News in Brief --(31-01-2018)

January 31, 2018 00:00:00

'World's oldest man' dies in Spain

MADRID, Jan 30: A Spanish village on Tuesday declared a day of mourning following the death of a retired farmer billed as "the world's oldest man", who passed away just over a month after turning 113. Francisco Nunez Olivera, who was 10 years old when World War I broke out, died on Monday in the village of Bienvenida in southwestern Spain where he had lived throughout his life, village mayor Antonio Carmona told the news agency. — AFP

Spain warns Catalonia Speaker of legal consequences

MADRID, Jan 30: Spain's prime minister warned on Tuesday that the speaker of Catalonia's parliament would face legal consequences if he went ahead with a session to re-elect ousted separatist leader Carles Puigdemont as regional president. "The parliamentary speaker would undoubtedly face liabilities for failing to respect a court decision," Mariano Rajoy told Spanish television days after the Constitutional Court ruled that Puigdemont, in Belgium, could not be voted in remotely as his supporters want. — AFP

Death toll in India's bus accident hits 45

NEW DELHI, Jan 30: The death toll in Monday's bus accident in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal has risen to 45, officials said Tuesday. "With the recovery of more bodies from a deep canal where a passenger bus fell into after it crashed through an old bridge at Daulatabad in Murshidabad district, 220 kms from the state capital Kolkata, the toll now stands at 45," a senior police official said. "Divers are still searching for bodies in the canal," he said. — Xinhua

US delegation flees Bethlehem event as Palestinians protest

RAMALLAH, Jan 30: A delegation of US diplomats had to cut short an event in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem on Tuesday, an attendee said, after protesters stormed their meeting. The angry protesters, who were objecting to US President Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, also threw tomatoes at the delegation's car as they left, a video posted online showed. — AFP