Mariano Rajoy

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of a unified Spain filled Barcelona's streets on Sunday in one of the biggest shows of force yet by the so-called silent majority.

The Madrid government sacked Catalonia's president and dismissed its parliament on Friday, hours after the region declared itself an independent nation.

Today, all eyes will be on Spain as the national government is expected to strip Catalonia, one of its richest regions, of its autonomous powers.

The Spanish government has secured opposition support for dissolving Catalonia's parliament and holding new elections there in January.

"I ask Puigdemont to act sensibly, in a balanced way, to put the interests of all citizens first," Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in parliament.

His move could deepen the confrontation between Madrid and the northeastern region but also signals a way out of Spain's biggest political crisis since a failed military coup in 1981.

In a much-anticipated speech to the Catalan parliament, Carles Puigdemont made only a symbolic declaration, claiming a mandate to launch secession but suspending any formal steps to that end.

A crowd estimated by local police to number 350,000 waved Spanish and Catalan flags and carried banners saying "Catalonia is Spain" and "Together we are stronger".

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he favoured mediation to find a way out of the crisis but that Spain's central government had rejected this.

Less than one third of Spaniards want a re-run of last Sunday's election, which resulted in a stalemate, with two-thirds favouring a pact between parties, a poll showed on Thursday.

US President Barack Obama led a chorus of global condemnation of attacks in Paris that killed more than 100 people Friday.

Britain, Germany and Turkey said Sunday they were temporarily grounding their Airbus A400M military transport planes after one crashed near Seville airport in southern Spain during a test flight.

An Airbus A400M military transport plane carrying "eight to 10" people crashed near Seville in southern Spain on Saturday while apparently on a test flight, officials said.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Thursday he was "deeply shaken" by a French prosecutor's finding that the co-pilot of a Germanwings passenger jet appeared to crash the plane deliberately.

The affair has threatened to destabilise his government as it works to strengthen the public finances of the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy, anxiously watched by its neighbours.

The draft finance deal criticised by both developed and developing nations.

This was following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage.

Kelantan has reminded the public in the state to refrain from outdoor activities with the arrival of the Northeast Monsoon season.

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was given a global leadership award by the United Nations Foundation.

The decision of the ICC to issue arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant is apt, said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

KTMB will provide two additional ETS trains for the KL Sentral-Padang Besar route and return trips in conjunction with the holidays.

Malaysia's international reserves rose to US$118.0 billion as at Nov 15, 2024, up from US$117.6 billion on Oct 30, 2024.

The findings announced are part of a years-long study of the history of the cosmos focusing upon dark energy.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) wishes to offer the following clarifications to the issues raised.

The Online Safety Advocacy Group (OSAG) stands united with people in Malaysia in the fight against serious online harms.