Obama's first presidential stop in Spain turns hurried

Instead of spending two days sightseeing in southern Spain and tending to more pressing business in the capital of Madrid, the White House scrapped some of Obama's events — including a staple of his foreign travels, a question-and-answer forum with young people — and crammed the rest of his schedule into Sunday.

Deadly shootings last week of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, followed by the killings of five police officers by a sniper in Dallas, led Obama make the unusual choice to return to the White House late Sunday, a day earlier than originally planned.

The assaults follow last month's deadly shooting at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub and the rise in so-called lone-wolf terrorism, heightening fears about public safety.

Spain has been in a political stalemate for months, with Rajoy unable to garner the necessary support to form a new coalition government following a late-June election, the country's second round of inconclusive balloting in the past year.

Obama addressed the political situation in an interview Saturday with the newspaper El Pais, saying he hopes Spain's next government will be just as committed to strong relations with the U.S. and Europe.