UN extends Syria round to Dec 15, presidency not yet on table

GENEVA - 30 November 2017: The United Nations said on Thursday it was extending a round of Syria talks in Geneva until Dec. 15, although the Syrian government delegation might go home to "consult and refresh" for several days and the presidency had not yet been discussed.

U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura told a news conference that the talks - in which he is shuttling between rival delegations in separate rooms - would focus in particular on a new constitution and U.N.-supervised parliamentary and presidential elections, and 12 core principles that he declined to enumerate.