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BEIRUT, February 23, 2012 (AFP) - Nine people, including five soldiers, were killed on Thursday in violence across Syria, monitors and state media said.

A man was shot dead in the town of Maaret al-Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib, as regime forces stormed its southern district, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Three soldiers were killed and seven others wounded in a bomb at the southern entrance to Idlib city, SANA state news agency reported.

"We have opened a space for peace and stability in Somalia. It is a small space but it presents an opportunity we cannot afford to miss," Ban said.

In the chaotic Somali capital Mogadishu, residents raised handmade British flags in solidarity with the conference, even as two blasts were reported in Baidoa, the town recaptured on Wednesday.

The conference brings together around 40 countries including the leaders of Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, all of which have a huge stake in Somalia's future, plus the African Union and the Arab League.

(Nairobi, February 23, 2012) - Côte d’Ivoire’s national commission of inquiry investigating the 2010-2011 post-election violence should extend its mandate by six months to August 2012, Human Rights Watch said today. The extension would better ensure an impartial and comprehensive investigation into crimes committed by all sides, Human Rights Watch said.

SRINAGAR, India — At least 12 Indian soldiers on duty in the mountains of Kashmir were killed in avalanches overnight, with several others feared dead, officials said Thursday.

Two avalanches swept through army camps in Dawar and Sonamarg, both near the heavily-militarised Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

A defence spokesman who declined to be named said that nine soldiers were killed at Dawar and 15 others were dug out of the snow, while three soldiers died at Sonamarg, a popular destination for Indian tourists in the summer.

STRASBOURG: The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has today issued a decision concluding that Italy violated the European Convention of Human Rights by intercepting and returning to Libya in 2009 a group of Somalis and Eritreans without examining whether this would constitute a real risk to their lives. The case is known as Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy.

JUBA, 23 February 2012 (IRIN) - Health workers in the world's newest country are hoping that the pledge by pharmaceutical companies and world leaders to combat "neglected" tropical diseases will finally help to have an impact on South Sudan's appalling health indicators.

PESHAWAR, February 23, 2012 (AFP) - A car bomb ripped through a Pakistani bus station on Thursday, killing 12 people, including two children on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, officials said.

The attack happened on the road towards the garrison city of Kohat near the lawless tribal belt, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants blamed for violence plaguing both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

DHOBLEY, February 23, 2012 (AFP) - The bullet-scarred hospital is basic but operational, the school is simple but has laughing children. Small successes for most nations; a major achievement in war-torn Somalia.

However, heavily armed gunmen loyal to at least three potentially rival forces also patrol the dusty tracks of this war-ravaged southern Somali town, which Al-Qaeda allied Shebab guerrillas continue to attack.