Israeli-Palestinian Amman meeting ends with progress: Jordanian FM

巴以會議結束,取得進展

The first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators in more than a year has ended with a small sign of progress in the Jordanian capital of Amman,

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh says the two sides have agreed to continue their discussions.

"The atmosphere was extremely positive today and we have committed to continue with these discussions. These are all exploratory meetings that aim at arriving at the conducive environment that is needed to launch serious negotiations on all final status issues."

Judeh says in the next few months, Jordan is set to host a series of meetings between the two sides.

The Jordanian Foreign Minister also says the forthcoming meetings will be based on the middle-east Quartet statement issued last September.

In the statement, Quartet asks the two sides to be committed to reaching an agreement on the peace process no later than the end of this year.

The Quartet, including the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia, has set a January 26th deadline to resume peace negotiations.

Egyptians vote in final phase of parliamentary elections

埃及人在議會選舉最后階段投票

Egyptians are going to the polls for the third and final round of parliamentary elections.

Nine provinces are taking part in this round.

Islamist parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, are expected to consolidate their gains from the previous two rounds and finally win the majority in the lower house.

The elected new parliament will be tasked to select a 100-member panel to draft the country's new constitution.

13 killed, 41 injured in central China highway crash

13 people are dead, after a heavy-duty truck collided with a coach in Hunan.

41 others were injured, including nine seriously.

Authorities say the truck smashed through the guardrail and crashed into the coach, which was heading in the opposite direction on the Shanghai-Kunming expressway.

Rescuers had to dismantle the mangled bus to get to the passengers inside, many of whom were tightly sandwiched between the deformed seats.

PetroChina to take full ownership of Canadian oil sands project for the first time

PetroChina is now set to take full ownership of a Canadian oil sands project for the first time.

Athabasca Oil Sands has announced that it sold the remaining 40 percent of the MacKay River oil sands development project to PetroChina for 673 million USD.

China's state-owned oil companies have, to this point, been taking non-operating or minority stakes in oil sands projects in Canada.

Beijingshopping malls report New Year golden craze

New numbers now suggest jewelry and gold products have become Beijingers' most favored items for the New Year.

The city's jewelry stores are reporting huge profits through the holiday.

The Caishikou Department Store, a major gold market in Beijing, has sold gold and jewelry worth some 430 million yuan over the three-day period.

That's a rise of 53 percent over same period last year.

Chinais now the world's second largest consumer of gold, behind India.

Storms kill 7, force 52 towns to declare emergency in southeastern Brazil

巴西東南部風暴致使7人死亡，52個城鎮被迫報告緊急情況

Local officials are reporting that least 7 people have been killed in ferocious storms in southeastern Brazil over the course of last month.

The summer storms have also forced over 50 towns in the southern part of Brazil to declare states of emergency.

The flooding brought on by the heavy rains over the course of last month has also forced around 93-hundred people from their homes in southeastern Brazil.

Most of the towns affected are in the same area that, this time last year, were hit by torrential storms which left over 900 people dead and thousands of others homeless.

Two Australians die after eating death cap mushrooms

兩名澳大利亞人在食用毒蘑菇后死亡

Two people in Australia have died after eating toxic mushrooms.

The two are among four people who consumed the so-called Death Cap Mushrooms at a dinner party.

The other two were also hospitalized.

Local health authorities in Canberra are warning people not to consume the Death Cap mushrooms, as eating them can be fatal.

It remains unclear as to why the toxic mushrooms were served at the dinner party.

U.S.says Myanmar's amnesty to prisoners disappointing

美國對緬甸大赦囚犯失望

The U.S. State Department is describing Myanmar's latest amnesty for prisoners as 'disappointing.'

A spokesperson for the United States foreign affairs division contends that over a thousand political prisoners remain jailed in Myanmar.

The State Department says the release of all the political prisoners in Myanmar is a "vital step" for the normalization of ties with the United States.

In the latest amnesty announced by the government of Myanmar, prisoners facing the death penalty will have their sentences commuted to life in prison, while other prisoners will also have their jail terms reduced.

This latest announcement is the 3rd amnesty for political prisoners in Myanmar since the formation of that country's new government in March.

Brazil's Lula starts radiotherapy

巴西總統盧拉開始放療

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is now set to begin his first round of radiotherapy for throat cancer.

The radiotherapy is the latest step in Lula da Silva's cancer treatment, which has already included three rounds of chemotherapy.

Doctors in Sao Paulo say they're confident Lula da Silva should make a full recovery, given that 75 percent of the tumor in his throat has already been eliminated through the chemotherapy treatment.

The former Brazilian President's tumor was discovered in October during a routine medical checkup.