Tuesday, Dec 16th
Last update09:33:48 AM GMT
International Glance
Spain's central government officially took control of Catalonia on Saturday, one day after announcing the dissolution of the regional Parliament.
In an official state bulletin, Spain dismissed the leaders, handing control to Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. Also, Spain's interior ministry took charge of Catalonia's police and fired senior police officials.
Thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women are wrapping up a march around the region, demanding that their leaders act to achieve a peace agreement.
Women Wage Peace, the group behind the demonstration, says the two-week march sends a message to leaders to work toward a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to make sure women have equal representation in any talks.
The U.S. government has ordered 15 staff members from the Cuban Embassy in Washington to leave the country, a State Department official said Tuesday, a step intended to bring diplomatic operations between the two nations into parity after the U.S. cut its staff in Havana last week.
The official said the expulsion of Cuban diplomats should not be taken as an indication of a larger policy shift toward Havana, nor should it be read as the U.S. government blaming its Cuban counterparts for a series of sonic attacks against American diplomatic personnel. It was those attacks that prompted the State Department last week to order more than 60 percent of its embassy staff in Havana to leave the island.
The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, has sent letters to an estimated 150 international and Israeli businesses warning them that they may be included in a UN database of companies involved with illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The letters have been sent as part of the legal verification and clarification process to give businesses identified as working in settlements the right of reply before the database is published in December.
Rescue workers backed by an army of untrained volunteers searched for survivors buried under mounds of rubble as the death toll from Tuesday’s powerful earthquake climbed to at least 223 across central Mexico.
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake left a chess board of destruction across the country’s capital, where almost a hundred deaths have been confirmed so far.
At least 44 buildings collapsed completely in Mexico City, according to official figures, with thousands more left damaged and unstable in the sprawling city, which is built on a drained lakebed.
A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck the central Mexican state of Puebla on Tuesday afternoon, the US Geological Survey said.
Preliminary reports put the epicenter 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) east-northeast of San Juan Raboso and 34.1 miles (55 km) south-southwest of the city of Puebla, according to the USGS.
Swiss prosecutors are investigating why tens of thousands of euros were flushed down toilets in Geneva.
The €500 (£440; $600) notes were cut up and found in the toilets of a branch of the bank UBS and in three nearby restaurants.
Thousands of francs have reportedly been spent on plumbing repairs to unclog the surrounding pipes. The high-value euro notes are due to be withdrawn in 2018 over fears they facilitate illegal activities.
TVNL Comment: This is a strange story that might be worth following. We'll keep you posted.
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