World briefs

YEMEN

Rebels agree to pull back

Shia rebels in Yemen who overran much of the capital signed a security deal yesterday that stipulates disarmament and withdrawal from areas they have seized in recent months. The rebels, known as Hawthis, signed the deal as part of a comprehensive agreement brokered by the United Nations. Their political rivals, the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islah party, and other parties signed as well. It remains to be seen whether the Hawthis will abide by the deal.

SPAIN

Secession vote announced

The president of Spain's powerful northeastern region of Catalonia yesterday formally called an independence referendum, the latest secession push in Europe and one of the most serious challenges to the Spanish state in recent years. Catalan leader Artur Mas signed the decree to call the referendum in a solemn ceremony in the regional government headquarters in Barcelona. Two hours after Mas spoke, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the Spanish government will hold an emergency cabinet meeting within days so the referendum can be challenged before Spain's Constitutional Court.

MEXICO

6 killed in southwest state

Mexican officials say six people were killed in a series of violent incidents in a town in Guerrero, a southwestern state known for social unrest and drug violence. State Attorney General Inaki Blanco Cabrera said the violence happened late Friday and early yesterday in Iguala, about 125 miles south of Mexico City. He says the first incident involved a clash between police and radical students from a teachers college who had seized buses for a protest. He says police gunfire killed two protesters. Blanco Cabrera says unidentified armed men later shot at vehicles on the main highway and killed two adults and a minor on a bus. The sixth victim was found yesterday morning by the army in the same area.

CUBA

Cologne plans quashed

Cuba will punish state employees who created two colognes named for Ernesto "Che" Guevara and late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the government announced yesterday, swiftly quashing plans to market the fragrances honoring the leftist icons. Test bottles of colognes named "Ernesto" and "Hugo" were produced by state pharmaceutical company Labiofam with the aim of selling them domestically and internationally. Cuba's Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers said it would take unspecified disciplinary measures.