By Pau Mosquera, CNN

(CNN) — Noelia Castillo’s story was defined by pain – both physical and emotional. This overwhelming pain led the young Spaniard to request euthanasia in 2024. On Thursday, at 25 years old, that request was fulfilled and her difficult life came to an end.

“I want to leave in peace already and stop suffering, period,” Castillo said days before her death, in an interview on the Spanish news channel Antena 3.

Her case sparked intense debate in Spain, especially after the interview aired – both among those who supported her decision and among those who messaged her on social media urging her not to choose euthanasia.

A life of suffering

In the interview, Castillo explained that her decision was rooted in a turbulent home life following her parents’ separation when she was 13. Castillo spent time in a supervised care center and was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder.

She also recounted to her interviewer three episodes of sexual abuse: one allegedly perpetrated by an ex-partner, another in a nightclub where she said two men raped her, and a third in a bar involving three young men. She said she never reported any of them. Days after the second episode, in October 2022, she attempted suicide. She survived the attempt, but was left paraplegic and wheelchair-bound.

This became the turning point that led her to consider euthanasia.

“Sleeping is very difficult for me, and besides that, I have back and leg pain,” Castillo said. But she also emphasized that the suffering was not only physical. Before requesting euthanasia, “My world was very dark … I had no goals, no objectives, nothing,” she said.

Her euthanasia was carried out in the Sant Pere de Ribes hospital where she had been living.

A winding legal journey

Assisted suicide has been legal in Spain since June 2021. For Castillo, applying for it was only the beginning of a complex journey – mainly because her family opposed it.

Her request had been approved on July 18, 2024, by the Catalonia Guarantee and Evaluation Commission. The commission found that she met all legal requirements, as she had a “nonrecoverable clinical situation,” causing “severe dependence, pain, and chronic, disabling suffering.” All of this prevented her from living autonomously and negatively affected her daily life.

But in August of that same year, her father – advised by the ultraconservative religious group Christian Lawyers – began a legal fight to stop the process, arguing that she was incapable of making such a decision.

“He has not respected my decision and he never will,” Castillo said about her father.

From then on, her father initiated a long legal process that delayed Noelia’s euthanasia for 20 months, going through five judicial levels: a Barcelona court, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, and the European Court of Human Rights.

None of these bodies opposed the young woman’s decision. All found that she met the requirements and was capable of deciding to die.

“I understand he’s a father, that he doesn’t want to lose a daughter,” Castillo reflected in her interview. She added that she felt confused because she did not have a close relationship with him.

“He ignores me. So why does he want me alive? To keep me in a hospital?” she said.

The battle Castillo fought ultimately enabled her to carry out her decision.

“I finally did it, and now maybe I can finally rest,” she told the Antena 3 journalist. “I can’t take this family anymore, I can’t take the pain anymore, I can’t take everything that torments me in my head.”

Castillo said goodbye to her entire family and asked that in her final moments, she be left alone.

“I don’t want anyone inside” her room, she s

Por Pau Mosquera, CNN en Español

La de Noelia Castillo fue una historia de dolor. No solo físico, sino también emocional. Un sufrimiento que la llevó en 2024 a solicitar su eutanasia y, finalmente, a conseguirla. Este jueves, a sus 25 años, la dura vida de la joven española llegó a su fin.

Abogados Crisitanos, una entidad ultracatólica que asesoraba al padre de la joven, confirmó en su cuenta de X que se le ha aplicado la eutanasia.

“Quiero irme ya en paz y dejar de sufrir, y punto”, relataba Castillo en días anteriores en una entrevista exclusiva con la periodista Bea Sosa, del programa “Y ahora Sonsoles” de la emisora nacional de TV Antena 3.

El caso generó gran conmoción en España y abrió un fuerte debate, sobre todo luego de la difusión de la entrevista, tanto del lado de quienes apoyaron la decisión de la joven como de quienes le enviaban mensajes en redes sociales sugiriendo que no eligiera la eutanasia.

En la mencionada entrevista, Castillo explicaba que su decisión estaba motivada por los derroteros de una vida complicada, en los que se mezclaban una adolescencia inestable por la separación de sus padres cuando ella tenía 13 años, por lo que debió pasar un tiempo en un centro tutelado, el posterior inicio de tratamiento psiquiátrico (la joven aseguró que tenía diagnóstico de Trastorno Obsesivo-Compulsivo (TOC) y Trastorno Límite de la Personalidad (TLP)) ,así como por el sufrimiento causado por los abusos sexuales e intentos de suicidio que dijo haber vivido.

Concretamente, Castillo relató tres episodios de abuso: uno presuntamente perpetrado por una expareja, otro en una discoteca, donde dos hombres la habrían violado, y el tercero, también en un bar, protagonizado por tres chicos. La joven dijo que nunca llegó a denunciarlos. Días después de este segundo episodio, en octubre de 2022, la joven intentó suicidarse. Sobrevivió, aunque el impacto la dejó parapléjica, en silla de ruedas. Este fue el punto clave que la llevó a considerar la eutanasia.

Cabe destacar que el Ministerio de Sanidad de España promueve la línea telefónica 024 para prestar ayuda a las personas con pensamientos, ideaciones o riesgo de conducta suicida, y a sus familiares y allegados. Se trata de un servicio de alcance nacional (accesible desde todo el territorio nacional), gratuito, confidencial y disponible las 24 horas del día, los 365 días del año.

“El dormir se me hace muy difícil y, aparte, que tengo dolor de espalda y de piernas”, contaba Castillo. Pero también destacaba que el sufrimiento no era solo físico. Antes de solicitar la eutanasia, “veía mi mundo muy oscuro (…) no tenía ni metas ni objetivos ni nada”, decía la joven, que permanecía internada en la residencia sociosanitaria de Sant Pere de Ribes.

La posibilidad de optar por la eutanasia en determinados casos es legal en España desde junio de 2021. Para Castillo, solicitarla fue apenas el inicio de un camino complejo. Fundamentalmente porque su familia se opuso.

La solicitud de Castillo había sido avalada el 18 de julio de 2024 por la Comisión de Garantía y Evaluación de Cataluña (CGAC). El organismo consideró que cumplía con los requisitos que fija la ley, ya que presentaba una “situación clínica no recuperable”, por lo que vivía “una dependencia grave, dolor y sufrimiento crónico e imposibilitante”. Todo esto le impedía vivir con autonomía e incidía negativamente en sus actividades diarias.

Para acceder a la prestación de la eutanasia en España, el solicitante se somete a un proceso deliberativo donde los médicos le plantean posibilidades terapéuticas alternativas, corroboran el cumplimiento de las condiciones establecidas por ley y elaboran un informe que elevan posteriormente al CGAC. Además, el solici

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — The Academy Awards will soon have a new home, one that doesn’t also include an attached shopping center.

In 2029, the Oscars will move from the Dolby Theater in the heart of Hollywood to the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live, a sprawling tourist hub in Downtown Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.

The Academy said the Peacock Theater, also the site of the Primetime Emmy Awards since 2008, will undergo “comprehensive enhancements” as part of the new deal with sports and entertainment behemoth AEG, which owns L.A. Live.

L.A. Live plaza — whose dining options currently include sports bar restaurant chain Yard House — will be the setting of the iconic Oscars red carpet, the release read.

The venue change will align with the Oscars’ new streaming home on YouTube, also starting in 2029.

Since 2002, the Oscars have been held at the Dolby Theater, formerly the Kodak Theater, on Hollywood Boulevard. It sits next to the famed TCL Theater (formerly the Grauman’s Chinese Theater) and amid the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with clear views of the Hollywood sign if you find yourself in the right spot.

The 3,400-seat theater was built specifically to hold the Academy Awards telecast with design touches that evoke the golden age of Hollywood. Columns that display the names of past best picture winners line the famed steps up to the theater.

While the inside of the theater is a glamorous, bespoke representation of Hollywood in all its glory, the theater sits inside a shopping complex that includes retails stores like Sephora and Lids, a jarring contrast from the black tie-ness of the Oscars.

For those unfamiliar with the landscape, a mall elevator that takes stars from one level to another overlooks a Dave & Busters on their way to the top deck of the Ovation Hollywood complex to attend the Governor’s Ball, the Academy’s official after party.

In many ways, the relocation to L.A. Live has a similar vibe, except instead of retail stores, the Peacock Theater is surrounded by a Lucky Strike Bowling Alley, several smaller theaters and, of course, the Crypto.com Arena, home of the LA Lakers and the Grammy Awards.

The Oscars have been held downtown in years past, having found previous homes at the Shrine Auditorium and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

According to the release, the Oscars will be televised on ABC and held at the Dolby Theater through 2028, the 100th Oscars ceremony, before it’s big move to YouTube and Downtown Los Angeles.

Until then, happy shopping.

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By Laura Paddison, CNN

(CNN) — Right now, the Arctic is maxing out on sea ice – the cold of winter has built up over months of darkness, and ice has spread as far south as it will all year. It’s the North Pole’s sea ice maximum, except this year, it’s alarmingly low.

There is roughly half a million square miles of ice missing in this year’s “max,” compared to average — an amount twice the size of Texas.

It’s the latest profoundly worrying signal from the top of the planet, a region which has become a clear victim of the climate crisis as humans burn fossil fuels, and increasingly a geopolitical hotspot as melting ice opens up commercial and military opportunities.

Winter is when Arctic ice builds up, typically reaching its maximum extent in March. This year, when scientists from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center measured it on March 15, they found the ice had reached 5.52 million square miles — roughly 9% lower than the average between 1981 and 2010.

It came in just below last year’s record maximum of 5.53 million square miles, but close enough to it that it’s technically a tie, and is the lowest peak observed since satellite records began in 1979.

“A low year or two don’t necessarily mean much by themselves,” said Walt Meier, a NSIDC ice scientist, but when looked at in the context of a multi-decade downward trajectory, “it reinforces the dramatic change to Arctic sea ice throughout all seasons.”

Scientists are concerned about what it will mean for the spring and summer melt season. The last 19 years have seen the lowest sea ice levels on record.

The Arctic will be ice-free in the summer at some point by 2050, even if humans stop pumping out climate pollution, according to a 2023 study.

Disappearing sea ice has global impacts. Ice acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the sunlight away from the Earth and back into space. As it shrinks, more of the sun’s energy is absorbed by the dark ocean, which accelerates global heating.

This new record is not a surprise as Arctic sea ice had been running at near record lows all winter, said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. But it’s one more alarm bell.

“Like when a person’s blood pressure is out of whack signaling a health problem, the ongoing loss of sea ice is yet another symptom indicating the Earth’s climate is in big trouble,” she said.

The cause is no mystery she added, “the ongoing buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels is warming the oceans, heating the air, melting the ice, and worsening weather extremes all around the world.”

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The Grace Fisher Foundation Inclusive Arts Clubhouse put out the welcome mat for the NAPA (Neurological and Physical Abilitation) Center, a world renowned foundation devoted to children with varying disabilities, for a three week Pediatric Intensive Therapy pop-up.

"We've loved having NAPA at the Clubhouse," said Grace Fisher, Founder & Creative Director.

From March 9 through the 27, six specially trained therapists worked with 15 children between the ages of 18 months to 12 years for intensive and immersive physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and DMI (Dynamic Movement Intervention).

"We are truly grateful and honored to report that this is the SECOND straight year the NAPA Center has come out to provide their incredible services to our community," said Selena English, a Santa Barbara resident and mother of one of the child participants.

NAPA has 10 centers worldwide; the closest to Santa Barbara is in Los Angeles. Local families call the exceptionally trained staff and programs "life changing."

English credited $40,000 raised from "our local network" to offset the $165 cost per session for families and, donations from more than 30 local businesses.

She also called the experience, "heartwarming."

"The children have been able to have so many great games, working on various developmental goals," said English. "More importantly, they're having so much fun getting better, getting stronger, getting more confident. It's been just such a thrill for the families, therapists and outsiders to see."

"It's been really special for the families and for the kids," said Fisher.

Fisher, who was diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Myelitis, a rare polio-like illness at 17, invited the community to celebrate the third anniversary of her Inclusive Arts Clubhouse.

"We recently increased our staff," said Jana Brody, Development and Operations Director of the Grace Fisher Foundation. "We are adding a musical therapist to our programming and we are just continuing to grow and partner with 20 nonprofits in town."

Grace Fisher and her team are thriving and the Clubhouse is flourishing. See for yourself at the April 12 anniversary celebration from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at La Cumbre Plaza.

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