LUXEMBOURG: Liberal leader Xavier Bettel was sworn in yesterday as Luxembourg prime minister, replacing 19-year veteran Jean-Claude Juncker to head a coalition government with the Socialists and Greens.
Bettel, 40, and his coalition partners took the oath of office in the presence of Grand Duc Henri, head of the small wealthy country nestled between Belgium, Germany and France. Veteran Socialist leader Jean Asselborn keeps the foreign minister post he held under Juncker while Liberal Pierre Garmegna is the new finance minister. Socialist Etienne Schneider was named as deputy premier to Bettel.
‘Plebgate’ policeman sues ex-UK minister
LONDON: A British policeman accused by a former government minister of lying in the so-called “plebgate” scandal that forced the politician to resign is suing for defamation, his union said yesterday.
Police constable Toby Rowland has launched legal proceedings against Andrew Mitchell, a former chief whip and one-time international development minister from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party.
Mitchell admitted swearing, but denied using the politically toxic comments.
Dirty bomb material stolen in Mexico
MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s nuclear commission yesterday said the radioactive material inside a stolen truck weighed 60g, a quantity experts said is enough to make a “dirty bomb.”
Jaime Aguirre Gomez, radiological security director at the National Commission for Nuclear Safety and Safeguards, said the cobalt-60 in the medical teletherapy device has a radioactivity level of “almost 3,000 Curies.” However, “as long as it remains in its container, there is no reason to be alarmed,” he said. Agencies
