English in Madrid

Meta and YouTube found liable in landmark social media addiction trial A Los Angeles jury has handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and YouTube over her childhood addiction to social media. Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year old's mental health. The woman, known as Kaley, was awarded $6m (£4.5m) in damages , a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts. Meta and Google said separately that they disagreed with the verdict and would both appeal . Meta said: "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online." A spokesperson for Google said: "This case misunde...

Image created with Chat GPT Italy wins claim over name of Spanish restaurant chain The Mafia Sits at the Table After years of court action and complaints , trademark office in Spain rules name is counter to ‘public order and morality’ A Spanish restaurant chain called The Mafia Sits at the Table may soon have to change its name after the country’s patent and trademark office * heeded objections from the Italian government and ruled that the brand ’s nomenclature ran counter to “both public order and morality”. Italy has pursued its claim against the chain – known in Spanish as La Mafia se sienta a la mesa – through various courts and official bodies over the past few years , alleging that the name trivialises both organised crime and efforts to fight it. In 2018, the EU Intellectual Property Office ruled that the name was invalid as it conveyed a “globally positive image” of the mafia. It added that the brand was “ therefore likely to shock or offend not only the victims of...

Singer Julio Iglesias faces Spanish inquiry into sexual assault allegations Two women have accused the Spanish singer Julio Iglesias of sexually assaulting them while they were working for him and allege that he "normalised abuse" in a coercive , threatening and violent environment. The allegations, made in reports by Spanish news site elDiario.es and US outlet Univision, are being investigated by Spain's judiciary. The singer employed the two women at his properties in Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, and Lyford Cay, in the Bahamas. According to their testimonies, the sexual assaults took place in 2021. Iglesias, who is 82, has been a household name in Spain since the 1960s and has sold millions of records worldwide . According to elDiario.es and Univision, Iglesias and his lawyer did not respond to repeated requests for a response to the allegations ahead of their publication. However, a woman identified as a manager of one of the singer's Caribbean pro...

  Brit chess prodigy tells Spanish court he was ' messing around ' when he joked 'I'm Taliban' and told pals ' on my way  to  blow up   the plane' in message that  sparked  fighter jet  escort  during easyJet flight to Menorca    A British  former  child  chess  prodigy has admitted in court he told his friends before  jetting to  Spain: 'On my way to blow up the plane. I'm a member of the Taliban.' But Aditya Verma insisted today as he  went on trial  that he was joking with his pals in a private Snapchat group before he was  hauled off  the flight. The 20-year-old student said he had 'no intention' of mobilising the two Spanish fighter jets sent to escort the  packed  easyJet plane he and 140 other  holidaymakers  were on as it  neared  Menorca along with police and firefighters on the ground.   Indian-born Aditya was 18 when he was  arrested ...

Legal row over 2,800,000% mark-up for African mask A second-hand dealer in France has appeared in court accused of deceiving a couple by paying €150 (£130) for an African mask which he resold for €4.2m. The pensioner couple found the mask from Gabon at the home of an ancestor who had been a colonial governor. They sold it to the dealer in 2021, only to find out its true value following an auction six months later. As the case opened on Tuesday, Gabon's government asked for proceedings to be halted and the mask returned. The saga began when the couple - who are in their 80s and live in central France - asked the dealer to clear their holiday home near the southern town of Alès. The house had belonged to René-Victor Fournier, a colonial administrator in the early 20th Century. The wooden mask was found in a cupboard. The dealer argues that he had no idea how valuable it was when he bought it. In March 2022, reading about the auction in the city of Montpelier, the couple di...

Nude landlord no excuse for holding back rent, rules German court Frankfurt judges said people would have to lean far out of window to see naked sunbathing in courtyard A German court has said that a landlord sunbathing naked in the courtyard of his building was not a reason for his tenants to reduce their rental payments. The case involved a building in an upmarket residential district of Frankfurt, which included an office floor rented by a human resources company. The company withheld rent because it objected , among other things, to the landlord’s naked sunbathing. In response, the landlord * sued . The Frankfurt state court on Wednesday rejected the company’s reasoning , finding that “the usability of the rented property was not impaired by the plaintiff sunning himself naked in the courtyard”. It said in a statement that it couldn’t see an “inadmissible, deliberately improper effect on the property”. Judges were ruling on an appeal against a lower court decision th...

Spain passes law allowing anyone over 16 to change registered gender Legislation will also ban conversion therapy, introduce menstrual leave and ease abortion limits Spain’s parliament has approved new legislation that will allow anyone over 16 to change their legally registered gender, ease abortion limits for those aged 16 and 17, and make the country the first in Europe to introduce paid menstrual leave. The new transgender law – which was passed despite protests from feminist groups, warnings from opposition parties, and amid tensions between different wings of the Socialist- led coalition government – means that anyone aged over 16 will be able to change their gender on official documents without medical supervision. However, a judge will need to authorise the change for minors aged between 12 and 14, while those aged between 14 and 16 will need the consent of their parents or guardians. No such changes will be available to those under the age of 12. The law will also see ...

Source:  RAPHAEL MAKSIAN on Unsplash   Spanish court rules workers can have pay deducted for smoking breaks A company that stopped paying its employees for smoking breaks has won its case in Spain's high court. Energy company Galp says it was implementing Spanish law when it began deducting time spent off premises from employees' working days. A quick coffee break or breakfast with a colleague is also included in Galp's policy, which began in September last year. The trade union that brought the case to court plans to appeal the decision. Recent changes to Spanish law require companies to record employees' entrances and departures from the workplace. The monitoring was supposed to prevent workers' exploitation and increase flexibility in working contracted hours. It was also supposed to address Spain's problem of unpaid overtime work - in 2019 nearly three million of hours worked overtime were never paid. But the requirement has had unf...

Source:  Markus Winkler on Unsplash Ronaldo accepts €18.8m deal over tax evasion Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has cut a deal with a court in Madrid over tax evasion charges , accepting an €18.8m (£16.6m) fine . A huge media presence met the player outside the court, after a judge refused his request to appear by video or to enter the building by car to avoid the spotlight . The deal, agreed in advance, includes a 23-month jail sentence . But in Spain, convicts do not usually do time for sentences under two years. The non-violent nature of Ronaldo's offence means he is unlikely to spend any time at all in jail, serving it on probation instead. The court appearance lasted mere minutes as Ronaldo accepted the deal offered by prosecutors. The current Juventus player, who played for the club in Italy the night before, arrived smiling and giving a thumbs-up , apparently unfazed by the media presence. His lawyers had argued that given his fame, avoidin...

Source:  Alasdair Elmes on Unsplash When faking your own death to get out of catering a wedding is not fraud  Madrid court finds two entrepreneurs not guilty after they lied to a couple about their supposed demise and kept the fiancés’ money Just hours before a wedding was due to take place, Jesús C., the businessman in charge of cater ing the event, sent a mail to the bride purporting to be someone else, and claiming that both he and his son had died. The message explained that the company would not be able to serve the food – which was already 75% paid for. The lie has been described as such by the Spanish justice system, yet the perpetrators will not be punished as the courts found that the ruse cannot be considered fraud. The man in question already had a criminal record for misappropriation of funds, and six other couples say he pulled the same trick on them. The public prosecutor was calling for a prison sentence of one year and three months. ...

Source:  Mika Baumeister on Unsplash Spanish court ruling gives parents permission to read their children’s WhatsApp messages  The mother argued that her ex-husband had breached Spain's privacy laws by checking his nine-year-old's messages  A father who was sued by his ex-wife for reading his two children’s WhatsApp conversations has been cleared by a court in northern Spain. The mother claimed at a court in Pontevedra on 26 December that her daughter’s privacy had been breached by her ex-husband, after he ordered his children to hand over their mobile phones so he could read their WhatsApp messages. The unnamed woman told Spanish daily newspaper El Español: “Both children told me that their father put them in a room and went through his daughter's conversations on her mobile phone. When he asked his son to give him his mobile, he said no.” The father allegedly threatened his son with the police if he did not give up his password. An earlier lower...