News Round-Up: Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

White House Responds to Release of Real-Time Emails About Benghazi Attack, http://abcn.ws/RVNzPp
E-mails sent to top security officials during the attack on the American diplomatic post in Benghazi have been revealed, one of which suggests a known terrorist group, Ansar al-Sharia, took credit for the assault. The Obama administration initially claimed the attack was part of protests against an anti-Islamic film, with White House press secretary Jay Carney claiming three days after the attack that the government had no information suggesting it was a pre-planned attack. White House officials claim the emails do not contradict what was known at the time based on the intelligence community’s assessment of the attack.

Syrian government ‘agrees to Eid al-Adha ceasefire’, http://bbc.in/PPZsdZ
The UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, says that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and most of the opposition leaders have agreed to a ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which begins on Friday. The agreement comes after two weeks of negotiations by Mr. Brahimi in the hopes of a peaceful period to “allow a political process to develop,” although Mr. Brahimi did not say when he believed the truce would begin nor how long it would last. The Syrian Foreign Ministry says that its “final position on the issue” would be announced on Thursday. Gen Mustafa al-Sheikh, leader of the Free Syrian Army’s military council, says that his troops would honor a ceasefire if the government complies, but warned that Assad’s regime had “lied many times before.”