News in brief

Taiwan calls for renewed talks with China
AFP, Taiwan
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday called for a resumption of talks with China and pledged that “anything” can be on the table for discussion.
Relations with Beijing have deteriorated under Taiwan’s first female president, whose China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office in May after a landslide victory over the Kuomintang party (KMT).

Putin to visit France despite Hollande comments
Reuters, Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin still plans to visit France later this month, despite French President Francois Hollande saying he was unsure whether to receive him, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
“Preparation for Putin’s upcoming visit to Paris continues,” Peskov told journalists. Hollande condemned Russia’s “unacceptable” support for Syrian air strikes in excerpts from a TV interview released on Sunday and said he was asking himself whether to see Putin when he visits Paris on Oct. 19.

Houses collapse in China, killing eight
Reuters, Beijing

Four houses collapsed in the eastern Chinese coastal city of Wenzhou on Monday, killing at least eight people, Xinhua state news agency said, and rescuers were looking for survivors. Rescuers had already pulled five people alive from the rubble, Xinhua said. It did not give a cause for the pre-dawn collapse. It was unknown how many people were in the buildings when the accident happened in an industrial district of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.a