Tag: spain

LaLiga’s Anti-Piracy Crackdown Triggers Widespread Internet Disruptions Across Spain

LaLiga, Spain’s top football league, is facing a firestorm of criticism after boasting about a staggering 142% increase in anti-piracy takedown notices in early 2025 while simultaneously causing extensive collateral damage across the internet.

As the 2025/2026 season began on August 15, LaLiga ramped up its enforcement strategy, triggering widespread outages for entirely lawful websites, services, and platforms.

These disruptions are tied to a controversial anti-piracy scheme operated in partnership with telecom giant Telefónica.

The initiative, which enjoys judicial backing in Spain, allows LaLiga to instruct major internet service providers, including Movistar, Vodafone, Orange, and DIGI, to block IP addresses suspected of hosting unauthorized streams.

The fallout is that entire chunks of the internet go dark for Spanish users, often during match broadcasts.

LaLiga doesn’t target specific infringing content. Instead, it flags entire IP ranges, many of which are shared by thousands of unrelated domains.

When one site is accused of hosting pirated material, everyone else sharing that IP address gets swept up in the block.

The result is a digital dragnet that has ensnared companies as diverse as Amazon, Cloudflare, GitHub, Twitch, and even Google Fonts.

TorrentFreak has documented repeated weekly blocks of platforms like Vercel since early 2025, while Catalonia’s own .cat domain registry has also reported service disruptions.

The issue became so disruptive that iXsystems, the team behind TrueNAS, a widely used open-source NAS operating system, was forced to shift its distribution model entirely. After its CDN IPs were repeatedly blocked in Spain, making critical security updates inaccessible to users, the developers resorted to distributing their software via BitTorrent.

“These locks have a significant collateral damage about legitimate services, which have nothing to do with football piracy,” TrueNAS noted. Their solution not only bypasses censorship but hands the bandwidth burden back to the same ISPs complicit in the blocking.

Keep reading

Archaeologist says his team has finally discovered lost city of Atlantis as they unveil compelling evidence

Joe Rogan was left speechless when his guest discussed the possible discovery of the lost city of Atlantis.

Plato’s writings describe an advanced civilization that built grand temples and massive harbor walls before being swallowed by the sea more than 11,000 years ago. 

Independent researcher Ben van Kerkwyk was a recent guest on the Joe Rogan Experience, where he discussed a discovery off the coast of Spain that could be the mythical city.

‘There’s a guy named Michael Donnellan…And he thinks he’s found, at least, if not Atlantis, a part of Atlantis off the coast of Spain. And they 100 percent found some s*** in the waters,’ van Kerkwyk said.

Rogan, looking stunned, could only respond with ‘Wow,’ mentioning Donnellan’s upcoming documentary ‘Atlantica’ that reveals massive linear structures and enormous concentric circular walls littering the seafloor. 

Donnellan, an independent archaeologist, told the Daily Mail that descriptions in Plato’s writings, which perfectly match their findings of ruins, prehistoric settlements and ancient mines in the region of Gades, are the strongest evidence for an Atlantic civilization. 

These discoveries, including underwater structures and sediment-covered sites indicating sudden destruction, align with Plato’s accounts of climate, societal structures, and ancient mythologies, providing a comprehensive context for their claims.

‘All those details align perfectly with the region we’re studying, as our investigations reflect Plato’s texts with extraordinary precision, truly to a perfect degree,’ Donnellan said.

Keep reading

Shocking Discovery: Neolithic Farmers Cannibalized Enemy Families

A gruesome archaeological discovery in Spain has revealed that 5,700 years ago, Neolithic farmers engaged in systematic cannibalism against entire families, challenging the peaceful image of early agricultural societies. The disturbing evidence from El Mirador cave in the Sierra de Atapuerca suggests that violent inter-group warfare, not survival or ritual, drove these acts of human consumption according to a new study.

Researchers led by Francesc Marginedas from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution have uncovered the butchered remains of at least 11 individuals – including children as young as seven – showing unmistakable signs of cannibalistic processing. The comprehensive study published in Scientific Reports provides the most detailed evidence yet of warfare-driven cannibalism among Europe’s earliest farming communities.

The victims, ranging from infants to elderly adults, were systematically skinned, dismembered, cooked, and consumed in what researchers describe as an act of “ultimate elimination” by a rival group. This horrifying discovery adds to mounting evidence that the Neolithic period was far more violent than previously imagined.

Systematic Butchery Reveals Horrific Details

The analysis of over 650 bone fragments revealed extensive evidence of deliberate processing. Cut marks, percussion fractures, and boiling traces indicate that the victims were methodically butchered for consumption over several days. Microscopic examination showed that skin and muscle were sliced off, bones were cracked open for marrow extraction, and some remains were translucent from boiling.

“The pattern of modifications found on the modified Neolithic human bones of El Mirador cave is inconsistent with ritual or survival scenarios,” the researchers explain in their study. “Instead, the evidence supports a comprehensive butchering process involving meat, viscera, bone marrow, and brain extraction.”

Human tooth marks found on smaller bones provide particularly disturbing evidence that the perpetrators chewed on their victims’ remains. The extensive nature of the processing suggests this was not an opportunistic act of desperation but a deliberate and systematic consumption of defeated enemies.

The victims included three children, two juveniles, and six adults, representing what appears to be an entire extended family wiped out in a single violent episode. Significantly, the age distribution doesn’t match what researchers would expect from famine-driven cannibalism, which typically affects the most vulnerable populations.

Keep reading

Spain proposes declassifying secret Franco era files

The Spanish government on Tuesday introduced a bill to automatically declassify all secret government files older than 45 years, including documents from Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and the transition to democracy.

If approved by parliament, the proposed law could shed light on some of Spain’s darkest chapters, including Franco’s ties to Adolf Hitler, the locations of mass graves where victims of his 1939-75 rule were buried, and details of the 1966 Palomares nuclear accident caused by the mid-air collision of two U.S. Air Force planes over a fishing village in southern Spain.

“With this law we will overcome an obstacle in our legislation to put us in line with European standards,” Justice Minister Felix Bolanos told reporters. 

“Citizens have the right to know. Administrations have the obligation to provide documentation that is important for history,” he added.

The bill seeks to replace the existing law governing official secrets, enacted during Franco’s rule, which lacks provisions for automatic declassification based on the amount of time that has passed. 

The law would automatically declassify all documents older than 45 years unless they constituted a justified threat to national security, Bolanos said.

Keep reading

5,000-Year-Old Stone Basin Predates Tomb by 1,000 Years, Transported by Boat

A team of Spanish archaeologists has unraveled one of the most intriguing mysteries in Iberian prehistory: how a massive stone basin ended up inside the Matarrubilla dolmen near Seville—and why it is at least 1,000 years older than the structure meant to enshrine it.

Their findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, not only confirm the earliest known example of megalithic maritime transport in the Iberian Peninsula but also suggest that the Copper Age society in southern Spain was more complex and interconnected than previously believed.

A Monumental Enigma Inside a Dolmen

The Matarrubilla dolmen, part of the vast prehistoric site of Valencina de la Concepción in Andalusia, has long puzzled researchers due to an unusual artifact discovered inside: a rectangular stone basin measuring 1.7 m long, 1.2 m wide, and nearly 0.5 m high. Weighing more than 2,000 kg, the basin’s sheer size, unique material, and placement within the dolmen’s chamber raised numerous questions.

First documented in 1917, the basin seemed far too large to have been maneuvered through the dolmen’s narrow corridor. Additionally, its distinctive rock—gypsiferous cataclasite with red, green, and white veining—does not naturally occur anywhere near Valencina.

Provenance and Transport: From Distant Quarry to Ritual Center

By using geological and geoarchaeological techniques, the research team traced the stone’s likely origin to the opposite side of the ancient Gulf of Guadalquivir, near present-day Las Cabezas de San Juan, approximately 55 km from Valencina. At the time (around 3000–4500 BCE), the gulf stretched much farther inland than it does today.

Because of the stone’s weight and the distance, the team concluded that prehistoric people transported it via water—on rafts or boats—across the ancient bay. Once ashore, the basin was dragged approximately 3 km uphill, likely using wooden sleds and human or animal power.

This marks the first confirmed instance of riverine or maritime transport of a megalith in Iberian prehistory. Comparable methods have only previously been documented at sites like Stonehenge (UK) and Newgrange (Ireland).

Keep reading

Eco-experiment that ‘blacked out entire country’: Spanish scientists ‘were experimenting with how far they could push renewable energy’ before country-wide chaos

Spanish authorities were experimenting with how far they could push their reliance on renewable energy before the Iberian Peninsula was hit with a massive power outage last month, it has been suggested. 

As people wait for more answers on what caused the power cut that disrupted tens of millions of lives across Spain and Portugal, several have questioned Spain’s heavy reliance on renewable energy sources as it plans to phase out nuclear reactors. 

Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has rejected such criticism, asking for patience while the government investigates the causes of the historic blackout. 

Spain’s electric grid operator Red Eléctrica de España pinned it on a significant and unprecedented drop in power generation. 

Now, it has been suggested that the Spanish government was carrying out an experiment before the country’s grid system crashed, The Telegraph reports. 

Under said test, authorities had been trialling how far they could push their reliance on renewables as they prepared for Spain’s phase-out of nuclear reactors from 2027. 

The Spanish Association of Electrical Energy Companies (Aelec), which has criticised the inquiry into the blackout’s cause, has now said it was not the country’s generators that failed to deliver power to the grid, but rather it was the grid that failed to manage it and then shut down automatically. 

The head of Spain’s photovoltaic association, Jose Donoso, had made a similar suggestion earlier this month, telling newsoutlet 20Minutos: ‘It’s a matter of logic; the fact that the entire system goes down because of a photovoltaic plant makes no sense.

Keep reading

Ukrainian ex-politician shot dead outside elite American school in Madrid

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a former Ukrainian politician on Wednesday outside a school in a wealthy suburb of Madrid, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.

Andriy Portnov, 51, was previously a senior aide to a pro-Russian former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted in a 2014 popular uprising.

Police reached the scene after receiving calls at 9.15 a.m. (0715 GMT) about a man with gunshot wounds on the street outside the American School of Madrid, in the Pozuelo de Alarcon suburb west of the capital, police officials told Reuters.

“Several persons shot him in the back and the head and then fled towards a forested area,” an Interior Ministry source said.

When emergency services arrived they found Portnov dead with at least three gunshot wounds, a spokesperson said.

Police had covered the body of a person wearing white running shoes lying near a black Mercedes-Benz car in a cordoned-off pavement outside the school.

Portnov left for Russia in 2014 and faced investigations in Ukraine over accusations of treason and embezzlement. He was targeted with European Union sanctions, although those and the charges were later dropped.

The U.S. Treasury Department put Portnov on its sanctions list in 2021, saying he had “cultivated extensive connections to Ukraine’s judicial and law enforcement apparatus through bribery”.

The American School said it believed the victim was a father of children at the school but was waiting for formal identification by the police, according to a letter sent to parents seen by Reuters.

It said police were on campus interviewing parents who witnessed the incident. A spokesperson for the school did not reply to a request for comment on the incident or the letter.

Keep reading

AGAIN? Spain Hit by Widespread Phone and Internet Outages Less Than a Month After Mass Blackouts

Led by a Socialist government and devoted to ‘Net-Zero’ climate fantasies, Spain has of late become increasingly unstable country when it comes to its unreliable infrastructure.

Not even a month ago, the country was plunged into darkness by a massive blackout, and today (20) a widespread internet and phone outage caused alarm in the population.

The Telegraph reported:

“Spain was hit by phone and internet blackouts on Tuesday morning, just weeks after a power failure plunged the country into darkness.

Landline and mobile services were brought down across the country after a botched system upgrade by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica.”

The outage disrupted the lives of the population, and was particularly harmful to the work of emergency call operators.

The problems began at 2am local time, and initially affected land-lines mostly.

“Regions thought to be affected by the blackouts include the Basque Country, Andalusia, Aragon and Extremadura.”

A spokesman for telecom giant Telefonica said around lunchtime that the issue was resolved.

“The spokesman added: ‘This morning we had an incident that affected the fixed communications services of some companies and public services. We have been working from the outset to restore these services, which have now been fully recovered’.”

Keep reading

Spain’s Prime Minister Labels Israel a “Genocidal State,” Escalates Diplomatic Tensions

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ignited an international firestorm on Wednesday after publicly calling Israel a “genocidal state” during a heated parliamentary session, marking the first time the socialist leader used such language, despite his government’s long-standing alignment with anti-Israel rhetoric.

The remarks came in response to Gabriel Rufián, a leftist Catalan MP, who accused Sánchez of hypocrisy for maintaining trade ties with Israel amid its ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Sánchez, pushing back sharply, stated:

“I want to make one thing clear here, Mr. Rufián. We do not do business with a genocidal state, we do not.”

The statement, echoing the language of Sánchez’s far-left coalition partner, the Sumar party, represented a new level of official condemnation. Until now, the prime minister had refrained from personally using the term, even as Spain formally joined South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging genocide by Israel.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned Sánchez’s statement and swiftly summoned the Spanish ambassador, Ana Salomon, to its Jerusalem office for a formal reprimand. The Ministry accused Sánchez of spreading inflammatory and unfounded accusations, saying his words distort the reality of the ongoing conflict and ignore the suffering of Israeli victims.

Elsewhere in Europe, similar rhetoric emerged. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, addressing the city council, referenced the term “genocidal violence” and cited Holocaust scholars critical of Israel’s actions. Her remarks were also met with swift pushback. Israeli Ambassador to the Netherlands Modi Ephraim said he was “deeply dismayed,” calling her speech a distortion of both historical memory and present-day realities.

Keep reading

Planning to withdraw cash in Spain? You could now face a €150,000 fine

Thinking of pulling out a large amount of cash from your bank account in Spain? A new rule is now in force — and ignoring it could cost you dearly.

New rules in Spain: cash withdrawals over €3,000 under strict control

From now on, anyone withdrawing €3,000 or more from a Spanish bank must notify the Agencia Tributaria (Spain’s tax agency) in advance. If you’re planning to take out €100,000 or more, you’ll need to give at least 72 hours’ notice. For smaller sums over €3,000, a 24-hour notification is mandatory.

The warning must be filed through the tax agency’s official website using a digital certificate, Cl@ve PIN, or electronic ID card. You’ll receive a receipt that must be shown at the bank when withdrawing your cash.

Fail to notify? You risk a fine between 1 per cent and 10 per cent of the amount withdrawn — starting at €600 and climbing up to a massive €150,000, depending on the seriousness of the violation.

Banks are now required to block withdrawals if they detect missing paperwork, and must report suspicious transactions to the authorities, even if amounts are repeatedly just under the threshold.

Spain steps up fight against tax fraud and money laundering

This tough new measure is part of a wider strategy to crack down on tax fraud, money laundering and terrorism financing.
Authorities say that cash remains a key tool for illegal activities, making tighter monitoring essential.

Interestingly, it’s not just massive withdrawals that will raise red flags.
Even frequent small withdrawals — say, €800 or €900 at a time — could draw unwanted attention if not properly justified.
The message from the Spanish government is clear: every move involving large sums of cash must now be fully traceable.

Keep reading