IN BRIEF (Page 7)

China

Xi stresses China-EU ties

The China-EU relationship is among the most important bilateral relationships in the world, and China is willing to work with Spain to promote further development of the Sino-Spanish relationship and the China-EU relationship, President Xi Jinping said on Friday when meeting Jesus Posada, president of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Xi said since the establishment of a strategic partnership between China and Spain in 2005, Sino-Spanish ties have become more mature and stable. Spain is one of China's best friends and partners in the EU, Xi added.

Afghanistan

Suicide strikes kill at least 12

A suicide bomber killed 12 policemen inside a police station in Afghanistan on Friday, officials said, as Taliban rebels vowed to fight through the holy month of Ramadan. Another suicide strike killed two people at a border crossing with Pakistan, and the Islamist militants rejected reports they would hold a ceasefire during the Muslim month of fasting that starts on Tuesday. The 12 officers were killed when the bomber targeted a police station used to patrol the main road from Uruzgan province to neighboring Kandahar, through one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions.

Switzerland

WHO convenes emergency meet

The World Health Organization announced on Friday it had convened emergency talks on the deadly MERS virus, but said the move did not mean it was hiking its global alert level. WHO health security chief Keiji Fukuda said the meeting on the virus, which is striking hardest in Saudi Arabia, would take place on Tuesday in the form of a telephone conference of officials from affected countries and experts around the world. "We really want the international community to be in a position to be ready for any possibility," Fukuda told reporters.

Republic of Korea

DPRK fishermen sent back

The Republic of Korea on Friday sent home three people from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea who were rescued after their small fishing boat capsized, officials said. The three men were saved by an ROK vessel on Wednesday, the ROK's unification ministry said. They were handed over to the DPRK through the border truce village of Panmunjom after ROK authorities confirmed their wish to return home, it said.

United Kingdom

Cameron wins symbolic vote

British Prime Minister David Cameron won a parliamentary vote on Friday on making a referendum on Britain's European Union membership legally binding, but his victory is largely symbolic as it will not tie the hands of a future government.

China Daily-AP-AFP-Reuters

(China Daily 07/06/2013 page7)