A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Spanish doctors develop pioneering transplant model that avoids organ rejection

Spanish doctors have developed a pioneering method to avoid one of the biggest problems with these operations: the patient’s body rejecting the new organ.

Using a personalised cell cocktail made from the donor’s stem cells, they manage to avoid or reduce rejection and, in this way, the recipient does not have to undergo immunosuppressive treatment for life.

These medications cause “adverse effects, infections”, tumours, and overall “did not achieve very good results,” Dr. Francisco Hernández Oliveros, who co-developed the new type of transplant, explained to Spanish radio station Radio Nacional.

The new treatment applies “immunological modulation” techniques to solid organ transplants, similar to those used in bone marrow transplants. The idea is to “artificially induce something that occurs naturally under normal conditions ,” according to Dr. Antonio Pérez Martínez, who co-developed the treatment.

Memoir by Diana’s brother goes on sale in Spain

Charles Spencer’s book about his late sister Princess Diana, packed with explosive revelations concerning King Charles III that have rocked Britain’s monarchy in recent days, went on sale in Spain Tuesday.

“Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”, a memoir written by Diana’s younger brother, has been published by Penguin in various English-speaking countries and translated into 12 languages for wider release.

Billed as chronicling her life from his perspective, Spencer’s 384-page book comes almost three decades after Diana was killed in a 1997 car crash in Paris.

Extracts serialised in the British tabloid the Daily Mail last week have triggered sensational headlines around revelations involving her ex-husband, and now King Charles III.

English copies went on sale in countries including Britain, the US, Canada and Australia, with other countries such as Spain getting translated versions.

Sánchez snubs Trump’s call to join New York meeting

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not attend a reception offered by US President Donald Trump to international leaders on Tuesday in New York due to “scheduling reasons”.

The Spanish premier, who was already in New York to participate in the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, received an invitation from Trump for the reception as is customary every year.

Sánchez’s official programme did not show any event coinciding with the reception called by Trump.

Top Spanish court helps clear Catalan leader’s return

Spain’s top court on Tuesday backed extending an amnesty to include embezzlement, potentially clearing a legal obstacle to exiled Catalan former separatist leader Carles Puigdemont’s return.

The 2024 law was aimed at easing tensions in the wealthy northeastern region following its failed 2017 independence bid, Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Around 400 people involved in the independence push have benefited from the amnesty, but Puigdemont, who headed Catalonia’s regional government when it held a banned independence referendum and attempted to secede from Spain, has been excluded.

He is accused of using public funds to organise the 2017 referendum, which the government says tantamounts to embezzlement.

Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that the amnesty law did not apply to those, including Puigdemont, investigated for embezzlement.

The decision was then appealed at the Constitutional Court, which on Tuesday backed extending it to cover embezzlement offences.

Puigdemont fled to Belgium to avoid arrest after the referendum and remains the subject of an arrest warrant.

It would clear the way for Puigdemont’s arrest warrant to be lifted.

The amnesty law was passed to secure the backing of Catalan separatist parties, whose support allowed Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to remain in power after the 2023 election produced no clear majority.

The government has said the law should be applied to all political leaders involved in the Catalan independence push “as soon as possible”.

With additional reporting by AFP.