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
Continue reading...Category Archives: Spain
Spain’s scandal-hit former king Carlos settles over £600,000 tax bill
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.
Continue reading...Spain marks 42 years since return of democracy as retired officers dissent
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”.
Continue reading...Cities can lead a green revolution after Covid. In Barcelona, we’re showing how | Ada Colau
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.
Continue reading...European and US experts question UK’s fast-track of Covid vaccine
Some criticise jingoistic tone of announcement and say longer process may prove preferable
Politicians, health professionals and commentators in Europe and the US have questioned Britain’s decision to fast-track approval of a coronavirus vaccine and criticised what some saw as the jingoistic tone of its announcement.
The UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a Covid-19 vaccine when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) granted the Pfizer/BioNTech shot emergency authorisation for clinical use.
Continue reading...‘I partied with an Italian princess’: the glory days of clubbing in Ibiza – in pictures
A new book explores Ibiza’s halycon days – from open-air superclubs to daytime beach raves. Photographer Dave Swindells talks us through the highs and highs ...
Continue reading...France will carry out border checks to stop skiers from spreading Covid
Coronavirus clusters in Alpine resorts played key role in early spread of virus in Europe
France will carry out random border checks over the holiday season targeting French skiers on their way to and from foreign resorts – particularly Switzerland and Spain – where slopes stay open, the prime minister, Jean Castex, has said.
“The goal is to avoid French citizens getting contaminated. That will be done by performing random checks at the borders,” Castex told French television, adding that returning holidaymakers would be ordered to quarantine for seven days.
Continue reading...Spain dismantles ‘deplorable’ migrant camp in Gran Canaria
Authorities in Canary Islands move hundreds of people from Arguineguín camp
Spanish authorities on the island of Gran Canaria have emptied and begun dismantling the much-criticised dockside camp that was used to house thousands of migrants and refugees, as the Canary Islands continue to struggle with a huge rise in migration.
The makeshift camp was set up in the town of Arguineguín in August amid a surge in the number of people making the dangerous Atlantic journey from Africa to Europe. So far this year, about 20,000 people have arrived by sea in the Canary Islands – 8,000 of them in November alone.
Continue reading...‘This lack of humanity can’t go on’: Canary Islands struggle with huge rise in migration
Spanish archipelago has received 20,000 migrants and refugees this year, 8,000 in the last month
In the Canary Islands, 2020 will be remembered as more than just the year of the coronavirus.
The streets of Arguineguín, a small town on the island of Gran Canaria, are thronged not with tourists in search of winter warmth, but with police officers, health workers and journalists, all scurrying to and from the crowded dock, which has become the newest symbol of an old phenomenon.
Continue reading...From Che Guevara to lockdown: photo book tells story of Madrid
Work features images by some of the most famous photographers of the past century
One warm June weekend 61 years ago, a scruffily bearded Argentinian on his way from Cuba to Cairo stopped over in Madrid. With almost a day to kill between flights, he did what any tourist of the time would have done: explored the city, visited a bullring, had breakfast and did a little shopping.
He was, however, no ordinary tourist. A photograph taken very early that Sunday morning shows the unmistakable figure of Che Guevara standing in boots, beret and battle fatigues, one hand hooked over his belt and the other clutching a newspaper.
Continue reading...Capturing Madrid’s history – in photographs
A new book, Madrid, celebrates the daily life, urban landscape and the unique character of the Spanish capital. The city’s history and its protagonists are represented in work by Alfonso, Ramón Masats, Joana Biarnés and Alberto García-Alix, among others
Continue reading...Shocking footage of ‘severely injured’ pigs on Spanish farms released
Calls for EU animal welfare rules to be enforced as country set to overtake Germany as Europe’s biggest pork producer
Footage that appears to show newborn piglets lying in faeces, pigs with pus-covered wounds and pig carcasses in varying states of decomposition has been published by animal welfare campaigners in Spain.
Spain is expected to overtake Germany this year as the EU’s biggest pork producer. In 2019, a record 53 million pigs were slaughtered across the country, fuelling demand for products such as chorizo, tenderloin and lard across the EU and around the world.
The photos and videos, recorded during undercover visits in 2019 and 2020 to more than 30 pigs farms across Spain, were published by Tras los Muros, which translates as Behind the Walls, a personal project launched by Spanish photojournalist Aitor Garmendia. Tras los Muros said the farms were in the Spanish regions of Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, home to around 17% of the country’s more than 86,000 pig farms.
Some of the pigs they found appeared to be “severely injured”, said Garmendia, who led the undercover team, and were thought to be showing signs of issues such as “hernias, abscesses, prolapses, arthritis or necrotic tissue”.
Rafaella Carrà: the Italian pop star who taught Europe the joy of sex
A new jukebox musical of Carrà’s songs caps a 60-year career for a cultural icon who revolutionised Italian entertainment – and gave women agency in the bedroom
At the beginning of Explota Explota, a new Spanish-Italian jukebox musical comedy set at the tail end of the Franco dictatorship in 1970s Spain, airport employee Maria is making a delivery at a TV studio when she catches the attention of Chimo, the director of a variety show. When she tells him she’s not a dancer, he replies: “No dancer with blood flowing in their veins can resist this rhythm.”
He plays her Bailo Bailo, a hit by Italian pop star Raffaella Carrà, who, on top of becoming one of the best known personalities in her native Italy, ended up a sensation in the 20th-century Spanish-speaking world. Where Sweden had Abba, Italy had Carrà, who sold millions of records across Europe. Sure enough, Maria can’t resist Bailo Bailo, and Chimo hires her.
Continue reading...Spain’s general medical council calls for Covid health chief to be fired
Fernando Simón appeared to blame doctors for some cases and accused of incompetence
Spain’s general medical council has called for the country’s health emergencies chief to be sacked, accusing him of “patent and prolonged incompetence” in his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and of undermining the morale of overworked doctors.
Fernando Simón, the head of Spain’s coordination centre for health emergencies and alerts, has been the public face of the government’s response to the coronavirus since March.
Continue reading...Bars and shops closed as Europe battles second wave of coronavirus
Strict measures – including curfews and states of emergencies – are in force once more across the continent as Covid cases surge
The country announced a second lockdown from 30 October after daily Covid-related deaths reached their highest levels since April. Due to last at least a month, it is having a limited effect: new infections and hospital admissions dropped sharply at first only to increase sharply at the end of last week. , health ministry data showed
Continue reading...Violent extremism linked to failure of migrants to integrate, EU says
Reference to Islam removed from EU governments’ declaration after disagreements
The rise of violent extremism in Europe has been linked to the failure of migrants to integrate, in a hard-debated joint declaration by EU governments on the recent terror attacks.
The statement by EU home affairs ministers was described by Horst Seehofer, Germany’s interior minister, as a “great sign of solidarity” when delivered on Friday but it had been heavily watered down from a controversial initial draft.
Continue reading...Madrid surrealism show offers escape from pandemic reality
Exhibition explores how surrealist movement influenced culture and design in 20th century
Anyone tiring of the many mundane strictures of the new normality can, in Madrid at least, escape temporarily into a world where hands serve as chairs, tables spin on bicycle wheels and horses obligingly proffer lamps from their heads.
An exhibition in the Spanish capital examines the countless ways in which the surrealist movement has influenced culture and design over the past century, from the sofa Salvador Dalí modelled on Mae West’s lips, to the music videos of Björk.
Continue reading...More than 110 migrants die in Mediterranean in three days
Bodies of 74 people wash up on beach in western Libya as baby boy dies on rescue boat
Four shipwrecks in the space of three days have claimed the lives of more than 110 people in the Mediterranean, including at least 70 people whose bodies have washed up on the beach of al-Khums, in western Libya.
According to the UN migration agency (IOM), that boat was reported to be carrying more than 120 people, including women and children. Forty-seven survivors had been brought to shore by the coastguard and fishermen, while the bodies of at least 74 people were floating near the water’s edge on Thursday.
Continue reading...Spanish statue bodge-up is a new rival to Borja’s Monkey Christ
Trump-like visage grafted on to a carving in Palencia recalls earlier inept restoration
In the footsteps of the unintentionally iconic Monkey Christ, the Tintin St George, the near-fluorescent Virgin and Child– not to mention the less than sinlessly executed Immaculate Conception – comes … well, it’s hard to say.
The latest Spanish restoration effort to provoke anguished headlines and much social media snarking is, or rather, was, a carved figure adorning an ornate, early 20th-century building in the north-western city of Palencia.
Continue reading...Canary Islands appeal for help as 2,200 migrants arrive over weekend
People housed in makeshift dock-side camps after braving dangerous Atlantic route from Africa
The president of the Canary Islands has appealed for urgent help from the Spanish government and the EU after around 2,200 migrants arrived on the archipelago over the weekend, putting further strain on its already massively overstretched reception resources.
Ángel Víctor Torres said the Canaries’ existing infrastructure simply could not cope with the number of people arriving as the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to Europe attracts more refugees and migrants.
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