Baghdad hit by deadly bomb blasts

At least 24 people have died after explosions in Shia areas of Baghdad, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

The ministry told the CA that at least 66 people were wounded in the blasts, which occurred in the capital's Sadr City and Kadhimiya neighborhoods.
AFP news agency said one bomb was planted on a motorcycle and that there were at least three roadside devices.
The attacks come amid a rise in sectarian tensions after the last US combat troops withdrew in December.
CA correspondent Rafid Jabboori says Iraq is going through a severe political crisis and the situation in the country is tense.
He says the attacks occurred during Baghdad's rush hour and the Interior Ministry says they were targeted at civilian gatherings.
Unnamed officials told the AFP news agency that between 12 and 15 people had been killed when two car bombs exploded simultaneously in Kadhimiya at around 09:00 (06:00 GMT). The Associated Press (AP) said 15 people died in the blasts.
Twelve people had earlier been killed when two bombs were detonated in Sadr City, AP reported officials as saying. It said the first was a motorbike bomb, which exploded near where labourers were gathering to look for work.
It quoted anonymous hospital officials as saying that 30 minutes later a roadside bomb exploded near a tea shop, killing one. AFP quoted security officials as saying nine people were killed and 35 wounded in the Sadr City attacks. Reuters put the toll at 10.
"There was a group of day labourers gathered, waiting to be hired for work. Someone brought his small motorcycle and parked it nearby. A few minutes later it blew up, killed some people, wounded others and burned some cars," a police officer told Reuters at the scene of the first attack.
Iraq's power-sharing government has been in crisis since an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges two weeks ago. He has denied the accusations against him.
The al-Iraqiyya group, the main Sunni bloc in parliament, is boycotting the assembly in protest. It accuses Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shia, of monopolising power.
Mr Hashemi is currently in Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, under the protection of the regional government, but Mr Maliki has demanded that they give him up.
"Political leaders fight each other for power, and we pay the price," Labourer Ahmed Khalaf told AFP at the site of one of the Sadr City explosions. "How is it our fault if al-Hashemi is wanted, or someone else is wanted?" he asked. "Why should we pay instead of them?"

Nigeria churches hit by blasts during Christmas prayers

Bomb blasts targeting Christmas Day church services in two Nigerian cities have killed at least 26 people.

Some 25 people died and more were hurt in an attack at St Theresa's Church in Madalla near Nigeria's capital Abuja.
The Islamist group Boko Haram said it carried out the attack, which came amid deadly violence between Islamist gunmen and soldiers in northern Nigeria.
A second explosion shortly afterwards hit a church in the central city of Jos, killing at least one person.
Nearly 70 people have died in days of fighting between Nigerian forces and suspected Islamist gunmen in the country's north-east, but the CA's Fidelis Mbah in Lagos says no trouble had been expected in the capital.
Boko Haram - whose name means "Western education is forbidden" - often targets security forces and state institutions.
The group carried out an August 2011 suicide attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja, in which more than 20 people were killed.

An unconfirmed report quoting local police said two explosions had hit the northern town of Damaturu, epicentre of the violence between security forces and Boko Haram militants earlier in the week.

Emergency workers 'attacked'

National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) spokesman Yushau Shuaibu told the CA that the latest Abuja explosion had happened in the street outside the church.

He said the church - which can hold up to 1,000 people - had been badly affected by the blast, and the number of dead was likely to rise.

Witnesses said windows of nearby houses had been shattered by the explosion. Unconfirmed reports say that emergency responders have been attacked by groups of stone-throwing youths.

Officials at the local hospital said the condition of many of the injured was serious, and they were seeking help from bigger medical facilities.

Businessman Munir Nasidi was in a hotel opposite the church when the blast occurred.

He told the CA: "When I came out of the hotel, people were running around. Everyone was crying. They were bringing out casualties. Nobody was getting near the building as there was a fire."

CA Africa editor Martin Plaut says that the attack in Jos, in Plateau state - which killed at least one policeman and destroyed three vehicles - could have even more serious consequences than the attack in Abuja.

The state lies in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south.

More than 1,000 have been killed in religious and ethnic violence in Jos over the past two years and our correspondent says there will be fears that the latest attack could spark wider conflict.

A string of bomb blasts in Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 were claimed by Boko Haram.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi condemned the latest attacks as blind, absurd "terrorist violence" that enflames hate.

"We are close to the suffering of the Nigerian Church and the entire Nigerian people so tried by terrorist violence, even in these days that should be of joy and peace," Lombardi was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

Deadly suicide attack on Afghanistan funeral in Takhar

At least 20 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a funeral procession in the northern Afghan province of Takhar, officials say.

Police said 30 were hurt in the attack in the provincial capital, Taloqan.
Among those killed was local MP Mutalib Beg, a former commander in the Western-backed Northern Alliance - the faction that fought against the Taliban.
Takhar is one of the provinces where Nato is handing over security duties to Afghan forces.
The CA's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says this is the third time a former Northern Alliance commander has been killed in the province.
He says Matalib Beg, an ethnic Uzbek, was an influential commander and a former police chief of Kunduz province.
There are reports that other senior officials were also at the funeral.
Although suicide attacks in the area are rare, our correspondent says an al-Qaeda affiliated group called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan operates in the province.
No group has said it carried out the attack, but the Taliban and the IMU are likely to be among the main suspects.
Takhar governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa said he had been invited but had decided not to attend.

Sudan Darfur rebel Khalil Ibrahim 'killed by army'

The Sudanese army says it has killed the leader of Darfur's main rebel group, Khalil Ibrahim of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem).

The report of his death, in fighting in the Wad Banda area of North Kordofan, could not be independently verified.
Mr Ibrahim had returned from exile in Libya after the fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime this year.
If confirmed, his death would be a major blow to the Jem, which was behind several high-profile attacks.
Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Sad told the CA Arabic Service that Mr Ibrahim had been killed at dawn on Sunday .
He and other rebel leaders had been trying to enter South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July, the spokesman told Sudanese TV.
There was no immediate comment on the news from the Jem but a source close to the rebels told AFP news agency: "I'm pretty sure it's true."
Khartoum accused Jem of fighting for the late Libyan leader in his attempt to hold on to power.
Gaddafi's fall in Tripoli was a blow to the rebels as he had given them sanctuary and financial and military aid, analysts say.
Mr Ibrahim founded the Jem and made it the most powerful and most heavily armed rebel group in Darfur.
Attacks launched by the group include one on the capital, Khartoum in 2008.
More than 220 people were killed when the rebels drove across the desert to Omdurman, just across the River Nile from the presidential palace.
Government troops repulsed them after heavy fighting.
Just on Saturday, the Jem said they were planning a new advance on Khartoum.
The rebels signed a ceasefire with the Sudanese government in February 2010 but abandoned peace talks soon after, accusing Khartoum's forces of launching new raids in Darfur.
About 300,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur since it began in 2003, the UN says.

Russians gear for new mass rallies against vote-rigging

Russia's opposition is due to hold new mass rallies in Moscow and other cities to protest against what it says were rigged elections on 4 December.

In the capital alone, organisers say some 50,000 people are expected to gather on Sakharov Avenue.
The protesters are demanding a re-run of the poll, which was won by the party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
President Dmitry Medvedev announced political reforms this week, but many demonstrators say it is not enough.

'On the backfoot'

The Moscow rally - authorised by the authorities - is being organised by a coalition of opposition forces.
Some 47,000 people have already vowed on Facebook to attend, and another 10,000 say they may join the demonstration.
Among those attending the event will be prominent anti-Kremlin blogger Alexei Navalny, following his release from prison after taking part in another demonstration in Moscow on 10 December.
Organisers said that as many as 50,000 people rallied on that day, in what was the biggest anti-government protest since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The opposition has been encouraged by that success, forcing the Kremlin on the backfoot.

On Thursday, Mr Medvedev proposed to hold direct elections of regional governors and simplify the procedure for registering political parties, but protesters say the concessions do not go far enough, the CA's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says.
However, one of the main problems for the opposition is that there is no single leader able to unite it, our correspondent adds.
According to the official results of the elections to Russia's Duma, the ruling United Russia party saw its share of the vote fall from 64% to 49%, though it remains easily the biggest party.
But there is a widespread view, fuelled by mobile phone videos and accounts on internet social networking sites, that there was wholesale election fraud and that Mr Putin's party cheated its way to victory.

The Kremlin denies the claim.

Baghdad blasts: Hashemi accuses government over attacks

Iraq's Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has said Iraq's government was behind Thursday's series of bombings that killed nearly 70 people in Baghdad.

The attack could not have happened on such a scale without government help, he told the CA's Persian service.
Mr Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, fled to Iraq's Kurdish region after PM Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia, issued an arrest warrant against him on terror charges.
The crisis has sparked fears of renewed sectarian conflict in Iraq.
Mr Hashemi said only members of Iraq's security apparatus were capable of co-ordinating such large-scale attacks.
"This style of terrorist attack, it's well-beyond even al-Qaeda to do it. What has been done is well-organised, the people who plant all these explosives, they went freely, without any obstacles, regardless of many checkpoints that we do have, and simultaneously all these car bombs and explosives went off in one time," he said.
"Those who were behind all these explosions and incidents [were a] part in the security of the government. I'm sure about that."

Unity doubt

Thursday's attacks were the worst to hit Iraq in months. At least 68 people were killed and nearly 200 injured as car and roadside bombs went off in 16 separate locations, mostly Shia areas of the city.
The violence came days after the US withdrew the last of its combat troops from Iraq on Monday, ending nearly nine years of military engagement.
Mr Hashemi said the US should bear responsibility for the way Iraq was now being governed.
Earlier, he said that Mr Maliki should be focusing on security, not "chasing patriotic politicians".
Mr Hashemi has been accused of orchestrating terror attacks on officials and security forces, a charge he denies. In response, the main Sunni political bloc, al-Iraqiyya, is blockading parliament and the cabinet, putting the future of the fragile year-old unity government in doubt.
Mr Hashemi has previously compared the prime minister's behaviour and style of government to that of deposed former leader Saddam Hussein, telling US Foreign Policy magazine Mr Maliki was "very much adamant about running this country in a very bad and tough way".

At least 63 killed in co-ordinated Baghdad attacks

A wave of apparently co-ordinated bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, has killed at least 63 people and injured around 185, say officials.

The interior ministry told the CA 14 blasts hit various locations, including al-Amil in the south and Halawi and Karrada closer to the centre.
The bombings are the worst in months - and follow the withdrawal of US troops.
They come amid fears of rising sectarian tensions as the unity government faces internal divisions.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks.
However, analysts say the level of co-ordination suggests a planning capability only available to al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is a mainly Sunni insurgent group.
The bombs exploded as many people were travelling to work during the morning rush-hour.
Four car-bombs and 10 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated, officials told the CA.
A security spokesman in Baghdad, Maj Gen Qassim Atta, said the attacks had not been aimed at security targets.
"They targeted children's schools, day workers and the anti-corruption agency," he told AFP news agency.
Raghad Khalid, a teacher at a kindergarten in Karrada, said "the children were scared and crying".
"Some parts of the car bomb are inside our building."
Smoke was seen rising over Karrada district, with ambulances rushing to the scene.
Another woman said her baby had been covered in glass.
"She is now scared in the next room. All countries are stable. Why don't we have security and stability?" said Um Hanin.
One Baghdad resident, Abu Ali, expressed anger at Iraq's leaders.
"These blasts occurred because of conflicts among politicians," he said.
"We call upon all politicians to resolve their problems and leave people to live in security."

Sectarian tension

Iraq's year-old power-sharing government is in turmoil after an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges.
The entire al-Iraqiyya group, the main Sunni bloc in parliament, is boycotting the assembly in protest. It accuses Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shia, of monopolising power.
Mr Hashemi denies the charges. He is currently in Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, under the protection of the regional government, but Mr Maliki has demanded that they give him up.
The CA's Jim Muir says most Shias will conclude that Iraq's disaffected Sunni leadership was behind the latest attacks.
There is a strong possibility, he says, that insurgents on the Sunni side were just waiting for the most tense moment to unleash attacks they had been planning.
The leader of one of Iraq's largest Sunni tribes, Ali Hatem Suleiman, told the CA that Prime Minister Maliki was becoming like Iraq's former ruler, Saddam Hussein.
"Maliki will drive Iraq towards separation and will create a new dictatorship and take on Saddam's mantle."
"Unfortunately this was all agreed upon by America - to hand over Iraq to a new dictator, and so Iraq will implode again," he said.
The last American troops departed from Iraq on Sunday, nearly nine years after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
President Barack Obama acknowledged that the situation was not perfect, but said the US forces were leaving behind "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government elected by its people".

US admits mistakes over killings of Pakistan troops

The US military has admitted it bears significant responsibility for last month's air strike on the Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

A statement said US and Afghan troops acted in self defence, but conceded there had been a lack of proper co-ordination with Pakistani forces.
CA correspondents say the admission is expected to embarrass the US military.
In retaliation for the killings, Pakistan has closed its border with Afghanistan, cutting Nato supply lines.
There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the findings of the US investigation. Pakistan, a vital partner in the fight against militants in the region, has demanded a formal US apology.

'Incorrect mapping'

In the statement the US once again expressed its deepest regret for the "tragic loss of life" caused by the air strike in Mohmand tribal agency on 26 November.

"Inadequate co-ordination by US and Pakistani military officers operating through the border co-ordination centre - including our reliance on incorrect mapping information shared with the Pakistani liaison officer - resulted in a misunderstanding about the true location of Pakistani military units," it said.

"This, coupled with other gaps in information about the activities and placement of units from both sides, contributed to the tragic result."
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal with more details, US and Afghan commandos made a series of mistakes on 26 November.
They incorrectly concluded there were no Pakistani forces in the Afghan border area where the coalition was conducting an operation - which cleared the way for a Nato air strike that devastated Pakistani positions.
After the initial strike, the US compounded its mistake by providing inaccurate data to a Pakistani military representative at a border co-ordination centre, missing an opportunity to stop the fighting.
The report says the 150-man US and Afghan commando team came under attack from positions along a ridge. The team requested a show of force from the air, wrongly understanding from a radio transmission from Nato that there were no Pakistani military in the area.
Later, another mistake was made when a US military representative in eastern Afghanistan gave general co-ordinates for the fight to Pakistani representatives. They were later forwarded on incorrectly, leading the Pakistanis to conclude that the fight was almost nine miles away from its true location.
Pakistani officials have denied that their troops on the ridge opened fire first on the commandos.

Furious response

The CA's Caroline Wyatt in Kabul says it appears that Nato officials did not inform Pakistan of the operation in advance, after fears that the Pakistani military were leaking information to insurgents.
Pakistan responded furiously to the killings of its soldiers.
As well as shutting its border with Afghanistan, which Nato relies on heavily for deliveries of fuel, ammunition and other supplies, it also refused to attend the Bonn conference on Afghanistan earlier this month.
The US government has so far refused to apologise to Pakistan for the deaths, although Washington has repeatedly expressed its condolences for the loss of life.
"Our focus now is to learn from these mistakes," the Department of Defense statement said.
"More critically, we must work to improve the level of trust between our two countries. We earnestly hope the Pakistani military will join us in bridging that gap."

Syria unrest: Arab League observers set to arrive

Monitors from the Arab League are due to arrive in Syria under an initiative aimed at ending the violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

The UN says some 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since protests began in March but right groups say the figure is much higher.
Damascus blames the unrest on "armed gangs" seeking to destabilise Syria.
Russia is coming under pressure to speed up work on its draft UN resolution condemning the violence.
Moscow surprised diplomats by submitting the draft last week but there has been little progress since.
On Thursday, the US issued fresh travel advice for Americans, urging "US citizens currently in Syria to depart immediately".
"US citizens should not travel to Syria due to ongoing violence and civil unrest," the advisory said.

'Playing for time'

An advance party of about 30 Arab League observers, accompanied by members of the media, will arrive in Syria on Thursday to prepare for the arrival of the full delegation, which will have a one-month mandate that can be extended by another month if both sides agree.
Another group of observers is due in Syria on Sunday, and the mission is expected to be 150-strong when complete.
They will oversee Syria's compliance with the Arab League initiative, which calls for attacks to stop, troops to withdraw from the streets and detained protesters to be freed.
Damascus's decision to admit them was announced on Monday, after weeks of delays.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said they would be allowed freedom of movement and be protected by the government.
But critics of President Bashar al-Assad are sceptical about his decision, saying it is a ploy and he is simply playing along with the diplomatic process in an attempt to stave off more stringent UN action.
Radwan Ziadeh, a spokesman for Syria's main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC), told the CA: "The Assad regime did not implement or accept the Arab League's initiative. It's true that they signed it but there is no action. It's only a signature on some papers."
"We gave them some of the hotspots in the different cities in Syria and we gave them instructions and we are in close coordination with the Arab League."
"But our position is that the Arab League is a very weak institution and they cannot actually protect the civilians. This is why we call [on] the Arab League to refer the case to the [United Nations] Security Council."
Activists point to an upsurge in attacks on anti-government protesters this week as evidence that Mr Assad is attempting to stifle unrest quickly.
The SNC, which is based outside Syria, says at least 250 people have been killed this week in north-western Idlib province.
Most of those killed in the Jabal al-Zawiya area, 40km (25 miles) south-west of the provincial capital Idlib, have reportedly been army defectors. Activists have also posted videos online said to show children injured in the fighting.
Journalists are not allowed to report freely in Syria so details are hard to verify.
But the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has accused government troops of carrying out an "organised massacre" in Idlib.
The SNC has called on the UN Security Council and the Arab League to declare a "protected zone" in the areas under attack by the army.
Critics say the regime is unlikely to be able to hold on to power if it complies with the Arab League plan and takes its soldiers off the streets, saying that would embolden anti-government protesters.
The US said promises from the Assad regime "have no credibility when they continue to be followed by outrageous and deplorable actions".
"The United States continues to believe that the only way to bring about the change that the Syrian people deserve is for Bashar al-Assad to leave power," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
The CA's Jim Muir, who is monitoring events from neighbouring Lebanon, says the Syrian authorities may well be "clearing up unfinished business" ahead of the arrival of the monitors, with reports suggesting the security services are acting against army deserters and civilians trapped in a valley.
Damascus insists it is fighting armed terrorist gangs.

Russia under pressure

Our correspondent says opposition fighters may be trying to establish their presence to gain a foothold for further expansion.
Meanwhile, Western nations are pressing Russia to act faster on finalising its draft resolution on Syria.
Russia - along with China - vetoed a European resolution in October which threatened sanctions against Damascus if the killing continued. But last week, it submitted its own draft, which condemned both sides without mentioning sanctions.
Western nations said the proposal was not tough enough but that they were prepared to work on the document. There has been little progress since.

Iraqi PM urges Kurds to hand over VP al-Hashemi

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq to hand over Iraq's Sunni Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashemi.

An arrest warrant was issued for Mr Hashemi on Monday over terror charges.
Tariq al-Hashemi is Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab politician. He says the allegations are "fabricated".

Mr Hashemi is currently in the region of northern Iraq controlled by Kurdish authorities. The warrant was issued a day after US troops pulled out.
US Vice-President Joe Biden has urged Iraqi leaders to work together to avert renewed sectarian strife.
At a news conference broadcast live on Iraqi television, Mr Maliki, a Shia, said he would dismiss ministers belonging to the main Sunni political grouping, Iraqiyya, if they did not lift their boycott of parliament and cabinet.
Iraqiyya - which has been boycotting parliament in protest at Mr Maliki's alleged authoritarian manner - has suspended its ministers' participation in cabinet in response to the arrest warrant for Mr Hashemi.
The prime minister offered an invitation to all political factions to hold talks to try to resolve the crisis.
But if that did not work out he said that in the future Iraq could have a majority government which any person or bloc would be welcome to join, to "take the country forward in a positive direction".
Asked about Mr Hashemi's call for the Arab League to oversee any process against him, Mr Maliki said this was a criminal issue in Iraq. He saw no reason why the Arab League or the United Nations should intervene in an Iraqi criminal case, he said.
"We do not accept any interference in Iraqi justice," he said. "We gave Saddam a fair trial, and we will give Hashemi a fair trial too."
Mr Hashemi denies the claims that he paid his bodyguards to kill during Iraq's bloody insurgency.
On Monday evening Iraqi television showed purported confessions from his bodyguards, but the vice-president says that they were false and "politicised".
He told reporters on Tuesday: "I swear to God that I never committed a sin when it comes to Iraqi blood."
He said he would be willing to face trial in Kurdistan.
Mr Maliki's news conference came after he had spoken on the phone to Mr Biden.
The US vice-president "stressed the urgent need for the prime minister and the leaders of the other major blocs to meet and work through their differences together," the White House said.
Mr Maliki leads a government of national unity in a fragile power-sharing deal that has lasted a year. But the current crisis means long-standing tensions between Sunni and Shia politicians are coming to a head, just days after the US military left the country.
Iraq has a majority Shia population, but the areas adjacent to the Syrian border are almost entirely Sunni-dominated.
The CA's correspondent Jim Muir, who is in Baghdad, says Sunni-majority provinces which had previously shown little interest in setting up Kurdistan-style autonomous areas have begun to embrace that idea.
This worries Nouri al-Maliki, who fears an alliance between Sunni areas of Iraq and a possible future Sunni-controlled Syria, should the government of Bashir al-Assad fall, he says.

Syria crisis: 'Nearly 200 lives lost' in last two days

Almost 200 people have died in two days of clashes in Syria, activists say, as the violence there intensifies.

Two activist groups put Tuesday's toll at 84 - the majority in Idlib province in the north-west.
Video has emerged of a young boy, whose body was apparently torn in half by shelling in the city of Homs.

The bloodshed comes a day before an advance group of Arab League monitors is due to arrive to oversee the implementation of a peace initiative.
The UN said earlier this month that more than 5,000 people had been killed across Syria since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March.
Damascus says it is fighting "armed terrorist gangs", who want to destabilise the country.
The CA's Jim Muir in Beirut says the swelling violence could be Syrian authorities "clearing up unfinished business" ahead of the arrival of the Arab League monitors - or it could be unrelated.

Communications 'down'

In violence on Monday, activists said as many as 110 people may have died in fighting across the country - including 60-70 army deserters apparently gunned down by machine-gun fire close to a village called Kafrouaid in Idlib province.
Activist groups reported more violence in this region of the Zawiya mountains on Tuesday, with the Local Co-ordination Committees saying 25 people had died close to the same village by heavy machine-gun fire and shelling.

Almost 200 people have died in two days of clashes in Syria, activists say, as the violence there intensifies.

Two activist groups put Tuesday's toll at 84 - the majority in Idlib province in the north-west.
Video has emerged of a young boy, whose body was apparently torn in half by shelling in the city of Homs.
The bloodshed comes a day before an advance group of Arab League monitors is due to arrive to oversee the implementation of a peace initiative.
The UN said earlier this month that more than 5,000 people had been killed across Syria since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March.
Damascus says it is fighting "armed terrorist gangs", who want to destabilise the country.
The CA's Jim Muir in Beirut says the swelling violence could be Syrian authorities "clearing up unfinished business" ahead of the arrival of the Arab League monitors - or it could be unrelated.

Communications 'down'

In violence on Monday, activists said as many as 110 people may have died in fighting across the country - including 60-70 army deserters apparently gunned down by machine-gun fire close to a village called Kafrouaid in Idlib province.
Activist groups reported more violence in this region of the Zawiya mountains on Tuesday, with the Local Co-ordination Committees saying 25 people had died close to the same village by heavy machine-gun fire and shelling.
None of the casualty claims has been independently verified, as foreign media are banned from reporting in Syria - but all the activist groups reporting agree that there has been a surge in violence, our correspondent says, with particular concentrations of bloodshed in mountainous parts of Idlib province and the country's third city of Homs.
Video footage emerged on Tuesday, allegedly showing the body of a young boy torn in half in the ruins of two houses hit by army shelling in Homs.
In other developments:

• Syria's air and naval forces conducted live-fire manoeuvres aimed testing their readiness to repulse "any aggression against the homeland," the official Sana news agency reported, with state TV pictures reportedly showing warplanes and helicopters firing missiles at targets in a desert area, as well as surface-to-air missiles hitting targets in the air.
• Sana reported a new decree under which anyone found guilty of distributing weapons "with the aim of committing terrorist acts" would be sentenced to death.
• Pictures supplied to Reuters news agency by activists apparently showed demonstrations hitting the centre of Damascus on Monday and Tuesday.

League officials have said that the first monitors could be in the country as early as Thursday.

Peace plan

This follows the announcement that Damascus had agreed to the observer mission on Monday.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the country's sovereignty would be protected because the Arab League had agreed to amendments to the deal, which also calls for all violence to be halted, for the withdrawal of troops from the streets, and the release of detainees.
The observers would be "free" in their movements and "under the protection of the Syrian government", Mr Muallem added, but would not be allowed to visit sensitive military sites.
The observers will have a one-month mandate that can be extended by another month if both sides agree.
The leader of the SNC has dismissed the government's decision as "just a ploy".
Activists say that if the government does withdraw the army, many areas will immediately fall out of its control.

Last US troops withdraw from Iraq

The last convoy of US troops to leave Iraq has entered Kuwait, nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The final column of about 100 armoured vehicles carrying 500 soldiers crossed the southern Iraqi desert overnight.
At the peak of the operation there were 170,000 US troops and more than 500 bases in Iraq.
Nearly 4,500 US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died since the US-led campaign began in 2003.
The operation has cost Washington nearly $1 trillion (£643bn).
US forces ended combat missions in Iraq in 2010 and had already handed over much of their security role.

"(It's) a good feeling... knowing this is going to be the last mission out of here," said Private First Class Martin Lamb, part of the final "tactical road march" out of Iraq.
"Part of history, you know - we're the last ones out."
As the last of the armoured vehicles crossed the border, a gate was closed behind them and US and Kuwaiti soldiers gathered there to shake hands and pose for pictures.
The only US military presence left in Iraq now is 157 soldiers responsible for training at the US embassy, as well as a small contingent of marines protecting the diplomatic mission.
The low-key US exit was in stark contact to the blaze of aerial bombardment Washington unleashed against Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Tribute

US President Barack Obama marked the end of the war earlier in the week, meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
He announced in October that all US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a date previously agreed by former President George W Bush in 2008.

The US troops left Iraq for the last time, crossing into Kuwait

In a recent speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, President Obama paid tribute to the soldiers who had served in Iraq.
He acknowledged that the war had been controversial, but told returning troops they were leaving behind "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq".
However, correspondents say there are concerns in Washington that Iraq lacks robust political structures or an ability to defend its borders.
There are also fears that Iraq could be plunged back into sectarian bloodletting, or be unduly influenced by Iran.
Washington had wanted to keep a small training and counter-terrorism presence in Iraq, but US officials were unable to strike a deal with Baghdad on legal issues including immunity for troops.

Philippines steps up search for flood survivors

Rescuers are continuing the search for survivors after floods killed more than 500 people and left hundreds more missing in the southern Philippines.

Naval vessels are scouring the coast along the island of Mindanao while soldiers searched swollen rivers.
Officials said many bodies remained unclaimed, suggesting entire families had been swept away.
The flash floods were triggered by a tropical storm that coincided with high tides, trapping many in their homes.
The major ports of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were among the areas worst hit on Friday night.
Almost 35,000 people were still sheltering in evacuation centres on Sunday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.
The Philippine National Red Cross puts the current death toll at 521 with about 370 people reported missing.
Red Cross Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang said at least 239 people had died in Cagayan de Oro and 195 in nearby Iligan. The rest died in several other southern and central provinces, she added.
Many of the bodies were unclaimed after nearly 24 hours, she said, suggesting that entire families had died.
"The affected area is so wide and huge and I believe they have not really gone to all areas to do a search," she said.

Power cuts

"This thing happened so fast, it was very overwhelming."
The navy joined the search for those who had been swept out to sea. About 60 people were reported to have been plucked from the ocean off El Salvador city, about six miles (10km) north-west of Cagayan de Oro.
Former congressman Ayi Hernandez said he and his family were at home in Cagayan de Oro late on Friday when they heard a loud "swooshing sound".
He said the water rose to about 11ft feet (3.3m) in less than an hour, filling his home to the ceiling.
The rescue effort, boosted by some 20,000 soldiers, continued through Saturday night but was being hampered by flooded-out roads and downed power lines, officials said.
National TV showed scenes of devastation, with streets strewn with mud and piles of debris. The remains of houses lay alongside cars that had been picked up by the water and left in culverts and along riverbanks.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent condolences to the Philippines.
"The US government stands ready to assist Philippine authorities as they respond to this tragedy," she said.
Weather experts said Tropical Storm Washi dumped more than a month of average rain in just 12 hours over Mindanao.
The CA's Kate McGeown in Manila said the storm took everyone by surprise.
Although the Philippines is hit by typhoons or tropical storms every year, Mindanao in the south is usually spared the worst of the damage, she adds.
Washi reached the western island of Palawan before dawn on Sunday and is moving west into the South China Sea, government forecasters said.
The storm has maximum winds of 80km/h (50mph) and is expected to move west, away from the Philippines.

William Hague welcomes end to UN's sanctions on Libya

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has welcomed the lifting of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Libya's central and foreign investments banks.

The banks' assets abroad were frozen in February as part of sanctions against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Mr Hague said the end of UN sanctions marked "another significant moment in Libya's transition" and would give Tripoli funds to rebuild the country.
The Security Council said the move was aimed at easing a cash crisis in Libya.
The interim government in Tripoli has recently stepped up calls for the release of some $150bn (£96bn) held abroad to pay employee salaries and keep the country's basis services running.
The Security Council had agreed last Friday to unfreeze the assets - unless there were objections - by 17:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on 16 December. As that deadline passed, no objections had been received, diplomats in New York said.
Mr Hague issued a statement saying he welcomed the lifting of sanctions imposed on the Central Bank of Libya and the Libya Arab Foreign Bank.
"It means that Libya's government will now have full access to the significant funds needed to help rebuild the country, to underpin stability and to ensure that Libyans can make the transactions that are essential to everyday life," he said.
"The transitional government must now redouble its efforts to build a transparent and accountable financial system which will underpin a newly prosperous Libya."
Mr Hague said the government would ask to European Union to allow it to free some £6.5bn being held in Britain.

US eases sanctions

Following the UN decision, the White House said in a statement that "the United States rolled back most US sanctions on the government of Libya to keep our commitment to the Libyan people".
The US Treasury said that it would "allow for the release of more than $30bn in blocked central bank and LAFB (The Libyan Arab Foreign Bank) assets.
Col Gaddafi was overthrown and his supporters defeated in October after a nine-month insurgency, which began after a crackdown on protests against the Gaddafi regime.
The National Transitional Council - a coalition of anti-Gaddafi factions - elected Abdurrahim al-Keib prime minister and his government has been tasked with drafting a constitution and holding democratic elections by June 2012

UN lifts sanctions on Libya's key banks

The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on Libya's central bank and its foreign investment bank, to help the country deal with a cash crisis.

The move clears the way for the new government to unlock billions of dollars of assets held abroad.
The US and the UK followed suit shortly afterwards.
The Libyan banks' foreign assets were frozen earlier this year as part of sanctions against former Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
On Friday, the UN Security Council decided to lift the sanctions on the Central Bank of Libya and its investments subsidiary - the Libyan Foreign Bank.
Last Friday, the council agreed to unfreeze the assets - unless there were objections - by 17:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on 16 December. As that deadline passed, no objections had been received, the diplomats in New York said.
The UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said that the move "marks another significant moment in Libya's transition".
"It means that Libya's government will now have full access to the significant funds needed to help rebuild the country, to underpin stability and to ensure that Libyans can make the transactions that are essential to everyday life," Mr Hague said in a statement.
He added that London would now free some £6.5bn ($10bn) held in Britain.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is due to make a visit to Libya on Saturday.

Libyan 'responsibility'

Following the UN decision, the White House said in a statement that "the United States rolled back most US sanctions on the government of Libya to keep our commitment to the Libyan people".
The US Treasury said that it would "allow for the release of more than $30bn in blocked central bank and LAFB (Libyan Arab Foreign Bank) assets.
"The Libyan government now has the ability and responsibility to manage these funds," the Treasury said.
The interim government in Tripoli has recently stepped up calls for the release of some $150bn (£96bn) held abroad to pay employee salaries and keep the country's basis services running.
Some sanctions were eased after the fall Col Gaddafi's regime, but the process of releasing the bulk of the money has been very slow for legal and technical reasons, the CA's Barbara Plett in New York reports.
Diplomats say that is because of uncertainty in the countries holding the assets as to who legally owns the funds, and whether the Libyan leadership is united enough to be trusted with the cash, our correspondent adds.
The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Col Gaddafi's regime in February. They included an arms embargo and asset freeze.
In August - following the fall of the regime - the UN agreed to unfreeze Libyan dinars worth about $1.5bn (£950m) being held in UK banks.
At about the same time the UN agreed to a US request to unblock $1.5bn in frozen Libyan assets.
The uprising virtually shut Libya's oil industry, and exports only resumed in September.
Officials say they expect crude oil output to return to normal levels of around 1.6m barrels per day by the end of 2012.

Philippines storm triggers deadly flash floods

Flash floods sparked by a tropical storm in the southern Philippines have killed at least 180 people and left scores missing, officials say.

Many of the victims were asleep when it struck Mindanao island, killing many in Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro.
Tens of thousands of people have fled to higher ground, the authorities say.
Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster rescue agency, said reports were still coming in and the casualty figures could rise.
Mr Ramos said the floodwaters had risen alarmingly fast overnight as people slept.
"Massive flooding had been reported over the region, especially in Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro City," he said
Rivers burst their banks after 25mm of rain fell in 24 hours.
Large areas were left without power and some domestic flights were cancelled as winds of up to 90 km/h (55mph) swept across the island.
A landslide killed at least five people in the east of the island, the national disaster agency said.
A military spokesman, Colonel Leopoldo Galon, said an entire army division - some 10,000 soldiers - was involved in the rescue efforts around Cagayan de Oro.
Nearly 100 dead bodies - most of them children - had already been found in the city, officials say.
Forecasters said the eye of Tropical Storm Washi had passed close to Dipolog City, west of Iligan City, early on Saturday and it was now heading out into the Sulu Sea.

Search for bodies

Floods had swamped a quarter of Iligan and at least 10 villages on its outskirts, said the city's mayor, Lawrence Cruz.
"It's the worst flood in the history of our city," Mr Cruz told GMA television. "It happened so fast, at a time when people were fast asleep."
The coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off the coastal city for survivors or bodies, he added.
GMA television broadcast dramatic footage of a family escaping their flood-hit home by climbing through a window.
Rescue workers were pictured helping survivors to safety in chest-deep floodwater.
Three people also drowned in Polanco town in Zamboanga del Norte province, said provincial disaster officer Dennis Tenorio. He said high winds had toppled trees.
The storm is set to hit the western island of Palawan later on Saturday, after crossing the Sulu Sea with winds of up to 75 km/h, according to state weather forecasters.
The Philippines are struck by about 20 major storms every year.
Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae battered the country within days of each other in September, leaving more than 100 people dead.

US to lower flag to end Iraq war

The flag of American forces in Iraq has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.

The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.
He said the years of war in Iraq had yielded to an era of opportunity in which the US was a committed partner.
Only about 4,000 US soldiers now remain in Iraq, but they are due to leave in the next two weeks.
At the peak of the operation, US forces there numbered 170,000.
The symbolic ceremony in Baghdad officially "cased" (retired) the US forces flag, according to army tradition.
It will now be taken back to the USA.
Mr Panetta told US soldiers they could leave Iraq with great pride.
"After a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real," he said.
Some 4,500 US soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died in the war.
The conflict, launched by the Bush administration in March 2003, soon became hugely unpopular as claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction and supporting al-Qaeda militants turned out to be untrue.
The war has cost the US some $1tr.
Republicans have criticised the pullout citing concerns over Iraq's stability, but a recent poll by the Pew Research Centre found that 75% of Americans backed the troop withdrawal.

'Moment of success'

President Barack Obama, who came to office pledging to bring troops home, said on Wednesday that the US left behind a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq".
In a speech in North Carolina to troops who have just returned, Mr Obama hailed the "extraordinary achievement" of the military and said they were leaving with "heads held high".
"Everything that American troops have done in Iraq, all the fighting and dying, bleeding and building, training and partnering, has led us to this moment of success," he said.
"The war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages."
He said the war had been "a source of great controversy" but that they had helped to build "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people".
Mr Obama announced in October that all US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a date previously agreed by former President George W Bush in 2008.
Some 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. In addition to those who died, nearly 30,000 have been wounded.
Troop numbers peaked during the height of the so-called surge strategy in 2007, but the last combat troops left Iraq in August last year.
A small contingent of some 200 soldiers will remain in Iraq as advisers, while some 15,000 US personnel are now based at the US embassy in Baghdad - by far the world's largest.

'Ruin and mess'

Some Iraqis have said they fear the consequences of being left to manage their own security.
Baghdad trader Malik Abed said he was grateful to the Americans for ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein, but added: "I think now we are going to be in trouble. Maybe the terrorists will start attacking us again."
But in the city of Falluja, a former insurgent stronghold which was the scene of major US offensives in 2004, people burned US flags on Wednesday in celebration at the withdrawal.
"No-one trusted their promises, but they said when they came to Iraq they would bring security, stability and would build our country," Ahmed Aied, a grocer, told Reuters news agency.
"Now they are walking out, leaving behind killings, ruin and mess."
Concerns have also been voiced in Washington that Iraq lacks robust political structures or an ability to defend its borders.
There are also fears that Iraq could be plunged back into sectarian bloodletting, or be unduly influenced by Iran.

Syria 'authorised forces to shoot to kill' in crackdown

Syrian soldiers said their commanders told them to stop anti-government protests "by all means necessary", Human Rights Watch has said.

The group spoke to dozens of defectors who said they had understood this as authorization to use lethal force.
Anti-government protests have continued despite President Bashar al-Assad's attempts to stifle them.
The UN believes more than 5,000 people have died in seven months of unrest, which Syria blames on armed gangs.
In the latest violence, activists say 27 members of the security forces have been killed by army deserters in the southern province of Deraa.
The London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths occurred during dawn clashes on Thursday.
Twenty-five people were said by activist groups to have been killed on Wednesday during fighting near the city of Hama.
International journalists face severe restrictions on their movements in Syria, and it is hard to verify reports.
'Answer for crimes'
Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based organization, said about half of the 60 defectors from the Syrian army whom they interviewed had been given direct orders to open fire at protesters or bystanders.
The report, entitled By All Means Necessary!, also documents cases of torture, including soldiers using electric cattle prods, restricting detainees to confined spaces and carrying out summary executions.
"Defectors gave us names, ranks, and positions of those who gave the orders to shoot and kill, and each and every official named in this report, up to the very highest levels of the Syrian government, should answer for their crimes against the Syrian people," said HRW's Anna Neistat, one of the report's authors.
"The Security Council should ensure accountability by referring Syria to the International Criminal Court."
The report includes the case of "Amjad," a soldier deployed to Deraa who said that he received direct orders from his commander to fire on protesters on 25 April.
"He said: 'Use heavy shooting. Nobody will ask you to explain'. Normally we are supposed to save bullets, but this time he said: 'Use as many bullets as you want'."
In a recent interview, Mr Assad said he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters and that he did not control the security forces.
He has also denied that there was ever a command "to kill or to be brutal" though he has admitted that "mistakes" have been made.
But HRW says that under international law, commanders are responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates if they knew or should have known about violations and failed to investigate or stop them.
"It is reasonable to conclude, at minimum, that Syria's senior military and civilian leadership knew about them.
"The ongoing killings, arrests, repression, and general denials of responsibility by the Syrian government also make clear that officials have failed to take any meaningful action to address these abuses," the report reads.
The United Nations Human Rights Council accused the Syrian authorities of crimes against humanity and systematic human rights violations, in a report at the end of November.
The top UN human rights official, Navi Pillay, has also said Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court.