Catalonia’s Regional President Carles Puigdemont made it clear that though he would ideally hold the referendum with the central government’s approval, he would hold it “with or without Spain’s blessing.” [...] it would mean losing a sixth of its population, and a key economic contributor to the stagnant Spanish economy, in which some approximate 22 percent of the population are unemployed. But what would Catalan independence really mean? 

From London to Washington via Brussels, a diplomatic battle is rumbling as Spain's northeastern Catalonia region vies to win international backing for its contested drive for independence from Madrid. [...] Meanwhile, Mas and his Catalan nationalist allies are waging their own diplomatic campaign for support in power centres such as Brussels and Washington.

 India was one of the initiators of the historical Asian African Conference (AAC) together with Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan on 18 April-24 April 1955. India regained its independence from British colonial administration on 15 August 1947 led by its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was also a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Asia Africa conference was held amid raging war for independence in Asia and Africa.

Exactly one month from today, four million Scots will go to the polls to answer a simple question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Albert Royo-Mariné, secretary general of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia, a government-supported group that seeks to raise awareness about Catalonia, says that regardless of its outcome, the Scottish referendum is a "victory for democracy and common sense, and thus, it is a great example to Catalans."

As Iraqi Kurdish president Massoud Barzani asked legislators to prepare for an independence referendum Thursday, dozens of Kurds in the region's capital Erbil rallied in support, waving flags and chanting slogans of freedom and independence.