Spain

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez travels to Rabat on Wednesday along with 12 ministers before a meeting with Moroccan government officials, as part of the European country’s strategy to improve historically complex relations with its neighbor across the Strait of Gibraltar.

NIJAR, Spain (AP) — Some 200 people were evacuated Monday from a camp housing hundreds of migrant workers in Spain after a fire engulfed the site.

The fire at the El Walili camp, located in the southeast Spanish region of Almeria, took place on the same day that the camp was supposed to be demolished following an order from the Nijar city council. A court order for the camp’s demolition said structures there were dilapidated and built without a housing license.

It was unclear how the fire started. Calls to local authorities on Monday went unanswered.

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities have arrested a retired man on suspicion he sent six letters containing explosive material to Spain’s prime minister and the U.S. and Ukrainian embassies in the country, police said in a statement.

The 74-year-old Spanish national was arrested in the northern city of Miranda de Ebro and was “very active” on social media, police said. They added that authorities “do not rule out the participation or influence of other people” in the case, and a search of the man’s home was still under way.

MADRID, 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".

BARCELONA, Jan 19 (NNN-BSS/AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron meets Spain’s Pedro Sanchez for a joint summit in Barcelona Thursday, with Paris seeking Spanish support for its uncompromising stance on a dispute over US protectionism.

The summit takes place as France braces for a disruptive nationwide strike over a controversial pension reform drive, battening down the hatches for a “hellish” day of protest over plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez signed a friendship treaty in Barcelona on Thursday to strengthen relations between the European neighbors, as both leaders faced protests on their home fronts.

The one-day summit came amid a day of widespread strikes on the other side of the Pyrenees against Macron’s bid to increase the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Sánchez, as host, had to endure a noisy rally by Catalan separatists near the meeting venue.

MADRID (AP) — Farmers protested in Madrid on Wednesday against a governmental order to provide ecological protection for a river, a move they see as a threat to the water resources they need to irrigate their crops.

Several hundred protesters — bused in from the southeastern region impacted by the plan — rallied in front of Spain’s ministry for ecological transition, demanding the resignation of Minister Teresa Ribera.

MADRID (AP) — Spain on Tuesday announced a new series of measures including scrapping valued-added tax on staple food, such as bread and milk, and is extending rent and eviction controls to help ease the economic crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the measures in an end-of-year speech. The government said it would also cut VAT on cooking oil and pasta from 10% to 5%. Fish and meat products were excluded from the tax reductions.

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities announced Monday that they had recovered another body after a bus plunged 30 meters (100 feet) from a bridge into a river on Christmas Eve, raising the toll of the fatal crash to seven dead and two injured.

The search was resumed when a surviving passenger said that the middle-aged woman she was traveling with was still missing, according to the Galician government’s delegate José Miñones.

The initial search for eight instead of nine people was based on the statement of the driver — the other survivor.

MADRID, Dec 25 (Reuters) - At least three people died and four were missing after a passenger bus careened off a bridge and plunged into a river in northwestern Spain, local emergency services said on Sunday.

Two survivors - the vehicle's driver and a passenger - have been rescued so far from the river Lerez, where a strong current and high flow due to heavy rains sweeping the Galicia region were hampering search-and-rescue efforts, authorities said.

The survivors were taken to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of injury, they added.