Message to the Syrian people by the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura
Judge halts Belgian Syria fighter trial over security concerns
A Belgian judge has adjourned indefinitely a high profile appeal hearing with links to the November 13 Paris attacks because police had not met his demands for more security, Expatica.com reports.
The judge, Pierre Saint-Remy, had suspended the hearing yesterday, calling for increased security measures.
Teen suicide bomber kills 8 in Nigeria
A teenage boy has blown himself up at a market in Gombi town in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least eight people and wounding 25, according to a local Red Cross official, AP reports.
From our news desk:
Mechanic Suspected In Downing Of Russian Passenger Plane Over Egypt
Reuters is reporting that an EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined the Islamic State militant group in Syria is suspected of planting a bomb on a Russian passenger plane that was blown out of Egypt's skies in late October.
So far, Egypt has publicly said it has found no evidence that the MetroJet flight, which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh airport, killing all 224 people on board, was brought down by terrorism.
A senior security official at the airline denied that any of its employees had been arrested or were under suspicion, and an Interior Ministry official also said there had been no arrests.
But sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on January 29 that the mechanic had been detained, along with two airport policemen and a baggage handler suspected of helping him put the bomb on board.
Based on reporting by Reuters
Dutch to bomb IS targets in Syria
The Dutch government has agreed to extend its role in the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group to include the bombing of targets in Syria, broadcaster RTL reported, according to Reuters.
Extreme human suffering should not be trigger for Syria aid: ICRC
Extreme human suffering such as that seen in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya should not be the trigger for negotiating humanitarian aid deliveries in Syria, the Red Cross has said, Reuters reports.
"Delivering aid once is not a solution. The only acceptable solution is to give people regular access to humanitarian aid," Pawel Krzysiek, ICRC spokesman, said ahead of an international pledging conference in London on Feb. 4.
"The more time the parties take to negotiate another aid delivery ... we are risking again the situation of too little and too late," Krzysiek told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview on Thursday.
A stall outside the UN headquarters in Geneva has activists dressed up as various figures -- including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. President Obama, Russian President Putin and Syrian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov serving up "siege soup" to Syrians.
The main Saudi-backed Syrian opposition has demanded that the UN implement a resolution to stop sieges and bombardments before it will attend the talks.