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

Nine people rescued from boat sailing perilous Atlantic route that reportedly left Senegal with 60 people onboard nine days agoAt least 50 people are feared to have drowned after a boat sailing the perilous Atlantic route from west Africa to Europe began to sink 60 miles south of the Canary island of El Hierro.Nine people were rescued from the craft early on Monday after...

Sánchez announces he will stay on days after saying he was considering resigning after attacks in rightwing media on his wifePedro Sánchez is expected to speak in a few minutes. Stay tuned.Pedro Sánchez’s big announcement will be an “institutional declaration”, which means a televised statement with no questions from the media. Continue reading...

PP leader accuses prime minister of navel-gazing, while Sánchez’s supporters rally in MadridSpanish opposition parties have stepped up their attacks on the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as he prepares to announce whether he will resign because of what he describes as a “harassment and bullying operation” being waged against him and his wife by his political and media enemies.Sánchez shocked Spain on Wednesday...

Socialist prime minister poised to decide on his future, but some say it’s ploy to surviveOn Monday, Pedro Sánchez, the great and unpredictable survivor of Spanish politics, and a leader who has seen off more than his fair share of rivals, critics and adversaries, will reveal whether or not he intends to carry on as prime minister.The announcement will come five days after the...

Pedro Sánchez halts public duties, hitting out at opponents after court launches inquiry into alleged corruption by Begoña GómezSpain’s socialist prime minister has cancelled his public duties for the rest of the week and said he is considering resigning, blaming a “harassment and bullying operation” by his political and media opponents for a court’s decision to launch an investigation into his wife for alleged...

Organisers say 50,000 turn out to call for limit on tourist numbers, saying model makes life unaffordable and puts strain on resourcesTens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents.The...

Surveys suggest EH Bildu’s focus on health, housing and employment is attracting younger votersA leftwing coalition of Basque separatists, partly descended from the political wing of the defunct terrorist group Eta, could become the largest party in the Basque Country’s parliament after an election in the northern Spanish region on Sunday.Latest polls suggest that EH Bildu, which is led by a convicted Eta member...

Each time Madrid and Dublin speak out on the war in Gaza others are emboldened to join them, sources sayMiddle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the Israeli military’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza on Monday night was “a tragic incident” did precious little to allay the fears of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Nor did his...

Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior’s tearful comments prompt questions over why racist fans can still act with impunityAntiracism 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...

Ex-Barcelona footballer on provisional release from prison term while he appeals against rape convictionThe 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...

Heavy rainfall brings landslides to country’s south-east. Elsewhere, a wild temperature fluctuation in IberiaBrazil 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...

New date for Antoni Gaudí’s basilica announced but enormous, controversial stairway will take another eight yearsBarcelona’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....

Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in SpainFamilies 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...

Gangs steal ‘liquid gold’ amid shortages and surging prices after extreme weather damages harvestsOlive 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....

Instrument was adapted, translated and corrected by Muslim and Jewish users in Spain, north Africa and ItalyAlmost 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...

Maksim Kuzminov, who changed sides in secret operation, killed after allegedly moving to Alicante, reports suggestA Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine last year in a secret operation has been found dead in Spain, according to the main military intelligence agency in Kyiv.Reports in Russian and Spanish media on Monday said Maksim Kuzminov was found dead after allegedly moving to the town of...

Victory in regional election strengthens Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s position as Spain’s main opposition leaderSpain’s opposition conservative People’s party retained its absolute majority in Galicia on Sunday in a close-run regional election.The PP won 40 seats in the 75-seat regional assembly, the electoral board said, with more than 98% of votes counted. Continue reading...

Close-run race could see PP ousted and Ana Pontón of BNG installed as area’s first female and nationalist leaderSpain’s opposition conservative party faces the prospect of defeat in its leader’s home region, where it has governed for much of the past four decades, when voters in Galicia go to the polls on Sunday.The People’s party (PP) won an absolute majority four years ago under...

Lawyers see Basir’s case as test of European policies that fail to provide safe routes to sub-Saharan asylum seekers For 25-year-old Basir, it was a ray of hope after fleeing Sudan more than a decade ago. For his lawyers, the asylum request he made from Morocco was the ultimate test of whether Spain – and more broadly the EU – was willing to provide...

Even Though it’s Night, which chronicles the conditions of Europe’s largest shantytown, Cañada Real, in running for a Goya A short film that chronicles the lives of the forgotten, deprived and marginalised children who live in Europe’s largest shantytown, just outside Madrid, is in the running for Spain’s equivalent of an Oscar at the Goya awards on Saturday.Aunque es de noche (Even Though it’s...

Ex-Barcelona defender is accused of raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022The former Brazil international footballer Dani Alves has denied raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub as he took the stand on the last day of his trial in Spain.“If she wanted to leave, she could have left, she was not obligated to be there,” the 40-year-old told the court...

Atlantic route to chain of islands is deadliest migration passage to Spain with 6,007 people dying last yearThe number of people from west Africa who braved the sea in boats to reach Spain’s Canary Islands jumped more than 1,000% in January from a year before, according to data released by the country’s interior ministry.A total of 7,270 people reached the archipelago in the Atlantic...

Remains of 451 people believed to lie on proposed site of Madrid waste plant – including Bloomsbury poet Julian BellThe children of Montecarmelo are in fine and raucous voice as they pour into the playgrounds that flank the quiet alleys of the Fuencarral municipal cemetery.Equally voluble, if less joyous, are the banners and posters that hang from the balconies, walls and railings of this...