World News from the BBC
An advisory body to the Arab League has called for the withdrawal of the organisation's observer mission from Syria, saying it provides cover for continuing repression. The speaker of the Arab Parliament said the presence of the monitors had allowed the Syrian government to continue what he described as its "
inhumane
actions".
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed to hold their first meeting in more than a year in an effort to restart peace talks. Jordan said it would host the gathering on Tuesday as part of what it called serious efforts to resume direct peace negotiations. Sean Fanning reports.
After a brief resumption in late 2010, talks collapsed over continued Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Officials are stressing that Tuesday's meeting does not
amount to
renewed talks but is about exploring how to resume direct negotiations.
The Jordanian foreign minister will host meetings with the Israeli prime minister's chief envoy Yitzhak Molcho and the main Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. Diplomats from the United Nations, the European Union and the United States and Russia will also be involved.
European leaders are warning of a tough year ahead as they grapple with the eurozone debt crisis. Ten years after euro coins and banknotes went into
circulation
, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the single currency had made her country's economy stronger, but she said 2012 would be more difficult than 2011. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the crisis wasn't over yet.