Syria accepts Arab plan for observer mission

DAMASCUS, Dec 5 (agencies): Syria said Monday it will allow observers into the country as part of an Arab League plan to end months of deadly unrest, in a turnabout which could stave off crippling regional sanctions. "The Syrian government responded positively to the signing of the protocol" on the dispatch of observers "based on the Syrian understanding of this cooperation," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi told reporters. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had sent a message to the Arab League to that effect on Sunday night, as an Arab League deadline was set to expire, paving the way for the signing of the protocol, Makdisi said. Damascus had until now refused to sign the protocol, arguing that the text contained wording that undermined Syrian sovereignty. The international community wants monitors to be deployed in Syria to keep a check on forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who have been accused by the United Nations of rights abuses. The UN estimates that at least 4,000 people have been killed since March in Syria, where regime forces have brutally suppressed a popular revolt against Assad's government. At least another 63 people were killed in violence across the country at the weekend, said human rights activists, who also reported four more deaths on Monday in the flashpoint region of Homs. Islamists look to extend gains in Egypt CAIRO, Dec 5, (agencies): Islamist candidates in Egypt looked Monday to extend their crushing victory in the country's first parliamentary elections since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak as voters turn out for run-off polls. Last week, residents in a third of districts including Cairo and second-city Alexandria cast ballots at the start of the multi-stage polls, choosing a party and two candidates for a new 498-seat lower house of parliament. In the party returns, Islamists picked up at least 65 percent of votes, with the more moderate Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in first place with 36.6 percent and the hardline Salafist Al-Nur party in second with 24.4 percent. The surge in Salafist groups, which advocate a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia, was a surprise and raised fears among increasingly marginalised liberals about civil liberties and religious freedom. In the individual contests, all but four of the 56 seats up for grabs went into a run-off vote being held on Monday because no candidate succeeded in winning an outright majority. Out of the 52 run-off contests taking place, the Muslim Brotherhood's FJP said it had a candidate in 45 of them, while Al-Nur has 26, meaning they are almost certain to increase their representation in the new assembly. Sunday also brought news of the first violence since voting began when the driver of a liberal candidate died in a gunfight with supporters of the moderate Al-Wasat party in the northern Manufia province, local reports said. Maliki confident of Iraq's future Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday expressed confidence in the future of his country following a full withdrawal of US troops at the end of the month. But he said he was counting on US assistance. US President Barack Obama announced in October that US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, bringing to a close an almost nine-year war.