Diplomats set a date Monday for negotiations between Syrian officials and their opposition for a conference in Geneva on Jan. 22. The opposition, however, has not officially said it would attend the conference, and both sides are far apart ideologically, especially on what President Bashar Assad’s role is going forward. Syria has been in a civil war for almost three years that has killed more than 100,000 people.

President Barack Obama defended Monday the Iran nuclear agreement reached this weekend, saying the United States could not “close the door on diplomacy.” Israel, other U.S. allies and members of Congress were skeptical of the six-month deal and said the negotiators were not being hard enough on Iran. The deal gives Iran breaks in U.S. economic sanctions in exchange for temporarily halting parts of the nuclear program.

Early reports of a gunman on Yale’s campus Monday were, police think, a hoax, and officials lifted a lockdown for most of the Connecticut campus that afternoon. A man at a pay phone called 911 that morning to report that his roommate wanted to shoot up the campus, but there were no reports of injuries or shots fired; Yale is on November break until Dec. 2.

A new prosecutors’ report released Monday about the Newtown elementary school shooting last December did not find a motive for the incident. The yearlong investigation said gunman Adam Lanza had “significant mental health issues” but did know what he was doing and planned the attack, though they did not know why he chose Sandy Hook Elementary. Lanza shot and killed his mother at their home and killed 20 first-graders and six educators in December 2012.

Contact Carrie Blazina at [email protected].