Category Archives: Spain

Barcelona police criticised for baton charge at protest over fashion show

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Police response to protest over closure of Park Güell for glitzy event was ‘totally out of proportion’, resident says

Catalan police have been criticised for baton-charging people protesting against the closure of Barcelona’s Park Güell for it to host a Louis Vuitton-organised fashion show, as anger grows that the city is being overrun by tourists and glitzy international events to the detriment of local life.

A residents association complained that in the lead-up to the event the whole neighbourhood had been cordoned off. “For days the neighbourhood has been saturated with police and private security companies,” said one resident, Aidà Almirall Serra, adding that armed police had demanded ID cards and searched parents’ bags when they picked up their children from nursery.

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Excess weight may have caused Mallorca building collapse, officials say

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Investigation under way after four people killed and 16 injured in Medusa Beach Club in Palma

Investigators on the Spanish island of Mallorca are looking into whether overloading and structural issues caused the collapse of a beachfront restaurant and club, killing four people and injuring 16 others.

The two-storey Medusa Beach Club in Palma de Mallorca collapsed at about 8.30pm local time (7.30pm BST) on Thursday night. One firefighter told the local newspaper Última Hora he had arrived to find a “nightmarish” scene, with people screaming and crying and rubble piled high on the ground floor.

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Building collapses at Mallorca beach killing at least four and injuring 21

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Ceiling of Medusa Beach Club on the seafront at Palma de Mallorca gave way, according to reports

At least four people have been killed and about 21 people injured after a building collapsed on a beachfront in Mallorca on Thursday, emergency services said.

Rescue workers were trying to reach several people who were believed to be trapped by the collapse, which happened at about 20.30 local time (19.30 BST) at the two-storey Medusa Beach Club in Palma de Mallorca.

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Spanish police recover Francis Bacon painting worth €5m

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Two people arrested over theft of José Capelo portraits in Madrid in 2015 – one of which is still missing

Police in Madrid have recovered a portrait by Francis Bacon, valued at €5m (£4.3m), which was one of five works by the famously thirsty and hell-raising artist that were stolen from the home of the painting’s subject almost a decade ago.

The pictures, whose total value has been put at €25m, disappeared in 2015 after a break-in at the Madrid home of José Capelo, a Spanish banker and close friend of Bacon who sat for the painter.

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US ‘concerned’ by Israel’s isolation, Biden national security adviser says

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Jake Sullivan appears critical of decision by Spain, Ireland and Norway to formally recognise Palestinian state next week

The US is concerned about Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Wednesday.

Sullivan’s remarks, at a White House briefing, followed the announcement by Ireland, Spain and Norway that they will next week formally recognise a Palestinian state. They also came amid efforts by the Biden administration and Congress to coordinate a response to a decision by the international criminal court (ICC) to seek an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over Israeli actions in Gaza.

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Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognise Palestinian state

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Irish PM declares ‘unequivocal support’ for two-state solution, as Israel recalls ambassadors from Dublin, Madrid and Oslo

Ireland, Spain and Norway have announced they will formally recognise a Palestinian state on 28 May, triggering an immediate response from Israel, which said it would retaliate by recalling its ambassadors from Dublin, Madrid and Oslo, and withholding vital funds from the Palestinian Authority.

The three European governments made the long-awaited announcements in coordinated moves on Wednesday morning that they said were intended to support a two-state solution and foster peace in the Middle East.

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Spain permanently recalls ambassador from Argentina amid feud with Milei

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Argentina’s far-right president Javier Milei sparks diplomatic row with remarks about Spanish prime minister’s wife

Spain has said it is permanently withdrawing its ambassador from Argentina as a result of a growing diplomatic feud with the South American country’s radical rightwing president, Javier Milei.

Milei – a notoriously pugnacious ally of the fellow populists Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro – sparked the row last weekend by insinuating that Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was “corrupt”.

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Diplomatic row deepens after Javier Milei calls wife of Spanish PM ‘corrupt’

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Spain recalls its Buenos Aires ambassador and demands apology from Argentina’s populist president

The Spanish government has recalled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and repeated its calls for Argentina’s populist president, Javier Milei, to apologise after he reopened a festering diplomatic row by suggesting that the wife of Spain’s prime minister was “corrupt”.

Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” and sworn enemy of socialism, infuriated Spain’s centre-left government when he used a speech at a summit of international far-right leaders in Madrid on Sunday to revive allegations that Pedro Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, had engaged in corruption and influence-peddling.

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Spain denies port of call to ship carrying arms to Israel

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Foreign ministry says it will reject all such stopovers because ‘the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace’

Spain has refused permission for a ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at a Spanish port, its foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said on Thursday.

“This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port,” he told reporters in Brussels.

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Post-Brexit deal on border between Gibraltar and Spain remains unresolved

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European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, cites progress on trade and economy for territory but not border checks

Talks on a post-Brexit deal to govern the border between Gibraltar and Spain have broken up without an agreement, although both sides insisted a deal was “getting closer”.

David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, met the European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, in Brussels to discuss the British overseas territory on the Iberian peninsula, which has been in limbo since Britain left the EU.

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EU condemns ‘intimidation, threats and physical assaults’ by authorities in Georgia – as it happened

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Josep Borrell reiterates concern about situation in Georgia, where pro-western protesters have continued to face a violent crackdown

Amid all the noise over the Socialist (PSC) victory and the mooted end of “el procés”, it’s worth looking at the performance of the Citizens party, which was once the great hope of the centre-right.

Although it finished first in the snap election that followed the independence crisis in December 2017, Citizens lost all its six seats last night and the party is now on the verge of extinction.

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Catalonia goes to polls in vote that will gauge support for independence

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Regional election will also indicate whether Spanish prime minister’s conciliatory approach has paid off

Voters in Catalonia are heading to the polls on Sunday to cast their ballots in a snap regional election that will gauge the strength of the waning independence movement and indicate whether the conciliatory approach of Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has paid off.

The election was called in March by the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, a member of the moderate pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party (ERC), after opposition parties voted down the budget proposed by his minority government.

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Catalan election gives voters chance to leave ‘lost decade’, says Salvador Illa

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Socialist frontrunner says region ready to unite, rather than focus on divisive politics that has plunged country into crisis

Catalonia’s imminent election offers voters a chance to leave behind a “lost decade” of unstable and divisive rule by pro-independence parties and instead choose a government that will focus on unity and improving “neglected” public services in the wealthy north-eastern Spanish region, according to the socialist frontrunner.

Salvador Illa, a former central government health minister who leads the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling socialist party, said the region was ready for change almost seven years after the failed, unilateral bid to secede plunged the country into political crisis.

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Spanish investigation into Shakira’s alleged tax evasion dropped

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Court says irregularities in Colombian singer’s 2018 tax return did not indicate intent to defraud

A Spanish court has shelved an investigation into an alleged tax fraud by the Colombian pop star Shakira, putting an end to her legal woes in the country where she once lived.

Prosecutors had opened the case in July, alleging she had used a network of companies, some in tax havens, to cheat the tax office out of €6.6m (£5.7m) in 2018.

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Students across Europe hold Gaza war protests in run-up to UN vote on Palestinian statehood

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Police arrested dozens of people in Amsterdam, with university occupations continuing in Netherlands, Belgium and Spain

Thirty-two people were arrested as Dutch police broke up a Gaza war protest at the University of Amsterdam, in a second day of unrest over the conflict. Police said the offences included public violence, vandalism and assault.

Video captured by Reuters appeared to show officers in riot gear striking protesters and police knocking down makeshift barricades of desks, bricks and wooden pallets that seemingly had been used to set off fire extinguishers in hopes of pushing them back. The footage appeared to also show police dragging several students away as hundreds shouted: “Shame on you!”

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Bullfighting firm in Seville to give free tickets to under-eights

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Company says move is best way to introduce tradition but critic claims it could psychologically damage young children

A firm managing bullfights at Seville’s bullring is to give free tickets to children under eight, adding to a national debate about the controversial Spanish tradition.

The company, Pages, said adult spectators with a ticket for the “novilladas” – practice bullfights involving younger bulls – at Seville’s Maestranza may be accompanied by a child free of charge, which it said was “the best way to introduce the little ones” to the world of bullfighting.

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Extra virgin olive oil prices tipped to top £16 a litre next month

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Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 years

Olive oil prices are set to climb further this year – heading to more than £16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin – amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade.

Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as part of the natural cycle of olive growth is expected to offset an improving situation in Spain and Italy, where trees have suffered from extreme heat and drought in recent years as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on harvests.

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Spain rejects Argentinian claim its PM is causing ‘poverty and death’

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Diplomatic spat began when Spanish minister suggested Javier Milei had taken ‘substances’ while campaigning

Spain has denounced comments by Argentina’s presidency that accused the Spanish government of bringing “poverty and death” to its own people.

The office of the Argentinian president, Javier Milei, had published a statement on X, accusing the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of damaging Spain’s economy and stability.

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Dutch woman arrested over shooting of Spanish former politician

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Woman detained in Netherlands for alleged role in non-fatal shooting of Alejo Vidal-Quadras in Madrid last year

A Dutch woman has been arrested in the Netherlands in relation to the shooting of a Spanish former politician in Madrid last year.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a founder of Spain’s far-right Vox party, was shot in the face near his home in the wealthy Salamanca neighbourhood on 9 November by a motorcycle passenger.

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