IN BRIEF (Page 7)

United Kingdom

Sino-British dialogue opens

Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and British Foreign Secretary William Hague held the China-Britain strategic dialogue in London on Friday. The two sides exchanged views on the international situation and the long-term, strategic and global issues of bilateral relations. British Prime Minister David Cameron also met Yang on Thursday. Cameron said the UK will keep closer high-level exchanges, expand beneficial cooperation and personnel exchanges with China and strengthen coordination in international and regional affairs.

Malaysia

Water rationing to expand

Malaysia said on Friday it will expand water rationing in and around its capital, in a move affecting millions as drought continues to scorch a tropical country usually synonymous with torrential rain. The national water commission said that more than 300,000 households in Kuala Lumpur and nearby Selangor, Malaysia's most populous state, will experience cuts during all of March after a two-month dry spell depleted reservoirs.

India

Police arrest industrialist

Indian police on Friday arrested a top industrialist following a warrant from the country's Supreme Court. Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara Group, one of India's biggest business houses worth 682 billion Indian rupees ($11 billion), was arrested in Uttar Pradesh's capital of Lucknow on charges that investors' money was not refunded, a senior police official said. "Roy has been arrested and will be produced in court," said local police chief Habibul Hassan.

Republic of Korea

Missiles fired by DPRK are Scuds

The short-range Scud missiles that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea fired into the sea on Thursday were a type that it hadn't launched since 2009, the Republic of Korea confirmed on Friday, though analysts said the apparent protest over US-ROK military drills likely would escalate to higher tensions. Four projectiles with a range of more than 200 kilometers landed off the DPRK's eastern coast, and ROK Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters that an analysis of their speed and trajectory showed they were Scud missiles.

Iraq

Blasts leave dozens dead

Dozens of people were killed after a motorcycle rigged with explosives blew up in Baghdad's Sadr City, and militants targeted mostly Shiite neighborhoods around the country. The motorcycle was parked in a used bike market in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood that was filled with people, mostly young men, when it exploded late Thursday afternoon, killing 31 and wounding 51 others, Iraqi medical and police sources said.

AFP - Xinhua - AP - Reuters

(China Daily 03/01/2014 page7)