ZHUKOVSKY, December 30. /TASS/. A special flight from Baghdad that evacuated Russian children whose parents joined terrorist organizations in the Middle East has landed at the Ramenskoye airdrome outside Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported from the site.

Head of Russia’s North Caucasian region of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram account earlier that the plane was carrying 30 children who had been kept at Iraqi prisons with their mothers. According to Kadyrov, 24 of them are from Dagestan, 3 from Chechnya, and the rest from Moscow and Penza.

31 Dec 2018; DW: Almost 30,000 Jews immigrated to Israel over the past year, the country's immigration agency says. Around a third of them came from Russia.

Immigration by Jews to Israel rose by 5 percent over the past year, with 29,600 people moving to the country in 2018, according to figures released on Sunday by the state immigration organization "Jewish Agency for Israel."

MANILA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua)-- The death toll of landslides and flood triggered by heavy rains in the Philippines has risen to 68, the government agency said on Monday.

The deaths were mostly due to landslides and drowning in the Bicol region and Eastern Visayas in central Philippines, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in its latest report.

Fifty-seven of the deaths were reported from the Bicol region while 11 from the Eastern Visayas region.

The agency said there are still 19 people missing in both regions.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — At Granny Shaffer’s restaurant in Joplin, Missouri, owner Mike Wiggins is reprinting the menus to reflect the 5, 10 or 20 cents added to each item.

A two-egg breakfast will cost an extra dime, at $7.39. The price of a three-piece fried chicken dinner will go up 20 cents, to $8.78. The reason: Missouri’s minimum wage is rising.

Wiggins said the price hikes are necessary to help offset an estimated $10,000 to $12,000 in additional annual pay to his staff as a result of a new minimum wage law taking effect Tuesday.

Imphal, Dec 30 (PTI) A militant carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head and wanted by security agencies in connection with the attack on Army personnel in 2015 in which 18 armymen were killed was arrested by police, a senior police officer said Sunday.

Moscow, Dec 30, IRNA - The head of the Russian-Arab States Friendship Association and senior Russian diplomat believes that the Syrian Kurds' U-turn to the Syrian government and the control of the Syrian army over Manbij is sign of the US ruined plan in this country.

Chandigarh, Dec 30 (PTI) BJP's rebel MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini on Sunday dared the saffron party to expel him.

Saini, who had four months ago floated his own political outfit, hit out at the BJP saying it had allegedly betrayed the people who had voted for the party.

"I have had nothing to do with the party for the past three years," Saini told reporters here.

31 Dec 2018; DW: A victory for Hasina's Awami League was widely expected in an election marred by violence and rigging allegations. The opposition alliance has rejected the election as "farcical" and called for fresh polls.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's party has won the general election with a landslide majority, the Election Commission said early on Monday.

Tehran, Dec 31, IRNA – The US President Donald Trump's secret trip to Iraq is tantamount to breaching the country's sovereignty and insulting the Iraqi people, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Ahmedabad, Dec 30 (PTI) Former Gujarat Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela Sunday said Manmohan Singh was the "world's best prime minister" who worked hard for the country without seeking publicity.

In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vaghela accused him of "wasting" public money on the Statue of Unity and for "self-advertisement", and sought Rs 10,000 crore aid for welfare of the OBC community.

"This (Central) government allocated only Rs 1800 crore for welfare of the entire OBC community (in 2018-19).

31 Dec 2018; DW: Fresh peace talks have taken place between representatives of the Afghan Taliban and Iranian officials. The Tehran meeting happened amid reports that the US plans to pull nearly 7,000 US troops from Afghanistan.

Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday that lengthy negotiations were held between a Taliban delegation and Iran's deputy foreign minister.

New Delhi, Dec 30; PTI:  The central government has not given "blanket power" to any agency to intercept information from any computer and they have to strictly adhere to the existing rules and stick to the book while carrying out such action, a senior Home Ministry official said.

There is no new law, no new rules, no new procedure, no new agency, no blanket powers, no blanket authorisation and it is the same law, same rule, same procedure and the same agencies, he said.