BREAKING: Spain rejects call for mediation in Catalonia crisis

Spain’s government on Wednesday rejected calls by the leader of Catalonia for mediation over the region’s demands for independence which have sparked a violent political crisis.

A statement from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s office said there would be no talks until Catalan president Carles Puigdemont abandons the independence drive, which Madrid brands illegal.

“The government will not negotiate over anything illegal and will not accept blackmail,” the statement said.

BREAKING: Catalan vote: Catalan President faults Spanish King for failing to ease independence crisis

The Catalan President vowed to implement the results of the region's contested independence referendum on Wednesday and criticized the King of Spain for failing to bring the divided factions together.

In a TV address from the headquarters of the Catalan government in Barcelona, northeast Spain, Carles Puigdemont said King Felipe had missed an opportunity to mediate in the political and constitutional crisis that has engulfed the country.

"You disappointed many people in Catalonia who were expecting a call to dialogue," Puigdemont said, after an unexpectedly hardline TV address by the King on Tuesday night. "We need mediation," he said. "This conflict needs to be resolved in a political way, not with police." He directed parts of his address to Spaniards in other parts of the nation, to the king, and to Catalonians.

Puigdemont is expected to formally declare independence on Monday, after 90% of voters in last Sunday's referendum opted for a split -- a result that was followed by clashes between citizens and Spanish police.

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World’s first sex shop shuts down, declares bankruptcy

Germany’s pioneering sex shop chain, Beate Uhse, said Friday that it has filed for insolvency, as the empire started by a female World War II pilot fails to rise to the challenge posed by erotic e-commerce. In its hey day, the group sold lingerie, erotic films and sex products. Uhse began her foray into erotic business in 1946, when she put together a pamphlet called “Document X” describing how women could avoid pregnancy. In post-war Germany, her advice was in high demand and she sold thousands of copies of her brochures. The mail order business thrived and the former fighter pilot and member of the Luftwaffe opened in 1962 her first shop in the German town of Flensburg. Named Institute of Marital Hygiene, the store selling lingerie and contraceptives became the world’s first sex shop. Her activities often ran counter to the morality of post-war Germany and she was called before the courts in thousands of legal suits filed against her. Yet she remained frank and unashamed about...

The name ‘State of Osun’ is illegal, court declares

An Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa has said the changing of ‘Osun State’ to ‘State of Osun’ by the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola is illegal. Justice Yinka Afolabi, while delivering the judgment on Thursday in a case instituted by Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ilesa branch, Mr. Kanmi Ajibola, challenging the legality of the “State of Osun Land Use Charge Law,” held that the law and its makers were unknown to the 1999 Constitution. Aregbesola had changed the name of the state from ‘Osun State’ to ‘State of Osun’ in 2011; but the NBA chairman, who is a human rights activist, approached the court in 2016 and asked the court to declare as null and void all transactions done by the state with the name ‘State of Osun.’ Afolabi also declared that the makers of the law, who are currently serving as members of the State House of Assembly, were not sworn in as members of the ‘State of Osun House of Assembly,’ but as members of ‘Osun State House of Assembly,’ going by...

John McCain has brain cancer, his office says.

Veteran US Republican Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is reviewing treatment options, according to his office. The options may include chemotherapy and radiation, his doctors said. The 80-year-old politician is in "good spirits" recovering at home. The tumour was discovered during a surgery to remove a blood clot from above his left eye last week. A Vietnam veteran, Mr McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war. The six-term senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate underwent surgery at a clinic in Phoenix, in the state of Arizona, last Friday. Tissue analysis revealed that a primary brain tumour known as glioblastoma was associated with the clot, a statement from the Mayo Clinic said. "The senator's doctors say he is recovering from his surgery 'amazingly well' and his underlying health is excellent," it added.

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