Prison sentences for the perpetrators of the Spanish teenagers' volunteering scam in Ghana in 2018

Prison sentences for the perpetrators of the Spanish teenagers’ volunteering scam in Ghana in 2018

The Provincial Court of Barcelona has sentenced Yago Zarroca to three years in prison and Màrius Montmany and Oriol Hernández to two years each as responsible for the organization Yes We Help for a crime of aggravated fraud. Although the sentence is not final, the Chamber considers it proven that the alleged NGO of “international volunteering” was actually seeking to recruit and deceive hundreds of teenagers under the promise of participating in humanitarian projects in Ghana and Sri Lanka.

Read More
A disastrous drone show in Sydney: 89 disconnected and fell into the sea

A disastrous drone show in Sydney: 89 disconnected and fell into the sea

Almost 90 drones fell from the sky over Darling Harbour in Sydney during a popular winter light show, with footage showing the devices plunging into the water near the audience. The organizers of Vivid Sydney, an annual three-week festival featuring large light installations, stated that the failure on Monday night, local time, was due to “unforeseen technical difficulties” and have canceled several upcoming shows.

Read More
Taking the 'Hondius' to the Canary Islands saved the lives of those infected with hantavirus

Taking the ‘Hondius’ to the Canary Islands saved the lives of those infected with hantavirus

Taking the cruise ship ‘MV Hondius’, affected by a hantavirus outbreak, to the Canary Islands was a decision guided “by science, humanity, and Spain’s reliability” and has allowed controlling the mortality. At this moment there are 13 positive cases (two Spaniards), among them, the three passengers who died before the ship was moved to the Canary archipelago. This represents a mortality rate of just under 24%, a figure far from the usual ones for this virus, which approach 40%.

Read More
What to do if the power goes out and how to prevent outages during the summer

What to do if the power goes out and how to prevent outages during the summer

Always faithful to the appointment, the first hot days have already arrived. And as it gets hotter, you know the scenario: 40º, shutters down, sleepless nights… and sometimes, the power goes out. The couple electrical failures / heat is no coincidence. When the temperature soars, so does electricity consumption, because the family takes refuge at home and you turn the cooling system up to the max. If other appliances are running at the same time — the TV, the video game console, the microwave, the washing machine… — the power can go out right at the worst moment.

Read More
Seven Catalan universities among the top 10 with the highest academic performance in Spain

Seven Catalan universities among the top 10 with the highest academic performance in Spain

One more year, Catalan universities have a majority presence within the top ten best Spanish campuses in the ranking carried out annually by the CYD Foundation, which this year reaches its 13th edition. Thus, up to seven centers appear on that list: the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) – which shares second place along with Carlos III of Madrid -, Pompeu Fabra (3rd position), Ramon Llull (5th), Internacional de Catalunya (6th), Universitat de Barcelona (7th), Politècnica de Catalunya (8th) and Rovira i Virgili (10th). Compared to the previous year, two Catalan universities – Internacional de Catalunya and Politècnica – have joined this top ten, raising the total number from 5 to 7.

Read More
Black smoke in Education: the Government asks for more time to study the economic proposal

Black smoke in Education: the Government asks for more time to study the economic proposal

The unions and the Conselleria d’Educació have also not reached a preliminary agreement today to end the teachers’ strike, after the sixth meeting and ten days of strike, the fourth in all the centers of Catalunya. The Govern has conveyed to the teachers’ representatives that it needs more time to finish evaluating the economic proposal and has asked them to continue working tomorrow.

Read More
Iñaki Gabilondo: “Journalism consists of explaining what people have the right to know”

Iñaki Gabilondo: “Journalism consists of explaining what people have the right to know”

Lesson in journalism from one of the great masters of the profession in Spain. Iñaki Gabilondo (San Sebastián, 1942), a deep connoisseur of Spanish politics, who experienced the Transition era from the front line of news coverage, was the guest this Tuesday at Foros de Vanguardia to talk about Journalism in the era of disinformation in the MGS auditorium, where he offered applauded reflections on the current political situation and the complex crossroads faced by the media.

Read More
Keys to the new AI law: fines of up to 35 million for prohibited uses, such as 'deepfake'

Keys to the new AI law: fines of up to 35 million for prohibited uses, such as ‘deepfake’

Today, the Council of Ministers has given the green light to the draft bill for the proper use and governance of AI. Now, the document will be sent to the Cortes to begin its parliamentary processing and, once processed, will give rise to an organic law. And the regulation will have this rank, Óscar López, head of the portfolio for Digital Transformation and Public Function, emphasized after the Council of Ministers, “because it affects fundamental rights.”

Read More