Briefly

AFGHANISTAN

Taliban, Ghani declare three-day cease-fire

The Taliban outfit has announced a three-day cease-fire with the Afghan government for Eid al-Fitr, an annual religious festival holiday, starting from Sunday, a Taliban spokesman confirmed. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani vowed on Sunday to speed up the release of Taliban prisoners after welcoming the offer of the ceasefire. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the cease-fire and urged all parties to seize this opportunity and embrace an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

DPRK

Military meeting held to bolster defenses

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea discussed policies to improve its armed forces to defend sovereignty and stability during a military meeting, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday. The fourth enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea set forth "new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country and putting the strategic armed forces on a high alert operation".

Xinhua - Agencies