The World Today: All you need to know on September 13 Good morning and welcome to today's world highlights. The US Secretary of State and Russian foreign minister are set for a second round of talks in Geneva today on Syria's chemical weapons. Though there are clear disagreements between the two sides, chiefly over how much pressure should be put on the Bashar al-Assad regime, and how far the Syrian president can be trusted, the commitment to reaching a disarmament deal is genuine. Russia would like to protect its ally, and the US would like to avoid deeply unpopular air strikes. Assad himself promised to surrender Syria's chemical weapons, admitting their existence for the first time in the process, and took the first step towards applying to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. But he attached such heavy caveats to his cooperation - that the US should stop supplying the rebels and stop threatening his country - that his sincerity will be severely doubted. Robert Worth in the New York Times says Assad is adroitly using Obama's own "red lines" on Syria, by coming up with his own. Vladimir Putin's Thursday editorial in the New York Times, calling on Americans to reject US air strikes, provoked collective dismay at its audacity and mendacity, amid some begruding admiration. Con Coughlin was among those who thought it also refected badly on President Obama. In the New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg said the quality of Kremlin propaganda had dramatically improved since the days of Stalin and Pravda. Andrew Sullivan in the Dish thought Putin may appear to have pulled off a coup, but the price Russia will pay for this triumph is ownership of the Syrian problem. Attack in Herat A year and a day after the deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, the US consulate in Herat, Afghanistan came under attack early this morning. At least three people were killed when insurgents detonated a powerful truck bomb outside the front gates and launched a gun battle with US and Afghan forces. The attack showed how the Taliban retains the ability to disrupt the country, as the western city has been one of the more peaceful areas. Africa's population boom The number of people in the continent is forecast to double to 2.4 billion by 2050, according to a study by the Population Reference Bureau in the US, largely thanks to improved healthcare. Some African countries could see their populations triple, posing challenges but also potential benefits to their governments. Peer's finger salute German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief election rival Peer Steinbrueck sparked derision and ridicule by allowing himself to be photographed making the vulgar middle-finger gesture. It was perhaps an unwitting message to pollsters, who have him trailing the Mrs Merkel by some distance ahead of the poll a week on Sunday. Aviator Jonathan Trappe set off on a world first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean dangling from 370 helium-filled balloons, but had to abort after 12 hours. Five others have died making similar attempts. The number of futuristic projects that President Francois Hollande unveiled as he declared France's "industrial renaissance" had begun. Twitter @twitter We've confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. Robert Kelly in The Diplomat argues that the West should worry less about China, given the mountain of problems it faces. The Miami Herald discusses how deeply the 1973 coup still resonates in Chile. Vanity Fair reports on 40 years of a squatters' zone in Copenhagen and finds it doing very well, thanks to help from the government. Doubts have surfaced over the Miss Uzbekistan currently in Indonesia preparing for the Miss World competition. Officials from the country claim they don't know who she is and say the country doesn't even hold the competition.