Amnesty International and other rights groups are demanding that the Geneva conference must address claims of "industrial-scale" massacres and torture in Syria.
The US ironically announces a halt in aid to the Syrian rebels on the same day that the UN concludes there have been multiple chemical attacks in the country this year.
The Free Syrian Army boasts of receiving new weapons shipments that could “change” the course of the war—amid revelations that the US has been arming them secretly for a year.
The Taliban have opened a "political office" in Qatar preparatory to talks with Kabul and the US—after years of propaganda about the US defending women's rights in Afghanistan.
Reprisals are feared in a sensitive part of Ecuador’s Amazon following an attack by “uncontacted” tribesmen in which two members of the Waorani people were killed.
Muhammad al-Ajami, a Qatari poet who was sentenced to life in prison for “insulting” the Emir in a poem extolling the Arab Spring, has been granted an appeal.
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi announced that emergency talks are progressing toward a ceasefire in the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel.
Taliban leaders confirmed that long-planned direct talks with the US took place in Doha, capital of Qatar. The Taliban said in a statement that their delegation met with US special adviser for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad. The statement said the two sides discussed the prospects for an end to the presence of the foreign forces in Afghanistan, and the return of "true peace" to the country. These overtures come as the US is stepping up operations against ISIS in Afghanistan. In an August air-strike in Nangarhar province, the US claimed to have killed Abu Sayed Orakzai, top ISIS commander in Afghanistan. Earlier in August, more than 200 ISIS fighters and their two top commanders surrendered to Afghan government forces in Jowzjan province to avoid capture by Taliban insurgents, after a two-day battle that was a decisive victory for the Taliban. (Photo: Khaama Press)
