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PM Rajoy: "I am very confident". Photo: Gerard Julien / AFP

Spain 'very confident' deficit targets will be met in face of EU scepticism

Spain's government on Tuesday vowed the country would meet its targets for lowering the deficit of its recovering public finances, in the face of scepticism from EU authorities.

Startups

Photo: Cabify

Spanish taxi-booking app Cabify secures funding for expansion

The Madrid-based Uber-style taxi app has secured funding from Japanese behemoth Rakuten to expand Spainish and Latin-American operations.

Catalan independence debate

The Catalan Minister of Education Irene Rigau (C) leaving court on Monday. Photo: Lluis Gene/AFP

Catalan separatists in court over staging 'illegal' independence vote

Spanish judges on Tuesday started questioning Catalan officials charged with breaking the law by holding a vote last year on their contested drive for independence from Spain.

Pablo Isla. Photo: Miguel Riopa/AFP

Spanish CEO rockets up corporate leader rankings to world number 3

Pablo Isla of Spanish fashion giant Inditex has risen to the rank of third most successful CEO in the world according to the Harvard Business Review.

Photo: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP

Spanish royals celebrate national day military parade amid protests

As Spain celebrated its national day on Monday, leftists, including the mayor of Barcelona, protested, calling it a "celebration of a genocide".

The Local list

How many lives does a Spanish cat have? Photo:Richard / Flickr

Unlucky for some: Ten of the strangest Spanish superstitions

Did you know that Tuesday 13th in Spain is considered unlucky? Read on for the lowdown on all the strangest Spanish superstitions.

Hervé Falciani: decides against returning to Switzerland. Photo: AFP

Court case against Spain-based HSBC whistleblower adjourned

A trial in Switzerland has been adjourned against Hervé Falciani, the former IT worker from the HSBC Private Bank in Geneva who leaked data about thousands of suspected tax evaders.

Photo: Gerard Julien/AFP

Penelope Cruz to make directorial debut with film on childhood illness

Oscar-winning Spanish actor Penelope Cruz is moving behind the camera to direct a documentary on childhood leukaemia.

Football focus

Photo: Genya Savilov / AFP

Spain send Ukraine to Euro 2016 play-offs despite missing penalty

Spain ended Ukraine's hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2016 as Mario Gaspar's solitary goal on his international debut handed the European Champions a 1-0 win in Kiev on Monday.

Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy enjoys an absolute majority in parliament with his conservative Popular Party but that could change after December's national elections. Photo: AFP

Brussels hands bullish Spain official warning over deficit targets

Spain was on Monday reprimanded by The European Commission which ordered the country to submit a new draft budget with lower deficit estimates to avoid violating the bloc's tough spending rules, a blow for the government ahead of Spanish elections.

Features

My Spanish career

$'It's possible to find great talent for a fraction of the cost of elsewhere'$

Thomas Evans (right) is the founder of Start Ups Made in Spain. Screen grab: Startups Made in Spain/YouTube

'It's possible to find great talent for a fraction of the cost of elsewhere'

The Local talks to Thomas Evans, the founder of Start Ups Made in Spain, about why Spain is becoming attractive for investors.

The Local list

The San Sebastian International Film Festival runs from September 18th and 26th. Photo: Gari Garaialde

Ten things you need to know about Spain's San Sebastián Film Festival

The Local counts down ten essential facts about the most important film festival in the Spanish speaking world, as it gets underway in the Basque seaside city.

Archive photo of a Spanish classroom. Photo: Cristina Quicler / AFP.

Wanted: Family with two kids to save village school in eastern Spain

A village in rural Valencia is offering a house and job to a family with at least two kids that is willing to move in to save the local school from shutting its doors for good.

The Local list

A Spanish Red Cross volunteer comforts a refugee after the death of his friend in at Tarifa's harbour. Photo: Marcos Moreno /AFP.

Six simple ways to do your bit and help refugees if you live in Spain

While Spain faces pressure to take a bigger share of the hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving at Europe's borders, The Local takes a look at ways that individuals can make a difference.

There is even an art to tasting the grape itself. Photo: AFP

Grape Escape: Discovering the art of winemaking in the vineyards of La Rioja

There's more to wine than tasting it as Sophia Smith Galer discovered on a trip to the rustic vineyards of the Rioja region.

More news

Pope Francis has called for "zero tolerance" of sexual abuse by clerics. Photo: AFP

Vatican closes probe into sex abuse at Spanish school run by Opus Dei

The Vatican has closed a probe into alleged sexual abuse of a boy at a school in northern Spain which had prompted intervention by Pope Francis, the school said on Monday.

Albert Rivera, leader of Ciudadanos. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP

Spanish party Ciudadanos strives to occupy the political centre

Spanish party Ciudadanos has no seats in the national parliament, but that could change dramatically in December's general election as recent polls indicate an upswing in support.

Refugee crisis

Members of the Spanish Guardia Civil sitting atop a border fence separating Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Photo: Angela Rios/AFP

30 migrants reach north African Spanish enclave from Morocco

Some 30 African migrants succeeded on Saturday in crossing a barbed wire fence into the Spanish enclave of Melilla in north Africa, authorities said.

Photo: AFP

Picasso's morose masterpiece with a hidden secret to go up for auction

A rare Pablo Picasso painting from the collection of US tycoon Bill Koch that will be sold on November 5th was shown in London for the first time on Friday.

Opinion

Spain banned shared taxi service Uber. Photo: Quique Garcia / AFP

Why Spain needs to learn to value the sharing economy

The country that invented tapas understands the concept of sharing. But baking that idea into Spain’s regulatory policies is proving to be more difficult, writes Gary Shapiro.

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From our other editions

The Local List

Hallstatt. Breathe... and relax. Photo: Peperoni/Flickr

How living in Austria will change your lifestyle

Whether for better or worse, many foreigners find that their habits alter after living in Austria for some time. Here, a few veteran expats share their experiences of how Austrian culture has changed their lifestyles.

Beznau I is due to resume service in February. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

World’s oldest nuclear reactor ‘like Emmental’

Swiss reactor Beznau I, the world's oldest nuclear power plant, is riddled with so many holes it resembles the Swiss cheese Emmental, Swiss media reported on Thursday.

The fossilized horse at a 2013 exhibition. Photo: DPA

Horse was pregnant for 48 million years

A 48-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant horse and fetus found south of Frankfurt is the oldest of its kind known to science and contains unusually well-preserved evidence of tissue from the womb, researchers said Wednesday.

Tesla's luxury models will be the hardest hit by the tax phase-in. Photo: Kim Haugaard/Scanpix

Tesla to fight Denmark's new tax on electric cars

The government has defended its move to gradually phase out tax breaks on electric cars as a way to make things fairer for car owners, but the maker of Denmark's most popular electric model has slammed the plan as anti-competitive and a death knell for the industry.