Spain Dismisses Catalonia Government After Region Declares Independence: Here’s What We’re Reading Today

The Daily 5 is Sharp’s essential reading list for what’s happening in the world today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Sharp Insider newsletter to stay up to date.

Here’s what we’re reading today.

1. Spain dismisses Catalonia government after region declares independence

“Spain’s leader fired the government of the country’s Catalonia region on Friday, dissolved the regional parliament and ordered new elections after defiant Catalan lawmakers declared independence, escalating the biggest political crisis to hit Spain in decades.

“The measures announced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a televised address capped a frenzied day of political maneuvering in Madrid, Spain’s capital, and Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, where the long drive for independence — illegal under Spain’s Constitution — has now reached its fiercest level yet.”

New York Times

2. Ontario municipalities will soon learn where LCBO-run cannabis stores might be

“Municipalities in Ontario will find out in the coming weeks if a provincially run cannabis store could be located in their community.

“In a letter sent to the province’s municipalities today, Finance Minister Charles Sousa says Ontario’s store roll out aims to achieve the right geographic distribution across the province and to reduce the number of illegal marijuana dispensaries that have opened since the federal government announced it would legalize marijuana next summer.”

CBC News

3. New memo suggests Russian lawyer at Trump Tower meeting was acting ‘as an agent’ of the Kremlin

“The Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s son, son-in-law, and campaign chairman last June at Trump Tower brought a memo with her to that meeting that contained many of the same talking points as one written by the Russian prosecutor’s office two months earlier.

“The memo Natalia Veselnitskaya provided to the Trump campaign last year focused on banker-turned-human rights activist Bill Browder, whose reputation has become inextricably linked to the global human-rights campaign he launched in 2009 after tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison.”

– Business Insider

4. Amazon just explained how Whole Foods fits into its plan for world domination

“The company envisions nothing less than using the Whole Foods infrastructure to build itself into the real, physical lives of everyday Americans.”

– Quartz

5. Great, Mexican drug cartels now have weaponized drones

“‘Potato bomb’ quadcopters give narcos more options for perpetrating crimes they’re perfectly capable of pulling off some other way.”

Motherboard