23 Afghan ultras killed

KABUL: US Marines tracked down a band of insurgents in eastern Afghanistan and sparked a battle that left about 23 rebels and two American troops dead, the US military said on Monday. — AP

India, Pak talk on dam

LAHORE: Officials from Pakistan and India began a fresh round of talks on Monday on a dam New Delhi is planning to build in its portion of Kashmir that Islamabad says will violate a water-sharing accord between the two sides. The two sides opened talks on the Kishanganga Dam on Sunday in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province amid hopes they could narrow their differences over the dam’s design. —AP

12-year-old rescued

Lahore: A brutalised 12-year-old Christian girl has been rescued from her husband who used to thrash her. Reporters had tipped off the police that a man named Allah Wasya was torturing the victim, identified as Asia. Police raided Wasya’s house in the Baggrian suburb and found Asia in a serious condition with injury marks over her body. Wasya was held and Asia admitted to a hospital. — HNS