<![CDATA[In English Section | EL PAÍS]]> Fri, 10 Jan 2020 16:26:12 +0100 Fri, 10 Jan 2020 16:26:12 +0100 en 5 https://ep00.epimg.net/iconos/v1.x/v1.0/logos/cabecera_portada.png Logotipo de EL PAÍS https://elpais.com/ <![CDATA[Why tourists are digging deep in Asturian mines]]> There was never such perfect darkness. The blackness is absolute and the silence is broken only by the breathing of the other visitors in the group. We are hundreds of meters underground, in a small passage that connects two drifts in the Pozo Sotón mine in Spain’s northwestern region of Asturias. There is very little space and it feels as though we are far from everything. The miner Nuria, who insists she is not “a guide,” has told us to turn off our helmet lamps. So we stand in the darkness in silence. The moment lasts just a few seconds, but there is something mystical about the experience, something metaphysical in the blackness and the absence that surrounds us. It is like not existing; like a brief journey to outer space, despite the fact we are actually occupying an inner space, deep within the Earth.

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]]> <![CDATA[Chinese mafia suspected of hiring Spanish thieves for heist in French palace]]> There are many elements to the case: an alleged group from the Chinese mafia, a castle listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its history and treasures, and five Spanish criminals who together have been arrested more than 120 times. On December 27, the French police arrested these five individuals and a sixth man of Chinese nationality for attempting to steal from the Chinese Museum at the Palace of Fontainebleau, a medieval castle 62 kilometers from Paris.

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]]> <![CDATA[Trickle of Cabinet announcements creates unease among Spain’s new coalition partners]]> The first coalition government in modern Spain is already causing some friction among its partners.

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]]> <![CDATA[Court rejects freeze on move to strip Catalan premier of lawmaker credentials]]> The Spanish Supreme Court on Friday decided against temporarily freezing a decision by electoral officials to strip Catalan premier Quim Torra of his seat in the regional parliament.

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]]> <![CDATA[In Spain, opposition vows to fight new executive every step of the way]]> Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s confirmation in office this week may have ended eight months of a caretaker administration, but several relevant issues are likely to remain on hold due to lack of cross-party agreement.

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]]> <![CDATA[Supreme Court blocks jailed Catalan leader’s bid to take seat in EU Parliament]]> Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras will not be released from prison to take up his seat as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), after the criminal bench of the Spanish Supreme Court today informed the legislative body of the European Union that he is barred from office after being jailed.

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]]> <![CDATA[The race to save the Mediterranean’s deep-sea corals]]> There are over 200 species of coral in the Mediterranean Sea (out of 5,600 species that have been described worldwide), and they need greater protection in order to survive in an environment affected by overfishing and climate change.

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]]> <![CDATA[Noise pollution: How Spain is fighting to stop a not-so-silent killer]]> Pollution kills, and not just the kind that can be seen hanging over the city in orange clouds. Noise pollution causes 16,600 premature deaths and 72,000 hospital admissions a year in Europe, according to the European Environment Agency. The main culprit is road traffic – which is also mainly to blame for the carbon dioxide emissions that cause 10,000 premature deaths in Spain a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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]]> <![CDATA[A legitimate government]]> Pedro Sánchez was voted back in as the prime minister of the Spanish government by Congress on Tuesday. The Socialist Party politician has now renewed his mandate as the head of the executive, a position he has held since leading a successful no-confidence motion in June 2018 against former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy following a corruption scandal involving his Popular Party (PP). The same forces that accused Sánchez of illegitimately taking power then are doing it again now that he has won the election and formed a majority. These forces present political positions as if they were constitutional imperatives and relativize the severity of the accusations they are spreading. Declaring a government formed on the basis of the people’s votes and through a process outlined in the Constitution as illegitimate is to declare legitimate any form of opposition, including coercion against the majority lawmakers.

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]]> <![CDATA[El Roto]]> <![CDATA[European Gibraltar]]> Spain and the United Kingdom will this month begin an important round of talks about the future of Gibraltar after Britain’s impending exit from the European Union, known as Brexit, specifically on the anticipated agreement that will regulate future relations between Europeans and Britons after the transition period.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain’s new PM mulls Cabinet lineup ahead of thorny political term]]> Spain’s first coalition government since the democratic transition of the late 1970s is already a reality. On Tuesday, Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE) was confirmed as the prime minister after a slim majority of lawmakers endorsed the winner of the November 10 election.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain gets a new leader, but what can he push through parliament?]]> The parliamentary arithmetic and the statements of intent from Spain’s political parties in Congress point to a term in office for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that will be filled with problems. The Socialist Party (PSOE) politician was today voted back into office by deputies, but with a margin of just two seats.

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]]> <![CDATA[Pedro Sánchez voted back in as Spanish prime minister by Congress]]> Spain’s caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was voted back in to power by Congress at the second round of an investiture debate on Tuesday.

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]]> <![CDATA[In pictures: The investiture vote that saw Pedro Sánchez returned to power]]> <![CDATA[Pedro Sánchez submits to the closest investiture vote of Spain’s democracy]]> Spain is in for a congressional cliffhanger today, as lawmakers assemble for the second round of the investiture vote to confirm the caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE), in his post.

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]]> <![CDATA[Opposition goes on the attack at highly charged investiture debate]]> Spain will not break up; there will be dialogue to deal with the “political conflict” with Catalonia, without straying beyond the confines of the Spanish Constitution; and a coalition government made up of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos will implement reformist policies that will cast aside measures from previous administrations with regard to the economy, employment and personal freedoms. Those were some of the commitments set out on Saturday by caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, as he addressed Spain’s lower house of parliament, the Congress of Deputies, on the first day of his investiture debate.

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]]> <![CDATA[PM, Catalan premier agree to meet to lay out groundwork for Catalonia talks]]> Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Catalan Premier Quim Torra had a telephone conversation at 9.30am on Thursday in which they agreed to hold a meeting following the formation of a new government in Spain.

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]]> <![CDATA[Brussels recognizes jailed Catalan leader as MEP, despite Electoral Commission notification]]> The European Parliament on Monday issued an internal communication stating that at a debate on January 13, it will “take note” of the election of Catalan politicians Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín as Members of the European Parliament (MEP). But in the case of Catalan Republican Left (ERC) leader Junqueras, his future as an MEP lies in the hands of the Spanish justice system.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain’s electoral officials vote to remove Catalan premier over disobedience ruling]]> Spain’s Central Electoral Board (JEC) agreed on Friday to strip Catalan premier Quim Torra of his position as deputy in the Catalan Parliament following his 18-month ban from public office for disobedience.

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]]> <![CDATA[Three suspected Russian spies traveled to Barcelona in 2016 and 2017]]> At least three suspected members of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU, as it is known in Russian by its initials) traveled to Barcelona between November 2016 and December 2017, according to information obtained by EL PAÍS with the investigative journalist network Bellingcat and its associated foundation Civic Media.

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]]> <![CDATA[Greenhouse gas emissions drop in Spain as power plants ditch coal]]> Spain has taken just one year to reach a goal that was expected to require a decade. The government had predicted that by 2030 coal would no longer be used in power plants to generate electricity, yet this objective was all but achieved last year. The country has dramatically reduced its reliance on coal-fired power, and as a direct result, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity generation fell 33.3% in 2019, according to figures that Red Eléctrica de España (REE), the national power grid operator, advanced to EL PAÍS.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain withdraws a dozen NATO soldiers in Iraq over security concerns]]> Ten Spanish soldiers deployed in Baghdad as part of an operation run by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Iraq were relocated on Tuesday to a position closer to Kuwait. NATO informed on Tuesday that it would “temporarily” reposition its personnel in Iraq to different locations in and outside of the country as a precaution against the escalating tension after a US drone strike killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain sees worst year for gender violence deaths since 2015]]> The first was called Rebeca Alexandra Cadete, and she was just 26 years old. She was stabbed to death by her boyfriend. Her five-year-old son was left without a mother. She had never filed a police report. The last victim of the year, Yulia S., 41, left another three children orphaned. She had also never raised any alarms, as happens in the overwhelming majority of cases. A total of 55 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners in Spain in the year 2019, which was the blackest in the last five years. Not since 2015 has the number of domestic violence victims been so high. As well as the women who lost their lives in such cases last year, there were also three children killed, bringing the total of youngsters lost due to domestic violence to 34 since the official records began in 2013.

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]]> <![CDATA[Three men arrested in Spain for alleged rape of US sisters]]> Spain’s National Police force has arrested three men suspected of sexually assaulting three sisters from the United States on New Year’s Eve in the southeastern Spanish city of Murcia. The alleged victims, aged 23, 20 and 18, who are from Ohio, reported the incident to the authorities, sparking a manhunt that lasted around 24 hours until the suspects were detained.

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]]> <![CDATA[Airport authority plans €1.5-billion overhaul for Madrid’s Barajas]]> The Spanish airport authority Aena is planning to invest around €1.5 billion in remodeling its Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas facility as part of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spaniards’ new travel trends: more trips abroad, fewer at home]]> Spaniards traveled less in the summer of 2019 than they did the previous year, with a significant drop in domestic tourism that a rise in foreign trips failed to balance out. That’s according to the Familitur survey carried out by Spain’s National Statistics Office (INE), which focused on the third quarter of 2019. Despite this reduced travel, spending rose by 1.9%, with almost €19.3 billion spent overall.

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]]> <![CDATA[Population slowdown is holding back Spain’s economy]]> Imagine two tribes that owe 40 sacks of grain each. Both tribes have 40 members. But as time passes, the first tribe doubles in size to 80 members, while the second one remains stuck at 40. Although both groups have the same amount of debt, the effort of paying it back has been halved for the first one, whose ability to generate wealth is greater.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain and Britain set date to negotiate on post-Brexit Gibraltar]]> Britain’s imminent departure from the European Union means that Spain is embarking on a special task: negotiating Gibraltar’s own exit from the European club.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spaniards in the UK: “I have a Plan B but Britons are trapped if things don’t go well”]]> They want to stay in the United Kingdom, they point to the contribution of Europeans to British prosperity and they fear Brexit more for its impact on the domestic economy than the possible effect the country’s departure from the European Union could have on their ability to stay in their adoptive home. The Spanish residents of the UK are as varied as the population they left behind, but what unites this diverse group are the challenges raised by Brexit and today’s general election, which they are observing both as witnesses and concerned parties.

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]]> <![CDATA[Gibraltar braces for British election as Brexit deadline looms]]> Conchita was among the 95.91% of Gibraltarians who voted against Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 referendum. Like her neighbors, she was shocked to find out the following day that the United Kingdom would be leaving the EU, a process commonly referred to as “Brexit.” There was nothing she could do but resign herself to it. And now, aged 64, she pauses during her stroll with her mother down Main Street to speak about the stalemate that has consumed the UK for the past three years and five-and-a-half months. “It’s a huge headache,” she says. “We have to move forward now and leave. There’s no turning back.”

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]]> <![CDATA[Brits in Spain resort to Irish ancestry to stay in the EU after Brexit]]> On June 23, 2016, Emma O’Sullivan spent the evening in her apartment in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, initially concerned and later shocked by what she was hearing on the BBC: that 52% of her fellow Brits had voted to exit the European Union, leaving her and around 1,300,000 more British nationals living in the EU in a state of limbo.

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]]> <![CDATA[Assange suspected that a Spanish security firm was spying on him in London]]> WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange did not authorize a Spanish security firm named UC Global SL, in charge of protecting the Ecuadorian embassy in London, to record the conversations that he had with his lawyers during the seven years that he lived there, according to statements that Assange made through videolink from Westminster Magistrates Court in reply to questions from Judge José de la Mata of Spain’s High Court, the Audiencia Nacional.

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]]> <![CDATA[US seeking two new destroyers, 600 more personnel at Spanish base]]> The United States government wants to increase its military presence at the Spanish naval base in Rota, Cádiz by 50%. The move would reinforce the role of the facility in southwestern Spain as the main US naval base in the south of Europe. The proposal, according to military and diplomatic sources, involves upping the number of Arleigh Burke class destroyers from four to six, as well as replacing the current vessels with more modern types, complete with helicopters. Should the plan go ahead, it would involve a further 600 military personnel being stationed there, as well as an obligatory reform of the relevant bilateral agreement between Spain and the US, which dates from 1988 and has already been modified on three occasions.

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]]> <![CDATA[Juan Guaidó: “We need a solution in Venezuela no matter what”]]> One year ago, Juan Guaidó, 36, was a practically unknown politician, even in his native Venezuela. Yet he knew that on January 5 he would be elected president of the National Assembly and that this would trigger a chain of events that would pose a months-long challenge to the government of Nicolás Maduro.

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]]> <![CDATA[Julián Castro: “At some point, the Democrats forgot to defend the poor”]]> Last Tuesday, a small group of people gathered in front of the central headquarters of the Los Angeles police to protest against police violence. They belonged to Black Lives Matter, a movement that calls for an end to the police brutality faced by young black people in the United States.

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]]> <![CDATA[New research shows Neanderthals liked to spend summer in southern Spain]]> Thirty thousand years ago, when Europe was going through an extremely cold period and snow covered everything north of the River Ebro, hominoids sought somewhere warmer that would give them a greater chance of survival.

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]]> <![CDATA[The real story of Spain’s El Cid: medieval hero or shrewd mercenary?]]> The real El Cid, the man named Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, did not own two swords that he called Colada and Tizona, nor did he have a horse named Babieca, and he never forced King Alfonso VI to swear that he had nothing to do with the death of the monarch’s brother.

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]]> <![CDATA[Heaven or hell? The declining state of Valencia’s La Albufera natural park]]> An environmentalists’ idea of both heaven and hell can be found in a lake 10 kilometers to the south of Valencia in eastern Spain. La Albufera nature reserve is a freshwater lagoon and estuary that is highly valued for its expanse of land and biodiversity, including 280 different species of birds. It not only acts as a green lung but also as a safety net in times of flooding.

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]]> <![CDATA[Meet the migrants helping the homeless in the south of Spain]]> Ilyas El Masdouri knows what it feels like to be cold. It’s the feeling he had when, as a Moroccan minor, he tucked himself under a truck whose wheels “could have squashed my head” at the port of Ceuta, Spain’s North African exclave city, in a bid to reach the Spanish mainland. It’s what he felt in his bones along with fear when he slept among cardboard boxes in Barcelona; and it’s the same feeling that stops the homeless in Jerez de la Frontera in the southern province of Cádiz from getting a proper night’s rest on a damp December night. “I was like that, on the ground, and now I’m the one helping,” says the 19-year-old from Tetouan as he pushes a trolley filled with blankets and clothes to be handed out.

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]]> <![CDATA[Why women in Spain are waiting longer to have a baby]]> In Spain, more than 70% of women want at least two children and yet less than 30% actually end up with that number. The birth rate has fallen year on year in the last decade, from almost 520,000 in 2008 to almost 373,000 last year – the lowest figure since 1998.

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]]> <![CDATA[In photos: The Three Kings arrive in Spain]]> <![CDATA[Discovering Chillida Leku and the magic of San Sebastián]]> The reopening of the Chillida Leku Museum is the perfect excuse to visit San Sebastián – known in Basque as Donostia – in Spain’s northwestern Basque Country. As are the city’s delicious pinxtos, the tapas-like creations that are an art in themselves. Indeed, there are more than enough reasons to visit San Sebastián, a city in constant transformation that boasts the perfect mix of creativity and gastronomy.

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]]> <![CDATA[Let it snow: Spain’s ski season kicks off in style]]> If the weather conditions hold, this ski season promises to be a long one. Autumn snowfalls have meant that resorts are opening early, with Masella in Girona in the northeastern region of Catalonia getting a head start as usual; this year its lifts powered into action on November 13.

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]]> <![CDATA[A journey to Spain’s magical Las Alpujarras region]]> Las Alpujarras is a region of mountain villages nestled among the Sierra Nevada range in Granada province, in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. Three such villages, which belong to the Spanish Beautiful Villages Association, lie in the Poqueira gorge – Capileira, located 1,400 meters above sea level, Bubión (1,300 meters) and Pampaneira (1,058 meters). These traditional villages receive thousands of visitors each summer, but in autumn and spring, attract mostly mountain-lovers and hikers eager to explore the area, which sits at the foot of Mulhacén mountain. But climbing Mulhacén, which at 3,479 meters above sea level is the highest peak in the Spanish peninsula, is only one of the many activities visitors can enjoy in this picturesque valley.

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]]> <![CDATA[13 magical fall getaways in Asturias]]> Tourism in inland Asturias is a treat for the spirited adventurer. Not only has a third of Spain’s northwestern region been designated protected parkland, it also boasts a wealth of rural retreats and wonderful food at reasonable prices. Then there’s the hearty welcome; Asturians know how to have a good time and they will help you to have one too.

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]]> <![CDATA[Alleged fraudster ‘Little Nicolás’: “They sent me to a school where everyone was rich except for me”]]> It’s breakfast time. On the second floor of a building in one of the most expensive areas of Madrid, a young man opens the door of a luxury apartment that has been seized by the authorities from a drug dealer, and is now being used by a special team from Spain’s internal affairs unit to investigate Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, the young opportunist who managed to access the highest echelons of power using a cocktail of personal charm and extravagant lies.

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]]> <![CDATA[Ten temples of Spanish tapas]]> In Spain, food is a religion. That's why there are bars and restaurants where a specific tapa may be an object of worship. EL PAÍS SEMANAL tried 10 places around the country where people flock for a taste of deceptively simple dishes, prepared the right way.

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]]> <![CDATA[Piqué shakes up the tennis world]]> While Gerard Piqué was helping Spain win the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, he was also carving himself a new future. The cup was won due to collective effort; the vision was the product of boredom.

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]]> <![CDATA[The Greta Thunberg generation]]> On a sunny afternoon in late summer, Roger Pallás, a 22-year-old Catalan student with blond hair and a wiry build, sits behind the wheel of his van on his way to the Costa Brava while he sings: “The people gonna rise like the waters, we’re gonna face this crisis now…” He has been trying to promote this song at the climate change protests in the city of Girona, but though he has sent it out to plenty of contacts via WhatsApp, he says people struggle with the lyrics.

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]]> <![CDATA[Why an American photographer is fighting for Madrid’s Romani community]]> If you have walked through Puerta del Sol square in downtown Madrid, you may have seen them. Among the people dressed up as Super Mario and Mickey Mouse, the cigarette stands and the buskers, they slip in and out of the crowd, often approaching passers-by with signs asking for money.

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]]> <![CDATA[Eco-friendly Barcelona: Trend or truth?]]> As I walk down Gràcia’s narrow tree-lined streets, it is hard to ignore the contrasting décor of “eco-friendly” businesses surrounded by overflowing garbage bins, which are filled with plastic and non-recyclable material.

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]]> <![CDATA[Why I’m joining the climate protests, and you should too]]> In recent years I’ve experienced increasing levels of anger, frustration and despair with the scale of the climate emergency and the lack of urgency in tackling it.

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]]> <![CDATA[Could this be the last original craftsman of the Toledo sword?]]> It’s a quiet Thursday morning in the ancient Spanish city of Toledo, and Mariano Zamorano is standing outside of his store looking out across the empty cobblestone street. Behind him, past walls covered with gleaming swords of varying lengths and designs, the faint sound of clanking metal can be heard.

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]]> <![CDATA[Revolting alliances]]> Here are a few of last week’s headlines:

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]]> <![CDATA[Junk TV is more toxic than we thought]]> Some TV enriches our lives, some TV debases us. Some television opens minds, makes us think, takes us to places we would never get to visit and brings us face to face with life’s great dilemmas. There is also television that deliberately degrades, deceives, and confuses. And of course, there is TV that simply aims to distract us. Frequently, television that seeks to educate us is unbearably boring, while the shows that try to manipulate us end up polarizing and deceiving us. In contrast, TV that only aims to entertain is politically irrelevant. Or so we thought.

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]]> <![CDATA[The world’s most dangerous place: Washington D.C.]]> International security experts often draw up lists of the most dangerous places on earth. These are not places that are just dangerous to their population, but rather places that irradiate conflict and instability to neighboring nations or even to other continents.

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]]> <![CDATA[¿Qué? podcast, S03E12: The effects of the UK general election, and Spain’s dwindling bars]]> This week on the final episode of our ¿Qué? podcast for the year, we talk to Britons in Spain about how their lives will be affected by the reelection of the Conservative Party at the recent polls, and discuss what Spanish villages are doing to ensure their local bar stays open.

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]]> <![CDATA[EL PAÍS launches new application for cellphones]]> EL PAÍS has recently launched an updated cellphone application, with which readers will be able to enjoy the best digital content and also benefit from new functions, such as reading stories offline.

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]]> <![CDATA[All stories from the English Edition]]> <![CDATA[About the EL PAÍS English Edition]]> The EL PAÍS English Edition is brought to you by a team of three native English-speaking journalists and translators, working from the newspaper’s main newsroom in Madrid.

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]]> <![CDATA[Subscribe to our newsletter]]> Puzzled by Podemos? Stumped by the Socialists? Perplexed by the Popular Party? The EL PAÍS English Edition brings you all the most important news from Spain and Latin America, translated from the Spanish website by a team of native English-speaking journalists, and with added context and background.

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