Category Archives: Spain

At least three people die in Spain’s worst snowstorm in 50 years

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Public urged to stay at home as Storm Filomena traps motorists and brings Madrid to standstill

The Spanish government has urged people to stay at home after at least three people died as the worst snowstorm in 50 years struck the country, bringing Madrid and the surrounding region to a frozen standstill and leaving hundreds of motorists trapped in their cars.

Storm Filomena hit Spain on Friday, bringing snowfalls not seen in Madrid since 1971, according to the state meteorological office, Aemet. The snow continued overnight and into Saturday, by which time 50cm had fallen in parts of the Madrid region.

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As parts of UK enter third Covid lockdown, how does rest of Europe compare?

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Rules vary from country to country but many European nations face severe restrictions

After a brief and partial relaxation of the rules over Christmas and New Year, many continental European countries have returned to the tough anti-Covid regimes that were imposed this autumn – with some tightening measures further.

According to the latest update from the World Health Organization, in the final week of 2020 the UK had a 14-day new-case notification rate of 720 for every 100,000 people, more than double that in France, Germany, Italy and Spain but lower than the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

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Britons living in Spain barred from Madrid flight in post-Brexit travel row

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British embassy says ‘this should not be happening’ after airline staff claim pre-Brexit ID documents are invalid

British residents flying home to Spain have been prevented from boarding a joint BA-Iberia flight to Madrid because the airline claimed their pre-Brexit residency papers were no longer valid, while others were deported back to Britain from Barcelona for the same reason.

Max Duncan said the Iberia desk had refused to recognise his green card as proof of residence despite assurances by the British and Spanish governments that both the old foreign national identification (NIE) document and the new foreign ID card (TIE) remained valid.

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Spain says it will have last word on Gibraltar border entries

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Agreement in principle will allow territory to join the Schengen free movement area

Spain will have the last word on who can enter Gibraltar under the terms of the preliminary post-Brexit deal announced this week, Spain’s foreign minister has said, in an assertion that was swiftly challenged by Gibraltar’s chief minister.

The agreement in principle – struck just hours before Gibraltar was poised to become the only frontier marked by a hard Brexit – will allow the British overseas territory to join the Schengen free movement area with Spain acting as a guarantor.

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‘A day for hope’: UK and Spain agree draft deal on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar – video

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British and Spanish negotiators have reached a draft agreement on the future of Gibraltar after Brexit. Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, welcomed the deal which she said meant the British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula would be able to join EU programmes and policies such as Schengen

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Spain and UK reach draft deal on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar

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British overseas territory had been left out of deal announced on Christmas Eve

A last-minute deal between the UK and Spain – agreed just hours before Gibraltar was poised to become the only frontier marked by a hard Brexit – will allow for free movement between the British overseas territory and much of the EU.

“Today is a day for hope,” Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, said on Thursday as she announced that an agreement in principle had been reached. “In the long history of our relations with the UK, related to Gibraltar, today we’re facing a turning point.”

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Global report: India finds six cases of new UK variant; South Africa bans alcohol sales

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Germany says infectious variant has been present since November; Spain sets up Covid vaccine register

India has found six cases of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus in people arriving from Britain, while South Africa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars as it battles a resurgence of the virus, including another new variant.

All six of the infected people in India are in isolation and their fellow travellers are being traced, the health ministry said.

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Spain, Sweden and Canada report cases of UK Covid variant

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Four people recently arrived from UK test positive for variant in Madrid, one in Sweden and two in Canada

Spain, Sweden and Canada have joined the growing list of countries to have reported cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant first identified in Britain.

Four cases of the variant have been confirmed in Madrid. All involve people who recently arrived from the UK, the Madrid regional government’s deputy health chief, Antonio Zapatero, told a news conference on Saturday.

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Anger of 10,000 lorry drivers ‘held hostage’ in Covid Christmas standoff

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Hauliers stranded in their cabs on UK roads say they are being used as political pawns

Juan Andrés had braced himself for what promised to be an atypical holiday season. But the lorry driver from southern Spain never imagined that Christmas Day would be spent in his cab tucking into a ham and cheese sandwich – among provisions handed out by the British military – as he inched towards the Channel.

“I would describe it as a kidnapping,” said the 52-year-old when asked about the diplomatic impasse that left him stranded on British roads for nearly a week. As many as 10,000 lorries from across Europe were stuck after France temporarily closed its border over fears of a fast-spreading coronavirus variant, reopening only to those drivers who could show a negative coronavirus test.

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A good vintage: science suggests appreciation of wine grows with age

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Changes in composition and production of saliva as people grow older appears to intensify perception of aromas

Just as a bottle of wine improves with age, so may our ability to pick out the subtleties of its scent. Changes in the composition of our saliva and how much of it we produce appears to intensify our perception of smokey and peppery aromas in red wine, new research suggests.

The findings could lead to the development of wines that are more tailored toward specific groups of consumers. “We could diversify winemaking production to make more enjoyable wines based on consumers’ physiologies,” said Maria Ángeles del Pozo Bayón, of the Spanish Research Council’s Institute of Food Science and Research in Madrid, who led the research.

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Spanish republicans aim to drown out king’s Christmas speech

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People urged to turn off TVs and make noise during address, after rough year for royal family

Anti-monarchists in Spain are calling for noisy protests to drown out the king’s annual Christmas speech, urging people to turn off their televisions, bang on pots and pans or blast republican tunes, as the Spanish royal family seeks to turn the page on one of its most tumultuous years in recent history.

“There will be all sorts of protests by various collectives,” José Manuel García, of the republican group Encuentro Estatal por la República, told the news site Diario Público.

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Two-way street: how Barcelona is democratising public space

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Citizens are finally getting the urban patios and parks promised when the cramped medieval city was extended in the 1900s

At the turn of the 20th century, the Catalan engineer Ildefons Cerdà had a revolutionary idea for extending Barcelona beyond the cramped confines of its medieval walls. In the grid system of the extension he planned, each city block would be built around a large open space or patio, designed to be a park for residents.

When he began his work, the old city was hemmed in physically and psychologically, desperately overcrowded and disease-ridden, with frequent outbreaks of cholera and a lower life expectancy than London or Paris.

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Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating

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Seasonal damage in bone fossils in Spain suggests Neanderthals and their predecessors followed the same strategy as cave bears

Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.

Evidence from bones found at one of the world’s most important fossil sites suggests that our hominid predecessors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by sleeping through the winter.

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No clues, no leads … now winter snows could cover last trace of missing hiker

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As the police search for Esther Dingley winds down in the Pyrenees, the theories around her disappearance multiply

Police in Spain have begun scaling back the search for a British hiker missing in the Pyrenees, almost a month after she disappeared without a trace.

Sharing an update of their investigation into the puzzling disappearance of Esther Dingley, the Guardia Civil also said that they were no longer using helicopters to scan the vast mountain range for signs of the 37-year-old.

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Covid: Austrians who pass antigen test to be exempt from lockdown

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Italy prepares for national lockdown over Christmas; Spanish minister warns of third wave

Austria is to enter a third lockdown from Boxing Day but will stage mass coronavirus tests in mid-January to determine who will be exempt from certain restrictions, the government announced on Friday.

Italy is preparing to outline new measures that could lead to a complete lockdown over the Christmas and new year period, while the Spanish government has warned of a possible “third wave” of infections.

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‘We have nothing’: police stumped by disappearance of Briton in Pyrenees

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Esther Dingley has not been seen for nearly three weeks and officers say they have no answers

Almost three weeks have passed since Esther Dingley disappeared in the Pyrenees mountains on the French-Spanish border, and police in both countries admit they are no closer to finding her.

French gendarmerie captain Jean-Parc Bordinaro’s frustration was palpable. “Normally at the beginning of an inquiry we have something to go on, but we have nothing,” he said by phone. “Absolutely nothing.”

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Deadly blaze in Barcelona building used by migrants – video

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Firefighters tackle a blaze in an abandoned industrial building squatted by migrants near Barcelona. At least two people have died and 17 have been injured, five seriously, in the blaze in Badalona which broke out in the small hours. Firefighters fear that more people could be trapped inside and that the building could collapse

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Spain’s scandal-hit former king Carlos settles over £600,000 tax bill

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Ex-monarch settles tax arrears including fines and interest, according to his lawyers

Spain’s former king Juan Carlos, who left his homeland under a cloud of scandal in August, has settled a back tax bill worth over €678,000 (£611,388) including interest and fines, his lawyers said on Wednesday.

The lawyers, in a statement, provided no details about the back taxes . But the newspaper El Pais in an earlier report said the former monarch sought to settle certain alleged illegal credit card transactions with the revenue service to avoid being charged in an investigation and to be enable his return to Spain.

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Spain marks 42 years since return of democracy as retired officers dissent

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PM lauds 1978 constitution after some former armed forces members rue demise of Franco dictatorship

Spain has celebrated the 42nd anniversary of the constitution that ushered the country back to democracy following the end of the Franco dictatorship, as some former members of the armed forces made inflammatory declarations.

The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the 1978 constitution was “the greatest success of our collective history” and hailed 42 years of “peace, co-existence and freedom”.

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Cities can lead a green revolution after Covid. In Barcelona, we’re showing how | Ada Colau

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From non-polluting transport to sustainable industries, urban areas are perfect for testing radical solutions to global problems

• Ada Colau is the mayor of Barcelona

The pandemic will leave behind a very different world from that of a year ago. Thousands of people have died; entire industries have been brought to the brink; welfare states have been shaken. In the coming years, the major challenge facing all public leaders will be charting a path of recovery through the devastating human, social and economic marks that Covid-19 has left on our societies.

But rather than redoubling on the fragile world of the pre-pandemic age, we should be taking advantage of this moment to build one that is more just, balanced and sustainable.

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