The US and the Afghan Taliban have made "significant progress" in talks aimed at ending the 17-year-old conflict in Afghanistan, the US envoy has said. In a series of tweets, Zalmay Khalilzad did not give details but said the unprecedented six days of talks in Qatar were "more productive than they have been in the past". He said he was on his way to Kabul to consult Afghan government officials. Earlier, Taliban sources said the two sides had finalised a draft agreement. The deal calls for a withdrawal of foreign forces in return for assurances that al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group will not be allowed to use Afghanistan as a base, the sources said. Mr Khalilzad said talks with the Taliban would continue and that nothing had been finalised. Skip Twitter post by @US4AfghanPeace Report End of Twitter post by @US4AfghanPeace The Taliban has so far refused to hold direct talks with Afghan officials, whom they dismiss as "puppets". They
The much-anticipated meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place at a hotel on the Singaporean island of Sentosa, the White House has confirmed.
The 12 June summit was called off two weeks ago by Mr Trump but has since been salvaged after a flurry of contacts between the two sides.
Mr Trump said on Tuesday that plans were "moving along very nicely".
The US wants Mr Kim to commit to giving up his nuclear weapons.
But it is unclear exactly what is on the table for the discussions in Singapore. Mr Trump has suggested the first meeting will kick off a longer process of negotiations, calling it a "get-to-know-you situation".
"A lot of relationships being built, a lot of negotiations going on before the trip," he told reporters on Tuesday. "It's very important - it'll be a very important couple of days."
The summit would represent the first ever meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed on Twitter that the summit would take place at the five-star Capella Hotel.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed on Twitter that the summit would take place at the five-star Capella Hotel.
But it appears that the two leaders will stay elsewhere. Mr Trump will likely be at the Shangri-La Hotel, where US presidents have stayed before, while Mr Kim will probably stay at the St Regis Singapore, the Straits Times newspaper reports. The two hotels are on the main island, near the famous Orchard Road shopping strip.
Sentosa is one of 63 islands that make up Singapore.
- Kim, the new kid on the diplomatic block
- North Korea's sidelined human rights crisis
- Ordinary North Koreans dare to speak out
The 500-hectare island, only a short distance from the main island, is home to luxury resorts, private marinas and plush golf clubs.
But the island also has a dark history of piracy, bloodshed and war.
It was a pirates' haunt
Singapore was established as a British trading post in the 19th Century. Its prime location on the major sea route between India and China made it an ideal choice.
But even before British rule, Singapore was a flourishing trade centre, frequented by merchants and traders, as well as pirates.
Sentosa was known at that time as Pulau Blakang Mati, which directly translates as the "island behind death" - a reference to its violent piracy reputation.
The island's population was mostly Malay, Chinese and the Bugis - seafarers originally from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
It was a World War Two massacre site
Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, after British colonial forces surrendered.
It was given a new Japanese name - Syonan, meaning Light of the South.
Over the next few years, thousands of people were killed under an operation to purge anti-Japanese elements from the ethnic Chinese community.
Chinese men between the ages of 18 and 50 were summoned to various sites before being machine-gunned to death and thrown into the sea.
Among the massacre sites were the beaches on Sentosa, now overlooked by the Capella hotel where Mr Trump and Mr Kim will meet.
Sentosa also hosted a prisoner-of-war camp, which held some 400 Allied troops and gunners.
Tourism boom and fatal accidents
In the 1970s, the Singaporean government renamed the island Sentosa, meaning "peace and tranquillity", and began developing it as a tourism site.
But the island's problems continued.
In 1983, two carriages on the tourist cable car plunged into the sea after an oil drilling vessel struck the ropeway.
A water park was opened - Fantasy Island - but was plagued by safety complaints. An eight-year-old girl died there in 2000 when her raft overturned. The park closed in 2002.
Sentosa has since re-invented itself as the "State of Fun". A Universal Studios theme park, a new water park and the Resorts World casino draw in thousands of Singaporeans and tourists each year.
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