Catalan parliament holds crucial meeting +++ US cuts Palestinian aid +++ Syria’s Kurds appeal to UN for safety

17. Februar 2018, 02:00

Catalan parliament holds crucial meeting

The Catalan parliament meets today for the first time since it was dissolved by the Spanish government after it unilaterally declared independence. Pro-independence groups will dominate the parliamentary committee to select the new leader, following last December’s regional election, and are expected to choose former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. He remains in self-imposed exile in Belgium and faces arrest on charges of sedition if he returns to Spain. Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy has warned that if Puigdemont is selected as leader Madrid will maintain direct rule in Catalonia, imposed after its independence declaration.

US cuts Palestinian aid

The United Nations relief agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA, says it is facing its worst ever funding crisis, after the United States suspended more than half of its first instalment for this year. Christopher Gunness from UNRWA says the loss of 65 million dollars will affect millions of people: “We provide education to half a million children in the Arab territories and countries surrounding Israel. We provide 1.7 million food insecure refugees with food and cash. Our doctors do 9 million health consultations a year. The dignity of the refugees we serve, over 5 million people in the Middle East, is at stake.” President Trump said earlier the US could cut aid if Palestinians rejected peace efforts with Israel, following his declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Syria’s Kurds appeal to UN for safety

Syria’s main Kurdish party, the PYD, has appealed to the United Nations Security Council to act quickly to ensure the safety of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. Turkish troops and tanks are massed near the Syrian border ahead of an expected attack. Kurdish forces have been the main allies of the US military in northern Syria.

Bannon refuses answers on Russia

In the US, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has refused to answer questions from a Congressional committee at a hearing yesterday on possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff: “This was effectively a gag order by the White House, preventing this witness from answering almost any question concerning his time in the transition or the administration, and many questions even after he left the administration.”

The weather

Storms moving across the country from the west. Some sun in the east and south. Top temperatures minus 2 to plus 7 degrees.

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