Xinhua world news summar at 0030 GMT, Jan. 30

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria met the Syrian government delegation on Friday, kicking off United Nations-brokered peace talks to end the country's five-year-old war.

Staffan De Mistura, the UN envoy, met with the Syrian delegation after they arrived at Geneva's Palais de Nations Friday evening. Syria's main opposition group, the Higher Negotiating Committee(HNC), also agreed on Friday to enter the pace talks. (Syria-UN-Talks)

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UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday announced the appointment of Janos Pasztor of Hungary as senior adviser to the UN secretary-general on climate change.

In his new role, Pasztor will support the efforts of the secretary-general to mobilize world leaders and all sectors of society to implement the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, reached in the French capital by the end of last year, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. (UN-Appointments)

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THE HAGUE -- Dutch F-16 fighters will join the bombing of Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Friday.

The Netherlands has six F-16 fighters stationed in the region. (Netherlands-IS-Bombing)

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ADEN, Yemen -- A military checkpoint of pro-government forces was struck by a suicide car bombing in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Friday, killing some seven soldiers and injuring others, a police officer told Xinhua.

"A suicide bomber detonated his booby-trapped car at a military checkpoint manned by pro-government troops in Aden's district of Cirater, leaving about seven soldiers dead on the spot, " the local police officer said on condition of anonymity. (Yemen-Attacks) Endi