Summary: Supporters of Catalan independence on Monday cut off major roads, blocked the AVE high-speed rail link and organized street marches on the first anniversary of an unauthorized independence referendum and a police crackdown that made headlines across the world last year. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Thursday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended multilateralism, diversity and legal immigration, underscoring that Spain is one of the few European countries without an openly xenophobic party sitting in parliament. “Spain has suffered the blows of the economic crisis like few other countries in Europe. Yet despite this, the vast majority of Spanish society has never turned its back on the dramatic reality of immigration,” said Sánchez. THOUSANDS of British passengers have been left stranded as another low-cost ai rline has ceased trading a year on from the collapse of Monarch. As rumours beg an to circulate about its demise on Monday, it was claimed that Primera Air was still trading selling tickets on its website. SPANISH MEDIA reports that 660 African migrants were rescued off the Spanish coast over the weekend. Reports claim that, on Saturday alone, 342 migrants were rescued from a total of seven boats which originally departed from Africa’s northern coast. On Sunday, 318 migrants were picked up, including one small boat containing twelve men. 2018 has been a particularly busy year for Spain’s coastguard with the Salvamento Maritimo reporting record numbers of incoming migrants on a regular basis. The estimated total of migrants that have arrived to Spain this year stands at 35,653 according to the International Organisation for Migration. The number of migrants that have entered Europe nations, including Spain, via the Mediterranean Sea this year is estimated to be around 81,207. POLICE have found a body in Algeciras on the south coast of Spain just hours aft er a shooting and possible kidnapping on Spain’s Costa del on Tuesday. The ma n’s body had suffered stab wounds but has not yet been identified. And now Natio nal Police are investigating if two incidents are related. A MASS brawl that broke out on the doorstep of one of Benidorm’s most well- known drinking holes, popular with British holidaymakers, on Saturday night has gone viral on social media. In the footage posted by an account called Bodman on Twitter, bouncers are shown involved in a brawl with drinkers outside the Benidorm bar. THE number of suspected child abuse reported to police by Alicante’s health depa rtments has risen by 87 per cent in two years. Official government statistics show t hat in the last year, medical personnel in the province alerted the authorities to 27 0 occasions where they were concerned there may have been mistreatment of children in their homes. As Theresa May was fighting to control deepening Brexit divisions in her party at t he Conservative conference, top Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested th at British planes may not be able to land in the EU if Brexit goes wrong. A knifeman was arrested by police yesterday evening following a stabbing on the L ondon Overground. One person was knifed in the attack at Hackney Central statio n in East London, his condition is not thought to be life-threatening...... It came at the same time as three people were injured in a stabbing in Birmingham - the latest example of violent crime plaguing Britain's streets. More than 18,000 people have signed a petition demanding that no public money be spent on Princess Eugenie's imminent wedding. The anti-monarchy group Re public is behind the online petition, which insists that taxpayers should not be helping to fund the nuptials of a non-working royal, and demands that all costs be met by the royal family.
