Half a year after Barcelona launched a municipal plan to welcome refugees fleeing wars in places like Syria and Iraq, Spain's second largest city is still waiting for them to arrive.

"This fills us with rage," Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, a former activist born out of the anti-austerity Indignados protest movement, told AFP.

Spain's far-left party Podemos said Thursday it had agreed to negotiate with the Socialist party (PSOE) over forming a government, breaking a weeks-long potentially damaging deadlock in talks.

Podemos chief Pablo Iglesias had until now refused to sit down with the Socialists if they continued to talk with upstart centrist grouping Ciudadanos -- an ultimatum rejected by PSOE head Pedro Sanchez, who has been nominated by the king as candidate to lead the country.

The first defendant to take the stand in Spain's landmark corruption trial involving Princess Cristina spoke Tuesday of lucrative no-bid contracts allegedly negotiated after playing sports at a royal palace.

Cristina, King Felipe VI's sister, is charged with two counts of tax fraud in the graft scandal centered on the business dealings of her husband, former Olympic handball medalist Inaki Urdangarin.

Spanish police said they arrested seven people on Sunday with suspected links to al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups and uncovered an operation to smuggle arms to jihadists under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The arrests were carried out in the eastern cities of Valencia and Alicante and in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, the police said in a statement.

Spain suffered a fresh setback Friday after the Socialists and anti-austerity party Podemos -- key players in a weeks-long bid to form a government -- hit a deadlock in talks.

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said he would not negotiate with the Socialists (PSOE) if they continued to talk with upstart party Ciudadanos -- an ultimatum rejected by PSOE chief Pedro Sanchez, whom the king has designated to form a government.

Passengers on a flight to Riyadh from Madrid were evacuated Thursday after a note threatening a bomb attack was found inside the plane in what was later confirmed as a hoax.

The Saudi Arabian Airlines flight had been due to take off in the mid-morning from Madrid but the captain requested an evacuation after a note reading "11:30 bomb" was discovered pinned to the interior. The plane was taken to an isolated part of the airport for inspection.

The leader of Spain's anti-austerity party Podemos on Friday proposed forming a government with the Socialists, making a left-wing governing alliance more likely after last month's inconclusive election.

Pablo Iglesias told reporters he had informed King Felipe VI of "our desire to form a government of change with the Socialists and the United Left".

Spain's King Felipe VI began Monday a week of meetings with party leaders in a bid to break a potentially damaging impasse over the formation of a new government following inconclusive elections.

Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has headed a caretaker government with reduced powers since a December 20 general election produced a hung parliament in which a ruling majority cannot easily be formed.

Spain's conservative Popular Party on Thursday demanded explanations from far-left party Podemos after media reports that police had opened an investigation into alleged illegal party financing from Iran.

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias "must explain... the role he played in the very serious affair of illegal financing by a regime like the Iranian regime," the Popular Party's spokesman in parliament, Rafael Hernando, said.

Spain's parliament held its first session Wednesday, with lawmakers from four main parties taking their seats at a time of political turmoil, intensified by a resurgent secessionist threat in the Catalonia region.

Lawmakers picked a Socialist, Patxi Lopez, a former head of the regional government of the northern Basque Country, as parliamentary speaker, in the first pact between rival parties still engaged in talks to form a government since last month's inconclusive election.