Main news of January 15

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree granting a general amnesty, the official government news agency SANA reported

* Somali pirates have released 21 Indian sailors aboard the ship MV Fairchem Bogey, which was hijacked last August, India’s Directorate General of Shipping said

* A South Korean freight ship carrying fuel exploded in the Yellow Sea, killing three crewmembers and causing eight others to go missing, Yonhap news agency reported

* About 9,000 polling stations opened in Kazakhstan for early parliamentary elections that will end the ruling party's monopolistic control of the legislature

RUSSIA

* Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars probe crashed down in the Pacific Ocean, Defense Ministry spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin said

* All missing Russian tourists were found alive in an Italian cruise shipwreck near the coast of Tuscany, Russia's Foreign Ministry said