Spain

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Spain Mulls the Unthinkable: Short Siestas, Reset Clocks

Nation considers aligning with its neighbors

(Newser) - In Spain, grappling with economic crisis could require a major cultural shift. Activists are pushing to align the country's schedule with its neighbors, an effort that would require cutting daily siestas—including lunch and a nap—to just an hour. On top of that, the campaigners would turn the...

Spain's Christmas Gift to Its People: $3.4B Lottery

Annual 'El Gordo' holiday lottery rains cash on beleaguered Spaniards

(Newser) - Spain, which has had not a lot to celebrate in the financial realm in recent memory, is basking in the glow of its annual exercise in literally throwing scads of cash to the wind: Yesterday's "El Gordo" lottery saw some $3.4 billion awarded to thousands of winners...

Spain to Restrict Abortions
 Spain to Restrict Abortions 

Spain to Restrict Abortions

It would be the first EU nation to reverse the trend toward legalization

(Newser) - Spain is poised to defy the trend in Europe and impose tough restrictions on abortion, reports Reuters . Women currently can get an abortion on request during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, but the proposed law would allow the procedure only in the case of rape, serious risk to the...

Man Says He Was Raised by Wolves

Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja says he traded words for growls

(Newser) - A six-year-old boy was taken into the mountains to help a goatherd, but when the man died, the boy was left alone—until a mother wolf nosed some meat his way. So says Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja, now in his late 60s and long back among humans in the Spanish town...

Pianist Faces Jail Over Incessant Practicing

Neighbor says it caused psychological damage

(Newser) - Spanish prosecutors want to send a young pianist to jail for more than seven years after a neighbor accused her of causing psychological damage and noise pollution. The plaintiff—identified only as Sonia B.—claims she suffered from noise contamination between 2003 and 2007 owing to the five-days-a-week, eight-hour...

Spain Busts 25 in Sex Slave Ring: Police

5 victims freed in operation

(Newser) - Spanish police say they've busted a gang of 25 Nigerians who were engaged in human trafficking, Internet fraud, and money laundering. Five women victims of sex slavery were released during the crackdown on the underground operation in Spain, the police say. The gang was using Spain as a springboard...

Americans Read and Math Bad
 Americans Read and Math Bad 

Americans Read and Math Bad

New study shows US adults are lagging in crucial skills

(Newser) - You've probably heard that test scores are lagging badly for America's youth, but it turns out they're just chips off the old blocks. A sweeping new study has found that American adults are below-average when it comes to literacy, basic math skills, and "problem-solving in technology-rich...

Mutant Bugs' Task: Destroy Own Species

Fruit flies implanted with gene to halt population

(Newser) - How do you get rid of a population of bugs destroying your crops? Scientists are trying out a controversial method: spreading a gene that prevents females from reproducing. Males can live with the lab-inserted gene, but females die in the larval stage—which doesn't leave a lot of options...

Turned In at Lost and Found: $6.3M Lotto Ticket

Unclaimed prize was won last year

(Newser) - Talk about a good deed: A very kind man turned a winning lotto ticket in to Spanish officials rather than taking the money for himself. Now, lottery bosses are trying to find the winner of the $6.27 million prize, which dates back to last year; it was never claimed,...

Judge Tells Divorcing Couple to Split House, Literally

It's a sign of tough financial times in Spain

(Newser) - These are no ordinary times in financially strapped Spain, and this is no ordinary divorce ruling as a result: A judge in Seville has ordered a couple to split their home—and she is not speaking figuratively, reports the Local . The judge says the couple should go on living at...

Driver of Crashed Train: I Warned About That Curve

Recording: He calls bend 'inhuman' moments after crash killed 79 in Spain

(Newser) - The driver who was speeding , distracted , and had received three warnings when his train derailed appears to blame a curve in the tracks for the deadly crash in a call made moments after the disaster. In a recording that has emerged in Spanish media, Francisco Jose Garzon describes the curve...

75 Arrested in Human Trafficking Ring Bust

Gang smuggled Chinese citizens into US and Europe for $53K per person, say cops

(Newser) - Police have arrested 51 people in Spain and 24 in France after a two-year investigation into a Barcelona-based organization that was allegedly smuggling Chinese migrants into the US and Europe. Authorities say the gang charged $53,000 per person for "false identities and transport [for] Chinese citizens to the...

47-Story Skyscraper Forgets Elevator

Boondoggle in Spain set to open this year

(Newser) - It was supposed to be a symbol of economic might. Instead, a new skyscraper in Benidorm, Spain, is more likely to be the "laughingstock of the modern world," suggests International Design Times . That's because the 47-story structure, due to open in December, lacks a working elevator. Or...

Spanish Town Claims Origins of Coke
Spanish Town Claims
Origins of Coke

Spanish Town Claims Origins of Coke

Aielo de Malferit feels cheated in history and riches

(Newser) - Anyone opening a cold bottle of Coke this summer owes a nod of thanks to a rundown factory in the Spanish town of Aielo de Malferit, locals tell Der Spiegel . The few folks remaining at the factory producing Nuez de Kola Coca, an alcoholic version of the soft drink, say...

Morocco King Revokes Pedophile Spy's Pardon

Monarch does U-turn after mass protests

(Newser) - After mass protests, the king of Morocco has decided to revoke the pardon he granted to a Spanish pedophile—but the man has already left the country. Daniel Galvan Vina, who was two years into a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children aged between 4 and 14, was among 48...

Spain Train Driver Got 3 Warnings to Slow Down

By the time he finally heeded the message, it was too late

(Newser) - It just keeps getting worse for the loves-to-speed train driver in Spain's deadly crash. Investigators say he got not one, not two, but three automated warnings to slow down before his train went off the rails, reports AP . The first came about two minutes before the crash as he...

Train Driver in Spain Was on the Phone

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was going twice the speed limit, say investigators

(Newser) - If Francisco Jose Garzon Amo weren't the most reviled man in Spain already, today's latest revelation might cinch it: Investigators say the driver in last week's deadly accident was on the phone when his speeding train went off the rails, reports the BBC . At least it doesn'...

Spanish Train Driver Charged With Homicide

Death of 2nd American brings death toll to 79

(Newser) - As Sunday church services were held throughout Spain in memory of the country's worst train crash in decades, the driver involved was formally charged with homicide. Francisco Jose Garzon Amo—who had previously boasted about speeding —is accused of 79 counts of homicide committed through "professional recklessness,...

Spain Train Driver Held on Suspicion of Homicide

Formal charges of reckless homicide could follow soon

(Newser) - The driver in this week's deadly train accident in Spain is now out of the hospital and being held by police on suspicion of reckless homicide, reports CNN . Formal charges against Francisco Jose Garzon Amo could follow soon. The nation's interior minister told reporters there were "rational...

Utah Train Wreck Survivor Has Cheated Death Twice

Stephen Ward nearly died while undergoing a bone marrow transplant 4 years ago

(Newser) - Seconds before the Spanish train he was aboard lifted off the tracks "like a roller coaster," Mormon missionary Stephen Ward said he glanced up from the journal he was writing in and noticed a backpack tumble from a rack. Moments later, the 18-year-old from Bountiful, Utah, blacked out...

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