U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday warned time was running out to save Syria from a "catastrophic assault" after international envoy Kofi Annan admitted his peace mission was failing.

The comments by the top U.S. diplomat came as 15 people, including 12 civilians, were killed across the country, according to a rights watchdog.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the United States and Pakistan are putting past tensions behind them to focus on the future, after meeting with her Pakistani counterpart.

It was their first face-to-face meeting since the two countries last week struck a deal to reopen key supply routes into Afghanistan, closed for seven months following a U.S. attack in which 24 Pakistani soldiers died.

Russia said it was looking with optimism at Saturday's Syria crisis talks in Geneva after being told by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Syrians themselves should decide the makeup of their new government.

"I can confidently say that we have a very good chance tomorrow in Geneva to find a common denominator and mark a path forward," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the talks, adding that Clinton had agreed the Syrian governing lineup "can only be decided by the Syrians themselves."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Saint Petersburg on Thursday, for talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that are expected to be dominated by the ongoing crisis in Syria.

The two top diplomats are to meet late Friday, the eve of crunch talks in Geneva that will try to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict that has killed an estimated 15,000 people.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat will meet here next week with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a bid to try to breathe new life into stalled peace talks, a U.S. official said Friday.

Clinton had already met with Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molho and "she'll see Erakat next week," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Washington would find it hard to support the extension of the observer mission beyond next month if the government of President Bahar al-Assad's regime continued to show "contempt" for a U.N.-backed ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect from April 12.

Asked whether he believed Syria is in a civil war, Ladsous told reporters: "Yes I think we can say that. Clearly what is happening is that the government of Syria lost some large chunks of territory, several cities to the opposition, and wants to retake control.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Russia Sunday to get behind a political transition in Syria, saying President Bashar Assad's departure was not a precondition but should be "an outcome".

Clinton spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by telephone at the weekend to say that Washington and Moscow needed to work together on a plan that would halt the violence and bring about political change in the country.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to respect differences between the two countries, as U.S. officials scrambled to resolve a row over a dissident.

Wen welcomed Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to the ornate Purple Light Pavilion of Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership's compound in the heart of Beijing.

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn in as a member of parliament Wednesday, opening a new chapter in the Nobel laureate's near quarter-century struggle against authoritarian rule.

The 66-year-old, in the capital Naypyidaw for the ceremony, stood to read the brief oath in unison with 33 other members of her National League for Democracy party elected to the lower house in April, an AFP reporter said.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday for talks with Lebanese leaders.

Feltman is accompanied by a U.S. delegation comprising top Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee and also sits on the Armed Services Committee. Lieberman met in Riyadh Monday with Saudi King Abdullah and other senior officials as part of a Middle East tour to discuss the Syria crisis, his office said.