Minute of silence held in Spain for victims of Catalonia attacks

Spain's King Felipe VI led the nation in a minute of silence on Friday to remember the victims of two terror attacks in Catalonia that left 14 people dead and more than 100 injured.

King Felipe and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy were in Barcelona for the commemoration, along with other political leaders, Catalan regional authorities and thousands of citizens.

Source: Reuters

Brazil sees Russian, Chinese, Spanish interest in north-south rail

Brazil's planned auction of the rights to expand and operate the North-South railway between Tocantins and Sao Paulo states has drawn the interest of major operators from countries including Russia, China and Spain, a government official said on Friday.

Adalberto Santos Vasconcelos, the special secretary running President Michel Temer's infrastructure investment program, told Reuters in an interview that interest was strong in the auction, which is scheduled for the second half of this year.

He also said the government may grant the winner of a concession for the Ferrogrão railway project in northern Brazil exclusive rights to operate along those rails to compensate for roughly 12 billion reais ($4 billion) in needed investments.

The upcoming rail auctions are part of the government's efforts to raise 45 billion reais in private investment for infrastructure projects to boost a recovery from Brazil's worst recession in over a century.

Source: Reuters

Macri invites Spanish businesses to invest in Argentina

The President of Argentina on Wednesday called for Spanish businesses to deepen their participation in his country, while speaking to the Spanish Congress during a state visit.

Mauricio Macri spoke of the strong ties between the two countries and said a new stage was beginning in which growth would be promoted.

"Together we will find better opportunities," he said during the solemn act, adding that both countries had a leading role in restarting the negotiations between Mercosur _ a South American economic bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela _ and the European Union.

A ratified deal between the blocs has been perpetually delayed for years.

Macri said Argentina wanted to live more calmly and develop values like dialogue and tolerance, as well as be a part of the world, which he expected would bring years of growth.

He said he was there to highlight the long history of affection that Argentina had for Spain.

"Our past unites us, but also our future," he said.

The President of the Spanish Congress, Ana Pastor, insisted that the two nations were connected by special ties and said Argentina had in Spain a defender in negotiations with the EU.

"In Argentina, Spain has a sister nation, a land of welcome and the home of so many compatriots," she said, referring to the many Spanish migrants in the Latin American country.

Macri was received in Congress by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Ana Pastor, and President of the Senate Pio Garcia Escudero.

This was the first day of his state visit to Spain, which began with an official reception by King Felipe VI and Queen Leticia, with whom he is to dine Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, the Argentinian leader is scheduled to meet with Rajoy and visit the contemporary art fair in Madrid (ARCO 2017), before meeting with Peruvian-Spanish Nobel Prize for Literature winner Mario Vargas Llosa.

Source: EFE

EU breaks deadlock between Spain, Portugal on nuclear waste disposal plan

Thanks to mediation by the European Commission, Spain and Portugal on Tuesday arrived at an amicable agreement to relaunch discussions on the future construction of a nuclear waste storage site on the Spanish banks of a major river that flows west to empty into the Atlantic by the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

Spain had planned to build a waste storage facility at the Almaraz nuclear power plant, which uses the Tagus River to cool its reactors, but Portugal objected and took the matter to the European Union.

Source: EFE

Spanish King's brother-in-law sentenced to prison, sister fined in fraud case

The brother-in-law of Spain's king has been sentenced on Friday to six years and three months in prison over a corruption and fraud case that also involved his wife Princess Cristina.

A court in Palma de Mallorca fined the princess 265,088 euros ($282,252) but did not hand down a jail term for her involvement in the fraud, as she was exonerated from charges that she collaborated with her husband's tax evasion.

Former Olympic sportsman Iñaki Urdangarin, who married the sister of King Felipe VI in a lavish society wedding in 1997, was found guilty of participating in a plot to unlawfully derive financial benefit from public funds that were obtained and channeled through supposedly non-profit entities.

The court's three judges unanimously decided on a prison sentence of six years and three months for the former handball star, who was convicted on charges of obstruction of justice, embezzlement, fraud, influence peddling and two counts of tax evasion.

In addition, Urdangarin was fined 512,000 euros.

Spain's anti-corruption prosecutor had asked for a sentence of 26 years and six months' imprisonment for Urdangarin.

Meanwhile, Urdangarin's former business associate, Diego Torres, was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison and fined 1,723,843.10 euros.

Torres was found guilty of, among other crimes, defrauding the treasury by illegally transferring hidden income through an international web of shell companies based in the United Kingdom and Belize.

His wife, Ana Maria Tejeiro, was exonerated of all tax crimes but was fined 344,934 euros as a beneficiary of her husband's illicit enrichment.

On the other hand, the former regional president of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Matas, was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for his role in the fraud scheme.

The Balearic government, under the control of the conservative Popular Party, had funneled public funds into Urdangarin and Torres' "non-profit" the so-called Nóos Institute to the tune of 2.3 million euros.

Urdangarin used his prominent position as the husband of the Duchess of Palma and a member of the Royal Family to secure public contracts from his acquaintances in various public bodies.

Nóos received more than three million euros from the regional government of Valencia and an annual contract worth 120,000 euros from Madrid's failed bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

King Felipe and his wife, Queen Letizia, were inaugurating an exhibit at Madrid's Thyssen museum when the verdict became known.

A spokesman for the Royal Office reacted to the news by re-affirming its "absolute respect for the independence of the judiciary power."

Princess Cristina's attorney, Miquel Roca, said the verdict was satisfactory as she was exonerated from the tax evasion charges, but said she was "dismayed" by Urdangarin's prison sentence because she "continues to believe in his innocence."

Source: EFE

Trump confirms NATO commitment, cooperation with Spain to Rajoy

The United States President on Tuesday expressed his commitment to NATO and bilateral cooperation with Spain during a telephone call to the Spanish prime minister in which they also discussed the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group.

Donald Trump and Mariano Rajoy spoke on the phone for about 15 minutes to reaffirm their strong bilateral alliance regarding a series of mutual interests, according to a White House statement.

The statement said that both leaders discussed shared priorities, including efforts to eliminate the IS.

It added that Trump reiterated US commitment to NATO as well as emphasizing the importance of all NATO allies sharing the burden of defense spending.

The statement concluded that the two leaders agreed to maintain close cooperation on security, economics and the fight against terrorism.

The Spanish government previously reported the content of the call, which began around 3.45pm Washington DC time (8.45pm GMT) and lasted about 15 minutes.

According to Rajoy's office, the prime minister told Trump that Spain is in the best situation to be an interlocutor for the US in Europe, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East.

Rajoy expressed his willingness to develop a good relationship with the new US administration, while Trump was very interested in the current state of the Spanish economy, according to the Spanish government statement.

In response to a question from Trump about the future of the European Union in light of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the bloc, Rajoy said he was confident about the process of strengthening EU integration in the coming months and assured the president that Spain would work towards that end.

Rajoy and Trump also discussed the upcoming NATO summit in May in Brussels, which will be their first personal encounter.

Source: EFE

Spain's Socialist Party votes, enables the conservatives to form a government

Spain's Socialist Party agreed by a majority vote to enable the incumbent conservative Popular Party to form a new government in Spain.

The party voted to abstain during the investiture of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, thus allowing him to become head of government, a step that ends 10 months of stalemate in Spanish politics.

"Nobody can deny that it was not an easy decision," a party statement said after the votes were counted and the decision made public.

The Socialist's federal committee cast 139 votes in favor of abstaining and 96 against.

Of the 237 accredited members of the committee, just two did not vote.

The committee thus cleared the way for a total or partial abstention, both decisions that would allow Spain to have a new government next week.

It is the first time since the country regained its democratic system in 1977 that the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has made it possible for a conservative government to be formed with its help.

The debate at the Socialists' headquarters caused a deep split in the party.

There were two main factions, those in favor of an abstention and those who were willing to maintain a "no" at all costs to the formation of a conservative Popular Party government under acting Prime Minister Rajoy.

Among the latter were supporters of former Secretary General Pedro Sanchez, who was forced to resign on Oct. 1 precisely to allow him to defend that position.

Since then, the PSOE has been in the hands of a management committee that will lead it to an extraordinary congress to elect its next executive committee.

Sanchez did not attended Sunday's federal committee meeting.

The committee must now decide whether it enables Rajoy's government through a block abstention, or limit its abstention to 11 lawmakers, a margin that would just allow a new Cabinet to be formed.

Spain had two inconclusive elections since December in which the PP gained most votes each time but failed to obtain a majority in the Lower Chamber.

The country has been run by a caretaker government with Rajoy as acting prime minister since the Dec. general elections.

Source: EFE

Health ministry: rise in number of Zika virus cases in Spain since last weekX

The total number of diagnosed Zika virus cases in Spain rose by 15 since last week, three of which involved pregnant women, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.

The new figures bring the overall number of confirmed cases in Spain to 279, with 42 of those affecting pregnant women.

Source: EFE

200 people under observation in Spain after man dies of tick-borne virus

A regional branch of Spain's ministry of health said Thursday it was monitoring 200 people after two cases of a potentially deadly tick-borne virus that causes bleeding were detected in Madrid.

A 62-year-old man died after contracting the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) and a nurse who treated him in an isolation unit was also infected, Madrid's regional ministry said.

Source: EFE

Madrid welcomes the birth of its first ever female panda cub

Madrid Zoo announced Wednesday that it had welcomed a female giant panda cub into the world.

It is the first ever female panda to be born in the Spanish capital.

Source: EFE

Spain celebrates its oldest running of the bulls festival

Spain celebrated its oldest running of the bulls festival on Sunday and Monday, with two days of emblematic races on horseback and on foot.

Cuellar, a medieval town in the northwest of Spain, has bull runs that can be dated back to 1215, when a church order declared that priests in the region were not permitted to take part in the "bull games."

Source: EFE

Rare loggerhead turtles hatch at Spanish aquarium

Three of 10 rare sea turtle eggs that have been incubating at the Oceanographic aquarium in southern Spain fully hatched on Wednesday, with the rest expected within 24 hours.

Veterinarian at the Oceanographic Foundation in Valencia Jose Luis Crespo said he hoped the turtles would soon be able to start their new life at sea.

Source: EFE