Main News of January 12

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* International Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said after talks with Russian and US diplomats on Friday that a political solution to the Syrian conflict is unlikely to emerge in the near future

* French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has confirmed that a French military contingent arrived in Mali to help the government troops stop the advance of Islamist militants to the country’s south

* Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg created a local political sensation on Saturday by making it to the runoff of the country’s first direct presidential vote, where he would face former Prime Minister Milos Zeman

 

RUSSIA

* Two train drivers were killed in Russia's Irkutsk region on Saturday when their train carrying coal was derailed, the local Emergencies Ministry said

 

CRIME

* A Moscow journalist who was reported missing last week was killed and dismembered by her husband, a cook who co-founded a legendary bohemian hangout in the capital, investigators said on Saturday