<![CDATA[In English Section | EL PAÍS]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2019 15:55:28 +0100 Mon, 25 Mar 2019 15:55:28 +0100 en 5 https://ep00.epimg.net/iconos/v1.x/v1.0/logos/cabecera_portada.png Logotipo de EL PAÍS https://elpais.com/ <![CDATA[Socialists set to win Spain’s snap election but fall short of majority: voter poll]]> A voter intention poll conducted for EL PAÍS shows the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) clearly winning the general election of April 28, but falling well short of the absolute majority in a fragmented Congress.

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]]> <![CDATA[I spy: How Android phones keep tabs on our every move]]> As a consumer, you buy a new Android cellphone. It could be any brand, but it is likely to be an Android as they account for more than 80% of today’s cellphone market. You open the box, press the “On” button and the phone connects to the internet. Without further ado, you have just triggered the most sophisticated surveillance machine to date for monitoring your routines.

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]]> <![CDATA[As London marches against Brexit, British migrants do their bit in Madrid]]> The event had been organized by EuroCitizens, one of the many protest groups to spring up in the wake of the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, which saw “leave” win by 52%, compared to 48% for remain. Part of the British in Europe coalition, the EuroCitizens group has been working during the Brexit process to defend the rights of British citizens to live, work and study in European Union countries.

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]]> <![CDATA[Catalan premier facing prosecution for not removing separatist symbols]]> The regional premier of Catalonia, Quim Torra, is facing a criminal prosecution that could see him barred from office over his refusal to remove pro-independence symbols from public buildings ahead of the upcoming national, regional and local elections in Spain.

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]]> <![CDATA[The herculean task of pushing back the desert in Spain]]> The desert creeps forward stealthily. There are few witnesses to the gradual swallowing of fertile land and forests by soil erosion. In regions suffering the worst degradation, the rural population is forced to abandon the land and seek work and opportunities in the city.

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]]> <![CDATA[Time zones: When will the clocks change in Spain?]]> The clocks in Spain will move forward one hour on March 31 to mark the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. In principle, March 31 was meant to be the last time the clocks changed in the European Union, but the European Parliament has asked to delay the move until 2021.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spanish police bust Europe’s largest illegal TV streaming service]]> Spanish police have arrested five members of a criminal organization accused of illegally selling access to pay-TV over the internet. Police believe the raid against the international organization, which is based in Spain and has branches in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Latvia, the Netherlands and Cyprus, is the largest European operation against an illegal TV streaming business.

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]]> <![CDATA[Democracy in Madrid]]> Two Catalan pro-independence associations called a march in Madrid on Saturday under the slogan: “Self-determination is not a crime. Democracy means deciding.” With this display in the capital of a state that they revile, the separatists once again demonstrated the exact opposite of what they meant to, which is that Spain is a dictatorship that subjugates the citizens of Catalonia, and that the leaders on trial at the Supreme Court are there because of their ideas.

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]]> <![CDATA[El Roto]]> <![CDATA[Prepared for Brexit]]> The British parliament has decided to reject the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement that was reached between the heads of state and government of the European Union and the government of the United Kingdom. This step was taken despite the added guarantees offered with great effort by the EU. I deeply lament this decision, which means prolonging the situation of uncertainty when there are little over two weeks to go before the date when Brexit should theoretically materialize. There are many lessons to be learned from a process that is keeping the British people trapped in a veritable blind alley.

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]]> <![CDATA[False alarm: Knife-wielding man on Metro revealed to be expert ham cutter]]> Last week, a video went viral of a young man sharpening a large carving knife on a Metro train in Madrid. The video alarmed social media users, with many concerned the young man was dangerous and worried about his reasons for bringing a large knife onto public transport.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spanish economy set to keep growing despite global uncertainty]]> The Bank of Spain on Wednesday issued its projections for the Spanish economy to 2021, and warned that any government that comes out of the April 28 election should prepare the public accounts for a potential downturn.

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]]> <![CDATA[EU: France may not use anti-terrorism measures to send migrants back to Spain]]> The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled against a system used by France to stop irregular immigrants at the border with Spain, where they are sent back invoking anti-terrorist measures.

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]]> <![CDATA[Supreme Court puts definitive end to torture of bull at Toro de la Vega]]> A ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court has definitively brought an end to the traditional way of celebrating the Toro de la Vega, a medieval bull festival held in the town of Tordesillas in central Spain. No longer will the animal be lanced to death by a spear-wielding crowd after having been chased to the banks of the River Duero.

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]]> <![CDATA[Catalonia leads fight against socioeconomic segregation at Spanish schools]]> Catalonia has become the first Spanish region to embark on an institutional effort to curb school segregation by socioeconomic status.

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]]> <![CDATA[Ultra-conservative groups protest ‘God has a vagina’ play in Madrid]]> The ongoing dispute in Spain between ultra-conservative groups and defenders of creative freedom has flared up once again over the play Dios tiene una vagina (or, God has a vagina). On Sunday afternoon, a group of Catholics prayed with rosary beads outside the performance venue at the Matadero cultural center in Madrid to protest against the production, which they argue disrespects the tradition of Easter.

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]]> <![CDATA[¿Qué? podcast, episode 10: Who broke into the North Korean embassy in Madrid?]]> This week on our ¿Qué? podcast we examine the curious break-in at the North Korean embassy in Madrid, in which the CIA may have been implicated. And we respond to a host of reader letters, taking the time to retell the story of the killing of left-wing activist Carlos Palomino. The perpetrator of last week’s terrorist atrocity in New Zealand had written the name of Palomino’s killer on his rifle magazine. We explain the background to that story.

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]]> <![CDATA[Vox leader calls for law change so Spaniards can keep guns at home]]> The leader of the Spanish far-right political party Vox, Santiago Abascal, has called for the country’s criminal code and gun regulations to be reformed to make it easier to own a gun and to ensure people who shoot home invaders are not prosecuted by the law, as is the case in the United States.

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]]> <![CDATA[Catalan leader defies electoral board with new display of separatist symbols]]> The tug-of-war over Catalan independence symbols on public buildings continued on Thursday, when regional premier Quim Torra, a hardline separatist, switched a yellow ribbon for a white-and-red one in a bid to circumvent election campaign rules.

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]]> <![CDATA[WhatsApp: The new weapon in the fight to win over Spanish voters]]> During the run-up to the last general election in Spain, political parties used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to spread their messages. This year, with a snap general election called for April 28 and local, regional and European elections set for May 26, it appears they are turning to WhatsApp, the most popular social network in Spain.

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]]> <![CDATA[Catalan separatists march in Madrid against trial of their leaders]]> Tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid on Saturday in favor of Catalan self-determination and to demand the release of politicians and civil society leaders who are on trial for the unilateral secession attempt of late 2017.

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]]> <![CDATA[Ex-Catalan police chief was ready to arrest Puigdemont if ordered to do so]]> Josep Lluís Trapero, the man who was in charge of the Catalan police when the regional government held an unauthorized independence referendum on October 1, 2017, delivered two forceful messages during his four-hour testimony at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

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]]> <![CDATA[Catalan official’s tweet quoting Anne Frank is met with sharp rebuke]]> A tweet by a Catalan government official who paraphrased Anne Frank to describe the situation in Catalonia has received widespread criticism, including from Israeli diplomats and former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spanish PM on Brexit: “We want a deal, but it no longer depends on us”]]> Spain has been taking a hard line on Brexit since November, when disagreements emerged over the wording of an article of the UK Withdrawal Agreement that could affect Gibraltar, the disputed British Overseas Territory in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.

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]]> <![CDATA[“The best year of my life”: Erasmus students on what could be lost with Brexit]]> The Erasmus exchange program is a life-changing experience for many university students. At the beginning, everything is challenging: the language barrier, hunting for an apartment and getting to know a new city. But the experience also gives students the opportunity to learn new things, be independent and have an amazing time.

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]]> <![CDATA[Gibraltar “satisfied” with tax treaty that could take it off Spain’s blacklist]]> Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has expressed “satisfaction” at an agreement that could take “The Rock” out of Spain’s blacklist of tax havens. But business leaders and unionists are being cautious about a deal that could “become poisoned” due to the instability of the UK government and the uncertain outcome of the upcoming elections in Spain.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain plans to grant residency to 400,000 Britons in the case of a hard Brexit]]> The Spanish government will work to make things easier for British residents in Spain, even those without permanent residency status, in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

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]]> <![CDATA[Spain joins global race to adopt proton therapy against cancer]]> Spain is joining a global race to adopt proton beam therapy, a form of cancer treatment hailed as a less-aggressive alternative to conventional X-ray radiation.

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]]> <![CDATA[Wolves make a comeback in Madrid 70 years after their disappearance]]> In 2013, the Spanish conservation group Sierra Carpetania filmed two adult wolves, one young male and four wolf cubs inside the Guadarrama National Park. Wolves were once again breeding in the Madrid region after being hunted across the country and virtually disappearing for 70 years.

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]]> <![CDATA[The Spanish dads who are staying home to take care of their kids]]> When Elena Arcos went back to work six weeks after giving birth to her first child, she was confronted by the question: “How can you leave such a young child alone with his father?”

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]]> <![CDATA[Celebrity chefs bring a taste of Spain to New York’s new neighborhood]]> New York City has a sprawling new neighborhood, Hudson Yards, which extends from 30th to 34th Streets and from 10th to 12th Avenues. Already known as the “Far West Side” and dominated by six huge skyscrapers, it combines office and residential space with shopping, art, food and entertainment options, and even a school.

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]]> <![CDATA[What is causing the steady exodus of children from downtown Madrid?]]> When the weekend is over in the Madrid neighborhood of Malasaña, small children pour like fairies out onto the street, as though they had been waiting for the end of a storm. It is 8am and sidewalks that had been crawling with young adults enjoying themselves in ‘the cradle of La Movida’ are now the stamping ground for small feet heading to the Pi y Margall elementary school.

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]]> <![CDATA[Meet the Spanish family traveling the world in a truck]]> After many trips together and a lot of thought, 38-year-old Martya Bruyel and 42-year-old Daniel Gimeno decided to leave everything behind and travel the world in a truck with their three small children, who are aged one, three and six. They have left behind school, their apartment and the locksmith company that supported them, but also Madrid’s traffic, pollution and noise.

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]]> <![CDATA[Less drinking and earlier nights: Is the party over for Madrid’s nightlife?]]> It’s 4am and Madrid’s iconic Moby Dick bar and concert hall doesn’t have anyone to serve drinks to. It’s Friday and everyone already gone home despite the fact that the bar doesn’t close until 6am. The same thing happens every weekend. Patrons come early, carefully choose what they want to drink and go home much earlier than their predecessors did a decade ago. Habits have changed, and Madrid’s late-night reveling has moved to the afternoon. It would seem that the other city that never sleeps has started to go to bed earlier.

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]]> <![CDATA[When trivia is your living: Meet Spain’s professional game show contestants]]> Crane operator Juanpe Gómez became a game-show contestant as a means of dealing with the fall out from the economic crisis, but now he has little idea what to do with his million-euro prize money.

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]]> <![CDATA[How a Spanish journalist unmasked the ‘Der Spiegel’ forgery scandal]]> Nobody believed Spanish freelancer Juan Moreno. It was a while before he himself grasped the extent of the fabrications he had stumbled upon; embellished truths and unadulterated invention that triggered a scandal big enough to rock the foundations of the German media and prompt another global debate on fake news.

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]]> <![CDATA[Meet the graffiti artists risking their lives to paint Spain’s trains]]> It is Friday night in the suburbs of Barcelona. In a parking lot near the Torras I Bages Metro station, five men between the ages of 20 and 40 take a crowbar and a 20-meter-long rope from the boot of their BMW. They are wearing sweat pants, dark clothes and trekking boots. The smoke from their cigarettes mixes with the fog from the cold air as they talk about gaps to slip through, radial saws and the police above the hum of the distant highway traffic.

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]]> <![CDATA[Yes, your children are watching porn. And this is what it does to them]]> Porn-natives

If it’s not like porn, what’s sex really like?

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]]> <![CDATA[In photos: British migrants in Madrid demand a “people’s vote” on Brexit]]> <![CDATA[Nine ways to enjoy Spain’s mountains that don’t involve skiing]]> No skis? No problem. Long gone are the times when ski resorts were used exclusively for skiing. Today, resorts have been converted into recreational centers that offer a wide range of outdoor activities that mountain lovers can enjoy. Here are nine ways to make the most of the snow and mountains without having to strap on a pair of skis

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]]> <![CDATA[In photos: Eleven more of Spain’s most beautiful villages]]> <![CDATA[The reasons why Cádiz is so cool]]> Cádiz is in style: it has just been included in The New York Times’ list of 52 Places to Go in 2019. The recognition comes on the back of acknowledgment from TripAdvisor, which last year ranked Cádiz eighth on its list of European Destinations On The Rise for 2018.

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]]> <![CDATA[Striking Spanish getaways for 2019]]> A cave filled with crystals, a museum of smells, a mysterious forest of 100-year-old yew trees, Spain’s most photogenic beach and a multi-colored waterfall – we give you a taste of some of the country’s most striking destinations.

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]]> <![CDATA[Ten easy mountain trails to enjoy in Spain]]> <![CDATA[The fight for justice for murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia]]> Ann Demarco, 58, carries a backpack filled with candles and posters to the center of La Valeta, the capital of Malta. When she reaches the courthouse, she lights the candles and lays them with the posters in front of a nearby monument in a bid to keep alive the memory of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb on October 16, 2017.

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]]> <![CDATA[Are there tax havens in the heart of the European Union?]]> Luxembourg is the kind of place where a Swedish executive will talk financial secrecy over a hamburger while taxi drivers dwell nostalgically on their native Portugal, a country that accounts for a third of its foreign community. It is a land where salaries are high and the cost of living higher; where one Spanish journalist-turned-waitress espouses the benefits of having the highest minimum wage in the EU, at more than €2,100 gross a month, yet explains that you will need to share an apartment to enjoy it given the prohibitive price of rent.

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]]> <![CDATA[European culture looks east in 2019]]> Plovdiv has been crowned 2019 European Capital of Culture, making it the first Bulgarian city to be recognized as such.

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]]> <![CDATA[Suderbyn: an ecosocial experiment in the middle of the Baltic Sea]]> The plumbers are coming. One might be tempted to simply leave them to it. But that’s not the way things work in Suderbyn. “I like to hang out with them, to watch and learn,” says Sergii Lutchenko, 29, who lives in this ecovillage located on the Swedish island of Gotland, the largest in the Baltic Sea.

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]]> <![CDATA[Who do you trust?]]> One interesting modern phenomenon is the collapse in trust. According to the polls, people don’t trust the government, politicians, journalists and scientists, let alone bankers and business executives. Not even the Vatican has escaped this crisis of confidence.

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]]> <![CDATA[Putin in Caracas]]> It’s all Barack Obama’s fault.

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]]> <![CDATA[The globalization of polarization]]> The government of the world’s superpower is at a standstill, while the government of a former superpower – the United Kingdom – sits paralyzed after suffering a barrage of self-inflicted wounds. Angela Merkel, who was until recently the most influential European leader, is heading toward retirement. Her French colleague faces a surprising social uprising by the now famous “Yellow Vests.” Italy, the country with the seventh-largest economy in the world, is now governed by a fragile coalition whose leaders are so diametrically opposed and whose declarations are so perplexing that we are left not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. It appears that the Italians have decided to see what it’s like when government mismanagement is pushed to its most extreme limits. Meanwhile, the Spanish prime minister wasn’t even elected to office thanks to his party enjoying a parliamentary majority, but instead arrived there with the help of a tortuous legislative process. In Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, the prime minister faces indictment for corruption, fraud and other charges. In the coming months Benjamin Netanyahu could either be re-elected or sent to jail.

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]]> <![CDATA[A booming market for charlatans]]> Sixty years ago, CBS had a hit western called Trackdown. In one prophetic episode entitled “The End of the World,” a huckster arrives in a quintessential western town and summons the townspeople to come hear his urgent news.

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]]> <![CDATA[Two explosive reports]]> Last week, two specialized reports were independently released. At first glance they both appear to be mind-numbing texts filled with boring and esoteric information that is of little interest to the general public. But these two were different. And not because of their literary elegance, but for their disturbing conclusions.

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]]> <![CDATA[EL PAÍS English Edition on Facebook Live]]> This week on Facebook Live, we spoke to James Blick, a travel journalist who is fronting an online gourmet guide to Madrid.

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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 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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