Scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators after hundreds of people gathered outside a museum in the Catalan city of Lleida to protest against the removal of 44 works of art that have been at the centre of a long-running dispute between Catalonia and the neighbouring region of Aragón.

The pieces, which include paintings, alabaster reliefs and polychromatic wooden coffins, were sold to the Catalan government by the nuns of the Sijena convent, in Aragón, in the 1980s. The Aragonese authorities have been trying to recover the works through the courts, arguing they were unlawfully sold. At the end of November, Spain’s culture minister, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, received a judicial order for the return of the works. With Catalonia currently under the control of the Spanish government after Madrid sacked the regional government over its unilateral declaration of independence, Méndez de Vigo authorised their return on behalf of the administration. The move has exacerbated tensions in Catalonia, which were already running high in the buildup to next week’s snap regional election.(theguardian)…[+]

European foreign ministers have strongly rejected calls by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to follow Donald Trump’s example and recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Opposition from across the European spectrum came as Netanyahu made the first official trip to the EU by a sitting Israeli premier in 22 years. Even the Czech Republic, one of Israel’s closest allies, said the US president’s decision was bad for peace efforts. France said Jerusalem’s status could be agreed only in a final deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

Netanyahu called on European governments to back a much-mooted US peace initiative despite the fact that Trump has yet to reveal any details about it. Making clear that the EU would not write a blank cheque for an unseen Trump peace plan, France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, urged Washington to disclose what was being drawn up by Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser. “We’ve been waiting already for several months for the American initiative, and if one is not forthcoming then the European Union will have to take the initiative,” Le Drian said.

Arriving for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Netanyahu said Trump’s move made peace in the Middle East possible “because recognising reality is the substance of peace, the foundation of peace”. He said all, or most, European countries would move their embassies to Jerusalem and recognise it as Israel’s capital, though there is no evidence that any European country is preparing to do so.(theguardian)…[+]

The New York police department said “one male suspect” was injured and in custody after an explosion on the subway at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. A total of four injuries were confirmed by the New York fire department. None of the injuries were life-threatening, it said. A law enforcement official, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press the explosion happened at about 7.30am. The person arrested had a pipe bomb strapped to him when it went off on a subway platform, the official said.

In midtown, shortly after the explosion, sirens could heard racing up 8th Avenue. A commuter who travelled through the Port Authority terminal at 42nd and 8th told the Guardian the explosion happened 60 seconds after they exited the building. A police officer told the commuter it was “a guy with a pipe-bomb”.

At the scene, Lythia, who did not wish to give her full name, said she was handing out the Metro free newspaper at the corner of 40th Street and 8th Avenue at about 7.30am when she saw “people running towards me saying it was an explosion, it was a bomb”.

“Everybody was just running. Then I saw the cops, the fire department, the ambulance, the bomb squad. She added: “If I was scared I’d have been running too. I felt like an angel was protecting me.”(theguardian)…[+]