Case of Brits killed in hit-and-run lifts lid on human trafficking ring
On November 16th, two UK nationals were killed in a hit-and-run incident in Murcia's La Manga area, when a vehicle carrying a speedboat with a trailer blocked a motorway, causing a pileup involving seven vehicles and injuring 11 other people.
The subsequent investigation into the fatal traffic accident led police to locate the vehicle in question. It had been stolen and had its number plate changed by a criminal gang which specialised in trafficking people into Spain with speedboats.
Seventeen members have since been arrested, and cocaine, hashish and firearms have been seized at the gang's hideout.
Mass killing threat sees schools in Valencia evacuated
Numerous schools and high schools in the Valencian municipalities of Chiva, Yátova, Siete Aguas and Buñol suspended classes on Thursday after receiving a threat via email in which an individual warned that he was going to kill "as many people as possible" .
Spanish police evacuated hundreds of pupils and have already arrested the author of the threat, who allegedly belongs to the translational paedophile terrorist group 764.
The FBI and local US law enforcement agencies have already warned the public about the rise of this online terrorist group.
Spanish police have reported that the man in question is "obsessed with harming minors" and "claimed that he would attack schools with weapons and bombs".
Higher electricity prices drive up Spanish inflation
Spanish inflation increased in February to its highest level since June and drifted further above the eurozone target as electricity prices rose, preliminary official data showed on Thursday.
Consumer prices in the European Union's fourth-largest economy rose 3.0 percent on an annual basis, up from 2.9 percent in January, the National Statistics Institute said.
The increase was "mainly" attributable to more expensive electricity costs, which had fallen in February 2024, it added.
February's figure was the highest since June, when annual inflation also hit 3.0 percent, and marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase.
The European Central Bank, which has a longstanding inflation target of 2.0 percent for the eurozone, cut interest rates in January after an overall slowdown in inflation in recent months.
Spain's Catholic Church says abuse victim fund started
Spain's Catholic Church, long criticised for lacking transparency about its handling of sexual abuse committed on its watch, on Thursday said its contested scheme to compensate victims had started.
Pressure on the Spanish Church to compensate victims amplified after a damning 2023 report estimated that Roman Catholic clergy and lay people sexually abused more than 400,000 minors since 1940.
The Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), which groups the country's leading bishops, presented its own compensation plan last year but without providing details on when or how it would be implemented.
CEE secretary general Francisco Cesar García Magán told reporters the plan "is working... cases presented by congregations, by dioceses or directly by victims are being handled".
But he was unable to reveal how much had been paid out to victims, saying the commission responsible for handling the claims "works independently".
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