UN envoy begins new round of peace talks

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported fighting in the Sweida province, near the boundaries of the cease-fire zone, yesterday.

However, opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh said it was quiet in the city of Daraa, which has seen fierce clashes and is located at the heart of the cease-fire zone.

The agreed-on cease-fire covers three war-torn provinces in southern Syria.

It is the first tangible outcome following months of strategy and diplomacy between the new Trump administration and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Moscow.

The Syrian opposition is determined to achieve a political transition in Damascus, while Mr Assad’s government insists the talks should prioritise “the war on terror”.

Deputy Special Envoy Ramzy Ramzy said in Damascus on Saturday the talks would address both matters in parallel. THE most senior Vatican cleric to be implicated in a Catholic Church child abuse scandal has returned to Australia to stand trial on multiple charges of sexual assault from years ago.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser, avoided waiting media when he arrived at Sydney Airport on a flight from Singapore yesterday.

Australia’s senior Catholic had declined to comment to media who questioned him in Singapore at the weekend as he made his way home from Rome.

The 76-year-old cleric is due to appear in a court in the Victoria state capital Melbourne on July 26 on what Victoria police described as multiple counts of “historical sexual assault offences”.

There is no statute of limitations on such crimes in Australia. Police said there were multiple

Cardinal George Pell vowed to fight the charges.

complainants, but have released no other details.

When police announced the charges last month, the cardinal vowed to fight the allegations, saying: “The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.”

He has taken a leave of absence as Vatican finance czar to return to Australia to clear his name and has said he intends to return to the Vatican to continue his work as a prefect of the

church’s economy ministry. Pope Francis thanked Cardinal Pell for his “honest” work and collaboration, and said he would wait for Australian justice to run its course before making a judgment himself.

It is unclear what the charges involve, but two men, now in their 40s, have said that he touched them inappropriately in the late 1970s. IRAQI forces are pushing to retake the last patch of ground in Mosul where Islamic State militants are holding on to a tiny sliver of the Old City.

The operation comes a day after the Prime Minister visited soldiers to congratulate his troops on the hard-fought battle.

Brigadier General Haider Fadhil of the Iraqi special forces says his men, closely backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, are continuing to advance and clear territory in the Old City. Iraqi commanders say they believe hundreds of IS fighters remain inside the neighbourhood and are using their families - including women and children - as human shields.

Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake Mosul last October and began the weeks-long push through the Old City district in June.

“There’s no accurate estimate for the Daesh fighters