Tens of thousands of separatist-minded Catalans have swarmed into Barcelona, giving raucous backing to independence advocates as they launched a campaign to elect a majority of secessionists in regional parliamentary elections this month.

THE eurozone is like an elderly relative who takes suffers “turns” from time to time, and is rather poorly as a result, but somehow lives on to celebrate another Christmas.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has dismissed Catalonia’s non-binding vote on secession from Spain as a failure and ruled out talks about holding a legal independence ballot.

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.

Catalonia is open to offers from the central government that would allow it to remain in Spain with greater autonomy and control over its taxes, regional finance chief Andreu Mas-Colell said.

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.

Catalonia’s president Artur Mas says Catalans want the same chance as Scots who were given the right to vote for independence.

The leader of Spain’s Catalonia region has told the Spanish prime minister he intends pushing ahead with a secession referendum in November despite the central government’s refusal to allow it.

Tens of thousands of Basques held hands yesterday to form a 123km chain stretching across the northern Spanish region calling for the right to hold a vote on independence.

Spain’s King Juan Carlos has announced he will abdicate in favour of his more popular son so that fresh royal blood can rally the nation.

The president of Spain’s regional government of Catalonia says he wants to hold an independence referendum on November 9, 2014, setting the stage for more confrontation with the national government which refuses to allow a vote on independence.

Spain’s prime minister has rejected a request by the leader of Catalonia to approve a referendum that would allow the north-eastern region to decide whether to secede from the rest of the country.

Several hundred thousand people demanding an independent Catalonia have joined hands to form a 250-mile human chain across the north-eastern region of Spain.

Voters in the economically powerful region of Catalonia have punished the leader who made a referendum over breaking away from Spain a central plank of his campaign, seeing his party’s majority reduced by a dozen seats.

Four separatist parties in Spain’s Catalonia last night looked set to win a majority in regional elections yesterday, partial results showed, but the main one was on course to lose some seats, possibly undermining its bid to call an independence referendum.

Voters in the industrious and economically important north-eastern region of Catalonia began casting their ballots as polling stations opened on Sunday in elections that could determine the future shape of Spain.

The Catalan nationalist party CiU will win regional parliamentary elections in Spain on Nov 25, but will not gain an absolute majority, newspaper polls showed, weakening any bid for independence.

Spain presented a tough 2013 budget in what many see as an effort to pre-empt the likely conditions of an international bailout, deepening spending cuts that have sent angry Spaniards into the streets.

Catalonia has voted for a referendum on self-determination but the Spanish government warned it will have it stopped by the country’s top court.

Violent protests in Madrid and growing talk of secession in wealthy Catalonia are piling pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he moves closer to asking Europe for rescue money.

Firefighters, police in plainclothes and civil servants have attempted to march on the Spanish parliament in a protest over austerity measures, only to find the way blocked by police in riot gear.

Five people died while fleeing from a forest fire in north-east Spain today.