Syrian pro-government forces retake key town in west ahead of planned talks
BEIRUT - Syrian pro-government forces recapture a key rebel-held town in coastal Latakia province, building on battlefield advances in the area ahead of planned peace talks this week in Geneva between Damascus and Syria's opposition. (MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-LATAKIA (UPDATE 3), moved, by John Davison, 546 words)
New York travel ban lifted, Washington at standstill after storm
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - New York lifts a travel ban and mass transit starts getting back to normal after a record-setting blizzard in the U.S. Northeast, but Washington remains at a standstill following storms that killed at least 19 people across the country. (USA-WEATHER/ (UPDATE 3, PIX, TV, GRAPHIC), moved, by Frank McGurty and Ian Simpson)
Bloomberg's possible entry into 2016 race gets mixed reception
DES MOINES/WASHINGTON - U.S. presidential hopefuls offer mixed reviews of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's potential independent White House run, with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders saying it would add another billionaire like Republican Donald Trump to the field.(USA-ELECTION/, moved, by Steve Holland and Valerie Volcovici, 500 words)
Ex-Haiti coup leader says to fight "anarchists," unrest spreads
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A former Haitian coup leader wanted by the United States for smuggling cocaine calls on his supporters to resist "anarchists" who forced a presidential election to be cancelled, in a sign of deep polarization that could lead to more unrest. (HAITI-ELECTION/ (PIX), moved, by Joseph Guyler Delva, 520 words
IRAN REOPENS FOR BUSINESS
After sanctions, Iranian and foreign firms await the good times
DOHA - A decade ago, Foad Fanaei packed his belongings and moved from sanction-hit Iran to Qatar in the hope of expanding his family's engineering firm. Since then he has endured years of financial losses but kept the business going in the hope that one day the nuclear-related sanctions would be lifted. Now that day has come, Fanaei believes his hard work is about to be rewarded. (IRAN-NUCLEAR/BUSINESS, moved, by Tom Finn and Stephen Jewkes, 1175 words)
Iran marks comeback with talks to buy 160 European planes
TEHRAN - Iran unveils an expanded shopping list for more than 160 European planes - including 8 superjumbos - and dangled another big order in front of Boeing at Tehran's first major post-sanctions business gathering on Sunday. (IRAN-AVIATION/AIRBUS (UPDATE 2), moved, by Tim Hepher, 723 words)
EUROPE
Merkel's party, down in polls, weighs German border centres
BERLIN - A senior figure in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party proposes setting up "border centres" along the frontier with Austria to speed up the repatriation of those asylum seekers deemed unqualified to stay (EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY (UPDATE 1), moved, by Paul Carrel and Thorsten Severin, 590 words)
Darling of Davos, Lagarde has 2nd IMF term sewn up
DAVOS - The darling of the Davos political and financial elite, Christine Lagarde has a second term at the helm of the International Monetary Fund sewn up just days after nominations opened, despite facing possible trial in France. (IMF-LAGARDE/ (TV, PIX), moved, by Paul Taylor, 883 words)
AFRICA
As currency tumbles on street, Nigerians expect official rate to follow
ABUJA - Food wholesaler Chioma Oluwaseun was sorting through the inventory in her warehouse to hike prices for imports, in line with a Nigerian currency that has lost a third of its value on unofficial "parallel markets" since last month. Few think the official exchange rate can be sustained much longer. (NIGERIA-ECONOMY/ (TV), moved, by Ulf Laessing, 694 words)
Thousands of Moroccans protest over public job cuts
RABAT - Thousands of Moroccan trainee teachers and their families took to the streets of the capital Rabat on Sunday to protest against government plans to cut education jobs, defying an official ban on demonstrations. (MOROCCO-REFORMS/ (PIX), moved, by Aziz El Yaakoubi, 436 words)
ASIA
Kerry to press China over N. Korea, urge ASEAN unity over South China Sea
RIYADH - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry begins a visit to East Asia on Sunday in which he plans to press China to put more curbs on North Korea after its nuclear test and to urge Southeast Asia to show unity in response to China's claims in the South China Sea. (USA-ASIA/KERRY (UPDATE 1), moved, by David Brunnstrom, 617 words)
Vietnam's progressive PM not nominated for party leadership
HANOI - Top decision-makers in Vietnam's ruling Communist Party have agreed on one nomination for each of the country's four key leadership posts, a top official says, a line-up that excludes the country's powerful prime minister. (VIETNAM-CONGRESS/ (PIX), moved, By Martin Petty, 572 words)
Wreckage found in Thailand unlikely to come from missing Malaysian jet
BANGKOK - A piece of suspected plane wreckage found off the east coast of southern Thailand on Saturday is unlikely to belong to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which vanished nearly two years ago, say aviation experts and Thai officials. (THAILAND-WRECKAGE/ (UPDATE 4, PIX, TV), moved, By Orathai Sriring, 461 words)
