These are the trending news headlines in Spain on Friday March 31, 2023

Spanish police and the Garda’s National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau carried out a joint operation targeting a Sligo gang led by crime boss Barry Young in Alicante, Spain. The searches targeted an international drugs gang with ties to Young, who recently pleaded guilty to directing a criminal organization and is currently awaiting sentencing. The raids were carried out with the support of the Criminal Assets Bureau. Young is regarded as one of the biggest players on the drug scene outside Ireland with ties to major gangs including the ‘Mr Big’ network in Dublin.

The birth of a baby by a 68-year-old actress via an American surrogate has sparked outrage and political debate. Although surrogate pregnancies are banned in Spain, children from such pregnancies born abroad can be registered. The ruling Socialist party has said it will look into toughening legislation covering surrogate pregnancies after it was revealed that soap star Ana Obregon used a surrogate mother in Florida to carry the child. The leftist United We Can coalition partner called surrogate pregnancies a "form of violence against women", while the Socialist Treasury Minister described the practice as "exploitation of a woman's body." The main opposition conservative Popular Party announced that it was open to debating legalizing surrogacy, provided payment was not involved. The fact that it concerned Obregon seemed to generate as much controversy as the issue of surrogacy itself.

The drop in energy prices has led to a rapid fall in inflation rates in Germany and Spain. German consumer prices rose 7.8% YoY on a harmonised basis in March, down from the previous month's rate of 9.3%. However, the figures were still higher than the 7.5% forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Spain's annual inflation rate almost halved to 3.1% for March from 6% the previous month. Despite this, investors are betting that the ECB will have to raise interest rates in May due to the fact that core consumer price inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, has risen in Germany and only slightly fallen in Spain.

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