WorldcrunchStay updated with comprehensive news on Spain from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on Spanish politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Madrid, Barcelona, and events like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
Few artistic disciplines have as many women as leading figures as flamenco does. Madrid-based media Ethic takes a look at some of the most representative names — from Carmen Amaya to Rosalía — of this cultural expression and their contribution to the history of music.
While it has long been used to control rain, cloud seeding is now attracting growing interest in some countries, particularly China. But scientists don’t agree on either its effectiveness or its own possible harm to the environmental.
Edmundo Gonzales, the opposition candidate who should have been declared the winner of the July election in Venezuela, has gone into exile in Spain. For the time being, President Maduro has won the day, even if he is denounced by the Latin American democratic left, notably Lula in Brazil.
A house surrounded by an immaculate green lawn conquered the post-war United States and has become a Western ideal. But climate change is prompting homeowners — as well as institutions such as botanical gardens — to create yards that are adapted to the local climate and biodiversity.
More and more teachers are finding a successful side career on social media as influencers. But commenting on exam results, dancing with students and even sharing personal stories about pupils raises ethical and legal questions.
The golf industry claims it generates 225 million euros each year in Murcia, or 0.8% of the southeastern Spanish region’s GDP, which is also the driest in Spain.
Increasingly extreme temperatures are forcing summertime cultural events and festivals, from concerts to Spain’s traditional castell human towers, to adapt to a new climate reality.
Year after year, the Camino trails leading to Santiago de Compostela have been setting new records for visitor numbers — and are now among France’s most popular walking routes. Behind this craze, a small ecosystem has grown up to serve today’s pilgrims.
Daniel Esteve, the founder of Desokupa, a company specializing in the extrajudicial eviction of squatters, has become an important player in Spain’s far-right politics. This investigation by Laura Galaup and Dani Domínguez for Spain’s La Marea shows how Esteve built his image and profitable company on fake news and hate speech.
In the darkest corners of gender violence there is “violencia vicaria”, or vicarious violence, aimed at one person (usually inside a family) to hurt another. It is a devastating shadow over mothers and children. Between silence and invisibility, this form of abuse leads to tragedies and leaves deep scars — and calls for urgent and greater recognition and protection for victims.
While tourism is a boon for the Spanish economy and has seen record numbers since the COVID-19 pandemic — more than 85 million visitors in 2023 — locals say the current model is untenable, and are taking to the streets to demand limits be set.
The adult toy industry generates hundreds of millions of tons of waste a year. To counter their environmental impact, brands are now producing more eco-friendly erotic accessories using biodegradable materials and green practices throughout the production chain.
European sports provide some feel-good stories of young people of color, children of migrant families, who have risen to the top of their disciplines. But these are far from fairytales as Europe still considers non-white or non-national bodies a hindrance and a potential danger, writes Italy’s Black writer and activist Igiaba Scego in daily La Stampa.
It is not not gray-haired men who feel uncomfortable with feminism, but rather Gen Z boys. So what is causing young men, witnesses of #MeToo, to take sides against feminism?
A recent study has shown that Tina, a Neanderthal child with Down’s syndrome, lived to the age of six because her group took care of her, placing the documented origin of altruism in the Homo genus between 270,000 and 146,000 years ago. Altruism is not a right, it is a human condition, something every human heart has to conquer.
Zionism shares with Nazism the claims of building what they call National Socialism, though the nationalism always takes over. There are lessons in the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, and the current politics of the far right in Europe.
Technology is often blamed for our growing lack of focus. But our modern lifestyles — stress, a work system based on competitiveness and even our diet — also impair our ability to pay attention. Is this cause for concern or a natural consequence of our evolution? And what, if anything, can be done about it?
Spain, Norway, Ireland and Slovenia’s formal recognition of Palestine as a state highlights that Arab countries, many of which recognized Palestine in 1988, have not built upon that step.
In his latest book, Spanish meteorologist and author José Miguel Viñas traces the history of painting, observing the skies of artists from different times and latitudes. Walking through a Madrid museum, he explains different types of clouds and historical climatological events.
Gardening, cooking sweets or binding books are tasks associated with monasteries. But today, a growing number of Spain’s contemplative communities have turned to activities such as gourmet products, tourist rentals through digital platforms, astrotourism and even sushi making to achieve economic sustainability.
Pollution and climate change have prompted some cities to convert into more sustainable and liveable spaces. But these same policies can widen social inequality. How can cities fix this paradox?
The story of food is a story of coexistence with nature and of memory. A publishing trend focuses on how the food we eat impacts the planet, and how we can find new recipes and ways of consuming food that are more climate conscious.
Presented at Madrid’s Matadero cultural center until late July, “Climate Fitness, Rituals of Adaptability” features five works that invite visitors to question the social and economic structures that have led to the climate crisis and consider other possible futures.
Social networks are full of false gurus who claim to be experts in mental health and well-being. Do we need new laws against these kinds of charlatans to restore credibility to professional psychology?
An investigation reveals that the company does not own any of the three renewable power plants it claims to operate in Spain — as well as a scheme allowing Amazon to dodge full regulatory oversight of its projects.
The debate over the potential dangers of energy drinks, especially for young people, was revived recently in Spain, following a teenager’s death in Madrid and the Galicia region’s ban on sales to minors.
A new alternative education model is emerging online, competing unintentionally with the traditional school institution. Are we prepared for the change?
Faced with the challenges of population growth and climate change, the development of new technologies such as precision fermentation or cultured meat are paving the way to an era of new food.
Spain is leading the way on European recognition of the state of Palestine. Ireland, Malta and Slovenia have also signed a joint statement asserting readiness to recognize the warring region. Will other European Union countries follow suit?
A debate about the Spanish entry for this year’s Eurovision prompts one woman writer to challenge the benefits of re-appropriating the word “slut.”
Emilio Santiago, senior scientist at the CSIC and author of the book Contra El Mito Del Colapso Ecológico (Against The Myth Of The Ecological Collapse), believes that downplaying the importance of the climate crisis is as suicidal as letting yourself be carried away by paralyzing fear. Ecological collapse, he warns, is counterproductive to the transformation of our economic model.
The number of pirogues leaving the African coast to reach the Canary Islands more than doubled in 2023. Among them are many Senegalese fishermen forced to leave because of the scarcity of fish resources that trawlers, some of them foreign, come to fish in their waters.
The competition dreamed up by Spain’s former soccer star Gerard Piqué is developing at breakneck speed in Spain, and beyond. Thanks to a fun format and rules borrowed from a number of other sports, it is attracting a younger audience, which is something advertisers are keen to see.
Bookshops’ shelves display an increasing number of books with a smaller number of pages. Data seems to confirm that books with more than 400 pages are increasingly becoming a rarity. Why are shorter books being published, and what does that tell us about how we engage in our free time?
“To Pamplona we will go” people sing during the festival of San Fermín, which is just one of the many popular fiestas celebrated in Spain throughout the year. Let’s take a trip through the country following the most highlighted dates of the festive calendar.
Spain’s education ministry found that more than 9% of secondary school students have felt harassed or cyberbullied by their classmates at some point.
Born in Madrid but working around the world, art collective Boa Mistura explores creativity as a powerful force to inspire dialogue and transform urban environments into canvases of hope.
The black-and-white view of the world which separates people into loyalists and traitors is incompatible with the compromises and moderation that make a liberal democracy tick, and which make society free and livable.
The first obstacle to ending gender-based violence is naming it. But too many obstacles remain which keep women suffering in dangerous relationships. Spanish publication Ethic looks at the state of affairs around gender-based violence in the country.
One of the collateral damages of the climate emergency that we may not think about is how flavors will be altered. We will notice the tastes of wine and beer, coffee, cheese and even seafood are already beginning to change …