Spain

14 Aug 2021; MEMO: Spain began deporting hundreds of Moroccan youths on Friday who crossed into the Madrid-controlled city of Ceuta in May, after reaching an agreement with Rabat. This comes as an indication of easing tensions between the two sides following heated disputes.

Spanish local radio station La Serre quoted sources in Ceuta stating that the minors are already being transported to Morocco in small groups.

MADRID, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Spain on Friday started sending hundreds of Moroccan youths, who in May crossed into its North African enclave of Ceuta, back to Morocco after reaching an agreement with Rabat, Spanish media reported, signalling an improvement in ties after a long row.

La Ser radio cited sources in Ceuta as saying the minors were already being transported to Morocco in small groups using vans from a sports complex converted into a makeshift reception centre.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Spanish Ministry of Defence has ruled out modifying its defence strategy with regard to the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, after learning that Morocco has agreed to purchase military equipment from Turkey.

Recently, press reports stated that Rabat is negotiating with Turkey to buy 22 reconnaissance and attack helicopter T-129 at a cost of approximately $1.4 billion, in addition to 12 Turkish drones to monitor the borders of Ceuta and Melilla.

MADRID (AP) — Struggling to control his emotions, Lionel Messi said Sunday in his farewell to Barcelona that he wasn’t prepared to leave the club.

Messi began crying even before he started speaking at his farewell ceremony at the Camp Nou Stadium, and had to stop talking to compose himself few times.

“This is very hard for me after so many years, after being here my entire life,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared.”

MADRID (AP) — Keeping Lionel Messi would be risky for Barcelona and not even the greatest player in the world was worth jeopardizing the club’s future, president Joan Laporta said Friday.

Laporta blamed Barcelona’s previous administration for the club’s dire financial situation, which kept it from fitting Messi’s new contract within the Spanish league’s fair play regulations.

He said he hoped the league would have been more flexible with its rules but understood that it couldn’t make an exception even if that meant losing Messi.

30 July 2021; MEMO: The Supreme Court of Spain yesterday closed the investigation into Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Polisario), who had been charged with committing war crimes and genocide. The court said it did not have sufficient evidence to convict Ghali.

MADRID, Jul 13 (NNN-XINHUA) – Seven new cabinet members, named by Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, on Saturday, were sworn-in in Madrid, capital of Spain, yesterday.

Sanchez announced the reshuffle, with several key positions changing hands.

First Deputy Prime Minister, Carmen Calvo, was sacked, along with several ministers, including the minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, minister of justice, and minister of education, and vocational training.

BARCELONA, June 25 (Reuters) - Prison has only strengthened the political convictions of Catalan civil disobedience advocate Jordi Cuixart, one of the nine separatist leaders pardoned by the Spanish government earlier this week, he told Reuters two days after his release.

Cuixart, 46, is overjoyed to have unlimited time with his two sons, aged one and four, as he could only see them once every two weeks while behind bars. But, were any of the various appeals against the pardons to succeed, he would go back to jail with his head held high. 

MADRID (AP) — John McAfee, the creator of McAfee antivirus software, was found dead in his jail cell near Barcelona in an apparent suicide Wednesday, hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the United States to face tax charges punishable by decades in prison, authorities said.

SANT JOAN DE VILATORRADA, Spain, June 23 (Reuters) - The nine Catalan separatist leaders who were convicted for their role in a failed 2017 bid for the region's independence from Spain walked out of prison on Wednesday after the central government granted them pardons.

Carme Forcadell, former speaker of the Catalan parliament, was first to leave the Barcelona city jail, followed by others released from the Lledoners prison near the regional capital, , Reuters footage showed.