Doha negotiators have agreed on rules: Taliban
Kabul, Nov 29: A Taliban spokesperson has said that negotiators from both sides for the Afghan peace process have agreed on procedural rules with 21 items for the the talks to proceed, the media reported. “The procedure of Intra-Afghan negotiations between the negotiating teams was completed and finalized in 21 articles on the 15th of November,” TOLO News quoted spokesperson Mohammad Naeem as saying in a tweet on Saturday. Last week, sources reported a breakthrough in the talks and said both sides have agreed to include the US-Taliban agreement, UN endorsements for the Afghan peace process, commitments of the negotiating teams and the will of the Afghan people as the base for upcoming negotiations. (IANS)
Global COVID cases surpass 62mn mark
Washington, Nov 29: The overall number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed the 62 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.45 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Sunday, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 62,147,874 and 1,450,326, respectively. The US is the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 13,233,884 and 266,009, respectively, according to the CSSE. (IANS)
Extremists kill at least 40 farmers
Maidguri, Nov 29: Suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in Nigeria’s northern Borno State, officials said. The attack was staged Saturday in a rice field in Garin Kwashebe, a Borno community known for rice farming, on the day residents of the state were casting votes for the first time in 13 years to elect local government councils, though many didn’t go to cast their ballots. The farmers were reportedly rounded up and summarily killed by armed insurgents. Malam Zabarmari, a leader of a rice farmers association in Borno state, confirmed the massacre to The Associated Press. “The farmers were attacked at the Garin-Kwashebe rice field in Zabarmari community, and according to reports reaching us since afternoon, about 40 of them were killed,” he said. (AP)
Volcano in Indonesia erupts
Jakarta, Nov 29: The Ili Lewotolok volcano in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province erupted on Sunday, spewing a column of ash 4,000 metres to the sky, authorities said. The ash column is thick and gray, moving to the east and the west, Xinhua news agency quoted the Agency for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation as saying in a statement. Seismograph records showed that the eruption, which took place at around 10.45 a.m., occurred for 10 minutes, with a maximum amplitude of 35 mm. The agency has recommended that residents or tourists should nt carry out any activity in the danger zone within a radius of two km from the summit. The volcano with a height of 1,018 metres above sea level is now under alert status. (IANS)