Dos Santos’s near-four-decade rule was marked by brutal civil war lasting almost three decades
Angola’s former president José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Africa’s second biggest oil producer for nearly four decades, has died aged 79.
Dos Santos died at the Teknon clinic in Barcelona, Spain, where he was being treated following a prolonged illness, the presidency said.
Continue reading...Spanish auteur behind the 1973 arthouse hit will direct a new film, Cerrar los Ojos, due for release in 2023
Veteran Spanish director Víctor Erice, best known for 1973 classic The Spirit of the Beehive, is making his first feature film in 30 years, it has been revealed.
El Diario reports that the new project, titled Cerrar los Ojos (Close Your Eyes), is being funded by Canal Sur, the public broadcaster for the Andalusia region of Spain. No information has been divulged as to its content, other than that José Coronado and María León have been cast in the lead roles, and that it is due for release in 2023.
Continue reading...Increases reported in countries including Greece, Spain, France and Germany as Omicron variant BA.5 spreads
Holidaymakers heading to and from the European mainland are being warned of a growing incidence of coronavirus, especially in tourist hotspots, which risks hampering travel plans.
Health officials are calling in some cases for a reintroduction of face masks and other measures, and are urging travellers to exercise personal responsibility, warning that an escalation of the virus could lead to the swift return of restrictions.
Continue reading...Complex in Alicante, sanctioned for breaking competition rules, to begin productions later this year
One of Spain’s most notorious and costly white elephants, the Ciudad de la Luz (City of Light) film studios in Alicante, is to get a new lease of life 10 years after it was forced to shut by the EU on grounds of unfair competition.
The Valencian regional government has announced that the studios will reopen, with productions expected to begin later this year. Brussels had banned it from operating until 2027 after production companies, including Pinewood Studios in London, complained that government subsidies broke EU competition rules.
Continue reading...Planned action by the airline’s Spain-based cabin crew over working conditions will increase disruption for holidaymakers
British holidaymakers are braced for fresh travel chaos across Europe this summer with staff at Ryanair on Saturday becoming the latest to threaten strike action.
As striking airport workers in Paris forced the cancellation of dozens of flights on Saturday and promised more industrial action later in July, Spain-based cabin crew at Ryanair revealed they now plan to strike for 12 days in July.
Continue reading...Human rights groups say there have been no autopsies or identification of the 23 people killed trying to cross into Spain
Seconds after Mohamed stepped on to Spanish soil, he turned around to see how his friends had fared along the metres-high chain link fence that slices off the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco.
“It was horrible,” said the 20-year-old from Sudan. “It was a bloodbath; many of them appeared dead and many were injured.”
Continue reading...Hungarian leader was criticised by Xavier Bettel in 2021 for introducing homophobic law
The dozens of invitees were carefully seated along the lengthy table, flanked by columns fashioned out of Bagnères marble and surrounded by paintings from Spain’s Francisco de Goya.
As photos of the Nato dinner at Spain’s royal palace filtered out, many were swift to spot what one Spanish news site described as the image of the summit: the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, seated next to Gauthier Destenay, the first same-sex spouse of a leader of an EU member state.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese blames lack of climate leadership and relationship breakdown with France for hindering European deals
Negotiations for a “critical” trade deal with the EU have stalled over perceptions Australia isn’t “fair dinkum” on climate change action and due to a fractured relationship with France, Anthony Albanese said.
The prime minister met with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, on Tuesday in Madrid before the Nato summit, marking the first bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister.
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Continue reading...Concern at apparent plan to bury victims without investigating cause of death or trying to identify them
There are growing calls for an investigation into the deaths of up to 37 people who died trying to scale a fence to enter Melilla, Spain’s enclave in north Africa.
About 2,000 people stormed the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave on Friday. The Moroccan authorities say 23 people died and 140 police were injured during the attempt, while several NGOs say the number of dead is 37.
Continue reading...NGOs say toll could be as high as 37 after hundreds of people break into border control area in attempt to reach Melilla enclave
Human rights campaigners in Spain and Morocco have called for investigations to be launched in both countries after a mass attempt to scale the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla left at least 23 people dead.
Spanish officials said about 2,000 Africans made their way to the iron fence at dawn on Friday, with more than 500 managing to slip into a border control area after cutting an opening with shears.
Continue reading...Crowd of more than 500 enter border control area after cutting fence in attempt to cross from Morocco
The death toll from the mass attempt to cross from Morocco into Spain’s enclave of Melilla has risen to 23, according to Moroccan state TV.
About 2,000 people approached Melilla at dawn on Friday and more than 500 managed to enter a border control area after cutting a fence with shears, the Spanish government’s local delegation said in a statement.
Continue reading...Conservationists who re-established the raptors in the UK with birds from Spain are now returning the favour
When red kites were reintroduced in England more than 30 years ago, young birds were brought over from thriving populations in Spain. Now the carrion-feeding raptor is doing so well that English chicks – with distant Spanish ancestry – are being flown back to Spain to boost ailing numbers there.
Fed on culled grey squirrels and meticulously checked by vets, 15 chicks collected from nests in Northamptonshire are this week travelling to southern Spain where they will be held in special aviaries in the countryside until they are mature enough to be set free.
Continue reading...Risk of significant tsunami within next 30 years is nearly 100%, Unesco says, as it urges coastal cities to become ‘tsunami-ready’
A tsunami could soon hit major cities on or near the Mediterranean Sea including Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul, with a nearly 100% chance of a wave reaching more than a metre high in the next 30 years, according to Unesco.
The risk of a tsunami in Mediterranean coastal communities is predicted to soar as sea levels rise. While communities in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, where most tsunamis occur, were often aware of the dangers, it was underestimated in other coastal regions, including the Mediterranean, Unesco said.
Continue reading...Move by 11 establishments prompted by problem of groups ‘only looking to get drunk in the streets’
Eleven seaside restaurants on the Spanish island of Mallorca have introduced a dress code for patrons in an attempt to crack down on what they described as a recent wave of antisocial behaviour among drunk tourists.
In these restaurants, most of which are in the Playa de Palma, shirtless, costumed or football-jersey-clad punters will no longer be allowed, said Juan Miguel Ferrer of Palma Beach, a seal of quality created by local businesses to which the restaurants belong.
Continue reading...Forecast models are already hinting at area of significant heat taking hold across Iberia next week
Thankfully, the heatwave is coming to an end this week across western Europe, with temperatures returning nearer to normal. But this may only be a temporary reprieve, as forecast models are already hinting at an area of significant heat taking hold across Iberia by the start of next week.
The extent of the recent heatwave across parts of central and western Europe has been widely reported. Temperature records have been broken and, in France and parts of Spain, it is the earliest point in summer during which a heatwave of this magnitude has been recorded. A temperature of 39.2C (102.6F) observed in Cottbus, Germany, also came within 0.4°C of the June record. Large fires, resulting from parched vegetation, are ravaging parts of Spain. The observed heat is very much in line with the predictions of scientists in that heatwaves in Europe will occur earlier and with greater ferocity due to climate change.
Continue reading...One blaze has burned 25,000 hectares of Sierra de la Culebra, home to one of Europe’s largest wolf populations
Flames licked roads and coloured the sky orange as firefighters in northern Spain scrambled to contain dozens of blazes fuelled by one of the earliest heatwaves on record.
In the Sierra de la Culebra mountain range in the north-western province of Zamora, flames devoured more than 25,000 hectares, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from 18 municipalities.
Continue reading...People’s party expected to repeat 2018 defeat of Socialists – but failure to gain absolute majority could lead to deal with far right
People in Andalucía have gone to the polls in an early regional election that the incumbent conservative People’s party is expected to win comfortably, in what would be a blow to Spain’s Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, before a national vote expected at the end of 2023.
More than 6 million people are eligible to vote in Spain’s most populous region, where temperatures were expected to cool slightly after a week of extreme heat that officials feared would reduce turnout.
Continue reading...Temperature could exceed 42C in parts of France as scientists warn heatwaves will hit earlier than usual due to climate change
France, Spain and other western European nations braced for a sweltering weekend that is set to break records and sparked concern about forest fires and the effects of climate change.
Temperatures already nudged over 40C (104F) in parts of France on Friday.
Continue reading...Ecologists raise concern over chicks’ attempts to escape high temperatures during one of earliest heatwaves on record
Hundreds of baby swifts in southern Spain have died after leaving their nests prematurely, in what ecologists described as an attempt to escape the extreme temperatures during one of the country’s earliest heatwaves on record.
Concerns were raised for the protected species late last week after residents in Seville and Córdoba noticed dozens of recently hatched birds scattered across sidewalks.
Continue reading...Noise meters will be deployed to confirm ‘acoustically stressed’ areas where action will be taken
Barcelona’s streets and plazas have long been home to a raucous cacophony of restaurant patios, buskers and throngs of residents and tourists. Now the city is on a mission to find out just how noisy these spaces can get, with the installation of sound level monitors in 11 areas.
“It’s an absolute priority,” said Eloi Badia, the Barcelona city councillor for climate emergency and ecological transition. “Noise pollution – with all of its sleep disorders, pathologies and stress – is one of the most important public health issues we have in the city, second only to air pollution.”
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