AL punishes Syria with new sanctions
The Arab League is now imposing new sanctions against Syria.
The move comes after Syria missed a deadline to allow observers into the country.
Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim.
"The council has decided, one, to ban all Syrian officials from travel to Arab countries, two, to cut off transactions with the Syrian central bank, three, to halt trade with the Syrian government, except for strategic products that would affect the Syrian people, four, to freeze all monetary accounts of the Syrian government."
For its part, Syria is condemning the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity, accusing the Arab League of trying to "internationalize" the conflict.
Syria's northern neighbor, Turkey, says it will live up to the sanctions, even though it's not a member of the Arab League.
Syria depends on its Arab neighbors for half of its exports and a quarter of its imports.
Despite the move though, the violence in the country continues.
The UN estimates that roughly 35-hundred people have been killed in the unrest in Syria over the past 9 months.

China has no plan to evacuate Chinese citizens in Syria yet
In the meantime, Chinese ambassador to Syria Zhang Xun said earlier that efforts are being made to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in Syria.
Howecer, he says by far there is no plan to evacuate Chinese citizens residing there back home.
Zhang says there are around seven hundred Chinese living in Syria, all of which are currently safe.

Protests continue ahead of planned elections in Egypt
Egyptians are still holding steady in Tahrir Square in Cairo for a 9th straight day of protest against the ruling military council.
The demonstrations are continuing, despite the parliamentary elections, which are now set to begin later on this Monday.　
The head of the ruling military council, Hussein Tantawi, says the army will be on the streets to ensure security at the polling stations.
Protests across Egypt over the past week have left over 40 dead, and over 2-thousand others hurt.

Putin officially nominated as presidential candidate
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been formally nominated by his party as its candidate in the presidential election in March.
The timing of the announcement appears to be designed to try to boost his party's support for Putin ahead of parliamentary elections next week.
Putin is campaigning on a pledge to increase the economy and bolster the Russian military.
Putin is also stumping on a plan to form a Eurasian Union that would boost integration among Russia and its ex-Soviet sphere.
Putin is also promising to make President Dmitry Medvedev his prime minister after the presidential vote in March.

Britain regrets Iranian decision to expel its ambassador
The British government is now calling the Iranian parliament's decision to expel the UK's ambassador "regrettable."
The Iranian parliament has decided to expel Dominick Chilcott following the British government's decision last week to end all its transactions with Iran's banks.
That came as a result of the IAEA report which suggests Iran has been trying to make nuclear weapons.
The British government is now warning that retaliatory action is likely in the wake of the Iranian parliament's decision.
The downgrade of the ties by Iran still needs the approval of the country's Guardian Council, which has the final say in any move that the Iranian parliament makes.

Yemen's vice president names new prime minister
Yemen's interim leader has now named Mohamed Basindwa as the new prime minster.
The move is part of the Gulf-brokered deal to transfer power away from outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Basindwa is now set to oversee a transitional government until the February 21st Presidental elections.
That date was set over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the government has also decided to release all the people detained over the last 10-months in connection with the unrest in the country -- save for those who are connected with the bombing of the Presidential palace which nearly killed Saleh.

7 Chinese killed in road accidents near Pyongyang
7 Chinese citizens have been killed in two traffic accidents near North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.
On Saturday morning, a bus carrying 27 Chinese tourists overturned about 60 kilometers away from Pyongyang.
Minutes later, another bus with 17 Chinese business leaders on board plunged into a ravine from a bridge on the same section of road.
Those who survived are now being treated in hospital in North Korea.

Nearly 1 mln people tested for public offices
About 970-thousand people have turned up to sit the annual public service exams, or "Guokao", here in China
There are roughly 18-thousand positions available in the coming year.
This means that only 1 out of every 54 people who have taken the "guokao" will get a job.
In one of the most competitive positions, more than 4-thousand have tested for a position offered by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.
The number of examinees is slightly smaller than last year's total of 1.03 million.

Shenzhen to raise minimum monthly pay
Local authorities in Shenzhen have now confirmed that they're planning to raise the minimum wage by 15 percent in January.
The city bureau of human resources and social security is now set to raise the minimum wage to 15-hundred kuai a month.
The move is designed to try to attract workers ahead of the lunar new year holidays, when demand runs high in Shenzhen.