IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Pakistan

Ex-oil minister elected as PM

Lawmakers on Tuesday elected former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the country's new prime minister, replacing ousted veteran leader Nawaz Sharif. The ruling PML-N party used its majority in the National Assembly to install Abbasi, after the Supreme Court last week ordered Sharif disqualified from office over corruption charges.

France

Govt could press ahead labor reform

Lawmakers from both houses of parliament on Monday opened the way for the government to press ahead with its first major reform, an overhaul of labor rules. The reform will allow labor conditions to be set in individual workplaces rather across industries and provide for fixed limits on settlements employers have to pay in dismissal cases, making firing and hiring easier.

United Kingdom

23 cities bid for EU agencies

Twenty-three European cities have offered themselves as candidates to host two London-based EU agencies after they are forced to leave the British capital because of Brexit, the EU said on Tuesday. Nineteen cities have bid to host the European Medicines Agency while eight have thrown their hats into the ring for the European Banking Authority, the European Council said in a statement.

Spain

70 hurt trying to cross border

Around 70 sub-Saharan African migrants were injured when they tried to cross through the razorwire-topped fence separating northern Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Tuesday, the Red Cross said. Local police said 200 people rushed the border in a bid to reach Europe. Around 60 managed to enter the territory.

The Netherlands

Five held over iPhone heist

Police said on Monday they had rounded up a gang of iPhone thieves who gained notoriety by clambering from their cars into moving trucks to pull off heists. Five Romanian men were arrested at the weekend in a holiday park not far from the German border after $590,000 worth of iPhones were stolen from the back of a truck as it powered along the A73 motorway from the town of Horst.

United States

Game of Thrones script leaked

HBO said on Monday its network was victimized by a cyberattack, and media reports said the hack resulted in the leak of a script of the popular series Games of Thrones and content from other productions. A statement by the Time Warner-owned TV group said a "cyber incident" resulted in "the compromise of proprietary information", and that the company had contacted law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms.

(China Daily 08/02/2017 page12)