Hundreds of firefighters battle blazes as strong winds drive fires towards Bordeaux and smoke prompts health warnings in Madrid
Unrestrained wildfires in Spain and France have forced more than 250,000 people to flee, authorities from both countries have said, as they struggle to contain the blazes.
About 70,000 people were evacuated from central Spain, while 197,000 people fled in France, including tens of thousands from the wine region city of Bordeaux.
Continue reading...‘Highly unpredictable’ blaze forces evacuation of Cap Ferret on French coast and Spain declares national emergency
More than 200,000 people have fled or been ordered to lock down as huge wildfires swept Spain and France on Friday, prompting Madrid to declare a national emergency and the French authorities to order the total evacuation, by land and sea, of one of the country’s best-known holiday spots.
Authorities in south-west France ordered the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast to be evacuated “village by village” in the face of an “intense, highly unpredictable” wildfire that has burned through more than 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) of forest.
Continue reading...Extradition request for James ‘Fergie’ Chambers sparks concerns that US government is conflating humanitarian aid with terrorism
The arrest in Ibiza and US justice department extradition request for a wealthy American donor to lefwing causes in connection with alleged material support for Hamas is sending ripples through leftwing circles in Spain and being closely monitored in the US for potential “chilling effects” on support for Palestine.
Spanish authorities detained James “Fergie” Chambers Friday and are now holding him without bail in Madrid. A hearing is scheduled on whether he can be released on bail for Thursday.
Continue reading...Treaty came into effect at midnight, eliminating border controls on land frontier with British overseas territory
Spain and Gibraltar are celebrating the fall of the last frontier fence in western Europe after the signing of a post-Brexit deal that brings an end to border checks for residents, tourists and the thousands of Spanish workers who cross into the British overseas territory every day.
The agreement, which was signed in Brussels on Tuesday and came into effect at midnight, marks the conclusion of more than four years of negotiations between the UK, Spain, Gibraltar and the EU after Britain’s departure from the bloc.
Continue reading...Fire broke out last Thursday in the southeastern province of Almería, which is home to many foreign residents
Seven Britons are among 12 foreign nationals killed in wildfires in southern Spain, authorities said.
Officials said 12 of the 13 victims were foreign nationals after completing postmortem examinations after the fires that swept through Andalusia.
Continue reading...Appeal for DNA to help identify bodies as local government leader says ‘we are in a state of climate chaos’
A British couple have been named as two victims of the wildfires in Spain that have killed 13 people, as authorities race to use DNA to identify those who did not manage to escape the blaze.
Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in Bédar, the village that bore the brunt of the wildfires on Thursday, are believed not to have survived.
Continue reading...Pair airlifted to hospital in two-hour rescue operation after Guardia Civil searched area for survivors
A British couple have been found badly burned and semi-conscious in a Spanish ravine amid deadly wildfires that have swept through the country’s Almería province, according to local media reports.
The couple were on holiday in the region and were thought to be out hiking when they were caught up in the wildfire, which has so far killed 13 people and burned more than 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres). At least 23 people are missing.
Continue reading...Blaze made worse by heat, strong wind and plentiful dry vegetation amid hollowing out of rural population
As firefighters struggle to quell the flames ravaging southern Spain and doctors treat the injured, a horrific picture of the fallout is emerging.
At least 12 people died in a fast-spreading inferno that ripped through Almería on Thursday, many trapped in cars as they sought to escape a blaze that scorched 3,800 hectares (9,390 acres). Overwhelmed authorities say eight people have been injured and 23 cannot be accounted for.
Continue reading...Twenty-three people missing and four Britons thought to be among those who died trying to flee Almería blaze
At least 12 people have been killed and 23 are unaccounted for after one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires broke out in the south-eastern province of Almería as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.
The regional government of Andalucía said the victims, four of whom are believed to be British, had died while trying to escape the flames near the village of Bédar in the municipality of Los Gallardos.
Continue reading...Tour de France spectator ban as country along with Spain, Portugal and Greece faces ‘powder keg’ after heatwave
Wildfires raging across southern Europe have forced thousands to flee their homes and prompted officials to ban spectators from a stage of the Tour de France, amid warnings of “powder keg” conditions after a record-breaking early summer heatwave.
Hundreds of firefighters are tackling blazes that have burned through almost 20,000 hectares (49,500 acres) in Portugal, Spain, France and Greece. Strong winds are forecast to fan the flames and temperatures are expected to rise again this week.
Continue reading...Deal including ‘national priority’ policy brings prospect closer of countrywide agreement between parties
The prospect of a national coalition between Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox party has drawn closer still after the two groupings sealed another deal that will allow the PP to continue ruling the southern region of Andalucía.
The PP, which has governed the former socialist bastion for the past seven years, lost its absolute majority in May’s regional election, forcing it to look to Vox to help it stay in power in Spain’s most populous region.
Continue reading...Woman detained at airport after allegedly making racist remarks directed at workers unloading baggage, police say
Brazil’s federal police have detained a Spanish citizen in São Paulo’s international Guarulhos airport for racism, in the latest of a series of high-profile arrests of foreign tourists on similar grounds.
Brazil has some of the strictest anti-racism laws in Latin America. Insulting a person on the basis of race carries a penalty of imprisonment from two to five years and a fine.
Continue reading...José Luis Ábalos found to have taken bribes on Covid-era public contracts in damaging blow to Pedro Sánchez
Spain’s supreme court has jailed the former transport minister José Luis Ábalos for 24 years for taking bribes on public contracts for sanitary equipment such as face masks during the Covid pandemic.
Ábalos’s aide, Koldo García, was jailed for 19 years in a trial that is one of several scandals to have enveloped the government of Pedro Sánchez over recent months.
Continue reading...Number of countries issue alerts with sustained and rising temperatures expected to present danger to health
Two children aged four and two have been found dead in their family’s car in south-eastern France, the local prosecutor said, as a large swathe of western Europe suffers a ferocious heatwave forecast to shatter absolute temperature records.
“The causes of death are yet to be determined, but the heat is the leading line of inquiry,” said Hélène Mourges, the prosecutor in the town of Carpentras, where the temperature was expected to exceed 39C (102.2F) on Monday afternoon.
Continue reading...Sports and nationwide music festival affected, with temperatures for some expected to reach 42C from Monday
Authorities in France have placed more than a third of the country under a red heat alert, cancelled some outdoor sports events and restricted alcohol consumption at the nationwide Fête de la Musique event amid a brutal heatwave forecast to push temperatures above 40C.
Level 1 or 2 heat alerts were issued on Sunday for about 53 million people, just over 75% of the population. A record 35 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were put on danger-to-life red alert, with another 45 under an orange warning.
Continue reading...Spain’s leading festival of photography showcases the work of more than 300 visual artists in nearly 100 exhibitions across the country
PhotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists.
From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tourism minister says another likely record year of visitor growth is not a worry amid move to welcome tourists out of season and market less frequented areas
Spain is redoubling its efforts to push its tourist appeal beyond the familiar “sun and sand and coast” model as it prepares for another record-breaking year in which the number of foreign visitors could reach 100 million for the first time, the country’s tourism minister has said.
Speaking to the Guardian, Jordi Hereu rejected suggestions that Spain was now saturated with tourists but said it had become clear that the “old formulas no longer work”, especially amid growing concerns about overtourism and the effects of the climate emergency.
Continue reading...YouGov survey of six countries shows respondents think crime is increasing – though most trust their national police
Western Europeans believe crime is rising in their country, according to a survey, despite long-term overall crime rates falling across the region since the mid-1990s.
The YouGov poll of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found most countries trusted their national police, led by Denmark where 74% of respondents said they had a lot or a fair amount of confidence in police nationally.
Continue reading...Pedro Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, charged and predecessor José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero investigated over offences including influence peddling
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is facing one of the longest and most difficult weeks of his premiership as his wife and his fellow socialist predecessor prepare to appear before judges investigating them for alleged influence peddling and other offences.
Sánchez, who came to power in 2018 by promising to end the corruption that had mired the ruling conservative People’s party (PP), has found his family, his party and his administration engulfed by a series of scandals.
Continue reading...José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling, facing questions over items found in office safe
The former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is being investigated for possible tax fraud and smuggling after police discovered jewellery valued at more than €1.3m (£1.1m) while searching his office safe as part of a separate inquiry.
Zapatero, who led two socialist governments between 2004 and 2011, is already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling and other offences relating to the state bailout of the Spanish Plus Ultra airline during the Covid pandemic. He is alleged to have overseen “a hierarchical structure of influence-peddling”, whose purpose was “to obtain economic benefits through intermediation and the exercise of influence before public bodies in favour of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra”.
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