's ideologies," said Ziad Hassan, 28. "It could take two years, not two days, to get over our differences."
International diplomacy has failed to stop the bloodshed in Syria. A peace plan put forward by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has collapsed, with the almost 300 U.N. observers sent to monitor a cease-fire stuck in their hotels because of continued violence.
On Saturday, world powers endorsed a new plan that calls for the formation of a transitional government with full executive powers. But at the insistence of Syrian ally Russia, the plan does not bar Assad from taking part - making it a nonstarter for the opposition.
In a rare interview with Turkey's Cumhuriyet daily newspaper, Assad spoke about the Annan plan for the first time, saying he was "pleased" that the decision about Syria's future was left to its people.
"The Syrian people will decide on everything," he said.
Assad also said he regretted that Syrian forces had shot down a Turkish fighter jet on June 22. Syria says the jet was flying low inside Syrian airspace. Turkey says it was shot down in international airspace after briefly straying over Syria.
"I say 100 percent, I wish we did not shoot it down," Assad said. But he stopped short of apologizing, saying Syria fired in self-defense.
Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch said Assad's security forces are running more than two dozen torture centers across Syria.
Interviews with more than 200 regime defectors and former detainees revealed more than 20 torture techniques, including sexual assault, acid attacks, punching staples into skin, tearing out fingernails, beatings with sticks and electric shocks to genitals and other body parts, the group said.
It said the apparently state-sanctioned torture constituted a crime against humanity and called on the U.N. Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
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Hubbard reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Turkey, Matthew Lee in Washington and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed reporting.
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