Earlier, Assad denounced the opposition as "puppets of the West" and said Syria wanted to negotiate with the "master not the servants."

Levon Aronian will participate in A tournament of Tata Steel Chess Festival, due January 11 – 27 in Wijk aan Zee.

The attack coincides with efforts to end a near three-decade insurgency through talks with the jailed leader of the PKK militant group.

Dwelling on the forthcoming presidential polls in Armenia, Raffi Hovannissian stressed to need to join the struggle.

According to Sony Music Entertainment, Julio Iglesias is one of the top 5 best-selling music artists in history.

The success of its Galaxy smartphones helped Samsung overtake Nokia as the world's biggest phone maker last year.

Obama is expected to press Karzai to bless the opening of a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Last month, Depardieu announced his decision to move to Belgium to avoid a new French top tax rate of 75%.

Japan, which counts Europe as a major export market, bought billions of dollars in bonds issued by the ESM's predecessor.

A senior Taliban commander Mullah Nazir was killed in a drone strike in neighboring South Waziristan last week.