Category Archives: Spain

Pope Leo calls for leaders to reject polarisation as he begins Spanish tour

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Pontiff to make marginalised a focus of first papal visit since 2011 including meeting with migrants in the Canaries

Pope Leo has urged political leaders to seek unity, rather than divide their populations for political gain, and said they must fight for peace, in the opening speech of his tour in Spain.

The pope has made the marginalised a focus of his visit – his first tour of an EU country, apart from Italy – including meeting homeless people in Madrid and migrants in the Canary Islands. The pope, who has clashed with the US president, Donald Trump, over his immigration policies and war with Iran, said his visit was aimed at setting an example of respecting “every human being”.

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Divine intervention: why Pope Leo visit could be a godsend for Pedro Sánchez

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Pontiff’s resolve to highlight plight of migrants has aligned him with Spanish PM, whose inner circle and party are mired in corruption allegations

While Pope Leo XIV isn’t due to touch down in Madrid until 10.30am on Saturday, his presence in the Spanish capital is already verging on the ubiquitous.

The smiling, avuncular face of the first US pontiff greets visitors from posters, from the sides of buses, from commemorative travel cards and even from the digital screens on the metro system, where it flickers up between adverts for sun cream and banking deals.

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Seven heat-related deaths in France as May records set in several countries

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Extreme early summer event across western Europe also brings highest temperatures for month in UK and Ireland

Seven people have died in France in an extreme early summer heat event affecting a swathe of western Europe, with record high temperatures for May recorded for a second day in several countries.

In France, which logged its hottest ever May day on Monday and again on Tuesday, the weather agency Météo France said the heatwave could last through the week and predicted temperatures could reach 39C in some areas.

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Spain blocks access to Polymarket and Kalshi as it launches gambling licence investigation

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Prediction sites, which allow bets on all topics from weather to politics, may be in breach of country’s rules

Spain’s ministry of consumer rights has blocked access to Polymarket and Kalshi while it investigates whether the leading prediction market sites are violating Spanish law by operating without a gambling licence.

On Tuesday the ministry said it had launched disciplinary proceedings against the two platforms, which allow users to bet on everything from the weather to political events, amid allegations that they lacked the “necessary administrative authorisation” to operate in Spain.

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Record May highs sweep across France as extreme heat hits western Europe

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Mercury in Spain also climbs to well above normal with weather event set to continue for several more days

More than 350 French towns have recorded their highest-ever temperatures for May as France and the UK set national heat records amid an extreme early-summer heat event that could see the mercury rise to 40C in parts of Spain by the end of the week.

The UK’s Met Office said the country’s all-time record for May was broken when a temperature of 34.8C was recorded at London’s Kew Gardens.

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Soft power sell-off: anger as British Council announces sale of historic Madrid building

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Backlash grows among European staff against radical cuts to pay off Covid-era debt, with some accusing council of ‘colonial attitude’

The historic Palacete building at 31 Paseo del General Martínez Campos in Madrid’s upmarket Chamberí district has been home to the British Council in Spain for about 70 years.

About 5,000 students each year pass through its 35 classrooms, learning English, attending exams, and forging cultural ties with the UK. Over the years that is hundreds of thousands of Madrileños (people from Madrid), while it also serves as a centre for the expat community.

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‘Full-on summer heat’: western Europe braces for unusually high temperatures

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Portugal, Spain, France and UK expected to exceed 30C on Friday and into next week, with new May records predicted

A large swathe of western Europe is bracing for the first significant heat event of the summer, with temperatures forecast to rise to more than 10C above the norm and new monthly records for May expected to be set in possibly hundreds of places.

Temperatures across Portugal, Spain, France and the UK were expected to exceed 30C (86F) on Friday and into next week, reaching 32C in Paris and London and 35C in south-west France, with highs of up to 38C in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir regions of Spain.

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Estée Lauder ends merger talks with Gaultier owner Puig

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Sticking points to build beauty powerhouse included which family would hold balance of power

The US cosmetics company Estée Lauder has ended merger talks with its Spanish rival Puig over plans to create a fashion and beauty group worth almost $40bn (£30bn/€34.5bn) after the two sides failed to agree on the balance of power in the combined company.

Estée Lauder, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of skincare, makeup and fragrances, owns brands including Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Tom Ford Beauty.

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Clint Eastwood cannon from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly traced to Spanish museum

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Enthusiasts track down weapon used to fell fleeing Eli Wallach amid preparations for 60th anniversary of film’s release

Six decades after Clint Eastwood nonchalantly used a cigar to light its fuse and fell a fleeing Eli Wallach, the Manchester-made cannon that appeared in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been rediscovered in a museum in south-east Spain.

The artillery piece was tracked down by the Sad Hill Cultural Association, a group of volunteers dedicated to restoring the graveyard near Burgos, northern Spain, built for the climax of Sergio Leone’s seminal spaghetti western.

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Son of Mango fashion chain founder arrested in Spain over father’s death

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Jonathan Andic released on €1m bail after being questioned in connection with death of Isak Andic in 2024

The son of Isak Andic, the founder of the fashion chain Mango, has been released on bail of €1m (£866,000) after being arrested and questioned in connection with his father’s death in Catalonia almost 18 months ago.

Andic died in December 2024 after apparently falling 100 metres down a ravine while hiking in Montserrat, near Barcelona, with his son, Jonathan. His death aged 71 prompted tributes to him from politicians, journalists and the fashion world.

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Shakira in line for €55m payout as Spanish court rules tax fines were wrong

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Singer says she has faced ‘years of public shaming’, as court rules tax agency made mistake over her 2011 status

A court in Madrid has ordered Spain’s tax authority to pay Shakira back more than €55m (£48m) after ruling that it had wrongly imposed huge fines on the Colombian singer and philanthropist because it had made mistakes over her tax status.

In a statement released on Monday, the Audiencia Nacional said it had accepted an appeal from Shakira against the fine she was handed five years ago after the Agencia Tributaria claimed she had not paid the necessary tax in Spain in 2011. At that time, the singer was in a relationship with the FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué.

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Andalucíans vote in election seen as gauge of Spain’s wider political change

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Conservatives expected to keep majority as socialists face drubbing and ballot tests trajectory of far-right Vox party

Voters in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía are casting their ballots in an election that is likely to deliver an absolute majority to the conservative People’s party (PP) and inflict another debilitating defeat on Pedro Sánchez’s embattled socialists in what was previously one of their proudest strongholds.

Sunday’s election in Spain’s most populous region – the last big poll before next year’s general election – will serve as a barometer of wider electoral opinion and could also reveal whether the popularity of the far-right Vox party is beginning to peak.

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WHO head tells countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praises Spain’s ‘compassion and solidarity’ in evacuating virus-hit cruise ship

The head of the World Health Organization has warned countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases after the outbreak onboard the MV Hondius, and thanked Spain for the “compassion and solidarity” it had shown by taking in the stricken cruise ship and evacuating its passengers and crew.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to follow the WHO’s advice and recommendations, which include a 42-day quarantine and constant monitoring of high-risk contacts.

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Americans onboard hantavirus cruise ship to be repatriated to US

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The 17 passengers to be transferred to a quarantine center in Nebraska to ‘assess them for risk’, as one tests positive and another shows symptoms

The 17 Americans onboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship M/V Hondius have disembarked the vessel after it docked in Tenerife on Sunday and are being repatriated to the US.

Upon their arrival in Spain, medical teams from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awaited and interviewed the passengers, whose identities have not been publicly disclosed and who have not tested positive for the virus, about their exposure on the cruise.

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‘This is not another Covid,’ WHO chief tells Tenerife as hantavirus cruise ship heads to island – as it happened

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The interior minister of Spain told Reuters on Saturday that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands have confirmed they will send planes to repatriate nationals from their respective countries aboard the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak.

The European Union is sending two more planes for the remaining European citizens, and the US and UK have also confirmed planes and contingency plans for non-EU citizens.

A total of 8 cases, including 3 deaths, have been reported as of Friday. Six of these cases cases are confirmed as Andes virus and four patients are currently hospitalised.

One case previously reported as suspected hantavirus has now been reclassified as a non-case after testing negative for Andes (ANDV) virus.

A man who disembarked in Tristan da Cunha on 14 April is currently stable and in isolation. He is currently a probable case until laboratory confirmation.

Passengers who travelled on the same flight from St Helena to South Africa along with one of the confirmed cases have been contacted – 75 of those contacts have been identified in South Africa, of whom 42 have been traced by national authorities and are currently under monitoring.

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Americans on hantavirus cruise ship reportedly to be quarantined in US

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US CDC personnel are reportedly meeting ship in Canary Islands to accompany Americans on a flight to Nebraska

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reportedly sending personnel to the Canary Islands to meet the cruise ship affected by the hantavirus outbreak, with plans to accompany American passengers back to the US on a chartered flight and place them into quarantine in Nebraska.

An additional CDC team is already headed to Nebraska, according to unnamed sources who spoke with CNN. The sources indicated that passengers are expected to undergo quarantine measures there to help prevent any possible spread of the virus. Nebraska is home to both the federally supported National Quarantine Unit and the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.

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Spanish authorities prepare for arrival of hantavirus-stricken cruise ship

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‘Unprecedented operation’ under way to receive MV Hondius off Tenerife to assess and repatriate those onboard

The Spanish authorities are finalising preparations for the arrival of the MV Hondius this weekend, saying an “unprecedented operation” is under way to receive, assess and repatriate the 149 passengers and crew members onboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship.

The Dutch-flagged vessel, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, is due to arrive off Tenerife in the Canary Islands at around midday on Sunday.

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Three evacuated from hantavirus-hit ship as Spain says vessel can dock

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British guide Martin Anstee, 56, among those evacuated from MV Hondius, which is now heading for Canary Islands

Three people with suspected hantavirus have been medically evacuated from a cruise ship.

They include a British man who was an expedition guide onboard the ship, the MV Hondius. He was named on Wednesday evening as Martin Anstee, 56.

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Spain demands release of Gaza flotilla activists ‘held illegally’ by Israel

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Israeli court extends detention of two men who were among 175 people intercepted near Crete on Thursday

Spain’s foreign ministry has demanded the immediate release of a Spanish national it said was being “held illegally” by Israel after the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, hours after an Israeli court moved to extend his detention by two days.

Saif Abu Keshek, who lives in Barcelona, and Thiago Ávila, from Brazil, appeared in court in Ashkelon on Sunday, days after Israeli forces intercepted at least 22 boats from a flotilla that was attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the devastated Palestinian territory to deliver aid.

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Octopus Energy boss: some people would accept blackouts if bills cut

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Greg Jackson argues against costly investments in UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills

The boss of the UK’s biggest energy supplier has suggested that some households would accept an occasional electricity blackout in exchange for much lower energy bills.

A year on from Europe’s largest power outage – which left tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal without trains, metros, traffic lights, ATMs, phone connections and internet access – the chief executive of Octopus Energy argued against costly investments in the UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills.

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