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Esperanza Aguirre celebrates PP win in November 2011. Photo: Dominique Faget/AFP

Spain's Iron Lady is back and she means business

Two and half years after announcing that she was retiring from active politics, Esperanza Aguirre, the Spanish answer to Margaret Thatcher, is back and she is already making trouble READ

Could Esperanza Aguirre be Spain's answer to Margaret Thatcher? Photos: AFP

Could this be Spain's own Maggie Thatcher?

She is blonde, a conservative hardliner and has forged ahead in a sphere dominated by men, The Local gives you ten reasons why Esperanza Aguirre is Spain's answer to the Iron Lady. READ

DPA

Could Netflix be on its way to Spain?

Rumour has it that the streaming service could be coming to Spain as soon as this Autumn as major TV manufacturers prepare their products for compatibility. READ

General election

Pablo Iglesias, leader of Podemos, who top Spanish voter intentions according to a new poll. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP.

Spanish politics now a four horse race:poll

A new poll shows that bipartisan politics is firmly a thing of the past, as Spain’s two new political parties viewed as real contenders. READ

My Spanish Career

Stefano Modestini believes opportunity should be seized.

'It's never too late to get work experience abroad'

The Local talked to Stefano Modestini, creator of Goeurope.es, a website whose goal is to help young - and not so young - people find work experience abroad. READ

File photo of dolphins and trainer: Shutterstock

Dolphin trainer accused of abuse found dead

A dolphin trainer accused of mistreating animals in Mallorca has been found dead in an apparent suicide, with colleagues telling The Local that he was hounded to his death. READ

Football focus

Gibraltar's Liam Walker (R) goes head to head with Germany's Karim Bellarab (L). Photo: Christof Stache/AFP.

Scot to lead Gibraltar into clash with Scotland

Little known Scotsman David Wilson will lead Gibraltar out as their interim head coach at Hampden Park in their Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland later this month. READ

Club Atletico Osasuna players celebrate after scoring during a match on January 26. Photo: Rafa Rivas / AFP

Ex-Osasuna president remanded in custody

Former Osasuna president Miguel Archanco has been remanded in custody with bail set at €500,000 ($548,000) on Saturday after being arrested on accusations of match-fixing and misappropriation of funds. READ

Arco de la Victoria, Madrid. Photo: Gerard Julien / AFP

Franco symbols live on 40 years after his death

Four decades after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Spain has not completely turned the page on his dictatorship as dozens of monuments honouring his regime are still scattered across the country. READ

Barcelona's El-Prat airport. Photo: AFP

Isis recruiter held at Barcelona airport

A Moroccan woman was arrested at a Spanish airport Saturday on suspicion of recruiting European and North African women to join the Islamic State group, authorities said. 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 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

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: 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

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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

Zurich by night: costly but high quality of life, too. Photo: Switzerland Tourism

Franc makes Zurich and Geneva 'costliest cities'

UPDATED: Residents of Zurich and Geneva already know their cities are costly places to live — but now they have more proof. READ

Deputy Green Bundestag leader Katja Dörner and drug policy spokesman Harald Terbe. Photo: DPA

Cannabis lovers greet Green legalization plan

Pro-legalization campaigners welcomed a draft law presented by the Green party on Wednesday that would allow adults to consume cannabis under strict conditions. 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

Two Norwegian aircraft parked at Oslo Airport on Sunday evening. Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold/NTB scanpix

Norwegian cancels all flights in Scandinavia

Norwegian Air Shuttle is to cancel all flights in Norway, Sweden and Denmark on Wednesday, leaving some 35,000 passengers stranded, in a dramatic escalation of its ongoing dispute with pilots. READ

Ukraine crisis

Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallström met Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, in Kiev in November last year. Photo: Gustav Sjöholm/TT

Russia blames Sweden for Ukraine crisis

Russia’s embassy in Sweden has pointed the finger of blame at its host country for causing Ukraine's woes, in a furious response to comments made about the crisis by Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. READ