Briefly

NIGERIA

4 kidnapped Chinese rail workers freed

Four Chinese rail workers kidnapped last week in southwest Nigeria have been released, police said on Tuesday. The four were abducted on June 16 from a rail construction site at Alaagba village in Ogun state by unknown gunmen who killed their police escort. The Chinese were working on a $2.5 billion, 157-kilometer standard gauge project between Lagos and Ibadan commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari two weeks ago. "The four Chinese nationals were released yesterday," a senior police officer in Ogun said, without giving details.

DPRK

Pyongyang dismisses chance for new talks

A senior official dismissed prospects for an early resumption of diplomacy with the United States, saying on Tuesday that US expectations for talks would "plunge them into a greater disappointment". Kim Yo-jong, sister of top leader Kim Jongun, issued the statement after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described as an "interesting signal" her brother's recent statement that Pyongyang must be ready for both dialogue and confrontation, but more for confrontation. "A Korean proverb says that 'In a dream, what counts most is to read it, not to have it'. It seems that the US may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek a comfort for itself," Kim Yo-jong said.

UNITED STATES

3 people killed in Colorado shooting

A gunman is believed to have shot and killed an officer and another person in a shopping district in a Denver suburb on Monday before being fatally shot by police, authorities said. Authorities didn't immediately describe the circumstances of the shooting but said no one else is believed to have been involved. No identities have been released yet.

Agencies - Xinhua