Iran
Nuclear pact violated
The United Nations agency monitoring the nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers said Wednesday that Iran is in violation of the deal meant to curb its ability to make atomic arms by storing marginally more heavy water than the agreement allows. Heavy water is a concern because it is used to cool reactors that can produce substantial amounts of plutonium. That, in turn, can be applied to making the fissile core of nuclear warheads. The report noted that Iran had served notice it would resolve the issue by exporting 5 metric tons, substantially over the excess amount.
Cuba
Troops conduct exercises
Cubans worried on Wednesday that President Donald Trump would throw the United States’ 2-year-old detente with Cuba into reverse, erasing their hopes for a more prosperous future of normal ties with Washington. The Cuban government, meanwhile, announced the launch of five days of nationwide military exercises to prepare troops to confront what it called “a range of actions by the enemy,” using terminology that almost always refers to the United States. The government did not link the exercises to Trump’s U.S. presidential victory.
MEXICO
Gay marriage rejected
A committee in Mexico’s lower house of congress on Wednesday rejected a proposal by President Enrique Pena Nieto for legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, an idea that sparked big demonstrations by both supporters and opponents. The measure on enshrining same-sex couples’ right to wed in the constitution was defeated 19-8, with one abstention, in the Commission on Constitutional Matters. Commission chairman Edgar Castillo Martinez said the vote means the matter is “totally and definitively concluded.”
Canada
Snake owner not guilty
A jury has found a Canadian man not guilty of criminal negligence causing death after his African rock python escaped its enclosure and killed two young New Brunswick boys three years ago. Four-year-old Noah Barthe and Connor Barthe, 6, died during a sleepover in Jean-Claude Savoie’s apartment in August 2013. The python escaped by traveling through a ventilation duct and dropping into the living room where the boys slept. A pathologist said they died of asphyxiation and each was covered in puncture wounds from snake bites.
Compiled from wire reports