Spain

ARGUINEGUIN, Spain (Reuters) - Dozens of African migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands in a battered wooden canoe were rescued in waters off the Spanish archipelago on Thursday, emergency services said.

The 37 migrants, including a child, were rescued by the Spanish coastguard six miles off the island of Gran Canaria after attempting to make the dangerous crossing from North Africa, the Canary Islands emergency services said on Twitter.

The sub-Saharan migrants were all male, they added.

24 September 2019; AFP: Spain's Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the green light for the government to remove the remains of Francisco Franco from a grandiose state mausoleum, rejecting an appeal against it by the late dictator's descendants.

In a unanimous ruling, the court decided "to completely reject the appeal lodged by the family in relation to Francisco Franco's exhumation," the judges wrote.

MADRID, Sept 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spanish police say they have arrested nine people suspected of planning a series of violent attacks for the anniversary of a divisive referendum.

The suspects are described as Catalan separatists by police sources, who say they plotted to strike on Oct 1.

That will be the second anniversary of a Catalan independence referendum declared illegal by Spanish courts.

Bomb-making materials were found during the raids across the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia, police said.

MADRID, Sept 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain will hold its fourth election in four years in November after last-minute initiatives to break a months-long impasse failed to achieve a breakthrough.

“Spain is bound to hold new elections on November 10,” acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a news conference late on Tuesday, after King Felipe VI met party leaders and concluded there was no candidate with enough support in the country’s deeply fragmented legislature to form a coalition.

MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of Spain’s main opposition People’s Party, Pablo Casado, told Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez in a telephone conversation on Tuesday his party would oppose Sanchez’s bid to become prime minister, a Socialist party source said.

“The PP leader has informed of his rejection of the investiture of the Socialist candidate, meaning he refuses to support a stable government in Spain and to avoid a repeat election,” the source said.

The People’s Party said only that the two had a cordial conversation an that its leader would speak about it later.

MADRID, Sept 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain’s High Court ruled that the government should refuse a request from the United States to extradite Venezuela’s former military intelligence chief.

Former general Hugo Carvajal was arrested on drug trafficking charges by Spanish police in April at the request of Washington, which says it believes he will share incriminating information about Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s High Court ruled on Monday that the government should refuse a request from the United States to extradite Venezuela’s former military intelligence chief.

Former general Hugo Carvajal was arrested on drug trafficking charges by Spanish police in April at the request of Washington, which says it believes he will share incriminating information about Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

The court said the ex-spy chief would be freed from jail, where he has been held pending the extradition process, but did not say when he would be released.

ORIHUELA, Spain (Reuters) - A 41-year-old man was found dead in southeastern Spain on Saturday, the local government said, bringing to at least six the death toll inflicted over the past two days by record-breaking rain.

More than 1,100 military personnel have been deployed to the regions of Murcia and Valencia to help rescue people isolated by the deluge and evacuate thousands to safety after a river burst its banks and cascades of water submerged highways.

SAN PEDRO DEL PINATAR/ORIHUELA, Spain (Reuters) - A third person has died in a second day of torrential rains in southern Spain where two airports, local train networks and dozens of roads were closed on Friday.

Heavy rainfall in the regions of Valencia and Murcia swept away cars and debris and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people, including from flooded highways.

Almeria and Murcia’s airport were closed, Spanish airport operator Aena said, and tourists were also left stranded in Alicante airport.

MADRID (AP) — The two intelligence agents scoured the sun-kissed faces of holidaymakers at Madrid’s airport until they spotted the 5½-foot bald man. Traveling under a disguised identity, Hugo Chávez’s long-time spy chief and one of the U.S.’s most wanted drug fugitives had just landed in Spain that Monday morning in March.