- Talks to end five years of war in Syria - that will see government and opposition representatives negotiate indirectly in Geneva - began this morning after barely averting a boycott by President Bashar al-Assad's opponents.
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the negotiations "a pivotal phase" in the diplomatic effort to curb violence in the region.
- Separately, Germany's Angela Merkel is trying to placate the increasingly vocal critics of her open-door policy for migrants by insisting that most Syrian and Iraqi refugees would go home once the conflicts there have ended.