WORLD IN BRIEF : LIBERIA : Warring Factions Agree to New Talks

Leaders of Liberia’s three warring factions have agreed to hold peace talks in one another’s territories in a move certain to further weaken the country’s interim government, political sources said in Monrovia. It will be the first meeting between the rival rebel groups on Liberian soil since the start of the civil war a year ago this month. Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that the United States has ended a seven-month Navy and Marine rescue operation in Liberia. The vessel Nashville, with elements of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has been released from duties off the Liberian coast, officials said.