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By Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's opposing parties discussed aid and prisoner releases on Sunday in talks aimed at building some kind of trust before tough political negotiations, but there was no sign of the early progress sought by an international mediator. Russia, one of the talks' sponsors, said any agreement on easing the humanitarian crisis created by the Syrian civil war would help to improve the atmosphere at the Geneva talks, but acknowledged that positions were polarized, emotions were on edge and the situation remained extremely grave. Following their first face-to-face talks on Saturday, government and opposition representatives met again in the presence of mediator Lakhdar Brahimi on Sunday morning and were due to hold a second session later in the day. Opposition delegate Monzer Akbik said the government had promised to answer a request for aid to be let into the rebel-held center of Homs city, besieged by President Bashar al-Assad's forces for 18 months, where the opposition says 500 families urgently need food and medicine.More...