IN BRIEF (Page 11)

United States

Lawmakers' train hits truck, 1 dead

A train carrying dozens of Republican members of Congress to a strategy retreat in the countryside slammed into a garbage truck in rural Virginia on Wednesday, killing one person in the vehicle and sending several lawmaker-doctors rushing to help the injured. No serious injuries were reported aboard the chartered Amtrak train, but at least two other people in the truck were reported seriously hurt. The collision happened about 11:20 am in Crozet, about 200 kilometers southwest of Washington, tearing the truck in two, crumpling the nose of the locomotive and scattering trash alongside the tracks.

Yemen

Coalition seeks end to standoff

Saudi and Emirati envoys shuttled between Yemeni government forces and besieging southern separatists in second city Aden on Thursday in a bid to end a tense standoff after days of deadly infighting. The Sunday assault on the embattled government's headquarters by its former allies has opened up a new front in the devastating civil war that has created what the United Nations says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. At least 38 people have been killed and 222 wounded in Aden since Sunday, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. On Wednesday, there was a lull in the fighting to allow in aid supplies.

Middle East

Hamas hits out at listing of leader

The United States on Wednesday put the head of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Ismail Haniya, on its terror blacklist and slapped sanctions on him - a move sure to raise tensions, after Washington recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Hamas hit out at the move, calling it "ridiculous". The 55-year-old Haniya, who was named head of Hamas in May, represents the more pragmatic wing of the movement, which said the US move would not deter the group's "resistance".

Poland

Senate passes Holocaust bill

The senate on Thursday passed a controversial Holocaust bill, which was designed to defend the country's image abroad but has instead sparked a diplomatic row with Israel. The upper house of parliament voted 57-23, with two abstentions, to approve the bill, which sets fines or a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German death camps as Polish or accuses Poland of complicity in the Third Reich's crimes. Israel had called for the bill to be dropped, seeing one of its provisions as an attempt to deny Polish involvement in Nazi Germany's extermination of Jews.

Australia

Spy agency takes hold of shop files

Australia's domestic spy agency on Thursday took possession of thousands of classified documents that were left at a secondhand furniture shop. The documents, which revealed top-secret details of five previous governments that under Australian law should remain secured for at least 20 years, were left inside a filing cabinet that was then sold at a store in Canberra that was stocked with ex-government furniture. The documents were then passed onto the Australian Broadcasting Corp that ran a string of stories, embarrassing former prime ministers and several lawmakers who still occupy positions inside Australia's government.

United Kingdom

Lawmakers vote to leave Parliament

Lawmakers voted on Wednesday to move out of the world-famous Parliament building to allow several years of major repairs. Legislators voted to back a call for MPs and staff to leave the building by the mid-2020s. It's estimated the repairs will take six years and cost about 3.5 billion pounds ($5 billion). The current building was built after fire destroyed its predecessor in 1834.

(China Daily 02/02/2018 page11)