Madrid - Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan man suspected of cooperating with a cell behind attacks that killed 16 people in Barcelona and another seaside resort last month, the interior ministry said Friday.

Madrid - Spain's conservative government has dealt a serious blow to Catalonia's plans to hold an independence referendum but it faces growing indignation in the region, which is closing ranks on Madrid.

Madrid - Thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona on Thursday for a second day after police detained key members of the team organising the October 1 Catalan independence referendum which Madrid deems illegal.

Spain - The translator of "Harry Potter" and a Congolese priest are but some of the 2,200 residents in the Catalan town of L'Esquirol, the region's most enthusiastically separatist town.

Barcelona - The Catalan government acknowledged Thursday that its plans to hold an independence referendum on October 1 had been dealt a blow by a crackdown by Spanish authorities against the vote which Madrid deems illegal.

Barcelona - "The time has come. Let's resist peacefully.

Barcelona - Spanish police on Wednesday seized millions of ballot papers in Catalonia due to be used for an independence referendum which has been banned by Madrid, a source close to the case said.

Barcelona - Catalonia's leader accused Madrid on Wednesday of imposing a "de facto state of emergency" in the Spanish region, with a series of measures to prevent an illegal independence referendum taking place.

Barcelona - Spain's central government braced for a second day of protests in Barcelona on Thursday as separatists called for "permanent mobilisation" after Madrid dealt yet another blow to preparations for an outlawed referendum on independence.

Madrid - Spain has taken control of Catalonia's finances to prevent funds being used for an independence referendum it deems illegal, a move that limits the region's autonomy and puts in doubt the payment of thousands of public workers' salaries.

Barcelona - The first of hundreds of Catalan mayors under investigation for helping to stage an independence referendum deemed illegal by Madrid appeared before Spanish prosecutors for questioning on Tuesday but were not charged.

Girona - Spanish police carried out searches on Tuesday across Girona, a fiefdom of Catalonia's pro-separatist president Carles Puigdemont, as part of probe into suspected graft at a local water company, police said.

Madrid - Spanish police on Monday seized more than 100,000 posters promoting a planned independence referendum in Catalonia, while prosecutors summoned mayors who have agreed to help hold the disputed vote.

Madrid - Catalonia would suffer "brutal" impoverishment if it splits from Spain, with a deep plunge in its economic output, Spain's economy minister warned Monday ahead of a disputed independence referendum in the region.

Madrid - Spanish police on Sunday seized 1.3 million pamphlets and posters supporting Catalonia's independence referendum, the latest move to try to block the vote.

Barcelona - Whether they have come out as supporters or opponents of an independence referendum banned by Madrid, Catalan mayors are all under pressure and some even say they have received death threats.

Madrid - Thousands of Basques holding banners that read "we want to decide" marched Saturday in support of Catalonia's independence referendum to separate from Madrid, which Basque separatists have long fought for.

Barcelona - More than 700 Catalan mayors who face arrest over their support of an independence referendum banned by Madrid protested in Barcelona on Saturday to shouts of "we will vote.

Barcelona - Catalan authorities are racing to stage an independence referendum slated for October 1 which Spain's central government has vowed to stop.

Madrid - Spain's central government launched its latest salvo against Catalonia on Friday, tightening control over regional spending and brushing aside a last-ditch separatist demand for dialogue to allow a banned referendum.