Ibiza’s problems reflect a broader issue in Spain

International News via Reuters:

It’s another night, another party at a hotel in Ibiza. The international clientele dances to the house beat while laser lights reflect on the curvy swimming pool and on a sea of sunglasses worn after dark at the open-air venue.

Many party-goers wear all-white; some show signs of altered perception. Ask those queuing outside this place and some of the Spanish Mediterranean island’s legendary nightclubs and they’ll say they’re spending a lot but the experience is worth it.

However, behind Ibiza’s clubbing scene and beaches a housing crisis has forced many locals and seasonal workers to share cramped apartments, commute from off the island or stay in tents and motorhomes in unauthorised encampments.

Ibiza’s problems reflect a broader issue in Spain, where a lack of affordable housing in cities and popular coastal destinations has sparked protests to demand rent controls and denounce overtourism. Activists accuse landlords of preferring short-term tourist lets to less-profitable extended leases.

On Ibiza, nearly 800 people have resorted to living in makeshift settlements, according to local authorities’ figures from last year, which don’t include an estimated 200 who lived in shacks, tents and vans at the “Can Rovi 2” camp before being evicted last month.

“The island is paradise, the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. But it has a flipside,” said Jeronimo Diana, a 50-year-old water technician from Argentina who stayed at Can Rovi 2.

A normal monthly rent would swallow most of his 1,800-euro salary, Diana said.

Ibiza’s average rents peaked at 33.7 euros per square metre in July last year, a 23% rise from July 2023, data from property website Idealista shows. That translates to about 1,500 euros ($1,756) for a small one-bedroom apartment. Spain’s national minimum wage is 1,381 euros per month.

In one possible knock-on effect, Ibiza is seeing a growing shortage of teachers and health workers, according to regional government data. Some public servants commute from neighbouring Balearic islands Menorca and Mallorca.

Maria Jose Tejero, a 24-year-old emergency medical technician, said she shares a small flat with two housemates to make ends meet because the rent is twice her salary.

Crewing an ambulance at night sometimes makes her feel “like a babysitter”, Tejero said. “People come here, drink, take drugs and think life’s just a party when that life can also end.”

Deflated balloons litter a bar-lined street in popular tourist town Sant Antoni. Dealers discreetly inflate the balloons with nitrous oxide – laughing gas – selling the brief high for 5 euros a pop.

Lia Romero, a 28-year-old nurse from Spain’s Canary Islands who sometimes moonlights as a dancer at Ibiza’s club Amnesia, said she also shares a flat and can’t afford bar cover charges or dining out.

“Ibiza is all about posturing and displays of wealth,” she said, “leaving no room for ordinary people”.

According to the regional statistics institute, Ibiza received 3.28 million tourists in 2024, 76% from outside Spain, while the island’s resident population reached a record 161,485.

Jonathan Ariza, a mechanic and construction worker from Colombia who said he is seeking political asylum in Spain, lives in a trailer near the island’s main hospital.

“As long as tourists keep coming, there’ll be people willing to live in precarious conditions to be employed,” he said.

Alejandra, a 31-year-old Colombian with a residence permit, lives in a shelter managed by Catholic charity Caritas after failing to secure a rental. She said she slept in a tent with her 3-year-old son David until they were evicted.

Alejandra said she had a new hotel job and wanted to move out of the shelter, but worried about losing work “for being slow” as she raced to log the Social Security contributions required to renew her permit.

Social workers Gustavo Gomez and Belen Torres, who run the Caritas shelter, said landlords routinely discriminate against families with children and evict tenants to replace them with tourists during the more lucrative summer months.

Local authorities are cracking down on illegal tourist rentals, imposing fines that start at 40,001 euros on those who post them.

Vacation rental companies have agreed to automatically withdraw advertisements officials deem illegal instead of waiting for a slower judicial ruling, said Ibiza Council Vice-President Mariano Juan of the conservative People’s Party, which governs the wider Balearic region.

In Juan’s view, high demand and limited buildable land result in “absolutely illogical” rent prices on Ibiza.

At a national level, the centre-left government has pledged to triple the state housing budget and speed construction of social housing. But a 2023 law that introduced some rent controls has seen limited success, as many opposition-controlled regions decline to apply the rules given they have a high level of autonomy in housing policy.

National landlord lobby ASVAL rejects rent controls, arguing they shrink supply and raise prices. It says the best ways to bring down rents are public incentives and more construction.

Saray Benito, 32, said work as a contortionist and torch juggler at the famous Cafe del Mar is scarce in winter. Over 12 years in Ibiza, she said she has had to move 20 times and sometimes sleep on balconies.

Italian drag performer Eva Cavallini, who is famous in the LGBTQ-friendly La Virgen district near Ibiza Town’s port, lamented that soaring travel and accommodation costs dissuade other artists from visiting.

“Ten years ago, we were around 200. Now it’s just me – the only survivor here. If things keep going this way, the island is finished.”

($1 = 0.8542 euros)

Additional reporting by Horaci GarciaWriting by David LatonaEditing by Frances Kerry

The intense rain has claimed lives and spread destruction in several northern districts

International News via Reuters:

Heavy rain in northwest Pakistan halted rescue and relief operations for several hours on Monday before resuming in the northwest region where flash floods have killed over 300 people since Friday, officials said.

The intense rain has claimed lives and spread destruction in several northern districts, with most people killed in flash floods, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

In hilly areas, the rains caused flash floods as well as mud and rock slides that washed away houses, buildings, vehicles and belongings.

“It was like a doomsday scenario,” 24-year-old university student Sahil Khan told Reuters TV, describing the flash floods. “Everybody is scared. Children are scared. They cannot sleep.”

Buner district was the worst hit, with over 200 deaths.

Heavy rain in the flood-hit areas, including Buner, forced rescue teams to halt relief efforts for several hours on Monday, a regional government officer, Abid Wazir, told Reuters.

“Our priority is now to clear the roads, set up bridges and bring relief to the affected people,” he said. 

Residents in Buner’s Bayshonai Kalay village panicked and ran to higher ground after a water channel that had earlier overflowed and caused major devastation started swelling with the fresh rain on Monday, according to Reuters witnesses.

Rescuers from local government, the disaster management authority and the army used excavator machines to clear the roads and streets from mud, fallen trees and electric poles.

Relief goods have been sent to the affected areas, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a recorded video statement on Monday.

Food, medicine, blankets, camps, an electric generator and de-watering pumps are included in the relief goods, the authority said in a statement.

Buner, a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital Islamabad, was hit by a cloudburst, a rare phenomenon in which more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain falls within an hour in a small area, officials said. 

In Buner, there was more than 150 mm of rain within an hour on Friday morning, they said.

More heavy rain was expected across Pakistan until early September, officials said. 

“The current weather system is active over the Pakistan region and may cause heavy to very heavy rainfall during the next 24 hours,” the disaster management authority said on Sunday.

Torrential rains and flooding this monsoon season have killed 657 people across Pakistan since late June, it said.

Reporting by Akhtar Soomro in Buner, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

The airline said it would delay plans to restart operations from Sunday until Monday evening and described the union as illegally defying the labor board

International News via Reuters:

Air Canada suspended its third-quarter and annual profit forecasts as its fleet of hundreds of planes remained grounded on Monday morning after striking flight attendants refused a government-backed order to get back to work and called on the airline to return to the bargaining table.

The carrier, which normally carries 130,000 people daily and is part of the global Star Alliance of airlines, had planned to start ramping up operations on Sunday evening, after a labor relations board ordered the union to return to work and start binding arbitration. 

The union said no, setting up an almost unprecedented standoff with the Canadian government, which had requested the back-to-work order. 

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 10,000 Air Canada cabin crew, had pushed for a negotiated solution, saying binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline.

The attendants are striking for better wages and to be paid for work on the ground, such as boarding passengers. They currently are only paid when planes are moving, sparking some vocal support from Canadians on social media.

CUPE invited Air Canada back to the table to “negotiate a fair deal,” calling the order to end its strike unconstitutional.

The airline said it would delay plans to restart operations from Sunday until Monday evening and described the union as illegally defying the labor board. 

The government’s options to end the strike now include asking courts to enforce the order to return to work and seeking an expedited hearing.

The minority government could also try to pass legislation that would need the support of political rivals and approval in both houses of parliament, which are on break until September 15.

“The government will be very reticent to be too heavy-handed because in Canada the Supreme Court has ruled that governments have to be very careful when they take away the right to strike, even for public sector workers that may be deemed essential,” said Dionne Pohler, professor of dispute resolution at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School. 

Another option is to encourage bargaining, Pohler said.

The government did not respond to requests for comment. 

On Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government moved to end the strike by asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order binding arbitration. The CIRB issued the order, which Air Canada had sought, and unionized flight attendants opposed.

The previous government, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, intervened last year to head off rail and dock strikes that threatened to cripple the economy, but it is highly unusual for a union to defy a CIRB order. 

The CUPE said its rejection was unprecedented when such an order was made according to rules, known as Section 107, that the government invoked in this case.

Travelers at Toronto Pearson International Airport over the weekend said they were confused and frustrated about when they would be able to fly.

Italian Francesca Tondini, 50, sitting at the Toronto airport, said she supported the union even though she had no idea when she would be able to return home. 

“They are right,” she said with a smile, pointing at the striking attendants.

The dispute between cabin crews and Air Canada hinges on the way airlines compensate flight attendants. Most, including Air Canada, have traditionally paid them only when planes are in motion.

In their latest contract negotiations, flight attendants in both Canada and the United States have sought compensation for hours worked, including for tasks such as boarding passengers.

New labor agreements at American Airlines and Alaska Airlines legally require carriers to start the clock for paying flight attendants when passengers are boarding.

American’s flight attendants are now also compensated for some hours between flights. United Airlines’ <UAL.O> cabin crews, who voted down a tentative contract deal last month, also want a similar provision.

Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal, Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa, Gertrude Chavez-Drefuss in New York, Kyaw Soe Oo in Toronto and Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Writing by Peter Henderson; Editing by Frank McGurty and Marguerita Choy

EU officials said disagreements over language relating to “non-tariff barriers” are among the reasons for the hold-up of the statement

International News via Reuters:

The European Union is trying to prevent the United States from targeting the bloc’s digital rules as both sides work through the final details of a delayed statement to formalise a trade deal reached last month, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

EU officials said disagreements over language relating to “non-tariff barriers”, which the U.S. said include the digital rules, are among the reasons for the hold-up of the statement, the newspaper said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The European Union, the White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The statement had originally been expected days after the July announcement by EU President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to FT.

The July deal imposed a 15% import tariff on most EU goods – half the initially threatened rate – and helped avert a broader trade war between the two allies, who together account for nearly a third of global trade.

The U.S. wanted to keep the door open for possible concessions on the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on U.S. tech companies, according to FT, which added that the commission has said that relaxing these rules is a red line.

The EU’s DSA is a landmark law meant to make the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.

The commission had anticipated that Trump would sign an executive order by August 15 to cut tariffs on EU car exports to the U.S. from 27.5% to 15%. However, a U.S. official signaled that this would be delayed until the joint statement was finalized, according to FT.

Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Kim Coghill

Firefighters have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years

International News via Reuters:

Spain battled 14 major fires driven by high winds and aggravated by heat on Friday as authorities warned of “unfavourable conditions” to tackle flames that have already killed seven people and burned an area the size of London.

Firefighters have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years. And a nearly two-week heatwave and southerly winds were worsening the situation in Spain, Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services, said on Friday.  

“In the western part of the country the situation is extremely worrying,” Barcones said on RTVE.

In Galicia, several fires converged to form a large blaze, forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region.

As fire spread from Galicia’s Ourense province to neighbouring Zamora, provoking evacuations, some stayed behind to protect their homes.

“We are waiting for the fire to come down to try and stop it, so it does not get to the houses,” Loli Baz, 52, told Reuters from the village of Villanueva de la Sierra in Zamora.

Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in the north and west of the country, as temperatures are expected to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on the north coast.

“Today will be another very difficult day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.

FIRES SPREADING QUICKLY

A fire near Molezuelas de la Carballeda in the Castile and Leon region – one of the largest in Spain’s history – had not advanced since Thursday.

That wildfire had, at one point, been spreading by 4,000 hectares (15.4 square miles) per hour, said Eduardo Diego, national government representative for the region.

A fire near Badajoz in the Extremadura region, meanwhile, burned 2,500 hectares in a few hours before being brought under control.

“It was very fast with enormous growth, but it has been possible to tackle it,” Jose Luis Quintana, the national government representative for the region, told RTVE.

The fires caused the closure of more than half a dozen roads on a busy bank holiday weekend, leaving travelers stuck at the height of summer holidays.

In the town of Oimbra in Ourense province, where three firefighters were seriously injured, a man was arrested for causing a fire by using his tractor when it was prohibited, police said.

Two people were also arrested in Costa da Morte in Galicia for provoking fires by illegally burning copper cables to extract the metal, according to the Interior Ministry.

Wildfires have burned more than 157,000 hectares in Spain so far this year, almost double the annual average, according to the European Union’s Forest Fire Information Service.

In neighbouring Portugal, meanwhile, thousands of firefighters were battling five large blazes in central and northern parts of the country, with one fire in Trancoso, some 350 km northeast of Lisbon, now raging for six days.

Around 300 residents were evacuated on Friday from the village of Covanca near Piodao, an area of central Portugal popular with tourists, after a wildfire broke out on Wednesday.

Portugal has activated the EU mechanism for assistance and requested four Canadair planes, according to civil protection commander Mario Silvestre.

Reporting by Michale Gore, Charlie Devereux, Ana Cantero and Andrei Khalip; Editing by Toby Chopra and Joe Bavier