Spain PM, Catalonia leader open talks on conflict

The Spanish government and the separatist leaders of Catalonia formally opened talks on Wednesday on how to resolve the festering political crisis provoked by the region's separatist movement.

As expected, the three-hour meeting between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Catalan regional chief Quim Torra and their teams did not lead to any major breakthroughs.

Torra repeated his demands for northeastern Catalonia to be allowed to hold an independence referendum and for the release of nine separatist leaders who are serving prison sentences for their role in an illegal 2017 secession attempt.

Polls and the most recent election results indicate that roughly 50% of the 7.5 million residents of northeastern Catalonia are in favor of secession.

The other half of Catalans, like most of the rest of Spain, are against it.