MADRID (TIP): The bodies of two migrants were found on a beach in southeastern Spain after 132 other people arrived in two boats on June 9, a government official said. José María Martín, a central government official in the city of Almeríastold reporters that the two died while trying to swim to the coast. Martín said that they were victims of criminal human smuggling gangs. The two boats carrying migrants are believed to have set sail from Morocco. Spain’s state news agency said the operators had forced the people who died to leave their boat. There were no details on their nationalities. Thousands of migrants from the northwest and sub-Saharan African countries try to reach Spain in overloaded boats each year. Many die in the attempt. (AFP)
Tag: Madrid
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Indian-origin Sikh boy asked to remove turban during football match in Spain
MADRID (TIP): In Spain, a Sikh boy was asked by a referee to remove his turban during a football match. The whole situation was “humiliating” for 15-year-old Gurpreet Singh. The reason given to Gurpreet Singh from Arratia C team was that wearing “a hat” is prohibited as per the game rules.
However, in all previous games, referees had allowed him to wear his turban.
A post by Sikhexpo on Instagram read: “15-year-old Gurpreet Singh from Spain was told to remove his Patka during a football (soccer) match between Arratia C and a local rival Padura de Arrigorriaga. “The Arratia players interceded to explain that it is an element linked to his religion, with which he has always played. The referee insisted on his criteria. And both the players and the Arratia coach kept their pulse: they decided to leave the field of play as a sign of solidarity.”
According to a local newspaper:
The referee justified his decision by alluding to the fact that the 15-year-old was wearing “a hat”, and explained to the players that it is prohibited according to the regulations. Before this match, however, other referees allowed the youngster to play and have avoided that interpretation.
This is how Pedro Ormazabal, president of Arratia, explains it: “He has been playing normally for at least five years, even in his first year as cadets and so far, this season. We have never had the slightest problem. It has been something that has been carried out with absolute normality. The first year we warned that he played like that, and everyone understood it.
In the past day, however, the situation was even “humiliating” for the youngster. “It was the first minutes of the second half and, as soon as he left, the referee turned to him and urged him to take off his turban. In front of the whole world: of all the families, of the players… A matter like this cannot be left to the interpretation of the referees because what happened in Arrigorriaga could happen”, indicates Ormazabal.
Fortunately for Gurpreet, his companions did not hesitate to side with him decisively. “The kids were the first to support him. The coach was also very clear. They decided to withdraw. Afterwards, he received the support of the rival team, especially through the coach, and from the families that had attended the game,” adds the president of the Arratian club.
This Saturday, however, he returns to the competition. The Biscayan club is confident that the painful situation that occurred at the Padura facilities will not be repeated. And they are clear that they will not leave Gurpreet alone.”
According to a FIFA ruling, men football players can wear turbans during matches. -
Loud explosion rocks central Madrid; rescue teams to site
Madrid (TIP): Madrid’s emergency services say rescue teams, firefighters and police are working in a central area of the Spanish capital following an explosion that witnesses described as “extremely loud”. Videos and images shared on social media showed a tower of smoke coming out from a building and rubble scattered in a central street of Madrid. Spanish public broadcaster TVE said the explosion took place in a building near a nursing home. Leire Reparaz, who lives near the Puerto de Toledo, a local landmark, told The Associated Press that she heard a loud explosion. “We didn’t know where the sound came from. We all thought it was from the school. We went up the stairs to the top of our building and we could see the structure of the building and lots of grey smoke,” the 24-year-old Madrid resident said. AP
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Four migrants found dead on boat in Tenerife
Madrid (TIP): Four migrants were found dead and three were treated for acute sunburn after their boat reached the Canary island of Tenerife on Tuesday, Spanish coastguards said.
A total of 47 migrants were on the boat.
The number of undocumented migrants arriving in Spain’s Canary Islands was more than eight times higher in 2020 than in 2019, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and other industries in north and sub-Saharan Africa pushing many more to embark on this dangerous journey.
Hundreds died or went missing last year making the crossing to the Spanish islands in the Atlantic Ocean, often in rickety, overcrowded boats with unreliable engines, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has said. —Reuters -
Spain to channel $1.8 bn in EU rescue funds to ‘green’ hydrogen
Madrid (TIP): Spain will spend 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) from a European economic recovery fund over the next three years in developing “green” hydrogen production, which will use renewable power, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday. With its sunny plains, windy hillsides and gas infrastructure, Spain is keen to lead production of hydrogen using renewable resources, a process seen as key to meeting carbon emissions targets provided costs can be brought down.
Hydrogen, which is now mostly produced from fossil fuels, can be made from water using electrolysis but the process is expensive and only avoids emissions if renewable power is used. Madrid has set a target to encourage 8.9 billion euros ($10.5 billion) of investment, mainly from the private sector, to build electrolysers with a total 4 gigawatt capacity by 2030. This would give Spain 10 per cent of the EU’s hydrogen production target. Spanish energy firm Iberdrola has applied for EU funds to expand a project spanning two sites in Spain it says will need investment worth 1.8 billion euros and could create 4,000 jobs. Energy Minister Teresa Ribera called on Thursday for people working in green hydrogen supply chain, from researchers to potential end users, to submit details of their projects. Reuters