Spain wants social media hate speech removed faster, second body found near Barcelona after heavy rain, boyfriend of Madrid’s president to face trial and more news on Tuesday September 23rd.
Spain wants social media hate speech removed faster
The Spanish government has called on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube and other platforms to remove hateful comments to be taken down far more swiftly, as expressed to representatives from the social media platforms in a meeting held on Monday.
Unsurprisingly, nobody from X (now run by Elon Musk) was present at the official gathering called after a “worrying” rise in hate speech since the race riots in Murcia in July.
Research carried out by Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion found that only 35 percent of racist comments are removed from social media, and of these only a lowly 4 percent are deleted within the first 24 hours.
This is a “crucial period to prevent posts from going viral and minimise the impact of hate speech ,” the Ministry explains in a press release.
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Second body found near Barcelona after heavy rain
Spanish firefighters on Monday found a second body swept away by a swollen river near Barcelona after torrential weekend rainfall drenched the northeastern region of Catalonia.
Catalan firefighters had on Sunday recovered the body of a child in the town of Sant Pere de Riudebitlles while searching for two people whose car was swept away by the Mediona river.
A 100-strong search team that included divers, drones, a helicopter and sniffer dogs found a second unidentified body on Monday in nearby Sant Quinti de Mediona “that could correspond” to the missing person, the fire service said.
The storms had sparked dozens of cancellations and delays at Barcelona airport, Spain’s second busiest, and temporarily halted some commuter rail services due to landslides and fallen trees.
In neighbouring France’s southeast, the rain caused power cuts to around 10,000 homes and led Marseille airport to reroute around a dozen flights.
Spanish researchers estimate 60,000 deaths in Europe due to heat in 2024
“Europe experienced an exceptionally deadly summer in 2024 with more than 60,000 heat-related deaths, bringing the total burden over the past three summers to more than 181,000,” said the study in the journal Nature Medicine.
The researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) reached this figure by analysing mortality data in regions across 32 European countries that covered a population of 539 million.
The death toll during last year’s summer — which was the hottest in recorded history for both Europe and the world — was estimated to be 62,775.
This was nearly 25 percent higher than the 50,798 estimated for 2023’s summer, according to the study’s newly revised figures. It remained below 2022’s toll of 67,873.
However, there are several sources of uncertainty for this kind of research, which means these are not “ultimate and precise” numbers, lead study author Tomas Janos of ISGlobal told AFP.
Taking this uncertainty into account, the 2024 study gave a wider estimate range of between 35,00 to 85,000 deaths.
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Boyfriend of Madrid’s president to face trial
A Spanish court on Monday sent to trial for alleged tax fraud the partner of the Madrid region’s influential conservative leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
A Madrid court ruled that González Amador should face a trial for tax fraud and forgery. Prosecutors have said they will seek a jail term of three years and nine months.
Last year, Spanish media reported, based on leaked correspondence, that Gonzalez Amador’s legal team proposed a plea deal in which he would admit the alleged offences to avoid a trial and jail.
Díaz Ayuso, a darling of the Spanish right, accuses the Socialists of orchestrating the leak to damage her.
Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí wins Women’s Ballon d’Or
Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmatí won the Women’s Ballon d’Or at an awards ceremony in Paris on Monday, the third consecutive year she has taken the prize.
Bonmati edged out Mariona Caldentey, her teammate in the Spain side beaten on penalties by England in the Women’s Euro 2025 final in July.
The 27-year-old midfielder also lost the Women’s Champions League final with her club last season, at the hands of Caldentey’s Arsenal.
Bonmatí was named player of the tournament at the Euros, despite not starting either of Spain’s first two matches as she recovered from a bout of viral meningitis.
With additional reporting by The Local Spain’s editor Alex Dunham
