The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he believes there's a good chance of finding common ground on Syria at talks in Geneva on Saturday, but he warned against trying to impose any outcome in advance. Mr Lavrov was speaking after meeting the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in St Petersburg. Here's Steve Rosenberg.
Russia's role is vital because it has influence in Damascus which the other players don't. It supplies Syria with weapons and political support. While Russia's veto at the UN Security Council has already been used as a counter-weight to Western pressure, recent rhetoric between Russia and America suggests that East and West still don't agree on the key question - the fate of President Assad.
Gunmen in Kenya have kidnapped four international aid workers at the Dadaab refugee camp in the north of the country. The aid workers were seized when an aid agency convoy was ambushed as it drove through the sprawling camp. A Kenyan driver for the agency, the Norwegian Refugee Council, was killed. The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab is often blamed for kidnappings in the area.
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Paraguay has been suspended from the South American trading bloc Mercosur a week after the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo described by regional leaders as a parliamentary coup. The presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay said Paraguay will remain outside the bloc until the next presidential election in April, but they decided not to impose sanctions. They also announced that Venezuela would now become a full member of Mercosur.