Briefly

JAPAN

Child's death takes boat accident toll to 11

Japanese rescuers confirmed on Monday the death of a child in a weekend sightseeing boat accident, raising the death toll to at least 11 as efforts to find survivors continued. Kazu I was carrying 24 passengers, including two children, and two crew members when it sent a distress signal on Saturday afternoon in the waters off Japan's northern Hokkaido Island. Ten people were recovered and confirmed dead by early Sunday evening, and the coast guard said it found a child later that night, whose death was confirmed on Monday morning.

IRAN

Talks with Saudi Arabia seen positive

Iran said on Monday that the latest round of talks with Saudi Arabia was "positive and serious" and voiced hope for further progress soon. Teheran and Riyadh, which severed diplomatic ties in 2016, held four rounds of talks in Iraq between April and September last year, with a fifth meeting on Thursday. Iran's Nour news agency reported the talks were attended by senior officials. It added that the foreign ministers of the two countries were expected to meet "in the near future".

UNITED STATES

Twitter reexamines Musk's takeover offer

Twitter is reconsidering Elon Musk's buyout proposal, with discussions between the two camps ongoing on Sunday, reported The Wall Street Journal, after the billionaire said on Thursday he had secured the necessary funding. Tesla CEO Musk said he had secured close to $46.5 billion to finance the transaction, but he also planned to appeal to the company's shareholders directly as he looks to take over the social media platform. Twitter's board of directors had been opposed to the proposal, lining up a "poison pill "clause that would make it harder for Musk to acquire more than 15 percent of the company via the market. Musk currently owns 9.2 percent of Twitter shares.

Agencies - Xinhua