Spain, Italy | featured news

The Hertz Corporation recently expanded its Supercar rental offerings in Europe, increasing the number of cars and models available in Britain and Spain, and adding Italy, France and (beginning in April) the Netherlands, to the countries where the premium cars can be rented. Renters can now choose brands including McLaren, Lamborghini (shown) and Aston Martin. What European financial crisis?

Nestle SA has withdrawn beef pasta meals from sale in Italy and Spain after tests found horse DNA. Horse meat has found its way into ready-to-eat meals sold across Europe in a meat mislabeling scandal that has shaken the food industry.

Just like clockwork, Spain's "tiki taka" passing game tore Italy apart. The World Cup champions controlled the play Sunday in the European Championship final, as they usually do. They moved the ball up the field with short pass after short pass, as they usually do.

Italy and Spain, battling searing market pressure in the euro zone's widening debt crisis, blocked agreement on measures to promote growth at a European Union summit on Thursday to demand urgent action to bring down their borrowing costs.

Despite an embarrassment of rested riches, Germany came up short against Italy, who moves on to the final in Kiev against Spain.

The Euro 2012 match went to a shootout that Spain won, 4-2, heading to Kiev for the final against the winner of Germany’s match against Italy on Thursday.

Greece looks close to bolting from the European Union with national elections this weekend. Spain’s banks were just bailed out, and Italy might be next. And, closer to home, Wall Street is still reeling about May’s crummy jobs report. So you’d think U.S. stocks would be tanking? Nope. Welcome to the bad-news rally: The Dow Jones industrial average shot up more than 160 points on Tuesday.

Two military planes laden with 17 tons of silver and gold coins scooped up from a Spanish warship that sank during a 1804 gunbattle landed in Spain on Saturday, ending a 200-year odyssey that took the treasure from an ocean floor to Florida courtrooms.

Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on Friday, indicating there was a 1-in-2 chance of further cuts in the next two years.

In Spain, the prime minister pledged spending cuts and a banking-system cleanup, while in Italy, the prime minister called for “efforts in favor of growth.”