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U.S. NEWSFriday 23 March 2018
Catalan separatists fail to elect leader of Spanish region
By JOSEPH WILSON majority needed due to required to make him Cat- Other candidates may be parliament's unsuccessful
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) a division within the three alonia's next president. put up during that time. declaration of indepen-
— The separatist majority parties who seek indepen- But Turull and five other Turull earned the votes of dence in October, which
of Catalonia's parliament dence for the northeastern separatist leaders have a his "Together For Catalonia" led Spanish Prime Minister
failed to elect a regional region. date at the Madrid-based group and the Republican Mariano Rajoy to remove
president during a vote An abstention by lawmak- Supreme Court on Friday, Left, while the CUP's four Catalonia's government.
held Thursday, starting a ers from the anti-capitalist when a judge could indict members abstained. The Turull is the third candidate
two-month countdown to CUP party left Turull with 64 them on rebellion charges 65 members of parties who proposed by separatist
would end with another votes when he needed 68. and sent to preventative want Catalonia to remain lawmakers since they main-
election being called in the Parliament rules say he jail. part of Spain voted against tained a slim majority in a
restive corner of Spain. could have a second The regional parliament him. December election called
Candidate Jordi Turull, a chance to be elected on now has two months to Turull already spent a by Rajoy. His candidacy
former minister in the previ- Saturday, when only a sim- elect a president and form month in preventative jail brought political tensions
ous Catalan government, ple majority of more "Yes" a government before a as part of the judicial inves- in Spain to a head once
fell short of the absolute than "No" votes would be new election is triggered. tigation into the regional more.q
UK's May seeks united EU against Russia over spy poisoning
By JILL LAWLESS European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, speaks with British Prime Minister The- fiercely denied allegations
DANICA KIRKA resa May, right, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, passes by during a round table it poisoned Sergei Skripal
BRUSSELS (AP) — British meeting at an EU summit at the Europa building in Brussels on Thursday, March 22, 2018. Leaders — a former Russian intel-
Prime Minister Theresa May from the 28 European Union nations meet for a two-day summit to assess the state of Brexit nego- ligence officer convicted
tried to rally European tiations, the prospect of a trade war with the United States and how to react to Russia following to of spying for the U.K. — and
Union leaders into a unified the nerve agent attack in Britain. his daughter.
stance Thursday against On Thursday May accused
Russia, saying the poison- (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) Russia of staging "a brazen
ing of a former spy on Eng- and reckless attack" and
lish soil shows that Moscow leased from a Salisbury hos- the attack, which it says and has called Russia a said "it is clear that the Rus-
poses a long-term threat to sian threat doesn't respect
the West. pital. used a military-grade, Sovi- growing threat to Western borders."
But as Russia denied re- She said "the incident in
sponsibility and slammed Britain blames Moscow for et-developed nerve agent, democracies. Russia has Salisbury was part of a pat-
Britain's investigation into tern of Russian aggression
the nerve-agent attack, against Europe and its near
some European leaders neighbors, from the western
urged caution while the in- Balkans to the Middle East."
vestigation continues. Britain and Russia have ex-
Sergei Skripal and his pelled 23 of each other's
daughter Yulia remain un- diplomats in a feud that
conscious in critical but shows no signs of cooling.
stable condition after the Russia's ambassador to the
March 4 nerve agent at- U.K., Alexander Yakovenko,
tack in the English city said Thursday that his coun-
of Salisbury, which has try "can't take British words
sparked an east-west dip- for granted." He accused
lomatic crisis reminiscent of the U.K. of having a "bad
the Cold War. record of violating interna-
Health officials said Thurs- tional law and misleading
day that Detective Sgt. the international communi-
Nick Bailey, a police officer ty." The Salisbury attack has
who became seriously ill af- sent relations between Lon-
ter responding to the nerve don and Moscow to Cold
agent attack, has been re- War-style lows.q
Protests and strikes across France disrupt travel, schools
By SYLVIE CORBET localized scuffles broke out half of regional trains were to makes changes to pub- plan aimed at adapting
PARIS (AP) — Trains, planes, between some protesters running. Some schools and lic services, but not to re- the rail company ahead
schools and other public and riot police using tear kindergarten were also strain them. of opening the service to
services across France were gas and water cannons. closed. To improve them. We need competition.
seriously disrupted Thursday Confrontations between Even the Palace of Ver- more public servants,” “If we are not heard ... there
as tens of thousands took to some protesters and riot sailles, one of France’s Philippe Martinez, secretary would be calls for strikes
the streets to protest Presi- police also took place in top tourist attractions, was general of the CGT union, and in that case, very few
dent Emmanuel Macron’s the western city of Nantes. closed Thursday because told FranceInfo radio. trains would run,” said Ju-
economic policies. Airport authorities say 30 workers there went on Public servants want better lien Cabanne, a union of-
Nearly 50,000 demonstra- percent of flights to and strike. wages and are protesting ficial who came to Paris to
tors protested in Paris to call from Paris were canceled. Union leaders said the against the planned elimi- protest.
for more investment in pub- National train company strikes were a warning to nation of 120,000 jobs by SNCF unions have sched-
lic services. The protest was SNCF said only 40 percent the government. 2022, SNCF employees also uled a series of strikes in
mostly peaceful, although of high-speed trains and “We agree that we need are rejecting a government April, May and June.q
