Author: Frank Deux

What impact will the fall of Bashar al-Assad have on ongoing proceedings in France against former Syrian regime officials? According to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), which is also responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, “24 proceedings concerning crimes attributed to the [Syrian] regime or its affiliated forces, such as militias, like the National Defense Forces,” were listed in France as of December 1. Not all these procedures were launched following complaints: Some were initiated by the PNAT, notably after reports from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, following the refusal…

Béatrice Zavarro was sworn in in 1996 and still wears the same dress, doing what she can to mend her worn-in collar or patched fabric after 28 years of service. She is nearing the end of a trial of a lifetime: that of the dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was unconscious. Zavarro is defending Dominique Pelicot, the husband who drugged his wife and invited the strangers into their bedroom to commit the abuses. Until this months-long trial, the lawyer was best known for having defended Christine Deviers-Joncour, sentenced in 2003 to 18 months’ imprisonment for…

The fines continue to arrive for concerts at the Santiago Bernabéu. This time it was Manuel Carrasco’s turn. During his interview at The Revolt issued this Wednesday night, the singer has shown three fines from the Madrid City Council “for exceeding the noise levels permitted at the Santiago Bernabéu.” David Broncano, the presenter, has read them to the audience. The first is 144,000 euros, the second is 126,000 and the third is 129,000. Together they add up to 399,000. Broncano began to sing and the audience followed him: “Let’s go for the boat, oe!”Manuel Carrasco seems to be, so far,…

Felipe VI reminds Sánchez and Meloni that the relationship “flourishes with governments”  The first day of the King and Queen’s State visit to Italy was a work in progress for weeks. The Royal Family and the Italian Government wanted to emphasise the importance of this visit by the Head of State and his wife to a country that is not simply one more on the list of trips of the first Spanish institution. This was demonstrated by the most institutional day in the Italian capital. And this was what Felipe VI wanted to emphasise in the three speeches he gave throughout the…

Liverpool kept up their unbeaten run with a 1-0 victory over Girona on Tuesday. Real Madrid beat Atalanta 3-2 away despite Kylian Mbappe’s injury. Both Paris Saint Germain and Aston Villa won their matches. 

Judge Santiago Pedraz entering the headquarters of the National Court, last February.Juan Carlos Hidalgo (EFE)Santiago Pedraz, the judge of the National Court investigating one of the sons of the president of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema for kidnapping and torture of four opponents, has refused to extend to Interpol the evidence obtained during the three years of judicial investigation, evidence that this organization claims to process the international arrest warrants (OID) issued by its court for terrorism crimes.Interpol, an organization that brings together 196 countries, has sent the magistrate a request for more information, to which EL PAÍS has had…

“Turull has described the pact of a motion of censure with the PP as ‘fantasy’ and that is a reasonable statement, but there are indirect ways” Read The siege of Sánchez

Syrians who had been forced to flee to refugee camps or neighbouring countries started to make their way back to their home country.

In November, the Valencia Provincial Council elected Marcial Díaz as manager of the Provincial Firefighters Consortium. It has not been even a year since the Valencia Court ratified a conviction against him and three others convicted of profiting from aid to the countryside between 2009 and 2013 by falsifying invoices to justify the destination of said subsidies. The appointment comes at a time of reconstruction of the areas affected by dana. Díaz and three other convicts avoided sentences of more than ten months in prison in exchange for a fine that they have already paid by reaching an agreement. The…

The Royal Family, which denies disagreements with the Executive, assumes the decision that the Kings will not travel to Paris after learning of the unrest in Foreign Affairs. Spain’s institutional absence on Saturday at the reopening of Notre Dame puts the spotlight back on the relationship between the Government and the Royal Family. The non-attendance of the King and Queen and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, invited to the event, has moved the tectonic faults of institutional relations. The government and the PSOE focused on Zarzuela as being responsible for the Spanish void in a cathedral where Donald Trump,…

International diplomats reacted cautiously Monday to the prospect of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group taking control in Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. HTS has its roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda and is proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation by Western governments. Aaron Y. Zelin, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says that HTS’ governance in Idlib was not a “liberal democracy by any stretch of the imagination”. HTS’ record in Idlib “not a liberal democracy by any stretch of the imagination”: analyst

France’s largest internet operator Orange was, on Tuesday, December 10, slapped with a €50 million ($53 million) fine for sending unsolicited adverts resembling emails to customers. Orange is the successor to France’s monopoly telephone operator and remains the leading telecommunications firm, with a popular email service. “Internet access and email service provider Orange used its email service to introduce advertisements” that resembled emails in customers’ message feeds, said Louis Dutheillet de Lamothe, deputy head of France’s privacy watchdog CNIL. Advertisers in France are required to obtain permission before sending material to a person’s email address, and the CNIL considered Orange’s…

An Argentine court, on Tuesday, December 10, dismissed rape charges against two French international rugby players accused of assaulting a woman after a match in the country in July. A judge in Mendoza dismissed the case on the advice of the prosecution, which called for the charges to be dropped over inconsistencies in the woman’s version of events.

The clash between the Community and the Madrid City Council (PP) with the Government of Spain (PSOE and Sumar) will experience a rare truce this Wednesday: the regional executive will give the green light to sign with the Ministry of Universities the María Goyri Program, which will finance 1,091 teaching positions thanks to an investment shared by the State (169.8 million, 60%) and Madrid (112.3).

The general director of the NGO demands that school cafeterias be free “to fight against childhood inequality” At the beginning of this school year, the NGO Educo staged a protest in front of several schools with empty fridges to demand that all children have free access to the school canteen. Its general director, Pilar Orenes, demands that the next General State Budget include a budget of 468 million euros to reinforce scholarships as a previous step towards achieving universality. Pilar Orenes (Educo): “One million minors in poverty in Spain are left without a scholarship for school meals”

French President Emmanuel Macron aims to name a new prime minister for France “within 48 hours,” sources close to him Tuesday, December 10, told Agence France-Presse.

A French prosecutor demanded the filmmaker Christophe Ruggia be put under house arrest for two years over sexually assaulting an actor when she was a child on Tuesday, December 10. Actress Adèle Haaenel, his accuser, stormed out of the landmark trial after he denied the abuse. Haenel, 35, has accused Ruggia, 59, of assaulting her in the early 2000s when she was between 12 and 14 and he was in his late 30s, allegations he has called “pure lies.” The prosecutor requested two years detention with an electronic bracelet plus a three-year suspended sentence against the director. The verdict is…

The guarantee committee of Más Madrid has decided to annul the decision of the party leadership to dismiss Loreto Arenillas as a member of the party’s Regional Table as a result of the Iñigo Errejón case, according to a resolution of December 10 to which EL PAÍS has had access. A decision that the management accepts, since it understands that, in reality, it had never been dismissed from that conclave. Arenillas, in any case, remains outside the executive or coordinating team, and does not recover the coordination portfolio either.On October 25, after it was learned that Errejón had left politics…

43% of workers present mismatches between what they studied and the training they need for their job.  In the last decade, the number of Spanish university graduates has skyrocketed. But the fact that more people are going to university does not mean that they know more than before. The average reading performance of university graduates today is 271 points, 10 less than 10 years ago. This result is one of the lowest in developed countries. A Spanish university graduate has a lower level than a high school graduate from Finland (288), Sweden (283), the Netherlands (274) or Japan (274). The…

European Countries Halt Syrian Asylum Applications After Assad’s Fall Several European countries, including Austria, Britain, Germany, Sweden, and Norway, announced on Monday the suspension of Syrian asylum applications. The decision comes in the wake of rebels overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia after 13 years of civil war. This move impacts tens of thousands of pending claims and reflects the rapidly evolving political landscape in Syria. It also highlights the influence of resurgent right-wing parties across Europe pushing for stricter immigration controls. Jump to section:

The agreement that germinated in Brussels, flourishes in Switzerland but withers in Madrid, according to Junts. Carles Puigdemont assures that the terms of the pact that, 13 months ago, he himself negotiated in the Belgian capital with emissaries of the PSOE do not progress adequately because they run aground when they reach the Government’s table. In the press conference he offered this Monday to take stock of that commitment, the president of Junts per Catalunya reproached Pedro Sánchez for the fact that the thread of promises from that time had become a skein of non-compliance, despite the fact that the…

EL MUNDO reveals the images of the house that the businessman investigated in the ‘Koldo case’ agreed to sell for 750,000 euros Read Seven windows in the middle of Castellana: this was the apartment that Aldama signed for Ábalos

Donald Trump saw another cabinet pick face strong opposition on Monday after dozens of Nobel prize laureates “strongly” urged the US Senate on Monday to deny Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, former presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr., deriding in an  open letter Kennedy’s “lack of credentials” and anti-vaccine views. Nobel laureates sign letter slamming RFK Jr. as Trump's health secretary

The Kings close the year of trips abroad with a state visit to Italy. This Tuesday, the Monarch and his wife will travel to Rome, the capital of the country, where they will be received, first of all, by the Spanish community, and then by the president of the republic, Sergio Mattarella and the rest of the State authorities, including Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. The Kings will leave Madrid on Tuesday at noon and fly to Rome, from where on Thursday they will travel to Naples. There, the Federico II University will appoint a doctor for the sake of honor…

“Calm” and “tranquility” are the words that are repeated in the presidential complex and in Ferraz before the Junts movement Read The Government digests Puigdemont’s order: "negotiate with discretion" transfers in immigration and financing