Spain expands list of illnesses that qualify workers for early retirement, 4.1 magnitude earthquake felt in Tenerife and Gran Canaria and more news on Friday February 27th.
4.1 magnitude earthquake felt in Tenerife and Gran Canaria
Spain’s National Geographic Institute (IGN) recorded an earthquake between Tenerife and Gran Canaria on Thursday morning with a magnitude of 4.1 , which was felt by locals on the two biggest Canary Islands.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres. IGN sources have stressed that the terremoto (earthquake) is not related to the 6,000 seismic tremors recorded in recent days at El Teide, the huge dormant volcano located in the centre of Tenerife.
The last time Mount Teide erupted was in 1909, but there have been several volcanic eruptions in the Atlantic archipelago since, most recently in La Palma in 2021.
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Opposition leader calls for return of ex-king in self-imposed exile
The leader of Spain’s People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, stated on Thursday that it would be “desirable” for Juan Carlos I to “return to Spain” now that the documents related to the 1981 coup attempt have been declassified, since he was “the one who stopped the coup.”
The former king has resided in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) since 2020, where he moved due to pressure from investigations into his finances.
“The declassification of the 23F documents should reconcile Spaniards with those who stopped the coup,” the centre-right PP leader wrote on his X account after 167 documents relating to the attempted coup were declassified this Wednesday.
READ ALSO: Spain to declassify documents on failed 1981 coup attempt
The documents made public on Wednesday show Juan Carlos I’s commitment to the constitutional order and how military personnel sympathetic to the coup attributed its failure to him and saw him as a “target to be defeated” if further uprisings occurred.
According to Feijóo, although the emeritus king “has acknowledged undeniable errors in his career”, he should spend “the last stage of his life with dignity and in his country” , since he was “the one who contributed to sustaining our democracy and our freedoms at a key moment”.
Spain expands list of illnesses that qualify workers for early retirement
Spain’s Social Security system will expand the number of medical conditions that allow workers with a disability of 45 percent or more to retire early. The measure, announced by Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, could potentially benefit some 50,000 people across Spain.
The new pathologies are spina bifida, Parkinson’s, Steinert’s disease, Huntington’s disease, stage 5 chronic kidney disease, systemic sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, corticobasal degeneration, multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy and variant transthyretin amyloidosis.
Spain prosecutors seek prison for fan over racist abuse of Mbappé
Spanish public prosecutors are seeking a one-year prison sentence and a €2,880 ($3,400) fine for a man who mimicked a monkey after Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé scored in a match last year.
Prosecutors said the accused, “acting with evident contempt for the player’s skin colour,” shouted and made “denigrating gestures” targeting Mbappe during a match against Real Oviedo in August.
The gestures, including “simulating primate movements and sounds,” were clearly audible to spectators, prosecutors said in a statement.
It was the first incident targeting the French star since his arrival at Real Madrid in 2024, although racist abuse remains common in La Liga.
Mbappe’s Brazilian teammate Vinícius Junior has frequently been targeted with racist abuse since joining the club in 2018 and is at the centre of a new controversy.
With additional reporting by AFP.
