PYONGYANG (Reuters) – It took six decades for the divided Koreas to meet to talk about Japan’s colonial past, but it took them just two hours to agree they had common grievances with their Asian neighbor.
Despite the 1950-53 Korean War that killed millions and decades of animosity, there was little dispute between a South Korean group that visited Pyongyang last week and their North Korean hosts, as they agreed Japan’s colonial rule still casts a shadow over the peninsula.

Mullah Omar, the elusive leader of the anti-government Taliban, appears to have rejected an offer from Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, of protection in exchange for peace talks.
A Taliban spokesman rejected on Monday the offer of safe passage and reiterated that foreign troops had to leave before negotiations could start.
“As long as foreign occupiers remain in Afghanistan, we aren’t ready for talks because they hold the power and talks won’t bear fruit,” Mullah Brother, the purported deputy leader of the Taliban, told the Reuters news agency by satellite telephone from …

Iraq’s cabinet approved a pact on Sunday that will allow U.S. forces to remain in the country until 2011, bringing an end to nearly a year of intense negotiations. The pact must still be approved by the Iraqi parliament, but Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he expects that to happen before the end of the month.
The pact, which will govern the presence of U.S. forces beyond the end of this year, is now officially called an agreement on the withdrawal of U.S. troops, a sign of how Iraq’s government …

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda agreed on Sunday to support a United Nations peace process for eastern Congo, including respecting a ceasefire and creating a humanitarian corridor to aid refugees. After talks with a special U.N. envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, at Jomba in Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, Nkunda said he had agreed to three requests from him — to respect a ceasefire, open a humanitarian corridor and support the U.N. peace initiative.
“We agree,“ Nkunda said in French, but he had asked Obasanjo to tell …

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — President Omar al-Bashir offered a ceasefire in Darfur on Wednesday and promised to disarm militias, a top rebel demand, in a new push by his government to show it is serious about ending the nearly 6-year-old conflict.
Darfur rebels dismissed the moves, saying they don’t trust al-Bashir and want to see disarmament of the feared janjaweed militias before agreeing to a ceasefire.

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to resume indirect peace negotiations with Syria, his spokesman has said.
Four rounds of talks were held earlier this year, through Turkish mediators, but were suspended when Mr Olmert resigned over corruption allegations.
Mr Olmert is expected to remain caretaker prime minister until after elections due in February.