Beach in Mallorca renamed ‘Drunkards Beach’ on Google Maps, Spain’s PM welcomes Iran-US ceasefire but ‘won’t applaud those who set the world on fire’ and more news on Thursday April 9th.
Five arrested in Barcelona after stealing €25,000 watch
Officers from the Guardia Urbana in Barcelona said they have arrested five thieves, specialising in violent robberies of luxury watches in the city. They were apprehended while attempting to rob a tourist of a watch valued at €25,000.
Plainclothes officers spotted the thieves on Via Laietana in the Ciutat Vella district, just about to strike a group of tourists.
One of the thieves was also carrying a knife and one tourist suffered minor injuries during the event.
Spanish law allows pickpockets and other thieves to steal goods worth less than €400 and not face a prison sentence if caught, even if they’re repeat offenders.
Beach in Mallorca renamed ‘Drunkards Beach’ on Google Maps
S’Arenal Beach, just south of Palma airport, has been renamed Betrunkene by hackers, the German name for drunks or drunkards.
According to a technical data report, the official name of s’Arenal has disappeared from iPhone’s native weather app and Betrunkene appears instead, identifying the area between the well-known Bierkönig and Megapark bars.
Google Maps has also failed to protect its mapping data from these hacks. A detailed investigation into what happened reveals that the system has categorised geographical points with offensive names, such as ‘Platja dels Borratxos‘ or ‘Platja de Betrunkene‘ (Drunkards Beach’), as tourist attractions.
In 2024, Mallorca introduced tougher alcohol laws which banned street drinking in some areas, stopped shops from selling alcohol late at night and put tighter controls on party boats.
READ ALSO: No, Spain’s Balearics haven’t banned tourists from drinking alcohol
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PM welcomes Iran-US ceasefire but ‘won’t applaud those who set the world on fire’
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has welcomed two-week temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran and has called for “for diplomacy, international law and peace”, after an agreement was reached between Washington and Tehran.
In a message posted on social media platform X, Sánchez warned that “momentary relief” cannot make us forget “the chaos, the destruction and the lives lost” and stated that “the Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket”.
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Spain’s FM says ‘unacceptable’ for Israel to continue Lebanon invasion
Spain’s foreign minister on Wednesday said it was “unacceptable” that Israel continued its invasion of Lebanon after the United States and Iran agreed a two-week ceasefire to halt the regional war.
“All fronts must cease, and all fronts also means Lebanon. It is unacceptable that Israel’s war, Israel’s invasion of a sovereign country like Lebanon… continues,” José Manuel Albares told public radio RNE.
Spain also summoned Israel’s top representative to Madrid on Wednesday after the Israeli military briefly arrested a Spanish soldier the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, foreign ministry sources said.
Israel’s charge d’affaires was summoned “to protest the unjustifiable detention of a Spanish UNIFIL soldier by the Israeli army”, the sources said.
UNIFIL on Tuesday said Israeli forces had held one of its peacekeepers “after blocking a logistics convoy”, without revealing the nationality. The soldier “was released in less than an hour”.
With additional reporting by AFP.
