IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United Kingdom

New immigration bill proposed

The British government took another crack at curbing illegal immigration on Thursday, introducing a bill that would require immigration checks to accompany private-housing applications and healthcare access. The bill has been criticized by lawyers and human rights campaigners, who warn it will lead to unlawful discrimination.

Pakistan

Bombing kills 5, wounds 20

Police said a bomb exploded outside a police station in a crowded market in southwest Pakistan, killing at least five people. Police official Mohammed Mohsin said the blast on Thursday in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, also wounded at least 20 people. The bomb also damaged several shops and vehicles parked in the market. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Brazil

10 die, dozens injured in riot

Officials said a riot in an overcrowded prison in northeastern Brazil has left at least 10 inmates dead and more than 30 injured. Maranhao state Public Safety chief Aluisio Mendes told reporters the uprising began on Wednesday night when guards discovered a tunnel that was to be used by 60 inmates to escape from the Pedrinhas Penitentiary in the state capital of Sao Luis. He said prisoners set fire to mattresses to prevent guards from entering the cell where the entrance to the tunnel was located.

Ukraine

Biplane crash claims two

A small plane crashed in western Ukraine early on Thursday, killing two crew members aboard, authorities said. The An-2 single-engine Soviet-made biplane went down while landing on a disused airfield in Volyn region at 5 am, according to the regional office of the Interior Ministry. The two men were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities and their motives to land in the abandoned airfield were under investigation.

Norway

Spy agency probes attack

Norway's intelligence agency said on Thursday it has launched a probe to determine whether a Norwegian national was involved in the bloody attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall last month. "Based on information that a Norwegian citizen may have been involved in the attack on a shopping mall in Kenya three weeks ago, PST has decided to open an inquiry," the intelligence agency PST said in a statement.

AP-AFP

(China Daily 10/11/2013 page12)