The Heat: Catalonia Crisis, Kenya and Japan elections

The Heat

The Heat looks at three big international stories in the news: crisis in Spain as Catalonia declares independence; an election re-run in Kenya and a landslide victory for Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in his country’s general election. 

Nearly a month after the referendum that backed a split from Spain, the Catalan parliament declared independence on Friday.

There was celebration in the streets of Barcelona, but the Spanish government decided to fight back. The senate authorized the use, for the first time, of article 155 of the constitution. It gives power to the central government to take control of the autonomous Catalonia region. That measure will remove the Catalan president, suspend his ministers while Madrid will assume authority over the region’s public media, police and finances.

Meanwhile in Kenya, voters have gone to the polls again in a presidential election re-run. The Aug 8 election was nullified by the Supreme Court after allegations of irregularities. The main opposition candidate, Raila Odinga, dropped out of the race and called for a boycott, after accusing President Uhuru Kenyatta of fraud.

And, in Japan, Prime-Minister Shinzo Abe recently crushed the opposition in a landslide victory. 

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