News in Brief (18-09-2018)

S Korea plays down chance of nuke progress at Kim summit

SEOUL, Sept 17: A senior South Korean official is playing down the chance that this week's inter-Korean summit could produce major progress in efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear programme. Presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok told reporters Monday that he still expects the summit to produce unspecified "meaningful" agreements on ways to ease a military standoff between the rivals. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is to fly to Pyongyang on Tuesday for his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year. Im said the Korean leaders plan to meet twice during Moon's three-day trip. — AP

23 die in weekend of Ethiopia ethnic violence

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 17: At least 23 people were killed in a weekend of violence targeting minorities in the ethnic Oromo heartland near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a police source said. The unrest followed a mass rally last week marking the return to Ethiopia of the leadership of the exiled Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) group, which had fought an insurgency for self-determination for Oromos, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. — Reuters

Fearing attacks from above, Syrians in Idlib head underground

KAFR AIN, Sept 17: The grotto in northwestern Syria has already saved his children's lives once. Fearing more air attacks, Abdulmonem is expanding the makeshift bomb shelter in case they need to take refuge there again. Residents of Idlib province and surrounding areas have been bracing themselves for a Russian-backed government offensive on the country's largest remaining rebel-held zone. Some three million people live in the area and the United Nations has warned that a full-scale regime assault could spark the century's worst humanitarian catastrophe. — AFP

German, Austrian leaders meet on migration ahead of EU talks

BERLIN, Sept 17: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz are meeting to discuss migration before an upcoming European Union summit on the topic. Merkel told reporters in Berlin as she and Kurz prepared to sit down for their one-to-one talks Sunday that "migration is, of course, a very important issue." The EU's member countries are divided over how to respond to mass migration. — AP