José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling, facing questions over items found in office safe

The former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is being investigated for possible tax fraud and smuggling after police discovered jewellery valued at more than €1.3m (£1.1m) while searching his office safe as part of a separate inquiry.

Zapatero, who led two socialist governments between 2004 and 2011, is already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling and other offences relating to the state bailout of the Spanish Plus Ultra airline during the Covid pandemic. He is alleged to have overseen “a hierarchical structure of influence-peddling”, whose purpose was “to obtain economic benefits through intermediation and the exercise of influence before public bodies in favour of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra”.

Pontiff appeals in Catalan for harmony on Barcelona leg of Spain tour after making football foes in city

To the delight of many, Pope Leo XIV kicked off the Barcelona leg of his week-long visit to Spain with a few words in Catalan, calling on the faithful who had gathered in the city’s cathedral on Tuesday “to build harmony and communion beyond all polarisation”.

The pontiff’s familiar and commendable plea for people to set aside their differences may, however, have come a little late. Three days earlier, while chatting to journalists on the flight to Spain, Leo had made an awkward confession.