El sustituto based on ‘Germans from Dénia’ who sought refuge in Spain after the second world war
Óscar Aibar’s latest film, a thriller anchored in grotesque historical fact, owes its existence to a random holiday meal a decade or so ago.
The Spanish director was in Valencia for the summer when he looked up from his plate to study the pictures of famous people on the restaurant walls.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Costa del Sol property firms owned by Goldsmith family ordered to pay €24m in unpaid taxes and fines
The luxury villa where Boris Johnson stayed on holiday last month is linked to Costa del Sol property businesses owned by Zac Goldsmith’s family that engaged in a multimillion-pound tax evasion scheme, according to Spanish courts.
Court papers obtained by the Guardian show tax inspectors ordered two property companies owned by the Goldsmith family to pay €24m (£20m) in unpaid taxes and fines after investigating what they said was a suspicious property deal.
Continue reading...A renters’ movement in Catalonia is saving families from eviction and trying to fill the gap left by the state
Earlier this year, I found myself in the city of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south-west of Barcelona. It lacks the fame and tourist hordes of the Catalan capital, but the two places are connected by the same dire housing crisis.
Guided by Júlia Nueno, organiser of a grassroots tenants’ movement, I found a community of neighbours in L’Hospitalet who hold their meetings in a public park yet are managing to take responsibility for something the authorities are failing at: putting a roof over people’s heads. Their challenge is daunting in a corner of Spain that still bears the scars of the 2008 economic crisis and remains in the grip of the Covid pandemic.
Continue reading...Near Barcelona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat is one of the most densely populated cities in the EU and home to a large migrant community. Dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable members of this fringe society, a group of young volunteers set up Sindicat, a renters union that is working relentlessly to counteract the housing crisis engulfing the often undocumented residents
Near Barcelona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat is one of the most densely populated cities in the EU and home to a large migrant community. Dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable members of this fringe society, a group of young volunteers set up Sindicat, a renters’ union that is working to counteract the housing crisis engulfing the often undocumented residents
Continue reading...Artefacts reflect joys and sorrows of a community persecuted in Spain since Catholic reconquest in 1492
It doesn’t look like a place of legend, but the narrow Carrer de la Cera is the birthplace of la rumba catalana, the infectiously rhythmic stepchild of flamenco created by Barcelona’s Gypsy community in the 1950s and popular today throughout the world.
Now the city’s gitanos have their own museum, a tiny, vibrant space on the Carrer de la Cera, which lies in the multicultural el Raval neighbourhood. The museum will open its doors on Sunday.
Continue reading...Eight camels and a llama took to streets of Madrid overnight after escaping from a nearby circus
Eight camels and a llama were loose on the streets of Madrid overnight after escaping from a nearby circus, Spanish police have said.
The animals were spotted at about 5am wandering around the southern district of Carabranchel close to the circus’s current location. Quiros Circus, which owns them, blamed sabotage by animal rights activists.
Continue reading...Death of 55-year-old attacked in Onda is first such fatality since events resumed following Covid hiatus
A man bled to death from his injuries after he was gored at a bull-running festival in eastern Spain, authorities said.
It was the first related fatality in the country since such events resumed after Covid-19 curbs were relaxed during the summer.
Continue reading...On the Spanish island of La Palma the Cumbre Vieja volcano has been spewing ash for more than five weeks. Photographer Susana Vera takes a closer look
Continue reading...Little has changed in Europe’s largest shantytown since the UN said the lack of electricity ‘violates children’s rights’ in 2020
Few parts of Europe’s largest shantytown speak quite as plainly of the past 12 months as Luisa Vargas’s sparse, tidy and dim front room.
A thin curtain hangs across a window cut into the wooden wall to admit a little light, the bookshelves bear the sooty scorches of candles, and a wood-burning stove squats near the door, its chimney punching through a damp scab of ceiling. A big TV sits forlorn and powerless, its place usurped by a portable model perched on a child’s chair and powered, in carefully rationed sessions, by a car battery.
Continue reading...Valencia police seized 27 paintings by various artists being sold for €1.2m, 18 of which were crude forgeries
Six people have been jailed in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia after police broke up a criminal gang that was using the internet to sell crudely forged paintings attributed to artists including Francisco de Goya, José Benlliure y Gil and Nicolás Falcó.
The investigation, carried out by officers from the historical heritage group of the Valencian police, began when doubts arose over the provenance of Falcó’s The Adoration of the Three Wise Men, which had been bought for €18,000 (£15,000) and was being resold for €45,000.
Continue reading...The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to wreak havoc on the Canary island of La Palma. The eruption has continued for more than a month and is yet to show any sign of easing
Continue reading...Footage shows how the Cumbre Vieja volcano eruption has affected the marine ecosystem at the lava delta. Habitats are seen covered by volcanic ash and lava landslides down to depths of 400 metres in La Palma. The delta emerged on 29 September when lava from the volcano crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on 19 September, with the eruption showing few signs of abating so far after destroying 2,000 buildings and forcing thousands to leave their homes
Continue reading...Drone footage surveying the Cumbre Vieja volcano shows a massive river of thick lava flowing towards the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately 7,500 people have been forced to leave their homes since the Cumbre Vieja began erupting more than a month ago. Scientists say the eruption could go on for three months
Continue reading...Group calling itself A-Team releases video claiming to have rescued animals, ahead of drone attempt
Attempts to use drones to rescue of a group of dogs stranded by the volcanic eruption on the Canary island of La Palma appear to have been pre-empted after a mysterious gang calling itself the A-Team claimed to have retrieved the animals using rather less hi-tech methods.
The eruption – which began on 19 September on the Cumbre Vieja ridge, one of the most active volcanic regions in the archipelago – has destroyed more than 2,000 properties, forced the evacuation of more than 7,500 people, and devastated La Palma’s banana plantations.
Continue reading...Several European nations have questioned British response but there are growing signs of fresh wave across continent
For the past several weeks, many western European countries have been eyeing Covid case numbers across the Channel with mounting trepidation.
“Why does Britain have more than 40,000 Covid cases a day, and why is it the European country with the most infections?” asked Spain’s ABC, while France’s L’Express criticised “disastrous myopia” in London.
Continue reading...Crew prepare for mission to evacuate four dogs stranded on Spanish island between rivers of red-hot lava
An unprecedented drone operation is being prepared to rescue four dogs stranded for weeks between rivers of red-hot lava streaming from an erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma.
The emaciated dogs are stranded in two empty water tanks in the town of Todoque, flanked by slow-moving lava flows from the Cumbre Vieja volcano that erupted on 19 September .
Continue reading...A gigantic sunfish found tangled in tuna fishing nets in the Mediterranean could weigh up to 2000kg, according to experts. The fish was measured at 3.2 metres long and 2.9 metres wide, a record find for Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. When the sunfish was weighed it almost broke a 100kg scale. Enrique Ostalé, a marine biologist, said he had heard of sunfish this size only in books
Continue reading...Trio step out from behind pseudonym marketed as ‘Spain’s Elena Ferrante’ to accept €1m prize
A million euro literary prize has lured three Spanish men out of anonymity, to reveal that they are behind ultra-violent Spanish crime thrillers marketed as the work of “Spain’s Elena Ferrante”
The men had published under the pseudonym Carmen Mola, which roughly translates as “Carmen’s cool”.
Continue reading...UK residents abroad are shocked at the lack of mask wearing back home, and point fingers at the government’s blase approach
Compared with some other countries, along with high numbers of Covid cases and deaths, the UK has relatively relaxed Covid restrictions, with no mandatory vaccine passports, no social distancing measures, and no mask mandate in England.
Four people from the UK and in Europe share their views on the country’s approach to Covid restrictions compared with others they are visiting or living in.
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