Putin hosts Assad for talks: Kremlin

MOSCOW • Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to talk about the need to move from military operations to the search for a political solution to Syria's conflict, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Russia is actively trying to build an international consensus around a peace deal for Syria, over two years after Moscow began a military intervention that turned the tide of the conflict in Mr Assad's favour.

REUTERS

Nigeria mosque suicide blast kills 50

KANO, NIGERIA • At least 50 people were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in north-east Nigeria, police said, in an attack blamed on Boko Haram extremists.

The blast happened during early morning prayers at the Madina mosque in the Unguwar Shuwa area of Mubi, some 200km by road from the Adamawa state capital, Yola.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Lawsuits filed over Las Vegas shooting

LOS ANGELES • Lawsuits have been filed against the company that staged the Las Vegas country music concert at which a gunman killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500.

Two hotel chains are also named in the suits, which accuse the defendants of negligence and failing to provide security in the Oct 1 massacre.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE