BBC News with David Austin

The White House says the United States will open direct peace talks with the Taliban in the next few days. The meeting will take place in Qatar where the Afghan rebels have opened a long-awaited first official overseas office. However, President Obama sounded a note of caution about the talks.

We don't anticipate this process will be easy or quick, but we must pursue it in parallel with our military approach. And we, in the meantime, remain fully committed to our military efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and to support the Afghan National Security Forces.

But the Taliban's spokesman said it had met all the pre-conditions that the US said.

The Islamic Emirate neither wants to pose harms to other countries from its soil nor will allow anyone to pose a threat to the security of the countries from the soil of Afghanistan.

Paul Adams now looks the way ahead.

The Americans say they expect to hold their first formal meeting with Taliban in a couple of days to be followed shortly afterwards by direct talks between the Taliban and members of President Hamid Karzai's High Peace Council. The talks will succeed, the Americans say, when and if the Taliban finally sever all ties with al-Qaeda end violence and accept the Afghan constitution. Senior administration officials are calling this an important moment but urging caution to, in the words of one, the road towards Afghan reconciliation will be complex and messy.

The government in Mali has finally signed a deal with Tuareg separatist rebels to take back control of last major town they occupy in the north. Under the deal, the Malian troops will regain control of Kidal ahead of next month's presidential elections. Islamist militants together with Tuareg separatists took control of more than a half of Mali's territory last year before being ousted by France forces assisted by West African force.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron says G8 leaders' meeting in Northern Ireland have overcome a fundamental difference to agree on the way forward in Syria. He said all sides had pledged to step up their humanitarian response and maximize the diplomatic pressure through a negotiated solution.

We have achieved a very strong and purposeful statement on Syria that includes things that I wouldn't have expected two days ago. That includes for instance that there should be a UN investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria and that that should go ahead sign up by everyone including Vladimir Putin. So, I don't believe any price has been paid, quite the opposite I think we have a strong statement about what needs to happen in Syria. David Cameron.

The agreement makes no mention of the device of an issue what should happen to President Assad. The Russian President Vladimir Putin again warned against arming the opposition.

World News from the BBC

The US car maker Chrysler has changed its mind in the face of pressure from the government safety regulators and said it will recall more than two and half million old motor Jeeps.Chrysler vehicles date back to the early 90s.The regulators say they indentified than 50 death in the jeeps caused by fires when were hit from behind.

Islamist militants in Nigeria have killed at least nine school children, the second targeted attack on students in recent days. Northeastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency as the government tries to defeat in Islamist insurgency. From Lagos Will Ross.

Suspected members of the Islamist militant group known as Boko Haram rounded up students on the outskirts of Maiduguri town and then opened fire. The bodies of at least nine children in their school uniforms were seen at the town's morgue. A spokesman for Boko Haram passed the message to local journalists saying the attack was intended to punish young people for helping the army. Vigilante groups have been springing up in Maiduguri, young men armed with metal pipes, clubs and machetes have been handing suspected militants over to the army.

The Turkish Medical Association says almost 7,500 people have been wounded in almost three weeks of demonstrations and clashes in 13 cities across the country. The Association says most of the injuries happened in Instanbul. The figures have been compiled from the reports from public and private hospitals and clinics but cannot be independently verified.

The Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said she is proud of tens of thousands of people who taken to the streets in the last few weeks to demand better education, schools and transport. In her first comments since the mass demonstrations on Monday, Mrs Rousseff said her government was listening to the protesters' demands. The movement began earlier this month with demands to revoke a hike in bus fares in several cities, but it's now turned to protest against corruption and bad governors.

Those the latest stories from the BBC News