No face-to-face meeting in Syrian peace talks
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Direct talks planned between President Bashar Assad's government and the Western-backed opposition hoping to overthrow him were scrapped Friday, and the two sides will meet a U.N. mediator in different rooms at different times.
The separate meetings are a major setback for a peace conference that has been on the verge of collapse since it was first floated in 2012 as a path out of the civil war that began as a peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad. (AP)
