Tag Archives: Spain

The Associated Press reports: Spain’s new government declared a national climate emergency on Tuesday, taking a formal first step toward enacting ambitious measures to fight climate change. The declaration approved by the Cabinet says the left-of-center Socialist government will send to parliament within 100 days its proposed climate legislation. The targets coincide with those of the European Union, including a …

Agence France-Presse reports: With its hard line against Catalan separatism, immigration and feminism, far-right party Vox was the big winner of Spain’s repeat general election on Sunday, surging into third place. The party won 52 seats — more than doubling the 24 it took during its April parliamentary debut in the most significant showing by a far-right faction since Spain’s …

The New York Times reports: The Spanish government on Thursday exhumed the remains of the former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco from the underground basilica that he built after winning his country’s civil war. The move had prompted criticism that, coming just two weeks before a national election, it would reopen old rifts in Spanish society. Franco’s remains were moved in …

Politico Europe reports: Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Francisco Franco’s remains can be removed from the Valley of the Fallen, endorsing the Socialist government’s plans against his descendants’ will. The generalísimo’s body is set to be disinterred from the giant mausoleum on the outskirts of Madrid — a basilica dug into a hillside topped by a cross 150 …

The Guardian reports: Authorities in Spain have ordered a man to pay a hefty fine after he was caught throwing a refrigerator off a cliff for a joke about recycling. In footage shared by the Asociación Unificada de Guardias Civiles, or the Unified Association of Civil Guards Spain, last week that has been going viral online, the man could be …

The New York Times reports: Spain’s Socialist Party strengthened its hold on the government on Sunday in the country’s third national election since 2015, with nearly complete results showing growing political polarization and party fragmentation. The elections came after an abrupt change of government in June, when Pedro Sánchez and his Socialist Party used a corruption scandal to oust Prime …

Reuters reports: With his left-wing coalition government fractured over Catalonia’s drive for independence, Spain’s Socialist prime minister was forced Friday to call for a new general election in April. A new election likely will result in a far-right political party taking seats in Spain’s parliament for the first time since the nation’s transition to democracy after the Franco dictatorship ended …

The Associated Press reports: In what is being billed as Spain’s “trial of the century,” a dozen politicians and activists face charges in the Supreme Court over their involvement in Catalonia’s push for independence in 2017. The trial, which started Tuesday, sees those in the dock facing charges including rebellion and sedition. The trial is expected to last at least …

The Associated Press reports: Thousands of Spaniards joined a right-wing rally in Madrid on Sunday to demand that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez step down. Many in the crowd gathered in the capital’s Plaza de Colon, waving Spanish flags. They chanted slogans in favor of the nation’s security forces and for Sanchez to resign. The conservative opposition Popular Party and …

The Guardian reports: A straightforward change in EU law guaranteeing visa-free travel for Britons in Europe after Brexit has sparked a diplomatic row after Brussels described Gibraltar as “a colony of the British crown” in its no-deal legislation. The footnote containing the contentious description of the Rock was attached to the EU’s regulation on the insistence of Spain, with whom …

The Associated Press report: The European Union moved closer to sealing an agreement on Brexit after Spain said it had reached a deal with Britain over Gibraltar, a key obstacle on the eve of a European Union summit on Sunday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Saturday that Madrid would support the Brexit divorce deal after the U.K. and the …

Agence France-Presse reports: Life expectancy in 2040 is set to rise at least a little in all nations but the rankings will change dramatically, with Spain taking the top spot while China and the United States trade places, researchers said Wednesday. With a projected average lifespan of nearly 85.8 years, Spain — formerly in 4th place — will dethrone Japan, …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump suggested the Spanish government tackled the Mediterranean migration crisis by emulating one of his most famous policies and building a wall across the Sahara desert, the country’s foreign minister has revealed. According to Josep Borrell, the US president brushed off the skepticism of Spanish diplomats – who pointed out that the Sahara stretched for 3,000 …

Courthouse News reports: Spain’s left-wing government is seeking to remove the body of dictator Francisco Franco from a fascist-era monument near Madrid and set up a commission to investigate crimes committed during Spain’s civil war and military dictatorship, a move strongly opposed by retired military officers and others. The moves by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Spanish Socialist Workers’ …

Gay Star News reports: A trans woman was crowned as Miss Universe in Spain yesterday. This is a first for the international beauty pageant. Angela Ponce, 25, will represent Spain in the upcoming Miss Universe pageant scheduled end of the year. The beauty pageant lifted the ban on trans women competing in 2012. Three years later, Donald Trump sold the …

The vote was very close. The Guardian reports: Mariano Rajoy, once viewed as the great survivor of Spanish politics, has been ousted as prime minister in a vote of no confidence after several former members of his party were convicted of corruption in a case that proved a scandal too far. He will be replaced by Pedro Sánchez, the leader …

Politico reports: Mariano Rajoy’s time as Spain’s prime minister appears to be over after the opposition Socialists secured parliamentary backing for ousting the conservative leader. Lawmakers from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) announced Thursday that they would back Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez’s motion of no confidence in Rajoy in a vote to be held Friday. With the PNV’s support, and …

Yahoo News reports: The FBI has obtained secret wiretaps collected by Spanish police of conversations involving Alexander Torshin [photo], a deputy governor of Russia’s Central Bank who has forged close ties with U.S. lawmakers and the National Rifle Association, that led to a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. during the gun lobby’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., in May 2016, …

The Guardian reports: A former head of the Catalan police force who drew widespread praise for his handling of the Barcelona terror attacks in August last year has been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation for his role in the events leading up to Catalonia’s illegal declaration of independence two months later. Josep Lluís Trapero belonged to a “complex …

PBS NewsHour reports: Ride-hailing service Uber suffered a new blow Wednesday as the European Union’s top court ruled that it should be regulated like a taxi company and not a technology service, a decision that crimps its activities around Europe and could weigh on other app-based companies, too. Uber, which is wrapping up a particularly punishing year, sought to play …