Catalonia faces Spanish deadline to drop independence bid or see possible takeover

Spain and Catalonia hurtled toward a potential secession showdown, with the president of the northeastern region facing a Thursday deadline set by the central government to back away from a bid for independence.

Madrid has warned that if Catalonia moves unilaterally to secede, the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will invoke a never-used provision of Spain's democracy-era Constitution to impose direct rule on the