Briefly

UNITED STATES

Polluting vehicles on way out for govt fleet

The US government plans to end purchases of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 in a move to lower emissions and promote electric cars under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday. The government owns more than 650,000 vehicles and purchases about 50,000 annually. Biden's executive order said light-duty vehicles acquired by the government will be emission-free by 2027. Total federal government operations will reduce emissions by 65 percent by 2030 under the plan. The government will seek to consume electricity only from carbon-free sources on a net annual basis by 2030.

Trump aide may face contempt charge

Former president Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows could become the third person to face a criminal contempt charge for refusing to cooperate with the House of Representatives panel probing the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol, said the committee on Wednesday. Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Select Committee, wrote in a letter to Meadows' attorney George Terwilliger that Meadows－a former House member－had failed to cooperate with the panel. Thompson later told reporters that he expected the committee to meet next week on whether to cite Meadows for contempt.

NEW ZEALAND

Lifetime ban planned on cigarette sales

The New Zealand government plans to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world's toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry. People aged 14 in 2027, when the law is scheduled to come into effect, will never be allowed to legally purchase cigarettes, while the nicotine level in all cigarettes on sale will be reduced. The government will consult with a Maori health task force before introducing legislation into parliament next year, with the aim of making it law by the end of 2022.

Agencies via Xinhua