Duty editor: Susan Stumme Tel: +1 202 414 0541 -- TOP STORIES -- + US officials to meet Taliban within days + G8 calls for urgent Syria peace talks + US surveillance 'thwarted more than 50 plots' Afghanistan-unrest-US-NATO,update-WRAP WASHINGTON US envoys will launch talks this week with the Taliban, officials announce, in a tentative first step towards finding a negotiated escape from the 12-year-old Afghan war. 900 words 1930 GMT by Dan De Luce. Picture. Video

By Chijioke Ohuocha LAGOS (Reuters) - Western Union Co <WU.N> expects revenue from its digital business to grow to $500 million by 2015, from $150 million currently, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Chief Executive Hikmet Ersek told reporters during a visit to Nigeria's commercial hub of Lagos that while the digital business is only about 3 percent of its $5.6 billion total revenue, it was the fastest growing.

ABUJA (Reuters) - A French sailor was freed on Tuesday after being captured by pirates last week from his ship off the coast of Togo and taken to Nigeria, a military commander said. Pirates attacked the oil products tanker Adour on June 13, around 30 nautical miles off the coast of Togo.

Two survivors of a 2011 boat tragedy which killed 63 people off Libya filed suits Tuesday in France and Spain, accusing defence forces of the two countries of failing to assist people in danger. The incident dates back to March 26, 2011, when 72 African migrants left the Libyan capital Tripoli on a boat destined for Italy, their planned departure having been brought forward by the start of the French-led military intervention in Libya. They quickly lost control of the overloaded boat and, after drifting for two weeks, were washed up on the Libyan coastline on April 10.