Catalonia's president Artur Mas was placed under investigation on Monday for holding a banned vote on whether his region should be independent from Spain.

The Catalonia High Court said that Mas was under judicial investigation for flouting a injunction against holding the symbolic vote on November 9.

Princess Cristina, the sister of Spain's King Felipe VI, will be the first member of the royal family ever to appear in the dock after a judge Monday ordered her to be tried for tax fraud.

The historic decision comes after four years of investigations that plunged the royal family into crisis and contributed to the abdication of King Juan Carlos in June.

Catalans opposed to independence for their region now outnumber those in favor, the first such result ever recorded by the nationalist regional government, a poll indicated on Friday.

It was the first time since Catalonia's regional leaders started polling people in 2011 on whether they want to break away from Spain that the official survey showed a swing against independence.

A man rammed a car loaded with gas cylinders into the Madrid headquarters of Spain's conservative ruling party on Friday, police said.

The canisters did not explode and there were no injuries, a police spokeswoman told Agence France Presse. Some reports and officials said the car also contained explosives.

A judge in Spain on Thursday remanded in custody four suspects for allegedly recruiting women online for the Islamic State jihadist group, a judicial source said.

A fifth suspect, a minor, was in detention in a juvenile center pending further proceedings, the source told AFP.

Aisha has lived all her life in one neighborhood in Spain's African territory of Ceuta, but now she is willing to move -- even to the war zone of Syria.

"I would go and live with my family in the Islamic State in Syria, and if my husband died there in combat, I would accept it," said the mother-of-four, dressed in a black hijab, who asked for her real name to be concealed.

Seven people were arrested in Spain and Morocco on Tuesday for allegedly recruiting young women via the Internet to join the jihadist Islamic State group fighting in Iraq and Syria.

The sister of Spain's King Felipe VI on Monday paid a deposit of 587,000 euros ($750,000) to cover her alleged liability in a graft case which has damaged the monarchy's standing.

Prosecutor Pedro Horrach said last week that there was no evidence to try the princess Cristina but said she should pay 587,413.58 euros to cover the money she could have made thanks to her husband's alleged illegal dealings.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected talk of Israel withdrawing from east Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, on the eve of a meeting with the top U.S. diplomat.

"We... stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, that is an attempt to compel us by means of U.N. decisions to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years," said Netanyahu.

Spain's proposed new public security law, which introduces hefty fines for unauthorized protests and allows for the summary expulsion of migrants that try to enter the country illegally, has sparked fierce opposition from human rights activists.

The lower house of parliament approved the law -- dubbed the "Ley Mordaza" or "Gag Law" by its critics -- on Thursday with the votes of the ruling conservative Popular Party which has a majority in the assembly. All opposition parties voted against the bill.