Issues demands for captured troops

Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front issue demands for the release of the 45 Fijian UN peacekeepers that they are holding hostage. The group has asked to be taken off the UN terrorist list, for delivery of humanitarian aid to parts of the Syrian capital of Damascus, and for payment for three of its fighters it says were killed in a shootout with UN officers. Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga, in Suva:

Negotiations have moved up to another level with the professional negotiators now in place