Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said today that his enemies abroad had increased support for the regime's armed opponents since the start of a major offensive to win back lost territory.
	Meeting with a senior Iranian official in Damascus, Assad highlighted "important gains by the Syrian army in the fight against terrorism, with the support of its friends led by Iran and Russia," state news agency SANA reported.
	But these gains, he said, have "pushed certain countries hostile to Syria and who pretend to fight terrorism to... increase their financing and arming of terrorist groups."
	Since the outbreak of Syria's conflict in 2011 Assad has accused Sunni Muslim countries including Turkey and Gulf nations of arming his mainly Sunni opponents.
	Assad's regime, dominated by the Shiite Alawite sect, launched a key offensive to retake areas seized by opponents after Moscow launched air strikes in support of the government in late September.
	Iran, the region's main Shiite power, has also ..

Syria's Assad says enemies boosting support for 'terrorists'

PTI Automatic

Nico Rosberg ended his 2015 season in triumph on Sunday when he completed a hat-trick of victories in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of his Mercedes team-mate and world champion Lewis Hamilton.
     The 30-year-old German, who has produced remarkable dominant form since seeing Hamilton secure his third drivers' title at last month's United States Grand Prix, made a perfect start from his sixth successive pole position and, pit-stops apart, was in control all the way.
     Rosberg was celebrating his sixth win of the year and the 14th of his career. It was his first success at the Yas Marina circuit where Hamilton beat him in 2014 to take his second title.
     Hamilton won 10 races this year, but on Sunday was unable to rediscover the form that carried him to the championship despite pushing hard through the middle and latter stages of the race.
     Finn Kimi Raikkonen finished third ahead of his Ferrari team-mate, four-time former champion Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez of Force .

Rosberg wins season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Britain won the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years in Ghent on Sunday when Andy Murray defeated David Goffin 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 in the first of the reverse singles for an unbeatable 3-1 lead over Belgium.
     It was a fitting climax for the 28-year-old Scot to provide the winning point, having won all 11 rubbers he played in during the campaign as the British defeated heavyweights United States, France and Australia before the clincher against Belgium.
     The win over Goffin made him just the third player, after John McEnroe and Mats Wilander, to win all eight singles in the same calendar year since the Davis Cup World Group started in 1981.
     And it underpinned Murray's place in tennis history following his headline-making wins in the 2012 US Open and Olympics, and at Wimbledon the following year.
     The match-up of the two national number ones came after both had won their opening singles on Friday and Murray had teamed up with brother Jamie the following day to defeat ...

Murray wins Davis Cup for Britain

French police fired teargas today in clashes with climate change activists who pelted them with objects in Paris during a demonstration ahead of key UN talks.
	Riot police took action after a small group of masked protesters in the Place de la Republique square began chanting "State of emergency, police state", referring to measures restricting protests that were introduced after the November 13 terror attacks in the city.
	Around 4,500 activists had earlier formed a human chain through the city, passing near the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed in the November 13 attacks on the French capital.
	But around two hours after that demonstration dispersed, anti-capitalist militants gathered in the square that has become a rallying point for mourners after the terror attacks began to clash with police in riot gear.
	The police formed lines to push them back.

Police clash with climate activists at Paris demo

Hundreds of Saudi women began campaigning for public office today, in a first for women in the conservative Muslim kingdom's slow reform process even as two activists were disqualified.
	More than 900 women are standing alongside thousands of men in the December 12 municipal ballot, which will also mark the first time women are allowed to vote.
	"I've been eliminated as a candidate for the municipal elections," Loujain Hathloul said in a tweet. "I will be filing my objection via the appropriate channels."
	Saudi authorities detained Hathloul for more than two months after she tried to drive into the kingdom last December from United Arab Emirates, in defiance of a Saudi ban on female motorists.
	She could not immediately be reached but earlier told AFP that she wanted to run "to increase the percentage of women's participation".
	Nassima al-Sadah, a human rights activist and would-be candidate in the Gulf coast city of Qatif, said officials informed her late Saturday that her name had 

2 activists barred as Saudi women launch first vote bid

Pope Francis brought a message of peace to war-torn Central African Republic today, visiting a sprawling refugee camp and calling for unity in a country plagued by sectarian violence.
	"I come to the Central African Republic as a pilgrim of peace and as an apostle of hope," the 78-year-old pontiff said on landing in one of Africa's poorest and most unstable countries, on a 24-hour visit fraught with concerns for his safety.
	Cheers and singing erupted as his plane touched down at Bangui's international airport from Uganda on the final leg of his three-country tour of Africa, which he hailed as "the continent of hope." He began his visit Wednesday in Kenya.
	For the short ride to the presidential palace in Bangui, the pontiff travelled in his open-topped popemobile, with huge crowds, many of them children and young people, cheering wildly as he passed, some waving branches in a sign of peace.
	At the palace he met with acting president Catherine Samba-Panza, who begged his forgiveness .

Pope brings message of peace to torn Central African Republic

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has slapped down a headmaster who has banned Christmas concerts and carols in his school near Milan in the name of multiculturalism.
	"Christmas is much more important than a headmaster being provocative," Renzi told today's edition of Corriere della Sera.
	"If he thinks he is promoting integration and co-existence in this way, he appears to me to have made a very big mistake."
	Marco Parma, 63, sparked protests from some parents and a media outcry by deciding to postpone the annual Christmas concert for primary school pupils to January and rebrand it a "winter concert" which will not feature any religious songs.
	The head of the Garofani comprehensive school in the small town of Rozzano has also confirmed saying no to two mothers who wanted to teach Christmas carols to the children during lunchbreaks.
	"In a multi-ethnic environment, it causes problems," Parma said, saying his decisions had been influenced by an unhappy experience last year.
	"Last 

Italy PM slaps down headmaster who banned Christmas carols

Tens of thousands of people today mourned the killing of a prominent Kurdish human rights lawyer in Turkey's troubled southeast that has raised new tensions with its biggest ethnic minority.
	Tahir Elci, one of the country's best-known advocates for Kurdish rights, was killed yesterday in a gun battle between police and unidentified gunmen in southeastern city of Diyarbakir while making a statement calling for calm. Two police were also killed.
	The death of Elci, who was the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, triggered protests from Diyarbakir to Istanbul, where police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
	Some 50,000 people mourned as his casket draped in the red, yellow and green Kurdish flag and red carnations made its way through the streets of Diyarbakir - the biggest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, an AFP correspondent reported.
	Many colleagues including Metin Feyzioglu, head of the Turkish Bar Association, carried his coffin, while prayers and 

Thousands mourn at funeral of Kurdish lawyer in Turkey

Kuwait Oil Minister Ali al-Omair was moved to the public works ministry in a limited cabinet reshuffle following a row with top oil executives, the emir decreed today.
	Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh was appointed as acting oil minister, in decrees cited by the official KUNA news agency.
	The decrees also announced accepting the resignation of Ahmad al-Jassar, who held the portfolios of electricity and water and public works.
	Jassar resigned in September after being sentenced to two years in jail for wrongly approving a USD 215 million contract that inflicted heavy losses on the state.
	State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah was appointed as acting minister of electricity and water.
	Omair, who is also state minister for national assembly affairs and an elected MP, was appointed oil minister in January 2014 and has been locked in a number of disputes with top executives of state-owned oil companies.
	At the start of November, the CEO of state-owned ...

Kuwait oil minister removed in reshuffle

Pope Francis today called for unity in the strife-torn Central African Republic, urging people not to give in to the "fear of others" in a country plagued by sectarian violence.
	In an address at the presidential palace shortly after landing in the capital Bangui, the 78-year-old pontiff called for unity and to avoid "the temptation of fear of others, of the unfamiliar, of what is not part of our ethnic group, our political views or our religious confession."
	Central African Republic descended into bloodshed more than two years ago after longtime leader Francois Bozize, a Christian, was ousted by fighters in the mainly Muslim Seleka force, triggering the worst crisis since independence in 1960.
	Since then, the former French colony has been gripped by violence between the Seleka fighters and Christian militias known as "anti-balaka" or anti-machete.
	Though the violence has subsided since last year, there is still a high crime rate fuelled in part by easy access to weapons.

Resist 'fear of others', pope says in strife-torn CAR

Germany is planning to deploy 1,200 troops to help France in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, its army chief said today, in what would be the military's biggest deployment abroad.
	"From a military point of view, around 1,200 soldiers would be necessary to run the planes and ship," army chief of staff General Volker Wieker told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that the mission would begin "very quickly once a mandate is obtained".
	"The government is seeking a mandate this year," said Wieker.
	Berlin on Thursday offered France Tornado reconnaissance jets, a naval frigate, aerial refuelling and satellite images in the fight against the IS group.
	Between four and six Tornados would be deployed to deliver images of the ground, even in poor weather and during the night, Wieker said.
	Asked why Germany had shied away from participating in direct air strikes, Wieker said the coalition already had "sufficient forces and means" dealing with that aspect of the ...

Germany planning to deploy 1,200 troops for IS fight: army

Yemeni pro-government forces were battling today to oust Iran-backed rebels from a southern province where they have made gains in recent weeks.
	Ground fighting and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition killed 12 rebels in Daleh province, military sources said. Four loyalists were also killed.
	Daleh is one of five southern provinces which the coalition-backed loyalists retook from the rebels in a July offensive.
	But the Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies managed to recapture the province's second-largest city, Damt, earlier this month.
	Further north, in Yemen's third city Taez, where a loyalist garrison has been under rebel siege for months, three civilians were killed and at least 20 wounded by rebel mortar fire late yesterday, medical and military sources said.
	Loyalist troops and their coalition backers launched an offensive to try to break the siege earlier this month but it has made little headway.
	In the rebel-held capital Sanaa, coalition aircraft carried out what a ...

16 dead in fighting for south Yemen province

Iran said today there would be no final implementation of a nuclear deal with world powers unless a probe into allegations of past weapons research is closed.
	The declaration, by a top security official, comes after the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said a report into the possible military dimensions of Iran's activities would not be "black and white."
	Iran has always denied seeking to develop an atomic weapons capability, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy production and medical purposes only.
	Referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the July 14 agreement's official name, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, said anything short of the watchdog's probe being closed was unacceptable to Iran.
	"Without the closure of the file regarding past issues, there is no possibility of implementing the JCPOA," the official IRNA news agency reported him as saying.
	Shamkhani is secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the country's highest security body, .

Iran demands closure of UN nuclear watchdog probe

Australia claimed a thrilling three-wicket victory inside three days over New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval today in the first-ever day-night Test.
     Shaun Marsh took Australia to the cusp of victory before losing his wicket on 49 and the fighting Kiwis set up a tense finish under the floodlights by also dismissing Peter Nevill to leave the home side seven wickets down.
    	Peter Siddle hit the winning runs, much to the relief of the crowd, to clinch a 2-0 series win over the gallant Black Caps.
	Australia won the first Brisbane Test by 208 runs and the second Perth Test was drawn.
	The match was redemption for Marsh, who has struggled to hold down a place in the Australian team with inconsistent batting performances over his four years at Test level.
	The pink ball developed for day-night Tests triumphed over the bat in a  fast-paced Test which attracted a total attendance of 123,736. The aim of the experiment is to bring the crowds back to the long form of the game.
    	"The ...

Australia win day-night Test in tense finish

Spaniards are divided on whether Spain should take part in the international military campaign in Syria against the Islamic State, with just over half, 54, per cent, opposed, a poll published today showed.
	About a third, 35 per cent, are in favour of joining the military campaign in Syria and the rest were undecided, according to the poll published in El Mundo newspaper.
	The poll - carried out after the November 13 suicide bomb and shootings in Paris - also found that 83 per cent of Spaniards believed a Paris-style attack could happen in Spain, suggesting that national security could emerge as a theme for a December 20 general election.
	Another poll published yesterday in the conservative daily La Razon showed 69 per cent of Spaniards wanting Spain to help France "in its fight against Islamist terrorism".
	By contrast with the poll in El Mundo the survey showed more people supporting Spain "bombing the terrorists in Syria" than not, with 49.3 per cent in favour compared with 43.6 ..

Spanish divided on joining anti-IS strikes: polls

Scoreboard at dinner on the third day of the day-night third Test between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval today:
 New Zealand 1st innings: 202
 Australia 1st innings: 224
 New Zealand 2nd innings: 208
 Australia 2nd innings
 D. Warner   c Southee b Bracewell   35
 J. Butns    lbw b Boult             11
 S. Smith    lbw b Boult             14
 A. Voges    not out                 27
 S. Marsh    not out                 24
 Extras (lb2)                         2
 Total (3 wickets; 28 overs)        113
 Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-62, 3-66.
 Bowling: Southee 10-0-40-0, Boult 8-1-35-2, Bracewell 6-1-19-1, Craig 4-0-17-0.

Adelaide, Nov 29 (AFP) Scoreboard at dinner on the third day of the day-night third Test between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval today:

Australia were edging towards victory thanks to a Shaun Marsh-Adam Voges partnership in the first-ever day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide today.
     After being set 187 runs to win, the hosts were rocked by the double loss of skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner in the space of seven balls.
     But the West Australian pair restored the innings with an unbeaten 47-run fourth-wicket stand on the third day.
     At the dinner break heading into the crucial final session under lights, Australia were 113 for three and 74 runs from victory with Voges on 27 and Marsh not out 24.
     Victory would give Australia a 2-0 win in the three-match series. The Kiwis would remain unbeaten in their last eight Test series since 2013 if they can bowl out the Australians with the pink ball.
     Whichever way it goes, the Adelaide Oval is poised for its first three-day Test match in 64 years -- since the West Indies beat Australia by six wickets.
     The first wicket came in the 

Aussies closing in on victory in day-night Test

Saudi women began their first-ever campaigns for public office today, in a step forward for women's rights in the conservative kingdom's slow reform process.
	More than 900 women are standing in the December 12 municipal elections, which will also mark the first time women are allowed to vote.
	Ruled by King Salman, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has no elected legislature but has faced intense Western scrutiny over its rights record.
	The country's first municipal elections were held in 2005, followed by another vote in 2011, but in both cases only men were allowed to participate.
	"We will vote for the women even though we don't know anything about them," Um Fawaz, a teacher in her 20s, said in Hafr al-Batin city.
	"It's enough that they are women," she said.
	The absolute monarchy, which applies its strict interpretation of Islam, has faced widespread criticism for its lack of equal rights.
	Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Women must also .

Saudi women candidates begin first election campaigns

A Russian warplane recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria but the intrusion was resolved without incident, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said today.
	Yaalon's comments come amid deep concern over the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, which claims it strayed over the Syrian border into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings to change course. Moscow denies the allegations.
	"There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kilometres) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immediately resolved and the Russian plane returned towards Syria," Yaalon told public radio.
	"It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan."
	Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.
	Yaalon recalled that Israel and Russia had made arrangements to avoid clashes over Syria, with the agreement said to include a "hotline" and ...

Russia plane entered Israel control zone from Syria: minister

At least 18 civilians were killed and 40 wounded in "probably Russian" air strikes on a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria today, a monitoring group said.
	The strikes hit the Idlib province town of Ariha, which is controlled by the Army of Conquest, a rebel alliance of mainly Islamist groups, including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	Several areas of the town were hit and rescue operations are under way with several critically wounded, the Britain-based group said.
	The Army of Conquest alliance seized Ariha in May after heavy fighting with regime forces.
	Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria on September 30. It says it targets the Islamic State group and other "terrorists", but critics accuse it of targeting moderate and Islamist rebel fighters more than IS.
	Russian air strikes have previously hit several Army of Conquest positions in Idlib province.

At least 18 civilians killed in Syria air strikes: monitor

A boat held by Somali pirates has been freed after a gun battle, fishermen and witnesses said today, claiming several of the pirates were killed.
	There was no precise information on the boat or the fate of its crew, whether international forces were involved in the rescue, or whether the crew had wrested back control on their own.
	However, security sources said the boat was believed to be an Iranian fishing vessel seized earlier this week with 15 crew, held off the central Somali coastline.
	"We heard heavy exchange of gunfire... Several of the pirates were killed and a boat they hijacked was freed," said Muktar Yakub, a fisherman in the Harardhere area, adding the boat had now disappeared from sight of the coast.
	Local elder Abdulahi Bare said "seven of the pirates were killed and two others were seriously wounded" but the toll could not be independently confirmed.
	Piracy peaked in 2011, when Somali pirates held more than 700 hostages, but rates of attacks have tumbled, partly ...

AFP

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