Colombia’s government and Marxist FARC rebels announced they had reached a deal on demining, a stride forward on a key issue to negotiate peace after decades of conflict. Army and FARC leaders met for the first time in what one diplomat called “unprecedented” talks. “The government and the FARC have agreed to ask (Norwegian People’s Aid) to lead and coordinate a cleanup and decontamination operation: for mines in rural areas as part of the armed conflict,” a statement from the parties said, read out by Cuban diplomat Rodolfo Benitez. President Juan Manuel Santos, in Monteria, Colombia, called it “extremely important.