Portal:Spain

Spain (Spanish: España), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España), is a country in southern Europe. It is located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. The country consists of Peninsular Spain which is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, two archipelagos, one in each sea, and two autonomous cities in North Africa. The mainland area of Spain is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the southern and eastern areas, the Cantabric Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Spain is organised as a parliamentary democracy and is a constitutional monarchy. Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986 and is a developed country, with the ninth largest economy in the world and fifth largest in the EU. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France).

Spain flourished under the Roman empire Hispania, thus becoming one of the Empire's most important regions at the time. During the times of the Middle Ages, Spain was under Germanic rule, only later to come under the rule of the Islamic caliphate. Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the completion of the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula in 1492. It has been an important source of influence to other regions, chiefly during the Modern Era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of over 500 million Spanish speakers today, making it the world's second most spoken first language.

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The USS Reina Mercedes was a cruiser captured by the US Navy during the Spanish–American War. Th ship was named in honor of Queen Mercedes of Spain when she was built at Cartagena in 1887. The ship served under Admiral Cervera in the defense of Santiago, Cuba, although her boilers and engines were in very poor shape and much of her armament had been removed to be used from shore batteries. After an attempt to use her to block the channel was discovered, she was sunk by the USS Massachusetts and USS Texas.

Raised after the war, she was towed to Newport, Rhode Island where she served as a receiving ship. After a refit in 1912, she was transferred to Annapolis, Maryland to serve as a station ship, replacing the USS Hartford. Until 1940, one of the Reina Mercedes' roles was as a brig for the Naval Academy---cadets undergoing punishment were required to spend all time not in classes or at drills aboard the ship, sleeping in hammocks at night, for periods of up to two months. This practice was discontinued in 1940, to be replaced with confinement to rooms in Bancroft Hall. Other roles filled by the Reina Mercedes included service as a berthing barge for enlisted personnel assigned to the Academy during World War II, a lookout and harbor control center. It was a common joke at the time to refer to the Reina Mercedes as the "fastest ship in the fleet", since she was tied "fast" to the seawall.

A distant shot of smoke coming from Madrid Barajas International Airport.

Credit: Flickr

Smoke coming from Madrid Barajas International Airport after the 2006 Madrid Barajas International Airport bombing. The terrorist incident occurred on the morning of December 30, 2006, when an explosion took place in the carpark building attached to Terminal 4 of the airport.

Wikinews Spain portal

• May 28: Nadal withdraws from French Open 2016, suffers from wrist injury
• May 19: Sevilla wins third consecutive Europa League title, beating Liverpool 3-1
• May 7: Real Madrid edge Manchester City to reach fourteenth European Cup Final
• April 18: Nadal defeats Monfils to claim his ninth Monte Carlo Masters title

Baltasar Garzón Real

Baltasar Garzón Real (born October 26, 1955 in Torres, Jaén, Spain) is a prominent judge (investigating magistrate) of Spain. Garzón currently sits on Spain's second highest criminal court (Sala 5 of the Audiencia Nacional), the Audiencia Nacional. Garzón is known in Spain as "Super Judge" or "Judge-Star."

Garzón rose to international prominence on October 10, 1998 for his issuance of an arrest warrant for former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet over the deaths and torture of Spanish citizens during Pinochet's regime, using the Chilean Truth Commission (1990-91) report as the basis for the warrant. He has repeatedly expressed a desire to investigate former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in connection with a plot in the 1970s known as Operation Condor. Garzón also opened the gates to charges of genocide being filed in Spain against Argentine military officers of genocide on the disappearance of Spanish citizens during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship. In April 2001, he requested that the Council of Europe remove the immunity from prosecution enjoyed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy as a member of the Council's parliamentary assembly.

The Alcazaba with the Roman theatre in the foreground

• ...that the creators of the Alcazaba fortification in Málaga, Spain, reused materials from nearby Roman ruins?
• ...that Spanish government minister and European Commissioner Loyola de Palacio deflected speculation that she was an Opus Dei member, noting that she was named after Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus?
• ...that the Falklands Crisis of 1770 nearly caused a war between Great Britain and Spain?

“ In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world. ”

— Federico García Lorca

Battle of Bicocca • Battle of Ceresole • El Greco • Italian War of 1521–1526 • Lince (tank) • Salvador Dalí • Same-sex marriage in Spain • T-26 • War of the League of Cambrai • Verdeja (tank) • War of the Spanish Succession Template:/box-footer

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