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Madrid Arrests Moroccan for Plotting Terrorist Attacks in Spain

Spanish police officers stand guard in Madrid on December 16, 2014. (AFP)
Spanish police officers stand guard in Madrid on December 16, 2014. (AFP)
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Madrid Arrests Moroccan for Plotting Terrorist Attacks in Spain

Spanish police officers stand guard in Madrid on December 16, 2014. (AFP)
Spanish police officers stand guard in Madrid on December 16, 2014. (AFP)

A Moroccan national was arrested on Wednesday in Bolanos de Calatrava, near the border with Portugal, on suspicion of working to form a cell to carry out terrorist attacks in Spain.

According to security sources, another man was arrested in a raid on a warehouse and some houses in the town of 12,000. Security forces seized electronic devices, computers and information technology programs.

Witnesses said dozens of the Civil Guard's counterterrorism forces cordoned several neighborhoods in the town. Gunfire was heard in what an official source described as a “major operation against extremists.”

Mayor Miguel Angel Valverde said counterterrorism services informed him on Wednesday that they will conduct a large-scale security operation in the town without giving him any additional information.

They also asked him to call on the people to keep calm and stay in their houses.

Rumors said some people were killed and others injured during the ensuing shootout over the raid. Official sources denied the claim, saying the shootout took place only when the warehouse was stormed.

Since announcing the state of emergency in March to confront the novel coronavirus outbreak, Spanish security forces have carried out a number of operations against extremist organizations and arrested a number of terrorists, including one on Europe’s most dangerous wanted list.

The country’s interior Ministry had earlier raised the anti-terrorist units’ level of readiness in anticipation that terrorist groups may exploit the state of emergency to regroup in Spain and throughout Europe.

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World

UK Tests New Long-Range Weapons with Hopes to Send to Ukraine

A member of the military walks past an MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow, southwest of London, on July 17, 2018. (Ben STANSALL / AFP)
A member of the military walks past an MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow, southwest of London, on July 17, 2018. (Ben STANSALL / AFP)
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UK Tests New Long-Range Weapons with Hopes to Send to Ukraine

A member of the military walks past an MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow, southwest of London, on July 17, 2018. (Ben STANSALL / AFP)
A member of the military walks past an MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow, southwest of London, on July 17, 2018. (Ben STANSALL / AFP)

Britain has tested new long-range strike weapons that the Government hopes can be delivered to Ukraine within months as part of efforts to produce munitions quicker and cheaper than others like Storm Shadow missiles.

New systems capable of hitting targets at least 500 kilometers away, carrying at least a 225-kilogram warhead, have been fired at a range in the Hebrides, with further trials taking place in the UK over the coming months.

The Ministry of Defense challenged UK firms to develop long-range strike weapons with a speed of more than 600 kilometers per hour, a cost per unit of around £400,000 ($529,360) and the ability to produce at least 20 weapons a month within months of production order.

Some 27 bids from industry were made with “Dragon's Den” style pitches held last February before six companies were awarded contracts worth around £5 million each to design the weapons for testing in just seven months, according to dpa.

By last December, only three suppliers remained – MBDA UK, which makes Storm Shadow; MGI Engineering, a UK SME with a background in Formula 1 technology; and Rotron Aerospace, another UK SME with a history of working with the Ministry of Defense.

World

Massive Fire Destroys Resort in Dominican Republic and Forces Evacuation of Almost 1,700 Tourists

A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS
A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS
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Massive Fire Destroys Resort in Dominican Republic and Forces Evacuation of Almost 1,700 Tourists

A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS
A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS

A large fire almost completely destroyed a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic on Friday, forcing the evacuation of almost 1,700 tourists, authorities said.

Local media reported an Italian tourist died in the fire and several other tourists required medical assistance.

The Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham resort is located in Bayahibe, a popular destination for US and international tourists on the Dominican Republic's southeastern coast.

Authorities reported about 1,690 tourists had to be evacuated from the resort to other hotels and nearby housing facilities because of the massive blaze.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation and the country’s Emergency Operations Center said it appeared the “fire spread rapidly” due to wind and because part of the resort’s roof was made of thatch, The Associated Press reported.

Viva Wyndham’s other nearby resort, the Dominicus Palace, was not damaged by the fire and was operating as normal, the center said.

World

France’s Macron Slams Migrant ‘Return-Hubs’, EU Funding Push

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
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France’s Macron Slams Migrant ‘Return-Hubs’, EU Funding Push

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday slammed the idea of creating deportation centers for irregular migrants outside the EU, saying Paris will oppose efforts to have the bloc fund them.

So-called "return hubs" outside the EU's borders are one of the main features of a tightening of migration rules criticized by human rights groups that won the final approval of the European Parliament this week.

"France does not support that policy," Macron told journalists after a summit of European leaders in Brussels, noting the new rules allowed for people to be sent to countries they had no ties to -- which could receive money in turn.

"I'm not sure that's the Europe we want. I'm not sure those are the fundamental principles on which our Europe was built. And I don't believe, for that matter, that it's effective. The proof is that, so far, I haven't seen anyone make it work."

France was in favor of stricter rules to boost returns of people with no right to stay to their country of origin, but would not be building return hubs, he added.

"I don't believe that this is either effective or in line with our principles," Macron said.

While other EU members were free to go ahead with such plans, Paris was against a move supported by many other member states to have EU money help pay for them, Macron said.

Proponents say return hubs -- which would serve either as the final destination or as transfer centers for those expelled -- could facilitate repatriations and act as a deterrent for would-be irregular migrants

But rights groups have criticized them as "legal black holes" that could see migrants stranded in limbo with little oversight.

Britain abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania have faced legal challenges and a slow uptake.