Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling on Iranian negotiators to be flexible in their forthcoming nuclear talks with the P5+1, which will resume later today in Geneva.

As part of a telephone conversation with Iranian officials, Xi Jinping is asking the Iranian side to seize the opportunity to seek a broad consensus with China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.

Xi Jinping says China is willing to work to create the conditions needed for a comprehensive settlement.

For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the nuclear issue should be settled in accordance with international law and norms of international relations.

 

UN condemns Beirut blasts

The UN Security Council is condemning an explosion outside the Iranian embassy in Beiruit which has left 23 people dead, including an Iranian cultural attaché.

An al Qaeda-linked group in Lebanon, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside the front entrance of the Iranian embassy.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the blasts are meant to undermine security throughout the region, as well as Lebanon.

 

First Chinese rescuers to depart for Philippines: FM

The first group of Chinese emergency responders are due to make their way to the Philippines this Wednesday.

The emergency medical and rescue team are members of the Chinese Red Cross.

Chinese authorities say this first group is going to be followed by the Chinese navy's medical boat "Peace Ark," which recently returned to China following a mission in south Asia.

The first batch of Chinese humanitarian aide arrived in the Philippines earlier this week.

This comes as the Philippines struggles in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which tore its way through the central Philippines two Friday's ago.

The official death toll currently stands at just under 4-thousand.

However, around 15-hundred people remain unaccounted for.

 

Beijing fire casualties climb to 11

At least 11 people are dead following a massive fire in Beijing last night.

The fire engulfed a storage facility in the Xiaowuji area of southeastern Beijing.

At least 4 others have been injured in the massive blaze, which at one point engulfed an area covering over 500-square meters.

The fire first broke out around 8:30pm last night.

Fire fighters needed an hour-and-a-half to get the blaze under control.

The two owners of the storage facility have been placed in police custody.

It's unclear at this point what sparked the fire.

 

At least 1 killed, 29 injured in S. Africa mall collapse

At least one person is dead and over 2-dozen hurt after the roof of a shopping mall collapsed in the South African city of Durban.

Around 100-meters worth of 18-inch thick concrete slabs came crashing down while the malls was under construction.

Of the 29 injured, many have suffered traumatic injuries.

All those hurt are believed to be part of the construction crew.

Authorities also say they believe a number of others may still be trapped.

The cause of the collaspe remains unclear.

 

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza after rocket attack

The Israeli airforce has launched a number of strikes inside the Gaza Strip.

This, after a mortar round was fired from the Hamas-controlled area into southern Israel.

Israeli warplanes responded with three separate strikes.

One of the strikes is said to have targeted a tunnel being built from Gaza into Israel.

Hamas has pledged to continue building tunnels into Israel.

The tunnels have been used to smuggle Hamas fighters into Israel.

 

Yemen may delay presidential election set for next year: UN envoy

A leading UN official in Yemen is suggesting the country may delay its scheduled Presidental election this coming February.

UN envoy Jamal bin Omar says all parties in Yemen have agreed they need more time to work through a national reconciliation process before the vote can go forward.

If the vote is delayed, it will mean that current President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in power until after his mandate expires.

Hadi was installed in a UN-backed power transfer deal in February of 2012 following the uprising which forced then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.

The national dialogue in Yemen was supposed to be finished in September.

However, a number of issues, including the instability in southern Yemen, have held the process up.

In top of al-Qaeda's presence in the southern regions of Yemen, many there have demanded the creation of their own state, complaining of marginalization following the 1994 civil war.

 

Reeducation camps in Shanghai dissolved

Local authorities in Shanghai say all of the people who had been interred at the city's reeducation-through-labor camps have been released.

The move follows the decision by the Chinese leadership to abolish the system.

Local officials in Shanghai say the facilities themselves are now ready "for a change of role".

The controversial system, known as the Laojiao, began in the 1950s. 

Under the system, people could be detained for up to 4-years without trial.

 

China to adjust family planning policies according to changing circumstances

The National Health and Family Planning commission is suggesting this country's population is likely to increase by a million people every year after authorities loosen the one-child policy.

This would be the equivilant of an annual increase of between 6 and 7-percent.

Under the changes to the policy, couples with one spouse who is an only child are going to be permitted to have a 2nd child.

The old rules only allowed couples to have a 2nd child if both parents were the product of the one-child policy.