Spain opens terror trial for 2023 machete church attacks, rents in Spain rise by 16.18 percent in September and more news on Tuesday October 7th.
Spain opens terror trial for 2023 machete church attacks
A Spanish court on Monday opened a terrorism trial against a Moroccan man suspected of killing a church official in machete attacks on two churches in 2023 that horrified the country.
Prosecutors are seeking 50 years in jail for Yassine Kanjaa, charged with terrorist murder for allegedly killing a sacristan and with attempted terrorist murder after the attacks in the southern port city of Algeciras.
On January 25, 2023, the suspect “took a large machete” from his home in Algeciras and punched a 20-year-old student in the street, prosecutors said in their 2024 indictment.
He then allegedly entered the San Isidro church during a mass, badly wounding the officiating 75-year-old priest in the neck with the machete.
Prosecutors charge that Kanjaa then moved to a second church, chased a sacristan and killed him with machete blows to the head and neck. The victim was married and a father of two children.
Police arrested Kanjaa after he unsuccessfully attempted to enter a third church that was closed.
In the months before the attack, the suspect had “undergone a process of radicalisation, taking on board the most stringent Islamic theories which uphold its incompatibility with the principles and values of other religions and the need to act to eliminate them”, the prosecutors wrote.
Although Kanjaa has been diagnosed with psychotic disorders and “probable” schizophrenia, the public prosecutor’s office said “the impairment of his intellectual and volitional faculties, although severe, was not complete”.
Kanjaa, who had no criminal record before the attacks, had entered Spain irregularly and faced expulsion proceedings.
Advertisement
Spain’s indebted Telefonica to cut 6,000 jobs
Debt-laden Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica plans to slash 6,000 jobs as it shifts from Latin America to core European markets, media reported on Monday, drawing a denial from the company.
Business daily Expansion said Telefonica aimed to cut “at least 6,000” posts as part of its major restructuring plan aimed at boosting profitability, which would affect “different subsidiaries” of the group.
A Telefonica spokeswoman told AFP they were “working on several analyses in all departments of the company, but no social plan was envisaged for the moment”.
Telefonica, which employs 100,000 people worldwide, is streamlining operations to focus on its four core markets: Brazil, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The company has already quit several countries, including Argentina and Peru, and has initiated divestments in Colombia, Uruguay and Ecuador, with Latin American write-downs contributing to losses in the first half of this year.
The firm has nonetheless reaffirmed its 2025 financial targets, including a rise in revenue, cash generation like that of last year and a shareholder remuneration of 0.30 euros per share.
Spanish govt to request register of anti-abortion medical ‘objectors’
The Spanish government has asked regional authorities to create a register of anti-abortion medical “objectors” in order to make the legal right compatible with the right to abortion, which is also recognised by Spanish law.
In Spain, doctors have a right to object or opt-out of abortion procedures. This comes as abortion has reemerged as a politically divisive issue in Spain, with the government pledging to make abortion a constitutional right in response to the centre-right People’s Party making claims about “post-abortion syndrome” without any scientific evidence.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has sent a formal request to the presidents of Madrid, Asturias, Aragón and the Balearic Islands to urgently adopt measures to implement a register of objectors. If in three months the regions do not respond to this requirement, the legal mechanisms will be activated to demand compliance, according to sources in La Moncloa.
Advertisement
Average Spanish rental price rises 16.18% in September
The average price of rental housing in Spain in September 2025 was €13.79 per m/2, an increase of 16.18 percent year-on-year.
It also represents a monthly increase of 0.73 percent and quarterly growth of 2.99 percent, according to data from Pisos.com.
The study also revealed that the most expensive regions to live in for rent in September were Madrid (€21.47 m/2), the Balearic Islands (€18.5) and Catalonia (€15.97), while the cheapest rents were in La Rioja (€5.81), Castilla y León (€6.33) and Extremadura (€6.49).
With additional reporting by AFP.
