Karla Sofía Gascón says she is ‘less racist than Gandhi’ on return to public eye

Actor suggests she may have been intentionally smeared and says ‘no one has to forgive me’ after recent controversy

Karla Sofía Gascón has described herself as “less racist than Gandhi” and insisted “no one has to forgive me for anything” as she returns to the public eye after the emergence of offensive social media posts widely thought to have torpedoed the Oscar hopes of her film Emilia Pérez.

The Spanish performer, who became the first transgender woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, was dropped from the film’s campaigning materials by its studio, Netflix, and criticised by colleagues and prominent politicians after the series of old racist and Islamophobic tweets came to light.

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Spanish parliament vote on cutting food waste will end ban on wolf hunting

Amendment brought by coalition of parties says wolves add to food waste due to remains of livestock they kill

The Spanish parliament has voted through a measure that will in effect lift the hunting ban on wolves that was imposed in 2021.

A coalition led by the conservative People’s party, with the support of the far-right Vox party and Basque and Catalan nationalists, added an amendment to a law aimed at reducing Spain’s estimated 1.2bn kilograms of food waste.

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Madrid plans to limit computer and tablet use in primary schools to two hours a week

Teachers will be banned from setting homework involving screens in effort to tackle ‘risks’ of intensive use of IT at young age

The regional government of Madrid has unveiled plans to limit the use of computers and tablets in primary schools to a maximum of two hours a week in an effort to tackle “the risks associated with the early, intensive and inappropriate use of information technology”.

Under the proposals, to be enacted in September, teachers will also be banned from setting homework involving screen use.

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Bone fragments of oldest known human face in western Europe found in Spain

Remains are of an adult member of an extinct species who lived up to 1.4m years ago, researchers say

Bone fragments unearthed at an ancient cave in Spain belong to the oldest known human face in western Europe, researchers say.

The fossilised remains make up the left cheek and upper jaw of an adult member of an extinct human species who lived and died on the Iberian peninsula between 1.1m and 1.4m years ago.

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Global celebrations and protests mark International Women’s Day

From Istanbul and Warsaw to Athens and Madrid, activists demand equality and the end of gender-based violence

Women took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.

On the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul, a rally in Kadiköy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.

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Spain’s rewilding of Iberian lynx at risk after lobbying by hunters and farmers

Regional governments bow to pressure from agricultural industry, often amplified by far-right Vox party

Only last year it was hailed as a conservation success story: the Iberian lynx, which had been close to extinction, had sprung back to life thanks to a two-decade-long effort to expand the population.

Now, however, that progress is at risk after several regional governments in Spain acceded to pressure from farmers and hunters to block the reintroduction of the species into the wild.

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Luis Rubiales tells court he asked Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her

Former Spanish football federation boss is accused of sexual assault after kissing player at Women’s World Cup

The former Spanish football federation boss Luis Rubiales has told a court that he asked the player Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her before doing so after the Women’s World Cup victory in 2023.

“I am absolutely sure that she gave me her permission,” Rubiales, 47, told the court in Madrid. “In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

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Emilia Pérez wins top Spanish film prize amid Karla Sofía Gascón furore

Best European film at Goya awards goes to musical at centre of storm over past social media posts written by its star

The multi-Oscar-nominated narco-musical Emilia Pérez, whose success has been overshadowed by the emergence of a series of racist and Islamophobic social media posts written by its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, won best European film at Spain’s prestigious Goya awards on Saturday night.

Gascón, the first out transgender woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, stayed away from the ceremony after posts came to light in which she called George Floyd “a drug addict swindler”, denigrated China, and said Islam was “becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity”.

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‘I was deeply upset’: Karla Sofía Gascón to miss Spanish ‘Oscars’ as storm over racist tweets continues

The actor was due to attend the Goya awards on Saturday but has pulled out and has also been dropped by publishers

Karla Sofía Gascón will not attend this weekend’s prestigious Goya awards as the fallout from the Spanish actor’s racist and Islamophobic social media posts continues with her being dropped by her publisher and criticised by prominent politicians.

Gascón – the star of Emilia Pérez and the first transgender woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar – is already understood to have been removed from the film’s campaigning materials by its studio, Netflix. Her comments have been described as “absolutely hateful” by the movie’s director, Jacques Audiard, while Gascón’s co-star, Zoe Saldana, has said the views expressed had saddened and disappointed her.

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Refugee shot in eye during deadly 2014 crossing into Spain files complaint to UN

Survivor of Ceuta incident that ended with 14 deaths asks why use of anti-riot equipment was never investigated

A refugee who was almost blinded in one eye during a police operation that ended with the deaths of at least 14 people off the coast of Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta 11 years ago has filed a complaint to the UN Committee Against Torture.

Shortly before dawn on 6 February 2014, about 200 people tried to enter Ceuta by climbing the border fence or by swimming around the breakwater that separates the city from Moroccan territory.

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Third of Spanish schools offering too much fried food – study

Findings published as as country prepares legislation to reduce childhood obesity

Almost a third of Spain’s school canteens are offering students too many portions of fried food each week, while more than a third are not providing them with enough fresh vegetables, according to a study from the country’s national food agency.

The findings, based on figures from 2023, come as Spain’s socialist-led government prepares legislation that aims to reduce obesity by targeting unhealthy, sugary foods and making the food agency’s recommendations obligatory.

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Luis Rubiales to go on trial in Spain over Jenni Hermoso kiss at World Cup

Spanish football federation’s former president is accused of sexual assault and coercion over incident in 2023

Spain’s former football chief Luis Rubiales will go on trial in Madrid on Monday over the unsolicited kiss he planted on the World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso, a gesture that stunned millions of TV viewers and unleashed a backlash against sexism in sport.

Rubiales, 47, is accused of sexual assault as well as coercion after allegations that he tried to force Hermoso, 34, into publicly declaring that the kiss, which occurred as she celebrated her team’s victory in the 2023 World Cup in Australia, was consensual.

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‘A vicious circle’: how the roof blew off Spain’s housing crisis

Rents spiral and neighbourhoods lose charm as cities report tourist flat boom and surge in housing speculation

Ciutat Vella, the old city of Barcelona, was once quirky and mysterious.

Now it has become a parody of itself, a place from which the local population has been exiled in the interests of tourism and maturing investments. Doorways have sprouted combination key safes, a telltale sign of an apartment given over to tourist lets. A 100-year-old apothecary and shirtmaker that stood on La Rambla for two centuries have been replaced by shops selling flamenco dolls and ceramic bulls.

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‘Has the world gone mad? It has’: foreign reporters share a view of Trump from abroad

Journalists from countries that have seen challenges to democracy give their view on the second Trump presidency

What is the view of US democracy from abroad, and what can Americans learn from other nations with a history of political tumult?

During his first term Donald Trump tested democratic norms by undermining trust in fair elections, encouraging political violence and demonizing the media and public servants. He has promised to be a dictator “on day one” of his second term.

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Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents

Pedro Sánchez announces measure in response to anger over rising housing costs

Spain has announced plans to impose a tax of up to 100% on real estate bought by non-residents from countries outside the EU, such as the UK, in an aim to tackle the country’s housing crisis.

The measure was one of a dozen unveiled on Monday by the country’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as the government seeks to quell mounting anger over housing costs that have soared far beyond the reach of many in Spain.

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‘It was extraordinary’: Spanish captain recalls rescue of woman who gave birth in dinghy

Mother and newborn saved from inflatable boat off Canary Islands, on a route on which thousands have died

The call that would lead to one of the most poignant images of the humanitarian emergency in the deadly waters off the Canary Islands came at 4am.

In the early hours of Monday, the Las Palmas command centre of Spain’s maritime rescue service, Salvamento Marítimo, told Domingo Trujillo, the captain of the search-and-rescue vessel Talía, that a small inflatable boat, packed with people, was adrift 97 nautical miles (180km) off the coast of Lanzarote. Among those onboard, they added, was a woman who was due to give birth at any moment.

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Murder investigation in Spain after body of missing Belfast man found

Family ‘heartbroken’ after discovery of body of John George, 37, who went missing in Alicante area in December

A murder investigation is under way in Spain after the body of a 37-year-old man from Northern Ireland was found three weeks after he went missing.

John George from Belfast, a father of two children, was in Spain for a short visit in December but the alarm was raised when he failed to board a flight home on 18 December.

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Baby born on crowded small boat crossing from Africa to Canary Islands

The boy and his mother as well as dozens of others were rescued off the coast of Lanzarote, Spain

A baby boy has been born on a small, crowded boat carrying 60 people on the deadly Atlantic migration route from Africa to the Canary Islands.

The boat was spotted off the coast of Lanzarote on the feast of the Epiphany, the day when Spanish children receive presents from the Three Wise Men.

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Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez denounces Elon Musk at Franco anniversary event

Sánchez accuses X owner of inciting hatred as country marks 50 years since start of its return to democracy

Pedro Sánchez has hit out at Elon Musk and his allies for “openly attacking our institutions, inciting hatred and openly calling for people to support the heirs of nazism”, saying the politics of division, disinformation and hatred risk ushering in a new age of authoritarianism.

Speaking in Madrid on Wednesday as Spain prepares to mark the 50th anniversary in November of the death of General Franco and the country’s subsequent return to democracy, the Spanish prime minister said hard-won, basic freedoms could not, and should not, be taken for granted.

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Barcelona to fine e-scooter users up to €500 for riding on pavements

Council to crack down on antisocial behaviour linked to rapid rise of e-scooter riders in city

Anyone riding an electric scooter on the pavement or without a helmet in Barcelona faces a fine of up to €500 (£415) from 1 February as part of a crackdown on antisocial behaviour linked to the rapid rise of e-scooter use in the Mediterranean city.

In an urban landscape that is mostly flat, with more than 250km (155 miles) of cycle lanes, 2,500 hours of sunshine and barely 55 rainy days a year, electric scooters are a perfect fit. According to the city council’s figures, the number of people using e-scooters since the pandemic has risen four times faster than those choosing to travel by bicycle.

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