24 January 2014 Last updated at 08:32 GMT
Xu's lawyer says authorities have informed him in writing that sentencing will take place on Sunday
By John Irish and Mariam Karouny
The minstrel daughter of a cartel don
Egypt violence: Large car bomb in central Cairo
A car bomb has exploded outside the police headquarters in Egypt's capital, killing four people and wounding 51, Egypt's health ministry says.
The powerful blast was felt across Cairo and black smoke could be seen rising over the city centre.
A second blast a couple of hours later in another part of Cairo killed at least one person and wounded 15.
The blasts come on the eve of the third anniversary of the start of the 2011 uprising.
The revolution brought about the removal of the country's decades-long ruler Hosni Mubarak.
No group has said it was behind the attacks.
They came a day after five policemen were shot dead by two gunmen on motorcycles at a checkpoint in Beni Suef province, south of Cairo.
Chinese court prepares to sentence rights activist Xu Zhiyong
Xu's lawyer says authorities have informed him in writing that sentencing will take place on Sunday
A Beijing court will sentence prominent Chinese rights activist Xu Zhiyong on Sunday in the highest-profile dissident trial since 2009, as authorities target rights defenders nationwide with another activist standing trial in Guangzhou.
Xu's lawyer, Zhang Qingfang, said he'd been notified in writing by authorities as early as Wednesday when Xu's trial kicked off, that he would be sentenced on Sunday in one of the most closely watched dissident cases in years.
"This means that even before the trial, the court had already communicated this and that they had already discussed what the verdict would be and the timing of the sentencing," Zhang said.
Ukraine opposition leader Oleh Tyahnybok urges demonstrators for truce after Kiev talks with president Viktor Yanukovych
Fighting to love their Nigerian men
Local women are banding together to combat the prejudice they and their Nigerian husbands face.
The Nigerian man said the sheet’s colour was red; his South African wife said it was rust. That discrepancy almost got the Nigerian man deported.
Thelma Okoro (née Dee) and Kenneth Sunday Okoro had gone to a home affairs office for a routine interview to have their new marriage officially recognised.
Because he was a foreigner, authorities had to satisfy themselves that this was indeed a legitimate couple and not a case of a South African woman accepting cash to help the Nigerian to get South African citizenship by virtue of being married to a local.
The interview went swimmingly, until the matter of the sheet cropped up.
Syrian opposition demands a future without Assad
By John Irish and Mariam Karouny
Syria's opposition leader laid out his demands for talks on ending his country's civil war, calling for the creation of a transitional government that does not include President Bashar al-Assad.
Ahmed Jarba told reporters in Geneva, where rival sides in the Syrian conflict are on Friday due to begin several days of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations and major world powers, that he was looking to a future without Assad.
In a defiant speech, Jarba said the international community now realized that Assad cannot stay in power.
"We have started to look into the future without him. Assad and all of his regime is in the past now. Nobody should have any doubt that the head of the regime is finished. This regime is dead," Jarba said.
Moscow, Assad's major backer, had given assurances that it was not "holding on" to Assad, Jarba said.
The minstrel daughter of a cartel don
McClatchy Foreign Staff
One of the best windows into the lives of Mexico’s drug dealers comes through what their adult children post on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
A new example came this week. It turns out that Enrique "El Kiki" Plancarte, a cartel boss who leads the Knights Templar organized crime group in embattled Michoacan state, has a daughter who is a professional singer. She goes by the name “Melissa, the Princess of the Band.”
This morning, Melissa Plancarte wrote a letter to a news portal in Mexico City acknowledging that she is the daughter of the Michoacan cartel chief.
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