United Nations: Swiss request admission

Switzerland formally requested membership to the United Nations on Wednesday, four months after Swiss voters endorsed the move.

Swiss leaders have said entry will not impinge on the country’s mandate of neutrality dating back to at least 1815 and written into the 1848 Swiss constitution.

Switzerland’s bid must be approved by both the Security Council and the General Assembly.

Morocco: Spanish forces seize island

Elite Spanish soldiers swooped in aboard helicopters Wednesday, capturing a disputed Mediterannean island occupied by Moroccan soldiers for more than a week. Neither side fired a shot.

The Spanish soldiers quickly detained the troops in the surprise assault on the island claimed by both countries, supplanting the Moroccan flag with their own. Morocco said the operation was tantamount to “an act of war” and demanded Spain withdraw.

Tensions have escalated in the week since Morocco established an outpost on the tiny island known in Spanish as Isla Perejil Parsley Island and in Arabic as Leila Night.

Alaska: Jury sides with Exxon Mobil in suit about compensation

A jury on Wednesday rejected claims by six Alaska communities that Exxon Mobil Corp. owed them $12 million for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound.

During a six-week trial in state Superior Court in Anchorage, Exxon Mobil argued it already paid its bills more than $3.7 million.

The plaintiffs “obviously were disappointed” in the verdict, said Dave Oesting, one of the attorneys representing the communities of Kodiak Island Borough, Seward, Cordova, Old Harbor, Larsen Bay and Port Lions.

The case is unrelated to the main, unresolved issue in federal court of how much Exxon Mobil will be ordered to pay in punitive damages for the 11 million gallon spill.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November found the $5 billion award levied in 1994 by an Anchorage jury to be excessive. The appeals court ordered the Anchorage federal district court to reduce it.