Russian pilot who defected found dead in Spain, says Ukraine security agency

Maksim Kuzminov, who changed sides in secret operation, killed after allegedly moving to Alicante, reports suggest

A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine last year in a secret operation has been found dead in Spain, according to the main military intelligence agency in Kyiv.

Reports in Russian and Spanish media on Monday said Maksim Kuzminov was found dead after allegedly moving to the town of Villajoyosa in Alicante on the Mediterranean coast, in an area popular with holidaymakers. His body was discovered last Tuesday, it was said, on the car park ramp underneath an apartment block.

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Spain’s conservative party fears defeat in its Galician heartland

Close-run race could see PP ousted and Ana Pontón of BNG installed as area’s first female and nationalist leader

Spain’s opposition conservative party faces the prospect of defeat in its leader’s home region, where it has governed for much of the past four decades, when voters in Galicia go to the polls on Sunday.

The People’s party (PP) won an absolute majority four years ago under the then regional president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who now leads the national party, but polls suggest its declining fortunes could open the door to a coalition of the Socialist party and the surging Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG).

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Atlantic drugs bust takes dramatic turn after alleged smuggler ‘kidnaps’ crew

Spanish police find 2.3 tonnes of cocaine following negotiation with Serb allegedly holding crew hostage

It seemed it would be a routine police operation after a tipoff came in regarding a vessel ferrying 2.3 tonnes of cocaine from South America to Spain. But what came next could have been plucked out of a Hollywood blockbuster, as Spanish police found themselves negotiating for hours on the high seas with an alleged armed smuggler who claimed to have shot one of his compatriots, thrown him overboard and taken the rest hostage.

Spanish authorities said on Wednesday that nine people were arrested during the high-stakes operation, which took place in November but was kept under wraps until the investigation was completed.

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Ireland and Spain demand EU reviews Israel trade deal over rights obligations

Joint letters from prime ministers implore the bloc to act over ‘deteriorating’ situation in Gaza

The prime ministers of Ireland and Spain have implored EU leaders to take action over the “deteriorating” situation in Gaza, demanding an immediate assessment of whether Israel is complying with human rights obligations that are stipulated in a trade deal with the bloc.

The letter was sent amid mounting international calls for Israel to drop plans for a military assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians from the north and centre of the territory have fled seeking safety. At least 74 Palestinians were this week killed in an Israel rescue mission in the city in which two hostages were freed.

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Ireland and Spain among EU nations striking a different note on Gaza war

In taking alternative direction to likes of US and UK, group has played a role in shifting perspectives on the conflict

When the UN agency for Palestinian refugees became embroiled in a scandal last month, Britain and Germany quickly froze their funding, and other countries on the continent soon followed. But instead of joining the pack, Spain and Portugal decided to go in the opposite direction. They responded with promises to up their funding.

For years, but especially in the past few months, they have been part of a grouping of countries across Europe that have consistently sought to strike a different note when it comes to conflict in the Middle East. Others include Ireland, which has called for a review of the EU’s trade ties with Israel, and Slovenia, which said it expected Israel to swiftly implement provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice in a case looking into allegations of genocide.

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Spain’s PP leader shocks party by backing conditional pardon for Carles Puigdemont

U-turn ‘stupefies’ conservative party, which has condemned amnesty for those involved in Catalan independence push

Members of Spain’s conservative People’s party say they are “stupefied” after their party leader announced he was in favour of granting a conditional pardon to former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont for his role in the illegal independence push in 2017.

Under the leadership of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP has consistently condemned Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, for offering an amnesty to Puigdemont and dozens of others involved in the independence movement in exchange for the votes of his party, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia).

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‘The only option is to be patient’: Sudanese refugee waits on Spanish asylum claim filed from Morocco

Lawyers see Basir’s case as test of European policies that fail to provide safe routes to sub-Saharan asylum seekers

For 25-year-old Basir, it was a ray of hope after fleeing Sudan more than a decade ago. For his lawyers, the asylum request he made from Morocco was the ultimate test of whether Spain – and more broadly the EU – was willing to provide safe migration routes to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Thirteen months later, the answer is a resounding no. Little has changed for Basir, a Christian, who was left for dead at 15 in an attack that killed his father and brother. He continues to live rough on the streets of Morocco, scrambling to land odd jobs so he can buy food. He asked that his real name not be used for safety reasons.

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Arrests after Spanish civil guards killed in boat chase with suspected drugs gang

Two officers died and two others injured when their patrol craft was rammed by speedboat off the coast of Barbate

Eight people have been arrested after two Spanish Guardia Civil officers were killed and two more injured when their small patrol boat was rammed by a speedboat driven by suspected drug smugglers off the southern port of Barbate.

Video of the incident, which took place on Friday night, showed a large speedboat hitting the police inflatable launch at high speed. Stretches of Spain’s southern coast have seen a series of violent clashes in recent years between police and smugglers bringing in drugs from north Africa.

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‘Our imitation is total’: Spanish tech startup aims to put 3D-printed meat on our plates

Pamplona-based Cocuus is on a loud and disruptive quest to fuse science, technology and nutrition

Cocuus, a cutting-edge tech startup headquartered in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Pamplona, embraces the cliches of its sector every bit as willingly as the drunken tourists who blithely entrust themselves to fate, horns and hooves during the Spanish city’s bull-running festival each July.

Table football? Check. Lager and IPA on tap? Check. Inspirational messaging – preferably an Alice in Wonderland homage that reads, “I believe in six impossible things before breakfast”? Check. What about some sci-fi memorabilia, perhaps a Tintin moon rocket and an Alien xenomorph head? Check. Obviously.

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Film about children living in darkness on Madrid’s doorstep up for award

Even Though it’s Night, which chronicles the conditions of Europe’s largest shantytown, Cañada Real, in running for a Goya

A short film that chronicles the lives of the forgotten, deprived and marginalised children who live in Europe’s largest shantytown, just outside Madrid, is in the running for Spain’s equivalent of an Oscar at the Goya awards on Saturday.

Aunque es de noche (Even Though it’s Night), which was shot on location in the Cañada Real informal settlement, using a cast of residents, follows 13-year-old Toni as he prepares to say goodbye to his best friend, Nasser, who is moving to France, and to his own childhood.

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EU leaders unveil €210m Mauritania deal in bid to curb people-smuggling

Plan includes energy and infrastructure projects with aim of strengthening stability in Sahel

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, have unveiled plans for a €210m partnership with Mauritania in an attempt to curb people-smuggling to the Canary islands and launch new energy and infrastructure projects benefiting both sides.

Figures soon to be published by Frontex, the EU’s border agency, are expected to show that the number of people risking their lives by making the perilous journey from west African shores to the Spanish islands has risen dramatically in the past year.

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Former Brazil footballer Dani Alves denies rape as Spain trial wraps

Ex-Barcelona defender is accused of raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022

The former Brazil international footballer Dani Alves has denied raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub as he took the stand on the last day of his trial in Spain.

“If she wanted to leave, she could have left, she was not obligated to be there,” the 40-year-old told the court in Barcelona on Wednesday, adding that the woman “at no time” asked to leave.

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Feminists attack Spain’s ‘sexist’ Eurovision entry as PM defends singers

Public opinion divided over lyrics to Zorra, usually used to mean ‘bitch’, by electropop duo Nebulossa

It has been criticised by some as insulting to women, but hailed by the prime minister as provocative – in a good way.

Days after Spain selected its entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest, the electropop tune Zorra has rocketed to the top of the country’s music charts and divided public opinion.

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Former Barcelona footballer Dani Alves’s rape trial to begin on Monday

Brazilian, 40, has been charged with the rape of a 23-year-old woman in a nightclub

The former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves will appear in court on Monday charged with the rape of a 23-year-old woman in a Barcelona nightclub.

Alves, 40, faces damning scientific and video evidence, as well as witness accounts.

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Number of people arriving by boat in Canaries from west Africa jumps 1,000%

Atlantic route to chain of islands is deadliest migration passage to Spain with 6,007 people dying last year

The number of people from west Africa who braved the sea in boats to reach Spain’s Canary Islands jumped more than 1,000% in January from a year before, according to data released by the country’s interior ministry.

A total of 7,270 people reached the archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean between 1 January and 31 January, a nearly 13-fold increase from 566 people in the same month in 2023, the ministry said on Thursday.

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Refugee files complaint to UN against Spain over 2014 border deaths

Country accused of violating torture convention in hope of finding justice decade after incident in which at least 15 people died

A 25-year-old from Cameroon has filed a complaint to the UN against Spain, accusing the country of multiple violations of the convention against torture in hope of seeking justice after an incident in 2014 during which at least 15 people died while trying to enter Spanish territory from Morocco.

“A decade has passed and still not a single person has been held accountable for the death and injury of so many,” said the man, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Ludovic.

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Belgian port blockaded as farmer protests spread across Europe

Roads around Zeebrugge could be obstructed until midnight on Wednesday, hitting commercial trade

The Belgian port of Zeebrugge was blockaded on Tuesday, causing gridlock on surrounding roads as a wave of farmer protests spread across Europe.

Authorities at the North Sea port, one of the biggest in Europe, said all access roads were blocked by 5pm (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, in a demonstration that will hit commercial trade, including imports and exports of food to and from the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.

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‘Respect – and honour’: the fight to save a Spanish civil war mass grave

Remains of 451 people believed to lie on proposed site of Madrid waste plant – including Bloomsbury poet Julian Bell

The children of Montecarmelo are in fine and raucous voice as they pour into the playgrounds that flank the quiet alleys of the Fuencarral municipal cemetery.

Equally voluble, if less joyous, are the banners and posters that hang from the balconies, walls and railings of this north Madrid suburb, bellowing their opposition to the city council’s plans to build a huge waste management plant and vehicle depot next to the cemetery.

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Courts reprimand Spain, Greece and Hungary over treatment of child asylum seekers

Rights of lone minors were not protected, with some deported and others left homeless for months

Spain, Greece and Hungary have been rebuked by courts for failing to protect the rights of children.

It adds to a string of recent rulings that have reprimanded countries across Europe over the treatment of lone minors who are seeking asylum.

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‘It’s about living on what you have’: Four shepherds seek sustainable life in Spain

The four inhabitants of Morillo de Sampietro, an abandoned village in the Pyrenees, live a simple life

The tiny hamlet of Morillo de Sampietro stands high above a steep, wooded valley in the Spanish Pyrenees. Below is the glint of the Rio Yesa, beyond are the snow-capped peaks of Monte Perdido.

In 1860 Morillo had 76 inhabitants; by 1995 only two remained. Now there are four.

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