The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We are going to the United Nations with confidence, supported by all peace lovers.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said he is pressing ahead with a bid for United Nations observer status and has wide support among General Assembly members Article, 1A

Sarkozy’s party faces dissolution

PARIS - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party held emergency meetings Sunday to try to figure out who’s in charge after a disputed election for its new leader that could reshape French politics.

After a decade at the helm of one of the world’s leading economies, the Union for a Popular Movement party is now in shambles and may fall apart.

Central to the troubles is a debate among conservatives over immigration and Islam in France. The election a week ago split party members into those leaning toward the anti-immigration far right, represented by Jean-Francois Cope, and those hewing to more centrist views, supporting Francois Fillon.

Cope, who led France’s push to ban face-covering Islamic veils, was initially declared the winner. But uncounted votes were then discovered that could swing the vote in Fillon’s favor.

A Union for a Popular Movement commission that handles vote disputes convened Sunday morning to discuss what to do. Fillon’s team, arguing that the commission was weighted in Cope’s favor, suspended its involvement around midday, the Sipa news agency reported.

Hopes focused on Sunday evening, when former Prime Minister Alain Juppe was to meet with both candidates to try to mediate a solution.

Sudan to relocate military factory

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A Sudanese official said a military factory in the capital that Khartoum claims was bombed by Israel will be relocated, away from residential areas.

Abdul Rahman al-Khedr, Khartoum’s governor, was quoted Sunday by the official SUNA news agency as saying authorities have located a new site and have begun steps to move the factory. He said the purported attack will not weaken Sudan’s resolve to be militarily self-sufficient.

Israel has not commented on last month’s explosion, which killed four people.

Military analysts say it does appear to be an Israeli attack, and a U.S.-based monitoring group has said satellite imagery suggests it was an airstrike.

Israeli officials said that Iran ships arms through Sudan to its regional adversaries.

Sudan has denied any Iranian connection to the factory’s production.

Secessionists win vote in Catalonia

BARCELONA, Spain - Pro-independence parties in Catalonia won a regional vote, strengthening a drive for a referendum on secession in defiance of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Catalan President Artur Mas, who called early elections to force the debate on independence, won 50 of the 135 seats in the regional assembly for his Convergencia i Unio party, down from 62, according to the regional government, with 93 percent of the vote counted.

The separatist Catalan Republican Left more than doubled its seats to 21 from 10. Two smaller parties that also back a plebiscite secured 16 seats.

Rajoy, weakened by recession and speculation that Spain needs a European bailout, says a referendum on secession is unconstitutional.

Rajoy’s People’s Party won 19 seats, a gain of one. The Socialists won 20 seats, down from 28.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 11/26/2012

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