IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Japan

Earthquake rattles Tokyo

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook buildings in eastern Japan, including the capital, Tokyo, on Tuesday, but there were no reports of serious damage. The earthquake's epicenter was in Ibaraki prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The depth of the earthquake was 50 km and there was no risk of a tsunami, it added.

United Kingdom

Scotland faces currency woes

An independent Scotland would struggle to maintain an informal currency union with the rest of the United Kingdom for more than a year if it walked away from its share of the UK's national debt, a think tank said on Tuesday. In such a case, Scotland would be better off adopting a new currency rather than continue using the pound informally, the National Institute of Social and Economic Research said ahead of Thursday's referendum over whether to dissolve the 307-year-old union.

Albania

Bank chief to get house arrest

An Albanian court ruled on Monday that Albania's central bank governor, Ardian Fullani, will be put under house arrest after release from jail. Fullani was arrested on Sept 5 on charges of "abuse of office" over the theft of 713 million lek ($6.59 million) from the bank's vaults by an employee, who has admitted to stealing money over the past four years. The court also ruled that the bank's head of Internal Audit Bahri Allushi should be put under house arrest.

Afghanistan

Presidential rivals 'near deal'

Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates were thought to be close to reaching a deal on how to share power, according to Afghan and Western officials, potentially ending months of tension over the outcome of a runoff election held in June. The struggle to find a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who has held power since the Islamist Taliban were ousted in 2001, has destabilized Afghanistan and paralyzed its economy just as most foreign troops have withdrawn.

United Nations

Obey 'laws of war' in Syria

United Nations war crimes investigators for Syria cautioned world powers preparing military action against Islamic State fighters that the "laws of war" would apply to them and they must do everything possible to protect civilian populations. They said IS, which controls swaths of Iraq and Syria, had commited massacres of religious and ethnic groups and abused women. World powers meeting in Paris on Monday gave public backing to military action to fight Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 09/17/2014 page11)