Author: OnlyBob

Catalan Independence
Police were deployed to the streets of Barcelona on Saturday after supporters of Catalan independence protested against a National Police rally in the city.
Photographs showed police dressed in riot gear wielding truncheons as they attempted to push back against marchers from the Committee for the Defense of the Republic (CDR).
The demonstrators were reportedly attempting to march on a rally organised by the JUSAPOL police trade union.
Police officers were in Barcelona to call for higher wages. Many carried Spanish flags in an apparent display of support for Spanish unity.… Read all the news

Stamp Duty
The Spanish Cabinet yesterday approved legal changes to make banks, rather than borrowers, pay a controversial tax associated with home purchases, and to ensure lenders cant deduct this cost on their tax returns.
The decree comes a day after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced measures to guarantee that “Spaniards will never again pay this tax.” With the move, the government overrides the Supreme Court’s recent decision to make clients pay the fee.
At a news conference following yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister María Jesús Montero said that these fast-track reforms are justified due to the “confusion” created by the Supreme Court.… Read all the news

Ferry Crash
Three people have been rescued from the water after a passenger ferry collided with a pleasure boat off the coast of Gran Canaria yesterday.
Spanish Coastguards said they rescued all three people on board the pleasure boat.
An onlooker filmed the ferry listing heavily to one side as it headed back to port in Las Palmas with a tug and coastguard vessel close by.
The ferry involved in the collision covers the route between Las Palmas and Santa Cruz and can carry 868 passengers 16 crew as well as 220 vehicles.… Read all the news

Assassination Suspect
An expert marksman has been arrested on suspicion of planning a “lone wolf” attack to assassinate Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The 63-year-old suspect, named locally as Manuel Murillo Sanchez, was found with an arsenal of weapons, including sniper-style rifles and a submachine gun, at his home.
The private security guard, who has extensive experience with long-range guns, is said to have “spoken of his intention to attack Pedro Sanchez in WhatsApp groups”.
A spokesman for regional police near Barcelona, said: a 63-year-old man has been arrested in Terrassa.… Read all the news

Rail Scare
One of Spain’s busiest train stations was partly evacuated yesterday morning after security services spotted what appeared to be a grenade in a passenger’s luggage.
The alarm was raised at Barcelona’s Sants Statiion where the woman was boarding a train to Madrid.
After searching the suitcase, officials discovered the object was in fact a belt buckle shaped like an explosive device. By this time the passenger was already on their way to Madrid.
It is unclear how the woman was able to board the train and travel across the country without being stopped after officials in Barcelona noticed the suspicious “device” during a luggage scan.… Read all the news

Security Scare
Police evacuated passengers from a major railway station in Madrid and from two high-speed trains in Barcelona this morning following security alerts that proved to be false alarms.
Regional police in Catalonia ordered passengers off two high-speed trains at Barcelona’s Sants station at around 8 am and bomb disposal units carried out an investigation after security scanners detected a suspicious package inside a suitcase. Two hours later, National Police in Madrid ordered the full evacuation of the city’s Atocha station.… Read all the news

Migrants
Five migrants were killed trying to get to Spain on a rickety boat in a storm and more than a dozen are missing, police said yesterday increasing the toll to 18 after 13 were found dead the day before.
Authorities said on Monday that 13 African migrants had died off the coast of Melilla, in northern Morocco.
Then yesterday the Guardia Civil said five bodies were found off Cadiz adding that rescuers were looking for 15 to 17 others.
In Cadiz, “20 migrants arrived in the midst of a storm” in very rough seas on board a “wooden, very old” boat with almost no water or food.… Read all the news

Migrants
At least 17 migrants have died in the past 24 hours while trying to cross the sea from North Africa
and rescuers picked up more than 100 others.
Two rafts were found in the Western Mediterranean between the Iberian peninsula and Morocco
with 80 people aboard and 13 dead. They were taken to Melilla, the coast guard said yesterday
They also found four bodies and rescued 22 men in the Atlantic off Cadiz.
Spain has now become the main destination for undocumented migrants and refugees from Africa
and the Middle East trying to reach Europe.… Read all the news

Resignation
Maria Dolores de Cospedal, an influential figure from the Popular Party resigned yesterday as a member of the conservative group”s executive, after a scandal over some recordings in which she asked to investigate political opponents.
In a statement, De Cospedal explained that she was leaving the National Executive Committee to prevent multiple attacks due to her conversations with the former police commissioner Jose Villarejo from affecting the party.
The former Minister of Defense and general secretary of the PP will keep her seat in the Congress of Deputies.… Read all the news

Fire
A CHILD and a parent died in a house fire this morning in Malaga province.
Emergency services were called out to the town of Arriate, near Ronda in the early hours after a fire broke out in a two-storey house.
Six people were reportedly trapped on the top floor of the building according to the emergency services.
The provincial fire service the Guardia Civil, Local Police and ambulance crews raced to the scene.
But emergency services reported that two of the six inhabitants died in the fire, a child and an adult.… Read all the news