Spain

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Oh, Baby! Jumpers Ward Off Devil

Men dressed as demons soar over infants in festival

(Newser) - Men dressed as demons leapt over rows of placid babies in a Spanish village yesterday in a rite intended to protect them from evil spirits. During a festival marking the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi, infants lie on mattresses as long-jumpers in red-and-yellow costumes fly over them. No one was...

France Arrests Basque Terror Group's Leader

ETA's No. 1 busted in joint police sting with Spanish

(Newser) - The suspected leader of the ETA, the Basque separatist group and terrorist organization, has been arrested by a joint Spanish and French police operation. Some 30 armed officers raided the Bordeaux apartment of Javier López Peña, who is believed to have headed the ETA since 2004. López...

Portugal PM Gets Heat for Smoking on Plane

Was he just blowing smoke when he backed Portugal's cigarette ban?

(Newser) - Portugal banned smoking in public places five months ago but the country's prime minister appears to have forgotten the rule his own government enacted. Jose Socrates—known to be a smoker in private—stunned passengers and triggered an uproar when he blithely lit up in the first-class cabin of a...

Emergency H20 Flows Into Parched Barcelona

Water tanker arrives as Spain suffers severe drought

(Newser) - Barcelona is having to ship in emergency supplies of drinking water as Spain suffers its worst drought since records began 60 years ago, the Guardian reports. The first shipment of 5 million gallons arrived yesterday and dozens more are scheduled. The city's reservoirs are down to a quarter of capacity...

Spain Opens Second Life Clinic for Teens

Virtual doctor's office welcomes those who hate the real thing

(Newser) - Spanish health officials are opening a virtual clinic in the popular online world Second Life, where they plan to advise teens who are too shy to consult flesh-and-blood doctors, the Guardian reports. It will appear as a consultation room for now, but officials hope to expand the service and eventually...

US Firm Must Return Sunken Treasure: Spain

'We want it all back,' navy official says of $500M in booty from 19th-century wreck

(Newser) - Spain filed evidence today in support of its claim it is the rightful owner of a shipwreck loaded with $500 million in treasure discovered and looted by a US exploration firm, the AP reports. The Spanish government identifies the wreck, whose identity has been disputed over the past year, as...

El Bulli Repeats as World's Top Restaurant
El Bulli Repeats as World's Top Restaurant 
OPINION

El Bulli Repeats as World's Top Restaurant

Catalonian chemistry lab keeps Britain's Fat Duck in No. 2 slot

(Newser) - For the third year in a row El Bulli, the restaurant-cum-chemistry lab outside of Barcelona, has been named the world's best restaurant. Feran Adrià's "gastronomic temple" got the top gong from a group of 700 chefs and critics. For Bloomberg's food writer El Bulli is "highly technically...

Spain Speeds to Save Pirate Hostages

Fishing boat is latest target of Somali brigands

(Newser) - A Spanish naval frigate is steaming to the waters off Somalia to rescue crew members of a tuna boat seized by pirates, reports the BBC. The boat was grabbed just days after French commandos freed hostages from a luxury yacht comandeered by Somali pirates. The tuna boat's 26 crew members...

Guggenheim Bilbao Honcho Embezzled $800K

Museum sues CFO after years of fraud

(Newser) - The Guggenheim Museum's outpost in Bilbao is suing its director of finance after he admitted embezzling $800,000 from the institution's coffers. In a long mea culpa letter to the museum's director, Robert Cearsolo Barrenetxea confessed that he had used bank transfers and fraudulent checks to line his own pockets...

Cops Injured in Bilbao Blast
 Cops Injured in
 Bilbao Blast 

Cops Injured in Bilbao Blast

ETA fingered for attack on Socialist headquarters

(Newser) - A powerful car bomb believed to be the work of the Basque separatist group ETA exploded today in Spain, injuring at least seven police officers. The blast, which was preceded by a warning call, occurred outside the headquarters of Spain's ruling Socialist Party in the Basque city of Bilbao. The...

Women Rule in Spain's New Cabinet
Women Rule
in Spain's
New Cabinet

Women Rule in Spain's New Cabinet

9 of Zapatero's 17 ministers, including defense, are female

(Newser) - So much for machismo. Re-elected Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced a new government this weekend, with a surprise twist: His new cabinet boasts more women than men. The eight men and nine ministras include a pregnant woman who will head the army as defense minister, the...

Classic Painting May Not Be Goya's

Colossus pulled at last minute from Prado exhibition

(Newser) - Madrid's Prado Museum tomorrow opens a major exhibition, Goya in Times of War, but while the show will contain many of the master's most famous paintings from the Napoleonic invasion, his major 1808 work The Colossus has been withdrawn. The reason? After two centuries, art historians say the work might...

In Spain, Parents Divorce to Get Kids Into Top Schools

Points system leads to bogus split-ups

(Newser) - Spanish couples will do anything to get their kids into top schools—including break up, the Guardian reports. Thanks to a point-based admissions system that favors children of single parents, Spain has seen a staggering spike in divorces, suspiciously filed just ahead of the upcoming application deadline. Judges think many...

Socialist Party Wins in Spain
Socialist Party Wins in Spain
UPDATED

Socialist Party Wins in Spain

But ruling party will fall short of majority in parliament

(Newser) - Spain's Socialist Party overcame a sputtering economy and the murder of a former councilor to win today's national election, the BBC reports. "The Spanish people have spoken clearly and have decided to open a new period without tension, without confrontation," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a...

Spain Divided Ahead of Big Vote
Spain Divided Ahead of Big Vote

Spain Divided Ahead of Big Vote

Nasty campaign will weigh in on Zapatero era

(Newser) - Spaniards are bitterly divided between the ruling Socialist Party and right-wing Popular Party as they head for the polls tomorrow, the Washington Post reports. Polls do not predict a majority for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialists or the Mariano Rajoy-led Popular Party, but much will depend on the...

Spanish PM: Basque Group Killed Pol

Eta separatists trying to disrupt elections, Zapatero says

(Newser) - Spain’s Prime Minister is blaming Basque separatist group Eta for the shooting death of a party functionary a day before national elections, the BBC reports. Jose Zapatero, whose Socialist Party is expected to win the contest, painted Isaias Carrasco’s murder as an attempt to disrupt elections, but vowed...

The Next Big Thing: Live TV on Your Phone

Free new Spanish system could replace download services

(Newser) - A new way to watch TV on your phone is in the works in Spain, the Wall Street Journal reports. DVB-H technology, from a small company called Abertis Telecom, will let users tune into live broadcasts rather than pre-recorded shows. What some are calling the next big thing in cell...

Economy Overshadows Spanish Vote
Economy Overshadows Spanish Vote

Economy Overshadows Spanish Vote

PM in race to wire as unemployment climbs; voting is Sunday

(Newser) - Spain goes to the polls Sunday after a bitter campaign in which the prime minister and his rival have traded insults and accusations of lying. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has maintained his slight lead and did well in this week's debate, but a raft of bad economic...

Spain Gets on Divorce Express
Spain Gets on Divorce Express

Spain Gets on Divorce Express

Church leaders say marriage contract is now 'trash'

(Newser) - Marriage has become a battleground in Spain, where divorce has been legal for 20 years, but a recent reform accelerating the process led to a 74% spike in the divorce rate. With 1 in every 2.3 married couples now parting, the Catholic Church is accusing the socialist government of...

Ol&eacute;! Breeder to Clone Prize Bull
Olé! Breeder to Clone Prize Bull

Olé! Breeder to Clone Prize Bull

US company to copy Alcalde's DNA

(Newser) - Alcalde is one in a million: The hulking black bull's sons have struck fear in the hearts of Spain's bravest matadors for more than a decade. But now, in his waning years, his famed breeder has commissioned a US company to make him two in a million—with the cloned...

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