Briefly

AFGHANISTAN

200 Taliban prisoners freed to push talks

Afghanistan has freed nearly 200 Taliban prisoners to spur long-delayed peace talks, as a team of negotiators readies to fly this week to Qatar's capital, Afghan officials said on Wednesday. The prisoners formed part of a group of 400 jailed "hardcore" Islamist separatists whose stalled release had appeared set to delay talks between the government and the insurgent group to end nearly two decades of war. Kabul had balked at the release of the final 400 Taliban inmates who President Ashraf Ghani said were "a danger to the world". Their release was also opposed by Paris and Canberra because those on the list included militants tied to the killing of French and Australian civilians and troops in Afghanistan.

SOUTH KOREA

Opposition seeks luck with new name, again

South Korea's main opposition party changed its name for the second time in seven months on Wednesday as it battles falling public support. The country's political parties have a tendency to adopt new identities to try to sever ties with a tainted past. The conservative United Future Party－a name it adopted in February as it sought to relaunch itself ahead of parliamentary elections－declared itself the People Power Party. Wednesday's change gave the party its fourth name in three years. Known as Saenuri－or New Frontier－under ousted president Park Geun-hye, it renamed itself Liberty Korea in 2017 to try to distance itself from the corruption scandal that brought her down.

Agencies Via Xinhua