The first meeting in new Israel-Palestine peace talks takes place in Washington

The American whistleblower Edward Snowden is granted a one-year visa for asylum in Russia

Jeff Bezos, the founder of amazon.com, buys The Washington Post for $250 million

Israel releases 25 Palestinian prisoners convicted of serious crimes and in doing so enables renewed peace talks to begin in Jerusalem

The Egyptian army declares a state of emergency, after continuing Muslim demonstrations, and imposes a curfew

Egyptian soldiers use live ammunition to disperse Muslim supporters of President Morsi, killing about 600

Syrian government and rebels blame each other when a nerve gas attack kills more than 600 people in Saqba, a suburb of Damascus

Bradley Manning, to be known henceforth as Chelsea Manning, is sentenced to 35 years in prison for his leaking of government documents

The House of Commons defeats David Cameron on his plan to support US military intervention in Syria

President Obama declares his intention to intervene militarily in Syria but fails to get the approval of Congress

Coastal regions of Mexico are devastated simultaneously by Hurricane Ingrid from the Pacific and Tropical Storm Manuel from the Gulf of Mexico

Syria accepts a joint Russian and US proposal that all their chemical weapons should be identified and destroyed within a very tight deadline

The BBC's annual Reith Lectures are given by a well-known and distinguished transvestite ceramic artist, winner of the Turner Prize, Grayson Perry

Thirty Greenpeace activists protesting against drilling in the Arctic are arrrested when armed Russians storm their ship, the Arctic Sunrise

Iranian president Rouhani publishes an article in the Washington Post proposing constructive talks to end the nuclear dispute

Muslim militants from the Somali group Al-Shabaab seize the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and kill about 70 people

Two Taliban suicide bombers destroy a historic church in Peshawar and kill more than 80 members of the congregation

New South Wales suffers the worst Australian fire crisis in 50 years, with 14 fires still described as out of control on October 22

The US government suffers a shut-down when Republicans in Congress refuse to pass a spending bill unless Obamacare is reduced

An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hits the Philippines causing widespread damage and about 150 deaths

On the evening before the US government reaches its debt ceiling, Congress passes a bill allowing the ceiling to be raised but only until February 7

Relations between the USA and Germany are severely strained by the revelation in leaked documents that NSA has for years tapped Angela Merkel's cellphone

The renewed peace talks between Israel and Palestine are jeopardized by an announcement that Israel will build 1500 homes for Jews in East Jerusalem

State media in China announce a new plan to modify the country's rigid one-child policy dating from the late 1970s

An insurgency in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that has cost millions of lives, ends when the M23 rebels lay down their arms