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A4 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2012 EST os Angeles (Times LATIMES.COM Putin signs law banning American adoptions Russia willing to meet Syrian opposition contested as rebels and security forces vie for control of vast territories. In the Damascus suburbs of Duma, Dariya, Shaba, Irbeen and Harasta, the army and rebels continued fighting, according to the group. Syrian forces shelled rebel positions with mortars and artillery, killing one rebel fighter in Irbeen and a child in Duma, the group said. Lavrov's comments on the rebels followed his meeting Thursday with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad and came on the eve of a visit to Moscow by United Nations peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. Lavrov said that, during the meeting with Mekdad, the Russians "actively compelled, something we have been doing in recent months, Syrian leadership to make fully concrete its declared readiness for dialogue with the opposition." At the same time, Lavrov rejected the idea that Assad should quit as a precondition for peace talks.

"With all respect for the world community, this should be decided by the Syrian people," Lavrov said. "The world community shouldn't incite either side toward the continuation of the bloodshed and shouldn't come forth with any preconditions." Brahimi flew to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, the Associated Press reported, after spending the last week in Syria pushing a plan for a transitional government to end the 21-month conflict. sergei.loikolatimes.com ned.parkerlatimes.com Loiko reported from Moscow and Parker from Beirut. Moscow now seems open to the possibility that Bashar Assad's regime will collapse. By Sergei L.

Loiko and Ned Parker MOSCOW Russia is ready to meet with leaders of the opposition group seeking to overthrow Moscow's ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, a high Russian official confirmed Friday. "We expressed readiness to meet with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces head A.M. al Khatib and are still inclined to do it Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a news conference in Moscow after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed KamelAmr. "We understand that they don't have objections to the proposal to meet." Russia has long been one of Assad's staunchest supporters, along with Iran. However, in recent weeks Russian officials have signaled an increased openness to the possibility that his regime may not survive.

Lavrov's statement came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based pro-opposition group, reported that several rebel factions had taken control of the Tanak oil field in eastern Dair Alzour province. In Idlib province near Turkey, the Syrian air force bombarded the village of Maarushurin and the nearby Wadi Dayf military barracks, killing at least two rebels, according to the group. The area has been holic and had known no home other than his orphanage and a tuberculosis clinic. He arrived in the U.S. with various ailments, constant fears, aggression, hysteria, a torn ear and a habit of eating raw spaghetti.

He would randomly steal and hide things and always had a backpack ready for an escape. He reminded her of the lead character in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book." "Socially, Sasha was a real Mowgli and I then realized that all the kids in his orphanage who looked like angels were Mowglis too," Zimakova, the Russian language chair at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said in a phone interview. "For a whole year he couldn't go to sleep without holding my hand all night through." A year later, Vladimir, the older brother, brought home a kitten that became a form of therapy for Sasha, replacing Zimakova's hand at night, the mother recalled. "Sasha was helped not only by us but by other relatives, doctors, psychologists, teachers and trainers, and we have overcome many of his problems, except dyslexia and serious reading and writing disorders, which still persist," she said of Sasha, who attends a regular school and speaks English and Russian fluently. "By signing this outrageous law, Putin deprived thousands of Russian orphans of a chance to find an American family and get the treatment and care they can't get in Russia, which I am sure most of them need," Zimakova said.

Yuri Kuznetsov, 47, disabled by cerebral palsy, wasn't lucky enough to be adopted. He said he was the only one in his orphanage "who made it" in life rather than languishing in institutions. Kuznetsov is a journalist and editor at a cable TV channel in St. Petersburg and a trustee of one of the city's orphanages. "I was lucky to make a life I am proud of, but there is this huge hole in my heart, the hole of never knowing a family that doesn't heal and every night I look into it and see nothing but darkness," he said in a phone interview.

"Because of this horrible law Putin signed today, thousands of little orphans will for the rest of their lives live with these gaping holes in their hearts like myself, and will never know how nice it is to have a mother, to have a family, to have this warmth you can only get in a family." sergei.loikolatimes.com The move by Russia's president is widely seen as retaliation for a new U.S. measure. By Sergei L. Loiko MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning the adoption of Russian orphans by U.S. families, the Kremlin announced Friday.

The measure was widely seen as a retaliation for the Sergei Magnitsky Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama this month, which imposed sanctions on Russian officials involved in the death of an imprisoned lawyer in 2 0 09 after he blew the whistle on a multimillion-dollar tax refund scam allegedly orchestrated by tax inspectors and police officers. An adoption agreement signed and ratified by the two countries in June will be annulled after Jan. 1, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the television news network Russia-24. Over the last two decades, Americans have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children. About 1,500 such adoption cases are in Russian courts, 52 of them in the final approval stage.

The Kremlin's envoy for children's rights, Pavel Astakhov, told radio station Echo of Moscow that these children will not go to the United States but will be among the first to be adopted by Russian families. Along with the controversial law, Putin also signed a decree providing financial perks, privileges and other measures to encourage adoptions in Russia, which have never run higher than 7,000 annually in recent years. There are more than 600,000 orphans in Russia. Russian lawmaker Andrei Makarov, who voted for the measure, said the effect of the law shouldn't be over-dramatized, saying American adoptions account for less that 1 of orphans eligible for adoption each year. "As head of the budget committee of the State Duma the parliament's lower house I can say that we are already working on measures to boost financing of Russian orphanages," he said in an interview Friday.

"The bill signed today will create new opportunities to make the lives life of orphans better inside the country." Lawmaker Leonid Ka-lashnikov, who missed the vote, said that if Russia wanted to retaliate, it could cut the U.S. transportation route to Afghanistan or shut down the NATO transit base ALEX ZIMAKOV was adopted by a U.S. family several years ago. His mother is outraged by the new law. They let off steam by using the fate of thousands of orphans as a lever of political Victim of brutal gang rape that shocked India dies pressure.

Russian lawmaker Leonid Kalashnikov were quick to criticize the new law. At California's Mammoth Lakes ski resort, Alex Zimakov blew out 14 candles on his birthday cake Wednesday, surrounded by his mother, father and older brother, all Russian-born U.S. citizens. His mother said the fair-haired boy can hardly remember the day nearly nine years ago when he left a drab orphanage in a Moscow suburb to join his new family across the ocean. His first years in the U.S.

were difficult for the whole family, said his mother, Ta-tiana Zimakova. Sasha, as he is known in the family, had been born to an alco How to contact us: The assault in New Delhi set off protests and demands for steps to protect women. ASSOCIATED PRESS SINGAPORE A young Indian woman who was gang raped and severely beaten on a bus in New Delhi died Saturday at a Singapore hospital, after her horrific ordeal galvanized Indians to demand greater protection from sexual violence that affects thousands of women daily but often goes unreported. The victim "passed away peacefully" with her family and officials of the Indian embassy by her side, said Dr. Kelvin Loh, the chief executive of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she had been undergoing treatment since Thursday.

She had been airlifted to Mount Elizabeth, which specializes in multi-organ transplant, after 10 days at a New Delhi hospital. But by late Friday, Loh said, the young woman's condition had taken a turn for the worse and it became clear that she would not survive. "She had suffered from severe organ failure following serious injuries to her ALEXEI NlKOLSKY AFPGetty Images PRESIDENT PUTIN also signed a decree providing incentives for adoptions in Russia. in the Russian city of Ulya-novsky, "but it chose to speculate on children's lives instead." "The Kremlin didn't really want to spoil relations with the United States but couldn't leave an unfriendly act unanswered," Kalashni-kov said in an interview. "So they let off steam by using the fate of thousands of orphans as a lever of political pressure." Two people with firsthand experience with the adoption process in Russia noo i latimes.com To subscribe call 1.800.326.5500 (800)-LA Home Delivery and Membership Program For questions about delivery, billing and vacation holds, or for information about our Membership program, please contact us at 1(800) 252-9141 or membershipservices latimes.com.

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Call (213) -237-5757. body and brain," he said in a statement. "She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome." The woman and a male friend, who have not been identified, were traveling in a public bus after watching a film on the evening of Dec. 16 when they were attacked by six men who took turns raping her. The rapists beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into the woman's body, causing the organ damage.

Both of them were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police. Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the attack, which left the victim with severe internal injuries, a lung infection and brain damage. She also suffered a heart attack while she was hospitalized in India. Indian Ambassador T.C.A. Raghavan said arrangements were being made to return her body to India.

The crime shocked Indians, who have come out in the thousands for almost daily demonstrations demanding stronger protection for women and the death penalty for rape, which is now punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If you believe that we have made an error, or you have questions about The Times' journalistic standards and practices, you may contact Deirdre Edgar, readers' representative, by email at readers.representative latimes.com, by phone at (877) 554-4000, by fax at (213) 237-3535 or by mail at 202 W. 1st Los Angeles, CA 90012. The readers' representative office is online at latimes.com reader srep. Hr iff I KKmM Every by QHRffl The TIMES Advertising For print and online advertising information, go to latimes.commediakit or call (213) -237-6176.

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