World briefs

SOUTH SUDANThey're talking in Ethiopia

Two warring factions from South Sudan held direct peace talks yesterday for the first time since conflict began roiling the country, sending hundreds of thousands fleeing for safety last month. The direct talks, focused on a cease-fire and the release of political prisoners, put representatives of President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Kiir says the three weeks of violence began as a coup attempt Dec. 15, though Machar's side denies that. The UN says 1,000 people have died and 200,000 have been displaced by the fighting, which has taken on ethnic dimensions.

PAKISTANOne man blocks NATO convoys

For years, American officials have tried to persuade Pakistan's military chiefs and prime ministers to cooperate with U.S.-led war plans in Afghanistan. Now it is a politician in a far-flung province who is standing in the way. Angered by U.S. drone strikes, Imran Khan has effectively halted NATO convoys through northwest Pakistan, a vital crossing point for trucks carrying supplies to and from landlocked Afghanistan. Khan, 61, an Oxford University-educated millionaire and former cricket star, has no real power in the national government. But his party controls the local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which NATO convoys must pass through to reach the northern border crossing. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government has appeared powerless to stop him.

SWITZERLANDPardoned Putin foe moves on

Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has traveled to Switzerland after receiving a three-month visa. His spokesman, Christian Hanne, said Khodorkovsky and his wife went to Switzerland by train yesterday from Germany to accompany their two sons, who were returning to their Swiss school. Khodorkovsky was pardoned Dec. 20 after spending more than a decade in Russian prisons after receiving a conviction the West considered political revenge for his challenging President Vladimir Putin.