IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Belgium

Museum gunman sought; 3 dead

Belgian authorities were hunting on Sunday for the gunman who killed three people and wounded one other during an attack on the Jewish Museum in the center of Brussels on Saturday. The attack came on the eve of Sunday's elections in Belgium for a new federal government as well as for its regional parliaments and the European Parliament.

Colombia

Presidential vote key to peace

Colombians vote for a president on Sunday in a contest that may determine whether the country continues peace talks with leftist guerrillas or steps up its battlefield offensive to end a 50-year war. The vote has largely become a plebiscite on President Juan Manuel Santos' strategy of negotiating the disarmament of Marxist FARC rebels to end fighting that has killed some 200,000.

Malawi

President calls election 'void'

Malawi's President Joyce Banda declared this week's chaotic election "null and void" on Saturday and called for a fresh vote. However, the high court rejected the decision, stating that she lacked the authority to make such a declaration. Banda, who claimed there were "serious irregularities" with the poll, said that fresh elections should be held within 90 days to "give Malawians a free and fair" election.

Pakistan

Sharif releases Indian prisoners

Pakistan released 59 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen, on Sunday as a "goodwill gesture" just a day ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to New Delhi to attend the inauguration of Indian Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, officials said. The fishermen had been arrested for entering Pakistani waters and fishing illegally, they said. Pakistan and India routinely arrest fishermen who have entered each other's waters. Modi's invitation to Sharif is seen as being of great importance in view of the normally tense relations between the nuclear neighbors.

United Kingdom

Clegg comes under pressure

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg came under pressure on Sunday to step down as leader of the Liberal Democrats after the centrist party took a pounding in local elections. Two would-be Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have put their names to an online letter, signed by more than 200 party members, calling for Clegg to step aside. He insisted on Friday that he would not quit, despite having lost roughly a quarter of his party's seats in the English local authority elections on Thursday.

Xinhua-AP-AFP

(China Daily 05/26/2014 page11)