Israel

Govt to free 80 Palestinians

Israel is about to decide on the release of around 80 long-serving Palestinian prisoners ahead of renewed peace talks, an Israeli official said on Monday. US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had agreed to meet to prepare a resumption of direct peace talks, stalled since 2010.

Myanmar

5 wounded in sermon blast

A bomb exploded meters away from a radical Buddhist monk as he delivered a mass sermon in Myanmar, police said on Monday, the latest flare-up as interreligious tensions simmer. Five people were slightly wounded in the incident late on Sunday in Myanmar's second city, Mandalay.

DPRK

Torrential rain claims 5 lives

Torrential rain has caused severe damage in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, killing five people and leaving more than 23,000 people homeless, state media reported on Monday. Heavy rain has swept the center of the country and caused flood damage, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

South Africa

Mandela getting stronger: relative

South African peace icon Nelson Mandela is "steadily improving" six weeks after he was admitted to a hospital with a recurring lung infection, his grandson said on Monday. Mandla Mandela visited the former statesman at a Pretoria hospital on Sunday.

Pakistan

Search called off for climbers

Rescuers have called off the search for three Iranian climbers who went missing in the mountains of northern Pakistan, an official said on Monday. The Iranians sent a distress call just after summiting the 8,051-meter Broad Peak on July 16, said Manzoor Hussain, chief of the Alpine Club of Pakistan that coordinated the expedition.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 07/23/2013 page12)