Lauren Frayer

Buy a cup of coffee, and the vendor enters your receipt in a national lottery. The prize? A new Audi each week. It's a way struggling Portugal hopes to battle the black market and boost tax revenue.

Valdevaqueros is one of Spain's last unspoiled beaches, but it's slated to disappear soon under a wave of development. The development promises to create jobs, but is more construction what Spain needs now?

Spanish leaders say they're in the same situation as Ukraine. Spain's northeast region of Catalonia wants to break away from Madrid and plans to hold a referendum in November. The Spa...

If the Tabernas Desert in Spain's Almeria region looks like the set of a Hollywood Western, that's because it was one.

In the 1960s and '70s, it was a Hollywood outpost in Europe where dozens of American film stars — Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, ...

On a sweltering August day in 2012, the mayor of a tiny Spanish town, fed up with the country's economic conditions, did something drastic. It was the height of the economic crisis and most Spanish politicians were away on summer vacation.

With dozens of supporters, Mayor Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo ...

Parliament is likely to approve a near-total ban on abortion, which has been legal in Spain since 1985. Some proponents argue change has come too quickly, breaking down traditional Spanish values.

Having trouble wrapping your head around southern Europe's staggering unemployment problem?

Look no further than a single Ikea furniture store on Spain's Mediterranean coast.

The Swedish retailer plans to open a new megastore next summer near Valencia. On Monday, Ikea's

Saturday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the International Olympic Committee will announce the host of the 2020 Summer Games. The committee is choosing from among Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. The contenders all have strong selling points, but each also has serious issues clouding its bid.

Violent Crackdown Hangs Over Turkey's Bid

...

On the windswept plateau where Madrid is perched, it's too dry to raise cattle and most crops. So pork has long been a mainstay, from jamón ibérico and charcuterie tapas to stews of pigs' ears and entrails.

But when locals want a really special treat, they go for an entire ...

Blue turquoise waves lap at white sand on the Spanish island of Formentera in the Mediterranean Sea. Sweaty tourists from all over Europe cram the beach. But on this particular afternoon, no one dares take a cool dip in the water.

The reason? It's what Spaniards call "medusas" — named ...

The sun-soaked Spanish Riviera isn't where you'd expect to find a faithful foot soldier of North Korea. But that's exactly what Alejandro Cao de Benos calls himself.

Cao de Benos, 38, is believed to be the only Westerner ever employed by the North Korean government. He's a Spanish aristocrat, born ...

For embattled Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, Oct. 5 started bad, and then got even worse.

Presiding over a ceremony for Portugal's Republic Day, the president raised the Portuguese flag in front of a crowd of dignitaries. But by accident, the flag was upside down.

The ceremony, held in an ...

Filipa Neves speaks five languages but still couldn't find steady work in her native Portugal. So she was about to move to Angola, a former Portuguese colony in Africa, where the economy is booming.

But she sent off one last resumé — to a call center. It was sort of ...

On Madrid's posh Gran Vía, thousands of shoppers and tourists visit the flagship stores of some of the biggest names in European fast fashion — Zara, Mango and H&M.

Suddenly, the hordes of bargain-hunters stop dead in their tracks.

Face down on the sidewalk lie the bodies of ...