The crisis in Catalonia has gathered a dangerous momentum. 

Spain's prime minister Mariano Rajoy has said he wants the country's senate to give him direct power to dissolve the regional Catalan government and call an election as soon as possible.

Spain is to hold a special Cabinet meeting at the weekend to activate measures to take control of Catalonia's semi-autonomous powers after the region's leader threatened to explicitly declare independence if no talks were offered.

Spain's top court has officially ruled that Catalonia's disputed independence referendum was illegal because a regional law that backed it was against Spain's constitution.

Bosses at Caixabank have agreed to move its base from Barcelona to the eastern city of Valencia, outside Spain's Catalonia region.

A top Spanish government official in Catalonia has expressed regret about those injured when police cracked down on people taking part in a banned referendum.

Spain's government has approved a decree making it easier for companies to move their official base out of Catalonia.

Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau has demanded "an immediate end to police charges against the defenceless population".

Latest: Catalonia "has won the right to become an independent state", the Spanish region's leader Carles Puigdemont said.

The technology infrastructure for Catalonia's independence referendum has been dismantled, making the disputed vote "absolutely impossible", a Spanish government spokesman has said

The Catalan regional government's plan to hold an independence referendum is a mockery of democracy, Spain's foreign minister has said.

Spain's central government and regional Catalan authorities argued on Saturday over who controls the regional police force that is considered key to the success of a planned independence vote for the north-eastern region.

Three Irish exchange students have escaped injury in a coach crash in Spain which killed 13 women.

About 1.6 million people in Spain’s north-eastern region of Catalonia say they want to break away from the country and carve out a new Mediterranean nation.

More than a million voters participated yesterday in an informal vote on whether Catalonia should secede from the rest of Spain, officials said.

Spain’s north-eastern region of Catalonia has opened polling stations to hold an informal vote on independence that the central government has called illegal.

The regional leader of Catalonia has called off a vote on independence from Spain scheduled for November 9, but said that an unofficial poll will still be held to gauge sentiment on secession.

The Spanish government has filed appeals at the country’s top court to try and halt the powerful north-eastern region of Catalonia from staging an independence referendum.

The Spanish government has filed appeals at the country’s top court to try and halt the powerful north-eastern region of Catalonia from staging an independence referendum.

Suicide rates in Catalonia, the region in the north-east of Spain where the tragic Sant Andreu graveyard deaths occurred, have increased by 10% in one year alone and reflect a nationwide trend. Spain is slipping into despair as unemployment rates in the under 25s reach 52%. Overall unemployment is twice that of Ireland’s. Richard Fitzpatrick reports from Barcelona

Ryanair today confirmed the cancellation of its five-year extension agreement at Barcelona Girona Airport, which was originally announced in December 2010, saying the new Catalan government has refused to honour its agreement with the airline

The Spanish Grand Prix will remain at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona until 2016.

Catalonia gained sweeping powers to run its affairs after voters overwhelmingly approved a new blueprint for the region.

A natural gas explosion killed one person and injured 11 today at a four-storey apartment building in Spain’s north-eastern Catalunya region.