Spain’s faltering economy

The European nation is facing economic pain, after the Spanish government slashed welfare budgets and reduced salaries as part of austerity measures to help reduce the country’s dangerous deficit.

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May 10, 2012

Students protest during a demonstration in Madrid. The students are protesting government cuts in education. Main banners read “More education, less repression,” “Slave education” and “Organize and fight.”

Paul White / AP

May 7, 2012

A broker stands in the middle of the stock exchange in Madrid. Spain's prime minister says the government will likely present important bank cleanup measures this week to clear up doubts about the solvency of the sector. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy gave no details but said he would not rule out lending or injecting public money into the banking sector if necessary. Spain's real estate bubble burst in 2008 saddling banks with enormous amounts of bad loans. The Bank of Spain says the sector has about $230 billion in "problematic" holdings.

Paul White / AP

May 3, 2012

A police officer scuffles with a student during a demonstration in Barcelona. Several hundred students protesting increases in college costs gathered near the University of Barcelona as the European Central Meeting began in a heavily guarded hotel. The meeting took place with an additional 2,000 police on the streets because of fears that protests aimed at Spanish government cutbacks would turn violent. Spanish authorities imposed airport and border passport checks, suspending provisions of the Schengen treaty that permit people to cross borders without showing documents.

Emilio Morenatti / AP

May 1, 2012

Alice, a homeless woman, left, begs for alms as people protest against the government's tough new labor reforms and cutbacks. Banging drums and waving flags, tens of thousands of workers marked May Day in European cities Tuesday with a mix of anger and gloom over austerity measures imposed by leaders trying to contain the euro zone's intractable debt crisis.

Alvaro Barrientos / AP

May 1, 2012

Police officers in plain clothes form a cordon as demonstrators, unseen, march past during a protest in Barcelona.

Emilio Morenatti / AP

May 1, 2012

People take part on a protest during May Day in the center of Madrid.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza / AP

April 30, 2012

Two men are the only customers of an almost empty terrace in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. Spain's National Statistics Institute announced on Monday that Spain is officially back in recession as the country's economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter compared to the previous three months. This is Spain's second recession in three years. Spain's economic problems have become the focus of Europe's debt crisis as investors worry over Spain's ability to push through austerity measures and reforms. The country's unemployment rate hit 24 percent -- or 50 percent for those aged under 25. Late last week, S&P downgraded the country's credit rating by two notches from A to BBB+, citing a worsening budget deficit, worries over the banking system, and poor economic prospects.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza / AP

April 27, 2012

A seller waits for customers at her fish shop in a market in Barcelona. The Spanish economy is in recession for the second time in three years as the damage from a housing bust persists. Foreclosures are rising, Spain's banks are in worse financial shape and the government's deficit is hitting worrisome levels.

Emilio Morenatti / AP

April 14, 2012

A woman walks past a closed store in Madrid. Spain is the latest country in the hot seat of the euro-zone debt crisis, and the stakes are huge if it goes crash-and-burn. Investor wariness of Spanish paper as an investment tool has shot up over the past month, rattling a conservative government that has been in power only three months and is passing reform after reform as it tries to rescue a shrinking economy saddled with high unemployment.

Alberto Di Lolli / AP

Feb. 7, 2012

Public-sector workers take part in a march against proposed cuts by Madrid's regional government in downtown Madrid.

Susana Vera / Reuters

Feb. 14, 2012

Agustin Gabarri, left, talks to his grandson, Israel, before they sleep at Gabarri's home for the last time before its demolition the following day in the Puerta de Hierro neighborhood outside Madrid. Out of more than 50 homes that used to stand in the neighborhood, there are only six left, as well as the debris of the ones already demolished. Gabarri has been assigned a public housing flat, but as the order to demolish his home came before his flat was ready, he will have to share his children's already overcrowded houses.

Susana Vera / Reuters

Feb. 15, 2012

Maria Rosario Leston, second from right, has her daughter Begona, right, braid her hair, as her son-in-law, Angel Duval, left, takes care of his daughter, Nazareth, while police stand outside their door in preparation for the start of the demolition of their home at the Puerta de Hierro neighborhood outside Madrid.

Susana Vera / Reuters

Feb. 14, 2012

Nazareth Gabarri, second from right, combs her cousin Yasmin's hair as their aunt, Rosa Gabarri, far left, cleans furniture that she is removing from her parents' home a day before its demolition at the Puerta de Hierro neighborhood outside Madrid.

Susana Vera / Reuters

Feb. 16, 2012

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, far right in the front row, and Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, center in front row, listen to Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon after the approval of the government's financial sector reform at Spanish Parliament in Madrid. The Spanish economy shrank for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter, the start of what economists fear could be a prolonged slump as Madrid implements harsh austerity measures to deflate a massive budget deficit.

Andrea Comas / Reuters

Feb. 16, 2012

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy listens to Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria during a parliamentary session approving the government's financial sector reform at Spanish Parliament in Madrid.

Andrea Comas / Reuters

Feb. 16, 2012

Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos attends a parliamentary session approving the government's financial sector reform at Spanish Parliament in Madrid.

Andrea Comas / Reuters

Featured Photo Galleries

Paula and Clay Gustin become emotional as dozens of balloons float above during a memorial Wednesday, May 23, 2012, for their five-year-old son, Rhett, who died in an accident on May 20. (AP Photo/The Coeur D?Alene Press, Shawn Gust) MANDATORY CREDIT

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more in the day in photos

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more.

Red Panda Bears sleep in the Panda Bear enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on May 22, 2012. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more in animal views

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more.

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 24: Actress Macy Gray attend the 'The Paperboy' photocall during the 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2012 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Macy Gray, Zac Efron, Philip Phillips, Fantasia Barrino, Neil Diamond and other celebrities.

‘Dancing with the Stars’

Season 14 of “Dancing With the Stars.”

May 21, 2012: Members of the Naval Academy freshman class (plebes) lock arms and form a human ladder while climbing the Herndon Monument at the United States Naval Academy on May 21, 2012 in Annapolis, Md. Each year members of the Naval Academy's freshman class (plebes) climb the lard covered 21-foot tall Herndon Monument to replace a plebe dixie cup hat with a midshipman's hat at the top of the obelisk.

Teamwork, discipline help plebes get to the top

At the U.S. Naval Academy, the freshman class attempts to climb the Herndon Monument.

The National Zoo has two new additions: the female cheetah cub, left, and her brother on the right.

The National Zoo’s new cheetah cubs

A dramatic rescue saved these two cheetah babies and their distressed mother giving birth.

JOPLIN, MO - MAY 19: Grace Goebel plays outside of the new Habitat for Humanity home of her parents that was built on the spot of a home that had been destroyed after a tornado hit the neighborhood almost one year ago on May 19, 2012 in Joplin, Missouri. Tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that devastated the town. The tornado left behind a path of destruction along with 161 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but one year later there are signs that the town is beginning to recover. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Joplin, Missouri, one year after tornadoes devastate town

Reminders of destruction are everywhere in Joplin, Mo., a year after a killer tornado.

COLLEGE PARK, MD - APRIL 4: Pet acupuncturist Greta McVey puts needles in mixed breed 'Cashew' at her home office in College Park, MD on April 4, 2012. Cashew was rescued by his owner this past December and suffers from anxiety and fear of abandonment. McVey first licensed as an acupuncturist on humans then went on to be certified on animals. She hosts a variety of clientele, anything from birds, to guinea pigs but mainly treats dogs and cats. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Washington’s ‘pet-u-puncture whisperer’

College Park’s Greta McVey is part of the growing industry focused on veterinary acupuncture.

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