US, Russia fail to reach Syria deal

Top diplomats from the United States and Russia on Monday failed to reach a deal to ease fighting in Syria, US officials said, after government troops encircled rebel-held parts of Aleppo. A senior State Department official said a fresh round of crisis talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the margins of the G20 summit in China had ended without agreement. Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the five-year conflict, which has killed around 300,000 people and forced millions to flee.