KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. envoy negotiating with the Taliban for an end to nearly 18 years of fighting in Afghanistan departed Tuesday for Qatar to resume talks, the State Department said, amid concerns about a growing threat by an Islamic State affiliate.

Zalmay Khalilzad also will visit with the Afghan government, which has been sidelined from the talks, to discuss the “peace process and encourage full preparation for intra-Afghan negotiations,” the U.S. said.

In Washington, President Donald Trump told reporters he believes the Taliban insurgents are eager to stop fighting and that they could “very easily” prevent Afghanistan from being a breeding ground for terrorism. The U.S. will, nonetheless, keep an eye on Taliban influence, he said, even as it thins its troop presence.

The new talks in Qatar, where the insurgent group has a political office, come after a horrific suicide bombing at a wedding in Kabul over the weekend. The blast, claimed by the IS affiliate that has emerged as a brutal threat in recent years, led outraged Afghans to question whether a U.S.-Taliban deal would mean peace for long-suffering civilians.

Afghanistan was the world’s deadliest conflict in 2018, and the United Nations has said more civilians died last year than in the past decade. Afghan officials have said Saturday’s bombing killed more than 63. More than 32,000 civilians have been killed in the past 10 years.

Some 14,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, and their withdrawal is a central part of the U.S.-Taliban talks.

Militants leave key rebel town as Syrian troops push in

BEIRUT — The main insurgent group in the Syrian province of Idlib pulled out of a key town as government forces advanced in the area Tuesday amid intense bombardment and airstrikes, a militant group and opposition activists said.

As the militants withdrew, government troops moved into northern and western neighborhoods of Khan Sheikhoun, marking a significant gain for President Bashar Assad’s forces as they try to chip away at territory controlled by the opposition in Idlib. The northwestern province— dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Shaman, an al-Qaida-linked faction — is the last major rebel-held bastion in Syria.

The militant group said in a statement that its fighters carried out “a re-deployment,” withdrawing to south of Khan Sheikhoun and would continue to defend the territory from there.

2 more step down from NRA board in latest resignations

Two prominent board members stepped down from the National Rifle Association this week, deepening the upheaval at the gun rights powerhouse, which has lost seven directors since May.

NRA officials confirmed Tuesday that country music singer Craig Morgan has left the board, as first reported by CNN, along with Richard Childress, a well-known NASCAR team owner.

The departure of Childress came after he and then-NRA President Oliver North privately urged the group’s leaders in a letter this year to more carefully review spending decisions under CEO Wayne LaPierre, particularly legal fees totaling tens of millions of dollars.

In his resignation letter Monday, Childress emphasized that he had chosen to leave to focus on his private business.

Indian spacecraft launched last month is now orbiting moon

NEW DELHI — An unmanned spacecraft India launched last month began orbiting the moon Tuesday as it approaches the lunar south pole to study previously discovered water deposits.

The Indian Space Research Organization said it successfully maneuvered Chandrayaan-2, the Sanskrit word for “moon craft,” into lunar orbit, nearly a month after it left Earth. The mission is led by two female scientists.

Chandrayaan will continue circling the moon in a tighter orbit until reaching a distance of about 60 miles from the its surface.

The lander will then separate from the orbiter and attempt India’s first moon landing on a relatively flat surface between two craters in the south polar region on Sept. 7 — an area where no moon landing has been attempted before.

FBI: Man threatened mass shooting at church

A truck driver who threatened to “shoot up” a church in Memphis, Tennessee, and said he was haunted by “spiritual snakes and spiders” people put in his bed was arrested in Indiana, less than a week before the day of the planned attacks, authorities said in court records.

Thomas Matthew McVicker was arrested Friday in Indianapolis, according to a criminal complaint unsealed this week. It’s the most recent case in a string of men being arrested around the country for threatening to carry out shootings.

McVicker, 38, made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” planned for this coming Thursday, an FBI special agent said in a sworn affidavit.

He was arrested by Indiana State Police and the FBI, said Chris Bavender, an FBI spokeswoman in Indianapolis.

Prosecutor in Italy orders rescue ship evacuated

MILAN — An Italian prosecutor ordered the seizure of a rescue ship and the immediate evacuation of more than 80 migrants still aboard, capping a drama Tuesday that saw 15 people jump overboard in a desperate bid to escape deteriorating conditions on the vessel and Spain dispatch a ship to try to resolve the crisis.

The order to seize the Open Arms, anchored off Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, came after Sicilian Prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio boarded the ship and met with port authorities as part of an investigation into possible kidnapping charges resulting from the refusal of hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to allow the migrants to get off the Spanish humanitarian ship.

Salvini refused to open Italian ports, even after six countries stepped forward to take the migrants.

In Brazil: Brandishing a fake gun, a man on Tuesday took dozens of hostages on a bus in Rio de Janeiro and threatened to set the vehicle on fire with gasoline before police shot him dead in a four-hour standoff on Latin America’s longest bridge.

All the hostages were freed unharmed on an 8-mile bridge that offers a sweeping view of the city. The panoramic setting where the man made his move seemed to reflect a bid for maximum publicity in a spot with virtually no chance of escape.

“He told us he didn’t want our belongings, that he didn’t want to hurt us, that he just wanted to go down in history,” said Hans Moreno, a hostage.

The standoff was broadcast live on TV, riveting Brazilians.