Spain engulfed by pension protests

Spain's debt-laden Socialist government has witnessed the first mass protests by unions in its six years in power as anger over a plan to raise the retirement age spilled onto the streets. The UGT and the CCOO, the country's two largest unions, called for Tuesday's demonstrations against the reform in several major cities, including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Further demonstrations are planned in the rest of the country up until March 6 against the plan, announced last month, to raise the legal retirement age from 65 to 67. The Spanish economy, the fifth largest in Europe, has been mired in recession since the end of 2008 as the global financial crisis hastened a correction that was already underway in its once-buoyant property sector.