Spain

(Reuters) --- Two Spanish journalists were killed after an armed ambush on an anti-poaching patrol in Burkina Faso, Spain's prime minister said on Tuesday.

An Irish national also died, three senior Burkina Faso security sources said.

The Burkina Faso government had confirmed four people including three foreigners were missing following the ambush, but said photos of the bodies circulating on social networks had not been formally identified as being theirs.

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish man with COVID-19 symptoms who coughed on work colleagues and told them “I’m going to give you all the coronavirus” has been charged with intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people.

Spanish police said their investigation began after a COVID-19 outbreak at the company where the 40-year-old man worked on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca.

Days before the outbreak, the man showed COVID-19 symptoms but refused his colleagues’ suggestions to go home and self-isolate, police said in a statement.

MADRID, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday said it saw signs of "stable growth" in Spain and ascribed this to the revival in the country's economic activity since February.

The organization uses the composite leading indicator (CLI) to "anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend."

MADRID, Apr 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Four migrants, trying to reach the Canary Islands from the coast of Africa, were found dead inside a dinghy, in which they attempted the crossing, the government delegate of the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands confirmed, yesterday.

The dinghy was first spotted by a fishing boat, around 120 nautical miles south of the island of El Hierro, and three rescue helicopters were called to the scene.

MADRID, April 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain is accelerating its COVID-19 vaccination rollout and will have fully inoculated 25 million people by late July, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said, also confirming the end-August target of giving 70 per cent of all Spaniards their shots.

“The pace of vaccination will accelerate in April and then each month we will improve the vaccination pace from the previous month,” Sanchez told a news conference, attributing a slow start of the campaign to delivery delays by vaccine maker AstraZeneca across the European Union.

MADRID, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A boy born last week on the Spanish island of Ibiza has become the first newborn in Spain with COVID-19 antibodies, after his mother received the vaccine in the third trimester of her pregnancy, according to local media reports.

A sample from the baby's umbilical cord analyzed at the Hospital Son Espases in Mallorca confirmed that he had developed antibodies against COVID-19, the Spanish newspaper ABC reported.

MADRID (Reuters) - A red Ferrari worth 250,000 euros ($298,800.00) and an arsenal of weapons including revolvers and a Japanese sword were seized when 12 members of the largest drugs gang in Madrid were arrested, police said on Sunday.

The gang was very violent, according to Spain’s National Police, which found three daggers and several automatic weapons during a series of raids, along with 600 kg of cocaine.

Some 700,000 euros ($836,640.00)in cash was seized, along with 20 expensive cars, including the Ferrari.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, who left the country in August amid a cloud of scandals, has settled a back tax bill worth more than 4 million euros ($4.9 million), his lawyer said on Friday.

It was the second such payment by the former monarch in recent months.

The voluntary tax settlement of 4.4 million euros, including interest payments and fines, was based on fiscal duties related to travels and other expenses paid by a foundation from which he benefited, lawyer Javier Sanchez-Junco said in a statement.

MADRID (Reuters) - Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced an extra 11 billion euro ($13.4 billion) package on Wednesday to help Spain’s small and mid-sized companies and the self-employed cope with the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

He gave no details. A government source said the plan, whose contents were still being discussed with the Bank of Spain and the banking sector, would include haircuts for state-backed loans and recapitalisations of SMEs.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Protests over the imprisonment of a rapper convicted of insulting the Spanish monarchy and praising terrorist violence were marred by rioting for the third night in a row Thursday.

The plight of Pablo Hasél, who began this week to serve a 9-month sentence in a northeastern prison, has triggered a heated debate over the limits of free speech in Spain and a political storm over the use of violence by both the rapper’s supporters and the police.