Sweden's government-funded employment agency on Monday launched a campaign encouraging unemployed Swedish youths to look for summer jobs in crisis-stricken Mediterranean countries including Spain and Greece.

The jobs, most of them in the hotel and entertainment sectors, will mainly serve Swedish tourists.

Spain's austerity programme may be eased if the economy continues to contract, the European Union's top economic official said Monday.

Economy commissioner Olli Rehn suggested that Spain could be given more slack to meet the strict budget targets set out by the block to save the eurozone's fourth economy from bankruptcy.

Spain announced Thursday that its unemployment rate surged to a modern-day record of 26 percent in the final quarter of 2012 as nearly six million people searched in vain for work in a biting recession.

The jobless rate climbed from a rate of 25.02 percent the previous quarter, reaching the highest level since Spain returned to democracy after the death in 1975 of General Francisco Franco.

Spanish King Juan Carlos' son-in-law has been summoned to appear in court for a second time for questioning as part of a corruption probe which has hurt the popularity of the royal family.

Inaki Urdangarin, who acquired the title of Duke of Palma when he wed the king's youngest daughter Cristina in 1997, has been called to appear at a court in Palma on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca on February 23, the court said Wednesday.

The mountain of bad loans held by Spain's banks grew to a new record in November, with more than one in nine at risk of not being repaid, central bank figures showed on Friday.

The level of doubtful loans -- mostly real estate credits -- reached 11.38 percent of total loans, up from 11.23 percent in October, the Bank of Spain said in a report.

Dogs, cats, parrots and other pets, some dressed in their finest winter coats, entered churches across Spain on Thursday to be blessed on the feast day of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of animals.

Animal lovers lined up outside the main entrance to the Church of San Anton in central Madrid with their pets on leashes or wrapped in blankets in their arms as they waited for a priest to sprinkle the animals with holy water.

Thousands of people marched in Madrid on Sunday to protest plans to privatize parts of their public health care system, with some questioning the motives behind the government's actions.

The march by employees and users of the system is the year's second large "white tide" demonstration, named after the color of the medical scrubs many protesters wear. Several similar marches took place last year.

Spain on Tuesday defended a 1.7-billion-euro ($2.2-billion) bid to host the Olympics in Madrid in 2020 even as the country battles a recession and high unemployment while slashing spending.

Spain's delegation submitted the 360-page bid document to the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday.

Thousands of Spanish medical workers marched through downtown Madrid on Monday to protest against budget cuts and plans to partly privatize their cherished national health service.

The march is part of a series of such demonstrations, described as a "white tide" because of the color of the medical scrubs many protesters wear. Participants on Monday walked behind a large banner saying, "Health care is not to be sold, it's to be defended."

Only one of Spain's luxury Parador hotels will close, instead of seven, as earlier planned, following negotiations between the parent company and labor unions.

The hotels, located in historic buildings in some of Spain's most beautiful locations, are a symbol of the country's key tourism industry.