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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday he will pardon nine imprisoned Catalan separatists who've been charged with sedition over their roles in a 2017 referendum on Catalan independence. The announcement came during a speech in Catalonia's capital, Barcelona, about the future of the region. Sanchez said his cabinet would approve the pardons on Tuesday. Twelve separatists were convicted and given long prison sentences for their roles in holding the banned secession referendum in 2017. They then declared independence a few days after the results. Unionists boycotted the referendum, which was held amid a large police presence intent on stopping it. The pardons have been a divisive issue in the rest of Spain. National polling indicates 60 percent of Spaniards oppose them. Earlier this month, thousands opposed to the pardons took to the streets in Madrid to protest the idea and call for Sanchez's resignation.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi says the asylum system in the United States has become "unmanageable" and that his agency supports, quote, "a gradual improvement toward a more effective and humane migration system." In an interview with VOA, Grandi said reform is a complex operation that will take years to achieve, but he added he is encouraged by what he has seen from the Biden White House after a big cut in resettlements during the Trump administration. The maximum number of refugees allowed into the United States fell from 85,000 in 2016 to just 18,000 in 2020. The Biden administration has boosted the cap to 62,500 refugee admissions this year and says it hopes to push the number to 125,000 sometime in the future.
Afghanistan's former president said Sunday the United States came to his country to fight extremism and bring stability to his war-tortured nation and is leaving nearly 20 years later having failed at both. In an interview with AP just weeks before the last U.S. and NATO troops leave Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai said extremism is at its "highest point" and the departing troops are leaving behind a disaster. Still, Karzai, who had a conflicted relationship with the United States during his 13 years in office, wanted the troops to leave. He said Afghans were united behind an overwhelming desire for peace and need now to take responsibility for their future. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA News.
