IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Israel

West Bank land appropriated

Israel announced on Sunday a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years and a Palestinian official said would cause only more friction after the Gaza war. Some 400 hectares in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem were declared "state land, on the instructions of the political echelon" by the military-run Civil Administration.

Norway

Electric cars under fire

Ministers in Norway - a major and rich oil-producing country - are under increasing public pressure to reduce perks and tax breaks for booming electric car sales. About 32,000 electric cars are now on the roads - by far the highest rate per capita in the world, in a country with a population of 5.1 million. The cars are exempt from urban toll payments or fees at public parking spaces, where batteries can be recharged without cost. But above all, they are exempt from Norway's sky-high sales taxes and VAT. Bus drivers have complained of electric cars clogging bus lanes.

AFP - AP

(China Daily 09/01/2014 page12)