IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Libya

Gadhafi govt, France in talks

Tripoli is negotiating a way out of the Libyan crisis with France not with its rebel foes, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi said in an interview published on Monday.

"We are in fact holding real negotiations with France and not with the rebels," Seif Al-Islam said during the interview with the Algerian daily El Khabar conducted in the Libyan capital.

Gadhafi's son said French President Nicolas Sarkozy bluntly told the Libyan emissary: "We created the (rebel) National Transitional Council and without France's backing, money and weapons, it would not exist."

China

Navies to deepen ties

The Chinese and British navies are expected to deepen exchanges and cooperation in areas such as joint training, joint maritime supply, and joint search and rescue exercises, according to Admiral Wu Shengli, a member of the Central Military Commission and commander of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Wu made the remarks while meeting with visiting British naval chief Admiral Mark Stanhope in Beijing on Monday. Stanhope will visit the North China Sea Fleet, the South China Sea Fleet, and the PLA Navy Submarine Academy during his visit.

Cyprus

Naval base blast kills 11

Huge blasts in a seized Iranian weapons cache at a Greek Cypriot naval base in the south of the Mediterranean island killed at least 11 people on Monday, state media said.

The force of the explosions blew out virtually every window in the nearby fishing village of Zygi, whose seafront restaurants are popular with the many tourists who frequent the resort island, an AFP correspondent reported.

The island's largest power station at Vassiliko right next to the base was virtually levelled by the blast, causing widespread power cuts that are likely to last for months.

Japan

Reactors could restart soon

Japan's idled nuclear reactors could restart work if they pass the first stage of two-step post-Fukushima safety checks, the government said on Monday.

Still, without a time frame for the tests, concerns remain about summer power shortages that could hurt the economy. Last week's surprise announcement that the government would conduct stress tests alarmed corporate Japan and outraged some local authorities, who had been prepared to approve reactor restarts after receiving safety assurances from the government.

The first stage of the stress tests will target reactors which have already completed routine checks and are ready to restart.

Belgium

EU races to head off debt crisis

The European Union raced on Monday to head off mounting signs that the eurozone debt crisis is spreading to Italy and Spain.

As borrowing costs for Italy and Spain, the eurozone's third and fourth biggest economies, peaked to record high levels, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped in to issue a rare public appeal to a fellow EU nation.

Merkel, speaking as top EU officials held crisis talks in Brussels, urged the Italian parliament to pass an austerity budget amid growing concern it might be dragged into a debt crisis that so far has hit smaller nations - Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

AFP-Reuters-China Daily

(China Daily 07/12/2011 page12)