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'); } else { $(".fotorama-caption").addClass("remove_caption"); } }) .fotorama(); Today is the 237th day of 2017. There are 128 days left in the year. TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT 2000: The Zimbabwe Government names another 509 white-owned farms it plans to confiscate for redistribution to landless blacks, bringing to 1,542 the number it has targeted under a hastened land seizure programme . OTHER EVENTS 1580: Spain invades Portugal and, in a matter of weeks, conquers it and keeps it for more than 80 years. 1718: Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana with some settling in present-day New Orleans. 1825: Uruguay declares independence from Brazil. 1860: British and French troops take Tianjin in war with China. 1875: Matthew Webb, British professional swimmer , becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel, travelling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours. 1883: France obtains protectorate over Annam and Tonkin in Indochina. 19...

BARCELONA — Two days after a devastating vehicle attack on one of Europe’s most iconic tourist destinations , many questions remained as Spanish authorities continued a manhunt for a 22-year-old missing member of the cell of suspected terrorists responsible for the brutal assault that killed 14 and injured more than 100 others. Unlike other vehicle attacks Europe has endured in the last two years — in Nice, Berlin, Stockholm and London — Thursday’s in Barcelona and the one early Friday in the nearby seaside city of Cambrils displayed an unusual degree of sophistication and coordination. Authorities are investigating what they believe to be a terrorist cell of at least 12 members with possible bases in different locations across the region of Catalonia. But the Spanish government was quick to insist on Saturday that the situation was under control. Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez said that the 12-person cell had been “dismantled,” and the government ultimately decl...

T he young men on powerful motorbikes had been coming and going for months, the throbbing sound of Kawasaki engines and the scattering of stones on the track leading to their country house in Alcanar, eastern Spain, announcing their arrival. Neighbours doubted the men, mostly young-looking and all seemingly of north African origin , had rented the house as a holiday home – despite the views out across the sparkling Mediterranean from this ramshackle estate of properties surrounded by scrub, pines and small olive groves . But they knew that Banco Popular had repossessed it and, having lived through a destructive, loan- fuelled property crash , Spaniards tend not to feel much concern when such properties are squatted. “Perhaps someone should have called the police,” said Carmen Circiumaru, who lives a few doors away. “But they never did anything that seemed especially suspicious.” Indeed, the young men, and at least one older, bearded man who sometimes appeared here, were quiet and respe...