Little has been made public about the Damascus talks, but the official Syrian news agency described the atmosphere as positive. That seemed to be reflected also in comments attributed by Syrian state TV to the head of the Arab delegation - the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad al-Thani. He was quoted as saying the meeting with President Assad was frank and friendly, and that the delegation had noted a desire on the part of the Syrian government to work with the League delegation towards finding a solution. He said the two sides would meet again on Sunday to follow up.

大马士革的这次会谈几乎没有向公众透露任何信息，但叙利亚官方媒体声称会谈气氛良好。这似乎可以从叙利亚国家电视台对阿拉伯代表团团长—卡塔尔总理哈马德—的评论中看出来，哈马德接受采访时说，与阿萨德总统的会谈很坦诚友好，代表团表示，希望叙利亚政府同阿拉伯联盟一道，共同寻找解决办法。他说双方将于周日再次会面，跟进讨论。

A former director of the investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has pleaded not guilty in the United States to charges of insider trading and has been released on bail of $10m. Rajat Gupta surrendered himself to the New York police on Wednesday after he was charged with leaking corporate secrets about his company to the billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Prosecutors say Mr Gupta faces a long prison sentence and a $25m fine if found guilty.