Spain has been branded the most addicted country in Europe, with 3.1 percent of its population aged between 15 and 65 believed to be cocaine users. Read the full story

More than a million people have taken to the streets in Barcelona to protest a court ruling against Catalonia’s statute of autonomy, which forbade the region to call itself a nation. Read the full story

The euro plunged and US stock markets dived last night after Spain was stripped of its top-level credit rating by a leading rating agency over concerns about its economic growth. Read the full story

Europe’s debt crisis mushroomed Wednesday as Spain saw its credit rating lowered, just as Germany sought to reassure nervous investors that Greece would not be allowed to go under, saying Berlin’s share of a key aid package could be approved in the next few days. Read the full story

A protest march by 50,000 Greeks angry over planned government cuts to bring burgeoning debt under control ended in violent clashes with police. Read the full story

The European single currency is facing an ‘inevitable break-up’ a leading French bank claimed yesterday. Strategists at Paris-based Société Générale said that any bailout of the stricken Greek economy would only provide ‘sticking plasters’ to cover the deep- seated flaws in the eurozone bloc. Read the full story

FINANCE ministers and officials from the G7 countries, meeting in Canada yesterday, insisted there would be a “European” solution to the problems affecting Greece, Portugal and Spain and no need for an IMF rescue. Read the full story