The constitutional court in Spain on Wednesday rejected a resolution passed by the Catalan assembly paving the way to establishing an independence republic in 18 months.

The resolution which was passed last month, declared Catalan as "sovereign" and called for the drafting of laws within 30 days in order to create an independent system of maining security, as well as a separate treasury.

The court, which was presenting a ruling on an appeal made by the Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, stated the Catalan assembly "cannot set itself up as a source of legal and political legitimacy to the point of assuming the authority to violate the constitutional order."

British parliamentarians have voted in favour of launching air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria, following a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs has "taken the right decision to keep the country safe" after the decision to launch strikes was passed by 397 votes to 223.

A BBC cameraman tweeted images of RAF Torandao fighter jets leaving the British base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, just hours after the vote had taken place.

The United States on Tuesday said it was deploying new special operations troops to Iraq conduct raids against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

The decision has already been rejected by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who said deployment of such force was unacceptable without prior Iraqi approval.

In a statement released shortly after the US announcement, Mr Abadi said,
 
The US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said,

 Pakistan denied that its armed forces had committed war crimes during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971.

The Pakistan Foreign Minsitry on Monday met with Bangladesh’s envoy to reject Dhaka’s accusations of war crimes.

In a statement released after the meeting the Pakistani foreign ministry, said,

“It is regrettable that attempts have been made by the Government of Bangladesh to malign Pakistan despite our ardent desire to develop brotherly relations.”

Venezuelan authorities arrested three people on Monday in relation to the assignation of an opposition leader that drew mass international condemnation in the run-up to this weekend’s elections.

Opposition leaders have placed the blame of the killing on the ruling socialist party.

Luis Diaz, shot dead at the age of 44, was a candidate for the Democratic Action party in the central Guarico state.

The Venezuelan presidential office vehemently denied any link to the killings of the opposition leader, reports Reuters.

In a statement released after the arrest of 3 suspects, the president’s office said,

Russia announced on Friday that it will suspend its visa-free regime with Turkey effective January 1, a continuation of retaliation for the downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkish air forces earlier this week. 


Since Tuesday’s incident, Russia has already restricted tourist travel from Turkey, stranded Turkish trucks at the border, confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports and started preparing a set of broader economic sanctions.

A prominent Kurdish Lawyer and rights activist was shot in the head and killed in Turkey on Saturday.
The pro-Kurdish HDP Party called the killing of Tahir Elci a “planned assassination” and urge Kurds to protest against the Turkish state.

Witness said that Mr Elci was shot after speaking to journalists about a historic Kurdish minoret that had been destroyed.

“The moment the statement ended, the crowd was sprayed with bullets,” a local HDP party official, Omer Tastan told Reuters.

The US Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa warned that Burundi is at risk of genocide thought it was “not yet present reality”, amidst ongoing unrest in the country.

In an interview, Thomas Perriello said that the crime of genocide is a risk, stating, “We have seen very dangerous signals from senior government officials about what makes this conflict more ethnic in nature”.