Planned afternoon sessions of the Syrian peace talks in Geneva were cancelled over failure to make any progress during discussions over a transitional administration for the war-torn country, dpa reported. Government and opposition delegations held a session with UN envoy Lakhdar Ibrahimi in the second day of direct talks, focusing on the political framework agreed by the talks' sponsors, the United States and Russia. Opposition member, Abdel Hakim Bashar said: "Obviously, the regime will not engage in a political solution and had come to Geneva II under international pressure. It wants to manoeuvre and procrastinate to gain time." The two sides also disagreed on humanitarian measures for an estimated 3,000 civilians in the besieged old city of Homs, central Syria.
