Syria's army advanced today as it battles to capture a rebel region that is key to the capital's water supply, launching strikes and artillery fire threatening a fragile nationwide truce.
	The ceasefire brokered by regime ally Russia and Turkey, which backs the opposition, is now in its fourth day, despite sporadic violence and continued fighting in the Wadi Barada area near Damascus.
	"Regime forces and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah group are advancing in the region and are now on the outskirts of Ain al-Fijeh, the primary water source in the area," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.
	He said government troops and allied fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with rebels, including from the former Al-Qaeda affiliate now known as Fateh al-Sham Front.
	The monitor said government forces were carrying out air strikes and artillery fire on the area, northwest of the capital, but reported no casualties.
	Wadi Barada has been ...

Syria army presses fight near Damascus despite truce

PTI Automatic

Sweden has sent one of its most notorious killers to Germany to stand trial for allegedly murdering a Jewish woman in 1992, a chief prosecutor said today.
	"He agreed to be sent to Germany," Krister Petersson, chief prosecutor at the international public prosecution office in Stockholm, told AFP.
	Dubbed as "Laserman" in Swedish media, 63-year-old John Ausonius went on a six-month shooting spree with a laser sight in 1991-1992, injuring 10 immigrants and killing one in Sweden.
	He was sent to Germany about a week ago from Sweden, where he was serving life behind bars for the gun attacks.
	A Swedish citizen, Ausonius is the number one suspect in the investigation into the murder of 68-year-old Blanka Zmigrod in Frankfurt on February 23, 1992. He denies the charges.
	An employee at a restaurant in Frankfurt, Zmigrod, was shot in the head as she was on her way home, according the German-Jewish weekly Juedische Allgemeine.
	Ausonious had reportedly argued with Zmigrod before the murder, ..

Swedish 'laserman' killer sent to Germany for murder trial

The playboy son of Equatorial Guinea's leader, notorious for his extravagant taste in cars, homes and Michael Jackson memorabilia, goes on trial today in Paris charged with plundering his country's coffers to fund his jetset lifestyle in France.
	Teodorin Obiang, his country's vice-president, is accused of using state money to buy a mansion on one of the swankiest avenues in Paris as well as a collection of Italian supercars and other luxury items.
	His lawyers have said they will call today for the trial to be adjourned, saying they need more time to prepare his defence.
	The trial is the first arising out of an investigation into the French assets of a trio of African leaders accused of leading a life of luxury abroad while their citizens live in poverty.
	The 47-year-old shopaholic is not expected to attend the trial where he has been charged with corruption, embezzlement, misuse of public funds and breach of trust.
	US officials have already forced him to forfeit property bought ..

Playboy son of E Guinea leader goes on trial in France

Nine civilians, including five members of one family, have been killed in rebel bombing and an air strike by the pro-government coalition in war-torn Yemen, military and rebel sources said today.
	An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit yesterday a house in the province of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, killing five members of the same family, a military officials told AFP.
	It took place in the village of Wadi Habab, in Sarwah region, a major front in the war between the Shiite rebels and forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, insurgents' news website sabanews.Net said.
	Meanwhile, four civilians, including three children, were killed yesterday in rebel bombing that targeted residential areas in the southwestern city of Taez, a local official and medical sources said.
	The Saudi-led alliance started air strikes in Yemen in March 2015 after the Huthi rebels closed in on Hadi in his refuge in the southern city of Aden, after they had overran the capital in September .

Bombing, air strike kill 9 civilians in Yemen

Israeli authorities were investigating today whether a fire was the result of a murder-suicide, with a mother and her four children found dead in a case that has shocked the country.
	The fire ripped through a Jerusalem apartment yesterday and the woman's four daughters were found dead inside, fire service spokesman Yoram Levy said.
	The girls' mother hanged herself on the balcony and there were suspicions that she may have set fire to the apartment first, he said.
	Fire investigators had not determined the cause of death of the daughters, though they were reportedly found with severe burns. The investigation has been handed over to police, Levy said.
	Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld declined to comment in detail, but confirmed it was being looked into as a possible murder-suicide.
	The story made headlines in Israeli media, which reported that the family had emigrated to Israel from France.
	Some reports said the girls were aged between two and 12.
	The fire occurred on New Year's ..

Israel probes child deaths in suspected murder-suicide

The Philippines is tilting away from its traditional ally the United States towards China in a bid to "normalise" relations following a longstanding territorial dispute, the country's incoming ambassador to Beijing said today.
	Manila has been one of Washington's most loyal allies in Asia, but Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to end the decades-long alliance after the US criticised his bloody war on drugs that has killed over 5,000 people since he took office in June.
	His fiery rhetoric against the US has been followed by overtures to China as he has sought to assuage Beijing's concerns over Manila's competing claims to the South China Sea.
	The new Philippine ambassador to China, Jose "Chito" Sta. Romana, told AFP the move represented "a strategic shift in our foreign policy".
	"We were one-sidedly imbalanced in favour of the US," he said.
	"We are not abandoning our alliance with the US.... We are basically trying to normalise our relations with China."
	Beijing .

Duterte seeks 'strategic shift' from US to China: envoy

The Islamic State jihadist group today claimed the shooting rampage inside a glamorous Istanbul nightclub on New Year's night that killed 39 people, as police hunted the attacker who remains on the run.
	Anti-terror police made their first arrests over the attack, which unleashed scenes of panic among party-goers at one of Istanbul's swankiest venues and killed mostly foreign tourists.
	The shooting took place just 75 minutes into 2017 after a bloody year in Turkey in which hundreds of people were killed in violence blamed on both IS jihadists and Kurdish militants.
	In a statement circulated on social media, the jihadist group said one of the "soldiers of the caliphate" had carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub.
	It accused Turkey, a majority-Muslim country, of being a servant of Christians, in a possible reference to Ankara's alliance with the international coalition fighting IS in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
	This is the first time IS has issued a clear and undisputed ...

ISIS claims nightclub carnage as Turkey hunts attacker

New Year's Eve passed off peacefully enough in war-torn Ukraine - until a senior lawmaker shot a man in the leg during a testosterone-charged road rage incident.
	Ukrainians bored by a relative lack of news over the holiday period have been gripped by accounts of the fight between the man and the senior politician that also involved an assault with a bottle.
	Local media interviewed the gunshot victim Vyacheslav Khimikus from his hospital bed. He admitted that he had attacked the MP with a bottle before being shot.
	Khimikus was helping to push a broken-down bus just outside Kiev after stopping his own car but forgetting to switch on his flashing emergency lights.
	Into this scene rolled deputy Sergiy Pashynskiy and his wife in a Mercedes Benz.
	Khimikus said the lawmaker's wife rolled down her window and began swearing at him.
	This prompted Khimikus to challenge Pashynskiy -- who was in the passenger seat -- to come out "and settle things man-to-man".
	The ensuing duel saw Khimikus .

Ukraine lawmaker sparks scandal by shooting man in leg

Donald Trump's Indonesian business partner has revealed he may follow the example of the brash US billionaire and run for president, a report said today.
	Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who is building two Trump Organization projects, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he was considering becoming a candidate in Indonesia's 2019 presidential elections for the sake of the country.
	"If there is no one I can believe who can fix the problems of the country, I may try to run for president," said the media mogul and property developer, who has his own political party.
	"We need a leader with integrity who can bring a solution for the country," the 51-year-old billionaire added.
	If Tanoesoedibjo were to be successful, it could mean there are two world leaders who have been business partners, raising fresh concerns about potential conflicts of interest related to Trump's business empire.
	Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, has sought to allay worries by insisting that "no new ...

Trump's Indonesian business partner 'eyeing presidency'

A court in Kuwait today sentenced a couple to death after finding them guilty of torturing their three-year-old daughter until she died, it said in a statement.
	The parents, both Kuwaitis, were arrested in May and accused of beating and torturing the girl until she died and then keeping her body in a freezer for a week.
	The court statement only gave the verdict but, according to media reports at the time of their arrest, they had been annoyed by their daughter's constant crying.
	The father, 26-year-old Salem Buhan, and mother, 23-year-old Amira Hussein, were charged with murder after police found burn marks on the shoulders and legs of the toddler's body, according to the interior ministry.
	The ministry also said they were drug addicts.
	The verdict is not final as it must be reviewed by the appeals and supreme courts.
	Executions in Kuwait are carried out by hanging.
	Barring the execution of five men in mid-2013, the Gulf emirate has stopped executing people since 2007 although .

Kuwait sentences parents to death for killing toddler

Istanbul anti-terror police today detained eight people suspected of links to the New Year gun attack on a nightclub in the Turkish city that left 39 dead and was claimed by Islamic State (IS) jihadists, a report said.
	The Dogan news agency said police were pressing on with operations after making the first arrests over the attack. The suspected gunman is still believed to be on the run.

Istanbul police detain 8 suspects over nightclub attack

Istanbul police detain 8 suspects over nightclub attack:

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 32 people today in Baghdad.
	The jihadist organisation took responsibility for the blast in Sadr City via its propaganda agency Amaq, claiming the "martyrdom operation" had killed around 40 people.
	Iraqi police sources said at least 32 people were killed and more than 60 wounded when an explosives-laden vehicle went off on a square where daily labourers were waiting for jobs.
	IS also claimed an attack in central Baghdad that killed at least 27 people on Saturday.

IS claims latest deadly Baghdad attack

Myanmar's government today said it has detained several police officers over a video apparently showing Rohingya civilians being beaten, a rare admission that authorities may have carried out abuses against the Muslim minority.
	Tens of thousands of people from the persecuted ethnic group -- loathed by many of Myanmar's Buddhist majority -- have fled a military operation in Rakhine state launched after attacks on police posts in October.
	Bangladesh says some 50,000 Rohingya have crossed its borders over the past two months. Many have brought harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of Myanmar's security forces.
	Their stories have raised global alarm and galvanised protests against Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused of not doing enough to help the Rohingya.
	Her government has said troops are hunting militants behind deadly raids on police border posts, denying claims of atrocities and launching a dogged information campaign against ...

Myanmar detains police over Rohingya abuse video

Cambodian police today said they planned to arrest three suspects, including one believed to be in Thailand, for being behind an offensive photoshopped image of the country's king that placed him in a gay porn scene.
	The image, which appeared on some Facebook accounts in both Cambodia and Thailand this week, is a rare public insult aimed at King Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch who is largely respected and deemed above the country's political fray.
	In contrast to neighbouring Thailand, which outlaws any criticism of its monarchy often handing down decades-long sentences, Sihamoni is not shielded by a specific lese majeste law.
	However the country's constitution describes him as "inviolable".
	General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, confirmed an investigation had been launched.
	"We have got orders to arrest them," he told AFP. "If we don't take action against them, more people might follow their act."
	He declined to specify which law the three suspects .

Cambodia to arrest three behind photoshopped image of king

At least nine people were killed after part of an apartment building collapsed in central Kazakhstan, the country's authorities said today.
	"Nine dead people were pulled from the rubble" of the building in the village of Shakhan following the collapse late yesterday, the emergencies committee of the interior ministry in the central Asian nation said in a statement.
	It said the victims include three men, three women and three children. A 32-year-old man had been pulled alive from the rubble.
	The ministry said it had dispatched 70 emergency workers to take part in the rescue operation.
	The remaining residents of the building have been evacuated.
	A government committee has been set up to probe the incident, the ministry said.
	Building collapses are not uncommon throughout the former Soviet Union, either due to faulty construction or worn-out infrastructure.

9 killed in Kazakhstan apartment building collapse: ministry

Supporting military operations against the Islamic State group is key to preventing terror attacks at home, French President Francois Hollande said today during a visit to Iraq.
	Hollande had already visited in 2014 and remains the most prominent head of state to come to Iraq since the launch two and half years ago of a US-led coalition against the jihadists.
	The French president, who is travelling with Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, will also stop in the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan during his one-day visit.
	"Taking action against terrorism here in Iraq is also preventing acts of terrorism on our own soil," he said at a base of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service near Baghdad.
	France is the second contributor to the US-led coalition that has carried out thousands of air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria and provided military equipment, training and advice to Iraqi forces. Iraqi forces completely collapsed when IS jihadists took over second city Mosul in June 

In Iraq, Hollande says IS battle prevents attacks at home

Turkey detained a staff journalist for The Wall Street Journal for almost three days without access to a lawyer, the newspaper reported today, adding to growing concerns over press freedom in the country.
	Dion Nissenbaum was taken into custody on Tuesday by police at his Istanbul home,  for allegedly violating a ban on publishing images from an Islamic State group (IS) video.The newspaper said on its website,
	Although the paper provided no further details, IS jihadists last week shared a video purportedly showing two Turkish soldiers captured in Syria being burned alive.
	Ankara said earlier this week there was no confirmation of the IS claims.
	The 49-year-old American correspondent was held for two-and-a-half days without access to lawyers or contact with his family, the WSJ said, adding for most of the period, it "couldn't determine" his location.
	His detention comes a day after one of Turkey's best-known investigative journalists, Ahmet Sik, was charged with "making terror ...

WSJ says Turkey detains reporter for three days

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro today released six dissidents, among them former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, who had been under house arrest for more than two months, opposition leaders said.
	"I have been freed, along with other political prisoners," Rosales, 64, wrote on Twitter following his release.
	Opposition groups said that those freed in addition to Rosales were Skarlyn Duarte, Yeimi Varela, Nixon Leal, Angel Contreras and Gerardo Carrero.
	They were arrested during 2014 protests calling for the removal of Maduro from power.
	Rosales was detained on October 19 after returning to Venezuela following six years of exile.
	"We will continue to fight for the liberation of everyone," Rosales wrote on Twitter.
	A former lawmaker, mayor of the northwestern city of Maracaibo and two-time governor of the state of Zulia, Rosales challenged then-president Hugo Chavez in elections held in 2006.
	Dissident leaders had demanded his release, and freedom for the other ...

Venezuela frees ex-presidential candidate, 5 other dissidents

Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions in 2016, according to a tally based on official announcements, slightly down from the year before.
	The ultra-conservative kingdom is one of the world's most prolific executioners and has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.
	Rights group Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia carried out at least 158 death sentences in 2015, coming third after Iran and Pakistan.
	Amnesty's figures do not include secretive China.
	Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" offences on a single day in January.
	They included prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution prompted Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions, leading Riyadh to sever relations.

Saudi executes 153 in 2016

Cuba welcomed a record four million tourists in 2016, up 13 per cent over last year, with much of the increase thanks to a crush of visitors from the US and Europe, officials said today.
	Havana's Ministry of Tourism said in a statement published in the Granma official newspaper that the island set a record for international visitors this year, exceeding projections by some six percent.
	Tourism is the number two source of revenue on the cash-strapped island, second only to the export of doctors and other medical services.
	Officials in Havana say the surge in US visitors is a result of the restored relations with the United States -- a thaw first announced by US President Barack Obama and Cuba's President Raul Castro almost exactly two years ago.
	Although a decades-old US economic embargo remains in place, Obama has chipped away at many trade and travel restrictions, easing access to the communist island for many Americans.
	The first US cruise ship to come to Cuba in more than 50 ..

AFP

AFP

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