The cost of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Spain next week is coming under fire from lay groups and even some priests as the country grapples with painful budget cuts. The pope arrives in Madrid on August 18 to attend the final four days of the Roman Catholic Church’s six-day World Youth Day festivities. Festival […]
Pope’s Visit To Spain Comes Under Fire For Excessive Costs
Protesters Return to Madrid Square
Thousands of people marched into Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square Friday to protest police use of force on demonstrators who had rallied at the interior ministry a day earlier to protest the closure of the square. The central plaza has become a symbolic site for “Los Indignados,” a movement that has been protesting Spain’s high […]
Spanish Riot Police Charge Protesters
Spanish riot police used force late Thursday to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered at the interior ministry to protest the closure of Madrid’s main square. The Spanish daily newspaper El Pais showed images of protesters, some of them with blood on their faces, being surrounded by police or dragged in handcuffs. El Pais said […]
Spain Demands Iraqi PM Appear in Camp Ashraf Probe
A Spanish judge has announced plans to question Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and three Iraqi military officers in a probe into the deaths of 34 people at an Iranian exiles’ camp in Iraq. Judge Fernando Andreu announced his intentions this week to question the four in connection to a deadly Iraqi military raid at […]
Spain’s Rubulcaba Resigns to Run for Prime Minister
Spain’s deputy prime minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has resigned to concentrate on running for prime minister in general elections the ruling Socialist Party is expected to lose. Rubalcaba told reporters in Madrid Friday that Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero has been informed of his desire to leave the government and do so immediately. Rubalcaba […]
Running of the Bulls Festival Set to Begin
Thousands of people are gathering in the northern Spainish city of Pamplona for the annual San Fermin running of the bulls festival. The first bull run is scheduled for Thursday, when hundreds of people race ahead of six fighting bulls and six steers. Each bull run last approximately four minutes. The street festival was popularized […]
Spain Recovers Purported Eva Peron Jewelry
Authorities in Spain say they have recovered $9 million worth of stolen jewelry that allegedly belonged to the late former first lady of Argentina, Eva Perón. The interior ministry said Wednesday that the historic collection was found in a Milan hotel and recovered with the help of the Italian police. Seven suspected members of a […]
Protesters Rally at Spain’s Parliament
Anti-government activists who call themselves “the indignant,” demonstrated near the Spanish parliament Wednesday to protest planned economic reforms. The French news agency reports demonstrators camped out in central Madrid as police blocked the entrance to the main square outside the central assembly. Icelandic singer Hordur Torfason, a key organizer of protests that toppled his country’s […]
Tens of Thousands in Spain March to Protest Economic Crisis
Tens of thousands of Spaniards have marched in Madrid to protest high unemployment and the government’s handling of an economic crisis. Police say about 40,000 people converged on the Spanish capital’s Neptune plaza near parliament from six locations around the city Sunday. The protesters call themselves “indignant” about Spain’s nearly two-year-long recession. They included the […]
Thousands of ‘Indignant’ Spaniards March to Protest Economic Crisis
Thousands of Spaniards have marched in Madrid to protest high unemployment and the government’s handling of an economic crisis. They converged on the Spanish capital’s Neptune plaza near parliament from six locations around the city Sunday, calling themselves “indignant” about Spain’s nearly two-year-long recession. There were no reports of unrest. Spaniards angered about the economic […]