WSJ.com What's News - Worldwide News Briefs for Oct 03

SPANISH KING SAYS CATALAN LEADERS HAVE 'UNDERMINED HARMONY'

The king of Spain accused leaders in the region of Catalonia of pushing the country toward a constitutional crisis on a day when hundreds of thousands of Catalans mobilized to protest against the actions of Spanish police.

NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS AWARDED TO TRIO FOR WORK ON GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

Three scientists won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their contribution to capturing long-known but highly evasive gravitational waves.

TRIAL DETAILS DEATH OF KIM JONG NAM

A medical report and testimony submitted at trial in Malaysia revealed new details about the brutal death of the half-brother of North Korea's leader, after he was assaulted with nerve agent that quickly took effect and killed him.

BREXIT TALKS SHOW CONTINUING DIVIDE BETWEEN U.K., EU LAWMAKERS

British government ministers presented an upbeat picture of the U.K.'s prospects outside the EU, as European lawmakers said too little headway had been made in Brexit talks to allow discussions to begin on a future trade deal with the U.K.

LANDMARK TALKS BETWEEN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, HAMAS STALL

The Palestinian Authority convened its first cabinet meeting in the Gaza Strip in three years, but talks between the internationally recognized Palestinian governing body and Hamas hit a stumbling block over the latter's refusal to disarm.

BEIJING GETS A NEW FACE TO USHER IN A NEW EMPEROR

The clues to how Xi Jinping will use his consolidated power in a second term are in the top-down refashioning of Beijing as the gleaming core of a giant megalopolis.

PUTIN TELLS HUNTSMAN HE HOPES U.S. WON'T MEDDLE IN RUSSIAN AFFAIRS

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the new U.S. ambassador to Moscow he hoped Washington would follow a policy of "noninterference" in the country's domestic affairs.

FORMER IRAQI PRESIDENT TALABANI DIES

Jalal Talabani, who rose from Kurdish guerrilla commander to president of Iraq during much of the U.S.-led war in the country, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Berlin. He was 83.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 03, 2017 18:04 ET (22:04 GMT)