Spanish intelligence has arrested a suspected double agent who had been sending state secrets to Russia, the head of the National Intelligence Agency (CNI) said on Tuesday, according to local radio. The double agent had been working for Russia until 2004, CNI head Alberto Saiz said, according to Cadena Ser radio.
Twelve African migrants who were rescued after their boat capsized in the Atlantic arrived on Spain’s Canary Islands on Friday as hopes faded that roughly 50 others who are still missing will be found alive. The 36 other survivors of the accident were brought by a rescue ship into Puerto de los Christianos on Tenerife late on Thursday.
The Spanish coast guard was searching on Thursday for about 50 Africans whose wooden boat capsized as the would-be illegal migrants neared the end of a voyage to the Canary Islands. Coast guard boats picked up 48 survivors after their narrow boat overturned about 142km south-west of the resort island of Tenerife.
A Spanish judge has taken away visiting rights from a man who took his 10-year-old son to a running of the bulls during the annual Pamplona festival last week, Spanish media reported on Tuesday. The boy’s mother filed a police complaint after seeing a photograph published in a newspaper of her smiling ex-husband leading their son by the arm just a few steps ahead of the bulls.
Women in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, world-famous for its ferocious bull-running festival, are demanding their own version complete with cows instead of bulls. A student website set the ball rolling with its campaign ”Cows want to run” which asks for a separate encierro where only women are allowed to take part.
A Spanish woman who pulled the mask off a man as he tried to strangle her was astonished to discover the attacker was her estranged husband, Spanish media reported on Friday. The woman had thought the masked man, who burst into the bakery where she worked in the city of Valencia, was a robber.
Hundreds of animal rights campaigners on Thursday protested against the annual bull runs due to begin on Saturday in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona. Demonstrators, numbering about 1 500, dressed in nothing but underwear carried posters reading ”Torture is not culture”.
Swiss defender Alinghi beat challenger Emirates Team New Zealand to win the sixth race of the America’s Cup in Valencia on Saturday and take a 4-2 lead in the best-of-nine series. Alinghi crossed the line 28 seconds ahead of their rivals in perfect sailing conditions off the coast of Valencia.
A Spanish hotel chain is looking for stressed guests who will be allowed to let off steam next week by smashing the interior of a central Madrid hotel as part of its refurbishment. NH Hoteles will select 30 people who will be able to take part in the destruction of the 146 rooms at the 11-year-old hotel on July 3.
France striker Thierry Henry passed a medical at Barcelona on Monday, paving the way for him to complete his move from Arsenal. ”He has passed all the tests satisfactorily,” Barcelona team doctor Ricard Pruna was quoted as saying on the club’s website.
Waves of tourists have been coming to Spain’s sun-kissed eastern and southern coastline for decades and convalescents among them are connoisseurs of the climate’s restorative properties. But as European integration progresses, more and more health "tourists" and foreign residents buying into the idea of retirement by the sea have been making increasing use of Spain’s health facilities.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been taken aback by the decision of players such as Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho to miss a reception with Nelson Mandela on the club’s tour of South Africa. ”It could appear to be a bit surprising,” Laporta was quoted as saying.
When David Beckham came off the field after 65 minutes on Sunday, he looked doomed to leave Real Madrid empty-handed. But his teammates provided the send-off he dearly wanted with a 3-1 win over Mallorca which gave Real Madrid a record 30th Spanish league title.
A Nigerian illegal immigrant died while being deported from Spain with a restraining gag over his mouth, Spanish media reported on Monday. The Iberia jet flying 97 passengers to Nigeria had to turn back to Spain and land in Alicante on Saturday after crew discovered that Osamuyia Aikpitanhi (23) had died, newspaper El Pais said.
It was 17 or 18 seconds depending on your watch but the Spanish title dramatically fell into Real Madrid’s grasp on Saturday, in roughly the amount of time it takes to run the length of a football pitch. In that short space of time, Ruud van Nistelrooy gave Madrid a last gasp equaliser in their 2-2 draw at Real Zaragoza barely a minute before the whistle.
Australian rider Casey Stoner won the Catalunyan MotoGP in Barcelona on Sunday to record his fourth victory in seven races this season. The Ducati rider beat home Italian star Valentino Rossi while Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was third. ”There was a lot of overtaking going on out there,” admitted Stoner.
Shosholoza will be back for the next America’s Cup whether it is in Europe or New Zealand, the head of the South African syndicate said on Saturday. Shosholoza was the team everybody loved to love in Valencia, a group mostly made up of South Africans of all races who invited everybody into their base to join ”One team, one nation, one dream”.
The armed Basque separatist group ETA said on Tuesday it was ending a ”permanent” ceasefire declared last year, accusing the Spanish government of persecuting the group instead of negotiating with it. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero immediately labelled the move a ”mistake” and asked the outfit to definitively eschew violence.
A man checking for fire damage at a home he bought in a foreclosure auction walked into the living room and found the former owner’s mummified body sitting on the couch, Spanish police said on Tuesday. Coroners estimate the woman’s remains had been there since 2001.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to leave 22-year-old rookie Lewis Hamilton on top of the world as Formula One’s youngest championship leader. Double world champion Alonso finished third, eclipsed before his 140 700 strong home crowd by his McLaren teammate and the Brazilian winner.
Valencia will stage a Formula One (F1) race on a street circuit for seven years, starting in 2008, if the right-wing Popular Party wins this month’s regional and local elections. Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said on Thursday that Spain’s eastern port city will hold F1 races, but no contract will be signed until after the May 27 elections.
The main attention will be on home favourite Fernando Alonso and his astonishing teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix, but Nick Heidfeld and his BMW team are ready for action as well. Two-time world champion Alonso knows about Heidfeld’s strength first-hand.
Prices for holiday homes are falling in Spain as a glut of new developments, corruption scandals and land-grab laws make foreign buyers think twice about one of Europe’s most popular vacation destinations. A construction bonanza, driven by cheap credit, saw house prices more than double in seven years and helped Spain build as many new homes each year as France, Germany and Italy combined.
Africa is threatening to become the world’s newest drug nightmare as Colombian narcotics barons scheme to turn the continent into a hub for shipping cocaine to Europe, the head of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said on Tuesday. DEA administrator Karen Tandy said officials are also very worried about Africa’s new role as a weigh-station for heroin.
Somewhere over the proverbial rainbow, a passion for yachting is stirring in the South African soul, or so Ian Ainslie hopes after Team Shosholoza’s battling showing at the Louis Vuitton Cup. The syndicate may not have made it to the semifinals and, with a budget of just â,¬25-million coming in at barely a quarter ofthe big-leaguers, that was to be expected.
Team Shosholoza recorded two more points on the Louis Vuitton leader board Friday after a resounding win over Team China as the South Africans continue to give all they can to make the semifinal cut when racing ends next Wednesday. A tense pre-start dial-up saw the Chinese over the line giving the South Africans the chance to pull out an early lead as the Chinese returned to re-start.
Bad weather again plagued the second round-robin series of the Louis Vuitton Cup in Valencia on Thursday as thunder and lightning off the Spanish eastern seaboard forced action to be postponed for the day. Although high winds died down to a light gradient breeze from the south, the rain ensured racing could not proceed.
Louis Vuitton Cup racing was postponed on Tuesday due to excessive wind. The flight-three match races of the America’s Cup challengers series were rescheduled to sail on Wednesday. American entry BMW Oracle Racing and Italian syndicate Luna Rossa lead the standings with 23 points.
A five-storey apartment block in the Spanish city of Palencia collapsed after an explosion caused by a suspected gas leak on Tuesday, killing at least five people, Spanish media reported. At least eight residents were injured by the morning blast near Palencia’s cathedral, a spokesperson for the emergency services said.
South Africa’s Team Shosholoza were back in the hunt again on Monday for a place in the semifinals after a clean, no-mistake start to finish victory over United Internet Team Germany in rising 12- to 15-knot breezes that saw plenty of action and drama among the other boats on the racecourse.
A broken spinnaker pole on the Shosholoza boat allowed Victory Challenge to close on the leading four at the start of the second set of round robins in the Luis Vuitton Cup on Sunday. A lack of wind delayed the start of racing for a couple of hours but when it got under way the showdown between the Swedes and the South Africans provided the entertainment.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel captured his second European title when he won the Spanish Open on Sunday. Schwartzel finished on a 16-under-par total of 272 to take the  000 first prize, a 15-foot eagle putt on the long 16th giving the 22-year-old from Johannesburg a huge boost in a late duel with Carlos Rodiles.