Tag: spain

Did modern humans wipe out the Neanderthals? New evidence may finally provide answers.

About 37,000 years ago, Neanderthals clustered in small groups in what is now southern Spain. Their lives may have been transformed by the eruption of the Phlegraean Fields in Italy a few thousand years earlier, when the caldera’s massive explosion disrupted food chains across the Mediterranean region.

They may have gone about their daily life: Crafting stone tools, eating birds and mushrooms, engraving symbols on rocks, and creating jewelry out of feathers and shells.

They likely never realized they were among the last of their kind.

But the story of their extinction actually begins tens of thousands of years earlier, when the Neanderthals became isolated and dispersed, eventually ending nearly half a million years of successful existence in some of the most forbidding regions of Eurasia.

By 34,000 years ago, our closest relatives had effectively gone extinct. But because modern humans and Neanderthals overlapped in time and space for thousands of years, archaeologists have long wondered whether our species wiped out our closest relatives. This may have occurred directly, such as through violence and warfare, or indirectly, through disease or competition for resources.

Now, researchers are solving the mystery of how the Neanderthals died out — and what role our species played in their demise.

“I think the fact is, we do know what happened to Neanderthals, and it is complex,” Shara Bailey, a biological anthropologist at New York University, told Live Science.

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Leftist Leader Hails Great ‘Replacement’ of Conservatives with Illegal Migrant Amnesty in Spain

The leaders of the far-left Spanish Podemos party celebrated on Saturday the “victory” of the mass amnesty for around half a million illegals and hailed the achievement as a step toward the “replacement” of right-wing Spaniards.

Appearing at a campaign event in Zaragoza, Podemos Secretary General Ione Belarra and the party’s leading Member of the European Parliament, Irene Montero, openly embraced the project of demographic displacement as an electoral strategy.

They explained that this week’s deal brokered with the Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to grant amnesty to over 500,000 illegals was merely the first step and that the ultimate goal was to either grant them citizenship or to change the law to allow for migrants to vote in national elections, El Mundo reported.

Party leader Belarra compared the battle to allow migrants to vote to the women’s suffrage movement, saying that Spain has a “racist, property-based” voting system and that her party will “fight for migrants’ right to vote. If you live here, you have to have the right to vote here.”

While conservative and populist opponents of the amnesty have criticised the left for seeking to manipulate the polity to their own aims, Podemos MEP Irene Montero openly admitted as much, but claimed that it was righteous to replace her fellow countrymen.

“I wish for replacement theory, I wish we could sweep this country of fascists and racists with migrants, with working people,” she said.

“Of course, I want there to be replacement: replacement of fascists, replacement of racists, replacement of freeloaders, and that we can do it with working people, whatever their skin colour may be.”

Montero, who is widely expected to represent Podemos as a prime ministerial candidate in the 2027 general election, also admitted that the amnesty of the illegal migrants is ultimately intended to see them become voters.

“Of course, we want them to vote. We’ve obtained papers, regularisation now, and now we’re going for citizenship or to change the law so they can vote, of course,” the far leftist MEP said.

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Spain Punishes Homeowners: Selling Your Home Can Cost You Up to 40 % in Taxes

For years, Spain has promoted the idea that homeownership is the ultimate safe haven for family savings. What is rarely mentioned is that, when the time comes to sell, the State shows up with a bill that can swallow up to 40 % of the profit.

The hit begins with personal income tax. Capital gains are currently taxed at rates of up to 28 %, among the highest in Europe. But the blow doesn’t end there. Local governments impose the so-called municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía municipal), which taxes the supposed increase in the value of the land—even when the real profit is minimal or highly questionable.

Added to this is a crucial factor that the tax authorities deliberately ignore: inflation. In Spain, the original purchase price is not adjusted to reflect the loss of purchasing power over time. As a result, the State taxes as “profit” what, in many cases, is merely a nominal price increase.

Spain’s approach stands in sharp contrast to that of other countries. In the United States, for example, homeowners can exclude up to $250,000 in capital gains ($500,000 for married couples) on the sale of their primary residence, provided certain conditions are met. In many cases, middle-class families pay nothing at all when selling their homes.

In countries like Germany, capital gains on residential property can be entirely tax-free if the property is held for more than ten years. France offers significant reductions over time, eventually eliminating capital gains tax altogether after long-term ownership. Even Portugal provides rollover relief when proceeds are reinvested in another primary residence.

Spain, by contrast, offers limited and restrictive exemptions, while maintaining high marginal rates and local taxes that stack on top of national ones. The result is a system that discourages mobility, locks families into their homes, and penalizes long-term saving.

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Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Government Allocates 2.3 Million Euros to Finance the «Digital Transformation» of the Cuban Regime

The Government of Spain, led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, has approved an allocation of 2.3 million euros to finance the so-called «digital transformation» of public administration in Cuba.

This initiative is part of the «Cuba Digital» project, a program funded by the European Union with a total of 3 million euros, managed through the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIAPP), an entity dependent on the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The stated objective is to digitize governmental procedures, improve administrative efficiency, and promote economic modernization on the Caribbean island.

However, it is clear that the Cuban communist regime argue that this investment does not benefit the people, but rather strengthens the repressive capabilities of Miguel Díaz-Canel’s government.

According to reports, the funds are allocated to update computer systems that include census tools, population control, and digital surveillance, key elements for maintaining authoritarian control over the citizenry.

In a context where Cuba faces serious problems of connectivity and internet access for its inhabitants—with frequent outages and state censorship—this European «aid» seems to prioritize state infrastructure over the real needs of the population, which suffers economic shortages and limitations on freedom of expression.

The decision is framed within a historical relationship between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the Cuban regime, which has included debt condonations and bilateral cooperations.

Recently, Spain activated a debt conversion program for up to 375 million euros, intended for «sustainable development» projects in Cuba, although critics see it as a financial lifeline for Castroism amid its economic crisis.

We had previously reported it in Gateway Hispanic, highlighting how Sánchez ignores national priorities while supporting the Cuban regime.

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Neanderthals created the world’s oldest cave art

Neanderthals didn’t just survive Europe’s Ice Age landscapes – they ventured into deep caves and made art. What they left isn’t figurative like the later animal scenes of Homo sapiens.

Instead, it is a repertoire of hand stencils, geometric signs, finger-drawn lines, and even built structures. This type of artmaking points to creative intent and symbolic behavior long before our species arrived.

The latest synthesis of discoveries from France and Spain shows that these nonfigurative markings and installations predate modern humans in western Europe by tens of millennia.

The research moves the long-running debate about Neanderthal cognition from speculation to evidence.

Neanderthal art decoded

All confirmed examples so far are nonfigurative – no animals or humans. Instead we see hand stencils made by blowing pigment over a hand, “finger flutings” pressed into soft cave surfaces, linear and geometric motifs, and purposeful arrangements of cave materials.

Neanderthals inhabited western Eurasia from about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago and have often been caricatured as the archetypal “cavemen.”

Questions about their cognitive and behavioral sophistication persist, and whether they produced art sits at the center of that debate.

Despite proof that Neanderthals used pigments and made jewelry, some researchers resisted the idea that they explored deep cave systems to create lasting imagery.

New dating work from researchers at Université de Bordeaux has shifted that view. In three Spanish caves – La Pasiega (Cantabria), Maltravieso (Extremadura), and Ardales (Málaga) – researchers documented linear signs, geometric shapes, hand stencils, and handprints made with pigments.

At La Roche-Cotard in France’s Loire Valley, Neanderthals left suites of lines and shapes in finger flutings (the trails left when fingers move through soft cave mud).

Testing Neanderthal creativity

Deep inside the Bruniquel Cave in southwest France, Neanderthals broke off stalactites into similarly sized sections and assembled them into a large oval structure, then lit fires on top.

It was not a shelter but something stranger – and if you saw it in a contemporary gallery, you might well call it “installation art.”

Now that well-dated examples exist in Spain and France, more finds are likely. The challenge is timekeeping: establishing reliable ages for Paleolithic cave art is technically difficult and often controversial.

Stylistic comparisons and links to excavated artifacts can help, but they only go so far.

Aging art in stone

There are three main ways to anchor ages. First, if black pigment is charcoal, radiocarbon can date when the wood burned.

But many black figures were drawn with mineral pigments (for example, manganese), which can’t be radiocarbon dated, and even genuine charcoal carries a risk. The date reflects when the wood died, not when someone used it.

Second, calcite flowstone (stalactites and stalagmites) that overgrows art is a natural time cap. Uranium–thorium dating can pin down when the calcite formed, giving a minimum age for the pigment or scoring beneath it.

Using this method, researchers dated calcite on top of red motifs in La Pasiega, Maltravieso, and Ardales to older than ~64,000 years.

Even at that youngest bound, the imagery predates the first Homo sapiens in Iberia by at least ~22,000 years, and Middle Paleolithic archaeology – the Neanderthals’ “calling card” – is abundant in all three caves.

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Spain Approves Extradition of Former UN Official Vitaly Vanshelboim to the United States, Accused of Embezzling Over $60 Million in Humanitarian Funds and Operating a Bribery Network

The National Court has approved the extradition to the United States of Vitaly Vanshelboim, a former high-ranking official of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), accused of embezzling approximately $60 million intended for humanitarian projects and receiving bribes and laundering money within the United Nations structure.

This decision, made after several months of judicial review, allows Vanshelboim to be tried in the United States for charges of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering in a case that shakes the ethical foundations of the UN and reignites debate over the lack of oversight in major international institutions.

A Ukrainian national, Vanshelboim served for years as Deputy Executive Director of UNOPS, a key UN agency responsible for managing infrastructure, procurement, and technical service projects in humanitarian contexts.

According to the formal indictment filed by U.S. authorities, the former official manipulated contracts to benefit companies linked to a single British businessman, thereby diverting public funds and violating the organization’s transparency standards.

Court documents indicate transfers of approximately $60 million in grants and unguaranteed loans, tied to programs for sustainable housing, renewable energy, and community development that never materialized.

The investigation claims Vanshelboim received direct bribes of at least $2 to $3 million in cash, along with interest-free loans, luxury vehicles, and personal benefits for family members.

UN authorities confirmed that his actions were decisive in the reputational collapse of the “S3i – Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation” initiative, designed to attract private investment for sustainable projects but which ended up as a network of personal favors and fund misappropriation.

A UN internal tribunal had already ordered Vanshelboim in 2023 to repay $58.8 million, a figure reflecting the scale of the economic damage and the lack of controls within the agency. However, the criminal proceedings gained momentum when U.S. authorities issued an international arrest warrant.

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Alert: Spanish Priest Facing Years in Prison for Comment That Offended Muslims

If you pay any attention to American ideological discourse, you’ve no doubt heard the one about “Christian nationalism.”

It’s this bogeyman idea that Christians are trying to take over the world politically, culturally, and spiritually (as if that’s a bad thing).

For anyone paying attention to the world, however, you’re no doubt aware of just how perilous — and powerless — life is for Christians outside of America’s protection.

Father Custodio Ballester, a Catholic priest in Spain, is facing the possibility of very real prison time on charges of “Islamaphobia,” according to a harrowing report from The Christian Broadcasting Network.

Ballester is facing up to three years in prison for this charge, as well as fines.

The big crime? Answering a question about the possibility of an interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

(It can’t be stressed enough that this happened in 2016, nearly a full decade ago.)

“This renewed revival of Christian-Muslim dialogue, paralyzed by the alleged ‘imprudence’ of the beloved Benedict XVI, is far from a reality,” Ballester wrote in a letter, responding to the question. “Islam does not allow for dialogue. You either believe or you are an infidel who must be subdued one way or another.”

The Christian Broadcasting Network added: “In a 2017 YouTube video, Ballester expanded on his 2016 remarks, warning that Islam not only poses a threat in Europe, but also that in many Muslim-majority countries, Christians face persecution.”

Despite the rote — and fairly accurate — description of Islamic culture, Ballester incensed the Association of Spanish Muslims Against Islamophobia.

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Rutgers University Professor Who Wrote Antifa Handbook Flees Country After TPUSA Petition for Him to Be Fired

Mark Bray, a Rutgers University history professor and self-proclaimed “Antifa expert,” has fled the United States to Spain after allegedly receiving “death threats” amid accusations that he is more involved with the far-left extremist movement than simply studying it.

The professor has been openly supportive of Antifa tactics, including writing the actual handbook.

Bray, dubbed “Dr. Antifa” by critics and students alike, denies any direct membership in Antifa, insisting in interviews, “I am not now, nor have I ever been, part of any kind of antifascist or anti-racist organization – I just haven’t. I’m a professor,” according to a report from The Guardian.

However, his 2017 book, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, has fueled accusations of deeper involvement.

In the book, Bray pledged 50% of proceeds to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund, which he described as supporting “the legal or medical costs of people facing charges for organizing pertaining to anti-fascism or anti-racism.”

Conservatives argue this constitutes material support, potentially opening the door for federal investigations under Trump’s order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

The controversy erupted when the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) launched a petition calling for Bray’s dismissal.

The petition, hosted on Change.org, accuses Bray of being an “Antifa financier” and an “outspoken, well-known antifa member,” stating that his presence at Rutgers endangers students and promotes terrorist behavior.

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Trump floats dropping Spain from Nato alliance

US President Donald Trump suggested on Oct 9 the Nato alliance should weigh throwing Spain out of its membership ranks over a dispute about the Western European nation’s lagging military spending.

Members of the US-backed security alliance agreed in June to sharply increase their military spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product, delivering on a major priority for Mr Trump, who wants Europeans to spend more on their own defence.

But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at the time that 

he would not commit to the 5 per cent target, calling it “incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision”.

At an Oval Office meeting with the leader of Nato’s second-newest member, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Mr Trump said European leaders need to prevail upon Spain to boost its commitments to the alliance.

“You people are gonna have to start speaking to Spain,” Mr Trump said. “You have to call them and find why are they a laggard.”

He added: “They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw ’em out of Nato, frankly.”

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Spain legalises medical cannabis in ‘historic’ move

Spain‘s government has today legalised medical cannabis in what has been described as a ‘historic’ move. 

The country’s Council of Ministers today approved cannabis to be prescribed to patients as an ailment to their illnesses. 

But prescriptions can only be handed out under strict conditions. 

Only specialists in hospitals may prescribe cannabis to patients. 

But the government has not set out what ailments the drug should be prescribed for, instead saying that a specialised government agency will set out the rules in the coming weeks. 

Carola Pérez, president of the Spanish Observatory of Medicinal Cannabis, described the decision as ‘historic’. 

She added: ‘All of us patients who were waiting for regulation are celebrating’.

She added that the move opens the door for cannabis to be prescribed for a wide range of illnesses. 

Studies have shown that it can help ease the pain of multiple sclerosis and certain forms epilepsy, and can limit nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. 

But she added that she wants to make sure Spanish doctors correctly prescribe cannabis, especially in light of the high demand: ‘We’re afraid that doctors won’t know exactly when to prescribe it, because they’re generally untrained. 

‘And we’re also afraid that there will be a bottleneck in hospital laboratories due to the high demand for these compounds’.

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