WORLD BRIEFS
SYRIA: Turkey issues stern warning
Turkey warned Syria on Tuesday to keep its forces away from the border or risk an armed response, a furious reply to the downing of a Turkish military plane last week. NATO condemned the shooting down of the plane but stopped short of threatening military action. Near Damascus, meanwhile, Republican Guard forces battled rebels in some of the most intense fighting since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March 2011, according to activists. Assad appeared to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation while addressing his new cabinet, saying his country is in a "genuine state of war." A meeting of world powers on Syria won't happen unless Russia first agrees that Assad must be replaced, a U.S. State Department official said. UN special envoy Kofi Annan is seeking to convene a June 30 gathering in Geneva. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was en route to Helsinki for the start of a three-nation tour that includes Russia, but it was unclear whether the meeting on Syria would take place, a U.S. diplomat said.
BRITAIN: Queen meeting former foes
Queen Elizabeth II prayed yesterday with Catholic and Protestant leaders from across Northern Ireland as the long-divided land demonstrated its faith in a shared future. The monarch visited the lakeside town of Enniskillen, scene of one of the Irish Republican Army's most shocking atrocities, for events symbolizing how far Northern Ireland has come. On Wednesday she's to meet with Martin McGuinness, former commander of the Provisional IRA. Since 1970, the Provisional IRA has killed 1,775 people, including the queen's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, a 1979 assassination the IRA says McGuinness himself sanctioned.
No, it'll always be Big Ben
Big Ben, an enduring landmark of London, will in future be known formally as the Elizabeth Tower, in memory of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. The renaming, however, is unlikely to change the habit of calling the tower after the bell it houses: Big Ben. Wags suggested it could now be called "Large Liz."
