Catalonia still without commuter trains on Thursday, Nato chief backs Trump over Spain defence spending and more news on Thursday January 22nd.
Nato head backs Trump over Spain defence spending
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte again defended Donald Trump on Wednesday in Davos, despite the US threat to Greenland that has the North Atlantic Alliance and all of Europe on edge.
“Many of you, I know, criticise Donald Trump, but eight major economies in Europe, including Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Canada, would not have reached 2 percent growth by 2025 , when they were only at 1.5 percent at the beginning of the year,” Rutte said.
No way, without Donald Trump, this would never have happened,” he added.
Rutte also told those gathered at Davos that Greenland “is not the main problem” for Western security.
“The Ukrainians don’t have enough interceptors; what they need is no longer available in Europe,” the the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands argued.
“This should be our number one priority. Then we can discuss other issues, including Greenland, but Ukraine should come first”.
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Spain to hold tribute for train disaster victims on January 31st
Spain will hold a national tribute for the victims of the collision of two high-speed trains that killed at least 43 people, a regional government official said Wednesday.
An event will be held on January 31 in the southern city of Huelva, the destination of one of the trains, Andalusia’s regional chief Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla wrote on X.
Catalonia still without commuter trains on Thursday
Catalonia’s Rodalies commuter rail trains have not been able to resume services on Thursday, as announced on Wednesday, due to the refusal of train drivers to restart train following the accident in Gelida (Barcelona), in which a train driver died during training.
Amidst public outrage, the Rodalies commuter rail service has been suspended “due to operational reasons” since 6.30 am this Thursday, Renfe announced in a social media post.
This is, in reality, a kind of unofficial strike, aside from the official two to three-day stoppage that unions representing train drivers in Spain announced on Thursday.
READ MORE: Catalonia still without commuter trains on Thursday as Spain’s train drivers rebel
Bad weather persists across much of Spain
Fourteen regions are under weather warnings on Thursday for snow, rain, strong wind and/or maritime storms. Andalusia, Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and the Basque Country are at orange level (significant danger) due to rough seas, with waves of up to 8 metres in the Galician community.
The Balearic Islands, Catalonia, the Valencian Community have yellow alerts due to strong wind and rough seas; and Castilla-La Mancha due to wind and snowfall.
Castilla y León and Madrid have yellow alerts for snowfall; Murcia and Navarra due to strong winds and the Canary Islands due to maritime storms.
