Mattis sees positive signs in Afghan talks
AFP, United States
US Pentagon chief James Mattis said Sunday that there were encouraging signs in Afghanistan for talks between the government and the Taliban after 17 years of fighting. He pointed to the Taliban’s acceptance of a three-day ceasefire offered recently by President Ashraf Ghani.
Although the Taliban turned down a chance to extend the halt, Mattis pointed to the way Taliban fighters joined with government security forces and civilians to break fast on the Eid religious holiday.
4 Iraqi election worker’s family men killed
Reuters, Baquba
Attackers have slit the throats of a mother and three sisters of an Iraqi election commission employee in their home, security and medical sources said on Monday.
The employee himself, from the Turkmen minority in the town of Hamrin in ethnically mixed Diyala Province, was not at home at the time and was unharmed, the sources said. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings late on Sunday.
South Sudan foes hold peace talks
AFP, Khartoum
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and arch-foe Riek Machar were set to hold a new round of peace talks Monday after a first meeting last week faltered.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is hosting in Khartoum the second round of talks between the two bitter rivals, aimed at ending South Sudan’s four-and-a-half year brutal civil war.
Floods, landslides kill 7 in Vietnam
Reuters, Hanoi
Flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains have killed at least seven people and left 12 missing in northern Vietnam since Saturday, the government’s Disaster Management Authority said on Monday.
All of the victims are from the mountainous provinces of Lai Chau and Ha Giang, where the floods and landslides have also injured five people, the agency said in a statement.
Support for Japan PM Abe rises
Reuters, Tokyo
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s support rose 10 points to outstrip his disapproval rating for the first time since February, a survey showed on Monday, boosting his chance of weathering a series of scandals to become Japan’s longest-serving premier.
Abe’s ratings have been on a roller coaster since last year, when the public learned of the heavily discounted sale of state-owned land to a school operator with ties to his wife.
Xi Jinping meets French PM
Xinhua, Beijing
President Xi Jinping on Monday met with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in Beijing, saying China is willing to work with France to enrich the content of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
At present, the world is undergoing profound and complicated changes, said Xi.
, adding China is ready to work with France to make the bilateral relations continue to serve as a model for mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and exchanges and mutual learning between countries.
