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Catalan crisis: EU leaders rule out involvement in crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) talks with Spanish Prime minister Mariano Rajoy (R) prior to their meeting, during the EU leaders summit on the first day of the European Council in BrusselsImage copyrightEPA
Image captionSpain's PM Mariano Rajoy is with other EU leaders - including France's Emmanuel Macron (L) - at a major summit
European Council President Donald Tusk has explicitly ruled out any EU action over Catalonia, despite the "concerning" situation.
"There is no room, no space for any kind of mediation or international initiative or action," he said.
He was speaking at a joint news conference with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Catalans voted to secede in a 1 October referendum, which was outlawed by Spain and has prompted mass demonstrations.
Mr Tusk's remarks came hours after Spain said it was beginning the process of imposing direct rule on the autonomous region.
"I am of course for many reasons in permanent contact with (Spain's) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy," Mr Tusk said.
"There is no hiding that the situation in Spain is concerning, but our position... is clear."
He was speaking ahead of an EU Council summit, but said the issue of Catalonia was "not in our agenda".
Other European leaders, including Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron, also threw their support behind Madrid.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the crisis exposed Western hypocrisy, which backs some separatist movements but not others.
He argued that Western nations had supported the independence of Kosovo from Serbia - a Russian ally - but not Catalonia or for Iraqi Kurdistan.
He also raised the opposition of many nations to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, which resulted in international sanctions against Russia.

What's happening in Catalonia?

Spain said it would begin the process of imposing direct rule on Saturday by activating article 155 of the country's constitution.
But Catalonia's leader said the region's parliament would vote to formally declare its independence if Spain continued "repression".
Some fear the latest moves could spark further unrest after mass demonstrations before and since the ballot on 1 October.
Spain's supreme court declared the vote illegal and said it violated the constitution, which describes the country as indivisible.
People attend a candle-lit demonstration in Barcelona against the arrest of two Catalan separatist leaders on October 17, 2017Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionIn Barcelona, many attended a candle-lit demonstration following the arrest of two separatist leaders
Article 155 of the constitution, which cemented democratic rule three years after the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975, allows Madrid to impose direct rule in a crisis but it has never been invoked.
But the Spanish government now says it will begin the procedure on Saturday.
"No-one doubts that the Spanish government will do all it can to restore the constitutional order," a government statement said.

What happens now?

On Saturday, the government is due to decide a list of specific measures to transfer powers from Catalonia to Madrid.
The extent of those measures is not yet clear - but could include taking control of the regional police, or even calling a snap election.
Xavier Arbós, a constitutional expert at the University of Barcelona, said: "We simply do not know what measures the Spanish government could enact.
"We do not know how the powers of the Catalan government could be affected."
A Catalonia protest poster is shown during the UEFA Champions League group D match between FC Barcelona and Olympiakos Piraeus at Camp Nou on October 18, 2017 in BarcelonaImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionCatalan flags were shown by many of the crowd at Barcelona's home football match on Wednesday
Spain's Senate, controlled by Mr Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) and its allies, would then have to approve the list.
Analysts say Article 155 does not give the government the power to fully suspend autonomy, and it will not be able to deviate from the list of measures.

Where does this leave the Catalan leader?

After the 1 October vote, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence, but immediately suspended it to allow for talks.
He has warned the suspended status could change.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont (left) and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Photo: March 2016Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionCarles Puigdemont (L) is facing off with Mariano Rajoy (R)
"The Catalan parliament could proceed, if it is considered opportune, to vote on a formal declaration of independence," he said.
But if Madrid takes control of the region's finances or police force, or dissolves the Catalan regional parliament, such a vote would be a challenge.
The constitution does not put any time limit on the process, however.
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India rape: Uncle did not father child's baby - DNA test

An image depicting child abuseImage copyrightISTOCK
Police in India have reopened the case of a 10-year-old girl after forensic tests revealed that her baby's DNA samples did not match those of her uncle who is charged with raping her.
After the Supreme Court denied her permission to abort, she gave birth to a baby girl last month.
The 10-year-old was not aware of her pregnancy. She was told her bulge was because she had a stone in her stomach.
She alleges she was raped several times in the past seven months by the uncle.
The accused, who is in his 40s, was arrested and is being tried in a special court dealing with crimes against children. He is in prison and has made no statement so far.
The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi says the result of the DNA test has now led to questions over whether the girl was abused by others.
The girl's father had earlier told the BBC that the accused had not denied the charges against him. Police said the uncle had admitted to the allegations, our correspondent reports.
"So far no-one had thought of any other possibility. The girl had testified to the court on video conferencing and in her statement, she had very clearly named the uncle and revealed facts about her abuse," an official involved with the investigation told the BBC on Wednesday.
The girl's mother has reportedly told the investigators that they do not doubt anyone else, so the case has taken a very strange turn, the official added.
On Tuesday, police and counsellors visited the family again to speak to the 10-year-old.
Her pregnancy was discovered in mid-July when she complained of stomach ache and her parents took her to hospital.
A local court in Chandigarh turned down the abortion plea on the grounds that she was too far into her pregnancy after a doctors' panel advised that termination of the pregnancy would be "too risky". Later, the Supreme Court also refused to allow an abortion for her on similar grounds.
As her family refused to have anything to do with the newborn, the baby is in the care of child welfare personnel and will be put up for adoption.
The landmark case dominated global headlines for weeks, with officials saying they had never heard of a mother so young giving birth in an Indian hospital.
Indian law does not allow terminations after 20 weeks unless doctors certify that the mother's life is in danger.
But in recent years, the courts have received several petitions, many from child rape survivors, seeking to terminate pregnancies after 20 weeks. In most cases, these pregnancies are discovered late because the children themselves are not aware of their condition.
Last Friday, a 13-year-old girl who was 32 weeks pregnant gave birth to a baby boy after the court allowed her to terminate her pregnancy. The infant died two days later.
In May, a similar case was reported from the northern state of Haryana where a 10-year-old, allegedly raped by her stepfather, was allowed to abort. She was about 20 weeks pregnant, doctors said.
None of the girls can be named for legal reasons.

India is home to 400 million childrenImage copyrightAFP

The scale of abuse in India

  • A child under 16 is raped every 155 minutes, a child under 10 every 13 hours
  • More than 10,000 children were raped in 2015
  • 240 million women living in India were married before they turned 18
  • 53.22% of children who participated in a government study reported some form of sexual abuse
  • 50% of abusers are known to the child or are "persons in trust and care-givers"
Sources: Indian government, Unicef
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Sam Warburton: Surgery rules out Wales and Cardiff Blues player for four months

Sam Warburton
Sam Warburton has won 74 caps for Wales having made his debut in 2009
Wales and Cardiff Blues flanker Sam Warburton is to have surgery on a long-standing neck injury, ruling him out for up to four months.
The 28-year-old, who captained the British and Irish Lions in their drawn Test series with New Zealand this summer, aggravated the injury in training this week.
The operation means Warburton will miss all four of Wales' autumn Tests.
He will also miss key Pro14 and Challenge Cup dates for the Blues.
Warburton missed six weeks at the end of last season with a knee injury, while in October 2016 he suffered a fractured cheekbone that put him out for three weeks.
He has also had several serious shoulder injuries during his career and also missed the deciding Lions Test against Australia in 2013 with a torn hamstring.
The Blues already have injury problems in the back row, with Ellis Jenkins (hamstring) and James Botham (ankle) also ruled out for up to four months.
That leaves Josh Navidi as the only senior specialist open-side flanker.
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iPhone X: 10 key moments leading up to the new handset

iPhoneImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionAttendees at the original iPhone's unveiling could look at but not touch the handset
Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone launch is expected to be the biggest single upgrade the handset has seen since its launch.
A revamped design with an edge-to-edge display, facial recognition ID system and advanced augmented reality features is expected.
Several analysts have predicted the asking price for the top-end models will hit new heights too.
In a world in which the smartphone has become ubiquitous, it's easy to forget how much of a surprise Steve Jobs's unveiling of the original was a decade ago, and how divided opinion was about whether it was truly a game-changer.
To mark the occasion, we have picked 10 key moments from its past.

1. 2004: The birth of Project Purple

Project Purple designImage copyrightAPPLE
Image captionThis design - codenamed Purple - was created by Apple's designers in August 2005
After the success of first the iMac and then the iPod, Apple began developing a tablet as its next breakthrough product.
But around 2004, ex-iOS chief Scott Forstall recalls having a critical conversation over lunch with chief executive Steve Jobs.
"We were both using our phones and hated them," he told an audience earlier this year.
"We looked around, and like everyone around us has a phone, and everyone looks very angsty as they're using them.
"And Steve said, 'Do you think we can take that demo we are doing with the tablet and multi-touch and shrink it down to something… small enough to fit in your pocket?'"
This prompted Apple's engineers to create a basic contacts app that was constrained to a corner of the prototype tablet's display.
"The second [Steve Jobs] saw this demo, he knew this was it," Mr Forstall said. "There was no question. This was the way a phone had to behave."
As a legal filing would later reveal, by August 2005 Apple's industrial designers had already created a concept form factor - codenamed Purple - that is recognisable as the basis for the iPhone that followed.

2. July 2008: First iOS App Store apps released

MooImage copyrightERICA SADUN
Image captionOne of the original third-party iPhone apps is still available via the App Store
There are now well over two million native apps available for the iPhone's iOS operating system, and most owners have several pages and folders worth of the programs.
But for a while, after the first iPhone launched, there weren't enough to fill even a single screen.
That's because third-party developers were initially limited to creating software that ran within the device's web browser. Steve Jobs reportedly believed policing a native app marketplace would be too complicated.
It wasn't until more than a year after the handset went on sale that the App Store was launched.
And history was made on 9 July when Apple made a handful of native apps live in advance of the marketplace opening its virtual doors.
Among them was Moo - a cow sound simulator - from Denver-based developer Erica Sadun.
"I had come from the jailbreak community [in which developers modify smartphones to add capabilities], which put a lot of pressure on Apple to have its own store," Ms Sadun said.
"The App Store completely revolutionised how independent developers could create businesses, monetise their product and present it to a community of people that was larger than anybody had ever dreamed of.
"It created a gold rush that I don't think we are ever going to see again."

3. September 2008: HTC Dream unveiled

HTC DreamImage copyrightHTC
Image captionThe original Android phone did not feature multi-touch capabilities
It sounds fanciful now, but once upon a time Google's chief executive was a member of Apple's board of directors.
Eric Schmidt did not resign from the post until 2009, but his days were numbered as soon as the first commercial Android phone was announced.
The HTC Dream offered features the iPhone still lacked, including copy and paste, Street View and multimedia messaging.
And while reviews were tepid - suggesting it was "best suited for early adopters" - they recognised the potential of a more open smartphone platform to iOS.
Curiously, the Dream was theoretically capable of supporting "multi-touch" gestures - recognising how many fingers were in contact with the screen - but the feature was disabled.
That was probably because Apple had patented the technology.
When HTC added the feature to a follow-up handset in 2010, Steve Jobs was infuriated.
"I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product," he subsequently told his biographer Walter Isaacson.
"I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this."

4. February 2010: Siri app released by SRI

SiriImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionSiri allowed Apple to enter the Search market
These days, Apple spends millions making adverts starring Siri and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, among other celebrity co-stars.
But when the virtual assistant was first released on iOS, it was a relatively low-profile app from a fairly obscure Californian research institute, which had been part-funded by the Pentagon.
Its business model was to charge restaurants and event promoters a fee for any voice-controlled bookings made for their businesses, and the plan was to release follow-up versions for Android and Blackberry.
But that changed two months after its launch, when Apple bought the technology, reportedly for more than $200m (£150m).
The app remained live on the App Store until October 2011, at which point an upgraded version became an exclusive feature for the newly launched iPhone 4S.
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