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A Spanish actor who has played Jesus in a city’s Easter parade for 20 years has been kicked out of the role — and says it is because he is gay. Ramon Fossati has been a longtime fixture in the Valencia ceremony, but has been banned from participating until 2019 after wearing a one-shoulder frock and giving fake “blessings” as the risen Christ last year. The Junta Mayor Semana Santa Marinera, which oversees organization of the parade, also accused the actor of “ostentation and parody” while throwing kisses to the crowd. …

AN interesting obituary appeared in The New York Times recently, though the death of its subject last month was largely unnoticed beyond his family and friends. That’s not surprising. Delmer Berg wasn’t a celebrity. He wasn’t someone with great wealth or influence. He had never held public office. He was a Californian. He worked as a farmhand and stonemason. He did some union organizing. He was vice president of his local N.A.A.C.P. chapter. He protested against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons. He joined the United States Communist Party in 1943, and, according to The Times, he remained an “unreconstructed...

EU Finance Ministers Debate New-Look Euro Coins; Weigh Mixed-Bad Economic Outlook LUXEMBOURG (AP) -- EU finance ministers, opening a two-day meeting Friday, sought to make sense of a mixed bag of economic data from the euro zone, with Germany posting its strongest growth in four years but Italy sliding into recession. "This is a very serious problem," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker said upon arriving at the meeting he was leading. EU Finance Commissioner Joaquin Solbes said "growth in Germany was good news [1% 1Q GDP], but Italy is bad news." And Gerrit Zalm, the Dutch finance minister whose...

If you still own shares in solar energy it’s probably a sign that you’ve been in the sun too long: the sector is tanking – and deservedly so – as reality dawns that this is a Potemkin industry, an Enron of a con-trick, whose survival depends not on the energy it generates but on the subsidies it squeezes from the taxpayer. Consider Exhibit A: the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the California desert. This $2.2 billion project, heavily backed with federal grants by the Obama administration, is absolutely brilliant at killing birds. According to some estimates it accounts for...

Previous analyses of the hominins from Sima de los Huesos in 2013 showed that their maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA was distantly related to Denisovans, extinct relatives of Neandertals in Asia. This was unexpected since their skeletal remains carry Neandertal-derived features. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have since worked on sequencing nuclear DNA from fossils from the cave, a challenging task as the extremely old DNA is degraded to very short fragments. The results now show that the Sima de los Huesos hominins were indeed early Neandertals. Neandertals may have acquired different mitochondrial genomes...

Officers seized thousands of uniforms and other military gear on the way to terror groups Isis and al-Nusra Front. Spain's National Police reported on Thursday that officers had intercepted 20,000 uniforms and other military gear that were being sent to terror groups Isis and al-Nusra Front - the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. "With nearly 20,000 uniforms and military accessories seized, they would have been able to equip an entire army, which would be perfectly prepared to enter combat in any of the centres of conflict where terrorist jihadist organizations operate in the world," the Interior Ministry reported on Thursday. Police...

Spanish authorities seized 20,000 military-style uniforms being sent to fighters of the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, the Interior Ministry announced Thursday. Police conducted a counterterrorism operation last month in the port cities of Valencia and Algeciras, where officers opened three shipping containers and found the uniforms along with other military accessories, the ministry said. The uniforms were mixed with “secondhand clothing” to avoid raising suspicion while passing through customs. The ministry said in a statement that police arrested seven people on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support to ISIS and the Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate...

My WORD to you is meant to be used and adhered to as the mighty men of David that willingly supported their king by leading in the battle no matter the numbers for they walked in My wisdom and their obedience came from actively pursuing the command of their king that walked in My understanding without fear. So it must be with you my children do not be like the sloth and bury the talents I have so graciously bestowed upon you for as you do it shall be multiplied onto you yet in this same manner I shall send...

She is blonde, a conservative hardliner and has forged ahead in a sphere dominated by men, The Local gives you ten reasons why Esperanza Aguirre is Spain's answer to the Iron Lady. Fresh allegations of corruption within the Madrid branch of the Popular Party has led to Aguirre tendering her resignation as regional head of the party. At The Local we don't believe for a minute that this is the last we will see of a woman who puts personality into politics. The Local gives you ten reasons why Esperanza Aguirre is Spain's answer to the Iron Lady. 1 -...

For six years, a building supervisor in Spain quietly collected a $41,500 salary from his local government without showing up for work. And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for him getting an award for his 20 years of loyal service. Joaquin Garcia, 69, was recently fined $30,000 for the extended paid vacation from a water treatment plant in Cadiz -- the maximum penalty government officials could deliver, the BBC reported.

(NEWSER) – A 69-year-old Spanish man was fined this week after officials discovered he hadn't shown up to work for at least six years, the Guardian reports. Ironically, the civil servant was discovered only when the deputy mayor attempted to give him an award for 20 years of "loyal and dedicated" service in 2010. “I thought, where is this man?" the Guardianquotes the deputy mayor. "Is he still there? Has he retired? Has he died?”

Iran says it has exported its first crude oil shipment to Europe since it reached a landmark nuclear deal with world powers, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. IRNA quoted Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi as saying the shipment was the first in five years and marked "a new chapter" in Iran's oil industry. [...] Javadi said Iran has already reached agreement to export oil to France, Russia and Spain. ...

A video of a furry figure in Formigal in the Pyrenees has emerged, prompting many to wonder – does this finally prove that the abominable snowman exists?Scared skiers and snowboarders in the resort of Formigal, in the Pyrenees, are keeping their eyes peeled for a large yeti-like monster that has been spotted roaming the slopes of the ski resort in north-eastern Spain. The creature has been caught on camera by a holidaymaker – could this finally be the evidence needed to convince the world that the abominable snowman actually exists? The slightly shaky and grainy footage appears to show a...

Explanation: February's five planet line-up stretches across a clear sky in this predawn scene. A hilltop Castell de Burriac looms in the foreground, overlooking the town of Cabrera de Mar near Barcelona, Spain, planet Earth. The mosaicked, panoramic image looks south. It merges three different exposure times to record a bright Last Quarter Moon, planets, seaside city lights, and dark castle ruins. Seen on February 1st the Moon was near Mars on the sky. But this week early morning risers have watched it move on, passing near Saturn and finally Venus and Mercury, sliding along near the ecliptic toward the...

For years, the Obama Administration has stood behind two excuses (given under oath) for not sending a quick reaction force to assist in rescuing American citizens during the Sept. 11, 2012 al Qaeda-linked attacks on the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans. The first excuse being: There were no forces available that could have responded quickly. The second reason was: Even if they had scrambled more people, they couldn't have gotten there in time to make a difference. Now, an email, hidden for three years, has come to light and...

Explanation: As January closes and in the coming days of February, early morning risers can spot the five naked-eye planets before dawn. Though some might claim to see six planets, in this seaside panoramic view all five celestial wanderers were found above the horizon along with a bright waning gibbous Moon on January 27. Nearly aligned along the plane of the ecliptic, but not along a line with the Sun, the five planets are spread well over 100 degrees across the sky. Just arriving on the predawn scene, fleeting Mercury stands above the southeastern horizon in the golden light of...

After a year-and-a-half long voyage aboard the International Space Station, a group of fungi collected from Antarctica has proven its ability to withstand harsh, Mars-like conditions. More than half of the cells remained intact over the course of the 18-month study, providing new insight for the possibility of life on Mars. These fungal samples, along with lichens from Spain and Austria, have allowed European researchers to assess the survivability and stability of microscopic lifeforms on the red planet. The tiny fungi taken from Antarctica are typically found in the cracks of rocks in this dry, hostile region. Scientists took samples...

rise in the number of banks giving up primary dealer roles in European government bond markets threatens to further reduce liquidity and eventually make it more expensive for some countries to borrow money. Increased regulation and lower margins have seen five banks exit various countries in the last three months. Others look set to follow, further eroding the infrastructure through which governments raise debt. While these problems are for now masked by the European Central Bank buying 60 billion euros ($65.5 billion)of debt every month to try to stimulate the euro zone economy, countries may feel the effects more sharply...

The leader of Spain's anti-austerity party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, on Friday proposed forming a government with the Socialists, making a left-wing governing alliance more likely after last month's inconclusive election. Iglesias told a news conference he had informed King Felipe VI of "our desire to form a government of change with the Socialists and the United Left" and that he would seek the post of deputy prime minister. [...] Last month's general election produced a hung parliament in which a ruling majority cannot easily be formed. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party won the most seats, 119, but...

builders in a Galician village confused a neolithic tomb with a broken stone picnic table and replaced the 6,000-year-old artefact with a brand spanking new concrete bench. In what one archaeologist dubbed a "monumental error" the ancient tomb, that had heritage status and was therefore meant to be protected, has been completely destroyed. Galicia’s Department of Culture, Education and Universities has launched an investigation after the picnic bench - which sits on a solid concrete slab in the town of Cristovo de Cea in the northwestern region of Galicia - was placed on top of an ancient tomb, classed as...