United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has withdrawn an earlier invitation to Iran to attend the Geneva II peace conference for Syria.

Ban Ki-moon has decided to withdraw his invitation after Tehran announced that it can't accept the conditions set down for the talks in the previous session in Geneva in 2012.

Syria's main opposition in exile, the Syrian National Coalition, which threatened to pull out of the peace conference, now says it will take part in this week's talks.

China's Foreign Ministry is calling on all parties in Syria to take part in the Geneva II peace conference and commit themselves to the full and balanced implementation of the Geneva communiqué.

 

China raises five principles for political settlement of Syrian issue

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be China's lead representative at the Syrian peace conference in Geneva.

Ahead of the meeting, China's top diplomat has put forward five new principles for trying to settle the civil conflict in Syria.

Wang Yi has stressed that the Syrian issue must be resolved through political means.

Wang Yi said China supports the conference as an important opportunity to promote the political settlement of the Syrian issue. 

He also said China believes the future of Syria must be decided by its own people.

The Chinese foreign minister also emphasized an inclusive political transition process, national reconciliation and timely humanitarian aid to the country.

 

U.S/EU begins easing economic sanctions on Iran

Both the United States and the European Union have begun easing their economic sanctions on Iran.

The move is part of the interim nuclear agreement which will see Iran scale back part of its nuclear enrichment activities.

For its part, the United States is offering limited sanction relief on Iranian oil exports, financial transactions and trade in gold and other precious metals.

Among other things, the reduction of sanctions will allow Iran to resume transactions for Iranian petrochemical payments and university payments for Iranian students studying overseas.

In exchange for the easing of sanctions, Iran has stopped enriching uranium to 20-percent levels.

20-percent enrichment is what's required to create a nuclear weapon.

During this 6-month interim agreement, all sides are now working on creating a permanent, long-term nuclear agreement.

 

Ukrainian president urges dialogue, compromise to end protests

The President of Ukraine has put out an appeal for calm and compromise to end a wave of violent protests which have gripped the country this weekend.

Viktor Yanukovych is also describing the demonstrations against a new anti-protest law as a "threat to the whole country."

Yanukovych is describing those who took part in the violent demonstrations this weekend as people who want to throw the Ukranian people into the furnace of mass riots.

He's also ordered the formation of a working group to come up with solutions to bring the demonstrations to an end.

Protests in the capital, Kiev, blew up again this weekend after lawmakers this past week created new legislation which outlaws certian forms of demonstrations.

Kiev has been gripped by protests since November after Yanukovych's government backed away from a political and economic accord with the European Union.

Ukraine is divided among those who want closer connections with Europe and those who would prefer tighter ties with Russia.

 

Bangui mayor elected Central African Republic's interim president

The mayor of the capital of the Central African Republic has been elected the country's interim president.

54-year old Catherine Samba-Panza becomes the first woman elected as the head of state of the country since independence from France in 1960.

Samba-Panza takes over from former president Michel Djotodia, who was forced to resign during a meeting earlier this month of the Economic Community of Central African States.

ECCAS dumped Djotodia amid his failure to bring an end to the violence which has been gripping the Central African Republic for several months.

Djotodia was the head of the Seleka rebels which overthrew former President Francois Bozize.

Catherine Samba-Panza is expected to appoint a new Prime Minister who will then be tasked with forming a unity government under the conditions specified as part of the so-called Libreville agreement.

That agreement was inked a year ago to try to bring the civil conflict in the CAR to an end.

 

Three dead, 13 hospitalized in China food poisoning

Three people are dead and over a dozen others remain hospitalized in a case of suspected food poisoning in Heilongjiang.

All 16 hospitalized attended a weekend wedding ceremony in the city of Jixi, which is located along the border with Russia.

Despite recieving medical treatment, three people have since died, while one other remains in grave condition.

12 others are also listed in critical condition.

At this point authorities are testing samples of the food and drinks at the banquet to try to determine what led to the deadly poisoning.

 

Four dead in east China landslide

Four people are dead following a landslide in Zhejiang.

The slide hit yesterday afternoon on a construction site in the city of Quzhou.

A total of 5 people, all workers on the construction site, were caught up in the slide.

Only one survived.

It's unclear at this point what triggered the landslide.