Catalan government

The third edition of Istanbul's global contemporary and modern art fair will open at the Haliç Congress Center on Sept. 4 welcoming both local and international VIP visitors.

The fair will feature 87 galleries this year, representing 27 countries and presenting works by more than 400 of world's most innovative artists.

Catalan government head Artur Mas has voiced his intention to call early elections as a step toward gaining independence from Spain.

Mas told a 3000-strong multitude at a conference in Barcelona he believed this was "the only instrument" allowing Catalans to decide on their future as a nation, Spanish daily El País quotes him as saying.

Catalonia's nationalist government vowed to step up its secession drive after over two million people voted Nov. 9 in a symbolic independence referendum which Spain's central government dismissed it as "useless."

Catalan government head Artur Mas called the vote, not sanctioned by Madrid, "a total success" after a large majority of those who took part supported independence.

Catalonia: "Informal vote" instead of referendum

BARCELONA -- The Catalans have postponed their referendum on independence scheduled for November 9, and will instead on that day "hold an informal vote."

The Catalan government on Oct. 3 published a decree creating a supervisory body for a referendum on independence from Spain on November 9, despite a court order that the vote be suspended.