Political activists stepped up pressure on the European Union...to widen its sanctions against Syria in response to escalating violence against protesters...“We know Syrian businessmen are one of the four main pillars of support of the Syrian regime and it is our objective to knock down this pillar...” a Syrian political activist...said. [S]everal people named by the US Treasury for their connections to the Syrian regime are not on the EU’s list. The US, for example, added Nabil Kuzbari, an Austrian-Syrian businessman, because he is chairman of Cham Holding, Syria’s largest private company, which is also partly owned by Rami Makhlouf...a cousin of Mr Assad [who] controls much of Syria’s economy, including its mobile phone network, SyriaTel..."I am not and have never been helping to finance the Syrian regime and I have no relations to the regime...” Mr Kuzbari said.