https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Spain in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed With a Chinese population estimated at 62,000, Madrid is full of celebrations for the Year of The Rat. https://www.thelocal.es/20200124/how-to-celebrate-chinese-new-year-in-madrid Fri, 24 Jan 2020 17:45:15 +0100 how-to-celebrate-chinese-new-year-in-madrid Hundreds of Chinese citizens staged a rare protest Friday at an office of Spain's BBVA bank in Madrid, angrily denouncing that their personal accounts had been frozen without prior warning. https://www.thelocal.es/20190215/bbva-accused-of-racism-after-freezing-bank-accounts-of-chinese-clients Fri, 15 Feb 2019 15:55:54 +0100 bbva-accused-of-racism-after-freezing-bank-accounts-of-chinese-clients Taiwan has protested a decision by Spain to deport more than 200 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China, the latest such deportation amid frosty cross-strait ties. https://www.thelocal.es/20170221/taiwan-protests-over-spain-deportations-to-china Tue, 21 Feb 2017 11:02:33 +0100 taiwan-protests-over-spain-deportations-to-china Some 2,500 employees of a Chinese conglomerate arrived in Spain on Wednesday for an all-paid holiday treat complete with a giant paella and sangria party, in a trip hailed as helping the ailing local economy. https://www.thelocal.es/20160505/chinese-employees-win-paella-sangria-and-flamenco-treat Thu, 05 May 2016 11:18:52 +0200 chinese-employees-win-paella-sangria-and-flamenco-treat The Spanish National Police freed five Latin American women in Seville who were forced to work as prostitutes 24 hours a day. https://www.thelocal.es/20160419/police-free-women-forced-to-work-as-prostitutes-24-hours-a-day Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:36:00 +0200 police-free-women-forced-to-work-as-prostitutes-24-hours-a-day Police said on Sunday they had rescued 29 Chinese women who had been drugged and forced into prostitution in hotels and nightclubs across Spain in an operation that smashed a human trafficking ring. https://www.thelocal.es/20160418/police-free-29-chinese-women-forced-into-prostitution-in-spain Mon, 18 Apr 2016 11:23:36 +0200 police-free-29-chinese-women-forced-into-prostitution-in-spain Spanish police on Wednesday searched the Madrid branch of China's biggest lender ICBC as part of a probe into suspected money laundering, smuggling and violation of workers' rights. https://www.thelocal.es/20160217/spanish-police-raid-chinese-bank-icbc-in-300m-fraud-probe Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:16:51 +0100 spanish-police-raid-chinese-bank-icbc-in-300m-fraud-probe Security at Madrid’s Adolfo-Suárez airport got a surprise this week, when they discovered the endangered species carefully packed into the Chinese passengers’ luggage. https://www.thelocal.es/20160118/chinese-passengers-try-to-smuggle-48-live-eels-through-madrid-airport Mon, 18 Jan 2016 11:37:22 +0100 chinese-passengers-try-to-smuggle-48-live-eels-through-madrid-airport Spanish police said on Monday that they had arrested 80 suspected gang members accused of charging Chinese migrants €20,000 ($22,000) each to traffick them to Europe and North America https://www.thelocal.es/20150504/spain-busts-chinese-run-people-trafficking-gang Mon, 04 May 2015 16:26:14 +0200 spain-busts-chinese-run-people-trafficking-gang Chinese tourists are flocking to Spain in record numbers, with data showing they are now even bigger spenders than their Russian neighbours. https://www.thelocal.es/20150220/china-tourists-spain-big-spenders Fri, 20 Feb 2015 11:44:00 +0100 china-tourists-spain-big-spenders Spain's Defence department has dealt a serious blow to Toledo's legendary swordsmiths by choosing to order over a thousand sabres from a Chinese company for the sake of saving €5 ($6.70) per unit. https://www.thelocal.es/20140716/spain-stabs-toledo-sword-smiths-in-the-back Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:45:00 +0200 spain-stabs-toledo-sword-smiths-in-the-back China's richest man Wang Jianlin has bought a historic Madrid skyscraper which has stood empty for years from Spain's biggest bank Santander for €265 million ($360 million), the bank said on Thursday. https://www.thelocal.es/20140606/chinas-richest-wang-jianlin-madrid-spain-building Fri, 06 Jun 2014 11:25:00 +0200 chinas-richest-wang-jianlin-madrid-spain-building Two police officers accused of accepting gifts including legs of ham and tickets to bullfights in exchange for doing favours for a high-profile Spain-based Chinese criminal gang have denied any wrongdoing. https://www.thelocal.es/20140506/spanish-police-deny-taking-gifts-from-chinese-mafia-kingpin Tue, 06 May 2014 19:45:00 +0200 spanish-police-deny-taking-gifts-from-chinese-mafia-kingpin A year after fleeing China for Spain, having conned 350 people out of €40 million, Lili Dai wasn’t expecting anyone to come after her and her family. https://www.thelocal.es/20140409/chinese-scammer-kills-herself-after-daughters-kidnap-2 Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:48:58 +0200 chinese-scammer-kills-herself-after-daughters-kidnap-2 China's embassy in Spain has demanded an apology from Spanish TV channel Telecinco after a 'vulgar' and 'insulting' comedy sketch they aired during their New Year Gala caused anger across the Asian superpower. https://www.thelocal.es/20140109/china-outraged-by-racist-spanish-tv-show Thu, 09 Jan 2014 11:56:00 +0100 china-outraged-by-racist-spanish-tv-show A newcomer is muscling its way onto Spain's booming foreign language market: alongside stalwarts like English and German, Mandarin Chinese is gaining popularity as an option for Spanish children. https://www.thelocal.es/20131031/job-hungry-spaniards-turn-to-chinese-classes Thu, 31 Oct 2013 12:55:00 +0100 job-hungry-spaniards-turn-to-chinese-classes A young Galician entrepreneur has created a ground-breaking online learning tool which he claims can make anybody fluent in Chinese in eight months. It’s already caught the attention of Spanish multinationals Santander, Telefónica, BBVA and Repsol. https://www.thelocal.es/20130516/spaniard-unveils-8-month-online-chinese-challenge Thu, 16 May 2013 15:39:00 +0200 spaniard-unveils-8-month-online-chinese-challenge A Spanish court ordered the return to prison on Tuesday of a Chinese art dealer suspected of leading a massive money-laundering gang in Spain pending his possible trial, judging him a flight risk. https://www.thelocal.es/20130417/gang-kingpin-put-back-behind-bars Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:36:00 +0200 gang-kingpin-put-back-behind-bars