25, October 2017
Secession Palaver: Madrid resolute on taking control of Catalonia 0
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says the “only possible” way to restore legality in Catalonia, which according to him has been liquidated by regional President Carles Puigdemont, is for Madrid to take control of the autonomous region.
Speaking to the parliament on Wednesday, Rajoy said that the government’s plan to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which allows Spain to impose direct rule on Catalonia was “exceptional.”
He said he hoped the measure, which includes the curtailment of the Catalan parliament and sacking the government of Puigdemont, would not take too much time to implement.
Rajoy said his government would hold regional elections in Catalonia as soon as possible, but only once law and order was restored.
He has previously called on Spain’s Senate to trigger the Article 155. The Senate is expected to approve the measures on Friday.
Catalonia has so far been defiant and threatened to unilaterally declare independence if Madrid started the process of suspending the region’s autonomy.
The wealthy region held a banned referendum on secession on October 1. Local officials claimed that 90 percent of the voters in the referendum had backed secession, but the turnout had been put at only 43 percent.
Source: Presstv
26, October 2017
US: Trump hits back at Republican critics in Congress 0
US President Donald Trump has hit back at critical senators in Congress within his own Republican Party, painting them as outliers.
Trump made the comments on Wednesday hours after meeting Republican senators on Capitol Hill, which he described as a “love fest” between him and allied lawmakers.
A day after Republican senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake condemned Trump for “debasing” the nation and having a “flagrant disregard” for truth and decency, the combative president hit back.
Attempting to prevent a wider backlash from his political party, Trump said that Corker and Flake had decided to leave politics because they could not be reelected to the Senate.
“The reason Flake and Corker dropped out of the Senate race is very simple, they had zero chance of being elected. Now act so hurt & wounded!” Trump tweeted.
“The meeting with Republican Senators yesterday, outside of Flake and Corker, was a love fest with standing ovations and great ideas for USA!” he continued.
Flake had told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday that he doesn’t see a place for himself in the current Republican Party under Trump’s leadership.
“Jeff Flake, with an 18% approval rating in Arizona, said ‘a lot of my colleagues have spoken out.’ Really, they just gave me a standing O!” Trump shot back.
“The meeting with Republican Senators yesterday, outside of Flake and Corker, was a love fest with standing ovations and great ideas for USA!” Trump continued, this time adding senator Bob Corker to his attack list.
Corker, who represents the state of Tennessee and chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the president.
The ongoing public dispute between Trump and Corker escalated Tuesday after Trump attacked Corker for his skepticism over a $1.5 trillion tax cut and the senator responding by slamming the president as an “utterly untruthful” leader who “debases” his country.
Earlier this month, Corker condemned Trump for undermining Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, saying the president’s public statements on foreign policy “castrate” his top diplomat and creates “binary” scenarios for the US on the world stage.
Source: Presstv