Catalonia sets referendum date next year, Spain says no
MADRID (Reuters) – Separatist parties in Spain’s Catalonia region set November 9 next year as the date for a proposed independence referendum on Thursday and agreed the wording, but the Spanish government immediately poured cold water on the plan.
Car bomb kills one police officer in Ismailia
Cairo (Reuters) – An Egyptian police officer was killed and 35 others were injured when a car blew up near their base in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia on Thursday, security sources said.
French prosecutor urges extradition of Kazakh tycoon
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) – A French public prosecutor recommended on Thursday that Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank, be extradited to Ukraine or to Russia, which wants to put him on …
Congo signs peace deal with M23 rebels
NAIROBI (Reuters) – The Congolese government signed a peace deal on Thursday with the M23 rebels it had been fighting until they laid down their arms last month, ending weeks of wrangling over the terms of an agreement.
Tunisian union seeks to salvage crisis talks
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s powerful labor union on Thursday tried to broker a last-minute agreement between the country’s ruling Islamists and secular opposition, struggling to reach consensus over forming a new government.
Bangladesh executes Islamist leader, deadly clashes on streets
DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh executed Islamist opposition leader Abdul Quader Mollah on Thursday for war crimes he committed in 1971, in a move likely to spark more violent protests less than a month before elections are due to be held.
Speaking in foreign tongues? Russian lawmakers say ‘nyet’
Nationalist lawmakers want to ban foreign languages at the workplace – a rule that would leave some foreigners speechless, from menial laborers from former Soviet states to Western business executives in suits and ties.
Ukraine will ‘soon sign’ EU deal, says deputy PM
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov said on Thursday Kiev would “soon sign” a trade and association agreement with the European Union, but declined to provide any date or deadline.
Air strike kills 15 civilians in Yemen by mistake: officials
SANAA (Reuters) – Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.
Brahimi sets deadline for naming Syrian delegations to peace talks
GENEVA (Reuters) – International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has given Syria’s warring sides until December 27 to name their delegations to planned peace negotiations next month, officials said on Thursday.
