IN BRIEF (Page 8)

United States

Music legends team up

Kanye West and Paul McCartney, two legendary performers from different musical traditions, have teamed up in an unlikely collaboration on a new single released on Thursday called Only One. The soft ballad, which West said was inspired by his daughter, features the vocals of the world-famous rapper and former Beatle McCartney on the organ. The lullaby-like collaboration has been in the works since early last year, when the two met in a bungalow in Los Angeles, according to a statement from West's label Def Jam recordings.

Mario Cuomo dies at 82

Mario Cuomo, a three-time New York governor who was once considered a leading candidate for the White House, died on Thursday at the age of 82. He died at home from heart failure after a long illness, just hours after his eldest son, Andrew, was inaugurated for a second term as New York governor. "He couldn't be here physically today, my father. But my father is in this room. He's in the heart and mind of every person who is here," Andrew Cuomo said.

Italy

Migrant ship under control

Italian sailors on Friday managed to take control of a crewless merchant ship as it drifted toward the country's southern shores in rough seas with 450 migrants on board, in the second such incident in two days. Six coast-guard officers were lowered from a helicopter onto the deck of the Ezadeen as it floated some 40 kilometers off Crotone on Italy's heel, the navy said. Italy is struggling with a record wave of migrants making the perilous journey from North Africa and Turkey.

DPRK

Kim considers ROK summit

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's leader Kim Jong-un proposed the "highest-level" talks with the Republic of Korea on Thursday, opening the way to a historic summit as the DPRK battles to fend off UN prosecution over its human rights record. The sudden move, made during Kim's traditional New Year message, would clear the path for the first inter-Korean leaders' meeting since a 2007 summit in Pyongyang. "Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest-level talks," Kim said in the televised speech.

Syria

US-led coalition pounds IS

Warplanes carried out more than a dozen airstrikes overnight in and around the Islamic State group's de facto capital in northeastern Syria, three activist groups said on Friday. The US-led coalition's air raids on the outskirts of Raqqa were its heaviest strikes on the city along the Euphrates River since the militants captured a Jordanian pilot after his F-16 jet went down near the city on Dec 24.

AFP - AP

(China Daily 01/03/2015 page8)