India 'ready to send envoy to Pakistan'

SRINAGAR • India is ready to send Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to Pakistan for talks on fighting cross-border terrorism, sources at the Indian Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The olive branch follows 40 days of violent protests in Indian-ruled Kashmir, after security forces killed the field commander of the Pakistan-based militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.

At least 64 people have died and thousands have been injured in the clashes.

REUTERS

Elephant, 3 calves die in train collision

COLOMBO • A passenger train hit and killed an elephant and three calves in northern Sri Lanka yesterday.

The herd was walking across a newly upgraded railway line that runs through a jungle area when the accident occurred in Cheddikulam, about 260km north of Colombo.

None of the passengers was injured.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Hanoi cancels Aussie war veterans event

SYDNEY • Vietnam yesterday cancelled a commemoration ceremony for Australian war veterans.

The event was long in the works and more than 1,000 veterans and their families had travelled to Vietnam to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan today.

Eighteen Australian soldiers and hundreds of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters died in the battle, deep in southern Vietnam, on Aug 18, 1966.

Australian Veterans Affairs Minister Dan Tehan said he hoped that Hanoi would change its mind.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE