Live News From Spain As It Happens

ONLY one in five job vacancies in Spain are advertised, with the rest being filled by existing staff or their contacts outside work, according to a study by business school ESCP Europe. A total of ..

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A MAN from Navarra has committed suicide because he owed 4,200 euros in rent and knew he could never pay it. He was about to be evicted from the property in Santesteban (Pamplona) – Doneztebe in the Basque language – where he was a tenant, on Wednesday this week.

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LOW-COST airline Ryanair has announced it will drastically reduce its flights to and from Spain as a result of rocketing airport taxes. This will mean the loss of around 4.5 million passengers and 4,500 jobs, plus a reduction of 25 million euros received annually by airport governing body AENA.

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A FAMILY in Gijón (Asturias) has offered to rent their two-bedroomed, top-floor flat in the city for free to a person or family who is genuinely in need. They said they are 'fed up' with trying to 'look the other way' when they see so many reports of people having their homes repossessed and being left on the street due to having been made redundant.

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BANCO de Valencia has been bought out by Caixabank for just one euro, according to the FROB. The Ordered Banking Restructure Fund has recently given the ailing Banco de Valencia a cash injection of 4,500 million euros, and its nationalisation means it will be one of four financial entities to get a slice of the 37,000-million-euro bailout from the EU.

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A 31-YEAR-OLD man who found an envelope containing 12,000 euros in cash handed it in to the staff who traced the owner.

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AN Iberia aircraft had to be cordoned off after a passenger was found to have been bitten by a scorpion.

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TORRENTIAL rain, high winds and snow are expected to continue across Spain until at least Wednesday, with the Canary Islands and the north and centre of the country on amber warnings. Snow is predicted in areas of 600 metres above sea-level and higher, whilst the east and north-east coasts could see gale-force winds on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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SPANISH banks which have been taken over by the State will get 37,000 million euros in grants to help them back on their feet, confirms finance minister Luis de Guindos. These will include Bankia, NovaCaixaGalicia, Caixa de Catalunya and Banco de Valencia.

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CATALÁN president Artur Mas has won the regional elections – but calling them has cost his party 12 seats. After the final count, Mas' party CiU (Convergència i Unió) were left with 50 seats, with nearest rivals ERC (Esquerra Republicana Catalunya, or 'left republicans') gaining 11 seats for a total of 21, followed by the Catalán Socialist Party (PSC) losing eight for a total of 20 seats.

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BASQUE terrorist organisation ETA has offered a 'definitive end to all armed confrontation' in exchange for a 'full agreement' covering members in prison and exiled. The separatist cell, which has been causing destruction in Spain and southern France since the 1970s, says the French and Spanish governments know the exact details of their 'willingness and commitment'.

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TODAY'S regional elections in Catalunya have seen the highest participation ever since 1988, with 29.35 per cent of those entitled to vote having cast their ballots as at 13.00hrs today. The voting stations will close at 20.00hrs and the count will then begin to decide who will be president of the region for the next four years.

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A FORMER headmaster and deputy headmistress are to stand trial for allegedly 'torturing' a nine-year-old pupil. Among other inappropriate actions, they are said to have tied the child up in the headmaster's office.

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SPAIN'S government wants to increase the speed limits on motorways and toll roads to 140 kilometres per hour to encourage drivers to use them more. They say that security measures on major roads are so high that the increase in speed limit will not make a difference to the accident rate.

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PRESIDENT Mariano Rajoy was apparently left 'speechless' when his annual salary was used as an example of how Eurocrats could easily make cutbacks by starting with their wages.The recent EU summit meeting on the budget for 2014-2020 has been qualified as a 'total failure' by the financial media as member States were unable to agree on cutbacks for the period.

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CONTROVERSIAL new taxes applying to court action could mean it costs more to appeal against a parking or traffic fine than the cost of paying for it. And the General Council of Judges said the taxes could lead to domestic abusers getting away with their violence because their victims cannot afford to take action against them.

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NEARLY three million people in Spain sleep on the streets every night because they have no home of their own, or live in homeless shelters, according to research by the charity Cáritas.

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A FAMILY has been saved from being thrown out on the street by an anonymous donor who saw on TV that their house was about to be repossessed. The 8,500-euro payment from a kind benefactor means they will be able to hand over the keys to their property in Vigo (Galicia) in exchange for wiping out the mortgage debt entirely, and will be allowed to carry on living in their house for a very low rent.

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EUROPEAN Commissioners have demanded an explanation from Spain over airport tax increases which have particularly risen in Barajas and El Prat.

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OVER 95 per cent of neurologists say they hope to move abroad because of poor working conditions and underfunding in the Spanish health service, according to a recent survey.

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SPANISH motorists are more likely to fail their driving test than any other Europeans, a recent survey by the tyre company Goodyear shows. A total of 43 per cent fail their first test, compared to ... 

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ANTI-CORRUPTION prosecutors have applied for bail in the sum of 8.2 million euros for the King's son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, and his business partner Diego Torres. The prosecutor handling the ...

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A BUSINESS-OWNER who has lost everything staged an armed robbery at a bank this week in order to be sent to prison. The 35-year-old had been forced to shut down his premises and was unable to pay .

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SPANISH workers – along with those in France, Germany and Brazil – are the ones who take the most holiday per year. And the Italians, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans and workers from the USA take the least.The research, carried out by Expedia, says the mindset in Europe is that holidays from work are a right rather than a privilege, whereas in Asian countries in particular and in the States, workers are not encouraged to take time off.

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A MAN is helping with police enquiries over the case of little Yeremi Vargas, who went missing from his home in Santa Lucía de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) on March 10, 2007. The person in question is said to have a previous criminal record for child sex abuse and may know what happened to the little boy, or where he is.

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FOREIGNERS who buy properties in Spain valued at 160,000 euros or more may automatically get residence cards in a new government initiative to encourage homebuyers from overseas. They say the move ...

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The Czech Republic edged Spain out to win the 100th Davis Cup final in Prague today. After an impressive David Ferrer had kept Spanish hopes alive with a resounding  6-2, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Tomas Berdych earlier in the afternoon, Radek Stepanek stepped onto court for his third match in as many days and proved to be his country's hero, defeating Nicolás Almagro  6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 to seal a historic first victory for the hosts.

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A CANCER patient in Castellón had her treatment stopped because her residence card has run out – but just 24 hours after her story went public the hospital called her and said they would carry on with her medication.

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FROM tomorrow (Monday) it will be illegal to make any payments in cash exceeding 2,500 euros. This is part of a move to cut down on money laundering, and is already in force in other EU countries, ..

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THE second of two men who deliberately ran over and killed an Iberia staff member at Madrid airport has been arrested. Raquel M.C., 40, who was one of the coordinators for the airline, was mugged in the Terminal 4 car park in the early hours of the morning of September 13 after finishing her shift.

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A SPANISH tourist has died whilst trying to board a plane in Rome that he was about to miss. The deceased, identified only by his initials of M.J.L., was late for his flight from Rome's ... 

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The Guardia Civil traffic department has been sending many of its agents in the Canary Islands letters asking them to increase the number of fines they hand out on the islands.Officers have been threatened with losing their 240€ per month road safety bonus if the number of traffic fines does not increase immediately.

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Proposals for new laws protecting homeowners from repossession and eviction could put a cap on earnings of 19,230 euros a year – but the PSOE wants to see this figure increased.And a maximum home value may also be applied for owners to qualify for protection, which will be limited to main residences only.

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Trade unions, business associations and the Government have all been taking stock of the general strike held yesterday across Spain.

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Spain romped to a 5-1 win over Panama last night, with Pedro bagging a brace and David Villa, Sergio Ramos and Markel Susaeta all getting on the scoresheet.

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Property sales in Spain have gone up for the second month in a row according to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics. A total of 25,985 sale & purchase agreements were made in September, representing a 0.9% increase on the same month in 2011 and the second consecutive month on the increase.

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Over 80 people have now been arrested in incidents relating to today's General Strike, considerably fewer than during the general strike in March.

According to the latest data, there have been 31 arrests in Madrid, 16 in Valencia, 14 in Barcelona and 11 in Andalusia, the four regions where the strike has had the greatest following, but which have also seen the highest number of clashes between protestors and police.

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Only 48.5% of Spanish women aged between 30 and 45 want to have children, according to a survey by the Eugin Clinic in Barcelona, which also revealed that women are waiting until after they are 31 to become mothers, in 73% of cases in order to achieve greater economic stability.

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The Spanish Banking Association (AEB in its Spanish acronym) has today announced an agreement to put a stop to evictions for the next two years for "any case involving circumstances of extreme hardship".

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Andalusia, the Canaries, Cantabria, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Galicia, the Balearics, the Basque Country, Asturias and Murcia are all on alert for heavy rain, strong winds or snow, warns AEMET, the Spanish meteorological office.

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Iberia has announced that it will be cutting 4,500 job, almost a quarter of its 20,000 strong workforce, as part of a restructuring plan, which includes permanent structural changes in all areas of the business, with the aim of shaking off ... 

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Juliane Kokott, the Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has ruled that the Spanish law that allows mortgage defaulters to be evicted from their homes goes against EU law. The law does not guarantee effective protection for consumers in the face of possible abusive clauses in mortgage agreements, she concluded.

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The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, announced today that a new 5 euro note is to be introduced in May 2013. Other denominations will follow afterwards. The new notes, which will be introduced gradually, will ...

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A gay Australian MP has announced his decision to come to Spain in order to marry his long-term partner. Ian Hunter will be the first sitting gay politician of any Australian parliament to be married, when he exchanges vows with Leith Semmens in the small town of Jun in the province of Granada in January next year. Gay marriages are not recognised in his native Australia. Mr Hunter and Mr Semmens, who have been together for more than 20 years, had planned to marry in New York last year but were stalled when the Federal Government refused to grant the necessary paperwork that would have allowed the ceremony to be conducted in the US.

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Celtic proved that the Barcelona players are mortal after all as they claimed an historic 2-1 win over the Catalan giants at Parkhead this evening. An unbeatable header from Victor Wanyama put them ahead in the 21st minute and substitute Tony Watt broke away in superb style to find the back of the net and double their lead with just eight minutes left on the clock.

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The International Airlines Group (IAG) - which was formed by the merger of Spain's Iberia and British Airways - said on Wednesday it was studying the possibility of launching a full takeover bid of Spanish low-cost airline Vueling.

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The ruling Partido Popular (PP) has rejected calls from members of left-wing opposition parties Izquierda Plural, UPyD, BNG and ERC to reduce the budget for the Royal Household (Casa del Rey), arguing that it has had "more cuts" than any other sector over the past few years. The Government has set the Royal Household's budget at 7.93 million euros for 2013, 4% less than this year's budget, which was a total of 8.26 million.

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The Constitutional Court today pronounced judgement on the Law on Homosexual Marriage, declaring it to be wholly constitutional and thus rejecting the appeal presented by the PP seven years ago against this law, claiming that it violated article 32 of the Spanish Constitution.The plenary session deciding the future of gay marriage was made up of 11 magistrates, after Francisco Hernando Santiago's request to abstain was accepted in July.

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Pharmacies in Valencia, Alicante and Castellón began an indefinite strike today in protest over the 450 million euro debt the regional government has with them. From November 5th onwards, two in every three pharmacies will be closed each day, on rotation, until the debt is settled. Pharmacists argue that the regional authorities have brought the strike upon themselves, by leaving pharmacies in a "dramatic situation which has forced them to close indefinitely".

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Prime minister Mariano Rajoy insisted today that "there will be economic growth in 2014 in Spain".In an interview with Cadena Cope, Rajoy said he firmly believes that 2013 will be better than 2012 and that in 2014 there will be economic growth, based on the fact that the economy has fallen less than expected this year and fewer jobs will be lost than had initially been estimated.

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The Japanese multinational Suzuki today announced its "irreversible" decision to close its Gijón motorcycle plant, which employs 200 workers and supplies the entire European market, at the end of March next year. The CEO of Suzuki Motor Spain, Masayoshi Ito (pictured, left), announced the news during a meeting held in Oviedo with President of the Principality, Javier Fernández (pictured, right), and the Minister of Economy and Employment, Graciano Torre.

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A MASSIVE forgery racket making and selling fake Tous 'teddies' has been uncovered in Ourense.They were using a company in the city, which is in the north-western region of Galicia, as a front for creating copies of pendants, earrings and keyrings designed to look exactly like those sold by the Catalunya-based multinational jewellery and accessories firm.

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BOND villain Javier Bardem's criticism of the reigning PP government has attracted a hostile response from the party's congress spokesman, Rafael Hernando, who says "that's rich coming from a millionaire who lives in Miami"

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CHINESE bazaar and restaurant owners have hit out at the bad press they say they receive particularly following a recent mafia bust in Madrid. Store owners closed their premises all day on Saturday on the Cobo Calleja industrial estate in Fuenlabrada in the outskirts of the capital – as well as in other parts of the country – to put across the collective message: “We are not all criminals.”

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SPAIN'S government is considering moving three main bank holidays to a Monday in 2014 to avoid long weekends, known as puentes. A puente – which translates literally as 'bridge' is where a bank holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday and workers either take as holiday or are given the Monday or the Friday in between the weekend and the public holiday, effectively giving them four days off.

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Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Hello Kitty, Sponge Bob, Disney princesses, fairies, butterflies, puppies… they all travel with him and his customers every day. Rafael Segura's taxi just oozes magic and happiness. Seville-born Rafael, a taxi driver since 1985, has converted his taxi into the most original cab in Seville. A year and a half ago, his six-year-old daughter Alicia said she wanted his taxi to be different from all the rest. No sooner said than done.

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The mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, announced this afternoon that the city council would "never again" hire out any of its venues formacrofiestas like the Halloween party held in the Madrid Arena on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, which left three 18 year olds dead and left two more young girls in a critical condition in hospital.

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This could be the last 'All Saints' long weekend in Spain if the Council of Ministers, hoping to increase productivity in the Spanish economy, agree to get rid of this longstanding fiesta when they debate next year's official calendar later today.

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A recent EU Court of Justice ruling shows that failing to wear a seatbelt could mean that a driver or passenger might be denied compensation by insurance companies in the event of an accident.

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Three young girls have died and another two are in a critical condition in hospital after suffering cardiac arrests, probably caused by a stampede during a private Halloween party in the Madrid Arena last night.

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