Spain lawmakers begin debating divisive amnesty bill

On Tuesday, Spanish lawmakers began debating a controversial bill to grant an amnesty to Catalan separatists that was pledged by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in order to remain in power.

The amnesty offer came six years after a failed independence bid by Catalan separatists, with Sanchez insisting it would help turn the page on Spain's political crisis in decades that still stirs up very raw emotions.

For years, Sanchez opposed such a move but recently admitted he'd had a change of heart. It was a necessary decision to learn from what happened in 2017 and move towards a resolution of the conflict with Catalonia, he said to the Spanish public on Monday.