Spain’s birth rate up for first time in a decade
After ten consecutive years of declining birth rates in Spain, in 2024 more babies were born for the first time than the previous year.
Births totalled 322,034, 0.43 percent more than in 2023, according to provisional data by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Even though the increase is minimal (1,378 more) and birth rates are still below annual deaths, Spain has managed to break the trend of a continued decline in birth rates for the past ten years.
Bullfighter’s biography exposes another sex scandal involving Spain’s former king
The posthumous memoirs of Spanish bullfighter Jaime Ostos have reportedly lifted the lid on another sex scandal involving Spain’s emeritus king Juan Carlos I.
According to journalist Martín Bianchi, a chapter of the yet-to-be released book discloses how Ostos and a young Juan Carlos took part in a foursome with two female stars in the 1960s, when the monarch was still prince.
The biography is based on conversations between the bullfighter and his widow María Ángeles Grajal before his death.
In 2024, compromising photos of the emeritus king with former Spanish TV star Barbara Rey were leaked to a Dutch magazine.
Juan Carlos I, who abdicated in 2014 after a series of scandals, is well-known to have had many mistresses despite his marriage to Queen Sofía in 1962.
Spanish scientists develop first exoskeleton for children
Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC) has presented the first results of an ambitious R&D project aimed at helping children with walking impairments.
They are in fact the first set of paediatric exoskeletons for use both at home and outdoors, each with four motors that mimic natural muscle function.
The 32 devices currently available in Spain are being tested on children in public hospitals and in some specialised schools.
But the hope is that they will soon be made available to minors with mobility difficulties and that they can accompany them throughout their development, as the exoskeletons can be adapted from ages 2 to 17.
Spain accuses smugglers of killing baby and migrants during sea crossing
Spanish police have arrested seven alleged people smugglers accused of killing eight migrants, including a baby, during a sea crossing from Senegal to the Canary Islands.
The police said they began investigating after a vessel docked at the island of El Hierro in December with 224 people aboard, including some who had suffered serious injuries during an altercation on the boat.
Migrants from the vessel said that another eight passengers "allegedly died at the hands of the captains who were detained," the police statement added.
Among the victims was a 14-month-old Gambian baby travelling with his mother and uncle, as well as a 50-year-old Guinean man and his 18-year-old son.
Police said they were still working to identify three of the deceased and did not indicate if they had recovered the bodies.
The seven suspects were being held in pre-trial detention after their arrest on the island of Tenerife and on mainland Spain.
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