Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces a decisive debate in parliament from Thursday as the Socialist opposition seeks the votes to oust him. Lawmakers are due to vote on the no-confidence motion Friday and people close to the negotiations were signaling late Wednesday that Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez is likely to get the support he needs to replace Rajoy as prime minister. Sanchez already has the backing of the anti-establishment group Podemos and Esquerra Republicana, one of two Catalan separatist groups. He needs the other Catalan party, PdeCat, and the Basque Nationalists to clinch it. (full story)