Statistics on gender-based violence broadened beyond cases involving partners or exesOfficial statistics on gender-based violence in Spain will be broadened to include killings of women and children by men regardless of whether there was a prior relati…
Books and films censored under Franco still circulating in Spain
Dictator who died in 1975 stamped out mention of Spanish civil war, sexuality and anti-Catholic viewsA Spanish association has called for an investigation into the enduring legacy of censorship during the Franco regime after it emerged that censored ve…
Toledo’s last swordmakers refuse to give up on their ancient craft
Famed since Roman times, the Spanish city’s artisans are all but extinct. But a reprieve is at hand from the TV and film industryIts sturdy presence has threaded through more than 2,000 years of history, fuelled by fans that were said to have ranged fr…
‘We lost everything’: Afghan wheelchair basketball team captain speaks out
Nilofar Bayat begins rebuilding her life in Spain after days of fear for her life under Taliban ruleWhen the Taliban entered Kabul, Nilofar Bayat, the captain of Afghanistan’s female national wheelchair basketball team, knew she had to get out.“There w…
Spanish couple arrested over toad-venom and ayahuasca rituals
Pair allegedly charged €150 for ‘ancestral’ ceremonies involving psychotropic substancesSpanish police have arrested a couple over accusations they were carrying out rituals – billed online as “international ancestral medicine” – involving an array of …
Excommunicated Spanish ‘witch’ village turns curse into tourist cash
Embracing its strange past is a blessing for Trasmoz as thousands flock to its witchcraft attractionsTucked into the foothills of northern Spain, the village of Trasmoz attracts thousands of tourists each year. For many, the allure is not its half-ruin…
Bullfighting festival axed after bulls named ‘Feminist’ and ‘Nigerian’ slain
Century-old festival ‘crossed various lines’, says Gijón mayor, citing residents’ opposition to bullfightingThe northern Spanish city of Gijón has cancelled its century-old bullfighting festival, accusing it of “crossing various lines” after two of the…
Spain prosecutors launch inquiry into mystery fish deaths
Hundreds of dead fish have appeared along shores of one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoonsProsecutors in the southern Spanish region of Murcia have launched an investigation after hundreds of dead fish began washing up along the shores of one of Eur…
Rift over naturism laid bare by bar on Spain’s oldest nudist beach
More than 1,700 people call on officials to preserve character of Costa Natura near EsteponaMore than 1,700 people have called on officials in Spain to preserve the character of the country’s oldest official nudist beach in a row with a newly-installed…
Spain bans small boats from stretch of water after orca encounters
Two-week order on coast between Cape Trafalgar and Barbate is second time authorities have taken action Spain has ordered small boats to steer clear of a stretch of the country’s southern coast after reports of more than 50 encounters with boisterous o…