Category: News

Catalonia
The government has warned the Catalan authorities that national police could be sent to their region if they tolerate separatist blockades.
The warning – in three letters from ministers – followed a protest on Saturday by separatists who blocked the AP-7 motorway connecting France to Catalonia’s coast.
Madrid accused the Catalan police force – the Mossos – of just standing by.
Tensions remain high, as many Catalans resent Madrid’s show of force last year.
A letter from the Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska noted a state security law which would allow Madrid to send police to Catalonia if the Mossos neglected their duties.… Read all the news

Catalunia
Spain’s interior minister said he would send national police to Catalonia if local authorities did not do more to stop protests like the one that shut down major highways over the weekend.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska accused the local Catalan police of doing nothing to prevent pro- independence protesters blocking the AP-7 toll road for more than 15 hours on Saturday.
The involvement of national police would be a contentious issue in the region which has its own administration and where polls suggest almost half the population wants to split from Spain.… Read all the news

Drug Trial
A British man accused of being one of Europe’s biggest drug traffickers went on trial yesterday accused of smuggling 1.3 tons of cocaine into France.
The drugs carried in 30 unregistered suitcases, were discovered in 2013 after an Air France plane arrived at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport from Caracas.
Robert Dawes, now 46, was arrested in November 2015 at his luxury resort in Benalmadena, after police intercepted a conversation in which he reportedly claimed ownership of the cocaine, worth an estimated £216million at today’s prices.… Read all the news

Unemployment
The government said on Friday it would inject two billion euros into fighting high youth unemployment.
Labour Minister Magdalena Valerio told reporters .. we need our youth .. pointing out that many people in their 20s were still “dependent on their parents, and sometimes their grandparents” due to a lack of opportunities.
Unemployment in Spain has slowly been dropping since the economic crisis, but at 14.55 percent remains the second highest in the eurozone after Greece.
Youth unemployment, meanwhile, currently stands at 33 percent and the government wants to reduce it to 23.5 percent within three years.… Read all the news

People Smugglers.
The European police agency says Spanish authorities have arrested 37 people suspected of belonging to a Vietnamese people-smuggling ring that has earned an estimated 13 million euros.
Europol said in a statement yesterday that the gang charged each Vietnamese migrant 18,000 euros and smuggled them into the European Union via South America.
Each group of up to 12 migrants was guided by an English-speaking smuggler who facilitated their travel.
Spanish police conducted searches of 10 houses and more than 100 beauty salons across the country after learning that the smuggling operation was largely based in Barcelona.… Read all the news

Autopsy
An autopsy on a body believed to be that of British animal trainer Amy Gerard has proved inconclusive.
Forensic experts failed to find the cause of death or establish the identity of the woman pulled out of the sea off Tenerife near the spot where Ms Gerard who was 28, disappeared Thursday 29 November after leaving an Irish pub.
The state the body was in after days in the water is thought to have hindered the post-mortem.
Ahead of the autopsy, which took place on Wednesday morning police said that ‘all lines of inquiry’ remained open in the ongoing investigation into Ms Gerard’s disappearance.… Read all the news

Coalition
Ciudadanos party officials have agreed to coalition talks with the conservative Partido Popular in Andalucia and have not ruled out working with the far-right Vox.
Leader Albert Rivera said the executive of his party agreed yesterday to try and form a “government of change” for the Junta de Andalucia following elections held on Sunday.
It comes after the left-leaning PSOE saw its majority slashed in the vote and as Ciudadanos and Vox both made gains.
Rivera said Ciudadanos had ruled out working with PSOE which he said should become the opposition.… Read all the news

Wolf Pack Case
A court’s controversial decision to clear five men of gang rape has been upheld by five appeal judges, and the group are now set to go to jail for the lesser offense of sexual abuse.
There were protests across Spain when the men, who became known as the wolf pack were acquitted of rape at the San Firmin bull running festival in Pamploma .. and then later freed on bail.
The appeal judges agreed that the 18-year-old victim was not assaulted as no intimidation or violence was involved.… Read all the news

Sentence Confirmed
A Spanish regional court this morning confirmed a controversial ruling that cleared five men of gang- raping a young woman during Pamplona’s San Fermin festival in the so-called “Wolf Pack” case, which caused protests across the country.
The Navarra court confirmed a nine-year prison sentence for the lesser crime of sexual assault.
The ruling, which can now be appealed in the Supreme Court, saw the men released on bail in June on a legal technicality.
All five men, who include a former policeman and a former soldier, paid 6,000 euros in bail though their release led to further protests and concern across the political spectrum with pledges to revise the penal system’s response to such charges.… Read all the news

Body
The search for missing British woman Amy Gerard has been called off after a body was found off the Tenerife coast.
The body was discovered yesterday off the coast of Puerto de la Cruz, where 28 year old Amy was last seen in the early hours of Friday.
A police spokesman said it was too early to confirm the identity of the woman.
But the search for Amy Gerard, originally of Cleethorpes, has now been called off.
The body is believed to have been spotted by a Civil Guard helicopter before being recovered by one of the boats involved in the search.… Read all the news