Latest news with #EmmaPinedo
The Star
11-07-2025
- General
- The Star
Spanish court orders cleanup of Galician pig farm pollution in landmark ruling
MADRID (Reuters) -The top court in Spain's northwestern Galicia region has ordered that authorities stamp out pollution linked to intensive pig farming in a landmark case highlighting decades-long environmental mismanagement, a court document showed on Friday. Spain, Europe's largest pork producer, houses about a third of its pig farms in Galicia. The court found that for some 20,000 residents of the A Limia area, the fundamental right to living in a healthy environment had been violated. The ruling, condemning both state and regional authorities, marks the first time a European court has addressed the impact of large-scale livestock farming on water sources and residents' human rights, according to environmental groups ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth Spain, which supported the case. It could pave the way for other communities suffering from similar issues to demand justice and protection from authorities, campaigners say. A Limia residents say life has become "unfeasible" due to the proliferation of intensive pig and poultry farms, which brought unbearable odours and contamination from chemicals such as nitrates that seeped into groundwater and water reservoirs. The court stated that regional authorities and the national body overseeing water management failed to act despite legal obligations and awareness of the issues. Government and regional officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ruling can be appealed at Spain's Supreme Court. The court in Galicia ordered that the Galician regional government and the Mino-Sil Hydrographic Confederation take immediate measures to eliminate odours and environmental degradation around the As Conchas water reservoir. The ruling also mandates authorities to ensure clean and safe drinking water free of harmful microorganisms and chemical substances. "Now the authorities have to take action," Pablo Alvarez Veloso, head of the neighbours' association in the As Conchas reservoir area, told Reuters. (Reporting by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Aidan Lewis)
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Women who survived Spain's Franco-era centres disrupt Catholic apology
By Emma Pinedo and Silvio Castellanos MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish women who were forced into rehabilitation centres during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco broke up a Catholic meeting held to offer them a apology and demanded more concrete reparation from the church and state. Protesters - including survivors in their 60s and 70s, activists and relatives - held up banners marked "No" during the event on Monday night, threw the signs into the audience and forced organisers to suspend the meeting. Thousands of girls and young women who were accused of perceived moral failings - from pregnancies outside marriage to left-wing activism - were put into state-run Catholic rehabilitation institutions for periods during Franco's rule, from the 1940s up to a decade after his death into the 1980s. A Catholic body that includes most of the communities of nuns that helped operate some of the centres held a ceremony to ask the women for forgiveness in the Pablo VI Foundation auditorium in Madrid, the first event of its kind in Spain. The President of the Spanish Confederation of Religious Entities (CONFER) read out an apology then invited survivors to come to the stage as a video of them describing their experiences was shown. After the film, which was often drowned out by cheers and cries of "Yes, we can", people in the crowd jumped to their feet and started shouting "truth, justice and reparation," and "neither forget nor forgive". CONFER officials turned on the lights, abruptly ended the event and later said they may issue a statement in response on Tuesday. The confrontation underlined the depth of feeling over the Patronato de Proteccion a la Mujer (Board for the Protection of Women) institutes - part of the legacy of Franco's rule that is still haunting Spain almost 50 years after his death in November 1975. 'ACT OF JUSTICE' Campaigners, including individual survivors and organisations such as the Banished Daughters of Eve, are demanding a response from the state, along the lines of Ireland's 2013 apology and reparations for the abuses in its Magdalene Laundries. Some are also asking for financial compensation to cover costs, including psychological support, and the work that they say they were made to do without pay in the centres. At the event, before it was disrupted, CONFER chairman Jesus Diaz Sariego described the statement as one step towards a broader process of recognition and that the organisation would collaborate in the search for the truth. "We are here to do what we consider necessary and right: to ask for forgiveness ... because this act is not just a formality, but a necessary act of justice. It is an exercise in historical and moral responsibility," he said. After the event, Consuelo Garcia del Cid, 66, a survivor, dismissed that apology as a "facelift" and accused CONFER of removing some of the recorded testimonies and stopping women talking about babies that campaigners say were taken from unwed mothers at the centres. Garcia del Cid, who championed the cause with several books and founded Banished Daughters of Eve, had earlier told the audience the Spanish government owed them, particularly for the 10 years the boards were kept running after Franco. Spain's Democratic Memory Ministry - set up to tackle the legacy of Spain's civil war and Franco's regime - said last week it applauded CONFER's action and planned to hold its own ceremony later this year. It declined to comment further on Monday. Equality minister Ana Redondo attended the event but did not make any comment.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spain suffered multiple power incidents in the build up to full blackout
By David Latona, Emma Pinedo, Pietro Lombardi MADRID (Reuters) -Spain suffered several power glitches and industry officials sounded repeated warnings about the instability of its power grid in the build up to its catastrophic blackout on Monday. The government has ordered several investigations into the blackout. Industry experts say that whatever the cause, the mass outage and earlier smaller incidents indicate the Spanish power grid faces challenges amid the boom of renewables. A surplus of energy supply can disrupt power grids in the same way as a deficit, and grid operators must maintain balance. In the week before the blackout, Spain saw several power surges and cuts. A power cut disrupted railway signals and stranded at least 10 high-speed trains near Madrid on April 22. Transport Minister Oscar Puente said excessive voltage in the power network had triggered disconnections to protect substations. On the same day, Repsol's Cartagena refinery saw its operations disrupted by power supply problems. The grid suffered from significant instability in the days before the blackout, said Antonio Turiel, a senior researcher with the Spanish National Research Council. Spain's grid operator REE did not reply to a request for comment. Spain's energy ministry declined to comment. Spain has ordered inquiries involving government, security agencies and technical experts. A high court judge has launched a probe into whether a cyber attack was to blame. The Spanish power grid had been on a knife edge for several days due to power system imbalances, said Carlos Cagigal, an energy expert who advises private firms on renewable and industrial projects. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and power grid operator REE's chief Beatriz Corredor have both said record levels of renewable energy were not to blame for Monday's blackout. But REE and Europe's power grid lobby ENTSO-E had both previously warned that the rapid rise of power generation from renewables could destabilise the grid. Small renewable generators were putting extra pressure on the infrastructure, REE said in a 2024 report, and REE's parent company Redeia said in February the grid lacked information from smaller plants to be able to operate in real time. INCREASING RISK OF POWER CUTS The risk of power cuts is rising, Redeia warned because the closure of coal, gas-fired and nuclear plants reduces the grid's balancing capacities. "This could increase the risk of operational incidents that could affect supply and the company's reputation," the company said. Solar farms generate direct current (DC) power which doesn't have a frequency like alternating current (AC) power generated by conventional plants. DC power needs to be converted to AC in inverters to be transmitted via grids. If solar generation drops, the grid requires backstop AC power to prevent frequency dropping below dangerous levels after which most power contributors disconnect from the grid. "Shutting down the nuclear plants may put electricity supply at risk," REE's former chair Jordi Sevilla told Spanish news website Voxpopuli in January. Spain plans to shut down all seven nuclear reactors by 2035. The planned closure of two nuclear reactors at southwestern Spain's Almaraz plant, starting in 2027, will increase the risks of blackouts, European power lobby ENTSO-E said in April. REE responded to ENTSO-E by saying there was no risk of a blackout and it could guarantee stable energy supply. Less than a week later, Almaraz temporarily shut down the two units citing abundant wind energy supply as making operations uneconomic. One unit was still offline on Monday. The blackout across Spain and Portugal knocked out communications and transport systems, shut down industry and offices and brought commerce to a virtual standstill. The blackout could have shaved 1.6 billion euros ($1.82 billion), or 0.1%, off GDP, Spain's business lobby estimated.
The Star
28-04-2025
- Climate
- The Star
Large parts of Spain and Portugal hit by power outage
Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - April 28, 2025 A woman uses her cell phone's flashlight in the dark after the matches get suspended due to a power outage REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura MADRID/LISBON (Reuters) -Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica said it was working with energy companies to restore power after large parts of Spain and Portugal were hit by a power outage on Monday. E-Redes, a Spanish electricity grid monitoring company, said in a statement it was working on reestablishing connection in phases. "This is a wider European problem," it added. Spanish radio stations said part of the Madrid underground was being evacuated. There were traffic jams at Madrid city centre as traffic lights stopped working, Cader Ser Radio station reported. The Portuguese police said traffic lights were affected across the country, the metro was closed in Lisbon and Porto, and trains were not running. (Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Jesus Aguado; Writing by Nina Chestney; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Bernadette Baum)
