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Spain approves divisive transgender bill

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A transgender rights measure has been passed in Spain, enabling anyone 16 years of age or older to change their ID card’s gender. With 188 votes in favour and 150 votes against, it was adopted. It will now go to the Senate for final approval.

The left-leaning Podemos party, which is a partner in the coalition government with Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party, has worked to bring about the change. The bill has caused disagreement among feminists in Spain, with some claiming it could weaken women’s rights.

If approved, anyone over the age of 16 will be able to change their gender, but they must affirm it three months later. Applicants must be 12 years of age or older in some circumstances.

Until recently, applicants had to provide documentation of hormonal treatment for two years and a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which is the sense that one’s biological sex does not match their gender identity. Minors also needed parental consent.

Irene Montero, the minister of equality and a member of the Podemos party, claimed during the discussion that the law “de-pathologizes” trans persons and protects their rights.

“Trans women are women,” said Ms Montero, who has strongly advocated for gender self-identification and criticised opposition to the law as “transphobia”.Members of Mr. Sánchez’s Socialist party have criticised the bill, dividing the nation’s female movement and exposing divisions within the ruling coalition.

Critics claim that because it permits men who self-identify as women to play women’s sports or want to be transferred to women’s prisons, the rule could be abused and pose a threat to women’s rights. Concerns have also been expressed regarding children’ ability to choose their own gender.

Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, and nine other European nations have previously established self-declaration methods for recognising gender legally. The Scottish parliament recently supported a law that would make it simpler for people to change their legal gender, which brings about the Spanish action.

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Operation Desert Light: Europol take down massive cocaine ‘super cartel’

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According to police, a drug “super cartel” that was in charge of almost a third of Europe’s cocaine supply has been broken up. 49 persons were detained as part of Operation Desert Light, which involved six different European nations, according to Europol, the EU’s police agency.

One of them, a British national, is thought to be the operation’s leader. According to Europol, more than 30 tonnes (30,000 kg) of drugs were recovered during the two-year investigation.

Authorities from Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Operation Desert Light collaborated to dismantle the cartel, according to a statement from Europol. Six “high-value targets,” or those most sought after by international law enforcement, were among those detained.

The “drugpins” had established a “prolific criminal network engaged in large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering,” according to Europol. The size of the narcotics operation was described as “vast” in the addition.

It is the most recent in a string of police initiatives to access encrypted phones used by organised crime networks to smuggle drugs and launder cash. The majority of the arrests were made in the Netherlands in 2021, where cocaine imported from South America via the Netherlands was the main subject of the investigation.

According to Europol, the other raids took place earlier this month, from November 8 and 19, during planned operations in the other six nations. Teams of detectives and sniffer dogs were seen investigating homes filled with luxury cars in a video uploaded to the agency’s YouTube page, although it is not apparent if they found anything.

Data from the previous ten years, according to analysts, suggests that Europe’s annual access to cocaine is rising.  With an estimated 3.5 million adults using the substance in the last year, crimes involving cocaine use or possession are also on the rise.

The biggest stash of cannabis ever recovered was found earlier this month during a series of searches by Spanish police. The quantity of packaged marijuana discovered amounted to roughly 1.1 million plants.

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Salto de Castro: Spanish village on sale for €260,000

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Consider purchasing a full village if you want to downsize and move to the country.

The asking price for Salto de Castro, located in northwest Spain, is €260,000 (£227,000; $259,000).

Salto de Castro, which is three hours’ drive from Madrid and situated in the province of Zamora on the Portuguese border, has many of the structures you would anticipate seeing in a small Spanish town.

They include 44 homes, a hotel, a church, a school, a municipal swimming pool and even a barracks building that used to house the civil guard.

However, occupants are something that it lacks. For more than 30 years, Salto de Castro has been vacant.

Beginning in the year 2000, the owner purchased the village with the goal of turning it into a popular tourist destination. The eurozone crisis, however, made it difficult for the strategy to succeed.

According to Ronnie Rodriguez of Royal Invest, the firm that represents the owner, “The owner had the ambition of having a hotel here, but it was all put on hold.” “He still wants the project to succeed.”

The owner, who is in his 80s, writes on the Idealista website where the property is marketed, “I am selling since I am an urban-dweller and cannot sustain the upkeep” of the hamlet.

Since it was listed a week ago at this price, it has received more than 50,000 hits, indicating that there is interest.

According to Mr. Rodriguez, 300 people have showed interest in purchasing, with queries coming from the UK, France, Belgium, and Russia. He said that a deposit has already been made to reserve it by one interested buyer.

Beginning in the early 1950s, the electricity producing company Iberduero constructed Salto de Castro to accommodate the families of the workers who constructed the nearby reservoir.

However, after it was finished, the residents left, and by the late 1980s, the community had been completely abandoned.

Its vicinity is a part of “emptied Spain,” which refers to sparsely inhabited rural areas without many of the amenities available in towns.

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Spain lifts final Covid rules for UK travellers

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After travel restrictions were lifted, Brits visiting Spain can now enter the nation without needing to show proof of their Covid or vaccination status.  Previously, individuals had to demonstrate that they had recently recovered, had a negative Covid test, or were fully immunised.

As families get ready to go for half-term vacations, the number of Covid restrictions that remain has decreased. Travel agents claimed that a “last barrier” had been lifted for vacations.

Prior to Spain, the most popular destination for British tourists travelling abroad, other European nations like France, Italy, and Greece relaxed their regulations. People entering from outside the European Union will no longer be subject to controls, the Spanish Ministry of Health confirmed on Thursday. This change will take effect on Friday.

Restrictions have been a hurdle, particularly for those who were not immunised, according to Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the travel agent network Advantage Travel Partnership.

“We saw other destinations benefit from an overall boost in demand over the summer,” she added. “We saw destinations where restrictions were loosened earlier in the year, such as Greece.”

Spain’s action, according to Ms. Lo Bue-Said, is “excellent news” and “better late than never.”

It’s not the first time Spain has slowed down in easing its Covid regulations.

The requirement for children over the age of 12 to be double vaccinated to enter the Spanish mainland was only scrapped just before the February half-term, after tourism businesses warned that it was driving families to book trips to other countries instead.

Many countries around the world including the US still have Covid entry rules in place.

Despite the challenges caused by rising living costs on households, travel companies have continued to report good demand for bookings, with Heathrow Airport predicting a busy Christmas.

Due to “increasing economic headwinds, a new wave of Covid, and the rising situation in Ukraine,” it said, there is still uncertainty about the winter. The travel sector experienced a challenging summer as demand for foreign travel surged once again, while businesses struggled to keep up due to personnel shortages.

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Medusa festival: One killed as strong winds cause stage collapse in Spain

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Early on Saturday, heavy winds at a festival in Spain caused pieces of a stage to fall, leaving one man dead and at least 40 others hurt.Video of the festival in Cullera, south of Valencia, showed some attendees scurrying away in fear while others could be seen carrying on with their revelry.

Later, the well-known electronic music festival Medusa was cancelled. According to local media, the deceased man was in his 20s. Three of the victims experienced severe trauma. Witnesses described an unexpected sandstorm that hit the festival site. In the country’s eastern coastal region at the time, winds gusting over 80km/h (50mph) were reported by Spain’s meteorological agency.

One of the attendees informed Spanish media that they were “in a state of disbelief.” “Anyone could have done it, including myself,”

The event’s organisers posted a statement on Facebook in which they expressed their “devastation and sadness” at what had occurred.

They said “severe strong winds” damaged the venue’s infrastructure at around 4:00 local time (02:00 GMT), and the decision to evacuate the area was made right away.

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Shakira Faces Call For 8-Year Jail Term In Spain Over Tax Fraud Charge

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After she rejected a plea agreement in connection with allegations of tax evasion, Spanish prosecutors announced Friday that they would seek a prison term of more than eight years for international music sensation Shakira.

The 45-year-old “Hips don’t Lie” singer will also be required to pay a fine of over 24 million euros ($24.5 million) after being accused by Barcelona prosecutors of defrauding the Spanish tax authority of 14.5 million euros in income between 2012 and 2014.

Shakira, whose albums have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide, rejected a plea deal on Wednesday, saying in a statement released through her attorneys that she was “absolutely certain of her innocence” and had chosen to take the case to trial, “confident” that her innocence would be established.

A trial date has not yet been established, nor has a formal referral to court been published. Up to the start of any trial, according to Shakira’s attorneys, one of the biggest names in the world of music.

Shakira, according to the prosecution, relocated to Spain in 2011 after her relationship with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique became well-known, yet she continued to file her taxes in the Bahamas until 2015. The two children that the couple has together announced their separation in June.

The actress criticised the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday for using “abusive methods” and “completely violating her rights.”

She said that while she was “not yet resident in Spain,” prosecutors “insisted on demanding money earned during my foreign tours and the show ‘The Voice,'” on which she served as a judge in the United States.

Between 2013 and 2014, Shakira appeared on the singing competition programme.

Her attorneys claim that up until 2014, she mostly made her money from overseas tours, only permanently relocated to Spain in 2015, and has complied with all tax requirements.

She claims that she has paid 17.2 million euros in taxes to the Spanish government and that she hasn’t owed the Treasury anything in “many years.”

The “Pandora Papers,” one of the biggest financial document breaches ever, which included public people connected to offshore assets, included Shakira in its list of names in October 2021.

Shakira, a three-time Grammy winner, achieved enormous global success with songs like “Hips don’t Lie,” “Whenever, Wherever,” and “Waka Waka,” the official World Cup song, by fusing Latin and Arabic rhythms with rock influences.

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Europe heatwave: Thousands escape wildfires in France, Spain and Greece

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As fires are driven up by strong winds and tinder-dry conditions in various nations in Europe, residents and vacationers have left towns and villages in France.

In the past few days, more than 10,000 people have been compelled to leave the south-western Gironde region. In Portugal and Spain, where temperatures have soared beyond 40C, dozens of flames are currently raging.

The heatwave was responsible for at least 281 fatalities in the two nations. In western Spain, several towns have been evacuated.

The leader of the French Firefighters Federation has issued a warning about the effect that climate change is having on civil defence. Grégory Allione stated that “firefighters and civil security are the ones who deal with the impacts on a daily basis – and these effects aren’t in 2030, they’re right now.”

Due to human-induced climate change, heatwaves are now more common, more powerful, and stay longer. Since the start of the industrial age, the world has already warmed by around 1.1C, and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments drastically reduce emissions.

Fires broke out further south in the Monfragüe national park, which is home to endangered bird species. Firefighters in Spain battled to defend the town of Monsagro. When a forest fire got close to the main N-5 road in Cáceres, it closed off access to the park to the east.
On Friday, temperatures were predicted to reach 40C in many parts of western Spain and Portugal. A record high temperature for July in mainland Portugal was reached on Thursday at Pinho in the north, where it was 47C.

However, Spanish meteorologists predicted that temperatures will start to drop on Friday.

The Carlos III Health Institute said on Thursday that the latest heatwave’s first two days, on Sunday and Monday, saw at least 43 fatalities as a result of heat. Since July 7, there have been 238 more deaths than usual in Portugal, which health experts attribute to the extremely hot and dry weather. The elderly, kids, and persons with chronic illnesses are those who are most negatively impacted.

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Spain plans menstrual leave in new law for those with severe pain

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According to media reports, Spain is planning to introduce medical leave for women who suffer from severe period pain.

According to a draught bill, women would be entitled to three days of paid leave per month, which could be increased to five in certain circumstances. Politicians, on the other hand, warned that the draught, which had been leaked to Spanish media, was still being worked on.

If passed, it would be Europe’s first legal entitlement of its kind. Only a few countries around the world have passed such legislation.

The Spanish law is part of a broader reproductive health reform that includes changes to the country’s abortion laws.

The law is expected to be presented to cabinet early next week, according to media outlets that have seen portions of it.

The draught states that with a doctor’s note, three days of sick leave will be allowed for painful periods, with the possibility of extending to five days on a temporary basis for particularly intense or incapacitating pain.

However, it is unlikely to apply to those who experience only minor discomfort. El Pas reports that it is part of a broader effort to treat menstruation as a health issue, which includes the elimination of the “tampon tax” on some hygiene products and the provision of free hygiene products in public places such as schools and prisons. Surrogacy, which is illegal in Spain, will be subject to stricter regulations under the proposed law.

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