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HRW Says Kuwait Police Using 'Excessive Force' on Protests

Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused Kuwaiti police of using "excessive force" against opposition protesters and called on the Gulf state's rulers to respect the right to peaceful assembly.

The New York-based group said riot police had on several occasions used "what appears to be excessive force to disperse largely peaceful protesters at a series of demonstrations".

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Report: Blast kills two teens in Algeria's Bouira

A bomb intended to take out soldiers killed two youths from the same family in the restive Bouira region of central Algeria, newspapers said on Thursday.

The two, aged 12 and 14, were on their way home from an olive grove when one of them trod on the explosive device which had been buried in the ground, some reports said. Others said it had been placed in a bag under a tree.

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Brahimi Urges 'Real Change' as Opposition Rejects Assad in Political Transition

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Thursday called for "real" change in war-torn Syria and the installation of a transition government with full powers until elections can be held.

"We need to form a government with all powers... which assumes power during a period of transition. That transition period will end with (presidential or parliamentary) elections," the U.N. and Arab League envoy told reporters.

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Russia Denies Joint Russia-U.S. Plan on Syria

Russia on Thursday denied the existence of any joint plan with the United States on the crisis in Syria, after reports of an initiative that would see President Bashar Assad step down in 2014.

"There was not and is not such a plan and it is not being discussed," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters, saying Russia's Syria policy was still based on an accord with world powers made back in June for an inter-Syrian dialogue.

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Syrian Deputy FM Muqdad begins Talks in Russia

A Syrian government delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad on Thursday began talks at the Russian foreign ministry on the crisis in the country, Russian news agencies said.

The delegation was at the foreign ministry in Moscow, the reports said, without giving further details about the nature of the talks, amid speculation of a new Russia-U.S. initiative to end the crisis.

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Report: Netanyahu Met Jordan's King in Amman over Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman recently to discuss violence in Syria and the country's chemical weapons stock, Israeli media said Thursday.

Public radio, as well as several local newspapers, said Israeli and Jordanian officials had confirmed the meeting, which was first reported in the al-Quds al-Arabi daily on Wednesday.

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Morsi Hails Islamist-Backed Charter as 'New Dawn for Egypt'

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday hailed an Islamist-backed charter he pushed through despite fierce opposition protests as "a new dawn" for his country, and said he would now tackle a teetering economy.

In a televised national address, Morsi said he would reshuffle his government and renewed an offer of dialogue with the largely secular opposition.

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U.N. Predicts 1.1 Million Syria Refugees by Mid-2013

The United Nations on Wednesday predicted the number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries will double to 1.1 million by June next year if the country's war is not ended.

There are now more than 540,000 registered refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt, according to the latest U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report on Syria.

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Over 1,000 Syrians Flee to Turkey after Bakery Attack

More than 1,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey in the last 24 hours after the Syrian regime attacked a bakery in the town of Halfeya, a Turkish foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.

"1,100 Syrians mostly women and children fled to Turkey in the last 24 hours through a border crossing in the town of Reyhanli," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

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Brahimi to Hold Talks on Syria in Moscow Saturday

Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will hold talks in Moscow on Saturday following consultations with President Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday.

The Russian foreign ministry said Brahimi himself had requested the meeting as he pursues what so far have been fruitless efforts to negotiate an end to 21 months of violence that have claimed more than 45,000 lives.

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