* Iran’s government ‘will not last’, says Mehdi Karoubi The Iranian government is being kept in power by force and will not last its four-year term, one of the opposition presidential candidates has predicted.

* Copenhagen climate deal meets qualified UN welcome UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a US-backed climate deal in Copenhagen as an “essential beginning”.

* Lebanon PM Hariri to make landmark Syria visit Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is due to hold talks in Damascus for the first time since his anti-Syrian coalition came to power in 2005.

* Iraq asks Iran to withdraw troops from oil field Iraq has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Iranian troops who it says have crossed into Iraqi territory and taken control of an oil well.

* Ayalon: EU won’t cut our ties with J’lem Deputy foreign minister rebuffs European Union foreign affairs chief’s statement calling capital ‘occupied territory’; says EU, like Rome before, will fail to sever Israel’s link to Jerusalem.

* ‘Iranian cyber army’ hits Twitter Twitter has been hit by an embarrassing security breach.

* Obama: US, Russia ‘quite close’ on arms treaty American president expresses confidence that successor pact to expired nuclear arms control deal will be agreed to in ‘timely fashion’.

* Spain: We’ll strive for a Palestinian state in 2010 The Spanish Foreign Minister said on Friday that Spain, as the next European Union president, intends on working towards a Palestinian state in 2010.

* Peres, Gul restoring ‘friendly’ ties In a further sign of Jerusalem-Ankara tensions coming to an end, President Shimon Peres met on Friday afternoon with his Turkish counterpart, President Abdullah Gul, and two agreed that the former “friendly and stable” ties between the two countries would be restored.

* Top UN official: Moratorium insufficient Israel’s 10-month moratorium on settlement construction falls short of its commitments under the 2003 road map peace plan, a senior UN official told the UN Security Council on Thursday.