MORSI URGES DIALOGUE AS TENSIONS OVER NEW POWERS RISE
CAIRO: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said that the sweeping new powers he has assumed are only temporary and called for dialogue, as clashes in the Nile Delta saw a member of his party killed, medics said.

Morsi’s constitutional declaration on Thursday, allowing him to issue decisions and laws unchallenged, triggered a wave of protest and has set him on course for a showdown with Egypt’s judges. Clashes between supporters and opponents of the president, outside a Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Damanhour, saw one Islamist killed and 10 people wounded.

UN CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS OPEN IN QATARI CAPITAL
DOHA: Nearly 200 nations launched a fresh round of United Nations (UN) climate talks in Doha on Monday faced with appeals for urgency in their efforts to reduce Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The 18th UN climate conference comes amid a welter of scientific warnings that extreme weather events like superstorm Sandy will become commonplace if mitigation efforts fail.

CAMBODIAN EX-KING TO BE CREMATED ON FEBRUARY 4
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s beloved former monarch Norodom Sihanouk, who died aged 89 last month, will be cremated on February 4 following an elaborate ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday. The cremation will be preceded by a procession on February 1 that will see Sihanouk’s coffin carried from the royal palace in Phnom Penh to a funeral pyre in a nearby park. AFP