Jul152017

Syria talks end with ‘incremental progress’ but ‘no breakthrough’ – UN envoy

United Nations

15 July 2017 – Speaking to reporters in the early hours of Saturday in Geneva, United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said that the latest round of the intra-Syrian talks ended with &#8220incremental progress.&#8221

&#8220We made, as we were expecting and hoping, incremental progress. No breakthrough, no breakdown, no one walking out, incremental progress,&#8221 he said at a press conference, following the conclusion of the 10-15 July round of the UN-facilitated talks aimed at ending six years of war in the Middle East country.

Referring to a technical consultative mechanism agreed on in the previous round, he said that &#8220in addition to this technical agreement… there has been a generous effort among them (the opposition) to build something they didn’t have before, trust, mutual trust.&#8221

&#8220I would not have imagined two months ago that they would have been sitting in such an intensive and constructive way together in confidence,&#8221 the envoy said.

He said he intends to reconvene the intra-Syrian talks in early September.

&#8220I have asked the parties to be ready to offer clear, substantive positions on issues across all four baskets, and we hope that we will be at least pushing them to sit in the same room.&#8221

The &#8220four baskets&#8221 are: a credible non-sectarian transitional government; a future constitution; early and free parliamentary elections within 18 months; and a united war against terrorism within Syria.

Jul152017

Typhoon Talas to hit south China

East Asia

Typhoon Talas, the fourth typhoon of the year, took shape Saturday afternoon and is moving towards China’s southernmost island province of Hainan, local weather forecasts said.

The tropical storm, whose eye was located in the South China Sea some 205 km southeast of Lingshui Li Autonomous County as of 8 p.m. Saturday, packed maximum winds between 62 and 74 km per hour, the Hainan weather bureau said.

The Guangdong Province weather bureau forecast that the typhoon will make landfall between the cities of Qionghai and Sanya at dawn or later Sunday morning. It may also skip Hainan and head towards the Beibu Bay.

Strong winds and heavy rain are expected in Hainan beginning Saturday night. Tides will surge up to four meters high.

Ships in the middle and northern parts of the South China Sea and those off the coast of Hainan were advised to take immediate precaution.

Alerts for typhoon and geological disasters have been issued.

Along the coast of Guangdong, 22,901 fishing boats were moored while 39,425 people working at sea farms went on shore as of 4 p.m. Saturday.

Passenger ships across the Qiongzhou Strait, between Hainan and Guangdong, were also halted.