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North and South Korea Agree to Summit on Dismantling Weapons

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, New York Times

North and South Korea Agree to Summit on Dismantling Weapons

South Korea President Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, next month to hold his third summit with that country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials said Monday. Officials from the countries did not specify a date for the visit. Moon has met twice with Kim this year. Those meetings took place in Panmunjom, a village straddling the highly fortified border. South Korean officials have recently suggested the possibility of a third meeting this year, in the hopes of breaking an impasse between North Korea and the United States over the dismantling of the North’s nuclear arms program.

As Taliban Fight for Ghazni City in Afghanistan, Nearby Districts Fall

Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan have taken over most of the rural areas in Ghazni province, even as they continue to battle the government for control of the provincial capital, according to local officials. While attention has focused primarily on the fight for Ghazni city, where the Taliban appear to control most neighborhoods, the insurgents have also taken over at least four more rural districts in the province, mostly without much of a fight. They have also consolidated their authority in other districts. By Monday, only two of the province’s 18 rural districts were confirmed to be completely in government control.

Iran’s Top Leader Faults Rouhani for Crisis, Saying He Crossed ‘Red Lines’

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his sharpest criticism yet of his country’s president Monday, faulting him for having crossed “red lines” in nuclear negotiations with the U.S. and other failures that have created an economic crisis. The remarks by Khamenei compounded the pressure on President Hassan Rouhani, who is contending with the threat of possible armed conflict with the U.S. and calls for resignations in his government. Rouhani’s promises that the 2015 nuclear agreement reached with the U.S. and other world powers would lead to an economic revival in Iran have been thwarted since the Trump administration renounced the agreement in May.

Another Surprise Meeting With Putin. This Time, It’s Merkel

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will host President Vladimir Putin of Russia for talks near Berlin this weekend, in a surprise move that analysts said showed how foes and allies of the U.S. alike were shifting in response to the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs and unpredictable diplomacy. The chancellor and the Russian president will meet Saturday, Merkel’s spokesman said Monday. The talks are expected to focus on the situation in Syria, violence in eastern Ukraine and a joint pipeline for natural gas. Merkel and Putin met in May, when Putin welcomed Merkel to his home in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.

Hospital Blaze in Taiwan Kills 9 and Injures Dozens

An early morning fire raged through a hospital floor filled with elderly patients Monday in New Taipei City, killing at least nine people and injuring two dozen more. The fire broke out around 4:30 a.m. in a room for patients with chronic or long-term illnesses at the government-run Taipei Hospital. Within an hour, firefighters had extinguished the blaze. But nine people died, all of them patients. There were 32 patients, 10 nurses and eight other workers on the floor when the fire broke out, according to a fire department statement. A spokeswoman said the cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Pier Collapse at Spain’s Vigo Music Festival Injures More Than 300

Hundreds of people were injured in northwestern Spain when a pier collapsed during an oceanside music festival in the city of Vigo, authorities said Monday. The pier collapsed around midnight Sunday, throwing people into the water below and on top of one another. Divers and other rescue workers were still searching Monday morning for anybody who might have been trapped below the broken boards of the pier, but authorities in the northwestern region of Galicia reported no fatalities. More than 300 people were reportedly injured in the collapse, and after treatment of their injuries nine people remained hospitalized, including five in serious condition.

Ouster of Chief Prosecutor Bolsters South Africa’s Corruption Fight

South Africa on Monday took a big step toward restoring a more independent justice system, removing a chief prosecutor widely seen as an obstacle to reining in the country’s corruption. The prosecutor, Shaun Abrahams, director of public prosecutions, was ordered to step down by the country’s highest court, a decision that left room for South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to take a tougher stance on the graft within his party, the African National Congress. With the power to name a new chief prosecutor, Ramaphosa can now put his stamp on the office that effectively determines who or what gets prosecuted in South Africa.

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