Category Archives: Spain

Deadly floods and storms affected more than 400,000 people in Europe in 2024

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European State of the Climate report ‘lays bare’ impact of fossil fuels on continent during its hottest 12 months on record

The home-wrecking storms and floods that swept Europe last year affected 413,000 people, a report has found, as fossil fuel pollution forced the continent to suffer through its hottest year on record.

Dramatic scenes of cars piled up on inundated streets and bridges being ripped away by raging torrents were seen around the continent in 2024, with “high” floods on 30% of the European river network and 12% crossing the “severe” flood threshold, according to the European State of the Climate report.

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Vatican puts ‘God’s architect’ Antoni Gaudí on path to sainthood

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Pope Francis recognises the ‘heroic virtues’ of the creator of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica in first step of process

He’s long been nicknamed “God’s architect” by those who point to his piety and the religious imagery woven through his soaring spires, colourful ceramics and undulating lines.

Now it seems the Vatican may be ready to make it official. It said on Monday that Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect behind Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica, had been put on the path to sainthood.

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Weather tracker: north-west Italy braces for thunderstorms and snow

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Turin and Genoa likely to be among worst hit, while central and eastern Europe could get early taste of summer

North-west Italy is braced for heavy rainfall and thunderstorms across the southern side of the Alps, particularly in Piedmont and Liguria.

Turin and Genoa are expected to be among the worst affected, with snowfall also likely on higher ground. The region has been forecast to receive 140-160mm of rainfall between Sunday and Friday this week.

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British man, 63, dies after falling at Roman aqueduct in Spain

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Unnamed tourist fell from viewing platform overlooking the historic structure in Segovia, authorities say

A 63-year-old British man has died after falling from a viewing platform overlooking the historic aqueduct of Segovia in central Spain, according to local authorities.

In a brief statement on Saturday, officials described the man as a British passport holder who had arrived in the city on Thursday with two other people.

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Spanish PM offers condolences after family of five killed in New York helicopter crash

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Spanish family including three children age 11, five and four killed in crash along with pilot, who has not yet been named

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has offered his condolences to friends and relatives of a Spanish family who died in New York on Thursday after their sightseeing helicopter crashed in the Hudson River, killing all onboard including the pilot.

It emerged on Friday that the victims were Agustín Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí, and their three children, who were 11, five and four. The identity of the pilot has not yet been made public.

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China raises US tariffs to 125% as Xi invites EU to team up against Trump ‘bullying’

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Chinese leader canvasses Spain and other trading partners on how to tackle economic fallout as market turmoil continues

China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.

Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.

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San Sebastián locals write to Fifa saying they don’t want to host 2030 World Cup

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  • Six neighbourhood associations join forces in letter
  • Fears it would add to ‘touristification’ of city

Six neighbourhood associations in the Basque city of San Sebastián have asked Fifa to withdraw it as a venue for the 2030 men’s World Cup. The letter – which was criticised by the city’s mayor on Tuesday – comes three months after the city was named as one of 11 Spanish venues for the tournament taking place in Spain, Morocco and Portugal.

Signed by associations representing several areas around the San Sebastián’s historic centre as well as a platform of residents pushing for “tourism degrowth,” the letter said: “Hosting the Fifa World Cup will only worsen living conditions in our city,” adding that it would “further exacerbate the touristification” of the city.

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Thousands in Spain join nationwide march to protest against housing crisis

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Organisers say 150,000 joined protest in Madrid urging the government to ‘end the housing racket’ and to demand access to affordable housing

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain in the latest protest against housing speculation and to demand access to affordable homes.

Organisers claim that up to 150,000 joined the protest in Madrid while smaller demonstrations were held in about 40 cities across the country. Protesters from Málaga on the Costa del Sol to Vigo in the Atlantic northwest chanted “end the housing racket” and “landlords are guilty, the government is responsible”.

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‘I never realised something wasn’t right’: Carlo Ancelotti denies €1m tax fraud

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  • Manager accused of failing to pay tax due on image rights
  • Italian claims salary arrangement seemed ‘quite normal’

The Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, who is on trial for allegedly defrauding Spain’s tax office of more than €1m in undeclared earnings from image rights, has told a court he believed his financial affairs were in order and “never thought a fraud could have been committed”.

Prosecutors allege the 65-year-old former Chelsea and Everton manager used shell companies outside Spain to conceal “the real beneficiary of the income from the exploitation of his image rights” in 2014 and 2015. They are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months and a fine of €3.2m.

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Large majority of Europeans support retaliatory tariffs against US, poll finds

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Survey shows between 56% and 79% across seven countries in favour if Trump introduces ‘Liberation Day’ levies

A large majority of western Europeans support retaliatory tariffs against the US, a survey has suggested, if Donald Trump introduces sweeping import duties for major trading partners as expected this week.

The US president appears likely to unleash a range of tariffs, varying from country to country, on Wednesday, which he has called Liberation Day. He also said last week that a 25% levy on cars shipped to the US would come into force the next day.

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Karla Sofía Gascón says she is ‘less racist than Gandhi’ on return to public eye

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Actor suggests she may have been intentionally smeared and says ‘no one has to forgive me’ after recent controversy

Karla Sofía Gascón has described herself as “less racist than Gandhi” and insisted “no one has to forgive me for anything” as she returns to the public eye after the emergence of offensive social media posts widely thought to have torpedoed the Oscar hopes of her film Emilia Pérez.

The Spanish performer, who became the first transgender woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, was dropped from the film’s campaigning materials by its studio, Netflix, and criticised by colleagues and prominent politicians after the series of old racist and Islamophobic tweets came to light.

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Spanish parliament vote on cutting food waste will end ban on wolf hunting

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Amendment brought by coalition of parties says wolves add to food waste due to remains of livestock they kill

The Spanish parliament has voted through a measure that will in effect lift the hunting ban on wolves that was imposed in 2021.

A coalition led by the conservative People’s party, with the support of the far-right Vox party and Basque and Catalan nationalists, added an amendment to a law aimed at reducing Spain’s estimated 1.2bn kilograms of food waste.

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Madrid plans to limit computer and tablet use in primary schools to two hours a week

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Teachers will be banned from setting homework involving screens in effort to tackle ‘risks’ of intensive use of IT at young age

The regional government of Madrid has unveiled plans to limit the use of computers and tablets in primary schools to a maximum of two hours a week in an effort to tackle “the risks associated with the early, intensive and inappropriate use of information technology”.

Under the proposals, to be enacted in September, teachers will also be banned from setting homework involving screen use.

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Bone fragments of oldest known human face in western Europe found in Spain

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Remains are of an adult member of an extinct species who lived up to 1.4m years ago, researchers say

Bone fragments unearthed at an ancient cave in Spain belong to the oldest known human face in western Europe, researchers say.

The fossilised remains make up the left cheek and upper jaw of an adult member of an extinct human species who lived and died on the Iberian peninsula between 1.1m and 1.4m years ago.

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Global celebrations and protests mark International Women’s Day

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From Istanbul and Warsaw to Athens and Madrid, activists demand equality and the end of gender-based violence

Women took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.

On the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul, a rally in Kadiköy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.

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Spain’s rewilding of Iberian lynx at risk after lobbying by hunters and farmers

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Regional governments bow to pressure from agricultural industry, often amplified by far-right Vox party

Only last year it was hailed as a conservation success story: the Iberian lynx, which had been close to extinction, had sprung back to life thanks to a two-decade-long effort to expand the population.

Now, however, that progress is at risk after several regional governments in Spain acceded to pressure from farmers and hunters to block the reintroduction of the species into the wild.

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Luis Rubiales tells court he asked Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her

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Former Spanish football federation boss is accused of sexual assault after kissing player at Women’s World Cup

The former Spanish football federation boss Luis Rubiales has told a court that he asked the player Jenni Hermoso if he could kiss her before doing so after the Women’s World Cup victory in 2023.

“I am absolutely sure that she gave me her permission,” Rubiales, 47, told the court in Madrid. “In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

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Emilia Pérez wins top Spanish film prize amid Karla Sofía Gascón furore

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Best European film at Goya awards goes to musical at centre of storm over past social media posts written by its star

The multi-Oscar-nominated narco-musical Emilia Pérez, whose success has been overshadowed by the emergence of a series of racist and Islamophobic social media posts written by its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, won best European film at Spain’s prestigious Goya awards on Saturday night.

Gascón, the first out transgender woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, stayed away from the ceremony after posts came to light in which she called George Floyd “a drug addict swindler”, denigrated China, and said Islam was “becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity”.

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‘I was deeply upset’: Karla Sofía Gascón to miss Spanish ‘Oscars’ as storm over racist tweets continues

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The actor was due to attend the Goya awards on Saturday but has pulled out and has also been dropped by publishers

Karla Sofía Gascón will not attend this weekend’s prestigious Goya awards as the fallout from the Spanish actor’s racist and Islamophobic social media posts continues with her being dropped by her publisher and criticised by prominent politicians.

Gascón – the star of Emilia Pérez and the first transgender woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar – is already understood to have been removed from the film’s campaigning materials by its studio, Netflix. Her comments have been described as “absolutely hateful” by the movie’s director, Jacques Audiard, while Gascón’s co-star, Zoe Saldana, has said the views expressed had saddened and disappointed her.

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Refugee shot in eye during deadly 2014 crossing into Spain files complaint to UN

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Survivor of Ceuta incident that ended with 14 deaths asks why use of anti-riot equipment was never investigated

A refugee who was almost blinded in one eye during a police operation that ended with the deaths of at least 14 people off the coast of Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta 11 years ago has filed a complaint to the UN Committee Against Torture.

Shortly before dawn on 6 February 2014, about 200 people tried to enter Ceuta by climbing the border fence or by swimming around the breakwater that separates the city from Moroccan territory.

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