IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Nigeria

Ethnic violence leaves 48 dead

Gunmen have raided three villages in ethnically divided central Nigeria, leaving at least 48 people dead in what appeared to be reprisal attacks linked to cattle theft, the military said on Friday. "We now have a total of 48 dead from the attacks on three villages," said Captain Salisu Mustapha, military task force spokesman. He said the dead included 28 residents and 20 assailants killed by soldiers who responded.

European Union

Bloc to begin talks with Serbia

European Union leaders have agreed to open membership talks with Serbia, in recognition of its efforts to improve relations with Kosovo. The move on Friday is seen as a step toward embracing once-troubled countries in the Balkans. Presidents and prime ministers from the 27 EU nations also welcomed Croatia, which will become the bloc's 28th member on Monday.

Egypt

Two killed in street fight

Egyptian police say that two people were killed in a street fight between supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian president, bringing the recent violence-related death toll to five. Clashes have broken out between the two sides in the past three days ahead of massive protests planned by the opposition for Sunday aimed to remove Morsi by force. Police said two others were killed in clashes on Friday in Mansoura, and two were killed in the province of Sharqiya.

Iran

Nuclear program 'to continue'

Iran will press ahead with its uranium enrichment program, its nuclear energy chief said on Friday, suggesting that there would be no change of course despite the election on June 14 of relatively moderate Hassan Rohani as president. Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of the Islamic Republic's Atomic Energy Organization, said production of nuclear fuel would "continue in line with our declared goals. The enrichment linked to fuel production will also not change".

Morocco

Treaty boosts books for blind

A long-awaited international treaty linked to copyright law which is expected to boost hundreds of millions of blind or visually impaired people's access to books was signed in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Friday. The 800 delegates from the World Intellectual Property Organization's 186 member countries reached a compromise on facilitating the transcription of published works in special formats such as Braille and their cross-border exchange.

AFP-AP-Reuters

(China Daily 06/29/2013 page8)