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News bites

*** Those Taliban are enemies of Western forces fighting in Afghanistan, right? Well, yes, but evidently notwithstanding the bloodshed and mayhem in the country, there are talks underway with them, as The Independent reports:

"The Taliban's former chief spokesman has revealed that top-level talks are being held between the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and key lieutenants of the former Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

His disclosure that the Taliban "cabinet in exile" is engaged in negotiations appeared to contradict the statement to Parliament yesterday by Gordon Brown that hardline Taliban leaders would be isolated from talks over the future of Afghanistan."

*** After all the hype of the Annapolis Middle East meeting recently, now it's down to tin-tacks. And the inevitable has already happened, as the LA Times reports:

"Israeli and Palestinian negotiators Wednesday launched their first full-fledged peace talks since 2001, but the session was marred by tensions over an Israeli construction project in East Jerusalem and fresh rocket attacks by Palestinian militants based in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's plans to build about 300 homes in a neighborhood it calls Har Homa have drawn denunciations from Palestinian officials and prompted calls to boycott Wednesday's formal start of a promised yearlong effort to reach a peace agreement.

Palestinian negotiators attended but used the opportunity to criticize the Israeli plans anew. Officials on both sides described the mood as tense."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the Israeli project threatened to undermine hopes of reviving the peace process after the U.S.-sponsored conference last month in Annapolis, Md.

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