Author: Bob James

Catalonia
Hundreds of people gathered across cities and towns in Catalonia to mark the one-year anniversary of the contested referendum on independence.
Pro-independence protesters obstructed major roads south of Barcelona and a high-speed railway line in Girona.
Activists blocked streets in Lleida, while students filled Barcelona’s central square waving separatist flags.

Sexual Offenses
The Supreme Court has ruled that any and all physical contact of a sexual nature, where deliberate, and irrespective of how brief it is, counts as a criminal offence.… Read all the news

Catalonia
Hundreds of protesters attempted to block roads and train tracks in Catalonia this morning while students marched in Barcelona to mark the one-year anniversary of an ill-fated referendum on independence.
regional leaders gave speeches and people queued to re-enact the vote that was banned by Madrid and the courts for being against Spain’s constitution.
The protests were much smaller than last year and demonstrators later called off the attempted blockages. Traffic was circulating normally now police said.

Robberies
A COURT has bailed a man and a woman charged in connection with allegations of several thefts which saw robbers riding mopeds snatching people’s belongings in Alicante City and Benidorm.… Read all the news

Barcelona
Twenty-four people were injured and six detained on Saturday during a rally — and counter demonstration — in Barcelona by police paying tribute to colleagues deployed to prevent the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
Separatists outraged at the police rally also turned out, with city authorities estimating that around 3,000 people took part in the police demo and 6,000 in the counter rally.
Skirmishes took place between the two sets of demonstrators while police also charged at separatists several times after they tried to cross a security cordon and threw paint and other objects.… Read all the news

Ryanair Strike
ANGRY Ryanair passengers are taking to social media and complaining that flights are being cancelled as little as two hours before take off today as the ‘biggest ever strike’ hits the budget Irish airline.
Around 250 flights and more than 30,000 passengers are expected to be hit, including some between the UK and Spain, as cabin crew and pilots strike across five countries.
The low-cost airline said all affected customers had been sent emails text messages, although no lists of cancelled flights have been made public.… Read all the news

Ryanair Strike
BUDGET airline, Ryanair, has announced more flight cancellations for today blaming a strike, at short notice, called by the VC pilots union in Germany.
The German pilots announced they will join the existing strike by cabin crew in Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy and Dutch pilots.
A Tweet suggests the new total could be in the region of 250 cancelled flights.
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has urged people who have had flights canceled to claim compensation under European air passengers’ rights rules.… Read all the news

Gender Violence
Police are searching for a man believed to have killed his partner, a 46-year-old woman who was found dead this morning in Torrox in the Málaga province. The body was found inside an apartment and had been stabbed.
The incident comes on the back of several more cases of gender violence this week. Two women and two children were killed in three separate episodes, bringing the total number of victims so far this year to 41.
And in Torremolinos a 37-year-old man from Romania has been arrested after repeatedly stabbing and beating a Filipino woman whom he had met two or three days earlier, and who had refused to enter into a relationship with him.… Read all the news

Building Collapse
Two British expats were taken to hospital yesterday after their apartments collapsed on them.
Police in Orihuela Costa south of Alicante had to cut through iron bars to reach one of the Britons and pull him through a downstairs window amid fears his home would crash down on top of him.
Another was taken to the Torrevieja University Hospital suffering shock following the collapse, at an estate called Laguna 3.
Some 15 homes on the estate have been evacuated and nearly eight are said to have been affected with large cracks which will prevent their residents returning in the short-term.… Read all the news

Migrant Shooting
Morocco’s navy yesterday fired on a boat carrying migrants that refused to respond to its orders, leaving a young woman dead and three other Moroccans wounded.
The patrol was “forced” to open fire on a speedboat driven by a Spaniard who “refused to obey” orders in waters off Morocco a spokesman said.
Four migrants were wounded, including a Moroccan woman who died of her injuries in hospital.
the Northern Observatory for Human Rights, said the woman killed was 22 years old and the three wounded were also Moroccan.… Read all the news

Airline Strike
Ryanair says it has cancelled 190, or about 8% of its 2,400 scheduled flights this Friday.
The airline has adjusted its schedule in the face of strike action being taken by unions in Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Italy and Germany.
The Irish airline says this will affect 30,000 passengers, who have been notified by text and email.
The long-running industrial action by Ryanair staff centres on working conditions.
Workers based in countries other than Ireland are unhappy that Ryanair has been employing them under Irish legislation.… Read all the news

Armed Robbers
Police have arrested two men suspected of robbing a Scotish couple at their home in Lanzarote.
Masked raiders ambushed Scott Proudfoot and Gill Hewitt, originally from Edinburgh, as they returned home with takings from a bar they run in a holiday resort.
The robbers terrorised the couple, who run Flintstones at Las Cucharas beach with a replica gun.
They fired two shots before making off with more than £6000 as well as other valuables.
Scott was beaten up and sustained “considerable injuries“ during the incident in August.… Read all the news