Syrian Peace Talk: Main Syrian opposition team head to Geneva

A delegation from Syria's main opposition group flew to Geneva on Saturday to assess whether to join Damascus government officials in United Nations-brokered peace talks, an opposition representative said.

The 17-strong team included the head of the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's five-year civil war.

The HNC has said it wants to discuss humanitarian issues including a stop to Russian and Syrian government bombing before engaging in the peace talks that started on Friday in Geneva.

Russian air strikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday.

"We are going to Geneva to put to the test the seriousness of the international community in its promises to the Syrian people and to also test the seriousness of the regime in implementing its humanitarian obligations," Riyad Naasan Agha said.

"We want to show the world our seriousness in moving towards negotiations to find a political solution," he told Reuters. 

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday the Geneva talks must ensure human rights are upheld as participants work towards a political transition in Syria.

"Humanitarian law must be respected and the objective of a political transition actively pursued to enable the talks to succeed," Fabius said in a statement sent to Reuters.

The HNC's demands include allowing aid convoys into rebel-held besieged areas where tens of thousands are living in dire conditions, Agha said.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Saturday that 16 people have starved to death in the government-besieged town of Madaya since aid convoys arrived this month and blamed the authorities for blocking medical supplies shipments.

Agha said the opposition delegation, including HNC head Riad Hijab and chief negotiator Asaad al-Zoubi, would not call for a complete cessation of hostilities but would demand an end to "the indiscriminate shelling of markets, hospitals and schools by the regime and its Russian backers".

Russia and Syria deny targeting civilians, saying they take great care to avoid bombing residential areas.

In separate comments before heading to Geneva, Zoubi said they would not engage in any negotiations before these goodwill measures were taken.

He said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave assurances by phone to the HNC's leadership, saying Washington supported a UN-backed political transition period without Assad - a bone of contention among warring parties.

Migrant boat capsize off Turkey's Coast, left More than 30 dead...

At least 33 people drowned and 75 others were rescued after a boat carrying migrants to Greece sank off Turkey's western coast, a local mayor and Turkish news agency Dogan reported on Saturday.

The Turkish coast guard was continuing search and rescue efforts where the boat sank off the coast of Ayvacik, a town across from the Greek island of Lesvos. It was not immediately clear how many migrants had been on board.

"At least 33 people are dead but I am afraid the numbers will rise as divers continue the search," Mehmet Unal Sahin, the mayor of Ayvacik, told CNNTurk news channel by phone.

"Local people woke up to the sound of screaming migrants and we have been carrying out rescue work since dawn. We have an 80-kilometre-long coast just across from Lesvos, which is very hard to keep under control."

At least five of those who died were children, the Dogan news agency said, and rescued migrants were hospitalized with hypothermia symptoms. It said the migrants were of Syrian, Afghan and Myanmar origin.

More than one million refugees and migrants arrived by land and sea in the European Union last year and some 3,600 died or went missing.

Around 500,000 refugees from the five-year-old war in Syria traveled through Turkey and then risked their lives at sea to reach Greek islands in 2015. Despite the winter conditions and rough seas, the exodus has continued, albeit at a slower pace.

Turkey is the first stop on Syrian migrants' journey to the European Union.

Turkey struck a deal with the EU in November pledging to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in financial aid for the 2.5 million Syrian refugees it is hosting, as well as renewed talks on joining the 28-nation bloc.

Picture Credit: Reuter

China Charged a Canadian for Spying and Stealing State Secrets

A Canadian man who ran a cafe in China is charged with spying and stealing state secrets, state media reported Thursday.

Kevin Garratt was indicted by prosecutors in the northeastern city of Dandong, where his trial will be held, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Authorities detained Garratt and his wife Julia in August 2014. She was released on bail last year, CNN partner CBC News reported, but her husband remained in custody pending an investigation.

Chinese investigators "found evidence which implicates Garratt in accepting tasks from Canadian espionage agencies to gather intelligence in China," Xinhua said.

The couple's children have decried their parents' 2014 arrest as ridiculous.

Simeon Garratt told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that the allegations were "wildly absurd" and "crazy."

At the time, he described his parents as "openly Christian" and said they were involved in sending food aid to North Korea. He told the newspaper the accusations "(sound) like something somebody made up. I really don't know why. It's just so absurd."

Canada finds the indictment "concerning" and has discussed the case with the Chinese government, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson said. Consular officials are providing assistance to the couple and monitoring developments, the spokesperson said.

Canada's Conservative Party called for officials to push for Garratt's release and said it was concerned the indictment could be part of a broader crackdown on international nongovernmental organization workers in China.

"This case‎ has been concerning to Canadians for many months. We are also deeply concerned for Mr. Garratt's wife, Julia, who remains under a form of house arrest in China," the statement said. "We are urging the government of Canada to use every diplomatic avenue available to advocate on behalf of the Garratts."

Tory Council warns David Cameron says his cuts are 'unrealistic'

A Conservative-controlled local council has written to David Cameron to tell him the cuts included in his budget are “unrealistic”. Independent reported

East Sussex County Council, a Tory stronghold since its creation, said the Government’s fiscal policy would “significantly reduce the quality of life for many people in East Sussex”.

The letter to the PM was signed by Councillor Keith Glazier, who leads the council, and the leaders of the other political party groups in East Sussex.

The local authority has cut more than £78 million since 2010 but has to make further savings of up to £90 million by April 2019, including £40 million from its adult social care budget.

This is despite a plan to increase council tax by 3.99 per cent raising £4.7, the maximum allowed by the Government without holding a costly local referendum.

“The fact that leaders of all parties have put their names to this letter shows that this is an issue which transcends politics,” Mr Glazier said.

“We have done everything possible to ensure we bear our share of the burden of reducing the national deficit, and produce a balanced and responsible budget, but the savings we are now having to make will place a heavy burden on some of our residents.

“We’re calling on the Government to acknowledge the impact of funding cuts, particularly on social care authorities, to work more closely with local councils and to adopt a fairer approach to the way it allocates funding.

The letter was signed by Labour, Liberal Democrat and Ukip group leaders on the council, as well as the leader of the area’s independents group.

The letter was cc’d in to George Osborne, the Chancellor, and Greg Clark, the local government secretary.

Last November Mr Cameron came to blows with his own local Tory council, Oxfordshire County Council.

The Prime Minister was accused of not understanding the impact of his own policies on local services when he claimed the council should be making “back-office savings” and protecting frontline services.

Both East Sussex and Oxfordshire’s budget situation comes despite being two of the more wealthy county council in the UK.

An analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies released before the general election found that cuts to council budgets were sharpest in the UK’s poorest areas.

Inner-city boroughs like Tower Hamlets have lost out by 42.1 per cent since 2010 while leafier areas have comparatively escaped the axe. 

Figures collated by Labour over the summer found that the 10 most deprived councils were facing cuts 18 times higher than that of the 10 richest councils.

2 Dead, 7 Injured As Suicide Bombers Attacks Saudi Mosque

At least two people have been killed and seven others injured in a suicide bombing and shooting attack at a mosque in Saudi Arabia.

Shia Muslims were gathering at the Imam Reza Mosque, in the city of Al-Hofuf, for Friday prayers at the time.

The Saudi interior ministry said that two suicide bombers detonated their vests after security guards prevented them entering the buildings.

“When security men stopped them, one blew himself up at the entrance of the mosque and there was an exchange of fire with the other,” a spokesperson said.

“He was wounded and arrested wearing an explosive belt.”

Footage shared on social media showed the moment of the explosion, which was followed by sounds believed to be gunfire.

The mosque appeared to be full when the blast ripped through the building, blowing out windows, shaking the walls and cutting the electricity.

A separate video claimed to show the surviving gunman being restrained by worshippers, who forced him to lie face-down on the floor as a man appeared to remove a device from around his waist.

There have been numerous suicide bombings targeting Shia Muslims in the predominantly Sunni country in the past year.

Isis has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks that followed a similar pattern, using armed militants wearing suicide vests to shoot worshippers before detonating the explosives.

Zika virus: Up to four million people could be infected - WHO

Three to four million people could be infected with Zika virus in the Americas this year, the World Health Organization predicts.

Most will not develop symptoms, but the infection has been linked to brain defects in babies.

Meanwhile the US says it hopes to start vaccine trials in people by the end of the year.

WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said Zika had gone "from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions".

She has set up a Zika "emergency team" after the "explosive" spread of the virus.

It will meet on Monday to decide whether Zika should be treated as a global emergency.

The last time an international emergency was declared was for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa which has killed more than 11,000 people.

BREAKING: Man Arrested With Two Firearms in Paris

The man was arrested at Disneyland Paris by the French Police after two guns and a Koran were found in his suitcase.

The 28-year-old was on his way into the resort’s Hotel New York when the weapons were detected on, a spokesperson for the judicial police in Meaux told The Independent.

A compulsory X-ray of his luggage revealed the firearms and the man was detained by Disney security staff before being handed over to police, who discovered the Koran and ammunition during further searches.

Officers were initially hunting for a woman seen accompanying the man, who had reportedly booked a room for two, but she has since been arrested.

The man’s car, parked on the premises, had been cordoned off and was being searched this afternoon as inquiries continued The Independent reported.

The suspect is not believed to be known to the police or French intelligence services.

Police have not released any further information or confirmed speculation about a possible terror plot.

France remains in a state of emergency following the Paris attacks in November.

Malawi prison band gets Grammy Awards nomination ...

Malawi’s Zomba Prison Project band with a unique line-up may grab global success at the prestigious Grammy Awards in February.

Convicted murderer Elias Chimenya, on bass guitar, burglar, Stefano Nyerenda, and prison guard Thomas Binamo who is one of the songwriters are members of the band.

The AFP reports that their 20-track record “I Have No Everything Here” has been nominated in the Best World Music Album category, with the winner to be announced at a gala ceremony in Los Angeles.

Musical talent at the Zomba maximum-security prison was unearthed in 2013 when US producer Ian Brennan spent two weeks working with 60 inmates and guards to make the album.

Six hours of recordings were edited down into the final selection of songs, featuring 16 of the prison’s musicians, singing mainly in the local Chichewa language.

Elias Chimenya, 46, who is serving a life term for killing a man in a quarrel in the 1980s, wrote and sang the haunting ballad “Jealous Neighbour”, the album’s fifth track.

“I am a reformed person, and music has helped me to be cool and deal with the situation of being incarcerated for life,” he told AFP at the decrepit prison in the poor southern African nation.

“(But) I hope to not die in prison, and instead to be released to take up a music career outside.”
More than two years after the recording sessions, news of the award nomination came as a surprise to inmates.

“We are baffled because we didn’t expect prisoners could be nominated,” said Nyerenda, the 34-year-old guitarist, who expects to be freed next year after serving a 10-year sentence for house burglary.

The prison already had an all-male band that tours local schools to spread HIV prevention messages.

But the Grammy-nominated album includes other inmates — and half the songs are by women prisoners living in a separate part of the jail where they have no instruments except hand drums, buckets and pieces of pipe.

Among the songs on the album, which was recorded in a makeshift studio next to a noisy carpentry workshop, are tracks called “Last Wishes”, “I Am Alone” and “Don’t Hate Me”.

“The nomination alone has inspired us and already made us famous both in Malawi and abroad,” said Binamo, the prison guard who wrote the lyrics for a song called “Please. Don’t Kill My Child.”

“Winning an award will be the icing on the cake,” he added, as band members wearing white prison uniforms rehearsed a new song in the bare studio under a single light bulb.

“We teach vocals, keyboard, drums and guitar until they become musicians. Playing music can bring relief to them,” Binawo said.

“Many people have a negative attitude towards the prison authorities. They think we only punish convicts.”

Brennan, who has worked regularly in US prisons, said he was amazed by how music sessions in the Zomba jail “did not have any rigid boundary between guards and prisoners.”

Russia raids on Al Qaeda's run Syria prison kill 'at least 39'

Russian strikes Saturday on a prison complex run by Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate in the country's northwest killed at least 39 people, including five civilians, a monitoring group said.

The strikes hit an Al-Nusra Front building, which lies near a popular market in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The building housed the group's religious court and a jail.

Most of those killed were rebels imprisoned by Al-Nusra, while other victims included prison guards and Al-Nusra fighters.

Among the dead were five civilians, including a child.

Russian warplanes have been conducting air strikes against the Islamic State organisation and "other terrorist groups" in Syria since September 30.

Although Al-Nusra and IS are both jihadist organisations, they are fierce rivals and regularly clash in Syria.

Al-Nusra also has tense relationships with non-jihadist rebel groups that oppose its extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

In Idlib, it has formed an alliance with rebel groups, including hardline faction Ahrar al-Sham.

The Army of Conquest coalition has expelled regime forces from Idlib province.

The Britain-based Observatory has an extensive network of sources inside Syria and identifies casualties by the type of aircraft flown and the munitions used.

Syria's conflict first erupted with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011 but quickly morphed into a war that has left more than 260,000 people dead.

'El Chapo' Mexican Drug lord re-captured

The notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured six months after he staged an audacious prison break.

President Enrique Pena Nieto announced in a twitter message that the fugitive criminal was back in police custody on Friday, six months after his high-profile escape from a maximum security prison.

"Mission accomplished : we have him. I want to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained," he wrote.

It comes after the drug kingpin drove out of prison in July on a motorbike from a specially-constructed tunnel leading into his cell.

The Mexican Navy said that Guzman had been recaptured after a gun battle at the house where he had been hiding, according to reports from AP.

Officials said he fled the raid via a drain, but was caught when he tried to escape in a vehicle
Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the pre-dawn shootout in the town of Los Mochis, within the gangmaster's home state of Sinaloa, it was reported.

Weapons including two armored vehicles, eight long guns, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher were recovered from the house after Guzman's recapture.

The crime boss' escape in July was a major embarrassment to President Nieto's government - not least since it was the second time that Guzman had managed to break out of prison.

His first jailbreak in 2001 had been a more simple affair in which the criminal simply bribed his way out of prison.

Officials had released pictures after his most recent escape showing a long tunnel complete with motorbike mounted on specially constructed rails in an elaborate and audacious plan believed to have been painstakingly prepared over many months.

The tunnel had opened into a 'blind spot' not covered by security cameras in the criminal's cell, allowing him to vanish before prison wardens realised he was missing.


Once featured in the Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman could now face extradition to the US where he is wanted on various criminal charges including cocaine smuggling and money laundering.

Cologne Attacks : Merkel calls for tougher migrant laws

Angela Merkel is calling for tougher laws on regulating migrants after a string of New Year's Eve sex attacks and robberies in Cologne.

The attacks were largely blamed on foreigners and police confirmed of the 31 men questioned so far, 18 were asylum seekers.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party wants to:

• Toughen laws to exclude foreigners from being granted asylum if they have a criminal record, however small
• Strengthen police powers to conduct checks of identity papers

As many as 1,000 men of "Arab or North African descent" allegedly groped women near the city's main train station.

More than 100 women reported they had been threatened, robbed or molested in the area.
While at least one woman claimed she was gang raped.

The proposals would still need parliamentary approval before they come into force.

Merkel said: "The right to asylum can be lost if someone is convicted on probation or jailed.

"Serial offenders who repeatedly rob or repeatedly affront women must feel the full force of the law."

The investigation into the New Year's Eve attacks is still continuing.

Cologne's police chief was dismissed on Friday after mounting criticism of his force's handling of the incidents and being slow to release information.

Earlier this week protesters called on Merkel to act over the attacks which she had described as "disgusting".

Germany took in just over a million migrants last year, far more than any other European country.

Saudi Arabia Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Iran After Attacks

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, marking a swift escalation in a strategic and sectarian rivalry that underpins conflicts across the Middle East.

Iranian diplomats in Saudi Arabia have 48 hours to leave the country, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters.

The two countries have long been at odds, but Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr Saturday kicked off a new round of sparring between them that analysts say could mark a dangerous shift in an already volatile region.

"I think you're going to see a period of very harsh rhetoric, and the cutting of diplomatic ties comes at a very bad time. ... This is Saudi Arabia saying, 'The gloves are off,' " said Bobby Ghosh, a CNN global affairs analyst and managing editor of Quartz.

Al-Jubeir said his country was severing ties with Iran after an attack this weekend on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

That attack came after Saturday's execution of al-Nimr, a fervent dissident against the Sunni Muslim Saudi royal family who called for their deposal during the Arab spring uprisings in 2011.

Later that night, in predominantly Shia Iran, Molotov cocktails smashed into the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Protesters shouted as it caught fire. Some went inside and ransacked offices.

Severing ties was a last resort, a source familiar with Saudi Arabia's decision said, because Saudi Arabia views Iran's behavior as unacceptable and feels no country is doing anything to counter it.

"This was the Saudis saying, 'Enough. We've had it,' " the source said.

China landslide: Rescuers on search for 85 missing people

Hundreds of rescue workers are looking for survivors after a landslide hit 33 buildings in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Seven people were pulled from the rubble with minor injuries but 85 are still missing. About 900 were evacuated as the landslide struck on Sunday.

Authorities said a huge man-made mound of earth and construction debris lost stability and collapsed.

The city is one of China's biggest and is a major industrial centre.

It is situated in the southern province of Guangdong, across the mainland border from Hong Kong.

The landslide has blanketed a vast area of 380,000 sq m (455,000 sq yards) covering it with up to 10m (32ft) of mud at an industrial park, Shenzhen's emergency management office said on its official microblog.

State news agency Xinhua said that the landslide caused an explosion at a natural gas pipeline. Workers have cleaned up about 400m of damaged pipeline and are now repairing it.

Nato Agrees Turkey Air Defense Package

NATO allies agreed on Friday to send aircraft and ships to Turkey to strengthen Ankara's air defences on its border with Syria, the alliance's chief said, a package that is partly designed to avoid any more shoot-downs of Russian planes.

Envoys to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation approved the plan and must now decide what military assets to send to Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters, stressing that it was a defensive measure.

"We have agreed on a package of assurance measures for Turkey in view of the volatile situation in the region," Stoltenberg said, although he avoided any reference to Russia's military involvement in Syria and its air incursions.

Given that Turkey already has a formidable air force, NATO diplomats and military experts say the alliance's involvement is to minimise the risk of any repeat of Turkey's Nov. 24 shooting down of a Russian warplane that flew into Turkish airspace.

That was the first known incident of its kind since the Cold War and the most serious of several air incursions since early October, leaving relations between Turkey and Russia at their lowest ebb in recent memory. Moscow has retaliated with sanctions and called it a "hostile act".

Due to be assembled in the coming weeks, the package will include NATO's AWACS surveillance planes and what Stoltenberg described as "enhanced air policing including maritime patrol aircraft" as well as NATO ships in the eastern Mediterranean provided by Germany and Denmark exercising in the area.

AWACS monitor airspace within a radius of more than 400 km (250 miles) and exchange information via digital data links, with ground-based, sea-based and airborne commanders.

Asked if this was about managing Turkey's airspace with more caution than Ankara has shown in the past, Stoltenberg said: "This will give us a better situational awareness ... more transparency, more predictability and that will contribute to stabilising the situation in the region and also calm tensions," Stoltenberg said.

Picture Credit : Reuters