The U.S. has said to be ready to "support, facilitate and participate in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban," that statement on Sunday from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
(The) statement was released the same day that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a new cease-fire. He announced the three-month unilateral, conditional cease-fire with the Taliban.
He said Afghan forces will stop their operations beginning Monday if the Taliban agrees to do so as well. The cease-fire coincides with the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha.
There has been no reaction yet to the announcement from the Taliban.
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake has struck the Indonesian island of Lombok Sunday just hours after a 6.3-magnitude quake shook the island.
The earlier quake caused landslides and forced people to flee.
Just two weeks ago, a magnitude 6.9 quake on the same island left 436 people dead and forced 350,000 to flee their homes.
U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso says earthquakes are not uncommon in the area.
"In that area, there have been six other events of magnitude 6.5 or larger in the last hundred years."
Sunday's event was the third strong earthquake to rock the island during the past month.
Thousands of stranded people were waiting to be rescued and officials pleaded for more help from relentless monsoon floods that have partially submerged the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the flooded landscape from a helicopter, met with the state's top officials, promising more than $70 million in aid.
Officials estimate more than 10,000 kilometers of roads have been damaged.
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More than 2 million Muslims have begun the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. They've been circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca that Islam's faithful face five times each day during their prayers.
Associated Press correspondent ??? reports.
The five-day Hajj pilgrimage represents one of the world's biggest gatherings every year and is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life.
The Hajj offers pilgrims an opportunity to feel closer to God amid the Muslim world's many challenges, including the threat of violence and extremists in the Mideast and the plight of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority.
Muslims believe the Hajj retraces the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as those of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail and Abraham and Ishmael in the Bible.
I'm ???
Israel on Sunday closed its only crossing for people on the Gaza Strip.
Officials say humanitarian cases will still be able to cross the border, however.
President Trump is pushing back against a story that the White House counsel has given hours of testimony to the special counsel investigating Russian election meddling.
Associated Press correspondent Ben Thomas reports.
President Trump is insisting that White House lawyer Don McGahn isn't a "RAT."
In a series of Sunday morning tweets, Trump responded to a New York Times report that McGahn has cooperated extensively in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, providing 30 hours of testimony in three interviews over the past nine months.
Trump says he's allowed McGahn and others to testify, saying, "I didn't have to. I have nothing to hide."
Trump calls Mueller's investigation "McCarthyism at its WORST!," a reference to the indiscriminate allegations made by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s in an effort to expose communists.
Ben Thomas, Washington.
An American military spokesman says U.S. forces will stay in Iraq "as long as needed" to help stabilize regions previously controlled by the Islamic State terrorist group. The spokesman talked to reporters on Sunday.
He said the number of American soldiers could decline, depending on when other forces from NATO deploy to help train the Iraqi army. There are now about 5,200 U.S. troops are in Iraq.
Brazil is sending troops to its border with Venezuela after immigrants were blamed for attacking a merchant in a Brazilian border town. The troops are scheduled to arrive on Monday.
The incident happened in Pacaraima in the state of Roraima.
Over the past three years, tens of thousands of Venezuelans have sought refuge in Brazil from Venezuela's economic, political and social crises.
You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA news.
