Watchdog confirms nerve agent findings

LONDON • The world's chemical arms watchdog yesterday said it had confirmed Britain's findings on a nerve agent used in an attack on a former spy last month - which London said came from Russia.

Samples tested by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons "confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical", said a summary of the group's report.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Algerians mourn 257 killed in jet crash

ALGIERS • Algerians yesterday mourned 257 people killed in a military plane crash the day before, the country's worst-ever aviation catastrophe, with no indication yet of the cause.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced three days of mourning after the plane slammed into a field near the Boufarik airbase south of Algiers shortly after take-off on Wednesday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Israelis remember Holocaust victims

JERUSALEM • Israelis came to a halt throughout the country yesterday to observe two minutes of solemn silence as a siren blared, marking the annual remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Outside shops and offices, Israelis stood still, many with heads bowed while students at schools stood in ceremonies.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Proposed Catalan leader can't leave jail

MADRID • Spain's Supreme Court yesterday rejected a request by Catalonia's pro-independence presidential candidate Jordi Sanchez to be let out of jail and be sworn in as regional head.

Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena yesterday again turned down Mr Sanchez's request, arguing that there were signs he could "move in the direction of a rupture of the constitutional order".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE