A Turkish assault on positions claimed by Kurdish fighters in northern Syria has continued into a second day.

On Saturday, Turkey began shelling the militia, which it says is linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The YPG militia, which is based in Syria, has rejected a demand by Turkey to leave areas it has seized, saying Islamists would return if it left.

Turkey's assault is a new thread in an already-complex conflict that has drawn in competing regional powers.

On Thursday, world leaders agreed to work towards a so-called cessation of hostilities in Syria within a week.

The US and Russian presidents agreed in a "frank and business-like" phone call to work more closely to achieve this, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

Among the targets shelled by Turkey is the Menagh airbase, which was seized by the YPG on Thursday from Syrian Islamist rebels. The YPG controls much of Syria's northern border with Turkey.

Speaking on T

World powers have agreed to seek a nationwide "cessation of hostilities" in Syria to begin in a week's time, after talks in Munich, Germany.

The halt will not apply to the battle against jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front.

Ministers from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) also agreed to accelerate and expand aid deliveries.

A huge fire has engulfed a 63-storey hotel in central Dubai ahead of a New Year's Eve firework display.

Despite the blaze at the Address hotel, the display at the nearby Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, started as planned at midnight.

Officials said the fire has been brought largely under control and 16 people suffered mostly minor injures.

It is unclear what caused the blaze, which broke out as large crowds had gathered to ring in the new year.

People were asked to leave the area around the Address Downtown Hotel, which was evacuated.

The fire broke out at about 21:30 local time (17:30 GMT) and appeared to engulf much of the building, a five-star hotel and apartment complex, within 10 minutes.

It started on the 20th floor, officials said, and had not spread inside the building, they claimed.

The Dubai government tweeted that 14 people had suffered minor injuries, one moderate injuries and there was one "heart a

The owner of a gypsum mine in China's eastern Shandong province has killed himself, as rescuers try to reach 17 miners who have been trapped for two days, state media report.

One person died and four miners escaped when the mine collapsed on Friday.

Saudi Arabia will go to the polls on Saturday in unprecedented municipal elections in which women will cast a ballot for the first time.

Women are able to stand as candidates, despite the fiercely conservative kingdom being the only nation where women are not allowed to drive.

A total of 978 women have registered as candidates, alongside 5,938 men.

Female candidates have had to speak behind a partition during campaign appearances or be represented by a man.

US forces have carried out an air strike targeting the Islamic State group militant "Jihadi John", with a "high degree of certainty" he was hit. Emwazi, the Kuwaiti-born British militant, appeared in videos of the beheadings of Western hostages.

President Vladimir Putin has defended Russia's military operations in Syria, saying the aim is to "stabilise the legitimate authority" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Putin told Russian state TV Moscow also wanted to "create conditions for a political compromise" in Syria.

He denied that Russian air strikes were hitting moderate opposition groups rather than Islamic State militants.

Syrian forces are said to have made significant advances against rebels.

Government gains in Idlib, Hama and Latakia provinces were on Sunday reported both by Damascus and opposition activists.

The main battlefront is currently close to the key highway that links the capital with other major cities, including Aleppo, and Mr Assad's forces are believed to be seeking to cut off rebels in Idlib.

'Under siege'

In the interview with Rossiya One TV broadcast on Sunday, President Puti

The fighters crossed over from Turkey on Friday and Saturday and are now located in areas north of the city of Aleppo, said the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Their arrival comes shortly after U.S. officials acknowledged that the Pentagon's program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to help fight ISIS had fallen far short of its original aims.

A top U.S. general told the Senate last week that of the thousands of fighters the U.S. military was supposed to train in the first year, only four or five remained in place on the battlefield.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have released six foreign hostages including three Americans, two Saudis and a Briton, Yemeni officials say.

There are no details on their identity. They are reportedly being flown from the capital Sanaa to neighbouring Oman.

Shia Houthi rebels have seized much of Yemen, including Sanaa, since last year. They are fighting government troops aided by a Saudi-led coalition.

Many foreigners have been taken hostage in Yemen in recent years.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has expressed US concern over reports of Russia's enhanced military build-up in Syria in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart, according to the US state department.

The phone call came a day after media reports quoted US officials as describing an increase in Russian military activity in Syria, expanding the country's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"The secretary made clear that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-ISIL coalition operating in Syria," the state department said on Saturday, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

At least 12 Syrians trying to reach Greece have drowned off Turkey after the boats they were travelling in sank.An image of one of the victims - a young boy lying face down on the beach - has sparked an international outcry over the human cost of the crisis.The picture, released by a Turkish news agency, is trending worldwide on Twitter under the #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik ("humanity washed ashore") hashtag.

Azerbaijan has sentenced Khadija Ismayilova, an award-winning investigative journalist and anti-corruption campaigner, to seven-and-a-half years in jail over several fraud charges which she denounced as politically motivated.The court in Baku on Tuesday sentenced Ismayilova to prison for a string of convictions, including, embezzlement, tax evasion, illegal business activity, and abuse of power, but found her not guilty of inciting a colleague to commit suicide.

Satellite images confirm the destruction of the famed Temple of Bel in Syria's Palmyra, the United Nations said."We can confirm destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity," the UN training and research agency UNITAR said, providing satellite images from before and after a powerful blast in the ruins of the ancient city on Sunday.

Riot police have broken up an anti-government protest in Beirut where at least 10,000 people had gathered to demonstrate against a services crisis.The police chased men and women from the city's Riad al-Solh square shortly after 10pm, beating both men and women as they cleared the area. Several protesters were arrested.The demonstrators had gathered in downtown Beirut to call for the resignation of officials responsible for the current waste crisis and for new elections.The police earlier had called for peaceful protesters to move from the square after protesters set fire to rubbish and began climbing through a barbed-wire barricade.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has reportedly executed at least 91 people across Syria within a period of one month, including 39 people from its own ranks.The executions were carried out over accusations of sorcery, sodomy, adultery, banditry, joining and cooperating with rival rebel groups, cooperating with US-led coalition fighting ISIL, cooperating with President Bashar al-Assad's regime forces, and insulting God, the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported.