Unrest

KANDAHAR – More than 50 Taliban were killed in two days of intense clashes in southern Afghanistan after the rebels were pushed out of a nearby stronghold, the defence ministry said.

Killed * BAGHDAD – At least 20 people were killed and 25 wounded in car bomb attacks in the southern Iraqi city of Amara, the interior ministry’s operation director Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told AFP. Diplomacy * JERUSALEM – Israelis and Palestinians started negotiations for the first time since relaunching the Middle East peace process, their talks overshadowed by deadly violence in Gaza and by continuing Jewish settlement activity.Russia * MOSCOW – Russia walked out of a key Cold War treaty setting limits on troops and weapons across Europe, but promised there were no immediate plans for a major military build-up.Bolivia * LA PAZ – A plan by Bolivian President Evo Morales to overhaul his country’s constitution to give greater powers to poor regions and better benefit their indigenous populations is threatening to split his South American nation in half.Nampa-AFPDiplomacy * JERUSALEM – Israelis and Palestinians started negotiations for the first time since relaunching the Middle East peace process, their talks overshadowed by deadly violence in Gaza and by continuing Jewish settlement activity.Russia * MOSCOW – Russia walked out of a key Cold War treaty setting limits on troops and weapons across Europe, but promised there were no immediate plans for a major military build-up.Bolivia * LA PAZ – A plan by Bolivian President Evo Morales to overhaul his country’s constitution to give greater powers to poor regions and better benefit their indigenous populations is threatening to split his South American nation in half.Nampa-AFP