Summary: Catalan president Artur Mas signed a decree on Saturday calling for a November 9 ballot as a non-binding consultation on independence for the region of about 7.5 million people in northeastern Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denounced the vote as unconstitutional and said yesterday that his government had filed a lawsuit to block it. For the first time since the financial crisis, official figures show Italian and Spanish manufacturing output on the rise, while German and French production is shrinking - a complete reversal of the long-term trend. Messi is to stand trial for tax evasion. ............ FOLLOWING A picture of a naked man tied to a post in a Benidorm bar appearing on the front page of a national Spanish newspaper last weekend, the Town....is looking at decency byelaws..... Heartbreaking images of families in Birmingham is just one of 100 that were taken by photographer Nick Hedges in Britain's slums in the 1960s and 1970s. A survey for gig sales outlet Ticketmaster examined 'unacceptable' jokes and found that while topics like disability, race and death were off-limits, others were up for debate A middle aged woman has been found posting internet messages because she wrongly believes that Kate and Gerry McCann had some involvement in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine in Portugal in 2007. At Luton Crown Court, 38-year-old James Ogley, the vicar of Saint Francis Church in Luton, pleaded guilty to seven charges of publishing obscene material in the form of chat logs. Six offences relate to material posted online in June 2012 and one to a publication in November 2012. Ogley, who had been suspended from his post since his arrest, was jailed for two years.
