Taliban extends deadline for 23 Korean hostages

A purported Taliban spokesman said that the hard-line militia had extended their deadline until late Monday for the Afghan government to trade captured militants for 23 South Korean hostages. Afghan elders leading the hostage negotiations met with the kidnappers and reported that the Koreans were healthy, said Khwaja Mohammad Sidiqi, the police chief of Qarabagh district in Ghazni district, where the Koreans were kidnapped Thursday.