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[1/5] A police officer cuts marijuana plants in growing process at underground room of a house during a marijuana raid operation in Mataro, near Barcelona, Spain April 27, 2023. Consumption of marijuana and its high-potency derivatives is also booming in Barcelona itself, including in private clubs. Their model, however, faces uncertainty as the new Barcelona mayor's top security official said in March he wanted to ban cannabis clubs. In 2017, Catalonia fully legalised the clubs, fuelling their proliferation, but courts later overturned the move for procedural reasons. But many clubs, which are often barely recognisable from outside, do not stick to the rules because they are voluntary, complained Eric Asensio, head of the Catalan federation of cannabis clubs.

Persons: Pol, Antoni Salleras, Salleras, Alexis Goosdeel, Bernardo Soriano, Eric Asensio, Horaci Garcia, Joan Faus, Catarina Demony, Aislinn Laing, Andrei Khalip, Toby Chopra Organizations: REUTERS, Barcelona, BARCELONA, Reuters, Cannabis, Thomson Locations: Mataro, Barcelona, Spain, Spanish, Catalonia, Americas, Europe, Morocco, Latin America, Worth, Geneva, Amsterdam, EU, France, Catalan, Lisbon

☆ In Barcelona, City of Mega-Festivals, Small Venues Struggle
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Julia Webster Ayuso | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Association of Concert Venues of Catalonia, a trade body, estimates that in the past 20 years, 220 nightlife venues have closed in Barcelona and the surrounding metropolitan area. In a city of 1.6 million people, the total estimated capacity of its 198 music venues is less than 50,000, the venues association says. The number of visitors to Barcelona soared in the past two decades, resulting in complaints about noise and overcrowding from residents. Under the left-wing mayor Ada Colau, the city has prioritized locals’ quality of life, limiting the number of tourist-related businesses, including nightlife venues, that can open in many parts of town. “Barcelona has four music schools, and lots of musicians graduate every year, so we need small and medium-sized venues to absorb this whole scene.”Thanks to its weather and beaches, the city has become a popular location for music festivals.

Persons: Ada Colau, ”, Carmen Zapata Organizations: “, City Hall Locations: Catalonia, Barcelona, “, “ Barcelona

Spain has one swimming pool for every 37 residents, and these, too, are now in the spotlight. While her swimming pool has been empty for five years since her children grew up, Garcia, 61, said the town has been stigmatised unfairly for its pools. Pools are being used as a scapegoat for a lack of coherent water policy in Spain, she said. It is a sentiment shared by Gonzalo Delacamara, director of the IE Centre for Water & Climate Adaptation in Madrid. While the use of water to fill swimming pools during a drought is irresponsible, the bulk of Spain's water resources are taken by the agriculture sector, accounting for 70% of water usage, he said.

☆ Spain to ban some outdoor working during extreme heat conditions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Spanish farmers in Catalonia stage a tractor go-slow protest against the effect of drought in Lleida, Spain May 9, 2023. REUTERS/Albert GeaMADRID, May 10 (Reuters) - Spain will ban some outdoor working during extreme heat conditions, Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said on Wednesday, as the country faces high temperatures more frequently as a result of climate change. The ban will be in place when the national weather agency AEMET issues an alert warning about a severe or extreme risk of high temperatures. The measure will affect outdoors working such as street cleaning and agriculture, the Labour Ministry added. So far this year, Spain has recorded 11 hotter-than-normal days, more than twice the number typically observed during a full year.

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.

ALCARACEJOS, Spain, April 27 (Reuters) - Residents of a small town in southern Spain gathered at the main square to collect drinking water as large swathes of the Iberian Peninsula braved unseasonally hot weather that have exacerbated a long drought. Meteorologists expected temperatures to hit almost 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some areas of Spain this week. She recalled times when they had running water for only a few hours a day, but never needing to carry the bottles home. [1/5] A bird walks at the Sierra Boyera Reservoir, which is at 0.01% of its capacity, in Belmez, southern Spain, April 26. Residents can receive up to five litres (1.3 gallons) per day from a truck that drives through the affected villages.

☆ 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.

☆ Spain's Supreme Court drops sedition charges against Catalan separatist leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday dropped sedition charges against the leader of Catalonia's failed bid for independence, Carles Puigdemont, after a reform of the country's penal code abolished the crime. Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile in Belgium to avoid prosecution in Spain, still faces charges of disobedience and embezzlement, which carry jail terms of up to eight years. Spain's previous bids to have Puigdemont extradited during his stays in Germany, Belgium and Italy have failed. Puigdemont posted a video on Twitter in which he vowed to fight "to the end" against his extradition in European courts. Puigdemont has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since late 2017 and served as a member of the European Parliament since 2019.

☆ Spain briefly closes part of airspace as Chinese rocket debris flies over
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Spain briefly closed the airspace over the northeastern region of Catalonia and three other regions on Friday as remnants of a Chinese rocket were expected to pass by, emergency authorities in Catalonia said on Friday. The Long March 5B (CZ-5B), China's most powerful rocket, blasted off on Oct. 31 from southern China to deliver the last module of the Chinese space station currently under construction. As gravity pulls the rocket back to Earth, most of it is expected to burn up on re-entry, though there are concerns sizable chunks might survive. "These predictions however come with uncertainties, and a better estimation will only be possible close to the re-entry." Debris from the second flight landed harmlessly in the Indian Ocean, while remnants from the third fell into the Sulu Sea in the Philippines.

☆ Analysis: Catalonia's economic muscle weakened five years after separatist bid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Joan Faus | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The fallout serves as a cautionary tale for the independence movement in Scotland, which is pushing to hold another referendum next year on breaking away from the United Kingdom. Junqueras was Catalonia's deputy government head when the region held an independence referendum banned by a Spanish court. Junqueras insisted the Catalan separatist movement is still strong, pointing out the increase in pro-independence lawmakers in the past decade. Like Scotland, Catalonia's independence movement is now pushing for another referendum, this time with the approval of the Spanish government. But as with the UK government and Scotland´s bid, Spain has so far rejected the proposal.

☆ Catalonia seeks Spain's agreement for new independence referendum
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Joan Faus | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has favoured dialogue with Catalonia to rebuild relations after a chaotic unilateral bid for independence in 2017 plunged Spain into its worst political crisis in years. It remains, however, staunchly opposed to independence and has hitherto ruled out a legal referendum. A similar proposal by Catalonia in 2012 was firmly rejected by the then conservative government in Madrid. The wealthy northeastern region held a referendum five years later despite a ban by the courts, and issued a short-lived unilateral independence declaration. Catalan government head Pere Aragones told the regional parliament that for another referendum, Catalonia needed Madrid's buy-in.

☆ Humanity's great heights: The surreal symmetry of Catalonia's human towers
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-08 | by ( Jeremy Schultz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Russia launched its most widespread air strikes since the start of the Ukraine war on Monday, raining cruise missiles on busy cities during rush hour and knocking out power and heat, in what President Vladimir Putin called revenge for a blown up bridge.

Researchers have built autonomous delivery robots that can climb stairs. Delivery companies are always on the lookout for the next big innovation in the sector. Some big names have also developed their own autonomous delivery robots, like Alibaba, whose robots are becoming ever more prominent in daily life in China. These robots will be used for last mile delivery and will start operating in a pilot phase this year in Esplugues de Llobregat (Spain), Hamburg (Germany), and Debrecen (Hungary). These autonomous delivery vehicles would represent "a significant reallocation of the carrier's costs and would make the service more economical and efficient than with conventional vehicles," it continues.

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