Barcelona residents protesting against high rents clashed with police outside a real estate fair and government office. (September 25 2024) Catalan regional police charged at housing rights protesters attempting to enter an international real estate fair in Barcelona on Wednesday. The protesters threw coloured powder at the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police before folding back into a nearby subway station. The demonstration to place outside “The District” real estate fair, an international event for investors. Barcelona, like other major touristic destinations in Spain, is facing a housing crisis that has triggered anti-tourism protests as locals blame the rise in housing costs on the proliferation of tourist apartments available on platforms such as AirBnb and Booking.com.
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BARCELONA, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Boasting names like “Femina Morte” and “Mad, Mad Chica,” the skaters of Barcelona’s Steel Groin (Ingles de Acero) roller derby team are as tough as their names sound. The fast-paced, full-contact sport played on quad skates and divided into two 30-minutes halves of “jams”, each lasting up to two minutes, is growing in popularity around the world and drawing players with its LGBT+ friendly and inclusive ethos.
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TARRAGONA, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Spain’s biggest human towers competition took place on Sunday, with some 11,000 spectators packing the bullring in the northeastern city of Tarragona to watch the daring Catalan tradition. Human towers, or ‘castells’, were added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010 as an “integral part of (Catalan) cultural identity”. The tradition dates back to the 18th century, when people first started building human towers in the Catalan town of Valls. (…) Complete story for Reuters https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/catalans-compete-build-biggest-human-towers-spain-2022-10-02/
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At the #Odesa Orphanage-Boarding School four months after #Russia invaded Ukraine, an air raid alarm sent nurses in white coats hurrying residents into a basement beneath the kitchen. The dozens of children who remained have not found alternatives among their relatives and will soon be evacuated. On our visit, the workers where doing their best to ensure care. But they are the last ones left. Among them was Tanya, a slight 12-year-old who favours a pink sun hat and despite all tension, nerves and noise around her, she falls asleep in the arms of her caregivers, oblivious to everything. Here are some sequences of the complete piece that you can find in the link below: https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/ORPHANS/dwpkrxzwwvm/index.html Thanks to great colleagues to chase all the pieces @edgardpix @joannaplucinska @stefanibern @sarahslo @palamarchuk25
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A second edit from a story I produced for Reuters in Kyiv, June 2022. Changing perceptions, Ukraine’s ‘unicorn’ LGBTQ soldiers head for war By Horaci Garcia KYIV (Reuters) – As volunteer fighters Oleksandr Zhuhan and Antonina Romanova pack for a return to active duty, they contemplate the unicorn insignia that gives their uniform a rare distinction – a symbol of their status as an LGBTQ couple who are Ukrainian soldiers. Members of Ukraine’s LGBTQ community who sign up for the war have taken to sewing the image of the mythical beast into their standard-issue epaulettes just below the national flag. The practice harks back to the 2014 conflict when Russia invaded then annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, “when lots of people said there are no gay people in the army,” actor, director and drama teacher Zhuhan told Reuters as he and Romanova dressed in their apartment for their second three-month combat rotation. “So they (the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community) chose the unicorn because it is like a fantastic ‘non-existent’ creature.” Zhuhan and Romanova, who identifies as a non-binary person with she/her pronouns and moved to the capital from Crimea after being displaced in 2014, met through their […]
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A young Senegalese music producer is digitising one of the largest back catalogues of African music in the world. Binetou Sylla’s father founded the African label Syllart Records and discovered some of the continent’s biggest names. Until the project began, much of the music from the legendary label had only been available on vinyl records and CDs. Binetou wants to make this forgotten heritage the future of African hip-hop. A story for the BBC World Service.
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Legal clothes made by illegal people. Aziz Faye founded a cooperative that fights for the rights of undocumented migrants in Europe. He wants to prove that “even if the [Spanish] government refuses to give us our documents, we still have the capacity to develop society.”
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Apr 17, 2019 Notre Dame Cathedral came within 30 minutes of being totally destroyed last night, according to the French government, with ministers praising the speed and bravery of firefighters. Tonight President Macron addressed the people of France and vowed to restore the cathedral within five years. And as billions of euros are pledged by those wanting to help, French spirits have been lifted by the news that so many priceless artefacts have been saved. BBC News at Ten’s coverage of the aftermath of the Notre Dame fire, with Fergal Keane, and presented by Sophie Raworth.
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