How about some stuff that isn’t about Syria?  Okay!
New revelations about Edward Snowden’s links to the Russians – Islamist groups try to dial back the strife in Egypt – An America city is so violent, cops are put on special duty just to get kids back to school safely.

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden spent several days living in the Russian Embassy in Hong Kong before traveling to Moscow, and his stay in Russia is an accident because Cuba wouldn’t allow him to make a flight connections.  That, from a report in Moscow’s Kommersant Newspaper, which cites unnamed sources also saying that China may have facilitated Snowden’s flight and were “glad to get rid of him”.

Two Egyptian Islamist groups are stepping up to try and stop the violence between the military and the supporters of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood government.  The initiative led by Egypt's Gamaa Islamiya and Islamic Jihad movements would stop Muslim Brotherhood street protests if the military-backed government stops its crackdown on them.  The Muslim Brotherhood’s street power largely fizzed out last week with hundreds instead of thousands answering a call to protest.

Palestinian negotiators called off the latest round of Pace Talks with Israel after Israeli troops killed three Palestinians and wounded 16 others in a raid on a refugee camp.  The Israelis say they were trying to apprehend a suspected arms dealer.  Palestinians called it a “crime”.  Among those killed was 32-year old Rubin Abdul Rahman Zayyed, a father of four and United Nations Relief Agency employee.

Greece is reportedly considering renegotiating its bailout from the European Central Bank, European Commission, and International Monetary Fund, otherwise known as the Troika.  Athens wants lower interest payments and more time to repay more than A$355 Billion in loans.  A day ago, Greece conceded that even with loans and the painful austerity cuts, it still has a nearly A$15 Billion budget hole.

China is balking at talking with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea.  The Senkakus have been controlled by Japan for more than a century, but China has recently increased its claim to the region with rich fishing and energy resources below the ocean floor. 

A school board in Western Japan has dropped plans to bar children from seeing an anti-war comic in the school libraries, following an outcry.  Critics said the school board was trying to whitewash Japan’s World War II crimes depicted alongside the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by moving the “Hadashi no Gen” (Barefoot Gen) manga to locked rooms where kids would need official permission to see it.

Kids in the City of Chicago returned for the new school year on Monday, under the watchful eye of cops and volunteers posted to ward off gang violence.  Earlier this year, Chicago’s mayor closed several schools in revenge for a teacher’s strike, apparently not considering that kids in low-income areas are now forced to cross rival gang boundaries to get to fewer schools.  After weeks of outcry about the glaring security lapse, the city expanded the “Safe Passage” program, which posts cops and volunteers on designated routes.  Chicago has logged more than 250 homicides this year, mostly due to gang violence.

Police in Thailand are cracking down on vendors selling “laughing gas” balloons to tourists, who apparently use them to get a quick “high”.  Cops hauled in eight people from Khaosan Road, a pedestrian street lined with bars and cheap hotels in Bangkok.  Each faces a possible five-year prison sentence and A$300 fine.  Officials worry sales of nitrous oxide could cause harmful side effects to users and give the country a negative image.