Briefly

CHINA

Foreign minister to attend meeting on GDI

Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the High-level Meeting on the Global Development Initiative, to be held in Beijing on Tuesday, and deliver remarks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian has announced. The meeting will be themed on "The Global Development Initiative at Five Years: Joining Hands for A Brighter Future of Sustainable Development", Lin said at a daily news briefing. Lin said the United Nations senior officials, diplomatic envoys of member states of the Group of Friends of the GDI in China, representatives from China offices of the UN development system, renowned experts and scholars, and other Chinese and foreign guests will attend the meeting to have in-depth exchanges of views on the implementation of the GDI, cooperation priorities and the initiative's contribution to the world.

DPRK

Top leader pays tribute to CPV

Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on Sunday visited the Cemetery of the Fallen Soldiers of the Chinese People's Volunteers, or CPV, on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the DPRK Fatherland Liberation War victory, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday. Kim, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, paid a silent tribute in memory of the Chinese martyrs, with a wreath in his name laid at the cemetery in Hoechang County, the report said. The DPRK leader also visited the grave of Mao Anying at the cemetery, placing a flower before the grave and paying homage, the KCNA reported.

JAPAN

Novelist Keigo Higashino dies at 68

Japanese fiction author Keigo Higashino has died aged 68, his publisher said on Monday. "Author Keigo Higashino passed away due to colon cancer in the early morning of July 23. He was 68," publisher Kodansha said in a statement. Higashino wrote more than 100 books after his debut in 1985, many of them translated into other languages and turned into television adaptations and movies. "We believe the works he produced will continue to captivate many readers. Please continue to enjoy Mr Higashino's novels," the statement said. Higashino, whose books include The Devotion of Suspect X and Malice, had a big following around Asia.

CHINA DAILY-XINHUA-AGENCIES