https://www.scmp.com/rss/324985/feed A van veered onto Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas promenade and barrelled down the busy walkway, swerving back and forth as it mowed down pedestrians and turned a picturesque tourist destination into a bloody killing zone. The left victims sprawled in the historic street, spattered with blood or writhing in pain from broken limbs. Others were ushered inside shops by officers with their guns drawn or fled in panic, screaming and carrying young children in their arms. Spanish police also said they... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Spain will “strengthen judicial control” over its secret services in the wake of a scandal over the hacking of the mobile phones of top politicians, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday. The scandal broke in April when it emerged the phones of Catalan separatist leaders had been tapped by Spanish intelligence services. It widened when the government confirmed the phones of Sanchez and the defence and interior ministers were also targeted in an “external attack”. The affair has sparked a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3179316/spain-reform-secret-services-after-spying-scandal-pm-promises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3179316/spain-reform-secret-services-after-spying-scandal-pm-promises?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 May 2022 11:57:57 +0000 A Spanish court on Thursday sentenced three members of a jihadist cell responsible for attacks in Barcelona in 2017 in which 16 people died and more than 100 were injured to lengthy jail terms. Spaniard Mohamed Houli Chemlal and Moroccan Driss Oukabir were handed sentences of 53 and 46 years, respectively, for belonging to a terrorist organisation, manufacturing explosives, attempted terrorist acts and 29 counts of grievous bodily harm. Prosecutors had sought sentences of 41 years for Houli and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3135120/2017-barcelona-attacks-spain-jails-three-members-jihadist-cell-8?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3135120/2017-barcelona-attacks-spain-jails-three-members-jihadist-cell-8?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 May 2021 15:12:16 +0000 Swiss voters on Sunday approved a measure to tighten the Alpine nation’s gun laws, bringing the country in line with many of its European partners despite the objections of local gun owners, official results showed. The Federal Chancellery said provisional results showed nearly 64 per cent of voters nationwide agreed to align with European Union firearms rules adopted two years ago after deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Germany and Britain. The vote was part of Switzerland’s regular... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3010874/swiss-voters-approve-tighter-gun-laws-falling-line-eu-wake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3010874/swiss-voters-approve-tighter-gun-laws-falling-line-eu-wake?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2019 23:44:48 +0000 If Industry 4.0 is about how every device and industry is now connected, “Terrorism 4.0” is about how we are all now connected in a battlefield that looks to span the entire globe. This does not mean we are all soldiers in that war; it merely means we are all in the line of fire. Where terrorism was once predominantly about relatively localised violence in pursuit of relatively localised goals, it now does not seem to matter where the victims are located, as long as they fit a broad profile. If... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3009354/line-fire-how-terrorism-links-world-internet-age?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3009354/line-fire-how-terrorism-links-world-internet-age?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 May 2019 00:30:11 +0000 A man shot dead as he attacked a Spanish police station had come out as gay and wanted to commit suicide, a source close to the investigation said on Tuesday, based on testimony of the assailant’s former wife. Abdel Wahab Taib, a 29-year-old Algerian man, invoked the name of Allah during the assault early Monday in the town of Cornella de Llobregat near Barcelona. Authorities are treating the incident as a “terrorist attack” although the source, who refused to be named, said “there don’t appear... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2160752/spain-knife-attacker-was-gay-and-wanted-commit-suicide?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2160752/spain-knife-attacker-was-gay-and-wanted-commit-suicide?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Aug 2018 21:08:32 +0000 A man, wielding a knife and uttering the word “Allah” lunged at an officer in a police station near Barcelona, Spain, on Monday in what police said was a terrorist act, and was shot dead. Police said the man entered the station in Cornella, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, shortly before 0400 GMT, seeking information. He then leapt towards a female officer, brandishing a large knife, they said. The attacker, identified only as living in Cornella, was shot dead. “The officer can only... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2160579/spanish-police-treat-attempted-knife-attack-police-station?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2160579/spanish-police-treat-attempted-knife-attack-police-station?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Aug 2018 21:07:44 +0000 The European Commission pledged €118.5 million (US$139.2 million) on Wednesday to help Europe’s cities guard against attacks and outlined how EU countries could do more to curb the sale of bomb-making materials. After a dozen cases in Europe of drivers using vehicles to plough into pedestrians, like the August attack in Barcelona, authorities have struggled to protect public spaces without disrupting cities’ open character or busting tight budgets. Security Commissioner Julian King said €18.5... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2115964/we-cant-deliver-zero-risk-we-can-make-it-harder-terrorists-eu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2115964/we-cant-deliver-zero-risk-we-can-make-it-harder-terrorists-eu?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:29:59 +0000 Police in Barcelona said a false alarm involving a suspicious van prompted the evacuation of the landmark Sagrada Familia basilica and its surroundings late on Tuesday. A spokesman with the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police said the sight of two occupants in the van near the church had raised the alarm of a possible extremist threat, but a bomb squad that searched the vehicle didn’t find any explosives. The spokesman declined to be identified by name, following the force’s protocol. Barcelona, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2110909/barcelona-police-evacuate-sagrada-familia-cathedral-amid-anti?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2110909/barcelona-police-evacuate-sagrada-familia-cathedral-amid-anti?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Sep 2017 19:15:45 +0000 Catalan officials have denied accusations that the police there ignored warnings about members of the terror cell behind last week’s deadly attacks and refused to cooperate with the national force. Politicians and the police force in the Catalonia region have had to answer accusations that they froze out the national force for political reasons. The vehicle rampages in Barcelona’s busy Las Ramblas boulevard last Thursday and in the seaside resort of Cambrils several hours later left 15 people... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2108264/did-catalan-police-freeze-out-spanish-national-officers-terror?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2108264/did-catalan-police-freeze-out-spanish-national-officers-terror?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Aug 2017 05:24:46 +0000 As graphic images of yet another terror attack – this time in Barcelona – flash across the television screen, I’m compelled to ask: could the rise in terrorist organisations and plots be linked to the 24-hour news cycle? Each time a van mows down pedestrians, or white supremacists march down the street, cable news channels inundate the public with all the lurid details, replaying graphic video imagery that often includes the very slogans these organisations are bent on voicing. When cable news... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107982/barcelona-charlottesville-are-islamic-state-and-white?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107982/barcelona-charlottesville-are-islamic-state-and-white?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Aug 2017 03:30:05 +0000 An alleged member of the terror cell that unleashed carnage in Spain last week admitted to a judge on Tuesday that he and other suspects had planned a bigger attack, a judicial source said. Mohamed Houli Chemlal, 21, was the first of four surviving suspects to be questioned in Madrid’s National Court, which deals with terror-related cases, over the attacks in Barcelona and a seaside resort that claimed 15 lives and wounded more than 100 people. The Spaniard was injured in an accidental explosion... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107872/spain-suspect-admits-terror-cell-planned-bigger-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107872/spain-suspect-admits-terror-cell-planned-bigger-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Aug 2017 15:14:00 +0000 The alleged Barcelona attacker who was killed Monday grew up in a small Catalan town where he seemed “nicely integrated” like his younger brother who also died as part of the same terror cell, residents said. Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan, was shot by police not far from Barcelona in northeastern Spain after a four-day manhunt for the man who allegedly drove a van through crowds in the popular Mediterranean city, killing 13. He didn’t stop there, fleeing his vehicle on foot after... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107758/alleged-barcelona-killer-was-normal-factory-worker-and-nicely?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107758/alleged-barcelona-killer-was-normal-factory-worker-and-nicely?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Aug 2017 05:07:31 +0000 Spanish police confirmed on Monday that Younes Abouyaaqoub, the man suspected of driving the van that killed 13 people in Barcelona last week, has been shot dead. Ending a five-day manhunt, police tracked 22-year-old Abouyaaqoub to a rural area near Barcelona. They said they shot him after he held up what appeared to be an explosives belt. A woman had alerted them to the presence of a suspicious man. Police gave few immediate details of the incident in Subirats, saying they had called in a bomb... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107696/spanish-police-arrest-main-barcelona-van-attack-suspect-local?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107696/spanish-police-arrest-main-barcelona-van-attack-suspect-local?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Aug 2017 15:00:30 +0000 Martine Groby rues the day when she ignored her father who told her: “They are terrorists, take down their number plates.” “I should have listened to him,” said Groby, who saw all the windows of her home in Spain shatter when a massive explosion detonated in the house next door last Wednesday. It turned out that house hidden behind olive trees was likely the bomb factory of suspected jihadists who used vehicles to mow down pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday and the nearby seaside resort of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107598/bomb-factory-next-door-behind-olive-trees-and-closed-shutters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107598/bomb-factory-next-door-behind-olive-trees-and-closed-shutters?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Aug 2017 04:43:06 +0000 Desperate to ease public fears and neutralise a terrorist cell responsible for the deadliest attack in Spain in a decade, Spanish police erected 800 checkpoints across the region of Catalonia on Sunday - part of a massive manhunt for a Moroccan-born man they suspect was the driver of the van that killed 13 and injured scores in Barcelona last week. Authorities could not say whether Younes Abouyaaquob, 22, was still in Spain or had crossed the border into France, but they were clearly frustrated... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107567/spain-sets-800-checkpoints-catalonia-manhunt-barcelona-suspect?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107567/spain-sets-800-checkpoints-catalonia-manhunt-barcelona-suspect?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Aug 2017 00:52:14 +0000 A British-Australian boy aged seven who had been reported as missing by his grandfather was killed in the vehicle attack in Barcelona last week, his family and Spanish officials said Sunday. Julian Cadman was among 14 people killed in twin assaults in Spain, according to Catalonia’s civil protection agency, which also confirmed the deaths of an Italian and a Belgian persons on Twitter. In a heart-wrenching statement, Julian’s family described him as “a much loved and adored member of our... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107560/british-australian-boy-julian-cadman-confirmed-dead-barcelona-van?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107560/british-australian-boy-julian-cadman-confirmed-dead-barcelona-van?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Aug 2017 15:19:28 +0000 Despite its long experience in fighting terrorism, Spain failed this past week to prevent two deadly attacks in Catalonia – a key tourist magnet but also the Spanish region most vulnerable to such assaults, analysts say. In attacks claimed by Islamic State, suspected jihadists killed 14 people and left 120 wounded, using vehicles to mow down pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday and in the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils early on Friday. Spain has five decades of experience of fighting against... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107527/barcelona-bloodshed-proves-catalonia-spains-fertile-ground-terror?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107527/barcelona-bloodshed-proves-catalonia-spains-fertile-ground-terror?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Aug 2017 07:34:18 +0000 Police put up scores of roadblocks across northeast Spain on Sunday in hopes of capturing a fugitive suspect from the 12-member Islamic extremist cell that staged two vehicle attacks and plotted much deadlier carnage using explosives favoured by Islamic State militants. Complicating the manhunt, though, was the fact that police have so far been unable to officially identify who exactly is at large. While police have identified the 12 members of the cell, three people remain unaccounted for: two... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107520/barcelona-pays-tribute-victims-police-hunt-suspected-driver-van?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107520/barcelona-pays-tribute-victims-police-hunt-suspected-driver-van?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Aug 2017 06:53:57 +0000 An Italian father who saved his children’s lives but lost his own. An American celebrating his first wedding anniversary. A Portuguese woman celebrating her birthday with her granddaughter. These were some of the 14 people from around the world killed in vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils on Thursday and early Friday. They spanned generations – from age 3 to age 80 – and leave behind devastated loved ones. The victims – who also include over 120 people wounded... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107499/terror-spain-lives-cut-short-madmen-van?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107499/terror-spain-lives-cut-short-madmen-van?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Aug 2017 02:47:05 +0000 Suspects in Spain’s twin terror attacks had been planning an even bigger assault than the deadly car rampages they carried out, police said on Friday, as distressing details emerged of families torn apart in the horror. A 35-year-old Italian was among 14 killed, mowed down in front of his wife and young children in Barcelona when a driver rammed his van through crowds on the busy Las Ramblas boulevard on Thursday, before fleeing on foot. Police said they shot dead five “suspected terrorists” who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107440/spanish-police-warn-barcelona-and-cambrils-attackers-planned-kill?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107440/spanish-police-warn-barcelona-and-cambrils-attackers-planned-kill?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Aug 2017 01:32:05 +0000 Global stock markets sank on Friday as traders sought haven investments such as gold following a terror attack in Barcelona and the glum mood was compounded by a week of drama in Washington which intensified doubts about President Donald Trump’s ability to deliver on pro-growth policy promises such as tax reform. After a late morning boost on Trump’s firing of controversial White House strategist Steve Bannon, the dollar and US equities lost their lustre as investors were left wary after a week... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2107436/stocks-reel-barcelona-attacks-and-fear-trumps-agenda-limbo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2107436/stocks-reel-barcelona-attacks-and-fear-trumps-agenda-limbo?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Aug 2017 22:38:21 +0000 The horrific scenes witnessed in the aftermath of two appalling terror attacks in Spain are, sadly, all too familiar. These are the latest in a string of attacks in Europe in which vehicles have been used to mow down innocent pedestrians. But the shock and outrage felt at these callous actions in Catalonia is not in any way dimmed by the fact that we have seen such tragic scenes before. Each new outrage must spark greater resolve to overcome and defeat the terrorists. The first attack was on Las... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107428/strength-and-resolve-needed-face-terror?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107428/strength-and-resolve-needed-face-terror?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Aug 2017 17:36:23 +0000 The long Las Ramblas promenade where a van ploughed into pedestrians on Thursday is a tree-lined walkway that starts in a huge plaza and ends near Barcelona’s harbour. It’s filled with cafes, restaurants, stalls selling everything from souvenirs to flowers, the city’s famed opera house and a baroque palace. It stretches 1.2km, with a pedestrian-only walkway in the centre of the avenue and vehicles allowed on both sides. Las Ramblas is one of Barcelona’s top tourist draws, a place to stroll and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107384/las-ramblas-main-vein-heart-barcelona?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107384/las-ramblas-main-vein-heart-barcelona?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Aug 2017 09:37:22 +0000 Markel Artabe had just finished his shift as a waiter in Cambrils and was heading off for an ice-cream when he heard shots: only a few hours after the carnage in Barcelona, the Catalan coast was suffering another attack. “Between midnight and 12.30am we were on the promenade by the beach,” said the 20-year-old, wearing shorts and a sky-blue polo shirt, still shaken after the drama. “Then we heard shots and thought ‘it must be fireworks’ ... But it was gunshots,” said the waiter in the seaside... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107366/five-dead-quiet-seaside-resort-cambrils-emerges-terrifying-night?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107366/five-dead-quiet-seaside-resort-cambrils-emerges-terrifying-night?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Aug 2017 08:25:18 +0000 US President Donald Trump appeared on Thursday to endorse the idea of mass executions for Islamist extremists, as he alluded to a widely debunked account of summary punishment by a US general in the Philippines in the early 1900s. It was another provocative tweet from an increasingly isolated leader who uses Twitter to take shots at perceived opponents – and even announce big policy changes. Thursday’s tweet also suggested Trump actually believes a story that many historians say is... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2107307/response-barcelona-attack-us-president-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2107307/response-barcelona-attack-us-president-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Aug 2017 03:39:13 +0000 Barcelona’s most famous street was packed with tourists when the suspected terrorist drove his van into the crowd. There was immediate carnage and panic. “There were bodies on the floor with people crowding round them. People were crying,” said Xavi Perez, who sells sports magazines just 100 metres away from Thursday’s attack, that left at least 13 people dead and about 100 injured. Among the foreigners on Las Ramblas was Aamar Anwar, a renowned Scottish human rights lawyer who was in Barcelona... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107289/whole-street-started-run-screaming-carnage-and-confusion-when?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107289/whole-street-started-run-screaming-carnage-and-confusion-when?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:07:47 +0000 Five apparent terrorists wearing suicide belts have been shot dead by police in Cambrils in southern Spain, apparently foiling a second ram-raid terrorist attack just hours after 13 pedestrians were killed in Barcelona when a van mowed them down on the city’s iconic Las Ramblas avenue. Local media reported that the Cambrils suspects crashed into a police car and ran over civilians late on Thursday, before police shot the attackers, one of whom was brandishing a knife. Five civilians and one... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107269/van-rams-and-injures-pedestrians-barcelona-terrorist-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2107269/van-rams-and-injures-pedestrians-barcelona-terrorist-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Aug 2017 16:15:15 +0000