BARCELONA, OCT 29 (DNA) – Sacked Catalonian president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday called for peaceful “democratic opposition” to the central government’s takeover of the region following its unilateral declaration of independence from Spain. Puigdemont, whose regional government was dismissed by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday, accused Madrid of “premeditated aggression” against the will of the Catalans. Rajoy removed Puigdemont, took over the administration of the autonomous region, and called a new election after Catalonia’s parliament declared itself an independent nation on Friday.

ULAANBAATAR, OCT 23 (DNA) – Ten climbers who ignored a ban on ascending Mongolia s Mount Otgontenger have been killed by an avalanche while seven others are still missing, rescue services said Monday. The Mongolian nationals have been missing since Sunday after reaching the peak of the 4,021-metre (13,192 foot) mountain. The bodies were found at a lower altitude of 3,400 metres. The group was made up of four women and 13 men aged 30 to 50, and it is unclear who among them are still missing.

MADRID, OCT 17 (DNA) –  A Spanish court has ordered two powerful Catalan separatists to be detained, threatening a further escalation of the political crisis on Tuesday as both sides refuse to budge in their high-stakes standoff over the region’s independence bid. Protests broke out in Catalonia’s capital Barcelona on Monday as news spread that Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez were being kept behind bars on sedition charges. The pair are the leaders of pro-independence citizens’ groups Omnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) respectively, both of which count tens of thousands of members and have emerged as key players in the Catalonia crisis.

TOKYO, OCT 14 (DNA) – An elderly penguin who shot to fame in Japan after falling in love with a cardboard cut-out of a cartoon character has died, at the ripe old age of 21. Officials at Tobu zoo in Saitama, north of Tokyo, said Grape passed away after a brief illness with the object of his desire right by his side. He would have been around 80 in human years. Earlier this year, the Humboldt penguin became smitten with a cut-out of Hululu — a character from the Japanese anime “Kemono Friends” — after being dumped by his former mate, a female called Midori. A love-sick Grape found solace in Hululu and would stare at her for hours on end.