People shout slogans during a protest after Friday prayers, calling for the lifting of the siege off Madaya, in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria January 8, 2016. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

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People carry banners and shout slogans during a protest after Friday prayers, calling for the liftin …

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Humanitarian aid will be delivered to the besieged Syrian town of Madaya and two blockaded villages in the northwest on Monday according to an agreement finalised on Saturday, two sources familiar with the details said.

The United Nations said on Thursday the Syrian government had agree to allow access to the opposition-held town near the border with Lebanon, where it says there have been credible reports of people dying of starvation.

But it did not say when.

"Both date and time have been set. Aid will go to three towns on Monday morning. All at the same time," said a source familiar with the negotiations. A second, pro-Syrian government source confirmed the details.

Madaya is besieged by pro-Syrian government forces, while the two villages in Idlib province - of al-Foua and Kefraya - are encircled by rebels fighting the Syrian government.

(Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Writing by Tom Perry Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

Osan Air Base (South Korea) (AFP) - The US sent a heavy bomber over South Korea on Sunday in a show of force as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un insisted his country's latest nuclear test was carried out in self-defence.

The test on Wednesday of what the North claimed was its first hydrogen bomb has sparked international alarm and raised tensions along the inter-Korean frontier, with Seoul reviving cross-border propaganda broadcasts.

Sunday's overflight saw a B52 Stratofortress, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, briefly roar over the Osan Air Base, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of the inter-Korean border, the US military and an eye-witness said.

It was escorted by a South Korean and an American jet.

The B52 conducted a low-level flight before heading back to Andersen Air Base in Guam, where it is stationed.

The mission was conducted "in response to recent provocative action by North Korea", US Forces Korea said in a statement.

The aircraft are known to have taken part in joint annual US-South Korea military exercises that have enraged Pyongyang, but their flights over South Korea are rarely publicised.

The last time such a flight was made public was in 2013, after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test.

At that time, the US dispatched both a B52 and the more sophisticated B2 stealth bomber to South Korea in a show of military muscle against the North.

On Sunday, Pyongyang state media called for the establishment of a peace accord to stabilise the Korean Peninsula and described the nation's nuclear arsenal as a "treasured sword" that defends the country's sovereignty.

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The US B-52 Stratofortress (C) was escorted by a South Korean F-15K fighter jet (L) and a US F-16 fi …

The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

"Gone are days never to return when the U.S. could threaten the DPRK with nuclear weapons," said ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

Wednesday's nuclear test was Pyongyang's fourth, though experts have questioned North Korea's claim of the explosion having been triggered by a hydrogen bomb.

On Friday, the North's state broadcaster also released video footage of a submarine-launched ballistic missile test, though South Korean media have suggested the footage was an edited compilation of a previous test.

- 'Ironclad' commitment -

Lieutenant General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, commander of the US 7th Air Force and Deputy Commander of the US Forces Korea, said on Sunday that the United States maintained an "ironclad" commitment to the defence of South Korea.

This commitment includes "extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella", he said in a statement.

"B52 missions reinforce the US commitment to the security of our allies and partners, and demonstrate one of the many alliance capabilities available for the defence" of South Korea, he said.

"As demonstrated by today's mission, the combined US and Republic of Korea air forces work and train together closely every day, and we are totally prepared to meet any threat to our alliance."

The annual US-South Korea joint military exercises regularly spark angry reactions from North Korea, which brands them "nuclear war drills" against it.

Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, one of the annual joint exercises, is expected to take place in March.

South Korea hosts 28,000 US troops as the two Koreas technically remain at war because the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

Sunday's show of force came as Kim Jong-Un claimed the nuclear test was carried out in self-defence, to prevent a nuclear war with the United States.

In his first public remarks since the explosion, Kim said the test was "a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the US-led imperialists".

"It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticise," he added, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North regularly accuses the US and its ally South Korea of warmongering.

An official commentary published by KCNA late Friday also cited toppled leaders Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Moamer Kadhafi of Libya as examples of what happens when countries forsake their nuclear ambitions.

The nuclear test has angered world powers, including the North's key ally China, and the UN Security Council has said it will roll out new measures to punish the maverick state.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia wants to fight terrorism jointly with the rest of the world, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Monday, while again accusing the West of exacerbating international crises that had contributed to it.

"We are faced with common threats, and we still want all countries, both in Europe and the whole world, to join their efforts to combat these threats, and we are still striving for this," Putin said in a wide-ranging interview with Germany's Bild newspaper.

"I refer not only to terrorism, but also to crime, trafficking in persons, environmental protection, and many other common challenges," he said.

"Yet this does not mean that it is us who should agree with everything that others decide on these or other matters."

Russia's air force is attacking targets in Syria and Moscow says it aims to undermine Islamic State, which has been joined by thousands of Russian citizens and now poses a serious threat to national security. The group claimed responsibility for downing a Russian airliner over Egypt in October, killing 224 people.

But Russia has not joined a U.S.-led coalition carrying out strikes on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and Washington and its allies say Moscow's strikes are only aimed at helping embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stay in power.

Putin said previous Western military interventions in Iraq and Libya had contributed to an upsurge in terrorism in these countries and elsewhere, reiterating what he had told the United Nations General Assembly in September.

He hit out at NATO's expansion toward Russia's borders after the Soviet Union's demise in 1991 and at an anti-missile shield being erected by the United States, accusing the West's expansion after the Cold War of exacerbating international crises.

Putin has repeatedly called the toppling of Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovich in 2014 after months of pro-European street protests "a coup d'etat", and has accused the West of inspiring and assisting it.

In February last year, France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a set of peace accords, known as the Minsk agreements, which have helped to stop the war between pro-Moscow separatists and government troops in southeast Ukraine.

But a key clause of the peace deal, which stipulates a new Ukrainian constitution that enshrines the autonomy of the rebel regions, remains unfulfilled, Putin said.

"Everyone says that the Minsk Agreements must be implemented and then the sanctions issue may be reconsidered," Putin told Bild, referring to Western sanctions imposed on Russia.

"This is beginning to resemble the theater of the absurd because everything essential that needs to be done with regard to implementing the Minsk Agreements is the responsibility of the current Kiev authorities."

Putin drew attention to a clause in the peace agreement that required Ukraine to introduce constitutional reform by the end of last year, calling this "the main, the key issue in the settlement process".

The leaders of France and Germany, he added, "should scrutinize these matters more thoroughly".

ECONOMY

On the economic front, Putin acknowledged that the country's economy had been hard hit by the plunge in oil prices but also said that there was a positive side insofar as it would force Russia to improve the structure of its public finances.

"I believe that our non-oil and gas deficit had risen to a very dangerous level. So now we are forced to lower it. And this is healthy," he said.

"It is very difficult ... to resist spending oil and gas revenues to cover current expenses. (But) it is the reduction of these expenses that improves the economy."

Jerusalem (AFP) - A fire broke out overnight Sunday at the office of an Israeli NGO that champions human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, a spokeswoman for the organisation said, with arson cited as a possible cause.

The blaze extensively damaged the Jerusalem office of the group B'Tselem but there were no injuries as the premises were empty at the time, the spokeswoman said in a statement.

"A fire broke out at B'Tselem's office in Jerusalem this evening. None of our staff were in the building," she said.

"Initial reports published by the media indicate that police suspect arson," she added.

"If it is discovered that this was an arson attack, it must be seen in the context of the wave of government incitement and smear campaigns against Israel's human rights groups, and B'Tselem in particular."

But she said the fire would not stop the organisation's work of documenting and exposing human rights abuses under the occupation.

Speaking on public radio, a representative for the fire service did not rule out the possibility of arson.

He confirmed the premises had been seriously damaged but no one injured.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched what was seen as a crackdown on leftwing NGOs in December with contentious draft legislation to toughen rules on rights groups receiving funds from abroad.

Left-wing NGOs described the move as a witch-hunt.