Madrid

A powerful gas explosion has torn through a residential building in central Madrid, killing four people and ripping the facade off the structure

Marathon U.N. climate talks ended Sunday with a slim compromise that sparked widespread disappointment, after major polluters resisted calls for ramping up efforts to keep global warming at bay and negotiators postponed debate about rules for international carbon markets for another year. Organizers kept delegates from almost 200 nations in Madrid far beyond Friday’s scheduled close of the two-week...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday that the world’s efforts to stop climate change have been “utterly inadequate” so far and there is a danger global warming could pass the “point of no return.” Speaking before the start Monday of a two-week international climate conference in Madrid, the U.N. chief said the impact of rising temperatures — including more extreme...

Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg left North America on a return trip across the Atlantic on Wednesday, hitching a renewable-energy ride with an Australian family aboard their 48-foot (15-meter) catamaran.

Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg will leave North America and begin her return trip across the Atlantic on Wednesday aboard a 48-foot (15-meter) catamaran sailboat whose passengers include an 11-month-old baby. The boat leaves little to no carbon footprint, boasting solar panels and a hydro-generators for power. It also has a toilet, unlike the boat on which she sailed...

Colombian music star Shakira says she will pay homage to Latin culture alongside Jennifer Lopez at the 2020 Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show in Miami.

Activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement blocked major roads across major European cities Monday, kicking off a wide-ranging series of worldwide protests demanding much more urgent action against climate change. In New York City, protesters doused the famous charging bull statue near Wall Street with fake blood. One protester waving a green flag climbed on top of the bull. Afterward,...

Will Smith and Dame Helen Mirren will read a bedtime story during a one-night fundraising event to help fight global homelessness.

Spanish singer and songwriter Camilo Sesto, a popular star in the 1970s and 1980s, has died of heart failure. He was 72. Sesto’s manager, Eduardo Guervós, confirmed his death to Spanish public broadcaster TVE, saying that he had died early Sunday in a hospital in Madrid after suffering two heart attacks. Sesto, whose real name was Camilo Blanes Cortés, sold...

Antonio de la Rosa doesn’t take it easy on his vacations. The Spaniard spent his summer paddling his way from California across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii.

Spanish actor and environmental activist Javier Bardem said Monday “we are all villains” for playing “deaf and blind” and not caring about the world’s oceans, which are under more pressure than at any time in history. The Oscar winner came to the United Nations to press delegates who are drafting an international treaty to protect oceans to support a strong...

A jailed former governor of Rio de Janeiro state told a judge on Thursday that he paid about $2 million for the votes of International Olympic Committee members to award the Brazilian city the 2016 Summer Games.

Spain’s governing center-left Socialists won the country’s election Sunday but must seek backing from smaller parties to maintain power, while a far-right party rode an unprecedented surge of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades. With 99% of ballots counted, the Socialists led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez won 29% of the...

A man suspected of involvement in a mysterious dissident group’s February raid on North Korea’s Embassy in Madrid was arrested in Los Angeles by U.S. authorities. Christopher Ahn, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested and charged Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The specific charges against Ahn were not immediately clear. The person could not discuss the...

Colombian singers Shakira and Carlos Vives have appeared in a Madrid court to answer allegations by a Cuban-born singer and producer that they plagiarized his work in their award-winning hit “La Bicicleta”.

Tsunekazu Takeda is stepping down as the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee amid a vote-buying scandal that French investigators suspect helped Tokyo land next year’s Olympics. Takeda announced Tuesday at the committee’s executive board meeting that he will resign when his term ends in June, and he again denied corruption allegations against him.

The United States announced late Monday that it is pulling the remaining staff from its embassy in Venezuela, citing the deteriorating situation in the South American nation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision as Venezuela struggles to restore electricity following four days of blackouts around the country and a deepening political crisis. The U.S. has led an international...

Thousands of Spaniards joined a right-wing rally in Madrid on Sunday to demand that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez step down. Many in the crowd gathered in the capital’s Plaza de Colon, waving Spanish flags. They chanted slogans in favor of the nation’s security forces and for Sanchez to resign. The conservative opposition Popular Party and the center-right Citizens party...

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort shared polling data during the 2016 presidential campaign with a business associate accused of having ties to Russian intelligence, and prosecutors say he lied to them about it, according to a court filing. The allegation marks the first time prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office have accused Trump’s chief campaign aide of sharing...

Spain’s central government is threatening to deploy national police to ensure security in Catalonia if regional authorities fail to stop the recent disruptions by pro-independence protesters on major highways. The warnings, in writing on Monday and also in public remarks on Tuesday by officials in the center-left Cabinet of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, follow the blocking of a highway...