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☆ UN chief says peace talks in Ukraine conflict not possible right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Unfortunately, I believe that at this stage, a peace negotiation is not possible. Both sides are convinced that they can win," Guterres said. "At the moment, I do not see any possibility of achieving immediately - we are not talking about the future - a comprehensive ceasefire, a peace negotiation," he added. Asked about mediation efforts by China or Brazilian leader Lula, Guterres stressed that achieving peace in the conflict could not happen at the moment, though he hoped that "in the future it will". Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Philippa FletcherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Russia marks Victory Day with new attacks on Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed Ukraine as "the beating heart of today's European values" in a deeply symbolic visit to Kyiv on Tuesday as Russia marked its World War Two Victory Day. CONFLICT* Russia's defence ministry said its forces had launched missile strikes at targets across Ukraine overnight, disrupting Kyiv's supplies of ammunition to the frontline and troop movements. * Ukraine said its air defences shot down 23 of 25 missiles, fired chiefly at Kyiv, and there were no reported casualties. * Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin made a cryptic, profanity-laced comment about those in charge of Russia's war on Ukraine. INTERNATIONAL* Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Beijing would maintain lines of communication with all parties to the war in Ukraine, including Germany, in seeking a ceasefire.

☆ Spain considers ending or curbing controversial 'golden visa' scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/ Albert GeaMADRID, May 8 (Reuters) - Spain could pull the plug on its so-called "golden visa" scheme that grants residency rights to foreigners who invest in real estate in the country, according to the leader of a left-wing party negotiating the issue with the government. "Spanish citizenship cannot be bought," Errejon said, adding that golden visas had led to a "brutal" rise in housing prices and forced locals out of their neighbourhoods without creating any new jobs. Earlier on Monday, El Pais newspaper reported Spain was considering tougher requirements for golden visa applications. From the start of the golden visa scheme in 2013 until last November, Spain issued almost 5,000 permits, with Chinese investors leading the list, government figures show. Errejon said the visas represented a "backdoor privilege" for millionaires, turning Spain into a "sort of colony, often attracting dark money".

☆ Spain gives Vivendi approval to raise stake in media group Prisa
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Spanish government has given authorisation for Vivendi to exchange the Prisa convertible bonds it acquired in February into equity, Prisa said in a statement. Heavily-indebted Prisa had sold 130 million euros ($143 million) worth of convertible bonds in a move to reduce its debt. Prisa said if Vivendi were the only bondholder to convert its bonds into equity, its stake would rise to 15%. Vivendi had built its stake in Prisa by first acquiring a 7.89% stake from HSBC for 52 million euros ($57.25 million). Prisa's largest single shareholder is activist fund Amber Capital, led by French investor Joseph Oughourlian, with a 29.57% stake, Refinitiv Eikon information shows.

☆ A commuter train excavation near Notre Dame Cathedral has uncovered a 2,000-year-old necropolis containing bodies buried with coins in their mouths and an entire pig skeleton
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Remains of at least 50 men, women, and children were unearthed during excavation for a train line. The burials of a large necropolis, located south of Lutèce in the 2nd century AD , have been unearthed. The burials of a large necropolis, located south of Lutèce in the 2nd century AD, have been unearthed. One pit unearthed by the researchers contained the skeleton of a whole pig, though it is unclear what purpose it may have served. The burials of a large necropolis, located south of Lutèce in the 2nd century of our era, have been brought to light.

☆ How Ukraine's artillery is doing more damage than Russia's, even with fewer rounds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Hambling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

While Ukraine has fewer guns firing fewer shells, it appear to be doing more damage than Russia. But while Ukraine has fewer guns firing fewer shells, they appear to be doing more damage even though, with some notable exceptions, they are using the same weapons as their Russian opponents. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated in February that Russia was firing around four times as many shells as Ukraine. This suggests an improvement of a factor of 7-10, which is roughly what we see in the ratios of artillery shells: casualties above. A vast number of Ukrainian drone videos show this process in operation.

☆ Two people killed, 10 hurt in Madrid restaurant blaze
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Rescuers work outside a restaurant following a fire, in Madrid, Spain, April 21, 2023, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. Madrid Emergency Service/Handout via REUTERSMADRID, April 22 (Reuters) - Two men died and 10 others were injured after a fire at a restaurant in the Spanish capital Madrid, emergency services said on Saturday. The blaze started late on Friday night at Burro Canaglia Bar&Resto, an Italian restaurant in the central neighbourhood of Salamanca. Diners struggled to flee as the blaze started near the main exit, emergency services said. Reporting by Graham Keeley, Catherine MacDonald; editing by Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

April 5(Reuters) - French catering and food services group Sodexo (EXHO.PA) plans to spin off and list its Benefits & Rewards Services (BRS) business during 2024, it said on Wednesday, as it focuses on divisions that serve faster-growing markets. The BRS business reported a core profit of 162 million euros ($177 million) in the first half of 2023, up 46.4% from a year ago excluding currency impacts. Core profit for the group was 704 million euros, beating analysts' average forecast of 679 million euros, according to a company-compiled consensus. Price increases will remain above 5% in the second part of 2023, Sodexo said. It also raised its full-year forecast for its BRS business, targeting organic revenue growth of close to 20% and an underlying operating profit margin of close to 32%.

☆ Spain's PM Sanchez to go on state visit to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, March 23 (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit China next week following a formal invitation by President Xi Jinping, as the Asian country seeks to position itself as a mediator in the ongoing war in Ukraine. The weight that Spain and Pedro Sanchez have in the world is unquestionable," Bolaños said, adding that "China has a key role to play in mediating the war". Bolaños said the visit would also be important from a trade and economic perspective, as Sanchez plans to meet with the Asia Pacific Forum and Spanish businesses operating in China. Xi has just concluded a three-day trip to Moscow, where he described China's position on the conflict as "impartial". The latest bilateral talks between the two leaders took place in November 2022 during the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

☆ They wined, dined and fled - but law finally catches up with Spain wine thieves
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, March 6 (Reuters) - A former Mexican beauty queen and her partner enjoyed a 14-course dinner at Atrio's Michelin-starred restaurant and hotel in western Spain followed by a guided tour of its wine cellar. They were also ordered to pay damages to insurers worth over 750,000 euros ($799,000), the court said in a statement. They had a 14-course dinner at the hotel's restaurant and were then taken on tour of the wine cellar. The couple left the hotel before dawn and quickly fled Spain, but after a nine-month hunt across Europe, they were detained by border guards while crossing from Montenegro into Croatia. ($1 = 0.9386 euros)Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Portugal bans new Airbnbs over fears of popular cities becoming 'some sort of Disneyland'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Portugal has unveiled sweeping reforms to make buying and renting homes more affordable for locals. Part of the crackdown is not granting new licenses for new Airbnbs or other short-term rentals. The prime minister said he's seeking to "balance" local housing needs and economy-boosting tourism. The country's prime minister Antonio Costa said he worries about Portugal's cities turning into "some sort of Disneyland." The new measures would freeze the nearly 110,000 officially registered "tourist homes" in Portugal, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

☆ Gibraltar accuses Spain of 'gross violation of sovereignty' over customs operation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Gibraltar on Friday accused Spain of a "gross violation of British sovereignty" after two customs officials entered the British overseas territory during an anti-smuggling operation. Early on Thursday, two Spanish customs agents were injured after rocks were thrown at them on a Gibraltar beach. In a video of the incident on Spanish daily El Pais' website, the smugglers are seen shouting "This is Gibraltar. The incident comes as Britain and Gibraltar seek to negotiate a treaty to settle Gibraltar's post-Brexit status and how to police the border with Spain. In 2002, 99% of voters in Gibraltar rejected the idea of Britain sharing sovereignty with Spain.

☆ Ukraine denies report it intends to get 24 jets from allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A pair of Ukrainian Su-25 jet fighters fly low, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 24, 2022. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File PhotoJan 28 (Reuters) - Ukraine's air force on Saturday denied a newspaper report saying it intended to get 24 fighter jets from allies, saying talks about potential deliveries were still continuing, a domestic media outlet said. Spain's El Pais newspaper, citing air force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat, said Ukraine initially wanted two squadrons of 12 planes each, preferably Boeing F-16 jets. Later in the day, he told Ukrainian national television that allied nations did not like public speculation about jets, Interfax Ukraine news agency said. Germany's defence minister this week ruled out the idea of sending jets to Ukraine.

Ukraine has won promises of Western battle tanks and is seeking fighter jets to push back against Russian and pro-Moscow forces, which are slowly advancing along part of the front line. Zelenskiy, speaking separately, said Ukraine wanted to preempt Russian attacks on Ukrainian urban areas and civilians. Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian air force denied a newspaper report that it intended to get 24 fighter jets from allies, saying talks were continuing, Ukraine's Babel online outlet said. He also told Ukrainian national television that allied nations did not like public speculation about jets, Interfax Ukraine news agency said. Germany's defence minister this week ruled out the idea of sending jets to Ukraine.

☆ Ukraine's allies are finally sending the advanced tanks it asked for. Now they want it to embrace a rapid, aggressive style of warfare.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine's allies have agreed to send it advanced tanks after months of indecision. The group said Ukraine should move towards a style of mechanized maneuver warfare that "uses rapid, unanticipated movements against Russia," sources told CNN. The new tanks and armored vehicles committed by Ukraine's allies are supposed to help Ukraine make the switch, CNN reported. Tanks for UkraineUkraine had been requesting advanced tanks for months, but the US and Germany in particular had been reluctant to send the weapons. Even so, Ukraine's plans, and Western hopes for a new, more aggressive strategy, will be aided by other advanced weaponry that its allies have recently committed and sent.

☆ At least one dead, several injured in machete attack at southern Spain churches
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( David Latona | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] A body covered in thermal blanket is seen at the scene of a stabbing incident at a church in Algeciras, Spain January 25, 2023 in this screen grab from a video. The man attacked clergymen at two different churches - San Isidro and Nuestra Senora de La Palma, around 300 metres (1,000 feet) apart - just after 8pm on Wednesday evening in downtown Algeciras, a spokesperson for the city said. Jose Ignacio Landaluce, the mayor of Algeciras, has declared a day of mourning in the city for Thursday and a rally outside Nuestra Senora de La Palma church at midday. Earlier on Wednesday, two people were killed and several others injured when a 33-year-old stateless Palestinian man attacked them with a knife on a regional train travelling between Kiel and Hamburg in northern Germany, authorities said. Reporting by David Latona, Belén Carreño and Aislinn Laing; Editing by Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Iranian chess player was warned not to return to Iran after competing without hijab -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Elwely Elwelly | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Chess - FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships - Rapid Women - Almaty, Kazakhstan - December 28, 2022. Sara Khadem of Iran sits in front of a chess board. REUTERS/Pavel MikheyevDUBAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - An Iranian chess player arrived in Spain on Tuesday after receiving what a source close to her said were warnings not to return to Iran for competing without a hijab at an international tournament in Kazakhstan. Sara Khadem, born in 1997, took part in last week's FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty without the hijab - a headscarf mandatory under Iran's strict dress codes. The source also said Khadem's relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats, without giving further details.

☆ The US embassy in Spain received a letter bomb after Spanish prime minister and others were targeted, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US embassy in Spain received a letter bomb on Thursday, Spain's La Sexta reported. The bomb appears similar to those sent to five other targets in Spain, according to reports. "We can confirm a suspicious package was received at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, and are aware of reports of other packages sent to other locations throughout Spain," the American embassy told the Associated Press. This latest development comes after Spain's interior ministry said on Thursday that letter bombs had targeted the country's prime minister, the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, an air base, and a military equipment company that supplies rocket launchers to Ukraine. The one sent to the Ukrainian embassy exploded on Wednesday, injuring an embassy worker.

☆ Spain rocked by wave of letter bombs, with the country's prime minister among those targeted
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Spain's prime minister was targeted by a letter bomb, the interior ministry said on Thursday. One bomb exploded at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid on Wednesday, injuring an embassy employee. Spain's interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday that an envelope containing explosives was addressed to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and was detected and neutralized by his security services. Investigations are underway, the interior ministry said. Spain has ramped up security around public buildings in response, the interior ministry said.

☆ Three migrants survived an 11-day voyage sat on ship's rudder
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Reuters Nimi Princewill | Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

The Spanish coast guard has rescued three people who were stowed on top of the rudder of a ship that arrived in the Canary Islands from Nigeria. In a photograph distributed by the coastguard on Monday, the migrants are shown perched on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker Althini II. The Althini II arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Nigeria, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website. The Spanish-owned Canary Islands are a popular gateway for African migrants attempting to reach Europe. Last year, more than 20,000 migrants crossed from the West African coastline to the Canary Islands, according to the Red Cross.

☆ Leading media outlets urge U.S. to end prosecution of Julian Assange
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The United States should end its prosecution of Julian Assange, leading media outlets from the United States and Europe that had collaborated with the WikiLeaks founder said on Monday, citing press freedom concerns. Assange is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including a spying charge, related to WikiLeaks' release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables. Monday marked twelve years since those media outlets collaborated to release excerpts from over 250,000 documents obtained by Assange in the so-called "Cablegate" leak. If extradited to the United States, he faces a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum security prison. "Publishing is not a crime," the media outlets said in their letter on Monday.

☆ Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés dies at 79
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

“The culture in Cuba is in mourning for the death of Pablo Milanes,” Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz tweeted Monday night. Milanés and Rodríguez in particular became close, touring the world’s stages as cultural ambassadors for the Cuban Revolution, and bonding during boozy sessions. “If Silvio Rodríguez and I got together, the rum was always there,” Milanés told El Pais in 2003. Cuba’s aging leaders “are stuck in time,” Milanés told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “These freedoms have been seen in small doses, and we hope that with time they will grow,” Milanés told The Associated Press.

☆ Thieves stole 132 bottles of wine worth $200,000 from a Michelin-starred restaurant by going through an abandoned pharmacy next door in a 'very precise' heist
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

132 bottles of wine costing an average of $1,500 each were stolen from a Madrid restaurant. The robbers made an entrance hole in a pharmacy next door, and escaped without tripping any alarms. The thieves went for the most prestigious bottles, with the looted wines worth more than $1,500 each on average. The police investigation found that the burglars entered through an abandoned pharmacy next door. Wine worth thousands of dollars was stolen from another Spanish restaurant last year.

☆ Agent says Salman Rushdie has lost use of eye and hand following August attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

After the attack, Rushdie was treated at a Pennsylvania hospital, where he was briefly put on a ventilator to recover from what Wylie told El Pais was a “brutal attack” that cut nerves to one arm. Wylie told the newspaper he could not say whether Rushdie remained in a hospital or discuss his whereabouts. The attack was along the lines of what Rushie and his agent have thought was the “principal danger ... a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking,” Wylie told El Pais. Wylie told the newspaper it was like Beatles member John Lennon’s murder. In a jailhouse interview with The New York Post, Matar said he disliked Rushdie and praised Khomeini.

☆ Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye following attack, agent says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 23 (Reuters) - Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following an attack on stage at a literary event in western New York in August, his agent said. Wylie described the author's wounds as "profound," and noted the loss of sight of one eye. Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for saying the fatwa against Rushdie was "irrevocable." He is being held without bail in a western New York jail. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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