Spain and Egypt sign circular migration deal
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has met with the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al Sisi to sign a bilateral agreement which includes a deal on circular migration.
The programme seeks to hire people from the North African country to come to work in Spain for a certain period of time, in order to promote "safe migration that is extremely respectful of workers' rights".
Sánchez recently promoted the concept of circular migration and hiring migrants in their countries as a way of avoiding irregular migration, especially that involving scores of people trying to reach the Canaries by sea in insecure boats called pateras, on a perilous journey which has seen thousands die.
Those who do make it to Spain are often exploited by employers who know that their undocumented status means their working rights are not monitored.
READ ALSO: Spain's PM promises to scrap 'unnecessary bureaucracy' for foreigners
Police find drug tunnel between Spanish enclave and Morocco
Spanish police have discovered a tunnel running from Moroccan territory to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta as part of an operation targeting suspected trafficking of hashish.
The police stated the underground gallery, several dozen metres long and 12 metres deep, was uncovered during a search of a warehouse in an industrial zone of Ceuta, a small territory located on Morocco's northern Mediterranean coast opposite mainland Spain.
"It is a narrow construction, reinforced with wood which could have been used to transport drugs between Morocco and Spain", said a statement from the Civil Guard police force.
Spanish media reported the tunnel as measuring at least 50 metres long, running just inside Moroccan territory.
It could, however, prove even longer, with authorities yet to determine where it ends.
The discovery came during an operation targeting a number of criminal gangs accused of smuggling hashish into Spain in lorries.
The police said the crackdown, dubbed Operation Hades, has led to the arrest of 14 people over the past three weeks, including two policemen, and the discovery of 6,000 kilos of the drug.
Spain court seizes passport of ex-minister in fraud probe
Spain's Supreme Court said on Thursday that it had confiscated the passport of a former transport minister, as it investigates graft allegations against him which have embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
José Luis Ábalos, who was transport minister between 2018 and 2021, is accused of taking part in a corruption ring involving contracts for the purchase of masks and sanitary equipment between March and June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court launched a probe in November into the former member of SÁnchez's inner circle for corruption, syphoning off funds and misusing his position.
READ ALSO: What is Spain's Koldo corruption case?
On Thursday, in addition to seizing his passport, the court said it also ordered Ábalos to report to the authorities every two weeks.
The measures are needed to prevent the former minister from being able to "evade the course of justice" in view of "the particular seriousness of the criminal offences attributed to him", the court said in a statement.
The scandal is highly sensitive politically for Sánchez, who has been accused by the right-wing opposition of having been in the know and of having covered up the whole affair.
Ábalos, whom SÁnchez removed from office in July 2021, was expelled from the Socialist Party in February when the affair broke. He is still in parliament as an independent lawmaker.
Spain's ex-football boss to appeal forced kiss conviction: lawyer
Spain's former football chief Luis Rubiales will appeal his conviction for sexual assault over the forced kiss he gave star forward Jenni Hermoso, his lawyer Olga Tubau Martinez said Thursday.
"Mr. Rubiales has decided to appeal the ruling," she told AFP after the verdict in the trial.
Prosecutors had sought a prison term of two-and-a-half years for Rubiales -- one year for sexual assault and 18 months for coercion -- for having allegedly pressured the player to downplay the incident afterwards.
The judge at Spain's High Court found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault over the kiss and fined him €10,800 ($11,300), but spared him a prison sentence.
Rubiales was also banned from getting within a radius of 200 metres of Hermoso and from communicating with her for a period of one year.
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