RAJOY IN BARCELONA FOR FIRST CATALONIA VISIT SINCE DIRECT RULE
BARCELONA: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will on Sunday visit Catalonia for the first time since Madrid imposed direct rule on the region, a day after hundreds of thousands of Catalans marched to demand the release of jailed regional officials. Mariano Rajoy is expected in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) to show support for his Popular Party’s campaign ahead of a vote next month. His visit comes two weeks after he dismissed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, his government and the parliament, suspended the region’s autonomy and called for new elections there on December 21. On Saturday hundreds of thousands of Catalans protested the jailing of regional officials for their push for independence from Spain, which has left the country mired in a political crisis. The demonstrators gathered on an avenue next to the regional parliament building waving Catalan independence flags and chanting “Freedom!” while some held up banners announcing: “SOS Democracy.”
DEPORTED VETERANS PROTEST IN MEXICO ON US VETERANS DAY
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico: A group of Mexicans who served with the US military in Vietnam and Iraq only to be deported held a Veterans Day protest on Saturday in the border city Ciudad Juarez. A stone’s throw from the bridge between Juarez and El Paso, Texas, the deportees demonstrated with the flags of their US military units. “We served a country that has cheated us,” said Jose Francisco Lopez Moreno, 64. Many Mexicans have served in the US military in exchange for expedited residency. But these veterans were deported for committing crimes, despite risking their lives in far-flung combat.
“It is so unfair. They separated us from our families, and we are alone here with no health care or assistance of any kind,” saaid Lopez, who served in Vietnam but was deported to Mexico in 2004. Veterans in the United States receive pensions and health care. Local officials estimate there are about 300 deportees. “For as long as I live, even if I die on this side, I will always love the US flag. That was my life,” said Ivan Ocon, who served in Iraq in 2003 but last year was deported to his homeland. “It was like having a house come crashing down on top of you, to have them turn their backs on you after all that,” he added. “You think that you would not be deported because you were part of something so great, but in the end, they throw you out just the same,” he said. “We want to go back. That’s what we are asking Donald Trump. We fought for your country,” he said.
ISRAEL WARNS GAZA MILITANTS AGAINST REVENGE ATTACK
JERUSALEM: An Israeli general has warned Palestinian militants against carrying out attacks in revenge for the blowing up of a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into the Jewish state last month. Major General Yoav Mordechai, head of a defense ministry unit responsible for activities in the Palestinian territories, made the comments in an Arabiclanguage video distributed late Saturday. Referring to the Israeli operation on October 30, he said that Israel “destroyed a terror tunnel in Israeli sovereign territory,” which resulted in the death of 12 Palestinian militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. “We are aware of the plot that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group is planning against Israel,” said Mordechai, whose defence ministry unit is known as COGAT. “They are playing with fire at the expense of Gazan residents, the Palestinian reconciliation efforts and the stability of the entire region. “Let it be clear: Any attack by Islamic Jihad will be met with a harsh and determined Israeli response. “This will not only apply to Islamic Jihad but also to Hamas,” the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip. Mordechai also addressed the Damascus-based Islamic Jihad leadership, mentioning Ramadan Shalah and Ziad Nakhaleh by name.
BAHRAIN ACCUSES IRAN OVER PIPELINE FIRE
Gulf kingdom Bahrain has accused Iran of being behind a pipeline fire that temporarily halted oil supplies from Saudi Arabia, but Tehran rejected the allegation as “childish.” On Saturday, Bahrain’s foreign minister blamed Iran for the fire near the capital Manama, which was brought under control after it was discovered earlier in the day. “The attempt to blow up the Saudi-Bahraini pipeline is a dangerous escalation on Iran’s part that aims to terrorize citizens and to harm the world oil industry,” Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa wrote on Twitter. A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry on Sunday rejected the accusations. “Obviously, the only thing Bahraini officials have learned to do after each incident in the emirate is to accuse Iran,” Bahram Ghassemi said. “The era of childish accusations and lies is over,” he said, adding Iran wanted “the stability and security of its neighbors.” Bahrain relies on the Abu Safa field, which it shares with neighboring Saudi Arabia, for much of its oil, pumped in via a 230,000-barrel-per-day pipeline. National oil company Bapco on Sunday said it had fixed the pipeline, which would allow oil to flow back into the country.