IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Britain

British, Iranian FMs to meet in NY

The British and Iranian foreign ministers will meet in New York this month, the British Foreign Office said on Sunday, after both sides indicated they wanted to restore ties broken after an attack on the British embassy in Tehran in 2011. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Iraq

Attacks kill 39 as official escapes

A wave of attacks across Iraq, including a dozen car bombs, killed at least 39 people on Sunday while the head of Baghdad's provincial council escaped assassination in the capital. The follow months of unrelenting bloodshed, the country's worst since 2008, that has sparked concern Iraq is slipping back into the all-out sectarian war of years ago that left tens of thousands dead.

Philippines

Troops clear rebels, cut off routes

Philippine troops took back ground from Muslim rebels on Sunday, the military said, as they tried to end a weeklong siege in the southern city of Zamboanga that has seen thousands flee and left more than 60 people dead. Sporadic clashes continued as soldiers moved to clear Moro National Liberation Front gunmen from coastal neighborhoods and cut off escape routes after a cease-fire plan collapsed. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said some MNLF rebels surrendered on Sunday and some had been captured while trying to escape in civilian clothes.

Indonesia

Thousands flee volcanic eruption

Thousands of villagers fled on Sunday after a volcano erupted on Indonesia's Sumatra island, spewing rocks and red-hot ash onto surrounding villages, officials said. Mount Sinabung in Karo district, North Sumatra province, erupted violently before dawn. "More than 3,000 people have been evacuated from areas within a 3-kilometer radius of the volcano, and they are all safe," said Asren Nasution, the head of North Sumatra disaster agency.

Afghanistan

27 dead after mine collapse

A coal mine collapse has killed at least 27 miners in the north of Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday, with rescue efforts underway to save about 12 workers trapped underground. Emergency teams rushed to the scene after the mine collapsed in a remote area of Samangan province on Saturday, and bodies were being brought out of the accident site. "We have 27 miners who died while they were working in an underground coal mine in Abkhorak coal mine in Ruyi Du Ab district," Mohammad Sediq Azizi, the Samangan governor's spokesman, said.

Agencies

(China Daily 09/16/2013 page11)