Afghanistan

Karzai to hold talks on Taliban

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was set to hold discussions in Qatar on Sunday about the proposed opening of a Taliban office in the Gulf state as a prelude to possible talks on ending more than a decade of war. Karzai previously opposed such a Qatar office because he feared his government would be frozen out of any peace negotiations involving the Islamic extremists and the United States.

Egypt

Direct flights with Iran begin

A commercial airliner left Egypt for Iran on Saturday in what was the first direct passenger flight between the two countries in more than three decades, Egyptian airport officials said. Cairo-Teheran relations have warmed since the June election of Egypt's Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi.

France

Threat clears Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was evacuated on Saturday night after an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat, police said. Nearly 1,400 people were sent away from the tourist attraction following a request from tower operators after the warning, a Paris police official said. Police then searched the monument with sniffer dogs, and set up a security perimeter.

Tanzania

Death toll hits 19 in collapse

The death toll from a building collapse in Tanzania's economic capital Dar es Salaam rose to 19 on Saturday, after rescuers hoping to find survivors among dozens still feared trapped under the rubble pulled out more bodies. "Two more bodies were found this afternoon," regional commissioner Saidi Mecky Sadicky said.

Reuters-AFP-AP

(China Daily 04/01/2013 page11)