An old hand in Afghan affairs see the country's hardline Taliban divided over the prospects of peace talks after more than a decade of violence.
A complicated and thorny agenda awaits the Taliban and Afghanistan's government as they are reportedly ready to begin direct peace talks early next month.
Nearly a year after embarking on ending Afghanistan's decades-old conflict, China appears to have made substantial progress toward a diplomatic breakthrough.
A leading democracy watchdog says global freedom suffered a "disturbing" decline in 2014, with Syria ranking as the world's least free country and Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine dealing a bad blow to democracy.
Authorities have begun firearms training for women teachers in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar. The instructions are part of the measures the government is taking to secure educational institutions.
