Five die in devastating storms that produce some of the heaviest rainfall in years
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Four dead as torrential rain and floods batter Spain
Almería and Murcia airports closed with many areas on high alert as downpours continue
Four people have died as heavy rain and flash-flooding continue to batter south-eastern Spain, swelling rivers, turning roads into torrents and forcing the shutdown of two regional airports.
Police in Almería said a middle-aged man died in the early hours of Friday after his car became trapped in a tunnel that flooded in minutes.
Continue reading...Extreme rainfall triggers flooding in parts of Spain – video
Parts of eastern Spain have received what in some places was the heaviest rainfall on record, as storms wreaked widespread destruction and killed at least two people. One of the first places to be hit was Ontinyent, south of Valencia, where almost 300mm fell in 24 hours, the heaviest rainfall recorded there since 1917
Continue reading...Barcelona’s car-free ‘superblocks’ could save hundreds of lives
Report predicts radical scheme could cut air pollution by a quarter as other cities including Seattle prepare to follow suit
Barcelona could save hundreds of lives and cut air pollution by a quarter if it fully implements its radical superblocks scheme to reduce traffic, a new report claims.
A study carried out by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health calculates that the city could prevent 667 premature deaths every year if it created all 503 superblocks envisaged in its initial plan – up from the current six schemes.
Continue reading...Sardine tins for the poor?: Barcelona’s shipping container homes
Just a stone’s throw from La Rambla, the Spanish city is building 12 shipping container flats to help tackle its social housing crisis
Barcelona has begun installing its first shipping container homes just a stone’s throw from La Rambla, the famous thoroughfare in the city centre, in a bid to provide emergency housing for people who have been evicted or otherwise driven out of the neighbourhood by gentrification.
Work commenced last week on the 12 small apartments, which are being installed on Carrer Nou de Sant Francesc, a narrow street in the densely populated Ciutat Vella (“old city”) district.
Continue reading...Helicopter reveals rooftop marijuana plantations while filming Vuelta
• Catalonia police confiscate 40 plants in Igualada
• Guardia Civil post footage of illegal plots on social media
Police in Catalonia have seized dozens of marijuana plants from a roof terrace after social media users spotted the plantation in video footage filmed by a helicopter following the Vuelta a España cycling race.
Officers from the regional force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, headed to the town of Igualada, north-west of Barcelona, after video from Saturday’s stage eight was posted on social media.
Continue reading...Spectator gored to death during Spanish bull run
Man received several blows to chest and neck after animal found him in field
A man watching a bull run at a festival in central Spain has died after being gored by one of the animals.
Related: Man gored to death filming bull run in Spain on mobile phone
Continue reading...Painting the town red: la Tomatina festival – in pictures
La Tomatina festival in Buñol, a town in eastern Spain, began in 1945 but was banned for much of General Franco’s regime. Last year, 22,000 attendees threw about 150 tonnes of ripe tomatoes
Continue reading...Babies develop ‘werewolf syndrome’ after medicine mix-up in Spain
Authorities say there are 17 known cases so far after hair loss treatment mistakenly put in reflux medicine bottles
At least 17 children developed so-called “werewolf syndrome” after a major medicine mix-up, Spain’s health ministry has said.
The children – some of them babies – began growing hair all over their body after being given what was thought to be omeprazole, a drug that helps with gastric reflux.
Continue reading...Spain braces for more rain after hail piles up during violent storms
Cold front heads towards east of country and Balearics as Madrid reels from flash-floods
Parts of eastern Spain and the Balearic islands are bracing for heavy rains after Madrid and the surrounding area were battered by violent storms, torrential hail, and flash flooding.
Roads around the Spanish capital were flooded, flights diverted from Barajas airport and underground services affected on Monday night as an isolated depression at high levels moved across the centre of the Iberian peninsula.
Continue reading...Barcelona police spare bathers’ blushes with clothing ‘robbery kits’
Initiative particularly welcome among those who have clothes stolen on city’s nudist beaches
Police in Barcelona have handed out more than 100 emergency clothing kits to bathers who return from a swim to find everything they left on the beach has been stolen by the thieves who plague the city’s shoreline.
The “robbery kits”, made up of a T-shirt bearing the city council logo, a pair of shorts, flip-flops and a metro ticket, are particularly appreciated by swimmers on the city’s nudist beaches of Sant Sebastià and Mar Bella whom thieves have left exposed.
Continue reading...Man arrested in Madrid accused of upskirting more than 500 women
Police say they caught him filming on Metro after allegedly uploading videos for a year
Police in Madrid have arrested a man accused of filming the intimate parts of more than 500 women without their consent while they travelled on the Metro.
The accused made the videos, a practice known as upskirting, using a mobile phone concealed in a backpack. Police say he then uploaded at least 283 of these videos on to pornographic sites where they were viewed millions of times. Police have identified 555 victims, some of them underage.
Continue reading...British child dies on the Costa del Sol amid reports of balcony fall
Foreign Office says it is offering support to family of child, understood to be a boy aged 13
A British child has died in a holiday town on the Costa del Sol in Spain, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
According to reports, the child was a 13-year-old boy who fell from an apartment block.
Continue reading...Wildfire in Gran Canaria forces thousands to evacuate – video
About 8,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Gran Canaria as firefighters battle a wildfire. The blaze, which began on Saturday near the town of Tejeda, is advancing on several fronts, propelled by high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity. Sixteen planes and helicopters as well as more than 700 firefighters are working to contain flames of up to 50 metres
Continue reading...Hands off our treasured railway, say locals in Sóller, Mallorca
Anonymous investors have launched a hostile €25m bid for Sóller’s locally owned heritage train link to Palma
Indignant residents of the Mallorcan town of Sóller have said their railway is not for sale after a group of investors launched a hostile takeover bid.
The town has been linked to the capital, Palma, with a picturesque narrow-gauge railway since 1912. The train, with its wooden carriages, has been in continuous use ever since, climbing 200 metres and passing through 13 tunnels on its 27km journey.
Continue reading...Barcelona announces ‘drastic’ rickshaw cutback
Estimates put total around 2,000 but vehicles remain in regulatory vacuum
Barcelona city council has announced it is to take action against the mostly unlicensed rickshaws that have proliferated on the city’s streets in recent years, which some estimates put as high as 2,000.
“Barcelona isn’t Bombay,” said Jaume Collboni, the deputy mayor. “We have cycle lanes that are for bicycles, pavements for pedestrians and we aspire to having a respectful and quality tourism model.”
Continue reading...The rain in Spain: how an ancient Arabic technique saves Alicante from floods
To protect itself from destructive flooding, the city has built a park designed to store and recycle rainwater
In Alicante it never rains but it pours. The city in southeast Spain goes without rain for months on end, but when it comes it’s torrential, bringing destructive and sometimes fatal flooding.
Or at least, it used to. In San Juan, a low-lying area of the city, authorities have built a new park with a twist. Called La Marjal, it serves as a typical recreation area and a nature reserve – but its primary purpose is to store, and then recycle, rainwater.
Continue reading...Plácido Domingo accused of sexual harassment
Allegations ‘deeply troubling’ – I believed my relationships were consensual, says opera star
The opera singer Plácido Domingo has been accused by several women of sexual harassment.
Eight singers and a dancer said they were sexually harassed by the Spanish tenor in incidents that spanned three decades from the late 1980s, Associated Press reported.
Continue reading...Wildfire rages through forest in Spain’s Canary Islands – video
A huge fire broke out on the holiday island of Gran Canaria on Saturday. Hundreds of people were evacuated as the flames burned though 900 hectares of forest
Continue reading...Outdoor smoking ban escalates war over Barcelona’s restaurant terraces
Restaurateurs say ban on top of new regulations on outdoor space threatens their survival – while residents claim the city’s real issues are being ignored
Enjoying a refreshing drink or a cup of coffee on the sunlit terrace of a bar or restaurant is a cherished pastime in Barcelona – and a fundamental feature of Mediterranean life.
“Terraces are part of who we are and how we live,” says Roger Pallarols, president of the Barcelona restaurateurs association. “For many people, the terrace is like their living room, especially as most of us don’t live in large apartments. If France is Europe’s kitchen, Spain is its terrace.”
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