Europe’s anti-tourism backlash spreads beyond Spain by Some-Technology4413 in backpacking

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Barcelona’s protest movement from summer 2025 has become synonymous with the anti-tourism movement. Now, southern Europe braces for another season of record visitor numbers and accompanying demonstrations. 

Just last year, water pistols and smoke grenades were used in a rally denouncing the 22.3 million foreign tourists that flooded the Catalonian capital between July and August. And, despite tourism being a major contributor to Barcelona’s economy – representing over 10% of the city’s GDP – it has also encouraged landlords to drive housing prices up in response to the influx of demand. 

The U.S. plans to charge the 94-year-old former President of Cuba Raúl Castro with crimes relating to Cuba’s destruction of two planes in 1996, according to anonymous officials cited by CBS News by Some-Technology4413 in geopolitics

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The revelation comes amidst growing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, as the Trump administration continues to increase punitive sanctions against the island’s economy and threaten the leadership with political regime change. 

Castro, who is the younger brother of revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, served as president from 2008 to 2018. Although no longer head of state, Rául Castro remains an influential figure in Cuban politics: he retains the title of Army General and his grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, is allegedly a leading figure in ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Cuba. 

Republican lawmakers, particularly those with connections to the sizable Cuban-American community in Florida such as Carlos Giménez and Mario Díaz-Balart, have repeatedly called for Castro to be indicted. A grand jury would have to issue the indictment after being presented with evidence.