IN BRIEF (Page 11)

United States

Govt to sharply limit refugee flows

The US will slash the number of refugees it will accept for a second straight year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Up to 30,000 refugees will be allowed into the country next year, down from a cap of 45,000 this year. It will be the lowest ceiling on admissions since the program began in 1980. The announcement on Monday came despite calls from global humanitarian groups that this year's cap of 45,000 was too low. President Barack Obama raised the ceiling to 110,000 in 2017. In 2016, the last full year of the Obama administration, the US welcomed nearly 85,000 refugees.

Trump defends his Supreme Court pick

President Donald Trump stood firmly by his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh on Monday after allegations that the judge sexually assaulted a woman when they were teenagers threatened to derail the nomination process. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley canceled a vote on Kavanaugh planned for Thursday and said the nominee and his accuser, California university professor Christine Blasey Ford, would both appear on Monday to testify about the alleged incident. Kavanaugh denied the accusation. He is currently a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia - the nation's second-most-powerful court.

European Union

Probe opens into carmaker collusion

The EU opened an in-depth probe into alleged collusion by major German carmakers over anti-pollution technology on Tuesday, a fresh blow to the scandal-hit industry three years after the notorious "dieselgate". Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said BMW, Daimler and VW are suspected of agreeing "not to compete against each other on the development and roll-out" of anti-pollution systems for petrol and diesel passenger cars. "If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to buy less polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers," she said.

Iran

Road accident claims 21 lives

At least 21 people were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and a trailer carrying flammable materials in the central province of Isfahan, the ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday. The passenger bus was heading from Teheran to Kerman city, when the accident took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Javad Dorostkar from Isfahan police office told ISNA. Nineteen passengers of the bus were killed on the spot, and two others died later in the hospital, said Dorostkar. Another 25 people were injured as a huge fire engulfed the two vehicles.

Afp - Ap - Xinhua

(China Daily 09/19/2018 page11)