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.
The bodies were found off the coast on Monday.
“According to the migrants, there were around 40 on board.
Coastguards were however able to rescue another 100 people
Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights said yesterday that it had ruled against Spain over a 2010 trial of Basque militants who claimed they had been denied a fair trial.
The case could clear the way for a comeback by Arnaldo Otegi, a former militant in the Basque separatist group ETA who turned to politics in the 1990s.
Otegi was one of five people sentenced in 2010 over accusations of ETA-related crimes, and he was also given a two-year prison term on charges of encouraging terrorism.
But the plaintiffs contested the rulings, saying one of the three judges overseeing their trials had shown a lack of impartiality.
Cyber Security
The foreign ministers of Russia and Spain say they agreed to establish a joint cybersecurity group to keep the malicious spreading of misinformation from damaging relations between their countries.
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said he welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s proposal for a collaborative effort “to gauge the extent of the problem and analyze it to prevent it from becoming a source of friction.”
Lavrov said in Madrid yesterday he discussed with Borrell how “some Russian mass media go beyond the limits of their professional activity and create inadmissible interference in other countries’ issues.”
But Lavrov insisted no evidence has been found of Russian government involvement.
Post Brexit Tourism
Spain’s tourism minister, who is meeting with British tour operators in London this week, said she is working on contingency plans to ensure that 18 million British visitors a year can still reach Spain in the event of a “no-deal” Brexit.
Reyes Maroto, the minister for trade, industry and tourism, has met this week with the heads of some of Britain’s biggest tour operators.
International tourism accounts for around 11 percent of Spain’s economy, and the sector is the country’s biggest employer.