Assad Not Interested in Reforms, Says UN Envoy

Human rights abuses and air assaults might have been a clue

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The new U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria says President Bashar Assad has no intention of carrying out reforms which would end his family's 40-year dictatorship and is seeking to portray the country's uprising as a foreign conspiracy.

According to a diplomat inside Lakhdar Brahimi's closed-door briefing Monday to the U.N. Security Council, the envoy described a rapidly deteriorating country with routine torture, looming food shortages and damaged schools.