Catalonia Ignores Spain, Will Vote on Independence

The back-and-forth over a Catalan independence vote continues: Yesterday Catalonia said it would move forward with a straw poll on Sunday despite opposition from Spain's Constitutional Court, the New York Times reports. The poll had already been downgraded to a "consultation" with voters, CNN reports; the court's latest order against the effort means it will be even less formal. Now it could be run by civic groups instead of the Catalan government, the Times notes.

Some 40,000 volunteers are on board to administer the referendum, the Guardian reports. "We will continue with the participative process, and we'll do it with all the consequences," says a Catalan government spokesman. Yesterday the court announced that it would hear the Spanish government's challenge to the informal vote, and Sunday's poll will be largely "symbolic," the Guardian notes; the Times adds that it won't likely hold water internationally. (More Catalonia stories.)