IN BRIEF (Page 8)

China

Celebrations mark French ties

More than 300 activities will be held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic ties, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing on Friday. The celebrations, to be held in both countries, will cover politics, economy, culture, science and technology, education, public health and many other issues, he said. French Ambassador to China Sylvie Bermann said the celebratory activities will start with the "China Night" gala at the Grand Palais in Paris on Jan 27.

India

Gandhi refuses son's candidacy

Indian political matriarch Sonia Gandhi refused to bow on Friday to her struggling party's pleas to nominate her son as its prime ministerial candidate in upcoming elections, which she called a battle to save the Hindu-majority nation's secular identity. A day after she rejected a clamor within the Congress Party to declare Rahul Gandhi as its choice for premier at polls due in May, the Italian-born Sonia told followers there was no going back on the decision.

Israel

Govt summons envoys over 'bias'

Israel's foreign minister summoned European ambassadors on Friday over pro-Palestinian "bias" that has harmed opportunities to establish peace, his spokesman said, after the Jewish state's envoys were called in over settlement announcements. Avigdor Lieberman "ordered to summon the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain and stress that their perpetual one-sided stance against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians is unacceptable", his spokesman said.

South Sudan

Army unable to contact key town

The nation's army said on Friday it has been unable to contact its forces fighting in the key oil town of Malakal as rebels claimed to control it. Malakal, the main town in the northern Upper Nile state, has become one of the most bitter battlegrounds in the conflict now raging for over a month in the world's youngest nation.

United Kingdom

Team 'finds Alfred's remains'

A team of archaeologists said on Friday they believed they might have found part of the remains of ninth-century monarch King Alfred the Great, one of the best-known figures from early English history. A pelvic bone belonging either to Alfred, the only English king to have the moniker "Great", or his son King Edward the Elder was identified in remains dug up at a medieval abbey in Winchester, the capital of Alfred's kingdom.

China Daily-AP-AFP

(China Daily 01/18/2014 page8)