Today in Spain: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday

Seven English football fans arrested in Bilbao

Basque police have arrested seven English football fans before, during and after the Europa League final between Spurs and Manchester United in Bilbao on Wednesday night, which the London side one 1-0.

The arrests were made due to incidents involving fighting, trying to access the stadium without a ticket and damage to private and public property, with brawling between English fans taking place the last two nights not only in Bilbao but also in nearby San Sebastián and Santander.

Spain and Portugal urge EU to speed up power links after blackout

Spain and Portugal called Wednesday on the European Union to urgently strengthen electrical interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and France to avoid a repeat of a major power blackout the two nations suffered last month.

The two countries have a highly integrated energy grid that is linked to the rest of Europe through a small number of cross-border connections with France.

In a letter to EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, obtained by AFP, Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen and Portugal’s Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho called for a "renewed political impetus" to advance stalled energy infrastructure projects.

The outage "showed the importance of interconnectivity within the European electricity system in critical situations," the ministers wrote.

Despite some progress, the ministers said the region remains poorly connected to the broader European network and urged Brussels to "accelerate the completion" of cross-border power links.

Lisbon and Madrid have repeatedly accused France of dragging its feet on new projects. Some officials have suggested Paris seeks to protect its nuclear power sector from imports of cheaper Iberian renewable energy.

Spain summons top Israel envoy over West Bank warning shots

Spain is summoning Israel's most senior representative over warning shots the Israeli military fired during a visit by foreign diplomats to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the foreign minister said.

"Faced with the intolerable shooting by the Israeli army during the visit of Spanish, EU and other countries' diplomats, we are summoning the head of Israel's embassy in Madrid," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares wrote on X.

Foreign ministry sources told AFP the Israeli charge d'affaires would be summoned. Israel recalled its ambassador to Spain after Madrid recognised a Palestinian state a year ago.

Five Valladolid fans issued prison sentence for Vinicius 'hate crimes'

Five Real Valladolid fans were punished with a one-year suspended prison sentence on Wednesday for aiming racist insults at Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior in 2022, La Liga said Wednesday.

The fans were also banned from stadiums for three years and must pay fines of up to 1,620 euros ($1,836), but will avoid going to jail if they do not offend again within three years.

"This court ruling represents an unprecedented milestone in the fight against racism in sport in Spain," said La Liga in a statement.

La Liga said previous sentences regarding racist incidents had been to punish "conduct against moral integrity" but that the court's verdict said this incident was a "hate crime".

Vinicius has been the victim of racist abuse many times at away matches in La Liga.

With additional reporting by The Local Spain's Editor Alex Dunham.