President, rebels to set peace deal deadline

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the country's largest rebel group vowed to end Latin America's longest-running armed conflict in the coming months after reaching a breakthrough in talks that put the country closer to peace that it has been in half a century.

Speaking in Havana, where talks between the sides had been dragging on for years, Santos announced on Wednesday that government and rebel negotiators had set a six-month deadline to sign a final agreement. After that, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia would demobilize within 60 days.

"We are on different sides, but today we advance in the same direction, in the most noble direction a society can take, which is toward peace," said Santos, minutes before a forced, cold-faced handshake with the military commander of the FARC, known by his alias Timochenko.