Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.

EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.

Find the full transcript below: 

Italy brought back border controls with Spain in August, and has now extended them until at least 15 October. Giorgia Meloni’s government fears that migrants who arrived in Ceuta, reach the continent and Italy.

Are these restrictions legal in the Schengen area? What are the EU’s levies to avoid such controls?

Since 1 August, Italy has temporarily reintroduced controls at its air and sea borders with Spain. The measure has now been extended until 15 October. In return, Spain has also introduced controls at its air and sea borders with Italy.

“This is not against Spain” the Italian foreign affairs minister Antonio Tajani said, adding “we have a duty to protect our borders.”

The starting point was the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the end of July. Italy said it was concerned about possible secondary movements towards the rest of Europe, and brought back controls at its borders with Spain.

But from a legal point of view, EU countries can’t simply reintroduce border controls whenever they want.

The Schengen area is based on the principle of free movement, meaning there should normally be no checks at internal borders. The Schengen Borders Code provides an exception. If a country faces a serious threat to public policy or internal security, it can temporarily reintroduce border controls, as a measure of last resort.

The controls can initially be introduced for up to 30 days, and can then be extended under certain conditions.

Italy has already extended its measure, which has now been in place for more than two months.

What does the European Commission say about Italy’s decision? The Commission has been asked about the Italian controls and says it is currently assessing the situation.

But the Brussels-based organisation The Good Lobby argues that Italy is violating the Schengen rules. It filed a complaint with the European Commission, asking it to open an infringement procedure against Italy.

According to Alberto Alemanno, who filed the complaint, there is no security threat that would justify bringing back the controls.

His argument is that none of the migrants who arrived in Ceuta were transferred to Italy. And, he says, people travelling between Ceuta and mainland Spain are already subject to identity checks.

So Italy’s justification, he argues, does not meet the conditions set out in the Schengen Borders Code.

Now, is Italy the only EU country bringing back border controls? No. If you look at the notifications sent by EU countries to the European Commission, around ten countries have reported temporary controls at some of their internal borders in recent months.

In response to the situation in Ceuta, Italy is the main example.

Austria also notified the Commission of controls in September, citing the situation in Ceuta among several reasons. But those controls concern its land borders with Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia.

So Austria is not checking passengers arriving by air from Spain.

Germany, for example, has invoked the same exception in the Schengen rules to carry out controls at its land borders with all its neighbours.

That does not mean that every border crossing is closed, or that every traveller is systematically checked. It means German authorities can carry out checks at those borders, including spot checks.

Germany’s main justification is continued migratory pressure, alongside other security concerns. And for now, the Commission is kind of letting all of this happen. It did raise concerns at some point: in June, the Commission published an assessment of temporary border controls in nine EU countries, including Germany, Austria and Italy.

It did not formally declare these countries’ controls illegal. Instead, it called on them to work towards lifting the controls, arguing that the EU has put in place measures to address some of the risks being invoked to justify them.

Those measures include the new Migration and Asylum Pact and new rules on entry and border management. The bigger question, then, is how long temporary border controls can remain in place before they stop being an exception to Schengen and become the new normal.

France and Spain have openly welcomed the prospect of Britain rejoining the European Union after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham put full membership back among the options for the country’s long-term relationship with Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed the question during Macron’s state visit to Spain on Wednesday, 30 September. Asked whether Britain could return under Burnham, Macron responded in English: “Welcome back.” He added that a British decision to move in that direction would be good news for both Britain and Europe.

Sánchez was similarly positive, saying Spain would “open our arms” if Britain sought to return.

Their comments followed Burnham’s intervention at the Labour Party conference and subsequent interviews in which he argued that Britain should reconsider the full range of options for its future relationship with the EU.

Those could include remaining under the present post-Brexit arrangements, returning to the customs union or single market, or ultimately “going all the way” and applying for EU membership again.

The remarks extend a debate which had already been developing since Burnham entered Downing Street. In August, EU Today reported that he had told European Council President António Costa that Britain should be “bolder” in rebuilding relations with Brussels.

More recently, the argument has moved from diplomatic language to practical economic questions. Burnham has been pressing Brussels to ensure British companies are not disadvantaged by the EU’s emerging industrial preference rules, with access to the proposed “Made in Europe” framework becoming one of the principal issues ahead of the next EU-UK summit.

Macron nevertheless made clear in Madrid that closer relations could not become a system under which Britain selected individual advantages of EU membership while remaining outside the corresponding obligations.

“You cannot pick and choose among the Union’s freedoms,” he said during the joint press conference with Sánchez.

That question dominated much of the Brexit negotiation after the 2016 referendum. Access to the single market is built around the free movement of goods, services, capital and people, while participation also entails accepting common rules and enforcement mechanisms.

A British application to rejoin would be a separate and considerably larger process. Under Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, Britain would have to apply for membership and secure unanimous agreement from the existing member states before negotiations could be completed.

A returning Britain could not assume that the special arrangements it held before Brexit would automatically be restored. The UK previously had an opt-out from the euro, remained outside the Schengen passport-free area and benefited from a budget rebate.

Any future terms would have to be negotiated.

Public opinion has also changed since the referendum. A YouGov poll in June found 55 per cent of Britons supported rejoining the EU and 34 per cent opposed it, although support falls when respondents are asked about specific membership conditions.

That shift is not limited to Britain. Polling examined by EU Today earlier this year found substantial support across EU member states for a British return.

For the moment, however, Burnham is not proposing an immediate membership application or referendum.

The next test will be the UK-EU summit expected in November. The meeting was originally planned for July but was postponed following Keir Starmer’s resignation, with EU Today reporting at the time that the political transition in London had complicated preparations.

Burnham wants the summit to advance negotiations on industry, trade and migration and has said he intends to use the period around the meeting to set out the longer-term options available to Britain.

The immediate negotiations are therefore likely to focus on economic integration rather than membership.

Greater access to European markets would almost certainly involve greater regulatory alignment. The political argument in Britain will concern how far the country is prepared to accept common European rules in return for reducing barriers created by Brexit.

Macron and Sánchez have now made clear that, if the discussion eventually moves beyond closer economic cooperation towards membership itself, two of the EU’s largest states would welcome it.

Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.

EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.

Find the full transcript below:

Hundreds of people were still camping yesterday at Puerta del Sol in Madrid. They were demanding action on housing, as rents and property prices continue to rise.

Following an outcry triggered by the eviction of an 83-year-old woman from her home, and the mobilization of thousands of people across Spain, the government adopted two housing decrees.

Did they take the protesters’ demands into account?

MariCarmen Abascal had lived in her apartment since the 1950s, having inherited the lease from her parents. But the property was bought by an investment fund, which then challenged the validity of her lease and quadrupled her rent.

Last week, MariCarmen was evicted from her home. The eviction sparked widespread outrage and led hundreds of protesters to camp in central Madrid, calling for action.

Yesterday, she was finally allowed to return home after reaching an agreement with the owners.

Aside from MariCarmen’s case, the demonstrations are largely driven by young people who are fed up with rising rents and property prices, especially in major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.

In Madrid, property prices have risen by around 87 percent over the past ten years. That’s less than in Portugal or the Netherlands, where prices have increased even more. But it’s still a significant rise, especially as wages have grown much more slowly over the same period.

Rents are taking up a huge share of people’s incomes. In Madrid, they account for almost half of tenants’ net income on average. So, how did the Spanish government respond?

Yesterday, it adopted two housing decree-laws. The first decree would suspend evictions until 2030 and automatically extend existing rental contracts by two years.

It would also introduce tighter rules on seasonal rentals and prevent speculative investment funds from acquiring housing until 2028.

The second decree is more ambitious. It would allow tenants to extend their future rental contracts indefinitely. This is what the tenants’ union has been calling for.

Landlords would no longer be able to end a lease simply because it had reached its expiry date. Tenants who pay their rent and respect their legal obligations could remain in their homes for as long as they wish.

This would also limit rent increases, since rents can only be raised moderately during an existing contract.

So, the government has taken the protesters’ demands into account. But there is still a major obstacle: as our Spanish partner El Salto reports, the tenants’ union fears that this second measure may not pass through Parliament.

That could explain why the government adopted two separate decrees. The first is considered easier to get through Parliament.

Now, what about the EU’s proposals to tackle rising rents? We discussed them earlier this month.

One of the main proposals concerns short-term rentals. The idea is to introduce restrictions, particularly in tourist areas where housing is under strong pressure. By bringing more homes back onto the long-term rental market, the Commission hopes to ease pressure on prices.

But these proposals have not yet been adopted, so we’ll have to wait and see what impact they have. And in any case, more will need to be done at national level.

Even if prices stop rising, they are already so high that many workers can no longer afford to live in major cities.

More social housing is needed, as well as more renovation. Increasing the supply of decent, affordable homes could help ease pressure on rents and property prices.

Around 30 million years ago, a heavily built animal prowled the area that is now Vallbona de les Monges, in Lleida province (Catalonia, northeastern Spain). It had a long head, prominent cheekbones and formidable jaws lined with large, sharp teeth. Paleontologists call it the hell pig. The nickname misleads. Its kinship with modern pigs is […]

Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg have called on the European Commission to establish a specific EU renewable-energy target for 2040 as Brussels prepares the next stage of the bloc’s climate and energy legislation.

The three governments have written to Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen arguing that a post-2030 renewables target would give investors greater certainty, accelerate deployment and reduce European dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Their intervention comes as the Commission prepares a new renewable-energy framework covering the decade after 2030.

The EU currently has a legally binding target requiring renewable sources to account for at least 42.5 per cent of final energy consumption by 2030, with an ambition to reach 45 per cent.

There is, however, no equivalent renewables target for 2040.

The European Commission says it is preparing a post-2030 renewable-energy framework for adoption before the end of this year. It is intended to complement the Union’s wider climate legislation and provide guidance for the next decade of energy investment.

Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg want that framework to contain a numerical target rather than rely solely on the EU’s overall greenhouse-gas reduction objective.

The proposal creates a policy divide with governments that want Brussels to use a broader definition of low-carbon or “clean” energy.

France, Sweden and Finland are among countries that have supported an approach allowing nuclear generation to contribute alongside renewable sources towards European decarbonisation targets.

France in particular operates the EU’s largest nuclear fleet and has repeatedly argued that European energy legislation should treat nuclear power according to its low carbon emissions rather than exclude it from frameworks designed specifically around renewable technologies.

Luxembourg, by contrast, has long opposed nuclear energy and has raised concerns about radioactive waste, safety and the financing of new reactors.

The argument is therefore not simply about the scale of the 2040 ambition. It concerns the structure of European energy investment over the next 15 years.

The Commission’s existing renewable-energy rules set the 2030 floor at 42.5 per cent, almost double the share recorded at the beginning of the decade.

Renewables accounted for 26.2 per cent of EU energy consumption in 2025, according to Commission figures.

Investment will have to increase substantially if the Union is to meet its existing target before any higher post-2030 requirement is introduced.

Grid capacity is another constraint. Wind and solar generation can be built faster than many traditional power stations, but projects increasingly depend on new transmission lines, interconnectors, storage and distribution infrastructure.

EU Today reported in June that member states were resisting greater Commission control over cross-border electricity-grid planning, illustrating the institutional difficulties surrounding an expansion of European electricity infrastructure.

The latest initiative also sits alongside the EU’s legally binding 2040 climate target.

In March, the Union formally approved legislation requiring net greenhouse-gas emissions to fall by 90 per cent from 1990 levels by 2040. EU Today reported on the final approval of the 2040 target, which is intended to bridge the gap between the bloc’s 2030 commitments and climate neutrality by 2050.

How that 90 per cent reduction is achieved is now moving to the centre of the policy debate.

For Spain and Portugal, greater renewable generation is also tied to their ambitions to expand electricity exports from the Iberian Peninsula into the rest of Europe. Limited interconnection capacity across the Pyrenees has historically restricted those flows.

The Commission’s post-2030 framework will therefore have consequences beyond environmental policy. It will influence investment decisions in power generation, grids, industrial electrification, hydrogen, storage and manufacturing.

The political question confronting the Commission is whether those decisions should be driven by a dedicated renewable-energy benchmark or by a technology-neutral emissions objective under which nuclear and renewable generation compete for investment.

With the 2040 climate target already fixed in law, the next dispute is increasingly about the energy system that will be built to reach it.

Ten years of digging in the same corner of northern Spain tends to turn up plenty. Temples, walls, coins, the occasional grave. Rarely does it turn up something as mundane as a kitchen. But that is exactly what surfaced this summer beneath a plot known as La Era, in Sasamón, a town of roughly 1,000 […]

Five men wearing reflective vests marked “POLICIA” dragged a bloodied, partially undressed man from a car on a busy highway outside Barcelona on Saturday evening and forced him into another vehicle, Catalan police said, as they investigate what they believe may be a score-settling between criminal groups.

The incident unfolded around 7:30 p.m. on the AP-7 motorway between Montornès del Vallès and Vilanova del Vallès. Witnesses said two vehicles boxed in a third car after what appeared to be a minor collision. Five men in black clothing and balaclavas then approached, pulled the man from the back seat and shoved him into one of their cars before driving away, according to Spanish news outlet Moncloa.

JUST IN: Armed men posing as police officers kidnapped a victim in the middle of the AP-7 highway outside Barcelona.

Five men in black clothing wearing “POLICIA” reflective vests dragged a bloodied, partially undressed man out of a car near Montornès del Vallès.

They then… pic.twitter.com/bshm8lLzKW

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) September 20, 2026

Video recorded by other drivers shows the men, some wearing high-visibility vests that resembled those used by Spain’s National Police, struggling with the victim on the roadway as traffic backed up around them. One motorist who filmed the scene and called emergency services can be heard saying, “There’s a kidnapping on the AP-7,” and telling operators the men were carrying pistols.

Mossos d’Esquadra officers later located the man in another part of Catalonia. Police sources told the newspaper Ara he was “safe and sound.” Authorities said his facial injuries were not serious and that there was no indication a ransom had been paid. The vehicle used to take him away was found abandoned a short time later.

‘Imported crime’ – Foreigners commit 500% more rapes than Spaniards, 400% more murders, according to new study

The Mossos’ Criminal Investigation Division has opened a case for alleged illegal detention and is examining whether the suspects committed impersonation of police officers. No arrests have been announced.

Police have not officially confirmed a motive, but investigators and sources familiar with the case have pointed to a dispute between criminal groups, possibly tied to drug-related debts or drug heist. Spanish media reported that the victim had recently been released from prison but this detail has not been independently confirmed by police.

Such a brazen abduction in daylight on one of Catalonia’s main highways is unusual, though robberies targeting motorists have occurred on the AP-7 in the past.

The post Spain: 5 men posing as police officers kidnap victim on major highway appeared first on Remix News.

Foreign-born suspects account for nearly three-quarters of sexual-crime arrests in Basque Country, official figures show

Official statistics released by the Basque regional police, the Ertzaintza, indicate that people born outside Spain made up 58.7 percent of all arrests in the first half of 2026 even though they represent 10.2 percent of the population. The disparity is sharper in several high-profile offense categories.

Of the 107 people detained for crimes against sexual freedom, 79 were born abroad, making up 74 percent of arrests in this category, according to data obtained by The Objective.

Foreign-born suspects also accounted for 73.3 percent of homicide arrests and 61.3 percent of those for causing injury.

Murders committed by foreigners in Spain soar 69% in a decade

The highest shares appeared in other offences: 94.7 percent of drunk-driving arrests (36 of 38), 79.6 percent of theft arrests (222 of 279), and 77.6 percent of robberies involving violence or intimidation (253 of 326).

The figures come from data the Basque Department of Security, which began publishing this data systematically at the end of 2025. Until then, the Ertzaintza routinely omitted the birthplace of detainees.

Security councillor Bingen Zupiria of the PNV said the change followed “tremendous pressure” from the Popular Party (PP) and Vox in the Basque parliament. Police unions supported the move as a contribution to “crime prevention.”

Crimes of rape have tripled in six years across Spain

After that pressure, Zupiria stated, the department was forced to “change its criteria.” Arrests are now broken down first by continent and then by region, including North Africa, the rest of Africa, Latin America, or Europe.

The publication of these breakdowns ended a long-standing practice of withholding origin information that the Basque government said had created more confusion than clarity. Citizens, officials argued, have a right to see the actual composition of recorded crime.

Within the foreign-born group, those originating from North Africa are notable for their high offense rates.

They form roughly 1.8 percent of the Basque population yet accounted for 37 percent of homicide arrests, 24 percent of sexual-assault arrests, 64 percent of theft arrests, 48 percent of robberies with force, and 66 percent of violent robberies in the first six months of the year.

Leaked police report shows 95% of 79 arrested for violent robbery at Spanish festival were Arabs

Suspects from the rest of Africa and from Latin America also appear over-represented in several categories of crimes against persons and property.

Overall arrests have been rising. The Ertzaintza recorded 6,903 in 2021 and 9,222 in 2025. The first half of 2026 already produced 5,050. If the pace continues, the year would end with a record of about 10,100.

Only the Basque and Catalan regional forces currently publish the origin of suspects to the general public. However, an internal document obtained earlier this year showed that, across Spain as a whole, foreigners accounted for 51 percent of daily arrests (527 of 1,033). The share was higher in Madrid (64 percent), Catalonia (71.8 percent) and Murcia (60 percent), close to the Basque figure of 59 percent.

‘Imported crime’ – Foreigners commit 500% more rapes than Spaniards, 400% more murders, according to new study

Other research has shown that foreigners commit 500 percent more rapes than Spaniards and 400 percent more murders.

Prison data from the Basque Department of Justice for August 2026 shows 722 of the 1,967 inmates (36.7 percent) were foreign-born.

Among those under 25, the proportion rose to 65.9 percent, or two out of three.

The post Spain: 74% of sex-crime suspects are foreigners in Basque Country appeared first on Remix News.

One grape variety still grown in Spanish vineyards, hebén, has never gone out of cultivation for at least the last 1,100 years, according to the new study. That takes its lineage back to roughly the year 929, around when the Caliphate of Córdoba was proclaimed in southern Spain. Eleven centuries of unbroken agriculture, and the […]

On May 29, 1108, an Almoravid army crushed the forces of Alfonso VI of León and Castile outside the town of Uclés. Among the dead was Sancho Alfónsez, the king’s only son and heir, a loss so severe that medieval chroniclers ranked it among the worst Christian defeats of the entire Reconquista — the centuries-long […]

In the United States, the phrase Indian Wars conjures a specific set of images: the Battle of Little Bighorn, the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the forced marches of the Trail of Tears, the decades-long manhunt for Geronimo. All of it is generally remembered as a 19th-century story, closed out by the early […]

Deep inside Ojo Guareña, one of the largest cave systems in Europe, in the northern Spanish province of Burgos, archaeologists have spent eleven consecutive summers digging through a single Neanderthal layer. This year’s season, which wrapped up in late August 2026, pushed the excavated area of that layer — known as level 4D — to […]

An international team has re-examined close to a thousand human bones from the caves of Malalmuerzo, Carigüela, and Majolicas, applying direct radiocarbon dating and modern taphonomic analysis — the study of everything that happens to a bone between death and excavation — to material that was first pulled from the ground in the 1970s. The […]

The face is gone. Not chipped or worn away by time, but struck — possibly on purpose — until nothing remained of the features that once identified this life-size limestone head, carved roughly 2,400 years ago. What survived instead is the hairstyle: a braid gathered at the nape, with curls falling at the sides. For […]

After a group of migrant men were filmed parading around with a dead baby bottlenose dolphin in Ceuta, a polarized public debate has erupted and an environmental organization is pushing for Spanish prosecutors to investigate the case as a criminal offense.

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, videos recorded at Trampolín beach showed several people holding a dead baby bottlenose dolphin up as if it were a trophy. It was bleeding above one of its eyes. A Spanish influencer recorded the entire incident, saying they killed the dolphin.

“They killed a dolphin…. They say they killed it. Over there, as you can see, they kill protected species,” said the influencer.

JUST IN: "They killed a dolphin. They say they killed it. Over there, as you can see, they kill protected species."

Some leftists across X and other platforms are claiming these migrants are "allowed to fish."

However, killing a dolphin in Spain and the EU is illegal. It… https://t.co/AB9RSWLRKe pic.twitter.com/MXQEEXpTYM

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) September 4, 2026

The calf had been swimming close to shore in an area that has functioned for weeks as an informal settlement for the migrants who arrived in late July. Local reporting and an environmental group say the animal was taken from the water and later appeared dead or dying.

The Ceuta-based association Defense of Urban Trees, Biodiversity, and the Environment (DAUBMA) filed a complaint with the Civil Guard the following day. In its statement, the group said the calf arrived near shore alive and disoriented, was forcibly removed from the sea, and was struck on the head with a stick.

5 migrants tried to gang rape a 12-year-old girl as she screamed for help, said locals in Ceuta who stopped the attack.

"There were five against a 12-year-old girl. She was a little girl, they were taking off her pants. She was screaming, screaming, screaming. She was… pic.twitter.com/g97pj8phUR

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 25, 2026

DAUBMA submitted photographs and videos that, it said, show a bleeding wound near one eye and people attempting to wipe blood from the animal. The association asked for those visible in the footage to be identified, for an investigation to be opened, and for the case to be sent to Spain’s Environmental Prosecutor’s Office.

The association argued the events could constitute both animal cruelty resulting in death and an offense against a protected species.

BREAKING: A Moroccan migrant wearing only his underwear snuck into a sleeping Spanish woman's bed early in the morning in Ceuta.

"I live in the center on the fifth floor, mind you… He jumped onto my bedroom balcony. He came into my bedroom and got into my bed. I thought… pic.twitter.com/8cs7rasXSv

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 10, 2026

A beach-cleaning worker from the company Ecoservicios who was present told the group on the beach that they could not treat the animal as a catch and that environmental specialists should be called. After that intervention, the group tried to return the calf to the water. Some accounts say it already appeared lifeless.

Bottlenose dolphins are strictly protected under EU and Spanish law. Intentional capture, harm or killing of cetaceans is prohibited. Recreational fishing licenses issued in Ceuta cover only specified fish and cephalopods; dolphins are not among them. The incident therefore cannot be treated as a case of ordinary and legal fishing.

As of Sept. 4, no official results from an examination of the body, nor any arrests, had been made public.

A Change.org petition calling for identification of those involved also circulated quickly, according to El Faro Ceuta. The beach itself remains crowded with people living in makeshift migrant camp conditions, adding to the tension that has marked Ceuta since the July crossings. DAUBMA and the local marine-conservation group CECAM have used the episode to repeat earlier complaints about repeated case of mutilated dolphins and turtles stranded on the beach which they attribute in part to illegal drift nets. Those earlier cases are separate from Wednesday’s events but form the backdrop against which the association is now pressing authorities to treat this death as a criminal matter rather than an isolated disturbance.

The Civil Guard has the complaint, video evidence, and witness reports. It remains unclear whether an animal-cruelty or wildlife-protection case will be opened.

In the meantime, pressure is growing on the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with mass protests involving tens of thousands of Spaniards taking place in cities across the country over the weekend.

The post ‘Animal cruelty’ – Migrants accused of killing baby bottlenose dolphin on Ceuta beach by environmental association, prosecution urged appeared first on Remix News.

Galileo Galilei is remembered for pointing a simple two-lens tube at the sky and changing astronomy forever. What he is not remembered for is a four-lens telescope built more than a decade before historians thought such instruments existed — and yet that is exactly what a manuscript unearthed in Spain’s National Library now suggests he […]

The archaeological site of Mellaria, located in the municipality of Fuente Obejuna, in the province of Córdoba, continues to provide insights into the economic and daily life of this Roman city that flourished in the Conventus Cordubensis. Successive excavation campaigns have uncovered a varied collection of lead objects, including commercial tags, balance weights, and small […]

Morocco played an active role in the mass influx of migrants into Ceuta through an organized and pre-planned operation at the end of July, according to a Spanish police intelligence report released by the media. The government in Madrid denies the police intelligence report.

The report from the National Center for Immigration and Borders (CENIF), which has been leaked by the media, has caused a political storm in Spain. The report has since been handed to Audiencia Nacional judge María Tardón, who is investigating whether a crime against Spain’s territorial integrity occurred in connection with the events of July 30 and 31.

According to the document, the events were not a spontaneous result of smugglers’ activities or merely a social media campaign. The police estimate that the mass border crossing was planned and took place in several waves.

‘Our military is helpless’ – Migrant ambush that targeted military vehicles in Ceuta was pre-planned, claims National Police

Particular attention was paid to the activities of the Moroccan security services. According to the report, uniformed gendarmes and plainclothes officers allegedly “actively directed” migrants towards specific points, including the El Tarajal area. The document also points to the exceptional leniency of the Moroccan services and the lack of effective action to stop the influx of people.

Spanish police chief Francisco Pardo denied that the document attributed the operation to the Moroccan authorities. He stressed that the report does not identify a specific government or those responsible for causing the crisis.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska demanded an explanation from Pardo as to why he had not been informed about the document in advance. Pardo explained that the judge presiding over the case had ordered investigators to keep the report secret.

The information revealed is inconvenient for the Spanish government, which had previously rejected suggestions of Morocco’s involvement in the crisis and instead pointed, among other things, to a disinformation campaign on the internet. The opposition Popular Party accused Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet of concealing the role of the Moroccan services and demanded an explanation.

The post Spain: Morocco directly organized migrant invasion in Ceuta, according to leaked police document appeared first on Remix News.

A 27-year-old Moroccan construction worker in an irregular immigration situation in Spain was released from custody on Monday after being caught in the act of raping a 22-year-old woman on Valencia’s Malvarrosa beach. The duty judge cited the victim’s failure to appear in court to formalize a complaint as the reason for granting him provisional liberty — a Spanish procedural requirement that is relatively unusual compared with many other Western countries.

The incident took place around 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30, near the Akuarela night club. According to Spanish media reports drawing on police sources, the young woman had been in the sea and was lying on the sand when the man approached her. He initially made complimentary remarks before suddenly lunging at her, violently tearing off her dress and forcing penetrative sex while covering her mouth with his hand to stifle her screams. She resisted and cried for help.

Spain: Women flee Ceuta after 15 rapes recorded since end of July, 10-year-old sexually assaulted by 3 Moroccans

A passerby walking along the shoreline spotted the assault from a distance and alerted authorities. Four officers from the Valencia Local Police’s Security, Support and Prevention Unit (USAP), two of them in plain clothes, were already patrolling nearby, according to Spanish news outlet OKDiaro.

They heard the screams and arrived quickly. The suspect tried to flee across the sand. Officers caught him after a short chase. He resisted arrest and punched one officer several times in the face, causing injuries that required medical attention. The officers handcuffed him and handed him over to the National Police. The victim’s mobile phone, found nearby, was also recovered.

‘I feel violated’ – Spanish woman describes moment of terror after Moroccan nearly naked migrant snuck into her bed in Ceuta

Several reports noted the victim was in a state of intoxication, with one account describing her as having left a nearby nightclub for fresh air. Police later found her showing clear signs of alcohol consumption. She was taken to Hospital La Fe, where she received gynecological care and gave an initial statement to officers from the gender-violence victim assistance unit.

The man, identified as a 27-year-old Moroccan construction worker living in Spain without legal papers, was charged with sexual assault involving penetration and assault on an agent of authority. Authorities have confirmed his irregular status.

On Monday, the duty magistrate of the Violence Against Women section of Valencia’s Court of First Instance ordered his provisional release. The decision, taken in agreement with the public prosecutor, followed the police’s inability to locate the victim so she could appear and ratify a formal complaint.

Spain has some rather unusual rules in regards to this criminal charge. Under Article 191 of the Spanish Penal Code, a complaint from an adult victim is required to pursue sexual offense of this type. Other European nations, like France and Germany, do not require a victim to file a criminal complaint to move forward with criminal proceedings.

Remarkably, even in a case where the woman gave a police statement about the rape and the fact that officers caught the man in the middle of penetrative rape, authorities still released the suspect.

The court opened preliminary proceedings and instructed police to continue searching for the woman. Officials said her situation could change immediately if she is found and decides to proceed. The assault on the police officer is being handled separately and can still be pursued criminally.

Meanwhile, the case has drawn attention on social media due to the man being released within hours and the unique procedural requirements involved in the case.

The post Spain: Judge frees Moroccan illegal migrant who police officers caught raping a young woman on Valencia beach appeared first on Remix News.

A team of archaeologists from the University of Girona has identified several ceramic fragments in the Roman villa of Collet, located on the Girona coast, which belonged to a large vessel decorated with a handle ending in two snake heads. The piece, dated to the Augustan period (27 BC–14 AD), displays characteristics that link it […]