Here's a report of more deadly violence in Syria from our news desk:
Syria's Homs Rocked By Car-Bomb Blast
A bomb blast in the western Syrian city of Homs has left at least 16 people dead and more than 50 injured.
Reports said the car bomb exploded on December 12 near a hospital in the mainly Alawite neighborhood of Al-Zahraa in the eastern part of the city.
The initial blast was followed by a second explosion from a gas canister inside the vehicle, which injured people trying to help victims of the first explosion.
Homs Governor Talal Barazzi said most of the dead were women and children.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an army colonel, a policeman, and woman were among those killed.
The explosion comes shortly after the government secured its control over Homs following a truce deal with insurgents fighting against President Bashar al-Assad in the district of Al-Waer.
Under that UN-brokered deal, some 750 rebel fighters and civilians were allowed to leave Al-Waer and the government agreed to allow aid in.
The deal came after the area had endured a siege by government forces for nearly two years.
Some 250,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Syria erupted into violence in 2011.
(AP, dpa, Reuters, AFP)
Our news desk reports on how a suspected IS cell may have been busted in Switzerland:
Switzerland Arrests Two Suspects In Terror Probe
Swiss authorities say they have arrested two people of Syrian origin on suspicion of making, hiding, and transporting explosives and toxic gas.
Switzerland's attorney general said on December 12 that criminal proceedings have been opened against the pair under a law prohibiting extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).
The two arrests were made in the Geneva region on December 11.
Geneva, home to the European headquarters of the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and many banks and trading houses, has been on high alert amid fears that an IS cell was in the area.
The country’s president, Simonetta Sommaruga, said on December 11 that a "foreign authority" had provided the information about "a potential IS cell in the Geneva area."
(Reuters, AFP)
From our news desk:
Thousands of Iraqis Protest Turkish Troop Deployment
Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets of Baghdad and Basra to protest against Turkey's deployment of troops in the north of the country.
"We consider any military presence on Iraqi land as foreign aggression which we should stand against using all possible means," Hadi al-Amiri, a Shi'ite lawmaker who heads the armed Badr Organization, told protesters gathered in central Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on December 12.
Many participants were members of Shi'ite paramilitary forces who held up banners reading "Death to Turkey."
A similar rally was held in the southern city of Basra.
News of the deployment of Turkish soldiers to a base near Mosul last week has triggered a crisis between Ankara and Baghdad, which demands their immediate withdrawal.
Turkey refuses, saying the troops were deployed to protect trainers working with Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State group.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed support to his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, over Turkey’s deployment of troops in northern Iraq.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on December 12 that Lavrov and Jaafari had spoken by phone to discuss the "unlawful incursion."
"The Russian side expressed its firm position in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq," the statement said.
(Reuters, AFP, TASS, Interfax)
More fallout from the spat between Russia and Turkey: