Almost 2.5 tonnes of narcotic seized and 30 people arrested after 15-month investigation into drug-smuggling network

• Falling price of cocaine forces drug traffickers to reuse narco-submarines, say Spanish police

Spanish police have arrested 30 people and seized almost 2.5 tonnes of cocaine after breaking up a criminal network that used teams of young swimmers to hide the drugs on moving, Europe-bound ships which were then attacked and relieved of their unwitting cargo before reaching port.

The 15-month investigation began in October 2024 when Policía Nacional officers found 88kg of cocaine in a vehicle in the southern Spanish town of Mijas. The drugs led them to three gangs, including a Balkan cartel, who were working together to bring huge quantities of cocaine into Spain from Colombia.

Record 3.5 million visited in 2025 and plans are afoot to ensure gallery does not become overburdened like Louvre

The head of the Prado has said the Madrid art museum does not need “a single visitor more” after it welcomed a record 3.5 million people last year, adding that plans are being drawn up to ensure it does not become a victim of its own success like the Louvre in Paris.

In 2025 the Prado, which is home to such masterpieces as Velázquez’s Las Meninas and Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, was visited by 3,513,402 people, an increase of more than 56,000 from the previous year. Visitor numbers have risen by more than 816,000 over the past decade.

Environment minister says attacks on social media affect perceptions of meteorology and denigrate researchers’ work

Spain’s environment minister has written to prosecutors to warn of “an alarming increase” in hate speech and social media attacks directed against climate science communicators, meteorologists and researchers.

In a letter sent to hate crimes prosecutors on Wednesday, Sara Aagesen said a number of recent reports examined by the ministry had detected a “significant increase” in the hostile language that climate experts are subjected to on digital platforms.

Spanish singer, 82, had already been accused of sexually assaulting two female former employees

The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, who has been accused of sexually assaulting two female former employees, is also alleged to have ordered some women who worked for him to undergo tests for sexually transmitted diseases, local media have reported.

The sexual assault allegations against the 82-year-old singer, whose career spans six decades, were published on Tuesday after a three-year joint investigation by the Spanish news site elDiario.es and the Spanish-language TV network Univision Noticias.