A woman jumped to her death as bailiffs approached to evict her from her fourth-floor Spanish apartment for failing to pay the mortgage.

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.

The Spanish government has announced the country’s most severe round of budget cuts yet.

ECB president Mario Draghi yesterday defended his bond-purchase plan and took a swipe at Germany’s Bundesbank, saying choosing to do nothing would have been dangerous.

The European Commission has asked Spain to delay by another week the plans to create a "bad bank", a fund which would pool much of its financial sector's soured property investments, so that experts in Brussels can review the project, the government in Madrid said.

Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro will discuss a potential rescue for Spain today, a eurozone official said, as pressure grows on Madrid to sort out its troubled banks even if it means seeking a European bailout.

Spain could decide within days or weeks to ask for a bailout for its troubled banking sector, making it the fourth eurozone country to seek help since the EU debt crisis erupted.

Spain is expected to ask the eurozone for help with recapitalising its banks this weekend, sources in Brussels and Berlin said yesterday, becoming the fourth country to seek assistance since Europe’s debt crisis began.

Spain has indicated it could decide this month whether to request a bailout for its troubled banking sector.

Just as the news coming from Athens augured a little better for the future of the eurozone, the word from Madrid plunged the future of the embattled currency back into doubt.

The board of directors of the troubled Spanish bank, Bankia, says it has agreed to ask for €19bn in state funds.

Argentina’s takeover of its formerly state-owned energy company from Spanish shareholders won easy approval from legislators.

Spain announced deep cuts to its central government budget yesterday as it battles to convince European partners and debt markets it can rein in its budget deficit in the face of growing complaints from the public.

Spain’s government has unveiled a €27bn deficit-reduction package including spending cuts and tax hikes on large companies, as it scrambles to convince the EU and investors that it will not need a bailout.

The Spanish Government is to cut pay for heads of state companies by around a quarter, as part of its crisis spending cuts.

Spain’s new conservative prime minister has been sworn in and appointed his Cabinet, including ministers charged with lifting the country out of its severe economic crisis.