Scott Colom makes history in Mississippi as first Black senator in more than 140 years

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, November 12: We look at reactions from Spain after the country's first nationwide general strike in 14 years. It comes two weeks before snap general elections. Also: Scott Colom makes history as the first Black senator in Mississippi in 145 years after an epic Senate midterm race finally concluded. Finally, fans of Barça will be able to inter their ashes at Camp Nou as part of a new offer by the club to allow supporters to cheer on the team in the afterlife.

Wednesday saw Spain's first 24-hour strike in 14 years. Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Barcelona, Madrid and other cities. It comes a fortnight ahead of a general election that will pit Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez against a strong right-wing opposition. El Periodico, the centre-left Catalan daily, calls it a "different kind of strike". The Madrid version of 20 Minutos says the strike filled the streets but did not paralyse the country. It laments, however, that 15 days before the election, the demonstration does not allow enough time for dialogue to solve the housing crisis and properly address the demands of protesters. El Pais headlines with a warning from major unions: they will continue protesting if the future government cuts pensions or public services. In its editorial, El Pais says the November 11 movement should not be "mistaken as a momentary expression of frustrations. Voters will pun­ish those who take excep­tion to the mobil­isa­tion instead of debat­ing the reas­ons that motiv­ate it".

In the US, papers report on a historic victory in the Mississippi Senate race. Democrat Scott Colom has won the seat, several days after midterm elections in the US. He is the first Black senator ever directly elected by the voters of Mississippi. He'll be the first Black Senator to serve since 1881, Time magazine notes. The local news outlet Mississippi Today hails Colom's win on the front of its website. It notes that Mississippi – or rather "Messy-ssippi" – has a history of elections that don't end on Election Day. The 1999 governor's race in the state dragged on until the new millennium. The paper also tells us the strange story of 2015, when a race for the House Seat ended in a tie between a Democratic incumbent and a Republican challenger. It was decided quite literally by a drawing of straws – with the incumbent picking the winning straw!

Finally, the Guardian reports that fans of football team Barcelona will soon have the opportunity to inter their ashes at the stadium. The Guardian says die-hard supporters of Barcelona – pun intended – will be able to cheer on the club in their afterlife. The club is upgrading its Camp Nou venue and will include now a memorial with 26,000 niches where fans can deposit their ashes after they call full time on their life. Being an afterlife supporter will cost you – €6,000 for 50 years or €10,000 for eternity – but there will be annual maintenance fees and if you want a plaque, you'll have to fork out for that too. But for some, it's a small price to pay to cheer the club's goals from beyond the grave!

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