kayhan.ir

News ID: 72637
Publish Date : 12 November 2019 - 21:44

News in Brief

LA JONQUERA, Spain (Reuters) - French riot police were dispersing on Tuesday morning hundreds of Catalan pro-independence demonstrators who had been blocking a major road link that connects the Spanish region with France for nearly 24 hours.
Police on the French side of the border at La Jonquera were seen pushing protesters to the Spanish side, removing debris from the AP-7 highway, a major route from France to southern Spain that was blocked in both directions.
Trucks and other traffic had been diverted to another smaller road as protesters installed concrete barriers on the highway and set up a stage to hold concerts.
Catalonia has been rocked by mass protests since long prison sentences were handed down in mid-October to nine separatist leaders who spearheaded a failed independence bid in 2017.
Asked what Catalan police should do with the protesters sent back over the border from France, Catalan government leader Quim Torra said there was no reason for charges to be brought.
 

***

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’ll be releasing the transcript of his April telephone conversation with Ukraine’s new leader "before week’s end!”
Trump’s promise to release an account of his first conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky comes a day before House impeachment investigators begin public hearings.
House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry are focused on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asks Zelensky to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden’s family. Trump tweets Tuesday the April call is "more important.”
Trump had suggested he would release the April transcript Tuesday.
Trump has kept up a steady stream of tweets about what he calls the impeachment "witch hunt.” Among his events this week is a high-profile meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, the day impeachment hearings open.

***

DHAKA (Reuters) -- Rescuers in Bangladesh were struggling on Tuesday to pull passengers from mangled wreckage after a head-on collision of two trains killed at least 16 people and injured more than 40, officials said.
A train heading for the southern port city of Chittagong and one bound for Dhaka collided at around 3 a.m. (2100 GMT) in Brahmanbaria, about 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, crumpling three compartments of the southbound train.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock and sorrow at the injuries and loss of lives, urging officials and the public to provide support for the victims.
It was not immediately clear how the two trains came to be on the same track, and the government has ordered an investigation.
"One of the trains might have violated the signal, leading to the tragedy,” one police official, Shayamal Kanti Das, told reporters.
Railway accidents in Bangladesh happen relatively frequently, many at unsupervised crossings, and also because of the poor condition of tracks.

***

MADRID (Reuters) -- Spain’s Socialist acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the leader of far-left Unidas Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, signed a preliminary agreement on Tuesday aiming to form what they called a "progressive” coalition government.
However, the combination of their seats is not enough on its own to secure a majority in parliament and they will still need to seek support from other parties for such a government to be confirmed.

***

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — More than 200 elephants have died amid a severe drought, Zimbabwe’s parks agency said on Tuesday, and a mass relocation of animals is planned to ease congestion.
Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesman Tinashe Farawo said at least 200 elephants have died in vast Hwange National Park alone since October and other parks are affected.
Animals including giraffe, buffalo and impala are also dying, he said, and the situation can improve only after rains return.
"Almost every animal is being affected,” he said. "Of course, elephants are easily noticed during patrols or game drives, but some bird species are seriously affected because they can only breed in certain tree heights and those trees are being knocked down by elephants.”
Many animals are straying from Zimbabwe’s parks into nearby communities in search of food and water. The parks agency has said 33 people have died from conflict with animals this year alone.

***

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The 2016 Trump election campaign was keen to keep abreast of the release of emails potentially damaging to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, reaching all the way to Trump, the Republican’s former deputy campaign chairman testified in court on Tuesday.
Rick Gates, testifying in the criminal trial of President Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone, said he witnessed a call with Trump and Stone related to WikiLeaks website in July 2016.
WikiLeaks disclosed numerous stolen emails in the months before the election that damaged Clinton. Although Gates acknowledged he could not hear the contents of the call, he said that within 30 seconds or so of Trump hanging up with Stone, Trump said that more information would be coming from WikiLeaks.