Spanish football president in kissing row denies new misogyny allegations

Tamara Ramos claims Luis Rubiales asked what colour her underwear was when they worked together

Spain’s football federation president Luis Rubiales was at the centre of new misogyny allegations on Wednesday, as he faces growing calls to be sacked for kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips after the country’s World Cup victory.

The country’s football federation (RFEF) chief, 46, has been widely condemned for planting a kiss on the lips of the footballer after her team’s 1-0 triumph over England in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Cape Verde boat survivors say some jumped out to try to reach land

Some took parts of wooden seats for buoyancy after watching friends die on drifting vessel

Facing hunger, thirst and a rising number of deaths, some of the group of asylum seekers who were adrift for more than a month in the Atlantic resorted to breaking off chunks of the boat’s wooden seats in hopes of floating to land, a friend of three of the survivors has said.

More than 90 people are believed to have died before the rickety boat that had set off from Fass Boye, a seaside town in Senegal, was found off Cape Verde last week. Survivors said they left on 10 July aiming to reach Spain’s Canary Islands and spent weeks drifting at the mercy of powerful Atlantic trade winds.

Continue reading...

Spain’s conservative party leader proposed as PM despite no majority

People’s party’s Alberto Feijóo is choice of king to succeed Pedro Sánchez but would only be able to form minority government

The leader of Spain’s conservative People’s party has been put forward to be prime minister, in a move that seems doomed to fail as he has not secured enough votes to command a majority.

In accordance with protocol, King Felipe VI proposed Alberto Feijóo for the investiture on Tuesday night on the grounds that his party won the most votes in last month’s general election, which produced a hung parliament.

Continue reading...

Barcelona community resource named world’s best new public library

Gabriel García Márquez library in working-class district specialises in Latin American literature

A Barcelona library specialising in Latin American literature has been named the best new public library in the world by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions at its congress in Rotterdam.

The library, named after the Nobel-winning Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, opened last year in the working-class neighbourhood of Sant Martí de Provençals.

Continue reading...

Zero-degree line at record height above Switzerland as heat and fire hit Europe

Weather ballon climbs to 5,300 metres before temperature falls to 0C amid late summer heatwave

A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swathes of continental Europe.

A man was found dead in a blaze raging north of Athens on Monday as the Greek government warned of an “extreme” risk of fire across the country, while more than half of mainland France was placed under an amber heat alert.

Continue reading...

‘I’m so happy as a woman and as a Spaniard’: World Cup joy in Madrid

Jubilation at victory over England will take a while to sink in – and there are hopes it will bring lasting change

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, the August-quiet, sun-fried streets around Madrid’s WiZink Center had begun to fill with red strips, dazed and happy faces, and the inevitable chorus of horns from the capital’s jubilant motorists. Spain had done it. But the fact they had done it was going to take a while to sink in.

Among the hundreds of people milling about outside the sporting arena and concert venue – where giant screens had shown the World Cup triumph of the Spanish women’s team to 6,000 people – were Laura Luengo, her wife, Tamara Rodríguez, and their young son, Álvaro.

Continue reading...

Tenerife wildfire ‘started deliberately’ as blazes in Greece force evacuations

Canary Islands regional president opens inquiry into fire, while people flee from four Greek villages

An out-of-control wildfire on Tenerife that has forced thousands to flee was started deliberately, authorities have said, as four more villages in Greece were evacuated in the face of another advancing blaze and more than half of mainland France was on extreme heat alert.

As much of southern Europe continues to roast after July was named the world’s hottest month on record, the Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, said on Sunday that police had confirmed the blaze raging on the Spanish island since Tuesday had been lit intentionally, and had opened three separate lines of inquiry.

Continue reading...

‘A win will change everything’… World Cup victory for Spain would kick out sexism, say fans

If La Roja beat England, Spain’s apathetic media would finally have to take notice

Slicing sourdough on the stainless-steel counter of a London tapas restaurant, Ana Lorenzo hopes victory for La Roja will banish the sexism she says still stalks women’s football in Spain.

“It’s so sexist in Spain compared to here. The attitude to women’s football is many years behind. And despite doing so well, the women’s team hasn’t really gripped the media,” she says, shaking her head.

Continue reading...

‘I don’t know why our boobs are so frightening’: why musicians in Spain are going topless as a radical gesture

Singer Eva Amaral this week created headlines by baring her chest at a festival, joining a string of other artists asserting this freedom in the name of defending women’s rights

In the middle of her performance at the Sonorama festival in the northern Spanish town of Aranda de Duero on Saturday, Eva Amaral was about to lead her band Amaral into her song Revolución when she took off her red sequin top and threw it on the floor.

“This is for Rocío, for Rigoberta, for Zahara, for Miren, for Bebe, for all of us,” she said, listing the names of fellow artists before uncovering her breasts. “Because no one can take away the dignity of our nakedness. The dignity of our fragility, of our strength. Because there are too many of us.” In a concert marking the Spanish band’s 25-year career, going topless was a way of defending women’s dignity and freedom to go nude, and “a very important moment”, Amaral later told El País.

Continue reading...

Cape Verde boat disaster: vessel drifted for month after alarm raised, says NGO

Walking Borders said it told authorities in four countries on 20 July about vessel with more than 100 asylum seekers onboard

A Spanish NGO alerted authorities from four countries on 20 July about a boat carrying an estimated 130 asylum seekers that was found earlier this week with just 38 survivors and the bodies of seven dead people on board.

Relatives of those onboard said the large fishing vessel had left Fass Boye, a seaside town in Senegal on 10 July, and was heading for Spain’s Canary Islands. The boat was spotted on Monday about 150 nautical miles (277km ) north of the Cape Verdean island of Sal.

Continue reading...

Wildfires in Tenerife force thousands to evacuate or stay indoors

Worst wildfires in the Canary Islands in at least 40 years drawing closer to the capital Santa Cruz

More than 7,500 people have been evacuated or ordered to stay indoors as the worst wildfire in at least four decades ravages the Canary island of Tenerife, burning through 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) of land and drawing closer to the capital, Santa Cruz.

Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canaries, said more than 250 firefighters – backed by military emergency crews and 17 aircraft – were working to tackle the fire, which broke out in the north-east of the island on Tuesday and which currently has a 32km (20-mile) perimeter.

Continue reading...

At least 63 people feared dead after boat found off Cape Verde

Fishing vessel with 100 asylum seekers was travelling from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands

More than 60 people are believed to have died after the boat they were travelling on from Senegal was found off Cape Verde, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.

At least 63 asylum seekers are thought to have died, while the 38 survivors include four children between the ages of 12 and 16, an IOM spokesperson told AFP.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: floods, storms and wildfires in Europe

North of continent records unusually wet and windy summer conditions while Portugal and Spain battle flames

Floods struck northern and central Europe last week. Some areas of Slovenia recorded more than 200mm of rain in 12 hours on Thursday and Friday, causing extensive flooding across two-thirds of the country. Many buildings and roads were damaged, at an estimated cost of €500m (£432m), and six deaths were reported.

Storm Hans hit the Baltic region a few days later. Hans originated as an area of low pressure over eastern Europe, but quickly deepened as it travelled northwards towards the Baltic Sea. The low was unusually deep for a summer storm, and led to daily rainfall totals of 80 to 100mm in parts of southern Norway and Sweden earlier this week.

Continue reading...

Infighting at top of Spain’s far-right Vox party as spokesperson quits

Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, a founding member, marginalised by hardliners close to party leader

An internal war has broken out at the top of Spain’s far-right Vox party after its poor showing in last month’s general election when it lost nearly half of the seats it won in 2019.

Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, a founder member and the party’s spokesperson, resigned on Tuesday, saying he would not be taking up his seat in parliament.

Continue reading...

Spanish lottery ticket seller faces charges of defrauding winner of €4.7m

Man from A Coruña had been praised for trying to track down unclaimed ticket’s owner – whom police found

A lottery ticket seller hailed as a good samaritan 11 years ago for apparently trying to track down the owner of an unclaimed winning ticket worth €4.7m (£4.05m) faces a possible six-year jail sentence on charges that he defrauded the rightful owner of their winnings.

Police allege that Manuel Reija González, a ticket seller in the north-western Spanish city of A Coruña, told the winner of the lottery drawn in June 2012 that his ticket was worth just over a euro and then, with the help of his brother, who worked for the national lottery, attempted to cash in the ticket himself. Both brothers have denied any wrongdoing.

Continue reading...

‘Shameful loss’: wolves declared extinct in Andalucía

Naturalists decry extinction of species as loss of habitat, poaching and illegal hunting take toll

For centuries, wolves have roamed the mountain ranges of Andalucía in southern Spain, but after years of decline the creature has been officially declared extinct in the region.

Since 2003, the regional government has carried out a census of the wolf (Canis lupus signatus) population in an effort to monitor the species and reduce conflict with the local population, farmers in particular.

Continue reading...

Spain stalemate drags on as Pedro Sánchez’s socialist party loses crucial seat

Votes from overseas means left and right blocs now neck and neck in race for power

Spain’s socialist party has suffered a setback in its efforts to form a new leftwing coalition government after this month’s inconclusive election as a count of overseas votes handed a crucial seat across to the opposition conservatives.

The result means the left and right blocs are now neck and neck as MPs prepare for a vote in congress that will determine who gets to govern.

Continue reading...

UK rapper turned Islamic State fighter dies in Spanish jail

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary had been on trial in Madrid and was awaiting the verdict

A man from London who was stripped of his British nationality over his links to Islamic State has died in custody in Spain.

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a former rapper who allegedly posed for photographs holding a severed head, was found dead in a Spanish prison on Wednesday, the interior ministry said. The cause of death is unconfirmed.

Continue reading...

‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal

‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

Continue reading...

Monday briefing: Spain’s nail-biting election ends in hung parliament – what happens now?

In today’s newsletter: The country’s conservative parties were meant to romp to victory in snap elections, but with 100% of the vote counted, neither the left or right blocs have secured a majority

Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning.

A few days ago it seemed a foregone conclusion that a coalition of rightwing parties were going to win Spain’s snap elections. A huge majority was not a guarantee, but most of the polls were in their favour. Election night, however, told a different story.

Health | Most NHS staff think they have too little time to help patients and the quality of care the service provides is falling, a survey reveals. Medical and nursing groups said the “very worrying” findings showed that hard-pressed staff cannot give patients as much attention as they would like because they are so busy.

Environment | Firefighters in Greece were struggling to contain 82 wildfires burning across the country, 64 of which started on Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far. As well as huge blazes on the island of Rhodes, which forced 19,000 to flee, wildfires also broke out on the islands of Evia and Corfu. Travel firms and airlines are now being urged to reimburse passengers who decide against flying to Rhodes.

Politics | Rishi Sunak is being urged by senior Conservatives to go for a spring election next year, with the plan said to be “gaining traction” among campaign strategists who believe it may be their best chance to stem losses.

Nigel Farage | Britain’s biggest banks will be summoned to a meeting with the City minister, as he raised “significant concern” over the recent closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account with Coutts. Andrew Griffith will send a letter to the bosses of 19 banks including Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest to warn the government is prepared to “take the action necessary” to protect freedom of speech.

Cinema | Vue cinema chain has reported its biggest weekend for UK cinema ticket sales since before the pandemic, thanks to the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer at the box office. The chain said a fifth of its customers had bought tickets to see both films in a double bill.

Continue reading...