• Lavrov confirms Moscow mediating talks between Assad and Syrian Kurds
• Syrian Kurdish group says government working with Kurds to create 'decentralized Syria'
• Syrian Kurds prepping a team for talks with Damascus

• China ditches US oil and makes deals with Iran in defiance of sanctions
• Iranian oil exports plunge despite 'creative solutions'
• Pompeo: US will consider Iran oil sanctions relief for a 'handful' of countries
• Rouhani: Iran will break US sanctions, continue to sell its oil
• International business analyst: 'China and India biggest winners in anti-Iranian sanctions'
• US sanctions with benefits: China ready to take Total's share of Iran's oil company

On the eve of the first expected results of Congo's long-delayed presidential election, President Donald Trump said military personnel had deployed to Central Africa to protect U.S. assets from possible "violent demonstrations," while the country's powerful Catholic church warned of a popular "uprising" if untrue results are announced.

Congo faces what could be its first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, but election observers and the opposition have raised numerous concerns about voting irregularities as the country chooses a successor to longtime President Joseph Kabila.

The first results are expected on Sunday, and the United States and the African Union, among others, have urged Congo to release results that reflect the true will of the people. The U.S. has threatened sanctions against those who undermine the democratic process. Western election observers were not invited to watch the vote.

While Congo has been largely calm on and after the Dec. 30 vote, Trump's letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about 80 military personnel and "appropriate combat equipment" had deployed to nearby Gabon to support the security of U.S. citizens and staffers and diplomatic facilities. More will deploy as needed to Gabon, Congo or neighboring Republic of Congo, he wrote.

The U.S. ahead of the vote ordered "non-emergency" government employees and family members to leave the country.

Turkey has asked the United States to provide military support so that Ankara can take over the responsibility of fighting the Daesh terror group in Syria, media reported on Friday.

The Turkish government is requesting that the United States provide military support, including air strikes, transport and logistics, so that it can take on the responsibility of fighting the Daesh in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported citing senior US officials.

Also on Friday, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a statement that US Ambassador for Syrian Engagement Jim Jeffrey will replace Brett McGurk as special envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat the Daesh.

In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey was ready to launch a military operation against the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria's Manbij if the United States does not remove the militia from there. Erdogan later noted that the start of the operation was postponed following a phone conversation with Trump, who decided to withdraw US troops from Syria after the call.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that ensuring the Turkish military do not massacre Kurds would be a key priority for the United States after the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.

Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia.

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