Separatists on Sunday won a clear majority of seats in Catalonia's parliament in an election that sets the region on a collision course with Spain's central government over independence.

"Catalans have voted yes to independence," acting regional government head Artur Mas told supporters, with secessionist parties securing 72 out of 135 seats in the powerful region of 7.5 million people that includes Barcelona.

The strong pro-independence showing dealt a blow to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, three months before a national election. His center-right government, which has opposed attempts to hold a referendum on secession, has called the separatist plan "a nonsense" and vowed to block it in court.

Spain's constitution does not allow any region to break away, so the prospect remains highly hypothetical.

The main secessionist group "Junts pel Si" (Together for Yes) won 62 seats, while the smaller leftist CUP party got another 10, according to official results. They jointly obtained 47.8 percent of the vote in a record turnout of 78 percent, a big boost to an independence campaign that has been losing support over the last two years.

Both had said before the vote that such a result would allow them to unilaterally declare independence within 18 months, under a plan that would see the new Catalan authorities approving their own constitution and building institutions like an army, central bank and judicial system.

Addressing supporters of Junts pel Si in central Barcelona, Mas said a "democratic mandate" now existed to move forward with independence.

The vote in Catalonia, Spain's second-most populous region, is widely expected to influence the course of the Spanish general election in December.

Spain's two dominant parties - the ruling People's Party and the opposition Socialists - lost tens of thousands of votes compared with the last election in 2012, boding ill for their national ambitions, although the PP suffered a much deeper setback than its rival.

"Many have voted for Junts pel Si even if they don't favor secession because they saw the vote as a blank cartridge... and a way to gain a stronger position ahead of a negotiation," said Jose Pablo Ferrandiz from polling firm Metroscopia.

Opinion polls show a majority of Catalans would like to remain within Spain if the region were offered a more favorable tax regime and laws that better protect language and culture.

While investors do not see secession as an immediate material risk, financial markets may react negatively on Monday. The gap between Spanish five-year bond yields and the higher yields on the Catalan equivalents has been hovering near its widest point in two years in the run-up to the vote.

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German prosecutors launched an investigation on Monday into former Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) boss Martin Winterkorn over the rigging of vehicle emissions tests, as the carmaker suspended three top engineers in an attempt to tackle the crisis.

The investigation into Winterkorn, who quit on Wednesday after almost nine years at the helm of Europe's largest carmaker, is into "allegations of fraud in the sale of cars with manipulated emissions data," the prosecutor's office said.

Volkswagen, which has admitted to cheating diesel emissions tests in the United States, is under huge pressure to get to grips with the biggest business scandal in its 78-year history.

It named company veteran Matthias Mueller on Friday as chief executive and agreed to appoint a U.S. law firm to conduct a full investigation.

Sources familiar with the matter said on Monday it had also suspended the heads of research and development at its core VW brand, luxury division Audi and sports car maker Porsche.

But the crisis shows no sign of dying down.

Two German newspapers said on Sunday Volkswagen's own staff and one of its suppliers had warned years ago about the illegal use of so-called "defeat devices" to detect when a car was being tested and alter the running of its diesel engine to conceal their emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides.

Environmental campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) published new data on Monday showing that some new Mercedes, BMW and Peugeot cars use 50 percent more fuel than laboratory tests show, saying this was evidence of a wider industry problem.

T&E, which works closely with the European Commission, said its data did not prove other firms were using defeat devices. But it said the gap between lab results and road performance had grown to such an extent for emissions of both carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides that further investigation was needed to discover what carmakers were doing to mask emissions.

"The Volkswagen scandal was just the tip of the iceberg," said Greg Archer, clean vehicles manager at T&E, adding the gap between lab tests and real-world performance cost a typical driver 450 euros ($504) per year.

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This weekend, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley. Google, Facebook, and Tesla were among those jostling for the Asian premier's attention, and a bevy of new announcements have followed — underscoring the growing importance of the Indian market to the American tech titans.

Of course, there have been efforts underway to tap into India's 1.25-billion-plus citizens (and other developing economies) by tech companies for years now. One of the most high-profile is Internet.org, a cross-company initiative led by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. It aims to bring cheap internet to emerging markets.

The reasoning behind this push is obvious: Every new internet user is a new potential customer. Connecting the unconnected is "not all altruism," Zuckerberg said over the weekend (in relation to project to bring internet to refugee camps). "We all benefit when we are more connected." 

Modi's visit to California this weekend comes hot on the heels of a trip by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. But relationships between American companies and China can be strained by the latter's authoritarian policies — Google does not current operate in mainland China.

In contrast, the New York Times reported, Modi "was on a charm offensive during his own American tour." At a town hall event held with Facebook, the Prime Minister teared up as he discussed his mother. Zuckerberg also shared details of his own spiritual journey to India at the urging of Steve Jobs.

While in Silicon Valley, he also visited the offices of Google and attended a dinner with the likes of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and 350 other business leaders. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, visited Modi at his hotel, Reuters reports.

We're now seeing a bevy of announcements from tech companies attempting to capitalize of this visit. Google, for example, says it will install Wi-Fi in 400 train stations across the country. More ambitiously, Microsoft plans to bring cheap broadband internet to 500,000 villages across the country.

There are still hurdles to overcome, however — Along with basic connectivity, the language barrier being a key one.

Only one in six Indians knows enough English to surf the web in the language. But there are few web pages in Hindi or India’s 21 other official languages. “There are more web pages in Estonian than in Hindi,” Mr. Menon said.

Still, India has vast potential — an untapped well of hundreds of millions of new internet users. American tech companies are taking note.

"(India) has moved on from scriptures to satellites," Modi said this weekend, according to Reuters. "The world has started to believe that the twenty-first century belongs to India."

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Pope Francis goes to the United Nations on Friday to address global leaders on the need to help refugees fleeing wars and plea for greater attention to the world's poor and downtrodden.

The pope arrived in New York on Thursday night from Washington after urging Congress to help heal many of the nation's divisive wounds such as the current heated political battle over immigration.

A brass band from a Catholic high school greeted his plane with the classic tune "New York, New York," and the pope accepted flowers from the crowd of about 200 at the airport.

Apart from addressing the General Assembly, he will also lead an inter-religious prayer service at the site where al Qaeda militants brought down the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

He will also visit a Catholic elementary school in Harlem whose students are mostly immigrants or refugees, parade through Central Park, and say Mass in New York's famed Madison Square Garden.

Two years into his papacy, Francis has won the admiration of many in the United States, with liberals captivated by his focus on meeting the needs of the poor and addressing the excesses of capitalism, while some conservatives have expressed dismay that he has given less emphasis to the Roman Catholic Church's longstanding opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

The 78-year-old leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics offered a hint of the issues he would address at the UN's 70th anniversary in a wide-ranging speech to Congress on Thursday.

"Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion," Francis said. "Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions."

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing years of fighting in the Middle East have attempted to cross into Europe this year, raising tensions within the European Union as member states argue about their obligations to harbor newcomers.

The pope early this month called on every European parish to take in a refugee family, a move that could provide shelter for tens of thousands of families.

The pope's arrival in New York on Thursday resulted in a heavier security presence throughout midtown Manhattan at a time when police are normally out in force for the United Nations General Assembly, which brings dozens of world leaders to the city.

The New York Police Department warned that it expected to set up some 37 miles (60 km) of barriers along roadways during Francis' visit. He is the third pope to visit New York City in the last 20 years.

The city's transit agency urged commuters not to drive into Manhattan on Friday and one company advertised $95 cross-town helicopter rides for people hoping to escape the resulting gridlock.

Juanita Jara, a 58-year-old nanny, said she would be among the crowd at the Madison Square Garden Mass and that she hoped Francis would continue his message of support for immigrants a day after he urged Congress to avoid an attitude of "hostility" to newcomers.

"I am a citizen, but a lot of people suffer separation from the family. I, for a long time, suffered that," said Jara, who emigrated from Paraguay a quarter-century ago. "I hope he pushes that."

The pope is also expected to repeat his plea for governments to take action to stem climate change, a call he made most prominently in "Laudato Si" the first papal encyclical dedicated to the environment, which was published in July.

That document has proven controversial in U.S. politics. Republicans, who in recent decades have embraced popes for their public opposition to abortion and gay marriage, criticizing the paper.

The pope will conclude his U.S. visit on Sunday with an open-air Mass in Philadelphia for 1.5 million people.

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