Talabani to visit Syria next month

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani will visit Syria next month for talks with President Bashar al-Assad on outstanding issues. Earlier this month, Syria restored diplomatic ties that had been severed for 24 years with Iraq.

Assad met with Talabani's envoy in Damascus, Fakhri Zanganeh, and the two agreed that the Iraqi president would visit Syria in mid-January. Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa also met with Zanganeh on Wednesday and the two discussed the situation in Iraq, according to the official Syrian news agency.