Spanish judge sends eight former Catalan officials to jail

A Spanish high court judge on Thursday ordered former deputy Catalan premier Oriol Junqueras and seven other ousted officials jailed, after they were ordered to testify concerning their roles in Catalonia's bid for independence.

Obama says US restoring ties with Cuba (five decades after diplomatic relations were severed)

The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba more than 50 years after they were severed, US President Barack Obama has said, just hours after Havana announced it had released a US aid worker who had been jailed for five years in Cuba.

US Senate report finds CIA interrogations 'far more brutal' than agency admitted

"Enhanced interrogation" techniques used by the CIA on militants detained in secret prisons were ineffective and never produced information which led to the disruption of imminent terrorist plots, the declassified report by the Senate Intelligence Committee has found.
The report said the CIA misled the public and government policymakers about the effectiveness of the programme, which ran from 2002 to 2006 and involved questioning Al-Qaeda and other captives around the world.

US prisoner swap angers domestic critics

The dramatic deal to free soldier Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for Taliban prisoners ignited criticism after the insurgents' leader declared a "big victory," but also raised hopes for peace as the US prepares to leave Afghanistan.

Washington has defended the swap as critical to saving Bergdahl's life, as his health had deteriorated sharply after five years spent as the only US soldier held captive by the Taliban since the war began in 2001.

Syria gives Russia ceasefire plan for Aleppo

Syria has handed Russia plans for a ceasefire in Syria’s biggest city, Aleppo, and was ready to exchange lists with rebel forces on a possible prisoner swap, its foreign minister Walid Muallem told a joint news conference in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov before a planned peace conference on Syria in Switzerland next week
“I count on the success of this plan if all sides carry out their obligations,” Reuters quoted Muallem as saying following talks with Lavrov.
“We would like this to serve as an example to other towns,” Muallem said of the plan for Aleppo.

Proche-Orient: pessimisme ambiant avant une nouvelle mission de Kerry

La libération de 26 prisonniers palestiniens par Israël avant la nouvelle mission au Proche-Orient du secrétaire d'Etat John Kerry, la 10e depuis mars, n'a pas dissipé le pessimisme ambiant sur les chances de progrès dans les négociations de paix.

Ces libérations, survenues mardi avant l'aube, sont conformes aux engagements pris auprès des Etats-Unis et des Palestiniens par le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu de relâcher en quatre étapes un total de 104 détenus palestiniens afin de permettre la relance des négociations de paix qui ont repris fin juillet dernier.
Deux premiers contingents de prisonniers avaient été relâchés le 13 août et le 30 octobre. Le dernier groupe de Palestiniens doit être libéré en février.
Les festivités qui ont accompagné comme d'habitude la libération des prisonniers -considérés comme des "combattants héroïques" chez eux- ont été dénoncées en Israël.

High court orders California to release thousands of prisoners....

On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal to halt the early release of thousands of California prison inmates by the end of the year.
The Supreme Court did not comment on its decision, which supports a previous ruling by a lower court forcing California to free about 9,600 additional inmates by the end of the year. In 2011, federal judges ruled that the state must improve prison health conditions. Reducing the number of inmates was included as part of the process.
Since then, California has cut its prison population by about 25,000 inmates. State Gov. Jerry Brown claims that releasing even more could jeopardize public safety. It remains to be seen whether or not counties in California are equipped to handle the influx of inmates scheduled to occur.