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If Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont unilaterally declares independence of Spain's Catalonia region, it would be a "historical mistake," said Fernando Sanchez Costa, a pro-unity member of parliament (MP) of Catalonia. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced last Saturday that his government would ask the Senate to approve its plan to trigger Article 155 of Spain's constitution, allowing it to suspend Catalonia's political autonomy, dismiss the Catalan administration and call a regional election there within six months. The Senate is expected to approve Rajoy's request on Friday.   "We still have time for dialogue, for coming to an agreement," Costa told CGTN in a recent interview, expressing his hope that Puigdemont would not declare independence. "It would be a very very important mistake, a historical mistake if he proclaims independence," he said. "We can lose everything. Everyt...

Catalan lawmakers appealed to their Spanish counterparts ahead of the vote Spanish MPs have voted overwhelmingly to reject a request by the Catalan authorities to hold a referendum on independence on 9 November.

Andrew Bush was found dead at a villa in southern Spain A British millionaire's former girlfriend has been arrested in connection with his murder on the Costa del Sol, Spanish police said. Businessman Andrew Bush, 48, from Bristol, was found shot dead early on Saturday at a property near Estepona, west of Marbella.

Spanish football club Barcelona have claimed a new record by announcing they have become the first sports club to gain 50 million fans on social networking platform, Facebook. The reigning La Liga champions opened their Facebook account in October 2009 and it is one of seven different platforms on which the club have a presence through their ‘2.0’ digital media strategy. Barcelona said they now have one of the 30 most popular Facebook pages in the world, with their highest number of overseas fans, 4.7 million, coming from Indonesia. Mexico (3.4 million), Brazil (2.5 million), the United States (2.1 million) and Turkey (1.7 million) round out the club’s top-five foreign fan bases on Facebook, with Barcelona adding an additional 11 million fans in 2013 alone. The Catalan giant slast year utilised their Facebook page to offer a live Q&A session with midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

As war raged during World War One, the military purchased most of England's horses and sent them to the Western Front. Many farmers and traders had to find alternative beasts of burden, but none more exotic than elephants. On the cobbled streets of industrial Sheffield an Indian elephant dutifully lumbered along. There's a war to win and quite frankly we would be using all the tools and equipment we had to hand, including elephants Steven Broomfield, Blue Cross Her task was important - she had to cart munitions, machines and scrap metal around the city, a job previously done by three horses taken off to war. Lizzie - as she was known - was used to performing tricks as part of a travelling menagerie. But with the outbreak of World War One she was conscripted to help with heavy labour, fitted with a harness and sent to work at a scrap metal merchants. However, she was not the only exotic animal working in Britain. Camels, most probably from the same menagerie as Lizzie, w...

More than 100 vans were also seized, filled with high-end goods. Spanish police say they have arrested 25 people in a sex-trafficking ring that brought women from Nigeria to work as prostitutes. The women, allegedly lured with the promise of good jobs in Europe, were first flown to Mexico or Brazil, travelling on false identity documents. From there, they were flown to Paris, then smuggled into Spain to work in the sex trade, police say. Five women who were victims of the sex ring were freed in the raids. Police found one member of the gang performing an abortion on one of the five women, reports the BBC's Madrid correspondent, Tom Burridge. Hidden goods Arrests were made across Spain - in Madrid, Toledo, Cantabria and Palma de Mallorca. More than 100 vans concealing luxury goods were also seized. The gang used the vans to launder their profits and send them back to Lagos, police say. The vans, with dark-tinted windows and welded doors, were stocked full of beer but had l...

Atletico Madrid will begin the defence of their Copa del Rey title against Segunda Division outfit Sant Andreu. Diego Simeone's men have been handed a potentially difficult route to the final, facing the possibility of a second-round clash against Valencia and a semi-final meeting with city rivals Real Madrid, in what would be a repeat of last season's final. Atletico came out on top on that occasion, as Miranda's extra-time strike secured a 2-1 triumph. The draw has also thrown up the potential of a meeting in the final forEl Clasicorivals Real Madrid and Barcelona, with the Liga giants on opposite halves of the draw. First up for Carlo Ancelotti's charges will be second-tier outfit Olimpic Xativa, while reigning La Liga champions Barcelona face off with Cartagena. Gerardo Martino will be content with Barcelona's draw, although they could meet Villarreal, Real Sociedad or Sevilla in the final four. The first round has provided four all top-flight fixtures, Vi...

*. France, US - both 12% *. Italy, China - both 9% *. Germany - 8% *. UK, Russia - both 5% *. Spain, Argentina - both 4% *. Source: Morgan Stanley The report by Morgan Stanley's analysts Tom Kierath and Crystal Wang says global wine consumption has been rising since 1996 (except a drop in 2008-09), and presently stands at about 3bn cases per year. At the same time, there are currently more than one million wine producers worldwide, making some 2.8bn cases each year. The authors predict that - in the short term - "inventories will likely be reduced as current consumption continues to be predominantly supplied by previous vintages" And as consumption then inevitably turns to the 2012 vintage, the authors say they "expect the current production shortfall to culminate in a significant increase in export demand, and higher prices for exports globally". They say this could be partly explained by "plummeting production" in Europe due to "ongoin...

Lionel Messi and his father deny the allegations, as Tom Burridge reports Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi and his father have arrived at a Spanish court to face tax fraud allegations. The 26-year-old Argentine, four times Fifa World Player of the Year, and his father Jorge Messi are accused of defrauding the authorities of more than 4m euros ($5.4m; £3.4m). They are suspected of using companies abroad - in Belize and Uruguay - to sell the rights to use Messi's image. They both deny the allegations, which date back to 2007-09. Tougher line' The striker gave a thumbs up as he arrived at the court in Gava - the affluent Barcelona district where he lives. Messi and his father are being questioned in a closed-court session. They are accused of three counts of defrauding the Spanish state of taxes. Lionel Messi's father Jorge (centre) arrived at the courthouse before his son   The income related to Messi...

   Michael Douglas thanked his Behind The Candelabra co-star Matt Damon: "I can tell you, you were magnificent and the only reason I am standing here is because of you, so really you deserve half of this" The Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra has taken the top honours at this year's Emmy awards, held in Los Angeles on Sunday. The film, shown on the cable network HBO in the US, won three awards including best TV movie and a best actor award for Michael Douglas. Breaking Bad was named best drama, while Modern Family took the leading comedy award for the fourth time. Claire Danes took the best actress prize for her role in Homeland. Accepting his first ever Emmy award, Douglas thanked his family and his wife, Catherine Zeta Jones. Surprise win The couple, who have been married for 13 years, announced last month that they were "taking time apart". Claire Danes took the leading actress award for the second year...

~Continued,... The defining moment of her eight years as leader so far came with the eurozone financial crisis. Greece revealed an enormous - and unmanageable - public debt. And it soon emerged that other countries were in similar dire straits. But as Europe waited to see if Germany would agree to bail out the struggling members of the eurozone or force them to sort out their own problems, Merkel was criticised for reacting too slowly. Caution and consensus, however, have always been hallmarks of the Merkel machine. "You can only manage such a crisis if you take a lot of people along the way," says Ursula von der Leyen, who has worked in every one of Merkel's cabinets since 2005. "Angela Merkel always knew where she wanted to end up, but she took time to find a way which everybody could go along with." I don't claim that I have "cracked" Merkel - she is an abnormally complex and multi-layered character, unlike anyone else I can think of in wor...

This weekend, there's an election that will influence the future of much of Europe - Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and many other countries. But none of them can vote. The election is in Germany - and the woman at the centre of this political event is Angela Merkel. For every country in Europe, it's all about the economy. Across the continent, people are still battling with the twists and turns of the financial crisis. And wherever you are, economic recovery depends heavily on how Angela Merkel treats the next stage of the crisis: these days, most roads lead to Berlin. That's why it has long seemed to me that one of the most important political reporting jobs right now is to try to understand Angela Merkel better. But Mrs Merkel is an unusually private and reticent politician - there is no exhibitionism and grandstanding. Even for Germans, she's a hard woman to know. She didn't want to do an interview ahead of the German elections, and certainly not in En...