1. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Bashar al-Assad is the legitimate president of Syria.
2. A senior Iranian commander says the US is turning the Daesh Takfiri group into a lever to achieve its goals in the Middle East.
3. Lebanese security forces block the entrances of the Ministry of Environment in Beirut, after anti-government protesters occupy the building.
4. The International Organization for Migration says some 26-hundred asylum seekers died in 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Europe.
5. European and Asian stocks fall as the manufacturing sector in China shows a slowdown.