Spain's Constitutional Court on Thursday ordered Catalonia's parliament to suspend a planned session next week during which separatist lawmakers wanted to declare independence — further fueling Spain's worst political crisis in decades. Catalan regional authorities previously have ignored Constitutional Court orders, so it was not immediately clear if the session would go ahead and if all parties would attend. Earlier, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged the separatist leader of the regional Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, to cancel plans for declaring independence in order to avoid "greater evils." Catalonia's regional parliament called the meeting Monday to evaluate the results of the referendum. Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the Spanish opposition party Podemos, called Rajoy and urged him to seek mediation.

Source: ABC News October 05, 2017 09:59 UTC