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Despite the election results in Catalonia two days ago, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says he will not negotiate with Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont. Puigdemont had offered to talk to Rajoy, albeit not in Spain but in a foreign country. He's currently hiding in Belgium, knowing full well that he will be arrested the very moment he sets foot in Spanish territory. "Prime Minister Rajoy has a wonderful opportunity to start siding with the solution seekers and to not create any more problems than he has already created," Puigdemont said after the elections. Rajoy disagrees, however. His response to the...

The leader of Spain's anti-austerity party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, on Friday proposed forming a government with the Socialists, making a left-wing governing alliance more likely after last month's inconclusive election. Iglesias told a news conference he had informed King Felipe VI of "our desire to form a government of change with the Socialists and the United Left" and that he would seek the post of deputy prime minister. [...] Last month's general election produced a hung parliament in which a ruling majority cannot easily be formed. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party won the most seats, 119, but...

The top brass of Spain’s ruling conservative Popular Party including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have attended the same-sex marriage of their deputy secretary-general, giving tacit approval to a law they once bitterly opposed. Javier Maroto exchanged vows with Josema Rodriguez late Friday at a ceremony in the northern city of Vitoria attended by Rajoy, secretary-general Maria Dolores Cospedal and other party dignitaries, the party said in a statement. “In Spain, the right to marriage is for everyone and we all share that message today,” Maroto said afterward. “Parties evolve,” he added. “Now my party and the government join in backing...

(Reuters) - Hundreds of unemployed Spaniards who had walked hundreds of kilometres (miles) to Madrid joined protests on Saturday against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government and its handling of an economic crisis. Demonstrations have swollen across Spain since the centre-right government announced 65 billion euros in new spending cuts two weeks ago to cut its deficit and avert a full-blown bailout, with firefighters and police joining a mass protest on Thursday. Several hundred people journeyed on foot from the southern region of Andalucia, which has one of the worst unemployment rates in Spain, and from northern Catalonia and other areas...

Spanish voters on Sunday are expected to dismiss the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and usher in the conservative People's Party (PP) and its leader, Mariano Rajoy. Mr. Zapatero’s Socialist party (PSOE), which has been in power for eight years, has borne the brunt of public blame for Spain’s increasingly perilous economic situation, which has tainted the party’s leadership candidate, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba. Meanwhile, Mr. Rajoy has been coasting toward an expected landslide victory without saying much about how he plans to reverse Spain’s economic course... The situation is bleak for the eurozone’s fourth-largest...

The Axis of Arrogance By Patrick Rooney Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a nation votes for its president, and the result is breathtakingly close. There is a question about a high number of “invalid” ballots. The loser—from a wealthy family—rages, and demands a recount. The winner urges unity. The winner’s campaign promoted a stand for freedom. The loser’s campaign promoted appeasement to dictators. I’m talking about Taiwan 2004, not America 2000. But the example also tends to destroy an old boyhood myth I once believed, that the world was vast and diverse. No, in many ways, it’s actually...

MADRID, March 14 (Reuters) - Protesters shouted "Liar!" and "Get our troops out of Iraq!" at Spain's ruling party prime ministerial candidate Mariano Rajoy as he voted in the general election on Sunday, three days after the Madrid bombings. Tensions are running high in the country after the bombings of four packed commuter trains on Thursday which killed 200 and wounded 1,500. Police are investigating a videotape purporting to be from the Islamic militant group al Qaeda saying it was responsible for the bombing and that it was a reprisal for Spain's support for the Iraq war. For two days...

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spaniards voted Sunday in a general election thrown wide open by a reported al-Qaida claim that it staged the Madrid rail bombings to punish the government for supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Ruling Popular Party candidate Mariano Rajoy led most polls until Thursday's bombing, which killed 200 and injured 1,500 others. His conservative party had been projected to win most seats in the 350-member Congress of Deputies, and maybe retain its outright majority. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's government initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the rail attack. But just hours before polls...

Aznar ready to quit as his successor wins party backing By Isambard Wilkinson, Madrid Correspondent (Filed: 02/09/2003) The Spanish prime minister, José María Aznar, who supported the war in Iraq against enormous domestic opposition, had his hand-picked successor endorsed by his party yesterday, clearing the way for him to stand down. Mr Aznar, a former tax inspector who has served as prime minister for seven years but has been promising to step down for the past 18 months, named his deputy, Mariano Rajoy, to take over from him in elections next March. José María Aznar [right] and Mariano Rajoy When...