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...Category Archives: Spain
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.”
Continue reading...Five French men held on suspicion of Benidorm gang-rape
Men, all aged between 18 and 19, are alleged to have attacked Norwegian woman aged 20
Five French tourists have been arrested on suspicion of gang-raping a 20-year-old Norwegian woman in the Costa Blanca resort of Benidorm, Spanish police have said.
Sexual violence has gained prominence as an issue in social and political campaigning in Spain in recent years, notably after five Spaniards calling themselves the “wolf pack” were accused of gang-raping a young woman at the San Fermín bull-running festival in 2016. Their initial light prison sentences sparked mass protests across the country.
Continue reading...British Airways flight lands in Spain after smoke fills cabin
Nearly 200 people evacuated and three taken to hospital after landing in Valencia
Nearly 200 people had to be evacuated from a British Airways flight after smoke poured into the cabin minutes before it was due to land in Valencia.
Three people were taken to hospital after the incident on Monday, and each was later discharged.
Continue reading...Spanish police order man who threw fridge off cliff to drag it back up – video
A man who joked about recycling as he tipped a fridge over a cliff was made to haul it back up by Spanish authorities, who then shared footage of his labour on social media. He was fined €45,000 (£41,000) and ordered to collect the fridge and dispose of it correctly, AUGC Guardia Civil tweeted
Continue reading...Burger King beard ban infringes workers’ rights, says Catalonia
Rule that male workers should wear ties and female staff ribbons is discriminatory, officials also say
Burger King workers in Barcelona will be able to lay down their razors after Catalan authorities decided the fast food giant’s prohibition on beards, moustaches and stubble violated employees’ constitutional rights.
The regional government’s labour inspection committee also determined that rules stipulating that male workers should wear ties and female workers ribbons amounted to sexual discrimination.
Continue reading...Santander says top banker made secret tape in job dispute
Bank accuses Andrea Orcel of ‘dubious moral behaviour’ over its withdrawn job offer
Spain’s Santander has accused one of Europe’s highest-profile banker of “dubious ethical and moral behaviour” after he sued the bank for €100m (£90m) when it withdrew an offer to make him chief executive.
The bank accused Andrea Orcel of making secret recordings during the dispute.
Continue reading...Spain’s acting PM fails in first attempt to form new government
Socialist party leader Pedro Sánchez fails to win support of anti-austerity Unidas Podemos
Spain’s Socialist party leader, Pedro Sánchez, has failed in his first attempt to form a new government after the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos party abstained in a parliamentary vote.
Sánchez, who has been acting prime minister since an inconclusive election in April, needed an absolute majority of at least 176 votes in his favour in the 350-seat house to be confirmed as PM. Instead he received 124 votes in favour and 170 against, and there were 52 abstentions.
Continue reading...Five injured during Pamplona festival – but none gored by bulls
Red Cross says those hurt after running of the bulls at San Fermín were taken to hospital
Five people have been taken to hospital after being injured during the running of the bulls at San Fermín festival in Pamplona, the Red Cross has said.
Across seven days in July, thousands of people, many wearing traditional white shirts with red scarves, line the streets of the Spanish city to take part in the centuries-old tradition of running with the bulls.
Continue reading...Five bull runners injured at the festival in Pamplona – video
Five people have been taken to hospital after being injured during the running of the bulls at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, the Red Cross has said. Two sustained arm injuries after falling, two others had head contusions and one sustained a thorax injury. Across seven days in July, thousands of people, many wearing traditional white shirts with red scarves, line the streets of the northern Spanish city to take part in the centuries-old tradition of running through the streets in front of a group of bulls.
Five injured during Pamplona festival – but none gored by bulls
Continue reading...Rosalía’s ‘Spanishisms’ upset Catalonia’s language purists
Catalan pop star uses Spanish words in Milionària, her first single in the local language
The Catalan pop star Rosalía has upset language purists with her first single recorded in Catalan, by using “Spanishisms” that critics say dilute the language.
In Milionària, which received 2m views on YouTube in its first 24 hours, the 25-year-old singer uses the word cumpleanys – a corruption of the Spanish cumpleaños – to mean birthday, instead of the Catalan aniversari.
Continue reading...Spanish government claims disputed palace from Franco family
Justice ministry says sale to dictator of summer residence in Galicia was fraudulent
Spain’s socialist government has claimed ownership of Francisco Franco’s summer palace in Galicia in its latest clash with the former dictator’s descendants, who have opposed a plan to exhume his remains from a state mausoleum outside Madrid.
The decision to move Franco from his tomb in the Valley of the Fallen, which is carved into a mountainside to the north of the capital and seen by many Spaniards as a monument to fascism, was suspended by the country’s supreme court in June pending appeals by his family.
Continue reading...DNA database helps one of Spain’s ‘stolen babies’ find family
Ines Madrigal was first person recognised by courts as child victim of Franco-era scandal
The first woman recognised by Spanish courts as one of the “stolen babies” of the Franco dictatorship has discovered her biological family thanks to a DNA database.
Scores of babies were taken from their mothers – who were told their children had died – and given to others to adopt during the 1939-1975 dictatorship, often with the help of the Catholic church.
Continue reading...Global heating: London to have climate similar to Barcelona by 2050
Nearly 80% of cities to undergo dramatic and potentially disastrous changes, study finds
London will have a similar climate in three decades’ time to that of Barcelona today, according to research – but if that seems enticing, a warning: the change could be accompanied by severe drought.
Madrid will feel like present-day Marrakech by 2050, and Stockholm like Budapest, according to a report on the likely impacts of the climate crisis. Around the world, cities that are currently in temperate or cold zones in the northern hemisphere will resemble cities more than 600 miles (1,000km) closer to the equator, with damaging effects on health and infrastructure.
Continue reading...He’s the daddy, judge rules on two-year Julio Iglesias paternity case
Former ballerina said her son, now 42, was conceived in week-long affair with the pop star
A Spanish court has ruled that the pop star Julio Iglesias is the biological father of a 42-year-old man whose mother said she had a brief affair with the singer in the 1970s.
In a case that has dragged on for two years, a judge in Valencia ruled that Javier Sánchez Santos, who now lives in Italy, is the Spanish singer’s son despite Iglesias repeatedly refusing to give a DNA sample.
Continue reading...Woody Allen: ‘I never think of retiring’
Allen says at Spanish press conference to launch production on his new film, starring Christoph Waltz, that he’ll ‘probably die’ on set
Woody Allen has no plans to give up film-making despite the years of controversy that has dogged his directing career. “I never think of retiring. It’s not just something that has occurred to me,” Allen said at a press conference in San Sebastian to launch production on his new film, which is set in Spain and funded by the Spanish media giant Mediapro. It stars Christoph Waltz, Gina Gershon and Elena Anaya, and is informally known as Rifkin’s Festival – though is still officially called Woody Allen Summer Project 2019.
Allen said: “My philosophy, since I started many years ago in show business, is that no matter what happens is to focus on my work … No matter what happens in my life with my wife, children, current events, politics or illness, I focus on my work, and that’s all that really absorbs my time and effort seven days a week.
Continue reading...San Fermín running of the bulls festival – in pictures
Hundreds of thousands of visitors attend the fiesta in Pamplona, Spain, many participating in the highlight event – the running of the bulls, or encierro
Continue reading...Pamplona bull-run festival steps up protection for women
More police on duty as tourists descend on Spanish town to watch bulls and party
One man was gored and two sustained head injuries during the first run of the week-long San Fermín running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Saturday. The injuries were not life-threatening.
During the festival the population of the small city in Navarra swells tenfold as more than a million people come from around the world. Only about 20,000 over the course of the week dress up in the traditional red and white to pursue and be pursued by the bulls along Pamplona’s cobbled streets.
Continue reading...Annual Pamplona bull-run festival begins amid fireworks and protests
More than 1 million people are expected to attend the nine-day San Fermin event in the northern Spanish city
Partygoers and bull-running fans packed the main square in Pamplona on Saturday to cheer the launch of a firecracker which marks the start of the northern Spanish city’s annual San Fermin festival.
Decked out in white T-shirts and trousers stained pink by wine, the crowd danced and waved traditional red handkerchiefs bearing the image of the local patron saint, Fermin.
Continue reading...Barcelona mayor promises crackdown on cruise ships
Ada Colau will also oppose airport expansion to curb tourism and pollution
Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, has pledged to restrict the number of cruise ships allowed to dock in the city and to oppose the expansion of the city’s airport, saying: “We don’t have infinite capacity.”
Colau said the limits would reduce pollution in the city, where air quality regularly exceeds World Health Organization limits for nitrogen oxide and PM10 particulates.
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