SPAIN SAYS CATALAN INDEPENDENCE RESPONSE UNCLEAR

LUXEMBOURG: Catalonia’s separatist leader has not given Madrid the clear answer it wanted over whether or not he has declared independence, the Spanish foreign minister said Monday. In response to a deadline set by the central government to clarify an ambiguous independence speech last week, Catalan president Carles Puigdemont wrote a letter calling for talks to settle Spain’s worst political crisis in a generation. Madrid has threatened to impose direct rule over semi-autonomous Catalonia if it declares independence based on a hotly-disputed October 1 referendum. “It’s clear Mr. Puigdemont has not responded, has not given the clarity we asked of him,” said Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis on arriving for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “I think it (the letter) does not constitute a response to the formal request” for clarity made by the Spanish government, he said. Dastis said he thought the letter showed that “the most radical elements” had the upper hand in the Catalan administration. as Tropical Depression Khanun barreled towards northern Vietnam. Forecasters said Khanun has weakened from a typhoon after passing south of Hong Kong. But it threatens to bring heavy rain and more misery to areas already hard hit by floods and landslides, including Hoa Binh province where 23 died last week. The province declared a state of emergency on Monday over warnings that more landslides could occur as Khanun approached.

SKOREA POLICE SEEK ARREST WARRANT FOR HANJIN CHIEF

SEOUL: South Korean police on Monday sought an arrest warrant for the chairman of Hanjin Group—a former chief organizer of the 2018 Winter Olympics—for embezzling millions of dollars of company funds. Cho Yang-Ho is under investigation for allegedly using three billion won (US$2.65 million) allotted for the construction of a new hotel to pay for the remodeling of his house in 2013. An arrest warrant has been requested on charges of breach of trust, a police official said. Hanjin Group is one of South Korea’s largest companies and the parent of Korean Air, the country’s flag carrier. But it has faced repeated troubles in recent years. Its sea transport arm Hanjin Shipping—once the seventh-largest in the world—was declared bankrupt in February. Cho last year stepped down from heading the organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to address the “critical financial issues” at the unit. His daughter Cho Hyun-Ah was jailed in 2014 following a meltdown on board a Seoul-bound Korean Air flight that had just left the gate in New York. As the plane was taxiing to the runway, Cho, sitting in first class, became enraged when a flight attendant served her some nuts in a bag, rather than on a plate.