A Spanish train that hurtled off the rails and smashed into a security wall as it rounded a bend was going so fast that carriages tumbled off the tracks like dominos, according to eyewitnesses and video footage.

A plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales was rerouted to Austria after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.

Spain’s government was hit by the country’s financial crisis on two fronts today as thousands of protesters enraged with austerity cutbacks and tax hikes marched on parliament while its borrowing costs increased in an auction of its debt.

Germany’s finance minister has dismissed concerns that Spain’s government may itself need a bailout on top of an international rescue for its ailing banks.

The euro crisis has moved into a new and arguably much more dangerous phase over the past couple of weeks.

THEIR ranks include a plastic surgeon, a prison guard and a high-school principal. All are Spanish, but have little else in common except this: They want old internet references about them that pop up in Google searches wiped away.

Spain’s Parliament passed an austerity budget for 2011 by a razor-thin margin today, saving embattled prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero his job.

POPE Benedict XVI strongly defended traditional families and the rights of the unborn, directly attacking Spanish laws that allow gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier abortions as he dedicated Barcelona’s iconic basilica, the Sagrada Familia.

Non-nationalists won more parliamentary seats than Basque nationalists in elections in Spain’s most turbulent region, in a result that could usher in the region’s first non-nationalist government in 30 years.

Spanish police today said they are awaiting an Interpol order to carry out an arrest warrant from an Argentine judge for former President Isabel Peron, who is believed to be living in Madrid.

Low-cost Spanish carrier Air Madrid, which flies to London among other destinations, halted its operations today, saying a government threat to suspend its licence because of repeated flight delays had devastated its ticket sales and credibility.

Spain’s lower house of Parliament approved the Socialist government’s gay marriage bill today, a major step toward making Spain the third European country to legalise same-sex marriages.

The Spanish Football Association have opened a disciplinary file against national coach Luis Aragones following the recommendations of Spain’s Anti-Violence Commission.

Luis Aragones claims his family have asked him to quit as Spain’s coach because of recent allegations of racism and persecution by the English press.

The new Spanish Socialist prime minister today abruptly ordered his troops home from Iraq.