Spain's Constitutional Court

Lawmakers in Spain have voted to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, making it only the fifth country globally to make the practice legal after the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada.

The law will come into force in three months' time after the landmark vote passed in the lower house of the Spanish parliament by 202 votes to 141, with two abstentions.

Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont said Thursday he had abandoned his bid to return as regional president in an attempt to unblock a political impasse as the region remains without a fully-functioning government.

Spain's Constitutional Court has blocked Catalonia's declaration of independence, the Spanish daily El Mundo reported on Tuesday.

The Constitutional Court warned members of the permanent parliamentary office in Catalonia, including the sacked speaker of the Catalan parliament Carme Forcadell, to suspend any initiative that involves implementation of the declaration, the paper said.

Spain's Constitutional Court has blocked Catalonia’s declaration of independence, the Spanish daily El Mundo reported on Tuesday.

The Constitutional Court warned members of the permanent parliamentary office in Catalonia, including the sacked speaker of the Catalan parliament Carme Forcadell, to suspend any initiative that involves implementation of the declaration, the paper said.

Catalan authorities must drop a bid for independence by Thursday, the Spanish government said, moving closer to imposing direct rule over the region after its leader missed an initial deadline to back down.

Spain's Constitutional Court has ordered the suspension of a Catalonian special parliamentary session next week, during which regional leaders plan to vote to break away from Spain.

A spokeswoman for the court said judges "ordered the suspension of the plenary that has been called for Monday in the [Catalan] parliament" as the constitutional court hears appeals against it.

Spain's chief public prosecutor on Monday refused to rule out ordering the arrest of Catalonia's president as Spanish authorities continued a crackdown against a banned independence referendum in the region, according to the Telegraph.co.uk.

Spanish police have discovered a mass of documents directly related to a banned Catalan independence referendum scheduled for 1 October, reported BBC. 

Early on Tuesday, the Guardia Civil arrived at offices of Spain's biggest private delivery company, Unipost, in the Catalan city of Terrassa.

Spain's state prosecutor has summoned more than 700 Catalan mayors who have backed an independence referendum, in an escalation of Madrid's efforts to block the vote that it has declared illegal. 

Spain is facing its deepest political crisis in decades after Catalonia's regional parliament passed a law paving the way for an independence referendum on Oct. 1, with Madrid set to seek any means possible to block it from Sept. 7.