Around the World: Spain

PM defends economy

Spain's prime minister has defended his nation's economy as "robust and strong" and vowed to stand by Greece, which has plunged the nations using the common European currency into a debt crisis.

In comments late Thursday, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also expressed understanding for President Barack Obama's decision not to attend an annual EU-US summit planned for May and indicated a meeting would be held in the future, but did not say when.