Thousands of Spanish police officers marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest against a proposed reform of a security law that they say will hamper their ability to do their work. Politicians from Spain’s three main conservative parties joined police officers in the protest against proposed changes to the 2015 …
Read More »Rock rises out of the sea as second La Palma lava flow reaches ocean
New cascades of red-hot lava tumbled into the Atlantic Ocean off Spain’s La Palma on Wednesday morning, sending up plumes of white smoke and extending a platform of volcanic rock created by earlier flows. The stream of molten rock from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which began erupting in mid-September, reached …
Read More »Twelve arrested after fleeing emergency plane landing in Mallorca
Police in Spain arrested 12 people and were looking for 12 more after a group of passengers fled a plane onto the runway at Palma de Mallorca airport on Friday night, causing the closure of the airport for several hours. The Air Arabia Maroc flight from Casablanca to Istanbul made …
Read More »Scientists use camera connected to brain implant to help blind woman see
Scientists in the US used a camera connected to a brain implant to help a blind person see again, NPR reported. The former teacher who had been blind for 16 years had the device implanted in her brain with no disruptions to brain activity or other health complications, according to …
Read More »Portugal seizes cocaine worth $232 mln onboard yacht in Atlantic Ocean
Portuguese and Spanish authorities have seized 5.2 tons of cocaine from a sailboat on the high seas and arrested three suspects, in Portugal’s largest drug bust in 15 years and a world-record haul from a sailboat, police said on Monday. With the cocaine bales piled up behind him at a …
Read More »Volcano lava forces more evacuations in Spain’s La Palma
More people were forced to leave their homes on Wednesday evening as flows of molten rock pouring from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma threatened to engulf another neighborhood. With no end in sight to the eruption, which is in its fourth week, authorities expected …
Read More »Hundreds evacuated as red-hot lava threatens homes in Spain’s La Palma
Over 700 residents were ordered to abandon their homes on Tuesday on the Spanish island of La Palma as red-hot lava advanced towards their neighborhood. As the river of molten magma descended from the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the northeast of Canary Island, authorities ordered between 700 and 800 inhabitants …
Read More »Volcanic lava engulfs more houses in Spain’s La Palma
Buildings near the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma were engulfed by rivers of lava early on Saturday, with the drama of the red-hot eruption intensified by the spectacle of flashes of lightning. The magma destroyed at least four buildings in the village of Callejon de la Gata, …
Read More »Moroccan police thwart migrants targeting Spanish enclave
Moroccan police thwarted an attempt by several hundred migrants to force their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the northern African coast, officials said Thursday. The large group of men gathered on the Moroccan side of the border after nightfall Wednesday and threw stones at police who moved …
Read More »Volcanic ash buildup shuts airport on La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands
A buildup of ash and dust from the erupting Cumbre Vieja volcano on the runway forced authorities in Spain’s La Palma to close the island’s airport on Thursday, air traffic operator AENA said. Other airports in the Canary Islands’ archipelago off North Africa remained open, however, and an AENA spokesperson …
Read More »Firefighters retreat as La Palma volcanic explosions intensify (Videos, Pictures)
Intensifying volcanic explosions on the Spanish island of La Palma forced firefighters to retreat and authorities to evacuate three more towns on Friday, while airlines cancelled flights due to a cloud of gas and ash, the biggest since the volcano erupted. Firefighters pulled out of clean-up work in the town …
Read More »Catalan separatist leader Puigdemont arrested in Italy
Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has been arrested in Italy on Thursday, his lawyer and an aide say, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional. The European MEP was expected to appear in court on Friday at a hearing that could see him extradited …
Read More »Russia to resume flights with Iraq and several other countries next week
The Russian government announced resuming flights to Iraq, Spain, Kenya, and Slovakia as of September 21. An official Russian statement said that flights will be resumed to Turkey and Egypt from international airports in Pskov, Magadan, Murmansk, and Chita. For his part, the Iraqi ambassador to Russia, Abdul Rahman Hamid …
Read More »Rain helps fight against ‘monster’ wildfire in southern Spain
Light rain gave some breathing room to crews struggling Monday to battle a “monster” wildfire in southern Spain which killed a firefighter and forced the evacuation of around 2,600 people. Around 500 firefighters and 51 water-dropping planes have been tackling the blaze, which officials believe was started deliberately last Wednesday …
Read More »Spanish wildfires blaze for fifth day prompting more evacuations
Two more Andalusian towns were evacuated on Sunday morning as Spain sent in military backup to tackle a wildfire that continued to rage close to a popular Costa del Sol resort. Fanned by strong winds and high late-summer temperatures, the flames have driven over 1,000 people from their homes and …
Read More »Thousands of Catalans rally for independence in Barcelona
Thousands of Catalans chanted, sang, and waved flags as they marched through Barcelona on Saturday, calling for the region’s independence from Spain. The march, organized by the grassroots Assemblea Nacional Catalana ANC, was the first since Spain’s government pardoned nine Catalan separatist leaders who had been jailed for their role …
Read More »Strong winds, high temperatures fuel wildfire near Spanish resort
Unusually strong winds and high late-summer temperatures hindered efforts on Friday to tame a wildfire near a popular resort in southern Spain that has forced over 1,000 people out of their homes and killed an emergency worker. Since erupting on Wednesday evening, the blaze has burned through around 3,600 hectares …
Read More »Spanish village hosts first bull-running fiesta since pandemic
Ten bulls charged through the streets of Villaseca de la Sagra on Sunday in pursuit of hundreds of runners as the first bull-running fiesta was held in Spain since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Villages and towns across Spain hold the fiestas but they were prohibited last year as …
Read More »Around 350 migrants stopped from crossing into Spain’s Melilla
Around 350 migrants tried to scale the fence from Morocco into Spain’s Melilla enclave before dawn on Saturday but none managed to get across, a Spanish government spokesman said. Spanish border forces had been alerted at around 5:30 am by their Moroccan counterparts that “a group of 350 sub-Saharan Africans” …
Read More »Japan suspends 1.6 mln doses of Moderna shot days after contamination reports
Japan suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, more than a week after the domestic distributor received reports of contaminants in some vials. Both Japan and Moderna said that no safety or efficacy issues had been identified and that the suspension was just …
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