Spain

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Food Fight! Tomato Throwers Unload in Spain

Annual Spanish fiesta takes place amid local pols' objections about privatization

(Newser) - Corruption, alleged sweetheart deals, political infighting—exactly what you'd expect from a Spanish festival in which scantily clad participants gulp down sangria and paella and hurl tomatoes at each other. The annual Tomatina fiesta—sometimes referred to as the "world's biggest food fight"—took place today...

Ebola Killed 45 in 3 Days; Toll Nears 1K

Virus has now claimed 932, with 1.7K cases: WHO

(Newser) - The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 932, the World Health Organization says. Most of the new deaths are coming from Liberia and Sierra Leone. The outbreak emerged in March in Guinea and shows no sign of slowing down. Among the latest news:
  • Nigeria
...

Spain Crowns New King
 Spain Crowns 
 Its New King  

Spain Crowns Its New King

Felipe becomes king as nation exits World Cup

(Newser) - Spain's Prince Felipe became King Felipe VI at midnight as the abdication of his father , King Juan Carlos, became official. The occasion was fairly low-key, with no foreign heads of state present and no huge state banquet, which the palace says was "in keeping with the criteria of...

Spain's King Juan Carlos Steps Down

76-year-old passes throne to Prince Felipe

(Newser) - At 76, Spain's King Juan Carlos is abdicating after four decades, handing the throne to his son, Prince Felipe. "A new generation must be at the forefront," he said in a nationally televised address. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the move today, calling on the courts to...

'Kill Jews' Village Votes to Change Name

Spanish hamlet backs switch, 29 to 19

(Newser) - After almost 400 years, a tiny Spanish village called Castrillo Matajudios— "Camp Kill Jews" —has voted to adopt a less murderous name. A majority of the hamlet's 56 registered voters sided with the name-change campaign backed by mayor Lorenzo Rodriguez, who threatened to step down if villagers...

Found in University Basement: 250 Corpses

Department director resigns over gross debacle

(Newser) - It seems journalists with Spain's El Mundo have stumbled onto Frankenstein’s laboratory. "This is not Auschwitz in 1942. Neither Srebrenica ... nor Rwanda," as El Mundo puts it. No, it’s the basement of the Anatomy and Embryology Department at Madrid's Complutense University, where the body...

Bullfight Ends After Unusual Series of Gorings

Bulls score rare victory at Madrid event, goring all 3 matadors

(Newser) - A prestigious bullfighting event in Spain ended in a very unusual way—with a knockout victory for the bulls. The first bull of the evening at Madrid's Las Ventas stadium badly gored bullfighter David Mora in the leg, tossed him in the air, and pummeled him into the ground,...

Spanish Politician Gunned Down in Public

Officials say Carrasco was killed over personal grudge

(Newser) - A leading politician in northern Spain was shot dead in broad daylight yesterday in what investigators say was a "personal act of vengeance," not a political assassination. Isabel Carrasco, the head of the provincial government in Leon, was shot as she crossed a footbridge on her way from...

Van Gogh Missing for 40 Years Found in Safe-Deposit Box

Authorities have not yet authenticated the painting

(Newser) - A Van Gogh painting thought to have been missing for 40 years appears to have been found in a Spanish safe-deposit box, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tax collectors ran across Cypress, Sky and Country, an unframed 1-foot by 1-foot work, while going through the box's contents in December...

Millionaire Busted Over Alleged 'Harem'

Shoja Shojai accused of holding aspiring models in Spanish mansion: reports

(Newser) - A British millionaire allegedly detained a "harem" of aspiring models in his Spanish mansion, preventing them from leaving as he fathered at least seven children with them. The Iranian-born Shoja Shojai, 56, was arrested in Spain after one woman reported domestic abuse. Investigators found the women in the mansion,...

Spain Cops Bust Guy With 'Cocaine Sandwich'

Ham, cheese, 100g of coke—you know, the usual

(Newser) - In other circumstances, lunch might consist of a sandwich and a Coke, but Spanish police say they have arrested a Colombian national living in a resort town for his variant on the theme—the cocaine sandwich. As Sky News reports, the concoction "contained ham, melted cheese, and nine cylinders...

Virgin Mary Statue Wins Policing Prize, Then Outrage

She doesn't exactly meet the requirements, secularists say

(Newser) - Spain's top policing award this year went not to a heroic police officer but to ... a statue of the Virgin Mary. The country's interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, awarded the gold medal of police merit to an icon of the virgin in Málaga because, as...

Spain May Make Its Kids Do Chores

Proposed legislature also includes mandate to 'respect teachers'

(Newser) - Is it a daily battle to get your kids to do their chores? You may want to move to Spain, where parliament on Friday approved a bill that would make children legally obliged to do housework—and more, BBC News reports. If the bill becomes law, those under the age...

Island's Sole Power Sources: Wind, Water

Spain's El Hierro will be completely self-sufficient

(Newser) - El Hierro, the tiniest and most southerly of Spain's Canary Islands, is surrounded by no small amount of volcanic activity , but it's turning to the power of wind- and water-driven energy for 100% of its 10,000 inhabitants' needs. In a move that would make it the world'...

Behold: Hamster-Size Deer Born in Spain

Deer-mouse is super-endangered

(Newser) - This baby makes 43: A tiny, hoofed deer—the world's smallest at about the size of a hamster—has been born in Spain, weighing in at about 4 ounces, reports Phys.org . The deer-mouse, aka "tragulus javanicus," was born April 9 at a nature park and "...

Town Named 'Jew Killer' May Change Its Name

Residents of Castrillo Matajudíos will put it to a vote

(Newser) - Castrillo Matajudíos sounds lovely—unless you speak Spanish. In English, the name of the tiny Spanish village is "Castrillo Jew Killer" or "Castrillo Kill the Jews," depending on the translation. It was so named because Jews were massacred there twice, in 1035 and 1109. Now the...

Spain Shoots Down Barcelona Area's Independence Bid

But region vows to hold it anyway

(Newser) - Spain isn't letting Catalonia pull a Scotland . The Spanish parliament has voted decisively against letting the region, which includes Barcelona, hold a referendum on independence. The vote was 299 to 47, with only the Catalan and Basque parties voting in favor; the major Spanish parties were united against it,...

Ill-Advised Tryst Ends With Woman at Bottom of Well

As her not-terribly-valiant lover flees...

(Newser) - It's tough to imagine an outdoor tryst ending much worse than this: at the bottom of a well, with hypothermia setting in. But firefighters say that's exactly what happened in Ciudad Real, Spain, on Friday night, when a 21-year-old woman and similarly unidentified man decided to have sex...

Now Part of Spain Wants to Break Off—Illegally

Catalonia says it will hold referendum on issue, in face of court ruling

(Newser) - More secessionist rumblings : Catalonia is technically a largely autonomous "community" in northeastern Spain. It would like to be much less than that. The region's parliament last year decided that it would hold a referendum on secession, something it says it fully intends to do on Nov. 9—even...

One Country So Broke, It's Giving Away Villages

Spain gives them away or sells for less than $100K

(Newser) - Want to buy a little vacation house in the Spanish countryside? Thanks to Spain's economic downturn, some buyers have picked up entire villages for as little as zero euros, AFP reports. Thousands of villages have been abandoned across Spain, often by residents seeking city life or better farmland, and...

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