Separatist selected to lead Catalonia
MADRID — Lawmakers in Catalonia elected a fervent separatist as the new chief of the restive region Monday, ending a leadership vacuum of more than six months and setting the scene for more confrontations with the Spanish government.
Quim Torra, a former corporate lawyer who went on to lead a prominent pro-secession group, vowed to build an independent Catalan republic by working under the leadership of his fugitive predecessor, Carles Puigdemont.
Puigdemont is in Germany fighting extradition to Spain, where he is accused of using public funds and orchestrating an “insurrection” to get the wealthy northeastern region around Barcelona to break away from Spain.
Separatist parties won a slim majority in a December regional parliamentary election. They faced a hard deadline next week to either form a new government in Catalonia or have another election called.
Immediately after winning the vote, Torra said one of the goals of his new government would be to reinstate Puigdemont as “the legitimate president” of Catalonia. The Spanish government removed Puigdemont and his Cabinet from office after the regional parliament passed an illegal declaration of independence in October.
French radical-watch-list use questioned
PARIS — French police on Monday were questioning the parents and a friend of a 20-year-old man who attacked passers-by with a knife in Paris, amid questions about how France’s radical watch list is used.
Khamzat Azimov, a French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya, killed one person and wounded four others in Saturday’s attack, before police fatally shot him. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
Azimov’s parents and a friend from the eastern city of Strasbourg were being detained by police.
A judicial official said Monday that Azimovwas living in the northern 18th district of Paris with his family, which had previously lived in Strasbourg.
French authorities said he was on a police watch list for radicalism, but he had a clean criminal record.
Conservative leader Laurent Wauquiez on Sunday criticized the government’s “blindness” and “inaction.” His Republicans party called on centrist President Emmanuel Macron to take measures to “preventively intern the most dangerous individuals” listed as radicalized.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen asked in a tweet what the list was for if it wasn’t used to stop potential attackers.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb was to hold a meeting with France’s prefects in charge of defense and security later Monday.
N. Korea razing nuke test site, U.S. says
U.S. researchers say recent satellite imagery shows that North Korea has begun dismantling facilities at its nuclear test site.
An analysis Monday by the 38 North website says commercial imagery taken last week shows that several operational support buildings have been razed and rails for mining carts have apparently been removed.
North Korea has said it will dismantle its Punggye-ri test site May 23-25 in the presence of reporters. The site has been used for each of its six underground nuclear test explosions.
South Korea’s president on Monday welcomed the announcement as the beginning of North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. The South also announced today that the two Koreas have agreed to a high-level meeting Wednesday to discuss setting up talks aimed at reducing border tension and restarting reunions between families separated by the Korean War.
Windstorm rakes India, kills 43 people
LUCKNOW, India — Powerful winds and rainstorms swept across a crowded swath of northern India, demolishing houses, uprooting trees and killing at least 43 people as the winds turned the skies brown with dust and sand, officials said Monday.
Most of the deaths occurred when wind and falling trees caused buildings to collapse, leaving people buried in the wreckage. In the town of Bareilly, the minaret of a mosque fell on a group of people taking shelter in a neighboring courtyard, killing eight. In another town, one man was killed when he was hit by a billboard that had blown loose. Along highways, trucks were pushed over by the winds, crushing cars and motorcycles.
Winds reached speeds of 68 miles per hour Sunday, officials said. Trains and commuter rail lines were paused and dozens of flights were diverted from New Delhi’s international airport as the storm blew into the city.
A Section on 05/15/2018