mapped out

every relevant political group or personality,

drawing up

a list of 700 people from which they've selected 140 to sit on the council. Around half are expected to come from groups operating inside Syria. The council will set up committees to handle tasks like foreign relations.

It will inevitably draw comparisons with the transitional council in Libya, but the challenge confronting Syrian dissidents is much greater.

The US State Department has repeated its warning to all American citizens to leave Syria immediately while it's still possible to travel out of the country. It says the Syrian government's violent suppression of peaceful protests has left the country in a state of uncertainty and

volatility

. The authorities are preparing for more demonstrations on Friday.

Washington has

stepped up

efforts to dissuade the Palestinians from applying for full membership of the United Nations at the UN General Assembly next week. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was a growing recognition among the parties that [the] only real answer was negotiations. And in a BBC interview, the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said a

unilateral

bid for statehood would set back prospects for real talks.

"There's no shortcut. There's no magic wand. If there were, we would have waved it by now; we'd be there. So this is, as a practical matter, a

diversion