1. Spain takes formal direct control of Catalonia Catalonia’s ousted* separatist president on Saturday called on Catalans to peacefully oppose Spain’s imposition* of direct rule over the region, in a veiled* refusal to accept his Cabinet’s dismissal as ordered by central authorities. Spain took formal direct control of Catalonia on Saturday, dismissing the region’s defiant separatist government, including Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, a day after lawmakers passed a declaration of independence for the prosperous northeastern region. 2. Kurdish leader in Iraq Barzani to step down Massud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, told a closed-door session of the regional parliament on Sunday he was stepping down amid the fallout* from a controversial independence referendum*. Kurdish forces agreed on Sunday to surrender to central government control of the strategic border post of Fishkhabur, through which pipelines export oil to Ceyhan in Turkey. 3. Islamists attack Somali hotel, killing at least 29 An Islamist attack on a hotel in Mogadishu ended on Sunday after 29 people were killed during a siege* lasting nearly 12 hours, police said. The attack proved once again that insurgents* can carry out deadly assaults in the heart of the Somali capital. Twin bombings in Mogadishu two weeks ago killed more than 350 people, the worst such attacks in the country’s history. The Islamist militants al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday. The group wants to overthrow the weak, U.N.-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic law. 4. Police: Welder’s torch caused factory blaze Police said on Saturday an inferno* at a firework factory near Indonesia’s capital that killed 48 people was started by sparks from a welder’s torch. Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said the welder, Subarna Ega, is believed to have accidentally caused Thursday’s fire in Tangerang, a satellite city of Jakarta. Ega is in police custody with two other suspects. 5. 2,800 JFK assassination files released Newly released files say a British newspaper received an anonymous call about “big news” in the United States about half an hour before the assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. A batch of 2,800 declassified* documents include a memo about a call received by the Cambridge News on November 22, 1963. It says the caller said that “the newspaper reporter should call the American Embassy in London for some big news, and then hung up.” (SD-Agencies) ? | 