Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena rejected a petition from Spain's top prosecutor to issue a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont, saying the former Catalan leader was trying to "provoke his arrest overseas" with his planned trip to Copenhagen. Llarena, the Spain Supreme Court judge, said he suspected Puigdemont planned the trip to Denmark with its attendant risk of arrest so he could blame Spain for missing an upcoming vote in the regional Parliament to elect a new leader. The Catalan parliament has not set a date for the investiture vote, but the deadline is Jan. 31st. Spain ousted Puigdemont's Cabinet, dissolved the regional parliament and called a December regional election as part of special powers invoked following the independence declaration. A Faeroese lawmaker invited Puigdemont to the Danish Parliament on Tuesday.

Source: ABC News January 22, 2018 08:17 UTC