Spanish PM Demands Direct Rule on Catalonia

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called on senators to approve direct rule over Catalonia, amid an escalating crisis over the region's push for independence. He said he wanted to dismiss Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, his vice-president and all regional ministers. Also in the programme; Two white farmers in South Africa have been given long prison sentences for forcing a black man into a coffin and threatening to set it on fire and; how the success of surviving open heart surgery depends on what time of day the patient goes under the knife.

Picture: Catalan pro-independence button badges are sold outside the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. Credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images