From Washington, this is VOA news. Hello, I'm Steve Miller.

Spain's deputy prime minister said the government would hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday after Catalan lawmakers signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain.

The government cannot accept that the Catalan law of referendum is valid because it has been suspended by the Constitutional Court. The Catalan regional government cannot display the results of October 1 because that was an illegal act, a fraudulent one, and without the minimum guarantees.

Catalan President Charles Puigdemont said Catalans had earned the right to independence but said separatists would delay implementing it for several weeks to give dialogue a chance.

Thousands of people went on strike and marched through Paris and other French cities Tuesday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies. While Tuesday's demonstrations were largely peaceful, a small group of protesters skirmished with police at the end of the march in Paris.

Nine public sector unions called for the nationwide strike. The unions are angry at a plan to tighten rules for sick leave, free salaries and increased numbers public sector employees in the next five years.

Mexico's richest man, telecom magnate Carlos Slim, said that reconstruction from two destructive earthquakes last month will create jobs and spur growth. He also announced that more than $100 million has been raised for relief efforts.

Tens of thousands of homes and apartments were destroyed and will have to be rebuilt following the September 19 magnitude-7.1 quake, which killed 369 people, and an earlier, even more powerful one that struck in southern Mexico on September 7 with a magnitude of 8.1.

This is VOA news.

More than two million registered voters have been invited to polling places in Liberia to elect their new president and 73 members of the House of Representatives. Bram Posthumus reports.

They left home as early as 5 o'clock this morning to be on time, including Thomas Davis in Monrovia.

"Yeah, I am on my way to vote. Because it is very crowded so I am waiting for the crowd to reduce and then I will go and cast my ballot."

As of mid-day, the process was going smoothly in the capital.

Credit is being given to the electoral commission and to the local observer initiatives nationwide.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf steps down this year at the end of her second term. She won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her role shepherding the country out of the wreckage of a 14-year civil war.

Sirleaf called Tuesday's vote a historic day "For the consolidation of Liberia's young democracy."

Twenty candidates are vying to succeed her. A run-off will be held in November if no candidate wins a majority at the polls today.

Bram Posthumus, for VOA news, Monrovia.

Leaders of the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions were meeting in Cairo Tuesday under the auspices of the Egyptian government. Edward Yeranian reports from Cairo.

Top officials of rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, have been mulling the details of an Egyptian draft reconciliation deal as both sides appear to be inching closer to an agreement that would bring the Hamas-run Gaza Strip back under the control of a Palestinian unity government. Egyptian intelligence officials, who have been pressing both sides for a compromise, have kept a tight lid on information filtering out of the talks.

Egyptian media quoted Fatah delegate to the talks Azzam Ahmed as saying the "key issue now is to allow the Palestinian government to take the reins of control over Gaza, along with the implementation of a 2011 reconciliation agreement."

Edward Yeranian, for VOA news, Cairo.



Michelle Suarez became Uruguay's first transgender senator Tuesday, vowing to use her position to expand and protect the rights of transgender people in the South American country.

Suarez intends to push a law that would allow transgender people to change their legal identities without having to get a judge's approval.

President Donald Trump is expected to announce within days that he will no longer certify Iran's compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. That will give Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose U.S. sanctions on Tehran. By law, President Trump has until October 15 to decide.

I'm Steve Miller in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.