9 in 10 new residents on the padrón in Marbella are foreign
Marbella's population grew by 6,830 in 2025 to a total of 173,420 with city hall registration (the padrón).
While there were 109,710 Spanish residents at the start of 2025, a year later that number had risen to 110,214, an increase of only 504.
Meanwhile, the foreign population increased by 6,326 to reach 63,206, representing 36.45 percent of the total population, according to municipal data.
Telegram founder slams Spain PM over under-16s social media ban
Telegram founder Pavel Durov on Wednesday joined fellow tech tycoon Elon Musk in slamming Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over his "dangerous" plan to ban social media for under-16s.
The Socialist leader announced a series of measures in Dubai on Tuesday to protect Spanish minors from harmful social media content such as violence and pornography.
As well as the ban, Sánchez pledged to change Spanish law to make the chief executives of tech platforms "face criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content".
Durov spoke of "dangerous new regulations that threaten your internet freedoms" in a Wednesday post on his Telegram messaging app, which has an estimated billion users and is known for its privacy features.
"These measures could turn Spain into a surveillance state under the guise of 'protection'," he wrote, saying mass data collection and censorship would result from their enforcement.
Sánchez responded on X with his own spin on a quote attributed to Miguel de Cervantes's 17th-century classic novel "Don Quixote" that embraces criticism as a sign of doing the right thing.
"Let the techno-oligarchs bark, Sancho, it's a sign that we are riding," Sánchez wrote.
Spanish government fails to find agreement with railway unions and strike goes ahead
A meeting on Wednesday held between Spain's Transport Minister, Óscar Puente, and bosses from the main railway unions ended without agreement, meaning that strike action planned for the 9th, 10th and 11th February will go ahead.
However, both parties have agreed to continue negotiations in an attempt to resolve the dispute.
Puente met with bosses from the UGT, CC.OO. and the Train Drivers' Union (SEMAF), at the Ministry's headquarters with the aim of avoiding the strike, which would affect medium and long-distance, commuter and freight services across Spain.
Spanish opposition leader makes gaffe on Aragón campaign trail… eight times
The leader of the Spanish opposition and likely next Prime Minister of Spain, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, had an unfortunate slip of the tongue while on the campaign trail for upcoming regional elections in Aragón this week.
The Aragonese elections, held on Sunday 8th February, are viewed as something of a bellwether region for Spanish politics. Feijóo, leader of the PP, was accompanying PP candidate Jorge Azcón as he visited a local business in Binéfar, a town in Huesca.
However, Feijóo had some trouble naming the company, repeating the wrong name eight times, despite claiming to have "in-depth knowledge" of the business.
"Established in the province of Huesca for over 60 years," Feijóo explained, before calling it ‘Brifín’, when the name was actually Fribin, just as it was written on a wall behind him, only to repeat the mistake eight times throughout his speech.
With additional reporting from Alex Dunham and AFP.
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