BREAKING NEWS

Obama says considering new pressure on Syria's Assad

President Barack Obama said on Friday he is considering new ways to pressure the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he pledged fresh US assistance to Jordan's King Abdullah, whose country is reeling from the Syrian civil war.

Obama and Abdullah held talks at the Sunnylands retreat, the estate of the late philanthropist Walter Annenberg, in this desert region of California.

With the Syrian civil war a central focus of their talks, Obama told reporters with Abdullah seated beside him that he does not expect the conflict to be resolved any time soon and that "there are going to be some immediate steps that we have to take to help the humanitarian assistance there."