Syria's regime said today it was ready to take part in new talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war but appeared to make its participation conditional on which opposition groups will attend.
	It came as the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group pushed further into a key city in eastern Syria in fighting that left more than two dozen regime loyalists reported dead.
	During an official visit to China today, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus "is ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in Geneva without any foreign interference."
	Last week, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a peace plan aimed at bringing the regime and opposition together for talks in January.
	The plan is the product of a nearly two-month diplomatic flurry among top diplomats from 17 countries, including regime backers Russia and Iran.
	But it does not address the sharpest difference between opposition groups and the regime: the fate of Syrian President Bashar ...

Syria says ready to enter new peace talks

PTI Automatic

Prominent reformists were among hundreds of candidates who signed up to run in elections for Iran's top clerical body, an official said, challenging the dominance of the assembly's conservative majority.
	A total of 801 people registered to stand for the powerful Assembly of Experts, which monitors the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, election headquarters secretary Ali Motlagh told media after registration closed yesterday.
	The reformist candidates include Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was Iran's president from 1989 to 1997 and is now considered a moderate.
	Hassan Khomeini, the 43-year-old grandson of the Islamic Republic of Iran's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also signed up to take part in the vote, slated to take place on February 26.
	Members of the assembly are chosen by the public for a term of eight years from a list that is pre-screened by another powerful committee, the Guardian Council.
	Both the Assembly and the Council are considered to be dominated 

Reformists among candidates for Iran's top clerical body

The Belgian authorities have charged a ninth person in connection with last month's deadly Paris attacks, the prosecutor's office said today.
	A spokesman said the suspect had telephoned Hasna Aitboulachen, the cousin of ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, several times after the November 13 attacks and before a police raid five days later in which they both died.
	A statement later identified the man as Abdoullah C, a Belgian national born in 1985, who was arrested on Tuesday on charges of "terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation."
	The attacks and the Belgian links to them have shocked the country and sparked a sharp increase in visible security, with armed police and soldiers patrolling the streets in Brussels.
	The police are especially looking for Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam, 26, who is believed to have fled from Paris back to the Belgian capital the day after the attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium left 130 .

Belgium charges 9th Paris attacks suspect: official

Storms and tornadoes killed at least seven people and left dozens injured when they ripped through large swathes of the southeastern United States, reports and officials said.
	Homes were badly damaged or even leveled as a series of tornadoes and twisters tore through several states, leaving a trail of destruction and ruining Christmas for some.
	Those killed were in the states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, CNN said.
	A boy aged seven was found dead in Mississippi, ABC and NBC News said, after the storm picked up and tossed the car he was traveling in with his family.
	At least 40 people were injured in the state, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said.
	"I laid down on the ground, and here came the tornado," Lance Meeks, who lives in Holly Springs, Mississippi, told CNN affiliate WTVA.
	"Rolled right over me. Uprooted trees, cut trees in half. And I don't know why I'm still standing here talking to you."
	Nearly 70 million people were forecast to be in the path of 

Tornadoes, storms kill seven in US

The Islamic State jihadist group has expanded its control inside an eastern Syrian city after clashes and suicide attacks killed at least 26 regime fighters, a monitor said.
	IS militants seized the industrial neighbourhood in the city of Deir Ezzor after a fierce offensive that began on Wednesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	The attack began when three IS suicide bombers drove explosive-laden cars into the neighbourhood, killing at least 11 members of pro-government forces, the Britain-based monitor said.
	The ensuing "violent clashes, air strikes, and an exchange of shelling" brought the toll up to 26 government loyalists and 12 IS militants, according to the Observatory.
	IS already holds most of the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province and much of its provincial capital.
	The jihadist group has been fighting for months to take Deir Ezzor city, including the adjacent military airport.
	If Deir Ezzor city falls to IS, it would be the second provincial capital ...

26 regime fighters dead in IS assault in east Syria: monitor

Eight migrants including six children drowned when their overloaded boat sank in the Aegean Sea today while heading for the Greek island of Lesbos in the latest tragedy involving refugees trying to enter Europe.
	The wooden boat capsized in high waves two miles off the Bademli coast in the Aegean, the private Dogan news agency reported, adding that another 14 migrants were missing.
	The Turkish coastguard were hunting for the missing and divers were rushed to the scene after a tip-off that more refugees could be stuck in the deck, Dogan said.
	The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said this week more than one million migrants and refugees reached Europe this year, most of them by sea.
	The vast majority of people -- over 800,000 -- landed in Greece, according to the figures.
	Greek police said yesterday that at least 13 people including seven children, drowned when their boat sank in the Aegean.
	Turkey, which is currently playing host to at ...

Eight migrants drown off Turkey in latest refugee tragedy

The leader of Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels has played down prospects of a UN-brokered peace deal and urged supporters to resist pro-government forces intent on recapturing the capital.
	"Don't bet on the UN whose role conforms to American policy," Abdulmalik al-Huthi said in a speech yesterday for the Muslim celebration of Mawlid marking the Prophet Mohammed's birthday.
	"We have no choice but to resist... Until our people achieve their freedom and independence," he added.
	The defiant stance comes after Yemen's warring parties on Sunday concluded UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland with no major breakthrough, but agreed to meet again on January 14.
	On Wednesday the UN Security Council urged the opposing sides to respect a frequently-violated ceasefire and to resume talks.
	The Huthis, a Shiite minority from Yemen's north, seized the capital Sanaa last year and then advanced south to the second city of Aden, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi ...

Yemen rebel chief urges supporters to 'resist'

The US launched air strikes to bolster Afghan forces scrambling today to beat back Taliban insurgents who seized large swathes of a key opium-rich district, following the first British deployment to the volatile region in 14 months.
	The Islamists claim to have captured nearly the entire district of Sangin after storming its frontlines on Sunday, tightening their grip on the southern Helmand province.
	Fleeing residents reported Taliban executions of captured soldiers as the insurgents advanced on the district centre, compounding fears that the entire province was on the brink of falling into insurgent hands.
	The US army conducted air strikes yesterday to back up Afghan forces mobilising reinforcements to relieve dozens of security forces holed up in the district centre.
	"US forces conducted two strikes in Sangin," a NATO spokesman said in a brief statement.
	Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents had overrun the whole of Sangin, pinning down Afghan forces in a military 

US air strikes in Afghan district under Taliban siege

Afghan forces scrambled today to beat back the Taliban from Sangin as the insurgents claimed to have captured nearly the entire opium-rich district, following the first British deployment to the volatile region in 14 months.
	The Islamists broke through the frontlines of Sangin on Sunday after days of pitched clashes with besieged Afghan forces, tightening their grip on the southern province of Helmand.
	Fleeing residents reported Taliban executions of captured soldiers as the insurgents advanced on the district centre, compounding fears that the entire province was on the brink of a security collapse.
	Government officials today denied reports that Sangin was on the brink of falling to the Taliban, saying that reinforcements were trying to relieve dozens of security forces holed up in the district centre.
	"Afghan army commandoes and police forces have launched an operation in Sangin," said interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, claiming heavy Taliban losses.
	But Taliban ...

Afghan forces struggle to beat back Taliban

A North Korean diplomat has been expelled from South Africa for alleged illegal trading in rhino horns, a South African foreign ministry spokesman said today.
	"We can confirm that this diplomat has been expelled. He left the country on the 11th of December," Nelson Kgwete told AFP.
	Kgwete said the diplomat was arrested in neighbouring Mozambique in May on charges related to rhino horn smuggling.
	At the time of arrest, he was driving a vehicle with a South African diplomatic registration.
	South Africa's News24 said the diplomat was arrested after 4.5 kilogrammes of rhino horn and USD 99,300 in cash were found in his car. The news website added that Mozambican police released the man on USD 30,000 bail.
	South Africa's rhino poaching epidemic saw a record 1,215 rhino killed last year for their horns, which is used as a traditional medicine in some parts of Asia.

N Korean diplomat expelled from South Africa

Syria is ready to participate in peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending its brutal civil war, the country's foreign minister said today during an official visit to China.
	"Syria is ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in Geneva without any foreign interference," Walid Muallem said during a press briefing following his meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
	Last week, the UN Security Council gave its unanimous support to a plan to end the Syrian conflict by summoning rebels and the regime to the negotiating table.
	With crucial backing from the United States and Russia, the plan aims to install a ceasefire in Syria, possibly in January, when talks could also begin.

Syria ready to enter Geneva peace talks: foreign minister

Two Myanmar migrants were sentenced to death today for murdering a pair of British holidaymakers on a Thai island, in a case that sullied the kingdom's reputation as a tourist haven and raised questions over its justice system.
	Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of killing David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September last year.
	Both defendants were "guilty of murder for which the penalty is the death sentence," an unnamed judge reading the bench's verdict told the court on neighbouring Koh Samui.
	The pair were also found guilty of raping Witheridge in a ruling that was welcomed by Miller's family, who travelled to Thailand for the verdict.
	The judge said "DNA evidence from both suspects" guided the decision, citing forensic traces from the accused found on Witheridge's body.
	The migrant workers, who were shackled in court, were grim-faced as the verdict .

Thai court hands Myanmar men death for British tourist murders

Australian police voiced shock today after discovering an eight-year-old boy locked up in a shed with only a mattress and a bucket at an elaborate underground drug-growing compound.
	The boy and three other children - all aged between one and nine - were found during a raid on a remote property at Elands, some 300 kilometres north of Sydney, after police moved in on suspicions that cannabis plants were being grown there.
	"Police will allege one of the children was locked in a room for long periods of time over the past few weeks," police said.
	The Newcastle Herald said the boy was found in a two square metre area at the back of a tin work shed, the door locked from the outside and with only a single mattress and a bucket inside to use as a toilet.
	The child reportedly told police he had been kept there for more than three weeks, enduring storms and high temperatures and only allowed outside to help with household chores.
	The newspaper said he appeared to be ...

Australia police find locked-up boy in drug raid

At least 25 people were killed and 107 injured in a fire at a hospital in southern Saudi Arabia today, the civil defence agency said.
	The blaze broke out at the intensive care unit and the maternity department of the Jazan General Hospital in southern Saudi Arabia, the agency announced on Twitter.
	In its latest tweet, the civil defence announced that the "Jazan hospital accident is now over and investigation is underway to find out its reasons."
	It said that 21 civil defence teams had assisted in putting out the blaze.
	Alriyadh daily quoted a civil defence spokesman as saying that the agency was alerted of the fire at 2:00 AM (0430 IST).
	In August, 10 people were killed and 259 wounded in a fire at a residential complex rented by oil giant Saudi Aramco in the kingdom's Eastern Province.
	That fire was ignited by an electric short circuit in the underground parking where 130 cars were parked, the civil defence agency had said.

25 dead in Saudi hospital fire: civil defence

25 dead in Saudi hospital fire: civil defence. (AFP)

Australia captain and batting supremo Steve Smith today admitted it has been "a hell of a ride" from his Test debut as a leg-spinner to be named ICC cricketer of the year.
     The honour was bestowed on the 26-year-old late Wednesday after finishing the year, which runs from September to September, as the leading Test run-scorer with 1,734 from 25 innings, averaging 82.57.
     He also became the second youngest player to reach the number one ranking for Test batsmen behind Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar.
     "You don't think about these awards and these accolades," the dashing right-hander told the Cricket Australia website.
     "You just want to go out there and do the best you can for your team to try and win as many games as possible.
     "To be recognised as the best player this year against some unbelievable talent around the world, it's very humbling and it's an honour."
     Given his prolific recent output with the bat, it is easy to forget that he made his Test debut as .

Aussie Smith pinching himself after player award

Adrianna Vorderbruggen, a female soldier killed in Afghanistan this week, was a symbol of how gays can now serve openly in America's armed forces -- after decades of living in the shadows.
	The 36-year-old, whose life was cut short by a Taliban suicide bomber Monday, will be sorely missed by her family -- a four-year-old son and wife.
	Vorderbruggen died on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a policy which barred openly gay men and women from military service.
	According to the US media, Vorderbruggen fought for the repeal by doing advocacy work.
	"We honor the anniversary with somber hearts and the knowledge that families like Major Vorderbruggen's no longer serve in the shadows," the Military Partners and Family Coalition, an organization that supports LGBT service members, posted on its Facebook page.
	"We can take small comfort in the fact that they will be extended the same rights and protections due any American military family as they ...

Killed US soldier was openly gay wife, mother

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella has reduced the sentences of two former CIA agents, including a station chief, over the kidnapping and extraordinary rendition of an Egyptian imam in 2003.
	The CIA's former station chief in Milan, Bob Seldon Lady, was convicted in absentia along with 22 other agents in 2009 by Italian authorities, over the kidnapping of Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, better known as Abu Omar.
	The cleric was taken to the Aviano US air base in northeast Italy, flown to a US base in Germany, and on to Cairo, where he says he was tortured.
	Lady received the heaviest sentence, which was increased from eight to nine years on appeal in 2010, though he was never extradited and never served any of his term.
	The case was one of the world's biggest to take aim at Washington's controversial extraordinary rendition programme, which was set up in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks to capture and interrogate suspected Islamist militants.
	Under the programme, suspects were 

Italy grants ex-CIA spies partial pardon over rendition of

The European Union warned eastern European powerhouse Poland to avoid endangering the rule of law with controversial reforms that former president Lech Walesa said undermined democracy and made the country a laughing stock.
	A European Commission letter -- seen today by AFP -- to Poland's foreign and justice ministers, urges the reforms not be "finally adopted or put into force" until all questions about their impact "have been fully and properly assessed."
	Parliament yesterday adopted -- by 235 votes to 181 with four abstentions -- reforms to the Constitutional Court which have provoked an avalanche of criticism at home and abroad.
	Thousands of people demonstrated in Poland's capital Warsaw and other cities last weekend ahead of the vote, accusing the conservative government of undermining democracy.
	Ex-president Walesa, who led the Solidarity movement that brought an end to communism in Poland, lashed out today at the policies of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) which ...

EU warns Poland to protect 'rule of law' from reforms

Oil prices rallied today after US inventory data showed a larger drop in crude supplies than many analysts had expected.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose USD 1.36, or about 3.8 per cent, to USD 37.50 a barrel.
	In London, European benchmark Brent oil for February delivery advanced USD 1.25 to USD 37.36 a barrel.
	The gains came after the US Department of Energy reported that US crude inventories fell 5.9 million barrels for the week ending December 18. The report also showed US oil imports fell about 13 per cent from the prior week.
	Other aspects of the report were less favourable towards addressing a supply glut that has badly hit oil prices over the last year. Domestic production of oil rose slightly and inventories at a closely-watched trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma increased.
	Still, the report was enough to lift oil from multi-year lows.
	"The main thing is after the long sell off, the inventory report today has encouraged people to buy into the 

Oil prices rise as US petroleum stocks drop

The United Nations announced today it has appointed a new peacekeeping chief in Mali, amid criticism of the country's peace process.
	Chad's foreign minister Mahamat Saleh Annadif will replace Tunisia's Mongi Hamdi, who held the position for just a year.
	Annadif served as foreign minister from 1997 to 2003, a UN statement said, and has taken part in several peace processes in Africa, including in Niger, the Central African Republic and Sudan.
	The 59-year-old diplomat also directed the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) between 2012 and 2014.
	Annadif's appointment was first announced by diplomatic sources in Bamako. He will begin his new role on January 15.
	Under Hamdi's watch, Mali concluded a landmark peace deal between the government and a Tuareg-led rebellion which has launched several uprisings since the 1960s.
	But jihadist violence has intensified on the ground and the management of the transition to peace has been criticized by the international community.
	With more 

AFP

AFP

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