Spain is hit by strong winds and rain from Storm Nelson and four drown on storm-battered coasts
Easter processions in southern Spain have been cancelled after heavy rain from Storm Nelson, as the country was hit by strong winds and four people drowned on its storm-battered coasts.
All of the big processions in Seville on Holy Thursday were cancelled because of the rainstorms that were otherwise welcome in a region that has been experiencing a severe drought.
Continue reading...Luis Rubiales could face a prison sentence of two and a half years if convicted of kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips against her will, court documents have shown. The former Spanish football federation chief has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion in the aftermath of the kiss, offences carrying jail terms of one year and 18 months respectively.
The 46-year-old grabbed Hermoso and kissed her on the lips on 20 August during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, sparking global outrage and causing a national debate in Spain about sexism. Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning, but Rubiales argued it was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.
Continue reading...Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior’s tearful comments prompt questions over why racist fans can still act with impunity
Antiracism campaigners in Spain have called on the country’s institutions to do more to crack down on racism in football, after Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior laid bare the personal toll exacted by years of racist insults.
Breaking down in tears as he spoke of the systematic barrage of abuse he had faced at more than 10 Spanish grounds, the Brazilian player told reporters on Monday that the situation had “gotten worse” during his time on the pitch.
Continue reading...Brussels vote cancelled after it became clear law would not pass final stage with majority vote
The EU’s nature restoration laws appear on the verge of collapse after eight member states, including Hungary and Italy, withdrew support for the legislation.
The laws, which have been two years in the making and are designed to reverse decades of damage to wildlife on land and in waterways, were supposed to be rubber-stamped in a vote on Monday.
Continue reading...Ex-Barcelona footballer on provisional release from prison term while he appeals against rape conviction
The former Brazil international footballer Dani Alves has been allowed out on bail having served 14 months of a four-and-a-half-year sentence for rape.
One of the world’s most decorated footballers, Alves, 40, was found guilty last month of raping a young woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of 31 December 2022.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall brings landslides to country’s south-east. Elsewhere, a wild temperature fluctuation in Iberia
Brazil was hit by devastating floods over the weekend that have so far claimed 20 lives in the resultant landslides and mudslides. There was heavy rainfall in parts of the south-east, including Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis and the larger Espírito Santo region, with hourly rainfall totals of about 20mm recorded in places. Cumulative totals from Friday through Sunday were close to 250mm, particularly along the coast: this is far higher than the monthly average.
Landslides and mudslides occurred across the region, and a number of houses collapsed. Rescue operations are under way to look for people who may have been stranded by the floods. Although there may still be a few showers over the following days, the worst of the rain has now passed.
Continue reading...New date for Antoni Gaudí’s basilica announced but enormous, controversial stairway will take another eight years
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica has a new completion date of 2026, which will come 144 years after the first stone was laid.
The president of the organisation tasked with completing Antoni Gaudí’s masterwork announced the date last Wednesday, which coincides with the centenary of the death of the building’s architect.
Continue reading...Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in Spain
Families of people who disappeared on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe have said they were asked to pay hundreds of euros in exchange for information about what had happened to their loved ones.
In interviews with the Guardian, three families recounted how, as part of their searches for missing relatives that had gone on for years, they had made contact with people they believed to be connected to an NGO in southern Spain who said they were able to help them.
Continue reading...Pere Aragonès says vote validated his decision to pursue political negotiations with Pedro Sánchez
Catalonia’s president has hailed a “new stage” in the quest for regional self-determination after a vote by MPs backing the Spanish government’s deeply divisive amnesty law, and vowed to continue pushing for a mutually agreed referendum if he wins another term in May’s snap election.
Pere Aragonès, who has led the regional government for the past three years, told the Guardian that the amnesty – demanded by Catalan separatist parties in return for helping Spain’s Socialist-led coalition back into power after last year’s election – had validated his decision to pursue political negotiations with the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.
Continue reading...Passing of bill will come as relief for PM Pedro Sánchez, who has gambled his political future on the concession
Spain’s congress has approved the controversial and divisive Catalan amnesty bill that regional separatists demanded in return for helping the country’s Socialist-led coalition government back into office after last year’s inconclusive general election.
The passing of the bill, which was approved by 178 votes to 172 in Spain’s 350-seat parliament, will come as a relief for the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has gambled his political future on the concession.
Continue reading...Gangs steal ‘liquid gold’ amid shortages and surging prices after extreme weather damages harvests
Olive oil has become the most stolen product in supermarkets across Spain, with organised criminal gangs targeting the “liquid gold” to resell on the hidden market, according to new figures.
Olive oil is now the most shoplifted product in regions that account for 70% of the country’s population, the Financial Times reports.
Continue reading...Officers arrest two people in Zaragoza, where forgeries were allegedly made, and two others suspected of putting works on sale
Police in Catalonia have claimed to have smashed a ring of scammers who allegedly forged works by street artist Banksy and sold them across Europe and the US for up to €1,500 (£1,280) apiece.
Officers arrested two people in the north-eastern Spanish city of Zaragoza where the fakes were allegedly made and two others suspected of having put the works on sale, Catalonia’s regional police force said in a statement.
Continue reading...Labour minister says it’s madness that people are still working in restaurants at 1am but opposition and tourism groups defend country’s nightlife
Working past 10pm can pose a risk to mental health, Spain’s leftwing labour minister, Yolanda Díaz, has warned, as she fended off criticisms for describing the country’s custom of keeping restaurants open until late into the night as “madness”.
The debate over Spain’s vibrant nightlife – and the long working hours needed to sustain it – was thrust into the spotlight on Monday after Díaz characterised the country’s late-night restaurant culture as out of step with the rest of Europe.
Continue reading...Instrument was adapted, translated and corrected by Muslim and Jewish users in Spain, north Africa and Italy
Almost exactly a year ago, Federica Gigante was preparing a lecture and searching the internet for a portrait of the 17th-century Italian nobleman and collector Ludovico Moscardo when an altogether different image caught her eye.
The historian’s gaze soon snagged on a photo of a metal disc with a ring at the top that was kept in the same Verona museum as Moscardo’s picture.
Continue reading...Move by Spanish regional government to tackle period poverty will benefit about 2.5m people
The Catalonia region in Spain has begun providing free reusable menstrual cups, period underwear and cloth pads at pharmacies, in one of the first initiatives of its kind in the world.
The programme is part of a drive by the regional government to reduce period poverty after a survey found 44% of women using menstruation products in Catalonia could not afford their first-choice product and 23% said they had to reuse items designed for single use.
Continue reading...Letter aims to bring public anger over 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into heart of parliaments
More than 200 MPs from 12 countries have committed themselves to trying to persuade their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, arguing they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza.
The letter, organised by Progressive International, a network of socialist MPs and activists focused on international justice, is seen as the best practical measure possible to bring public anger over the 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into the heart of parliaments, where calls for an immediate unconditional ceasefire have so far fallen on deaf ears or been rejected by national governments.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation for podcast series Black Box reveals names connected to app that generated nonconsensual images of underage girls around the world
The first Miriam al-Adib learned of the pictures was when she returned home from a business trip. “Mum,” said her daughter. “I want to show you something.”
The girl, 14, opened her phone to show an explicit image of herself. “It’s a shock when you see it,” said Adib, a gynaecologist in the southern Spanish town of Almendralejo and a mother of four daughters. “The image is completely realistic … If I didn’t know my daughter’s body, I would have thought that image was real.”
Continue reading...Police in Spanish city continue to search debris after blaze that consumed one of the buildings in less than an hour
The death toll from a fire that left two residential buildings charred ruins in the Spanish city of Valencia rose to 10 on Saturday after authorities announced they had located the remains of what they believed to be the last missing person.
Forensic police found the 10th victim inside the building, the national government delegate in Valencia, Pilar Bernabé, told journalists. Police would proceed with DNA testing to confirm the identities of all the victims, she said.
Continue reading...Authorities lower count of victims in Valencia fire, with one more person considered missing
Spanish police have said the final death toll from a devastating fire that tore through a 14-storey block of flats in the eastern city of Valencia is nine, with one person thought to have died now considered missing and all others accounted for.
El País cited national police as saying that after forensic analysis of the bodies found in the charred building, they had lowered the number of victims from the 10 previously reported by the Spanish government’s representative in the region.
Continue reading...Thirteen reported injured as 22 teams of firefighters fight flames engulfing 14-storey building
Spanish firefighters have been battling high winds to put out a huge fire that gutted a multi-storey apartment block in Valencia and left four dead.
At least 13 people have been injured, including a minor and six firefighters, emergency services and regional officials in the eastern port city said, without providing details on the extent of the injuries. The emergency services earlier said seven people were lightly injured, mostly from smoke inhalation.
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