Author: RT

Independence protesters in Catalonia block major Spain-France road link Protesters blocked a border point on the AP-7 highway that connects the Spanish region of Catalonia with France on Monday, stopping traffic in both directions, Reuters reported, citing a Catalan police spokesman. Around 80 people cut the highway at the border point of La Jonquera, some on the French side and the rest in Spain. Secretive campaign group Democratic Tsunami, which has organized mass protests including at Barcelona airport last month, claimed responsibility for the disruption. Catalonia has been rocked by mass protests since long prison sentences were handed down in mid-October to nine leaders who spearheaded a failed independence bid in 2017. Independence protesters in Catalonia b...

Turkey starts repatriating ISIS fighters, deports US national A US national who is a member of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) has been deported home, a Turkish official said Monday after Ankara began repatriating captured foreign IS fighters. Turkish Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli told Anadolu Agency that a German and a Danish national would also be deported later on Monday while seven German nationals would be returned on November 14. Turkey has over the past few weeks criticized Western states, including Britain and the Netherlands, for refusing to take back their nationals who had joined the militant group and vowed to send back IS militants - even if their citizenship has been revoked, AP reported. Turkey starts repatriating ISIS fighters, depor...

US secretary of defense to visit Vietnam, meet with Chinese counterpart US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will visit Vietnam and then meet with his Chinese counterpart in Thailand during a trip to Asia this week, AP reports. While Vietnam is a former US enemy, the two countries have grown closer in recent years. Vietnam’s territorial claims in the entire South China Sea area overlap those of Beijing. Esper’s meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe in Bangkok will mark the first face-to-face exchange between the two officials. However, they spoke via video teleconference from the Pentagon on November 5. US secretary of defense to visit Vietnam, meet with Chinese counterpart Source: RT

Washington calls on Iraq to hold early elections – White House The United States has called on Iraq’s government to stop using violence against protesters, reform its electoral system and hold early elections, the White House press secretary said. The US joins the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq in calling on the Iraqi government “to halt the violence against protesters and fulfill President [Barham] Salih’s promise to pass electoral reform and hold early elections,” said the statement, posted by the US embassy in Baghdad on Monday. The protests that began on October 1 were initially focused on a lack of jobs and services but morphed into denunciation of the political elites and sectarian power-sharing system of government introduced in 2003, Reuters said. Washingto...