Spanish PM fires Catalan government to halt secession

People celebrate after Catalonia’s parliament voted to declare independence from Spain in Barcelona on October 27, 2017. (AFP)
Updated 28 October 2017
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Spanish PM fires Catalan government to halt secession

MADRID/BARCELONA: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday said he is firing the Catalan government as part of emergency measures the Senate approved following the region's declaration of independence.
Rajoy said he is dissolving the Catalan parliament and calling for a new regional election on Dec. 21.
Rajoy was speaking after a special Cabinet meeting to discuss what measures to take in the wake of the Catalan parliament's announcement of secession earlier Friday.
The firing of the regional leaders is likely to meet with fierce opposition in Catalonia, where thousands have been celebrating the independence declaration. The government has been authorized to dismiss the regional government and curtail the Catalan parliament's powers.
In one of the most momentous days in recent Spanish history, lawmakers in the Catalan regional parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence on Friday, prompting the government to immediately adopt special constitutional powers to stop the region’s attempt to secede.
Rajoy's conservative government called an emergency Cabinet meeting and later used its new powers to immediately dismiss the Catalan regional government and curtail the powers of its parliament in Barcelona. The Spanish government could also seize control of the Catalan police force and the region’s publicly-owned media outlets.
“Today, the Catalonia parliament has approved something that in the opinion of a large majority of people not only goes against the law but is a criminal act,” Rajoy declared.
The Spanish Senate’s decision to authorize the government to take control of Catalonia trumped the local parliament’s independence vote, which was a symbolic act that is doomed because Spain’s Constitutional Court is almost certain to disallow it.
Rajoy said he wants to call an early election in the prosperous northeastern region as soon as central authorities can ensure an orderly return to legality.
The battle around Catalonia’s future is far from over, however.
Madrid taking away Catalonia’s regional powers is likely to be seen as a humiliation and a provocation by Catalans. A backlash is anticipated, with street protests planned for Sunday, while regional government workers could follow a policy of disobedience or non-cooperation.
On top of that, an expected early election within six months could still deliver a steadfastly pro-independence Catalan parliament, even if recent polls have suggested the region of 7.5 million people is roughly evenly split on secession and some Catalans strongly oppose independence.

Rebellion charges
A spokesman with Spain’s prosecutor office said the prosecutor would seek to lay rebellion charges against those responsible for the Catalan independence vote.
The day of drama, featuring emotional speeches and scenes of joy and despair, went to the heart of Spain’s political and cultural history.
The 1978 Constitution, drawn up after the end of Gen. Francisco Franco’s decades-long dictatorship, created a decentralized Spanish state that devolved power to 17 autonomous regions, including Catalonia. The regions have broad administrative and legal powers. The Spanish Constitution, however, also describes Spain as “indivisible.”
Catalonia has its own cultural traditions and its own language. Having long seen themselves as different from Spain, the Catalan drive for independence began in 2010 when the Constitutional Court struck down key parts of a groundbreaking charter that would have granted Catalonia greater autonomy and recognized it as a nation within Spain.
Catalonia represents a fifth of Spain’s gross domestic product and many want the tax revenues generated by the industrious region to remain at home.
After the vote on independence in the Catalan parliament, an unprecedented challenge to Spain’s status quo, officials and lawmakers let loose cries of “Freedom!“
Outside parliament, thousands who had gathered cheered the news, some dancing and raising a toast. 

Emotional vote
In Barcelona, people crowded around TV sets to watch the historical events unfold. The famous St. Jaume square outside the regional government office was packed with thousands of people celebrating. Many of them were draped with the “Estelada” flag that adds a blue triangle to the red and yellow Catalan flag and has become a symbol of the separatist struggle.
“I feel so emotional after the huge fight we went through, we finally got it ... the independence of Catalonia!” said 74-year-old Rosalina Cordera Torelles.
Nearby, 24-year-old Rita Carboneras could hardly contain her excitement.
“I’m super, super, super happy. Super excited,” she said. “So relieved. Now we are Catalan at last. We can be ourselves. We are just happy, look everyone around. Everything is so exciting.”
The exhilaration was short-lived. Some 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the south, the Senate in Madrid voted by an overwhelming margin of 214 to 47 in favor of granting the government exceptional powers.
“I call on all Spaniards to remain calm. The rule of law will restore legality to Catalonia,” Rajoy said on Twitter, adding that what is happening in Catalonia is “a clear violation of the laws, of democracy, of the rights of all, and that has consequences.”
The main opposition Socialist party supports Rajoy’s stance on Catalonia, and many Spaniards outside the region are scornful of Catalonia’s secession ambitions.
Rajoy has also received support from outside Spain, with other European leaders rejecting Catalonia’s claims. The US administration also backed Rajoy, after President Donald Trump last month branded the Catalan independence ballot as “foolish.”
“Catalonia is an integral part of Spain, and the United States supports the Spanish government’s constitutional measures to keep Spain strong and united,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
Also supporting Rajoy’s warnings of trouble in Catalonia if it forges ahead with its secession bid, more than 1,500 businesses have moved their official headquarters out of Catalonia this month to ensure they can continue operating under European Union laws if Catalonia secedes. The EU says Catalonia will be tossed out of the bloc if it leaves Spain and would have to apply to become a member, a lengthy process.
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Giles reported from Madrid. Elena Becatoros and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona contributed.


Floods displace 122,000 people in Malaysia

Updated 30 November 2024
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Floods displace 122,000 people in Malaysia

  • The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country’s worst floodings in 2014

Kuala Lumpur: More than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes as massive floods caused by relentless rains swept through Malaysia’s northern states, disaster officials said Saturday.
The number surpassed the 118,000 displaced during one of the country’s worst floodings in 2014, and disaster officials feared it could rise further as there was no let-up in torrential downpours.
The death toll remained at four recorded across Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak.
Kelantan state bore the brunt of the flooding, accounting for 63 percent of the 122,631 people displaced, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
There were nearly 35,000 people evacuated in Terengganu, with the rest of the displacements reported from seven other states.
Heavy rains, which began early this week, continued to hammer Pasir Puteh town in Kelantan, where people could be seen walking through streets inundated with hip-deep waters.
“My area has been flooded since Wednesday. The water has already reached my house corridor and is just two inches away from coming inside,” Pasir Puteh resident and school janitor Zamrah Majid, 59, told AFP.
“Luckily, I moved my two cars to a higher ground before the water level rose.”
She said she allowed her grandchildren to play in the water in front of his house because it was still shallow.
“But if the water gets higher, it would be dangerous, I’m afraid they might get swept away,” she added.
“I haven’t received any assistance yet, whether it’s welfare or other kinds of help.”
Muhammad Zulkarnain, 27, who is living with his parents in Pasir Puteh, said they were isolated.
“There’s no way in or out of for any vehicles to enter my neighborhood,” he told AFP.
“Of course I’m scared... Luckily we have received some assistance from NGOs, they gave us food supplies like biscuits, instant noodles, and eggs.”
Floods are an annual phenomenon in the Southeast Asian nation of 34 million people due to the northeast monsoon that brings heavy rain from November to March.
Thousands of emergency services personnel have been deployed in flood-prone states along with rescue boats, four-wheel-drive vehicles and helicopters, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National Disaster Management Committee.


China coast guard says it conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea

Updated 30 November 2024
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China coast guard says it conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea

  • Tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed areas of the South China Sea have escalated throughout the year, particularly over the Scarborough Shoal

BEIJING: China’s coast guard said it had conducted patrols around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Saturday to safeguard China’s territorial rights.
The coast guard has continued to strengthen law enforcement patrols in the territorial waters and surrounding areas of Scarborough Shoal since the beginning of November, and “resolutely safeguarding the country’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” it said in a statement.
Tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed areas of the South China Sea have escalated throughout the year, particularly over the Scarborough Shoal.


13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting

Updated 30 November 2024
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13 more killed in Pakistan sectarian fighting

  • Fresh fighting broke out last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims traveling under police escort were ambushed, killing more than 40

Peshawar: Sectarian feuding in northwest Pakistan killed 13 more people, a local government official said Saturday, as warring Sunnis and Shiites defied repeated ceasefire orders in recent conflict claiming 124 lives.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram district — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the border with Afghanistan — has a large Shiite population and the communities have clashed for decades.
Fresh fighting broke out last Thursday when two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims traveling under police escort were ambushed, killing more than 40.
Since then 10 days of fighting with light and heavy weapons has brought the region to a standstill, with major roads closed and mobile phone services cut as the death toll surged.
A Kurram local government official put the death toll at 124 on Saturday after 13 more people were killed in the past two days.
Two were Sunni and 11 Shiite, he said, whilst more than 50 people have been wounded in fresh fighting which continued Saturday morning.
“There is a severe lack of trust between the two sides, and neither tribe is willing to comply with government orders to cease hostilities,” he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Police report that many people want to flee the area due to the violence, but the deteriorating security situation makes it impossible,” he added.
A seven-day ceasefire deal was announced by the provincial government last weekend but failed to hold. Another 10-day truce was brokered Wednesday but it also failed to stymie the fighting.
A senior security official in the provincial capital of Peshawar, also speaking anonymously, confirmed the total death toll of 124.
“There is a fear of more fatalities,” he said. “None of the provincial government’s initiated measures have been fully implemented to restore peace.”
Police have regularly struggled to control violence in Kurram, which was part of the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 79 people had been killed in the region between July and October in sectarian clashes.
The feuding is generally rekindled by disputes over land in the rugged mountainous region, and fueled by underlying tensions between the communities adhering to different sects of Islam.


Schools shut as heavy storm approaches India coast

Updated 30 November 2024
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Schools shut as heavy storm approaches India coast

  • Cyclonic storm Fengal is forecast to make landfall in Tamil Nadu state with sustained winds of 70-80 kilometers an hour
  • The forecast urged fishing crews to stay off the water and predicted surging waves of one meter that posed a flood risk

BENGALURU: Schools in India’s south were shut and hundreds of people moved inland to storm shelters ahead of a powerful cyclone storm set to hit the region on Saturday.
Cyclonic storm Fengal is forecast to make landfall in Tamil Nadu state with sustained winds of 70-80 kilometers an hour (43-50 mph) in the afternoon, India’s weather bureau said.
The forecast urged fishing crews to stay off the water and predicted surging waves of one meter (three feet) that posed a flood risk to low-lying coastal areas.
Schools and colleges in numerous districts across Tamil Nadu were shut and at least 471 people had been moved to relief camps, the Economic Times newspaper reported.
Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean.
Fengal skirted the coast of Sri Lanka earlier this week, killing at least 12 people including six children.
Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world heats up due to climate change driven by burning fossil fuels.
Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, which provides additional energy for storms, strengthening winds.
A warming atmosphere also allows them to hold more water, boosting heavy rainfall.
But better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced death tolls.


Thailand flooding kills nine, displaces thousands

Updated 30 November 2024
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Thailand flooding kills nine, displaces thousands

  • ‘Very heavy rain’ could continue to affect some areas of the country’s south through next week
  • The government has deployed rescue teams to assist affected residents

BANGKOK: Flooding driven by heavy rains in southern Thailand has killed nine people and displaced more than 13,000, officials said Saturday, as rescue teams using boats and jet skis worked to reach stranded residents.
Local media footage showed residents wading through murky, chest-deep water and cars submerged in flooded streets.
“Flooding across eight provinces in southern Thailand has affected 553,921 households and claimed nine lives, prompting agencies to mobilize urgent assistance,” the country’s disaster agency said on its official Facebook page.
More than 13,000 people had been forced to flee their homes, with temporary shelters set up in schools and temples, it added.
Nampa, a resident of coastal Songkhla province, told state broadcaster Thai PBS she was concerned about the dwindling food supplies.
“We are doing fine now, but I am not sure how long can we stay in this condition,” she said.
Two hospitals in nearby Pattani province suspended operations to prevent floodwaters from damaging medical facilities.
In neighboring north Malaysia, the rains have forced the evacuation of at least 80,000 people to temporary shelters this week, with disaster officials there saying at least four people have been killed.
The Thai Meteorological Department has warned that “very heavy rain” could continue to affect some areas of the country’s south through next week.
The government has deployed rescue teams to assist affected residents and designated 50 million baht ($1.7 million) in flood relief for each province.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Friday on social media platform X that the goal was to “restore normalcy as quickly as possible.”
While Thailand experiences annual monsoon rains, scientists say man-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.
Widespread flooding across the country in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.