Ciudadanos leader, Albert Rivera, presenting candidates for the municipal and regional elections in Madrid. Photo: Pierre-Philippe Marcou

Radical centrists spook Spain's populists

Everyone is talking about Ciudadanos, the centrist political party nipping at the heels of Podemos. Here's why. READ

Photo of pills: Shutterstock

Couple arrested over smuggled erection pills

Police in Spain said on Friday they arrested an Indian woman and a Pakistani man suspected of peddling hundreds of thousands of illegal erectile dysfunction pills across Europe. READ

Photo: Callahan/Barcelona postcard: Shutterstock

Postcard from…Mark Zuckerberg

The CEO of Facebook was in Barcelona this week attending the Mobile World Congress. If he had written us a postcard it might have read something like this... READ

Albert Rivera, leader of Spanish political party Ciudadanos, poses with Little Orange, after being given the nickname by a Popular Party spokesman. Photo: Albert Rivera/Twitter

'Little orange' joke backfires for ruling PP

A joke by the spokesman for Spain’s ruling Popular Party backfired this week, as people took to social media in support of the leader of one of Spain’s new and fast growing parties, showing that Spain's political establishment has a long way to go when it comes to social media. READ

screengrab from Youtube video uploaded on change.org petition

Barking dogs land owners in the doghouse

A couple in southern Spain have been sentenced to 21 months in prison after neighbours complained that their dogs were barking too much. READ

Ronaldo pulling some moves in his new footwear ad. Screen grab: CR7 Footwear/YouTube.

Cringe: Ronaldo does dad dancing in new ad

Cristiano Ronaldo has shown off some fancy footwork of a different variety in an advertisement for his new line of shoes. READ

Photo: Jeff Hitchcock/Wikimedia Commons

Costa del Middle Earth? Spain plans Hobbit park

The city of Rincón de la Victoria is working to bring to life the imagery and characters of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved books, but the plans have raised copyright concerns. READ

Demonstration by PAH in Barcelona, May 2013.Photo: Lluis Gene / AFP

Nearly 100 families lose homes each day in Spain

Nearly 35,000 home foreclosures were carried out last year in Spain, or 95 each day, as families struggled to make mortgage payments despite a rebound in the economy, official data published Thursday showed. READ

A judge has ordered 40 people, including three former treasurers of the ruling Popular Party, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (pictured), to stand trial on corruption charges. Photo: Cristina Quic

Scandal: 40 to stand trial in Gürtel case

A Spanish judge on Thursday ordered 40 people, including three former treasurers of the ruling Popular Party, to stand trial over an alleged kickback scheme at the heart of the party. READ

The Local List

Photo of lots of ham in Barcelona: Shutterstock

Ten 'ham'-azing things you really need to know

Hog the limelight, ham it up or boar your companions senseless the next time you are being swined and dined, with The Local´s hamazing facts about jamon. READ

Features

Madonna with a dancer dressed as a bull at the Grammy Awards on February 8th. Photo Robyn Beck/AFP.

Matador Madonna in 'glamourizing gore' row

Animal rights activists have called on Madonna to stop 'glamourizing gore' by dressing as a bullfighter, as the US star announces a Barcelona date on her upcoming tour. READ

Anna Allen appearing on Spanish programme, Pasapalabra. Screen grab: YouTube/bogo xoer.

Exposed: actress who faked Oscar glory

The invented life of a Spanish actress has been revealed after Spanish media discovered she had not actually attended the Oscars, but used Photoshop to place herself on the red carpet. READ 3 comments

My Spanish Career

Samantha Chappell is an English primary school teacher in Oviedo

'There is joy in learning something new yourself'

Samantha Chappell took a sabbatical from a publishing job in London to spend a summer living in the northern city of Oviedo. She loved it so much that eight years later she is still there and has discovered her vocation. READ

Madrid Podemos rally

Photo: Pedro Armestre/AFP

Young and old, rich and poor join left-wing march

Not just young radicals: Spaniards of all ages and backgrounds came out in their thousands to support a left-wing political party currently making waves in Spain. The Local caught up with some of them to find out why they are such big fans of Podemos. READ

Opinion

Photo of a lady in Spanish glasses: Shutterstock

The five strangest things about Spaniards

After two years at the helm of The Local Spain, George Mills is moving on. Here he reflects on some of the most puzzling aspects of life in a country he believes is one of the greatest places to live in the world. READ 2 comments

More News

Photo of a man and a woman in the office: Shutterstock

Women lose out as gender pay gap widens

Spain's gender pay gap is increasing, with women on average earning 19.3 percent less than men and rarely getting promoted above them, figures released on Thursday show. READ

A thresher shark has been captured off the Catalan coast. Photo: Petter Lindgren/Wikimedia.

Rare shark captured off Barcelona coast

Fishermen off the coast of Barcelona have captured a shark, whose species in in danger of extinction. READ

Mobile phone use at airport. Photo: Shutterstock

Anger as EU keeps mobile roaming fees

A decision by EU governments not to end roaming mobile charges until the end of 2018 has prompted anger from consumer groups and EU politicians who had wanted the fees ditched this year. READ

Greece Bailout

Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, at a meeting on Wednesday. Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP

Juncker: 'No diabolical plan against Greece'

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday there was no "diabolical plan" by Spain and Portugal to topple Greece's new hard-left government after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused the countries of undermining debt talks with Brussels. READ

Pig heads, brains, intestines and stomach are just some of the parts exported to China. Photo of a pig's head

Porky China hogs Spain's innards exports

Pig stomach, brain and intestines are just some of the swine parts sold to China, which has become the biggest importer of Spanish pork off-cuts. READ

Photo of a barmaid serving beers :Shutterstock

Buxom barmaid job ad sparks outrage

A bar in northern Spain sparked outrage with a sexist job ad for "big breasted waitresses". READ

Photo: Fernando Pascullo/Wikimedia Commons

Basques wish German tourists 'willkommen'

The Basque Country is trying to tempt German holidaymakers away from the Costas to visit their region instead with a new targeted tourism campaign. READ

Firefighters row along a flooded street in Tudela, along the river Ebro. Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

Spanish PM to mop up in flood area

Mariano Rajoy will visit the areas flooded along the River Ebro on Friday, as the Spanish government announce a €60 million aid package for the cleanup operation. READ

Ukraine's former finance minister has been arrested in the Spanish coastal town of Altea. Photo of Altea:Shutterstock

Spain arrests Ukraine's ex-finance minister

Spanish police on Wednesday detained Ukraine's former finance minister Yuri Kolobov who is wanted by Kiev for alleged fraud and theft of public funds, a police source said. READ

Photo: Pedro Armestre/AFP

Spain and Portugal could be EU energy saviours

The EU took a step Wednesday to reduce its energy dependence, especially on Russia, seeking instead to improve connections between renewable energy giants Spain and Portugal, and the rest of Europe. READ

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From our other editions:

Vienna's Stephansdom. Photo: APA/Fohringer

Vienna is 'best city in world for quality of life'

The Austrian capital has been dubbed the city with the best quality of life in the world for expats for the second year in a row. READ

Dmitry Rybolovlev with unidentified woman at Monaco football game last year. Photo: AFP

Swiss businessman charged in art fraud case

A prominent Swiss businessman was on Saturday charged in connection with an alleged art fraud targeting Russian oligarch and football club owner Dmitry Rybolovlev. READ

Edathy in court on Monday. Photo: DPA

Court lets child porn MP Edathy off with fine

A court has decided to fine former MP Sebastian Edathy €5,000 after he admitted on Monday to downloading child pornography images and video onto his official parliamentary laptop. READ

Mumbly McGees Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen from the film Mænd og Høns. Photo: Rolf Konow

Not even the Danes can understand Danish

Danish actors mumble so badly that Danes can't understand what they are saying, forcing movie theatres to run subtitles. READ

Paris is pricey but it's not all bad news. Photo: AFP

Paris is pricey, but is that good news for Parisians?

Paris has once again been named the world’s second most expensive city in a global study this week, meaning it's pricier than the likes of Oslo, Zurich and Sydney. But those behind the report say it's not all bad news for people living in the French capital. READ

Plans are underway to bring an Islamic University to Lecce, in Puglia. Photo: Lecce photo: Shutterstock

How Islamic college plan has split Italian town

Plans to build an Islamic university for 5,000 students in a small town in Italy's heel will help change attitudes towards Muslims, organizers say. But many locals are afraid that it will change the character of Lecce - and are asking who's paying for it. READ

Norwegian Chairman Bjørn Kise grilled by press ahead of Monday's emergency board meeting. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB scanpix

Norwegian Air pilots braced for bankrupcty

Norway’s pilot unions were braced on Monday for Norwegian Air Shuttle to bankrupt its local subsidiary in a strategy they decried as “outrageous union-busting”. READ

Photo: TT

Malmö school 'too dangerous' for students

A secondary school in Malmö has been closed after the teachers' union declared that it is too dangerous a place for students and teachers to attend due to widespread violence and criminality. READ