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File - In this photo taken in 2004 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, one of the pages of the original 12th century religious Calixtinus Codex manuscript in seen in the cathedral. Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested four people on Wednesday July 4, 2012 in connection with the theft of the priceless collection of 12th-century religious manuscripts which police say they have now found in a garage. The missing, richly-decorated tome, considered the first guide for people making the ancient Christian pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago, the Spanish name for the Way of St. James was stolen a year ago. (AP Photo/Str, File)
File - In this photo taken in 2004 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, one of the pages of the original 12th century religious Calixtinus Codex manuscript in seen in the cathedral. Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested four people on Wednesday July 4, 2012 in connection with the theft of the priceless collection of 12th-century religious manuscripts which police say they have now found in a garage. The missing, richly-decorated tome, considered the first guide for people making the ancient Christian pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago, the Spanish name for the Way of St. James was stolen a year ago. (AP Photo/Str, File)
MADRID (AP) ? Spanish police recovered on Wednesday a priceless 12th-century religious manuscript known as the Codex Calixtinus, which was stolen from a cathedral last year. The find came a day after four suspects were arrested in connection with the theft, the Interior Ministry said.
The richly-decorated Codex was found in a garage close to the cathedral from where it was taken in the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela. The tome is considered the first guide for people making the ancient Christian pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago, the Spanish name for the Way of St. James.
The find came after police arrested an electrician who previously worked at the cathedral, his wife and son, and another woman on Tuesday. The ministry said police found some ?1.2 million ($1.5 million) as well as other valuable religious works at houses belonging to the detainees.
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, left, meets with his campaign manager Matt Rhoades at his vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. Romney is on vacation _ but not from politics. The Republican presidential candidate huddled Tuesday with his top advisers, including his campaign manager and the aide overseeing his vice presidential search. His top strategist was in town shooting video for new TV ads(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, left, meets with his campaign manager Matt Rhoades at his vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. Romney is on vacation _ but not from politics. The Republican presidential candidate huddled Tuesday with his top advisers, including his campaign manager and the aide overseeing his vice presidential search. His top strategist was in town shooting video for new TV ads(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, center, sits with, from left to right: campaign manager Matt Rhoades, adviser Beth Myers, back to camera, campaign strategist Stuart Stevens, and wife Ann Romney, at his vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. Romney is on vacation _ but not from politics. The Republican presidential candidate huddled Tuesday with his top advisers, including his campaign manager and the aide overseeing his vice presidential search. His top strategist was in town shooting video for new TV ads. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stands with his son Ben Romney as they play volleyball at their vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, plays volleyball with his sons Craig, right, and Tagg, left, at their vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, plays volleyball with his sons at their vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) ? Mitt Romney is taking a break from vacationing at his lakeside estate to march in the local Independence Day parade ? and to see and be seen by the news media as well as potential voters.
Romney and his family will parade through the center of this New England hamlet on Wednesday morning, their only official public appearance during a weeklong family break from the campaign trail.
It won't be the first time Romney has been spotted around Wolfeboro since he arrived last weekend. His whole family ? now numbering 30 in all ? has gathered at their lakeside estate for the annual family vacation. And even though the family patriarch is now running against President Barack Obama, they stuck to many of their normal routines: attending church, grabbing ice cream in town and boating on the lake.
Still, the vacation hasn't been all fun and games for the likely Republican presidential nominee. Romney huddled Tuesday with his top advisers, including his campaign manager and the aide overseeing his vice presidential search. His top strategist was in town shooting video for new TV ads.
Officially, the campaign says the week's focus is the family time and a welcome chance to relax before the campaign push leading up to the August GOP convention. But unofficially, the bit of down time is a chance for the contemplative Romney to consider how the campaign is going and adjust strategy as necessary in a contest that polls show is close.
Underscoring the stakes, Obama canceled his own annual summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard. He did, however, spend the weekend at Camp David and planned to return to Washington for the July Fourth holiday.
Behind the scenes in Wolfeboro, Romney is all but certain to be at work just as much as he is at play ? and probably focused on the biggest decision he will make between now and when he accepts the GOP's presidential nomination in late August. His self-imposed deadline for picking a running mate "before the convention" is looming large and the search for a No. 2 is well under way.
His campaign is staying mum on whether that was a topic of conversation early Tuesday when he and his wife, Ann, spent at least 45 minutes talking with campaign manager Matt Rhoades, senior adviser Beth Myers and top strategist Stuart Stevens on the deck that overlooks the lawn behind his lakefront home. Romney's five sons ? particularly his eldest son, Tagg ? also serve as informal political advisers, and all have been on hand all week, virtually ensuring that the campaign and the running mate search were discussed.
And there's more to the political side of Romney's vacation than just the highly anticipated vice presidential pick.
While the candidate and his family haven't encouraged media coverage of their ice cream outings and sports event, they also haven't shied away from it.
That's meant that Americans who are largely unfamiliar with the former Massachusetts governor see glossy images of the large Romney clan playing on and around sun-splashed Lake Winnipesaukee ? and the usually buttoned-up patriarch clearly at ease. He's been seen and photographed riding on a jet ski, playing volleyball, relaxing on the beach and eating an ice cream cone at Bailey's Bubble while surrounded by more than a dozen of his 18 grandchildren.
The vacation has painted a family portrait of the Romneys that's led at least one pundit to compare them to the Kennedy clan, the American political dynasty that gathered during summers in Hyannis Port, Mass. Their athletic, photogenic family helped label President John F. Kennedy's era as "Camelot." The vacation images have also given Romney, who's fought a perception that he can't connect with ordinary voters, a chance to show an authentic lighter side.
"You all have your life jackets?" Romney asked the handful of grandchildren who crowded onto his boat Monday night after the trip to the picturesque town's ice cream store. His usually coifed hair windblown and his face tanned, Romney hopped behind the wheel of the boat and piloted it away from the dock himself.
His vacation ends Sunday when he's scheduled to head to New York for fundraising events ? and resume his campaign schedule fulltime.
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Associated Press photographer Charles Dharapak in Wolfeboro, N.H., and Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Minnesota contributed to this report.
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FILE- In this July 24, 2006 file photo, a Consolidated Edison crew checks a service box in the Queens borough of New York as they work to restore power during the eighth day of the blackout in the area. Consolidated Edison and its unionized workers are facing a midnight, July 1, 2012, deadline as their contract negotiations continue. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)
FILE- In this July 24, 2006 file photo, a Consolidated Edison crew checks a service box in the Queens borough of New York as they work to restore power during the eighth day of the blackout in the area. Consolidated Edison and its unionized workers are facing a midnight, July 1, 2012, deadline as their contract negotiations continue. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)
FILE- In this Aug, 20, 2989 file photo, a Consolidated Edison crew works to repair a steam pipe that had exploded in New York City. Consolidated Edison and its unionized workers are facing a midnight, July 1, 2012, deadline as their contract negotiations continue. (AP Photo/David A. Cantor, File
NEW YORK (AP) ? Unionized workers with Consolidated Edison in New York City will be picketing as their leadership plots their next move following failed contract talks and a lockout.
A union spokesman said Harry Farrell, president of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America, on Monday will call for federal mediators to intervene to get talks started again.
Both sides said there are many issues on which they have not reached agreement.
Union spokesman John Melia said Monday there was nothing new to report. He planned to issue a statement later in the day.
"We've been trying to get them back to the table since yesterday," company spokesman Mike Clendenin said Monday on "Good Morning New York."
Negotiations stopped just before 2 a.m. Sunday, a couple of hours after the existing contract expired. The impasse came as New York braced for more high temperatures that will increase demand for air conditioning among the utility's 3.2 million customers.
There were about 200 outages overnight, nearly all of which were resolved by morning, Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert said Monday. He said management personnel were standing by, ready to address any problems.
Con Ed closed walk-in centers, suspended meter readings and limited work on major construction projects in New York after the talks broke down.
On Sunday morning, police set up barricades in front of Con Ed's headquarters near Manhattan's Union Square.
"This is crazy! There's a heat wave," said David Palomino, a facility mechanic who rushed to headquarters after finishing his early shift to find out what was coming next. He was one of few workers there; a union official said more picketing was planned for Monday.
"The fight has escalated" between the two sides, Palomino said, explaining that workers fear losing chunks of their pensions and benefits.
Temperatures were in the 90s Sunday and were expected to be in the high 80s and low 90s throughout the week.
Frank Allen is making sure the heat doesn't blow his power at home in upper Manhattan. "I turn off the air conditioner when I leave home," said Allen, 61, who was shopping in the Union Square neighborhood.
"It's not too good when the wires go out, and there's no one to fix them, Allen said. "The workers should get whatever they deserve ? just do it for us, Con Ed."
He has cats at home, but he's not worried leaving them without air conditioning. "They find their way to some cool corner."
And when he goes to work, heat is far from a problem: Allen works in a 33-degree space, in the refrigeration unit of the Fresh Direct food delivery company in Queens' Long Island City.
"In a heat wave, I wear long johns."
At an electronics and air conditioning retailer across the street from Con Ed, manager Ramon Nieves said there have been multiple power outages in recent years in his Queens neighborhood.
"I'm mad at Con Ed ? what are they thinking?" he said. "A lot of people could get sick in this heat."
He said his store sold about 35 percent more air conditioners this month than in the same, cooler period last year.
The extreme weather included vicious storms from Indiana to New Jersey and south to Virginia that left 17 people dead and 2.7 million without power. Most of the damage came in the mid-Atlantic region, and only scattered outages across Con Ed's service area in New York were reported as of Sunday. Con Ed said it is keeping a close watch on its system and has trained managers working on essential operations.
The 8,500 unionized workers told the company they'd be willing to work without a contract to keep the power company running, said Melia.
"We did everything to avert this action," he said. "We recognize that New York City is sweltering right now. ... We recognize we have a responsibility to the people of New York City and Westchester County," the suburban county north of the city.
He disputed the company's claim that its managers could do the job of the union workers.
"They know what happens in a heat wave, they know they don't have the expertise to fix it," he said. "They don't have the technical knowledge."
Con Ed said it had wanted a two-week extension of the current contract while negotiations continued, with assurance that the union would not strike without notice. The company said it offered such an extension, signing an agreement to that effect, but that the union didn't sign it. Con Ed said if the union agreed to the extension, employees would be welcomed back.
"We can't operate the system safely, reliably for our customers if the union were to take some sort of strike action without any advance notice," Clendenin said Monday.
Negotiations lasted just over 10 days over a range of issues, including pensions, heath care and wages.
"This is very unfortunate. Both sides are very far part," Clendenin said.
Melia said the union negotiators were kicked out of the room in what he called a "union-busting tactic."
"This is not a labor issue," he said. "This is a corporate monopoly."
He said the two sides had been talking when the company demanded the union sign the contract extension, and that Con Ed locked workers out when the union said it preferred to keep talking and keep workers at the jobs without a contract in the interim.
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Chuck E. Cheese has been given the pink slip.
The company that operates the chain of children's pizza restaurants is retiring the giant rodent's outdated image ? and the man who voiced its character for nearly two decades. CEC Entertainment Inc. says it plans to launch a national ad campaign Thursday with a revamped image of Chuck E. Cheese as a hip, electric-guitar-playing rock star.
It's just the latest makeover for the 35-year-old mascot, which started life as a New Jersey rat who sometimes carried a cigar.
CEC Entertainment, based in Irving, Texas, is struggling to revive sales at its more than 500 pizza restaurants, which offer games, prizes and a musical variety musical show.
In May, CEC said revenue at its locations open at least a year fell 4.2 percent in the first quarter. The company also lowered its outlook for the year, citing factors such as higher prices for cheddar cheese and rent.
According to ShowbizPizza.com, a Chuck E. Cheese fan site, the man who voiced the mascot in commercials since 1993 learned of his replacement only after coming across "Chuck's Hot New Single" online and realizing it was sung by someone else. The fan site this week published a Facebook post by Duncan Brannan, the mascot's former voice.
Brannan could not be reached for comment. But in the post, he writes that part of his assignment when he first took on the role was to transform Chuck E. Cheese from "a joke-telling, sometime off-color New Jersey rat" to a lovable, mainstream mouse.
He notes that there were various signs in recent months that suggested he was being pushed out, but that he was assured by the company that he was still the voice of Chuck E.
The Facebook post was republished by The Dallas Observer this week.
CEC Entertainment says that Brannan wasn't fired but that it simply "chose to utilize new voice talent."
The new Chuck E. Cheese that launches this week will be voiced by Jaret Reddick, the lead singer for the pop-punk bank Bowling for Soup. The Chuck E. Cheese Facebook page now shows a silhouette of a cartoon mouse playing a guitar.
The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre location opened in 1977 in San Jose, Calif. According to ShowbizPizza.com, the founders originally considered calling the restaurant "Rick Rat's Pizza" but a PR agency figured a rat would be a bad mascot for a pizza chain.
The name Chuck E. Cheese was selected because it downplayed the mascot's species and forced people to smile when they said it, according to the site. The chain was founded by Nolan Bushnell, who also co-founded Atari and Pong.
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BERLIN (AP) ? Linde AG, a German-based company that specializes in industrial gases, plans to acquire U.S. home care health company Lincare Holdings Inc. in a deal worth $4.6 billion.
The companies said Sunday night that Linde will make a tender offer of $41.50 per share in cash for all outstanding stock of Lincare, which is based in Clearwater, Florida. They said Lincare's board of directors has unanimously approved the deal and that it is expected to close in this year's third quarter.
Linde said it would fund the deal through an acquisition loan of $4.5 billion and through available cash. The loan would be refinanced by issuing new debt and shares.
Lincare provides respiratory therapy to patients in the home in 48 U.S. states and in Canada through 1,091 local centers with 11,000 employees, according to its website. Its services include oxygen therapy, chemotherapy, managing feeding tubes, pain management, treatment of sleep apnea, and home ventilators.
It reported net revenues of $1.848 billion last year, a 10.7 percent increase over the year before. The company has told investors it sees revenues being driven by an aging population, advances in lung medicine along with new drugs, and cost pressures that reward more efficient service providers. Just under half its revenues come from Medicare, the U.S. government insurance program for people over 65, and about a third from private insurance.
Linde CEO Wolfgang Reitzle said the acquisition "enables us to take the next big step in this stable, sustainable and profitable business field."
Linde, headquartered in Munich, is a major maker of gases used for medical purposes such as oxygen therapy, aerosol therapy and anesthesia. It has 50,500 employees in over 100 countries and reported sales of ?13.78 billion last year.
Lincare CEO John P. Byrnes said its board believed that the planned merger "will afford the company benefits it would not be able to realize on its own."
Lincare's share price is up $7.14, or 21 percent, to $41.16 in premarket trading.
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The team of Russian, Dutch, and American astronauts touched down in a Soyuz space capsule.
Expedition 31 commander Oleg Kononenko of Russia (top), Dutch astronaut Andrew Kuipers (center) and NASA astronaut Don Pettit bid farewell to their crewmates on the International Space Station just before shutting the hatches between their Soyuz capsule and the station before returning to Earth.
NASA
EnlargeAfter half a year living on the International Space Station, three astronauts safely returned to Earth Sunday (July 1) aboard a Russian-built space capsule.
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The Soyuz spacecraft landed on Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 4:14 a.m. EDT (0414 GMT) to return NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers back to their home planet.
"Everything is good, we feel great," Kononenko radioed Russia's Mission Control Center just before landing.?
The spaceflyers had undocked from the space station several hours earlier in their?Russian-built Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft?to begin the journey home. They landed upright under a blue sky dotted with some white clouds in Kazakhstan, where the local time was Sunday afternoon.
Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers arrived at the orbiting outpost in December 2011. All three had flown previous?missions to the space station, making them a crew of veteran spaceflyers.
In a blog post describing his final day in space, Pettit reflected on the impact of his months-long mission, and encouraged humanity to keep pushing the boundaries of space exploration.
"On Earth, the frontiers opened slowly," Pettit wrote. "The technology of sailing was known and advanced for over a thousand years before the Earth was circumnavigated. Such bold acts require the technology, the will, and the audacity to explore. Sometimes you have one, but not the others. I only hope that my small efforts here, perhaps adding one grain of sand to the beach of knowledge, will help enable a generation of people in the future to call space 'home.'" [Landing Photos: Soyuz Capsule Returns 3 Astronauts Home]
Throughout their mission, Pettit and Kuipers shared with the public stunning photos of the Earth from space through Twitter and the photo sharing flight Flickr. Pettit also regularly updated a blog about his experiences on the space station, which included several?poems in tribute to life in space.
Pettit also kept a journal as a fun way to document his scientific activities on the orbiting outpost. For instance, Pettit wrote blog updates?in the voice of a zucchini plant?when he experimented with growing different kinds of plants in microgravity.
On Friday (June 29), Pettit wrote a poem called "Last Day in Space," to reflect on the memories of the mission, the experiences that moved him, and his anticipation over seeing his wife and children again soon.
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In this citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Friday, June 29, 2012, protesters wave Syrian revolutionary flags and chant slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria. Syria?s main opposition group said nearly 800 people have been killed in violence across the country in the past week which saw some of the bloodiest violence in the 16-month uprising against President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
In this citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Friday, June 29, 2012, protesters wave Syrian revolutionary flags and chant slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria. Syria?s main opposition group said nearly 800 people have been killed in violence across the country in the past week which saw some of the bloodiest violence in the 16-month uprising against President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
From left, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Khalid Al Attiya, minister of state for international cooperation of Qatar, Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El Araby, Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheik Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, Foreign Minister Nasser Al Qudwa meet during the Syrian opposition conference in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 2, 2012. The head of the Arab League called Monday for the fragmented Syrian opposition to unite and said a U.N.-brokered plan for a transitional government in Syria fell short of expectations. Speaking at the start of a two-day conference that brought together some 250 members of the Syrian opposition. (AP Photo)
In this citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Friday, June 29, 2012, a Syrian girl chants slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria. Syria?s main opposition group said nearly 800 people have been killed in violence across the country in the past week which saw some of the bloodiest violence in the 16-month uprising against President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provided by Kafarsouseh Revolt, taken on Sunday, July 1, 2012 purports to show Syrians chanting slogans during a demonstration in Kafar Souseh, Damascus, Syria. The head of the Arab League called Monday for the fragmented Syrian opposition to unite and said a U.N.-brokered plan for a transitional government in Syria fell short of expectations. (AP Photo/Kafarsouseh Revolt)THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - This image made from amateur video released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and accessed Saturday, June 30, 2012, purports to show Syrians standing at the site after an explosion in Zamalka near Damascus, Syria. In the latest episode, activists said dozens of people were killed and wounded in a powerful explosion Saturday evening that hit a funeral procession in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus. Details of the blast in Zamalka remain murky, but amateur videos showed gruesome images of bodies, some with their limbs torn, lying on the ground as people walked about dazed in a cloud of smoke. (AP Photo/Syrian Observatory for Human Rights via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL
CAIRO (AP) ? The head of the Arab League urged Syria's exiled opposition to unite Monday, saying they must not squander the opportunity to overcome their differences as Western efforts to force President Bashar Assad from power all but collapse.
The stakes are high for calming the crisis, which NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday called "one of the gravest security challenges the world faces today."
But more than one year into the Syrian revolt, the opposition is still hobbled by the infighting and fractiousness that have prevented the movement from gaining the kind of political traction it needs to present a credible alternative to Assad.
"There is an opportunity before the conference of Syrian opposition today that must be seized, and I say and repeat that this opportunity must not be wasted under any circumstance," Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told nearly 250 members of the Syrian opposition in Cairo.
"The sacrifices of the Syrian people are bigger than us and more valuable than any narrow differences or factional disputes," he said.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, deputy to U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, said at the meeting's opening that unity of purpose and vision was "not an option, but a necessity if the opposition wants to bolster its popular support and trust and increase international support."
The divisions are tied to issues at the heart of the revolution: Whether to seek dialogue with the regime and what ideology should guide a post-Assad Syria.
Unlike Libya's National Transitional Council, which brought together most factions fighting Gadhafi's regime and was quickly recognized by much of the international community, Syria's opposition has no leadership on the ground.
Regime opponents inside and outside Syria are a diverse group, representing the country's ideological, sectarian and generational divide. They include dissidents who spent years in prison, tech-savvy activists in their 20s, former Marxists and Islamists.
Communication between those abroad and those in the country is extremely difficult. Political activists in Syria are routinely rounded up and imprisoned. Many are in hiding, communicating only through Skype using fake names, and the country is largely sealed off to exiled dissidents and foreign journalists.
The Cairo conference brought together various opposition groups ? including members of the Syrian National Council and the Local Coordination Committees ? to try to agree on a united body to represent them, as well as to work out a transition plan for how to end to the conflict.
However, the main rebel group fighting Syrian government forces on the ground, the Free Syrian Army, was not represented at the talks. Faiz Amru, a member of the Joint Military Command, which is affiliated with the FSA, said the Cairo meeting was purely political, so rebels were not invited.
Besides the conference in Cairo, opposition members also plan to meet Russian officials later this month, a Russian news agency reported. The Moscow talks are significant because the Kremlin is Syria's most important ally, protector and supplier of arms.
Diplomatic hopes have rested on persuading Russia to agree to a plan that would the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades.
Moscow's determination to preserve its last remaining ally in the Middle East has blocked efforts by the U.S. and other Western powers to force Assad out.
World powers at a conference in Geneva on Saturday accepted a U.N.-brokered plan calling for the creation of a transitional government with full executive powers in Syria. But at Russia's insistence, the compromise left the door open to Assad being part of the interim administration.
Syrian opposition groups have roundly rejected the plan, calling it ambiguous and a waste of time and vowing not to negotiate with Assad or members of his "murderous" regime.
Elaraby, who has held private meetings with Syrian opposition figures at the League's headquarters in the past, said the agreement did not meet Arab expectations because it did not specify a time frame for a "clear transition" as the League had called for.
The U.S. backed away from insisting that the plan should explicitly call for Assad to have no role in a new Syrian government, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the regime's violent crackdown.
The conflict has killed more than 14,000 people since the revolt began in March 2011, according to opposition estimates. The fighting has grown increasingly militarized in recent months, with rebel forces launching attacks and ambushes on regime targets.
Assad has refused to budge, saying his country is at war with terrorists ? the term he uses for his armed opponents. On Monday, he ratified a new terrorism law that includes a clause specifically aimed at the opposition. Under the law, the penalty for terrorism that aims to change the regime would exceed 20 years of hard labor.
As the conflict drags on, concerns are mounting that the violence will spiral outside the country's borders. Tensions already are running high between Damascus and its northern neighbor, Turkey, after Syria shot down a Turkish military plane on June 22.
Syria said the jet violated its airspace, but Turkey says the aircraft was shot down over international waters.
Turkey responded by setting up anti-aircraft guns along the frontier and said Monday it dispatched fighter jets to its border after Syrian helicopters flew too close to the frontier for a second day on Sunday.
In Brussels on Monday, Fogh Rasmussen said the Syrian regime "has lost all humanity and all legitimacy." But there is little appetite for the type of military intervention that helped topple Libya's Gadhafi, in part because there is no real opposition to get behind.
The international community is also hesitant to get involved in another country in turmoil.
"Every member of the international community should use its influence and spare no effort to bring an end to the bloodshed and move Syria forward," he said. "This conflict has already gone on for too long. It has cost too many lives, and put the stability of the whole region at risk."
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Kennedy reported from Beirut.
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