NEWS FLASH

France Says U.N. Should Authorize Force In Syria If Peace Plan Fails | French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said today after meeting with Syrian opposition officials that the United Nations Security Council should consider authorizing military action to stop the violence in Syria. Juppe said the 300 observers the U.N. recently authorized to monitor the situation on the ground in Syria should be dispatched within the next two weeks. He added that if the peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan fails, “we would have to move to a new stage with a Chapter Seven resolution to stop this tragedy.” Juppe called Annan’s plan “severely compromised” and said “mediation should be given a chance” but added, “We cannot allow ourselves to be defied by the current regime.”