Stories related to: Spain

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 with the summer heat weeks away. Water-starved agricultural regions nearby charge that the government denied their request for water for political reasons. More »

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 “deal with problems of dermatology and psychology through a webcam," one doctor said. More »

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 the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk by a British warship in 1804. More »

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 accomplished," but fundamentally "theater." More »

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 are "well," the captain said by radio, but the pirates are demanding a ransom. More »

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 and had falsified the museum's financial statements to hide the deception, reports the Independent . More »

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 attack comes just weeks after the murder of a Socialist Party politician, which has also been linked to the separatists. More »

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 Independent reports. More »

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 not be Goya's at all. More »

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 are “fake” splits, designed to net the all-important points. More »

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 crowd of supporters in Madrid. More »

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 turnout of the young, who skew toward Zapatero, the Washington Post reports. More »

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 that Spain would not “allow challenges from those who oppose its basic principles.” More »

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 phones has started to make its way across Europe. The best part? Watching is free, since it's pulled from broadcast signals. More »

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 figures released yesterday has rocked the government as the race enters the home stretch, reports the Times of London. More »

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 obliterating family values, Time reports. "The reform has transformed the marriage contract into trash," says one activist against what has been dubbed "express divorce." More »

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 bull taking Alcalde's place as sire to champions. More »

It's not only in the US that Internet video is changing politics: Ahead of Spain's neck-and-neck March 9 election hundreds of voters have posted questions for Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his opponent on YouTube. Zapatero has responded to several, Reuters reports, but the more strident—such as the transvestite berating the conservative challenger on gay marriage—have gone unanswered. More »

Stiff opposition is mounting against the possibility of former British prime minister Tony Blair being named the first president of Europe. A "Stop Blair" website has been launched, and a cross-party caucus in the European parliament is forming to campaign against him. A new treaty about to be ratified creates the new position, although precisely what the job would entail remains unclear. Opposition to a Blair presidency is particularly fierce in Germany, reports the Guardian . More »

A meeting of EU officials today to discuss Kosovo is likely to reveal deep-seated divisions within the European Union. While Britain, France and Germany are expected to recognize the newly independent Kosovo immediately, other states like Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Spain worry about the message such recognition will send to their own restive separatists, BBC reports. More »