Category: Spain

Spain’s 12-month Inflation Surpasses 10 Percent in June, First Time Since 1985

MADRID—Spanish 12-month inflation rose to 10.2 percent in June, the first time it has surpassed 10 percent since April 1985, from 8.7 percent in the previous month, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Wednesday. The reading was higher than the 9.0 percent forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. Core inflation,…


John McAfee’s Corpse Still Being Held by Government 1 Year After His Death

The body of antivirus software pioneer John McAfee still remains in a Spanish morgue about a year after he was found dead, his lawyer and authorities confirmed late last week. A spokesperson for the regional government’s justice department told Reuters on Thursday that his corpse is still at the same Barcelona morgue where the autopsy was…


Google News Re-Opens in Spain After 8-Year Shutdown

BRUSSELS—Alphabet reopened Google News in Spain on Wednesday, eight years after it shut down the service because of a Spanish rule forcing the company and other news aggregators to pay publishers for using snippets of their news. Madrid last year transposed European Union copyright rules, revamped in 2020, into legislation, allowing media outlets to negotiate…


VIDEO: Divers Spot Humpback Whale Trapped in Driftnet, Cut Her Free — and Then She Says ‘Thank You’

In a gripping underwater rescue, Spanish divers have freed a 12-meter-long humpback whale entangled in an illegal drift net off the Balearic island of Mallorca. One of the divers, 32-year-old marine biologist Gigi Torras, said the May 20 rescue and a little gesture of appreciation from the giant mammal were also a birthday present for her — the…


Spain: 22 Injured as Engine Collides With Passenger Train

MADRID—Officials said Monday that 22 people were hospitalized after a regional passenger train and a locomotive collided head-on in northeastern Spain. The regional government of northeast Catalonia said five of the 22 were in serious condition. The collision occurred late Sunday near the town of Vila-seca, south of Barcelona. There were 75 passengers on the…


Wildfire in Southern Spain Forces Town Evacuation, 3 Hurt

BENAHAVIS, Spain—A wildfire in mountains in southern Spain has forced the evacuation of the center of the town of Benahavis, a district that is home to 7,000 people, and three firefighters were injured, authorities said. The blaze started on Wednesday afternoon on the slopes of Pujerra mountain in the Sierra Bermejain, above the Costa del…


Spain’s Monkeypox Case Tally Rises to 84, Health Ministry Says

MADRID/LISBON—Spanish health authorities reported 25 new cases of monkeypox on Thursday, bringing the total tally of infections in one of the main hot spots of the recent outbreak to 84. The Health Ministry, which now considers all non-human-origin pox infections as monkeypox after a positive test while before only counting those confirmed by sequencing, also…


Explosion at Spanish Plant Leaves 2 Dead, 250 Kids Evacuated

MADRID—An explosion hit a biodiesel production plant in northern Spain on Thursday, killing two people and forcing the evacuation of 250 children who had been on a field trip nearby, police said Thursday. Police video of the explosion showed flames engulfing the plant in the northern region of La Rioja, sending large plumes of black…


Rick Steves’ Europe: Cultural Treats in Small-Town Andalucía

The American image of Spain is Andalucía: the home of bullfights, flamenco, gazpacho, and pristine whitewashed hill towns. This southern part of the country feels more quintessentially Spanish than perhaps anywhere else. When visiting this area, I always make a point to venture into what’s called the Route of the White Hill Towns (Ruta de…


Cultural Treats in Small-Town Andalucía

The American image of Spain is Andalucía: the home of bullfights, flamenco, gazpacho, and pristine whitewashed hill towns. This southern part of the country feels more quintessentially Spanish than perhaps anywhere else. When visiting this area, I always make a point to venture into what’s called the Route of the White Hill Towns (Ruta de…