Ryanair accused of having fake helplines in Spain
Spanish watchdog FACUA-Consumers in Action has filed a complaint against Ryanair with Spain's Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 for violating the law by using fake telephone lines for its customer service.
The association has allegedly verified that the numbers 900 751 463 and 872 580 512 offered by the Irish airline as contact numbers for telephone support do not allow you to speak to a person at any time.
The calls, regardless of the reason for which they are made, are reportedly carried out through an automated system that provides basic information to the user until, finally, it directs them to carry out the procedures through the website or the mobile app and the call is cut off.
When the user insists several times, the system itself detects that previous calls have already been made and, instead of facilitating access to an agent or providing an alternative way of personalised attention, it insists again that the user should go to the Ryanair website.
FACUA has provided the Consumer Affairs Department with evidence of calls made demonstrating the impossibility of speaking to a person through the telephone lines available to users.
Spanish law prohibits using answering machines as the sole means of customer service.
Trump claims Spain will be 'ruined' by Ceuta crisis
In his umpteenth attack on the Sánchez government, US President Donald Trump has referred to Spain as a "ruined country," alluding to the crisis in Ceuta, after stating that the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco "is sad to watch."
"Spain will be a ruined country. I've had my own problems with Spain because it doesn't behave very well with respect to NATO. They don't pay what they should be paying," the US leader stated in an interview with the British far-right channel GB News, in which he referred to the Ceuta crisis.
Trump to GBNEWS: "Spain will be a ruined country... What's happening there is very sad to watch... Thousands of people just bum rushing your country. I've never seen anything like it." pic.twitter.com/wnIlI5Ddvh
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) September 3, 2026
"What's happening there is very sad to see," he said of the situation in the autonomous city, adding that the UK has "its own problems" but "doesn't have thousands of people bum-rushing your country like that." "I've never seen anything like it," Trump concluded.
Five migrants die trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands
Five African migrants died on the perilous Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, Spanish rescuers said on Thursday, but an NGO warned dozens more may have perished.
Spain's maritime rescue service Salvamento Marítimo said one of its boats rescued 44 men of sub-Saharan origin from a boat drifting 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria on Wednesday night.
"Adverse weather conditions" initially prevented the retrieval of five corpses that remained on board before it was taken to the port of Arguineguín, the service said on social media.
But a spokeswoman of Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno, said on X that 83 migrants had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left Gambia 27 days ago.
The NGO compiles its data from the families of migrants and the official statistics of those rescued. Its tolls are often higher than the authorities' figures.
A Salvamento Marítimo spokeswoman told AFP that the other alleged victims "have not been found or rescued" and that the alternative death toll could not be confirmed.
It was unclear if more resources would be deployed to search for the other victims, she added.
The Canary Islands are one of the main gateways into Europe for migrants fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution alongside Mediterranean routes to Italy and Greece.
Real Madrid player cleared in sex video scandal
Real Madrid's Raul Asencio was cleared Thursday by a Spanish court of distributing an explicit video involving a minor, shortly after coach Jose Mourinho said the defender faced club disciplinary action over a drink-driving conviction.
In a statement released on Thursday, a court in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, declared that "no offence" had been committed by the 23-year-old following the withdrawal of charges by the two complainants, to whom he had previously apologised.
Asencio was charged in 2025, alongside three former teammates from Real Madrid's youth academy, for his alleged involvement in the recording and unauthorised distribution of sexually explicit videos involving two young women aged 16 and 18.
The three other players, Ferrán Ruiz, Juan Rodríguez and Andrés García, were found not guilty of distributing intimate footage without consent but were given a one-year suspended prison sentence for "child pornography" and must attend a sexual "re-education" course.
Asencio, who was not present at the time of the incidents, was charged with sharing the videos with a third party.
The drink-driving incident also occurred in Gran Canaria.
The centre-back was more than three times over the legal limit on August 16th.
Asencio was convicted by a court in San Bartolome de Tirajana, a village in Gran Canaria, and fined €14,400 ($16,700), while his driving licence was suspended for eight months.
With additional reporting by AFP.
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