Ukraine: Barricades Burn As Concessions Fail

Sporadic clashes between police and protesters have spread across Ukraine despite President Viktor Yanukovych announcing concessions to demonstrators to try to restore calm to the country.

Mr Yanukovych offered to reshuffle his government and to grant an amnesty to dozens of activists arrested during weeks of rioting that has left four protesters dead and dozens of police injured.

But within hours of his offer, the sky in Kiev was filled with black smoke as protesters set fire to barricades built with bags of ice, car tyres and furniture as opposition leader and former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko said only Mr Yanukovych's resignation would mollify the protests.

President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Vitali Klitschko

Protesters wearing ski masks and armed with sticks hurled firebombs, rocks and fireworks at riot police while officers retaliated with tear gas and baton charges in a repeat of violent scenes earlier in the week that subsided after Mr Yanukovych began talks aimed at a truce.

"We will force the authorities to respect us," 27-year-old protester Artur Kapelan said. "Not they, but we will dictate the conditions of a truce."

The rallies in Kiev began in November last year after Mr Yanukovych scrapped a treaty with the European Union in favour of a bailout loan from Russia, following lobbying by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Political activists began by calling for stronger unification with Europe rather than a new alliance with Russia but the protests have since evolved to call for Mr Yanukovych's resignation and the scrapping of harsh anti-protest legislation.

The fighting stopped earlier in the week after opposition and religious leaders began talking with Mr Yanukovych to find a political solution to the unrest.

The protest map tweeted by Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt

The president had offered to meet some of their demands as thousands of protesters laid siege to government buildings in several cities in the country.

But Mr Klitschko declared the protests would continue until Mr Yanukovuch offers to resign.

Reporting from Kiev, Sky's Katie Stallard said the protesters intend to hold their ground.

"The protesters insist the police fired first, they say that means this truce is off and they're returning fire with whatever they can find.

"They're sending fireworks up to the police lines and throwing Molotov cocktails towards them. The police lines are 40 metres in front of them, (the protesters) are up on top of burnt-out buses and waving the national flag.

"All the time tyres are being taken through to put on these flames. They're trying to build up as much smoke as they can to obscure their view.

"Behind them there are hundreds more here cheering them on behind the barricades, beating on whatever they can find. They're shouting 'glory to Ukraine' and they're determined to hold their ground."

Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt suggested Mr Yanukovych was losing control over his country. He posted a map of Ukraine on Twitter showing which regions had succumbed to protests.

"If Kiev regime tries a military solution to this situation, it will be very bloody and it will fail," he tweeted.

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Syria Rivals 'To Meet Face-To-Face' At Talks

Syria's regime and opposition have agreed to meet together in the same room at peace talks in Geneva, a UN mediator has said.

It comes after the Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al Muallem, earlier threatened to leave the convention if "serious" discussions did not start within 24 hours.

The ultimatum followed the refusal by the country's opposition to hold face-to-face talks with Bashar al Assad's regime, after it refused to concede to the formation of a transitional government.

Mr Brahimi is the UN Arab League envoy for Syria

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN Arab League envoy for Syria, spent Thursday and Friday trying to convince the delegations to meet in the same room at the UN headquarters.

He has now managed to keep the peace talks on track, with the warring sides agreeing to come face to face today.

"I met the delegations of the opposition and the government separately yesterday and again today and tomorrow we expect, we have agreed, that we will meet in the same room," Mr Brahimi said.

"We knew that it was going to be difficult, complicated.

"We never expected this to be easy - I think the two parties understand what is at stake."

Mr Brahimi said discussions so far had been "encouraging" but said that talks on concrete issues had not yet started.

Damage from bombing in Aleppo's Dahret Awwad neighbourhood

He said both sides had agreed that the negotiations would be based on an agreement reached at the "Geneva I" peace conference in 2012.

But Mr Brahimi acknowledged that there were "some differences on the interpretation of some of its items" of the document.

"Among the many things we hope to be able to achieve is to clarify the ambiguity on those points," he said.

The Geneva I agreement calls for the creation of a "transitional governing body", but it does not specifically spell out Mr Assad's future role or lack thereof.

Opposition leader Ahmed Jarba, left, and Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem

Direct talks are seen by many diplomats as the best hope for an eventual end to Syria's three-year civil war, which has left at least 130,000 people dead.

As the peace talks wobbled, fighting raged throughout parts of Syria, including near the capital, Damascus.

Government forces bombed rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activists.

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Bomb Blast Near Cairo Police Academy

Egypt Bombings Bear The Mark Of Al Qaeda

Updated: 8:35pm UK, Friday 24 January 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Not unprecedented, not unpredicted, the Cairo bombings blamed on radical Islamist groups do have a new distinctive signature - al Qaeda.

The global Jihadi movement has specialised for years in what the military call "complex attacks" - the assault of several targets in close chronological order.

The Egyptian capital was rocked by three explosions in one morning.

They were mostly targeting the organs of the state but, by hitting a metro station, they also signalled to the Arab world's most populous state that violence is going to continue to be a way of life.

Ironically, the terror attacks suit the military-dominated government of Egypt as much as it furthers the agenda of the violent groups who want to bring it to its knees.

The massive car bomb outside the state security building in Cairo, which left a gaping hole in the street and at least four dead, was easily predicted.

It flows directly from the massacre of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi during July and August last year as they protested against the military coup that deposed him.

The former president's Muslim Brotherhood has foresworn the use of violence, and continues to insist that this is its position.

But the scale of the killing of Egyptian citizens by their own military last year inevitably led to a violent backlash.

This started in the Sinai where local tribes have been infiltrated by al Qaeda agitators, and further radicalised through violent Islamist groups from neighbouring Gaza, a Palestinian territory.

It has been inflamed by the banning of the Brotherhood late last year and the arrest of many of its leaders who have, therefore, been denied a peaceful platform.

Poor, disenfranchised, youth across the Middle East have been easy prey for the radicalising messages of al Qaeda-style groups who offer a simple means - violence - to a simple solution to their many woes - the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

By launching attacks on the capital, the terrorists have played into the narrative of the military - that ridding the country of the Brotherhood is part of a necessary fight against terrorism.

The bombs are likely to signal greater attacks on personal freedoms by the government which have already resulted in the rounding up of non-Islamic pro-democracy activists and even the extended detention of foreign journalists.

The military calculation, which has the support of many Egyptians, is that it can crack down on radical Islamic groups so hard that it can crush them - much as it did for decades before the revolution which ended military rule in January three years ago.

The difference today is that al Qaeda-style violence is a global phenomenon which is tearing into the Middle East in Iraq, Syria, the Lebanon, and parts of the Palestinian territories.

It is ultimately self-sustaining, but it is fuelled by oppression.

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Ukraine: 'Very High' Chance Of Ending Violence

One of Ukraine's main opposition leaders has said there is a "very high" chance of finding a way to end the violence and political unrest in the country.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, leader of the Fatherland party, made the comment after four hours of talks with President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev.

Former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, leader of the Punch party, and nationalist leader Oleg Tyagnybok were also at the discussions.

Riot police and protesters in the Ukrainian capital have been locked in a tense standoff following days of street battles which protesters say have left five people dead.

"We had the task of halting the bloodshed. The chance (of this) is very high," said Mr Yatsenyuk as he emerged with the other two leaders after the talks.

President Yanukovych has also called an emergency parliamentary session - likely to be held on Tuesday - which will discuss the protesters' demands, which include the government's resignation and the scrapping of a new anti-protest law.

Street battles have raged for days

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov earlier accused opponents of attempting to stage a coup and dismissed demands for a snap election as "unrealistic".

"A genuine attempt at a coup d'etat is being carried out," he said, while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Opposition leaders had urged "calm" ahead of Thursday evening's talks, but warned of fresh clashes if early elections were not called.

Earlier in the day, Mr Yatsenyuk told a crowd of around 40,000 people in Kiev's Independence Square that he was ready to die for the cause.

"If he does not go down that path then we will go forwards together and if it means a bullet to the head, then it is a bullet to the head," he said.

"Viktor Yanukovych, you have 24 hours. Take a decision. I have taken my decision."

Mr Klitschko added: "Early elections will change the situation without bloodshed and we will do everything to achieve that."

Opposition leaders address the protesters

Activists claim that of the protesters killed in recent days, four were shot and one died in a fall.

One of the dead was named locally as Serhiy Nihoyna.

Prime Minister Azarov has said police are not carrying live ammunition and that opposition leaders should be held responsible for the deaths.

Police and protesters have been turning an area at the heart of the city into a virtual war zone with demonstrators setting fire to barricades, hurling stones and Molotov cocktails, and police using tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets.

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Kiev, said: "Protesters also burned tyres, mattresses, whatever they could find to keep going, and reinforcing barricades too.

"They have made homemade shields out of planks of wood and are rehearsing their tactical formations - how they plan to stand together and how they plan to protect themselves."

Image said to show one of the dead, Serhiy Nihoyna (Pic: Serhiy Proskurnia)

The Interior Ministry said 73 protesters had been arrested and 53 of them were being investigated for "mass riots". It is a charge that was recently introduced and carries a jail sentence of up to eight years.

The US State Department has threatened to impose sanctions against the Ukraine in response to the continued use of violence against protesters.

The rioting intensified when some 200,000 took to the streets at the weekend in a show of anger over the new anti-protest laws rushed through by Mr Yanukovych.

The laws allow for jail terms of up to five years for those who blockade public buildings. They also ban protesters from wearing masks or helmets.

Discontent in Ukraine began last year when Mr Yanukovych refused to sign up to closer ties with the European Union in favour of a new accord with Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia said it would not intervene in the crisis, according to President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

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Thirty Feared Dead After Old People's Home Fire

Thirty residents of an old people's home in Quebec are missing after fire swept through the building killing five people and injuring 20 more.

Firefighters called to the blaze early on Thursday morning took five hours to extinguish the flames in freezing temperatures of - 22C which turned the water from their hose pipes into sheets of ice.

Canada's prime minister said the death toll would likely rise

Some of the residents were suffering from Alzheimer's disease and were wheelchair users according to acting Mayor Ginette Caron.

Many of those unaccounted for were confined to wheelchairs

It is estimated the number of dead could reach 30 although some residents could have been visiting friends or family when the fire started.

Most residents were older than 75 and 37 of them were older than 85

Police have been carefully sifting through what is left of the three-storey building in L'Isle-Verte, which lies some 140 miles (230km) northeast of Quebec City, to preserve any victims.

It was reported that a document filed by the residents suggested the building only had a partial sprinkler system.

The fire broke out in -20C temperatures

Quebec police spokesman Guy Lapointe, said: "The biggest issue for us now is the difficulty at the scene given the fact that a lot of water was used to put out the flames, given the fact that this water is frozen, (and) that we're talking about a three storey building that has collapsed.

"It's very important to go very delicately because we want to make sure to preserve potential victims that might have been inside the blaze."

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Three Bomb Blasts Kill At Least Four In Cairo

Three bomb explosions hours apart in Egypt's capital have killed at least four people and wounded dozens.

The bombings came on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the 2011 uprising that toppled Egypt's ruler Hosni Mubarak.

A suicide car bomber targeted Cairo's police headquarters, which killed four people and badly damageed a nearby Islamic museum.

It is unclear how the bomb was brought so close to the police headquarters, which is surrounded by a high metal fence.

The explosions happened in the Egyptian capital

State television quoted witnesses as saying gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on buildings after the explosion.

It was followed by two more smaller explosions within hours - one at a metro station and another at a police station near the pyramids.

Militants have escalated attacks since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

The police headquarters was hit by a car bomb

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has denied involvement in the attacks, but was blacklisted as a terrorist group after 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle at a police headquarters north of Cairo in December.

More follows...

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Syria's Warring Sides Agree To Direct Talks

The Syrian regime and opposition figures have agreed to finally sit down to talks on the country's three-year civil war.

After bitter opening speeches at a peace summit in the Swiss town of Montreux, Russia said the rival delegations have promised to start direct talks on Friday, which are expected to last for a week.

The day got off to a rocky start as a clash over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's future threatened to collapse the negotiations even before they really began.

Ban Ki-moon described the move as a "small step to peace"

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who held discussions with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Moallem and the opposition's Ahmed Jarba, urged the talks not to be focused on leadership change in Damascus.

"As for guarantees that the talks will not collapse - it is necessary to influence both delegations so that this does not happen," he said.

"The main thing is to start the process."

UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said the Syrian delegations may be ready to discuss prisoner swaps, local ceasefires and humanitarian aid.

The talks came amid fresh clashes across Syria, including in Aleppo

"We have had some fairly clear indications that the parties are willing to discuss issues of access to needy people, the liberation of prisoners and local ceasefires," he told a news conference.

At the end of the first day of the summit, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said both sides had "taken the first small step" to making peace.

"Ending this war and making peace will be hard," he said.

"But it can be done, and it must be done. It is still not too late to end the bloodshed and find a peaceful and democratic solution.

"The moment to act courageously and decisively is now."

Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State John Kerry echoed the rebel view that there is "no way" Mr Assad can stay under the terms of a 2012 international accord urging an interim coalition.

"There is no way - no way possible in the imagination - that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern," he said.

The "Geneva II" talks are being held in Montreux on Lake Geneva

"One man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage."

But Mr al Moallem said terrorists and foreign meddling had ripped his country apart, and refused to give up the podium despite numerous requests from Mr Ban.

He said: "You live in New York. I live in Syria. I have the right to give the Syrian version here in this forum.

"After three years of suffering, this is my right."

He also accused the West and neighbouring countries of funnelling money, weapons and foreign fighters to the rebellion.

Syrian National Coalition officials had wavered until the last minute on whether to attend the talks. They have insisted that any discussion of Assad continuing to remain in power would effectively end the talks.

An Oxfam worker leaves roses during a protest outside the talks

At least 130,000 people have been killed since a peaceful uprising against Assad's rule began in March 2011, with around 2.3 million refugees created.

On Tuesday, a group of international lawyers published allegations of the "systematic torture and killing" of up to 11,000 people by the Syrian regime.

The "Geneva II" conference went ahead after a last-minute dispute over the UN decision to withdraw an invitation to Iran over Tehran's refusal to endorse a plan for a transitional national body in Syria.

Iran is one of Assad's closest allies.

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Syrian People Unconvinced By Peace Talks

By Robert Nisbet, Sky News Correspondent

In Damascus, the steady crump of shells fired into rebel-held suburbs intensified as talks began a thousand miles away.

The inhabitants were certainly paying attention. Traffic was noticeably lighter today after several days of extra security checks which had paralysed the capital.

A local fixer for Sky News said: "They are all watching Geneva II on the television. It's a great day to miss work."

In a large shisha pipe cafe in the city centre, the TVs were all tuned to the live feed from Switzerland.

Not that they had any choice: it was being carried by every news channel.

More than 130,000 people have been killed in the Syria violence

A waiter told us that when Syria's firebrand foreign minister began his lengthy diatribe blaming foreign meddling and terrorists for the crisis, they stopped talking and listened.

It was during the day so most people playing cards and backgammon in the room were elderly, retired professionals, from where Assad draws much of his support.

One told Sky News: "The world opinion about Syria will not change. Nothing changes in terms of the Syrian people because we love our country."

I spoke at length to a group of young men, all educated professionals or postgraduate students in their early twenties.

Face-to-face talks between the Assad regime and opposition begin on Friday

It was a depressing conversation. Most claimed to be apolitical, supporting neither the regime nor the mosaic of opposition parties, but all said they were scrabbling to leave Syria.

One said his mother kept begging him to stay to help rebuild the country when the war's over.

"I told her I have to leave. If I stay here, I will be killed," he said, allowing himself a grim smile.

At a large Catholic church in the Old City where forty of the congregation have been killed in the fighting, Father Macarius is pleased the talks are underway, but uncertain they will achieve the stated aims.

He too blames foreign interference.

He said: "Let the Syrian people find their own solution to the crisis.

"The biggest help would be if the international community lets go and allows the Syrian people to make their own decisions."

Outside the church the faithful expressed a simpler desire - for the killing to end and a return to normality.

They hope this process may at least be the start of something better - although no one seems entirely convinced.

One told Sky News: "We hope Geneva II will bring peace to Syria and to the world."

Another added: "At the beginning the world did not understand the situation in Syria, now they see and they understand I hope this will help."

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Ukraine Protesters 'Ready For Bullet To The Head'

Police and protesters in the Ukrainian capital Kiev were locked in a tense standoff early Thursday, as the US threatened to impose sanctions over street battles which have claimed three lives.

Police and protesters clashed again overnight, turning an area at the heart of the city into a virtual war zone with demonstrators setting fire to barricades, hurling stones and Molotov cocktails and police using tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets.

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Kiev, said: "Protesters are also burning tyres, mattresses, burning whatever they can find to keep going, and reinforcing barricades too.

Fires continue to rage in central Kiev

"They have made homemade shields out of planks of wood and rehearsing their tactical formations - how they plan to stand together and how they plan to protect themselves.

"Opposition leaders have told them to go on the offensive today. They said peace talks yesterday were useless. Vitaly Klitschko has said that if this involves going onto the streets under bullets - that is what he and they are prepared to do."

They have called on President Viktor Yanukovych to announce early elections within 24 hours or face more violence on the streets.

And have demanded that Mr Yanukovych dismiss the government and scrap harsh anti-protest legislation.

The leader of the opposition Fatherland party Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he was ready to die for the cause.

Demonstrators have made their own shields out of wood to defend themselves

"If he does not go down that path then we will go forwards together and if it means a bullet to the head, then it is a bullet to the head. Viktor Yanukovych you have 24 hours. Take a decision. I have taken my decision," he said to cheers, speaking to around 40,000 people in Kiev's Independence Square.

Mr Klitschko added: "Early elections will change the situation without bloodshed and we will do everything to achieve that."

Medical staff in Kiev told Sky News that three people have been killed during the clashes.

Two protesters died after being shot, while another died from injuries sustained in a fall. One of the dead protesters was named locally as Serhiy Nihoyna.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the police did not have live ammunition and that opposition leaders should be held responsible for the deaths.

Opposition leaders have told protesters to go on the offensive on Thursday

Police have thrown stun grenades and broken through protesters' barricades, made from burnt-out buses.

Protesters have also lobbed petrol bombs at police during ferocious clashes in the city's snow-covered streets.

During confrontations on Wednesday, riot police beat and shot at protesters, volunteer medics and journalists. The Interior Ministry said 70 protesters have been arrested.

The US State Department has threatened to impose sanctions against the Ukraine in response to the continued use of violence against protesters.

Spokeswoman Marie Harf said the US would continue to call upon Mr Yanukovych "to protect the democratic rights of all Ukrainians, including the rights of peaceful protest".

"I don't have more details on what those sanctions might look like, but we will continue to consider additional steps, as I said, including sanctions, in response to the use of violence," she said.

Image said to show one of the dead, Serhiy Nihoyna (Pic: Serhiy Proskurnia)

The rioting intensified when some 200,000 took to the streets at the weekend in a show of anger over the new anti-protest laws rushed through by Mr Yanukovych.

The laws allow for jail terms of up to five years for those who blockade public buildings. They also ban protesters from wearing masks or helmets.

Meanwhile, Russia said it would not intervene, according to President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"We consider we do not have the right to intervene in any way in the internal affairs of our brother Ukraine. That's unacceptable and Russia has not done this and will not do it," he said in an interview published on the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda.

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Ukraine Protester 'Shot Dead' By Police

Two people have reportedly died during clashes between police and protesters in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

The country's interior ministry has so far confirmed only one death, but made no comment on the cause.

Police threw stun grenades and broke through protesters' barricades, made from burnt-out buses, early on Wednesday morning.

The latest violence follows three nights of fighting that have left hundreds wounded in the Ukrainian capital.

Sky News' Moscow Correspondent Katie Stallard said: "The protesters say that one male activist was shot by a police sniper in the early hours of this morning.

"There is no confirmation as to whether that is live ammunition or rubber bullets being used, but it would be a very serious escalation if this is live ammunition."

Protesters said another person also died after being beaten by police and falling from a height.

Tensions in the country have reached boiling point after several months of protests over President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign a new deal bringing the country closer to the European Union.

Mr Yanukovych instead opted for closer ties with former communist master Russia.

Tough new anti-protest laws have also been rushed through to try to bring the situation under control, but have only increased protesters' anger.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that the situation in Ukraine was spiralling out of control after several days of street battles.

Mr Lavrov said calls from opposition leaders for an end to violence have failed, indicating they no longer hold sway over the demonstrators.

Opposition politicians, including former world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, have repeatedly appealed for calm since protests turned violent on Sunday.

The two deaths, if confirmed, mark a significant escalation in the conflict between riot police and protesters.

Until recent days, the demonstrations had been largely peaceful.

On Sunday a rally of some 200,000 people took to the streets in a show of anger over the new anti-protest laws signed by President Yanukovych last week.

The laws allow for jail terms of up to five years for those who blockade public buildings. They also ban protesters from wearing masks or helmets.

Protests first erupted in November after President Yanukovych opted to shelve a long-discussed economic and political treaty with the European Union.

Instead he chose to focus on improving ties with Russia and received a bailout loan from the Kremlin to aid the troubled Ukrainian economy.

The president agreed to negotiate with the opposition following a meeting with Mr Klitschko over the weekend, however no such talks have yet been held.

More follows...

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Syria Peace Talks Open Without Key Players

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor, in Montreux

Representatives of 40 nations have converged on Montreux in a bid to drive home the urgency of talks in Switzerland on bringing peace to Syria.

But key players have been banned, uninvited or ignored as the international community put principle above realpolitik.

The talking shop, which starts here and moves on to Geneva, is not entirely hopeless.

Syria's government has sent a high level delegation led by Foreign Minister Walid al Moualem.

His team of 15 may yet meet across a table from representatives of the rebel Syrian National Coalition, led by Ahmed Jarba.

That in itself would be a step forward. Perhaps they could, as Russia has suggested, open humanitarian corridors to relieve some of the suffering three years of civil war has visited on the civilian population.

More than nine million people are in dire need of aid.

But without the presence of all of the major belligerents and their backers, it is hard to see how Geneva II can yield anything more.

Mr Muallem (left) and Mr Jarba arrive for the conference

Iran, invited on Sunday, uninvited on Monday at the insistence of the Syrian opposition, is critical.

Tehran controls Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia which joined the fight on the side of Bashar al Assad.

Advisers and experts from Iran's al Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards have stemmed a tide of rebellion that had gone against Mr Assad until six months ago.

Tehran is engaged in its own diplomatic offensive. It has agreed to wind down its nuclear weapons programme in return for an easing of economic sanctions.

It is conceivable it might want to further improve its relation by putting pressure on Mr Assad to rein in at least his worst excesses.

It is certain that without the permission and the support of Iran, Mr Assad could not deviate from the course that he is currently set upon - an attempt at military victory.

On the rebel side the powerful Islamic Front has been left off the guest list. It is estimated to be able to muster 60,000 troops.

Rebel fighters and civilians inspect a bomb crater in Aleppo

The al Nusra Front is also not invited.

The rebels' Western backers have labelled it an al Qaeda affiliate and therefore a terrorist organisation.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham is an outright part if al Qaeda and is also banned.

Peace talks and the agreements they are supposed to produce can only be conducted between groups who are at war.

So leaving the extremists out of the process makes very little sense.

But then there is the question recently raised by several intelligence agencies: if the al Qaeda groups were to attend talks, which side of the table would they sit on?

The spooks hint that al Qaeda has done deals with the Assad regime.

They suggest that the radical Sunni international terrorist movement, which is dedicated to establishing an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East, has been serving Mr Assad, a member of an apostate Shia sect.

John Kerry, Ban Ki-Moon and Sergey Lavrov in Montreux

Far-fetched? Perhaps. But they have split the rebel ranks. The al Qaeda groups' persecution and murder of senior rebel leaders, and refusal to integrate, meant they were attacked two weeks ago, and remain locked in battle with other rebel groups.

Only Mr Assad has gained from this.

At least one major al Qaeda operative once based in Tehran, where the Shia government keeps close tabs on Osama bin Laden's ideological heirs, has found his way into Syria.

Intelligence officers monitoring him ask how he managed to get into Syria without the permission of the Iranians.

Yes. It is complicated. Syria is a mess in which allies prove to be enemies, enemies can make temporary friends. It is a nightmare.

Perhaps the only way to make some sense of it all is to gather the belligerents and their backers in one place, to call their bluff. But that's not happening in Geneva.

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Syria: Diplomatic Push To End Bloody Conflict

World leaders have an "opportunity and an obligation" to find a way to end Syria's bloody civil war, the US Secretary of State has said.

Speaking at the start of crucial peace talks aimed at ending the conflict, John Kerry said millions of Syrians "are relying on the international community to find a solution to save their lives and their country".

He said it had taken "a lot longer than many of us wanted" for world leaders to attempt to thrash out a resolution but said he was "as determined as ever" to end what he described as the "horrors of human catastrophe".

The conflict has killed more than 100,000 people and created an estimated 2.2 million refugees.

The city of Montreux, in Switzerland, will host the Geneva 2 talks

The peace talks on the banks of Lake Geneva are going ahead despite a last-minute dispute over the United Nations' decision to withdraw an invitation to Iran.

The exclusion of the Islamic Republic from the conference has highlighted tensions between the West and Russia over how to broker an agreement to end the violence.

Iran is the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. The country's exclusion came after Tehran refused to endorse a UN-backed plan for a transitional governing body in Syria.

The issue of transition of power is expected to be central to the success of the talks, which have been dubbed "Geneva 2". 

US Secretary of State arrives in Switzerland ahead of the talks

The Western-backed opposition has demanded that Mr Assad must quit and face a war crimes trial.

But the Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al Moualem, has rejected any discussion of Mr Assad being forced to step down.

"The subject of the president and the regime is a red line for us and the Syrian people and will not be touched," he said on the eve of the talks, according to the SANA news agency.

The conference also begins in the shadow of allegations of large-scale torture and execution of prisoners by government forces.

Fatima Khan said allegations of torture in Syria were "no surprise"

The day before the talks, a group of international lawyers published allegations of the "systematic torture and killing" of up to 11,000 people by the Syrian regime.

Fatima Khan, the mother of British doctor Abbas Khan, who died in a Syrian prison last month, told Sky News' Joe Tidy that the reports of torture and execution were no surprise.

"I'm not surprised with the report. I knew ... all this," she said.

"I heard my son was living with 9,000 other prisoners and my son told me that every day they used to take two or three (and) torture them.

Smoke rises after a bomb blast in the Syrian city of Aleppo

"Either one comes back or two comes back, or none of the three comes back. I knew this. My son was only a humanitarian aid worker. Why was he tortured?

"If that regime is so cruel (that) they have no brains and no heart to understand (the difference between) a humanitarian aid worker and a terrorist, then they should not stay in power."

Foreign Secretary William Hague urged both sides in Syria to "seize the chance" to end the civil war as he arrived in Switzerland.

"Opposition has been tested and has come. Now regime must be tested on willingness to seek a political solution," Mr Hague wrote on Twitter.

Mr Hague added that it was a "great shame" that Iran - which has enjoyed a thawing of relations with the West in recent months - had failed to endorse the principles of the talks.

US President Barack Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin had a "business-like" conversation about the Syrian conflict by phone on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also met Mr Kerry in Montreux ahead of today's opening of negotiations.

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Syria Talks 'Should Focus On Foreign Terrorists'

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has criticised this week's peace conference aimed at ending his country's civil war - saying the main agenda should be on tackling "foreign terrorists".

The UN talks in Geneva hope to create a transitional government in the war-torn country, drawn from the Assad regime and opposition leaders.

But in an interview with AFP, Mr Assad said he wants to stand again as president if the Syrian people want him to.

He also said any talk of a rebel leader becoming prime minister in a transitional government was nothing more than a "good joke".

He said: "The most basic element, which we continuously refer to, is that the Geneva conference should produce clear results with regard to the fight against terrorism in Syria.

Syrian forces launch air strikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo

"In particular, it needs to put pressure on countries that are exporting terrorism, by sending money and weapons to terrorist organisations, especially Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and, of course, the Western countries that provide political cover for these terrorist organisations.

"This is the most important decision or result that the Geneva conference could produce. Any political solution that is reached without fighting terrorism has no value."   

In reference to remaining president, he said: "This depends on two things: it depends on personal aspirations or a personal decision, on the one hand, and on public opinion in Syria, on the other.   

"As far as I am concerned, I see no reason why I shouldn't stand. As for Syrian public opinion, there is still around four months before the election date is announced.   

"If, in that time, there is public desire and a public opinion in favour of my candidacy, I will not hesitate for a second to run for election. In short, we can say that the chances for my candidacy are significant."

He warned that the Syrian conflict - which has left more than 120,000 people dead since it began in March 2011 - could spread throughout the Middle East if the bloodshed is not stopped.

Damaged buildings in Homs

"In any battle, there is always the possibility of winning and losing," he said. "But when you're defending your country, it's obvious that the only choice is to win.   

"Should Syria lose this battle that would mean the spread of chaos throughout the Middle East.   

"This battle is not confined to Syria and is not, as Western propaganda portrays, a popular uprising against a regime suppressing its people and a revolution calling for democracy and freedom.   

"These lies have now become clear to people. A popular revolution doesn't last for three years only to fail; moreover, a national revolution cannot have a foreign agenda."

Meanwhile, Syria's opposition has said it will not attend the peace talks unless the United Nations withdraws an invitation for Iran - a key backer of President Assad - to attend.

The Syrian National Coalition threatened on Twitter to withdraw from the negotiations, which are due to start on Wednesday in Montreux, unless the invitation is retracted.

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Syria Peace Talks: UN Cancels Iran Invitation

The UN Secretary-General has withdrawn his invitation to Iran to join this week's peace conference on Syria.

Ban Ki-moon was forced to act after the exiled Syrian opposition threatened to withdraw from the talks if Iran - a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al Assad - takes part in the conference.

It came as a group of top lawyers published what they described as "clear evidence" of the "systematic torture and killing" of up to 11,000 detainees by the agents of the Syrian government.

The lawyers, who are all former international war crimes prosecutors, were handed 55,000 images smuggled out of the country by an ex-military policeman.

In a report, they said the photographs showed emaciated corpses with severe injuries and would support findings of crimes against humanity by the Assad regime.

Some of the victims appeared to have been beaten, strangled or electrocuted, they claimed.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war

Mr Ban said the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had repeatedly assured him that he "understood and supported" the aim of the peace conference.

But Iran's UN ambassador declared his country would not join the peace talks, due to open in Switzerland on Wednesday, if it was required to accept a Syria declaration adopted by major world powers in Geneva in 2012.

The roadmap calls for a transitional government to guide the country out of the three-year war which the UN says has killed more than 100,000 people.

During a news conference in New York, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said: "The Secretary-General is deeply disappointed by Iranian public statements today that are not at all consistent with that stated commitment."

The Syrian National Coalition has said it will join the talks now that Iran's invitation has been retracted.

Spokesman Monzer Akbik said: "We appreciate the United Nations and Ban Ki-moon's understanding of our position. We think they have taken the right decision."

High-ranking delegations from around 40 countries - including Russia, which said the decision to pull Iran's invitation was a mistake but not a catastrophe - are attending the talks.

However, Abbas Araqchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, said a "comprehensive solution" would not be found unless "all influential parties" are involved in negotiations.

"Everyone knows that without Iran the chances of a real solution to Syria are not that great," he said.

Face-to-face negotiations between the Syrian government and its opponents - the first since the conflict began three years ago - are to start on Friday in Geneva.

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Ossie Ardiles: Ex-Spurs Footballer In Car Crash

Former Argentina and Tottenham Hotspur footballer Ossie Ardiles has been injured in a car crash on the Falkland Islands.

The 61-year-old was on the island making a television documentary about the Falklands War with ex-teammate Ricky Villa, also 61, and how it affected their careers.

Ardiles lifts the FA Cup in 1981 with teammate Steve Perryman (L)

They arrived on Saturday and were driving with their five-strong crew along the road from Darwin to Stanley when the vehicle they were travelling in overturned.

Ardiles was driving the hire car and saw a sheep on the road and swerved to avoid it, according to a witness.

He suffered serious head injuries and a member of the ESPN TV crew was also badly hurt and the pair were airlifted to the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Stanley.

Ardiles played for Argentina between 1975 and 1982

Villa was not believed to have been injured in the accident on Monday night.

"Some of his crew were less seriously injured, but he suffered a head injury which was serious enough for an RAF search and rescue helicopter to come and pick him up and take him to the local hospital in Stanley," said Sky's Ian Woods.

"I've driven that road several times. The quality of the road is not that great.

"We have spoken to a nurse in the hospital who says that he is fine, but they are clearly monitoring his condition.

"Ossie Ardiles is a real cult hero at Spurs. He went on of course to become their manager - also managed West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United as well - and is currently working in Japan."

Both Ardiles and Villa's careers were curtailed at Spurs by the Falklands conflict because of anti-Argentinian feelings at the time.

Ardiles was in the Falklands making a TV documentary

In June 1982, Ardiles was placed on loan to Paris St Germain.

Both he and Villa were also part of the Argentine squad which won the 1978 World Cup.

It was following this achievement on the world stage that the pair headed to London to join Spurs and were part of the team that won the FA Cup in 1981.

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American Jailed In North Korea Appeals To US

An American who has been jailed in North Korea for over a year has appealed to the US government to secure his release.

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary, appeared before reporters in what he called a press conference held at his own request.

Mr Bae was arrested in November 2012 while leading a group of tourists in the northeastern region of Rason in North Korea. He was accused of crimes against the state and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour. 

At the press conference, he expressed hope that the US government would do its best to secure his release.

Mr Bae was moved from a prison camp to a hospital last summer because he was in poor health and had lost more than 23kg (50 pounds). 

His mother visited him in hospital in October.

Mr Bae, who had been living in China for several years before his arrest, is the longest-serving American detainee in North Korea in recent years.

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Syria Peace Talks: Storm Over Iran Invite

Syria's opposition has said it will not attend this week's peace talks in Switzerland unless the United Nations withdraws an invitation for Iran - a key backer of President Bashar al Assad - to attend.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon said Iran had pledged in talks to play a "positive and constructive role" in efforts to end Syria's civil war, which broke out in March 2011.

But the Syrian National Coalition threatened on Twitter to withdraw from the negotiations, which are due to start on Wednesday in Montreux, unless the invitation is retracted.

The warning came just hours after international leaders had hailed the coalition's decision to take part in negotiations.

The United States also said Mr Ban should withdraw the invitation unless Iran gives "explicit" support to the conference's aim of setting up a transitional government in Syria.

Mr Ban told a news conference on Sunday he had extended a late invitation after intense talks over two days with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"Foreign Minister Zarif and I agree that the goal of the negotiations is to establish, by mutual consent, a transitional governing body with full executive powers," Mr Ban said.

"He assured me again and again that Iran, if they are invited, then they will play a very positive and constructive role."

The Syrian government has already committed itself to attending the talks

If Iran does go, there will be 40 countries and a group of regional bodies at the opening meeting, which will be the most intensive diplomatic effort yet to end a war that the UN says has left well over 100,000 dead.

Mr Ban said that, as host of the peace conference, he also extended last-minute invitations to Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea and the Vatican.

He said the additional countries would be "an important and useful show of solidarity in advance of the hard work that the Syrian government and opposition delegations will begin".

The US and Russia played key roles convincing the opposition and Mr Assad to send delegations to the conference, which has been pushed back several times.

They will attend alongside the other permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, Britain and France - and additional countries suffering fallout from the war, including Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

More than 2.3 million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million are displaced inside Syria.

At least 30 people died in violence in Syria on Sunday, including 15 killed when government planes dropped bombs on rebel zones in the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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Iran 'Implementing Nuclear Programme Deal'

Iran has started implementing a deal to curb its nuclear programme, the country's state TV has confirmed.

Centrifuge cascades have been disconnected at the Natanz nuclear plant, where some of Iran's most sensitive uranium enrichment work takes place, the broadcast said.

Equipment at the plant is capable of 20% uranium enrichment, close to the level needed to make a nuclear bomb.

UN inspectors were reportedly present as Tehran started fulfillng its obligations under the agreement reached with six world powers in Geneva last November.

Iran's previous president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visiting the Natanz plant

They then moved on to monitor the suspension of enrichment at Fordo, another nuclear site in central Iran.

The Geneva deal will see Iran get limited sanctions relief in return for scaling back its nuclear ambitions.

Iranian state TV quoted the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying: "The suspension of 20 percent enrichment has started at the Natanz plant and the international Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are going to the Fordo plant." 

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