World at a glance

Beijing: India and China are all set to resume dialogue later this month in an effort to normalise bilateral relations which had turned sour in May last, Chinese foreign ministry and a senior Indian diplomat said hereon Sunday.

Official-level talks would be held here later this month, the Indian diplomat told PTI, hoping that the dialogue would pave the way for more substantial talks. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said Beijing attached importance to the upcoming talks between the two countries and hoped it would achieve positive results through joint efforts. Beijing publicly expressed willingness to resume dialogue last Sunday when Chinese ambassador to India Zhou Gang asserted in New Delhi that China never viewed India as its enemy and wanted to resume dialogue.

RAMBOUILLET: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and European foreign ministers mediating Kosovo peace talks in France prepared to extend a deadline for Serbs and ethnic Albanians to strike a deal or facepunitive airstrikes. Albright arrived at Rambouillet Castle, where the delegations have been holed up in separate quarters for the past week, after meeting with Serbian President Milan Milutionovic in Paris. Serb sources described the meeting with Milutinovic a key ally of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as tense and embarrassing.8217; Milutinovic, who is to met later today with Russian foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, last week warned of a bloodbath if foreign troops were deployed in the Serbian province of Kosovo to oversee a peace settlement.