Spain

A rare 'medicane' or Mediterranean hurricane brought Barcelona its heaviest rainfall in two decades, causing the death of a man in Tordera when a wall collapsed. Emergency services have spent the morning rescuing drivers trapped in rising floodwaters as the red alert moves toward Girona. The weather has proved as unpredictable as the parliamentary arithmetic: while the storm battered the coast, a new poll suggested the combined right-wing opposition would now comfortably secure an absolute majority in a general election.

The housing crisis is providing the most consistent pressure on the government. Tens of thousands marched through Madrid to demand lower rents, which now reportedly consume 70% of average salaries in the capital. The protesters are calling for a general strike and a veto on vulture funds, a policy that a new survey suggests has surprisingly broad support even among conservative and separatist voters.

In Catalonia, the political forecast is for deadlock. Fresh polling suggests the rise of the far-right Aliança Catalana could soon leave the region ungovernable. Meanwhile, in the courtroom, Carles Puigdemont's lawyer Gonzalo Boye was acquitted of money laundering charges; his first act was to claim the governing socialists had spent years operating a parallel power structure against his client.