FILE - Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, poses for the camera on in this May 20, 2007 file photo. An EU official said Thursday March 23, 2012 a total of four members of the Assad family, along with eight government ministers, will be targeted in the latest round of sanctions aimed at stopping the violent crackdown on members of the Syrian opposition. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, poses for the camera on in this May 20, 2007 file photo. An EU official said Thursday March 23, 2012 a total of four members of the Assad family, along with eight government ministers, will be targeted in the latest round of sanctions aimed at stopping the violent crackdown on members of the Syrian opposition. (AP Photo, File)
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, left, talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, prior to the start of an EU Foreign Ministers council, at the European Council building in Brussels, Friday, March 23, 2012. Officials say that the EU foreign ministers have slapped sanctions on the wife and other close relatives of Syrian President Bashar Assad in a continuing attempt to stop the violent crackdown on opposition. They said four members of the Assad family and eight government ministers have been targeted in the latest round of sanctions. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, talks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoullis, prior to the start of an EU Foreign Ministers council, at the European Council building in Brussels, Friday, March 23, 2012. Officials say that the EU foreign ministers have slapped sanctions on the wife and other close relatives of Syrian President Bashar Assad in a continuing attempt to stop the violent crackdown on opposition. They said four members of the Assad family and eight government ministers have been targeted in the latest round of sanctions. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
FILE-In this July 13, 2008, file photo, Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife Asma arrive for a formal dinner after a Mediterranean Summit meeting at the Petit Palais in Paris. Syrian government forces fired machine guns and mortar rounds Friday, March 23, 2012 in fierce clashes with rebel army defectors in a town near the Turkish border, a Syrian activist group reported, as a European Union official said the wife of Syria's president will be hit with a travel ban and have her assets in the EU frozen. Asma Assad has British citizenship and the official said that probably meant she could not be banned from travel to the U.K. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
A general view of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, March 22, 2012. Mounting international condemnation of Bashar Assad's regime and high-level diplomacy have failed to ease the year-old Syria conflict, which the U.N. says has killed more than 8,000 people. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? EU foreign ministers have slapped sanctions on the wife and other close relatives of Syrian President Bashar Assad, freezing their assets and banning them from traveling to the EU in a continuing attempt to stop the violent crackdown on opposition, officials said Friday.
Also Friday, the United Nations said the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, would travel to Russia and China for more talks aimed at peacefully resolving the crisis in Syria.
The U.N. estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed since an uprising began in Syria a year ago.
Four members of the Assad family and eight government ministers have been targeted by the EU ? the blocs 13th round of sanctions so far against the Syrian regime ? the officials said. Three officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that will be announced later Friday following the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.
Asma Assad, 36, the president's wife, was born in London and has British citizenship, and an EU official said that likely meant she could not be banned from travel to the U.K.
Meanwhile, Annan and two aides will go to Moscow and Beijing to press the case for his six-point plan, his spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, said. Western countries have pushed for U.N. Security Council action, but Russia and China have twice vetoed resolutions criticizing Assad's regime.
"Negotiations are at a very delicate stage. He's not going to mediate through the media," Fawzi said. "The crisis on the ground is severe. We have to make progress on the ground soon. Every minute counts."
Fawzi told reporters Friday that Annan's team is "currently studying the Syrian responses carefully and negotiations with Damascus continue."
On Wednesday, the U.N.'s Security Council issued a nonbinding statement calling for a cease-fire and endorsing Annan's plan, which includes continued talks and a daily two-hour halt in the fighting to provide aid.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking in Brussels, where the EU foreign ministers are meeting, said Friday it was very important to increase pressure on the Syrian regime.
"Their behavior continues to be murdering and totally unacceptable in the eyes of the world," he said on his way into the meeting.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said the sanctions should target "the family of Assad ? his wife and his closest relatives. It is necessary."
Last week, Britain's The Guardian newspaper released thousands of emails purportedly from Bashar Assad's private account. They showed him taking advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising, joking about his promises of reform and bypassing U.S. sanctions to shop on iTunes.
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Heilprin reported from Geneva. Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.
Follow Don Melvin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Don_Melvin
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