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☆ Catalonia: Spain’s socialists hail ‘new era’ as Catalan separatist support dims in elections
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Barcelona, Spain — Spain’s Socialists won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday’s Catalan elections, dealing a serious blow to more than a decade of separatist governance and the independence dreams still nursed by some in the wealthy northeastern region. Spain’s largest opposition party, the conservative People’s Party, also had a good night, seeing the biggest increase since the last vote in 2021 from three seats to 15 on Sunday. Socialist candidate Salvador Illa makes a toast with members of his team and party colleagues after the announcement of the results of the elections. Emilio Morenatti/APSpeaking as the voting count concluded, Illa hailed a “new era” for the region. Illa’s Socialists will also need to forge an agreement - most likely with the ERC - but separatist parties until now have rejected any suggestion of helping the national ruling party govern in Catalonia.

Persons: Spain —, Salvador Illa, Junts, Esquerra, Pedro Sanchez’s, Emilio Morenatti, Illa, Pere Aragones, Carles Puigdemont, Joan Esculies, ” Organizations: Spain — Spain’s Socialists, Socialists, People’s Party, Socialist, restive, ERC, CUP, Illa’s Socialists, AC Locations: Barcelona, Spain, Sunday’s, Catalonia, restive Catalonia, Junts

GUALBA, Spain (AP) — Plastic jugs in hand, Joan Torrent takes a path into the woods in search of drinking water. The drought emergency, which takes effect Friday, limits the daily amount of water permitted for residential and municipal purposes to 200 liters (53 gallons) per person. Catalonia’s water agency says the average resident uses 116 liters (30 gallons) per day at home. Gualba's name, according to local lore, means “white water” thanks to the streams flowing down from the Montseny mountain that overlooks the village. Only the Guadalete-Barbate river basin in southern Andalusia, which faces similar shortages and restrictions, is worse off at 14.6%.

Persons: Joan Torrent, Gualba, don’t, ”, Jordi Esmaindia Organizations: ” Locations: Spain, Gualba, Barcelona, Spain’s, Catalonia, Llobregat, Andalusia

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Tighter water restrictions for drought-stricken northeast Spain went into effect Wednesday, when authorities in Catalonia said that Barcelona may need to have fresh water shipped in by boat in the coming months. Catalonia is suffering its worst drought on record with reservoirs that provide water for about 6 million people, including Spain’s second-biggest city Barcelona, filled to just 18% of their capacity. Barcelona has already been relying on Europe’s largest desalination plant for drinking water, and a sewage treatment and purification plant to make up for the drop in water from wells and rivers. Political Cartoons View All 1270 ImagesMunicipal governments are now prohibited from using drinking water for street cleaning or to water lawns. If not, then Barcelona could need tankers to bring in drinking water.

Persons: Pere Aragonès, Aragonès Locations: BARCELONA, Spain, Catalonia, Barcelona, South Korea

Those include two pro-secession Catalan parties who led the unsuccessful 2017 breakaway attempt and who now find themselves holding the key votes in Parliament that Sánchez requires. They have made an amnesty law as a prerequisite for supporting Sánchez. “Pedro Sánchez needs the amnesty law to pass so he can get the four votes he is lacking,” Nebrera told the AP. Spain granted a sweeping amnesty during its transition back to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. But legal experts are divided over the constitutionality of an amnesty for the Catalan separatists.

Persons: Oriol Calvo, Calvo, Pedro Sánchez, “, ” Calvo, Sánchez, Carles Puigdemont, Spain can’t, ”, Pablo Seco, Montserrat Nebrera, ” Nebrera, Felipe González, Francisco Franco, Xavier Antich, Hernán Muñoz Organizations: —, Socialist, International University of Catalonia, AP, Omnium Locations: BARCELONA, Spain, — Barcelona, Catalonia’s, Madrid, Catalonia, Belgium, Barcelona, Montserrat, Sánchez, Catalan

☆ 40,000 march in Spain against plans to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Waving Spanish flags, supporters of the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP) traveled from across Spain to attend the rally in Madrid. Puigdemont, wanted in Spain for attempting the region’s secession, has demanded that legal action be dropped against fellow separatists as a condition for his support. Withdrawing criminal cases against the separatists would amount to granting an amnesty to “coup plotters,” he told supporters at the Madrid rally. He did not mention an amnesty but said the Socialists wanted to heal social divisions over the Catalan crisis. “We are trying to turn the page,” he told supporters.

Persons: Pedro Sanchez, Sanchez, Carles Puigdemont, Puigdemont, Jesús, AP Alberto Nunez Feijoo, ”, Gregorio Casteneda, “, Feijoo Organizations: CNN, Sunday, People’s Party, Authorities, Europa Press, AP, Reuters, Socialists Locations: Madrid, Spain, Catalonia, Catalunya, Santander, Spain’s, Gava, Catalonia’s, Barcelona

Catalonia, Spain CNN —Standing in his field of stunted, withered maize, Santi Caudevilla is very worried. It’s becoming increasingly hard to make ends meet as crops shrivel through lack of water – or cannot be planted at all. “This is the worst period that we have had for the last 100 years,” Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, told CNN. Allison Nussbaum/NASA Allison Nussbaum/NASA These two images show shrinking water reservoirs in the Catalonia region of Spain. In April, Spain requested emergency funding from the European Union to help farmers cope with the impacts of the drought.

☆ Europe drought: This once-thriving lake has all but dried up -- a story repeated across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

While in the United States, the snow and rain that have pummeled California have helped fill reservoirs and ease unrelenting drought, winter has been far from kind to many parts of Europe. A buoy is seen on the banks of the partially dry Lake Montbel as France faces a record winter dry spell. “Lake Montbel remains at an abnormally low level,” Franck Solacroup, the regional director of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which covers the area that includes Lake Montbel, told CNN. Farmers like Rouquet, who rely on the lake, are having to make tough decisions on what to grow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN.

☆ Thousands join rightist rally against Spanish government
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] People protest against the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at Cibeles Square in Madrid, Spain, January 21, 2023. REUTERS/Susana VeraMADRID, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of people packed into central Madrid on Saturday to protest against the Socialist government and accuse it of undermining the constitution, in a rally backed by rightist parties. Protesters massed in the Plaza de Cibeles in front of City Hall, waved Spanish flags, called on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to resign and shouted out "traitor". Around 200km (120 miles) away in the northwestern city of Valladolid, Sanchez told a Socialist rally that the protesters in Madrid were defending a "uniform" and therefore "discriminatory" Spain. Its recent decision to replace the crime of sedition with a lesser crime was opposed on the right.

☆ Prehistoric giant sea turtle newly discovered in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Now, scientists have discovered a previously unknown species — the largest sea turtle found in present-day Europe ever to be identified. The unusual animal’s presence in this part of the prehistoric world revealed that giant turtles were more common than previously thought, according to the study. With these finds, the scientists observed more features not previously seen in any living or dead turtle species. Before this recent discovery, all prehistoric giant marine turtle discoveries were part of the same lineage as Archelon. Fragments of a giant turtle's pelvis and carapace are shown at the excavation site in northern Spain.

☆ Catalonia limits water use as Spain prays for rain
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona and large swathes of Spain’s northeast are going under water restrictions as a months-long drought that has devastated crops starts to put the pinch on human activities in the Mediterranean country. City dwellers won’t be permitted to use drinking water to wash the exterior of houses or cars or to fill swimming pools. Over 500 town halls, including Barcelona, must stop filling public fountains or cleaning streets with drinking water. While reservoirs in Spain’s south near Seville are now the driest, Catalonia’s water reservoirs are down to 34% of capacity, according to Spain’s ministry for the ecological transition. In 2008, a prolonged drought forced Spanish authorities to bring in water to Barcelona via boat to guarantee domestic use.

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