MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Supreme Court plans to convict and sentence Catalan separatist leaders to a maximum of 15 years in prison over a 2017 bid for independence, a judicial source said on Saturday.
The most prominent of the 12 Catalan leaders on trial would be found guilty of charges of sedition and misuse of public funds but none would be convicted and sentenced for the more severe charge of rebellion, the source told Reuters.
The decision was taken unanimously by the seven members of the top court, the source added.
The verdict is expected to be signed by the judges and made public next week, most likely on Monday, the source said.
A Supreme Court spokeswoman declined to comment.
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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch police on Saturday said they had detained 130 protesters with environmental group Extinction Rebellion who blocked locations in downtown Amsterdam to draw attention to climate change.
The group, which wants governments to take immediate action to avert the worst devastation outlined by scientists studying climate, is engaged in two weeks of civil disobedience in cities worldwide.
In Amsterdam, demonstrators brought a boat decorated with climate change slogans to the famous "Blauwbrug” bridge in front of City Hall.
Police said in a statement they had decided to make arrests because the demonstration had not been approved and activists were blocking traffic.
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SEOUL (Reuters) - A growing corruption scandal involving a newly-appointed justice minister is bringing South Koreans from both ends of the political spectrum into the streets in numbers rarely seen since protests helped bring down former leader Park Geun-hye in 2017.
During recent holidays, tens of thousands of protesters staged demonstrations, including in downtown Seoul on Wednesday. The capital saw more candle-lit gatherings on Saturday.
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 SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - At least five people were injured in a grenade attack in India-controlled Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar on Saturday, police said, the second such attack since India stripped the Himalayan region of its special status.
"Terrorists lobbed a grenade at HSH Street Srinagar,” Kashmir police said on Twitter. "All (injured) are stated to be stable. Area under cordon,” it said, adding that a search operation was underway.
The attack took place in central Srinagar’s Hari Singh High street, and the victims are being treated at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, a police official and a staff member at the hospital said. They declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak publicly.
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QITO (Dispatches) - Tear gas and rocks went flying in the Ecuadoran capital of Quito, amidst public anger over austerity measures.
Hopes for a negotiated end to the worst unrest in Ecuador in at least a decade dimmed on Friday as clashes between police and anti-austerity protesters continued for a ninth day in the highland capital Quito.
Despite offers by the United Nations to mediate talks five days ago, President Lenin Moreno and protest organizers remain in a deadlock.
But seeking to break the impasse, a group of women in the protest approach a police line to seek an informal truce directly between officers and the demonstrators.
The unrest has led Moreno's government to flee the capital for a safer city on the coast and curbed nearly 900,000 barrels of crude production in the OPEC-member nation. At least four protesters have died in the unrest and hundreds have been wounded and arrested.