NEWS OF THE DAY
Afghan talks: Representatives of Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan have agreed that negotiation is the only road to peace in Afghanistan, including an early resumption of direct U.S. talks with the Taliban. In a statement released at the end of meetings in Moscow on Friday, China, Russia and Pakistan called on Washington to return to the negotiation table with the Taliban and sign an agreement that will set the stage for Afghans on both sides of the protracted conflict to start facetoface discussions on what a postwar Afghanistan would look like. U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had all but signed a peace deal with the Taliban until President Trump in September declared the talks dead after a series of attacks killed several people, including a U.S. soldier.
Truck deaths: A fourth person was arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 people found in the back of a container truck in southeastern England, British police said Friday as the investigation into one of the country’s worst human smuggling cases geared up. Police said a 48yearold man from Northern Ireland was arrested Friday at England’s Stansted Airport on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. The arrest came after police arrested a man and a woman, both 38 and from northwestern England, earlier Friday on the same charges. The 25yearold driver of the truck remains in custody on suspicion of murder. Essex Police said 31 men and eight women — all believed to be Chinese citizens — were found dead in the truck Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays, a town 25 miles east of London.
Drone strike: Somali intelligence officials say an air strike by a U.S. drone has killed three senior officers with Islamic Stateaffiliated fighters in northern Somalia. Friday’s strike targeted their vehicle while the men were traveling in Golis, a mountainous area controlled by the group, said a senior Somali intelligence official. Another Somali official said among those killed was a notorious bomb expert who had been on the intelligence radar for nearly a year. The U.S. Africa Command confirmed the killings, but did not reply to a question about how many air strikes the U.S. has carried out in Somalia this year.
Cuba ban: The Trump administration is banning U.S. flights to all Cuban cities but Havana in the latest move to roll back the Obamaera easing of relations, two people briefed on the matter said Friday. The people said the Transportation Department would announce that JetBlue and American Airlines flights to Santa Clara in central Cuba and Holguin and Camaguey in the island’s east would be banned starting in December. Flights to Havana, which account for the great majority of U.S. flights to Cuba, will remain legal. The stated reason for the move is to prevent tourism to Cuba, which is banned by U.S. law.
Greta’s beetle: London’s Natural History Museum said Friday that a minute species of beetle is being named “Nelloptodes gretae” in honor of the 16yearold Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has pressed the world to do a better job fighting global warming. Michael Darby, a scientific associate at the museum who found the insect in its collection of millions of animal specimens, chose the name to acknowledge Thunberg’s “outstanding contribution” to raising awareness of environmental issues. The beetle is less than 1 millimeter long and has no eyes or wings.
Chronicle News Services