Catalan crisis: Eyes on 2 crucial meetings in Spain, the political crisis to end?

In the wake of a stand-off between the Spanish government and the rebellious region Catalonia over the latter’s independence campaign, we have two crucial meetings lined up in Spain that could decide its near-term future.

The Senate meeting is already underway, scheduled from 10 am local time (0800 GMT) on Friday to vote on steps to take over some of Catalonia's autonomous powers.

Meanwhile, Catalonia's parliament will resume debating its response to the Spanish government's plans to remove the Catalan government's regional leaders from office and strip off the authority of the region's parliament.

Hopes of a possible solution to the Catalan independence crisis were dashed on Thursday evening after the regional president, Carles Puigdemont, ruled out a snap election, the Guardian reports.

Last hour, the Spanish PM Rajoy spoke before the Parliament, asking the Senate to support the proposal on the Article 155, which Spaniards call it their government's "nuclear option". The implementation of the Article 115 seems the only way out to calm the Catalan crisis.