Category Archives: Spain

Spanish teenager investigated on suspicion of creating AI-generated nude videos

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Modified images of minors appear on social media account allegedly owned by 17-year-old

Police in eastern Spain are investigating a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of using artificial intelligence to create and share fake nude images of his female schoolmates that he intended to sell online.

Guardia Civil officers in the Ribera Alta area of Valencia began investigating in December last year after a female student reported the creation of a social media account in her name that featured an AI-generated video.

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Spanish discovery suggests Roman era ‘church’ may have been a synagogue

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Oil lamp fragments point to presence of previously unknown Jewish population in Ibero-Roman town of Cástulo

Seventeen centuries after they last burned, a handful of broken oil lamps could shed light on a small and long-vanished Jewish community that lived in southern Spain in the late Roman era as the old gods were being snuffed out by Christianity.

Archaeologists excavating the Ibero-Roman town of Cástulo, whose ruins lie near the present-day Andalucían town of Linares, have uncovered evidence of an apparent Jewish presence there in the late fourth or early fifth century AD.

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Thousands of tons of invasive seaweed ‘overwhelming’ Spanish beaches

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Alga from south-east Asia is major threat to biodiversity, say experts as they warn of environmental catastrophe

Thousands of tonnes of an aggressive invasive seaweed from south-east Asia are piling up on the beaches of the strait of Gibraltar and Spain’s southern coast in what local environmentalists say is a major threat to the region’s biodiversity.

Since May, the local authority in Cádiz has removed 1,200 tonnes of the alga Rugulopteryx okamurae from La Caleta, the city’s most popular beach, including 78 tonnes in a single day.

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Man rescued trying to reach Spain from Morocco in rubber ring and flippers

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Family in yacht pulled young man from the sea off Costa del Sol

A man who was apparently trying to reach Spain from Morocco using a rubber ring and flippers has been rescued after he was spotted by a family sailing to the Balearic islands.

The family were on their yacht 13 nautical miles south of the Andalucían town of Benalmádena on the Costa del Sol, on 16 July when they manoeuvred around the stern of an oil tanker and saw something moving on the waves.

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Ibiza venue cancels music events after deaths of two British men in two weeks

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Ice hockey player Gary Kelly died at Ibiza Rocks Hotel as did fellow Scot Evan Thomson, who fell to his death on 7 July

An Ibiza hotel and music venue has cancelled a number of music events after the deaths of two British men on its premises in the space of two weeks.

Gary Kelly, 19, who was a professional ice hockey player for the Dundee Stars, died at the Ibiza Rocks hotel on Monday. His club paid tribute to the “hugely talented and charismatic individual” who “had a great future ahead of him”.

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Spain’s People’s party hit by alleged multimillion cash-for-favours scandal

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Claims involve former finance minister Cristóbal Montoro and dealings with gas and other energy companies

Just when Spain’s opposition People’s party thought it had the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez on the ropes over a series of corruption scandals, it has been hit by a controversy of its own over alleged trafficking of influences by Cristóbal Montoro, the former finance minister.

It is alleged that Montoro established the “economic team”, a lawyer’s office linked to the finance ministry, which took kickbacks from gas and other energy companies in return for favourable government policy. It is claimed that between 2008 and 2015 Montoro and 27 other accused, among them senior treasury officials, were paid at least €11m (£9.5m) by big energy companies.

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Several people injured in second night of anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town

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Authorities say at least one person arrested after disorder broke out in Torre Pacheco over attack on pensioner

Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the town of Torre Pacheco in south-east Spain after a pensioner was beaten up, authorities said.

Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for people with foreign origins, the regional newspaper La Opinión de Murcia reported.

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Marseille airport cancels all flights as wildfire encroaches on city

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Authorities urge residents to stay indoors and say more than 700 firefighters battling blaze

A fast-moving wildfire fanned by gale-force winds has been raging on the outskirts of France’s second-largest city, Marseille, officials said, as firefighters around the Mediterranean battle blazes sparked by an intense heatwave.

“The fire is on the fringes of Marseille,” the regional prefect, Georges-François Leclerc, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that the blaze was not yet stable or contained, but the situation appeared to be “under control”.

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Ibiza’s ambulance service risks collapse due to callouts to clubs, says union

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A third of emergency responses are to clubs, largely to attend to people having bad experiences with drugs

The ambulance service on the Spanish island of Ibiza says it is at risk of collapse because of frequent callouts to attend to clubbers having bad experiences with recreational drugs.

The local ambulance union says up to a third of emergency calls are to clubs, the largest of which has a capacity of as many as 10,000 partygoers, and are largely drug-related. It is calling on club owners to contract private ambulance services.

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Fresh scandal hits Spain’s ruling party as official quits over sexual harassment claims

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Pressure grows on Pedro Sánchez to call snap election as latest resignation adds to corruption allegations

Pedro Sánchez’s efforts to reset Spain’s ruling socialist party after damaging corruption allegations that threatened to topple his coalition government have suffered a severe setback after a party official resigned over accusations of sexual harassment.

The prime minister had hoped this weekend’s meeting of the federal committee of his Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) would help the party move past weeks of scandals that have undermined the ethical and anti-corruption pledges on which it came to power seven years ago.

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Spain rejects Nato plan for member states to spend 5% of GDP on defence

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PM Pedro Sánchez says he wants a ‘more flexible formula’ that would make target optional or allow Madrid to opt out

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has rejected Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP, saying the idea would “not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive”.

Sánchez said that he was not seeking to complicate next week’s Nato summit in The Hague, but he wanted there to be a “more flexible formula” that would either make the target optional or allow Spain to opt out.

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Spanish PM rejects Nato’s ‘unreasonable’ 5% GDP target for defence spending – as it happened

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This blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage here

Earlier today, I cheekily suggested that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is probably wondering how to persuade US president Donald Trump to stay at the Nato summit in The Hague next week long enough to get to discussions on Ukraine and Russia – and not leave early, as he did at the G7 summit.

Well, looks like this issue may have actually influenced the planning.

“Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on 28 June as a city event. Period.”

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Spanish minister rules out cyber-attack as cause of April blackout, after expert report

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System failure caused by network’s inability to control grid voltage said to be behind outage in Spain and Portugal

The unprecedented blackout that brought the Iberian peninsula to a standstill at the end of April was caused by surging voltages triggering “a chain reaction of disconnections” that shut down the power network, an expert report commissioned by the Spanish government has found.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, the country’s environment minister, Sara Aagesen, ruled out a cyber-attack as the cause of the outage on 28 April, saying it had been down to a “multifactorial” system failure caused by the network’s inability to control grid voltage.

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Campaigners mount coordinated protests across Europe against ‘touristification’

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Protesters take to streets in a dozen cities to march against an industry they say is wrecking communities

Campaigners in at least a dozen tourist hotspots across southern Europe have taken to the streets to protest against “touristification”.

It is the most widespread joint action to date against what they see as the steady reshaping of their cities to meet the needs of tourists rather than people who live and work there.

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Weather tracker: Europe and China in midst of record-breaking heat

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Temperatures over 40C recorded in Portugal and Spain, while China endures heatwave conditions in high 40s

Temperature records for early June are being broken across large parts of Europe, with the mercury reaching 40.5C (104.9F) in Mértola, Portugal, on Sunday. On the same day, several weather stations in Spain recorded temperatures in excess of 42C, with dozens of sites at record levels for early summer. Across the Balkans, temperatures reached 37C. On Monday, 37.6C was recorded in Tirana, Albania, while in Greece night-time minimum temperatures have stayed mostly over 30C for much of this week.

Hot conditions are to intensify across central and western Europe over the next few days, with temperatures across large parts of France, Benelux, Italy and west Germany expected to reach the low to mid 30s celsius. Highs of up to 35C are expected in Paris on Friday, with up to 38C forecast in Rome. Conditions will ease somewhat, but a heatwave will soon develop across Iberia, with Madrid expected to reach the high-30s celsius each day next week.

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Gibraltar agrees 15% sales tax on goods in post-Brexit settlement with Spain

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Transaction tax ‘acceptable’ to EU is part of deal to allow greater freedom of movement and link with customs union

Gibraltar will apply a 15% sales tax on goods to avoid unfair competition with Spain, as a result of the agreement on the post-Brexit future of the British overseas territory, it has emerged.

The territory has agreed to ensure a 15% minimum “transaction tax” on goods within three years of the ratification of the agreement, according to a senior European official.

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Spanish PM apologises to voters after MP resigns over corruption allegations

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Pressure grows for snap election as judge finds ‘firm evidence’ of Santos Cerdán’s possible role in kickbacks

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has apologised to voters but ruled out a snap election after a senior member of his Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) resigned hours after a supreme court judge found “firm evidence” of his possible involvement in taking kickbacks on public construction contracts.

Sánchez, who became prime minister in 2018 after using a motion of no confidence to turf the corruption-mired conservative People’s party (PP) out of government, is already contending with a series of graft investigations relating to his wife, his brother, his former transport minister, and one of that minister’s aides. All deny any wrongdoing. A former PSOE member was recently implicated in an alleged smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the corruption allegations.

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Thousands protest in Madrid against Pedro Sánchez’s government

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Ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ party has faced series of corruption allegations over past year

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Madrid to protest against the government of Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and to demand an early general election, as his party, his administration and his family continue to be beset by a succession of corruption allegations.

Sunday’s protest, called by the opposition conservative People’s party (PP) under the slogan “mafia or democracy”, attracted between 45,000 and 50,000 people, according to the central government’s delegation to the region. Organisers put the attendance at 100,000.

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Four women and three girls die as migrant boat capsizes off Canary Islands

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Rescue service said movement of estimated 150 people onboard caused boat to tip as it approached port

Four women and three girls have died after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized as it approached a port on one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Spain’s maritime rescue service said the boat, believed to be carrying about 150 people, was spotted 6 miles off La Restinga harbour on the island of El Hierro on Wednesday.

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World’s oldest fingerprint may be a clue that Neanderthals created art

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A man 43,000 years ago dipped a finger in red pigment and made a nose on a face-like pebble in Spain, scientists say

One day around 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal man in what is now central Spain came across a large granite pebble whose pleasing contours and indentations snagged his eye.

Something in the shape of that quartz-rich stone – perhaps its odd resemblance to an elongated face – may have compelled him to pick it up, study it and, eventually, to dip one of his fingers in red pigment and press it against the pebble’s edge, exactly where the nose on that face would have been.

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