Spain marks national day with show of unity amid Catalan crisis

Madrid

SPAIN marked its national day on Thursday with a show of unity in the face of Catalan independence efforts, a day after the central government gave the region's separatist leader a deadline to abandon all plans of secession.

The country is suffering its worst political crisis in a generation after separatists in the wealthy northeastern region voted in a banned referendum on Oct 1 to split from Spain.