Live News From Spain As It Happens

SPAIN'S Fernando Alonso has sent messages of support to his colleague Michael Schumacher after the seven-times world champion suffered severe head injuries in a skiing accident in France.

The German Formula 1 legend, who will be 45 on January 3, is in a critical condition in a hospital in Grenoble and medics fear for his life.

“Come back soon, Michael! I hope to hear positive news about you soon!” world number two Fernando wrote on his Twitter.

His former team-mate on Ferrari, Brazil's Felipe Massa, wrote on Instagram: “I'm praying to God to protect you, brother, and for you to get better quickly,” and uploaded a photo of the injured driver hugging him.

Schumacher's compatriot Sebastian Vettel, reigning world champion for Red Bull, described his 'utter shock' at the news of his childhood hero's accident.

“This is the most important race of your life, and you're going to win it,” said an emotional Vettel.

He said Schumacher had been 'like a father' to him over the course of his Formula 1 career.

“Michael has been with me, by my side, at every stage,” Vettel lamented.

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VALENCIA'S famous opera house, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, has been shut and cordoned off after a chunk of the roof came off in high winds.

The ball-shaped concert hall's ceramic tiled rendering on the upper part was ripped off by gales reaching at least 80 kilometres per hour (50mph) yesterday (Friday), but did not pose any risk to passers-by as it is normally fenced off until just before the shows inside start, and these are usually at night.

Nevertheless, it meant a Christmas concert featuring 150 top Valencia-born musicians – all of whom now work outside the region and were visiting for the festive season – due to take place last night had to be called off.

The Palau de les Arts, built in 2005, is the second-newest...

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A FRAUD technique that the perpetrators are getting away with because victims are 'too embarrassed' to report it is rife in the city of Oviedo and may be present in other parts of the country, say police.

Between four and six girls of Romanian nationality are said to be involved, and they approach elderly men in the street.

They begin 'chatting up' their victims and acting seductively, then offer to let the men grope their breasts upon payment of three euros.

The girls take the men down side-streets to 'indulge', and while their mind is on other things, the girls steal their wallets.

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AN EARTHQUAKE on the island of El Hierro reached 5.1 on the Richter Scale on Friday, according to the National Geographic Institute (IGN), the most intense yet since the underwater volcano started to erupt in March 2012, setting off a chain of tremors.

The quake occurred with six seconds to go before 17.47hrs, says the IGN, and was felt in Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera.

It was 15 kilometres below the surface – far enough down that it did not cause any injuries, fatalities or property damage.

However, the road between the towns of Frontera and Sabinosa, in the El Golfo valley has been closed due to rockfalls as a result of the tremor.

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THE Canarian island of El Hierro has moved 1.5 centimetres as a result of a series of earthquakes over the Christmas period, says the National Geographic Institute (IGN). In just one day, 59 tremors were recorded of which four were felt by people living or staying on the island. Experts say the most intense of these reached 3.2 on the Richter Scale, which is sometimes enough to cause minor damage such as cracks in a window or items falling off shelves. Ever since an underwater volcano off the coast of La Restinga erupted continuously from October 2011 to March 2012, earth tremors have been a regular occurrence on the island with well over 10,000 registered in those six months. And in 2013, since the month of March, another series of earthquakes has been reported. The IGN says barely a week has passed since then without at least one tremor in El Hierro, although as yet none of them has reached as high as 4 on the Richter Scale. Most of them were under level 2, so residents would not have noticed them. They say the Christmas episode was the most active period of earthquakes since they started up again in March, a year after the underwater volcano stopped its eruptions.

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THE King's Christmas spee ch this year started off with a 'warm greeting' to the jobless, those left without homes, young people who have been unable to kick-start their working lives, and the hundreds of thousands of pensioners who financially support two or three generations under their roofs out of their meagre income – “the pillars of strength for many family economies.” Calling for a united Spain and for those in power to 'display true leadership', he recalled the victims of terrorism, of the financial crisis, and although he did not specifically mention the corruption allegations against various high-ranking members of society, the Monarch said Spain should 'strive to give an example' and offer 'transparency' to the general public. King Juan Carlos did not specifically mention the word 'corruption', a subject which formed the basis of his 2011 speech in light of the charges against his son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín, but this year, the Monarch 'accepted' that the 'prestige' of politics and institutions was 'damaged' and that society was calling for 'an ethical compromise' and a 'profound change in attitude'. 

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STORMS across northern Spain have caused a train to derail, left four people injured, homes and shops flooded, flights grounded and over 100,000 people without electricity. Winds of up to 185 kilometres per hour (115mph) swept the north of the country and rainfall reached 140 litres per square metre (14 centimetres, or nearly six inches). In Galicia, 88,000 homes were left without power in the early hours of Christmas Eve, and 20,000 of these were not reconnected until mid-afternoon – only just in time to cook the traditional festive feast that night for all the family. A FEVE train came off its rails in Covas (Lugo province) in the north-western region of Galicia after a tree fell on the track. None of the 10 passengers or crew were injured, and they were taken to their onward destination by taxi. A 50-year-old man and a girl of 17 were injured by falling trees in Valladolid, in the central region of Castilla y León, and a man of 60 in the same town by a flower pot which fell from a balcony. In the Basque Country, a pedestrian was hurt by a tree coming down on him in the province of Guipúzcoa.

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PEDESTRIANS and passengers near Valencia's North Station yesterday (Monday) did a double take when they saw a giant beached whale in the car park by the entrance.

A sperm whale which was seen on the Las Arenas beach on Friday and which measures 15.3 metres in length (48'9”), three metres (9'9”) across and 1.8 metres (5'11”) in height is cordoned off but surrounded by reporters and scientists who do not appear to find anything unusual in a sea-creature of this size having been 'washed up' at a city-centre railway station.

In practice, however, the whale is not a real one, but is a scale model designed to look like the live version and who normally 'lives' in the Oceanogràfic, the massive sea-life centre at the City of Arts and Sciences.

He was made with a 20cm (eight-inch) layer of polystyrene for his skin, together with synthetic resin, polyester and acrylic finishes, and coated with oil paint.

And he caused a similar stir when he was seen being 'rescued' on Friday close to the shores of the Las Arenas beach.

It turned out the scale model was being used to stage a rescue drill

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CHARGES against the King and Queen's son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín are enough to put him in jail for 23 years and his co-director from the Nóos Institute, Diego Torres, behind bars for 19 years.

They do not face charges for money-laundering since this was not a crime as such between 2004 and 2008, when the offences were committed.

But both could be formally accused of six criminal activities – misuse of public funds, power-dealing, forgery, fraud, and two counts of tax evasion.

Torres and Urdangarín each look set to face a fine of 3.5 million euros.

Urdangarín, who is also the Duke of Palma, is believed to have deliberately used his status as a member of the Royal family by marriage to drum up support for the Nóos Institute, which purported to be a charitable foundation seeking to promote sports and cultural events.

In practice, however, it was a profit-making company which proved very lucrative to its two directors at the taxpayer's cost.

The regional governments of Valencia and the Balearic Islands provided funding for the Nóos Institute's supposedly charitable activities.

They are also considered to have used front companies to avoid paying income tax, instead paying company tax, which is less.

Both are thought to have put personal expenses through their businesses to reduce their income tax by offsetting these against their fiscal obligations as 'company running costs'.

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THIS year's winning number for the El Gordo Christmas lottery jackpot is 62.246, and is worth four million euros for a full ticket or 400,000 for a décimo or 10^th of a ticket.

And 13 proved to be the lucky number this year – winners are found in 13 different towns and cities in Spain.

New millionaires – or near-millionaires – can be found in Valencia city and nearby Manises, in Madrid and nearby Leganés, in Sanlúcar la Mayor (Sevilla province), in Huelma and Bailén (Jaén province), Avilés (Asturias), Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo province), Palencia, O Rosal (Pontevedra province, in Galicia), and Mondragón (Guipúzcoa province, in the Basque Country).

Second prize, for 1,250,000 euros for a full ticket or 125,000 euros for a décimo was for number 79.712, falling in Granadilla de Abona (Tenerife), but scarily close to one of the fourth-prize numbers – 79.800, which along with 67.065 attracted winnings of 200,000 euros for a full ticket or 20,000 euros for a décimo.

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CATALUNYA'S regional government plans to push through a draft bill of law banning electricity and gas companies from cutting off the supply to residents struggling with poverty or in a precarious financial situation.

Regional minister for business Felip Puig wants to get the new legislation on the table before the end of the year so that those families who have little or no income and cannot pay their fuel bills will not be left with no heating or means of cooking during the winter.

Spain's central government has already rejected a proposal to pass a similar law affecting the whole country.

Puig says he is working with utility boards to ascertain how this move will be financed, although part of it is expected to come out of public funds.

He has also criticised the monopoly which the main utility boards – all of which are State-owned and mean residents in Spain have no option to choose alternative suppliers – have historically enjoyed.

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ELECTRICITY bills are set to go up yet again in January to pay off the government's debt with energy providers, despite promises that this would not happen for the foreseeable future.

Minister of industry José Manuel Soria says power will rise in price by two per cent, which will mean the average household has seen their bills increase by over 70 per cent since the start of the financial crisis five years ago. 

And the number of homes with no heating in winter has gone up by five per cent in just two years as a result of electricity price hikes, complains consumer federation FACUA.

They say the average householder paid 77.98 euros a month for electricity in October 2012, and that this went up to 80.57 euros by October 2013 – a net price rise despite a momentary price reduction last October and this April.

The average consumer was paying around 44 euros a month back in December 2008, FACUA recalls. 

Part of this massive hike in such a short time has been due to two increases in IVA – from 16 per cent to 18 per cent in summer 2010, and from 18 per cent to 21 per cent in September 2012.

When the current PP government came into power, electricity was an average of 73.99 euros a month for a typical household, and is expected to be over 82 euros by the New Year. 

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Very soon, people will no longer be able to use electronic cigarettes in health centres, schools, on public transport or in the offices of public entities, according to an agreement reached today in the last Health Service Committeel meeting of the year, attended by regional health ministers and presided over by Health Minister, Ana Mato.

The Health Minister has confirmed her intention to ask parliamentary groups to include the motion in bills currently being debated in parliament in an attempt to bring the ban into force in January.

Mato also mentioned the possibility of extending the ban to all indoor public places, in line with the current tobacco ban, and stressed the need to regulated the use of electronic cigarettes on a nationwide basis "with the absolute priority" protecting minors.

The Health Minister for Madrid, Javier Fernández- Lasquetty, highlighted the Mato's "prudent" approach to the subject, emphasising that there has still been no conclusive scientific evidence to prove the effects of electronic cigarettes on users and third parties.

The Health Minister for Asturias, Faustino Blanco, welcomed the agreement, calling it "a major breakthrough" in tackling a phenomenon that is "not safe" because it "contains nicotine and other substances," while the minister for Andalucía, José María Sánchez Rubio, announced that there would be a ban on these cigarettes in educational and health facilities in his region early next year.

The Committee also submitted a report on e-health, "one of the strategic bets" for healthcare in the coming years, according to Mato.

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Motorway tolls are going to be increased by an average of 1.85% as from January 1st 2014.

The price rise is due to an overall fall in traffic using the motorways and to the bankruptcy situation faced by some motorway operating companies.

The price rise is lower than the 2.4% increase seen at the beginning of 2013 and the 3.2% seen at the beginning of the previous year when the CPI dropped as a result of cheaper fuel prices.

There are a total of 3,404 kilometres of toll motorways in Spain, 83.4% of which are operated by central government, 6.4% by the Catalan regional government; 5% by the Basque Country; 3.3% by Navarra; 1.8% by Galicia and 0.10% by the Balearic Islands.

Traffic fell by a average of some 16,300 vehicles per day in the first ten months of the year, corresponding to an cumulative fall of 33.4% from the maximum figures registered in 2006, before the recession.

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Police have arrested a suspected paedophile in Jaén thanks to a collection of videos handed over by a thief who burgled his house.

Three video tapes featuring sexual acts with children around the age of ten were handed over by the burglar, the Interior Ministry said in a statement today.

The burglar called 091 from a public telephone to tell police that he had left the video evidence underneath a car together with an anonymous note giving the alleged paedophile's address.

The suspect works as a trainer for a five-a-side football team, giving him easy access to young children.

"I have had the misfortune to come into possession of these tapes and feel obliged to hand them over and let you do your job, so that you can lock this... up for life", said the burglar in his declaration.

So far four victims of sexual abuse have been identified, including a 16-year-old girl who has been subjected to the abuse since the age of ten.

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Real Madrid and Barcelona, along with five other Spanish football clubs, are to be investigated by the European Union over alleged illegal state aid.

Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Elche and Hércules are also going to be scrutinised by the European Commission, according to an announcement from the Spanish foreign ministry today.

Foreign Minister, José Manuel García Margallo (pictured in Brussels today), explained that Barcelona, Real Madrid, Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao are accused of contravening European Union regulations because they are still owned by their members and had benefitted from favourable tax treatment.

Valencia, Elche and Hércules were being investigated because of handouts the three clubs received from the regional government in the form of loans and bank guarantees.

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A BRITISH couple who fell victim to a highway robbery have recovered their stolen goods and the thieves have been arrested.

National Police say they tried to pull over a motorbike which turned out to be carrying a 35-year-old Algerian and a Palestinian national of 39 on the motorway near Valencia airport, close to El Saler.

The riders had apparently made a 'suspicious' manoeuvre when they saw police officers nearby, and ignored orders to stop.

At precisely this moment, the same policemen were alerted by their control centre that a British couple had been robbed on the motorway.

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House prices in Spain increased by 0.7% in the third quarter of 2013 - the country's first quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2010.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) confirm that house prices are moving in a positive direction after 12 consecutive quarterly drops.

In the second quarter of 2013 house prices only dropped by 0.8%, compared with the 6.6% fall the previous quarter, so there were already signs that a recovery was on its way.

Prices for both new build and secondhand properties have shown an increase, although the recovery is far more marked for new build (2.3% up compared with the 0.1% increase for used properties).

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SEVEN in 10 residents in Spain earn less than 2,095 euros a month before tax and two-thirds of the under-25s take home a gross monthly salary of less than 1,216 euros, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Only 4.9 per cent of those aged 25 and under earned 2,095 euros a month or more.

To work out these figures, the INE took details of all of Spain's employed workers – just over 14.3 million – and listed them in descending order of salary before dividing them into 10 groups of equal numbers. This gave the INE the upper and lower quartile figures for income in Spain and enabled them to work out a median average wage for 2012 to reflect more accurately what people actually earn. It came out at 1,571 euros a month before tax, 268 euros lower than the mean average of 1,869 euros which was skewed by those few in the upper quartile earning several times that of the majority.

Despite the financial crisis, the average gross monthly wage has not stopped growing and is now 17.7 per cent higher than in 2006, when it was 1,334.40 euros a month. According to figures, 35.7 per cent of full-time employees earned more than 2,095 euros a month last year, and 18 earned less than 1,216 euros a month, and the distribution of the highest and lowest earners has remained stable for the last three years. Yet 91.5 per cent of part-time employees – who account for just under 15 per cent of the total – earned less than a gross 1,216 euros a month, and less than one per cent earned 2,095 euros or more monthly.

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THE Spanish government's fiscal reform will include lower income tax, fewer products and services on lower-rate IVA of four and 10 per cent and more on 21 per cent, and higher taxes on petrol, diesel and roll-your-own tobacco.

New 'environmental' taxes and fewer exemptions and discounts on company taxes will 'help to limit the damage' caused by decreasing IRPF, or income tax, says treasury minister Cristóbal Montoro, who claims additional duties will be applied to 'those areas which least affect economic activity' in the country.

The European Commission had already ordered Spain to eradicate numerous aspects against which companies and the general public can offset their taxes – such as ownership of a main home – as well as reducing the number of items which attract lower-rate IVA and applying new taxes in areas which affect the environment, together with increasing the proportion of indirect taxes 'most favourable to growth' and fighting against fraud and tax evasion.

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Plan to create a giant casino complex near Madrid have been axed because of disagreements between the developer and Spanish authorities.

US casino operator Las Vegas Sands has pulled out of the €21bn Eurovegas project after authorities in the Spanish capital refused to exempt the complex from the country's smoking laws or to lower the tax on gambling.

Promoters had promised that Eurovegas, which was to have comprised six casinos, 12 hotels and a shopping mall would create up to 250,000 jobs, directly and indirectly - a major selling point in Spain where the unemployment rate currently stands at 27%.

At a news conference after the government's weekly cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said: "New conditions were put forward concerning taxes and legal protection ... which could not be taken on board by the administrations involved,"

"The government needs to preserve the general interests of all Spaniards," she said.

In a statement, Las Vegas Sands chief executive Sheldon Adelson (pictured, left) said: "While the government and many others have worked diligently on this effort, we do not see a path in which the criteria needed to move forward with this large-scale development can be reached.

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CONTROVERSIAL laws forcing all cyclists to wear helmets have been relaxed and only children under 16 riding in built-up areas will be obliged to use protective headgear. 

The planned legislation attracted opposition from regular bikers and various political parties across Spain, leading the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) to consider limiting mandatory helmet use to cyclists under 18 only. 

But the rule will now only apply in towns and on main roads and only to children.

Socialists still oppose this, however, and asked how the PP government intended to fine under-16s for not wearing helmets – effectively, any sanctions would end up being paid by their parents 

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VALENCIA Football Club has been put up for sale by Bankia over a multi-million-euro debt and the 'impossibility' of any 'viable' way of paying it off, reports the management. 

The Valencia FC Foundation owes the financial institution over 85 million euros and Valencia Football Club itself is in the red with Bankia by over 200 million.

As a result, investors are being sought to 'guarantee the social, economic and sporting success' of the premier league team. 

Bankia's decision to sell the Club to 'rid itself of inherited debts' from Bancaja – one of the two entities, the other being Caja Madrid, which formed the State-owned bank – coincided with the shareholders' AGM in which chairman Amadeo Salvo said they were seeking ways of restructuring the debt to avoid its sale. 

He stressed that whoever bought the Club would have to be someone 'prepared to create a great team', 'wipe out the debts' and 'finish off building the new Mestalla stadium' which has been left at half-mast for many years due to lack of funds. 

But Bankia has said Valencia FC has so far failed to come up with a sound plan to deal with its massive deficit. 

The money owed to the finance firm relates to various loans taken out to provide capital to the Club. 

However, Salvo insists that it is not Bankia's decision – nor that of the regional government – whether or not the Club will be put up for sale because 'they do not own it'.

“If anyone is wants to sell it, they will need to convince the shareholders here present since, unless and until a court judge rules otherwise, all shares in Valencia Football Club belong to us,” the chairman stated. 

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A BUSINESSMAN from Castellón who fell victim to a so-called 'virtual kidnapping' in México has been freed. 

A new form of abduction on the rise, which involves luring the victim by telephone calls or internet and then leaving them in isolation whilst the captors leave the scene, in this case the unnamed professional received a call in his hotel room from a man purporting to be from the Mexican Department of Security who claimed that a major police operation was about to take place at his accommodation and advised him to leave the complex immediately, buy a Mexican mobile phone and move to another hotel where the police force had booked him a room. 

The business owner, who works in the tile industry in the eastern Spanish province and regularly travels to México, went to the hotel near where he was staying in Monterrey as instructed and found himself locked in a room. 

Next, the kidnappers rang his firm and ordered his co-director to stump up 100,000 euros for his release and to guarantee he would make it out of captivity alive.

According to the victim, he did not realise it was an abduction at first, and thought it was merely a case of fraud.

His co-director called the Guardia Civil, who notified their specialist abduction and extortion team, contacted the Mexican authorities and the victim's family. 

The business owner was held locked in the room for 10 hours, but his captors were elsewhere and in constant contact with him by telephone and made him think he was being watched constantly – even though they had left the area. 

Police from Spain then contacted him to say his life was not in danger and instructed him how to leave the hotel and head to a safe and secret place where the Mexican authorities would take over his protection. 

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SANTANDER Bank is due to invest 470 million euros in buying an eight-per-cent slice of the Bank of Shanghai, making it the second-largest shareholder in the Chinese entity. The Spanish financial services group will purchase these shares from HSBC, effectively buying out the British bank's own holding entirely. Its intention is to close the deal by the end of the first half of 2014. Banco Santander will be nominated as the Bank of Shanghai's International Strategic Partner, which means the Spanish entity will advise its board of directors on commercial banking risks and management. In order to do so, Santander will send a team of rofessionals to China next year. The Bank of Shanghai and Santander will work jointly on providing their commercial banking services. As the second-largest firm in the sector in China, the Bank of Shanghai has a total asset value of 98 billion euros and saw net profits of 902 milllion at the end of 2012. It has 294 branches, of which 231 are in Shanghai – China's second major city and site of its head office – which account for 70 per cent of its total asset value, with the remaining 63 branches in 10 other Chinese towns and cities. To date, it has 200,000 corporate clients on its books, most of which are small and medium-sized companies, and eight million personal banking customers.   

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THE inventor of the so-called PIP breast implants has been sentenced to four years in jail after it was found that these were filled with an unregulated 'low-cost' gel and thousands of them split and leaked inside patients – of whom 3,000 in Spain have already had surgery to remove them. 

He is also ordered to pay a fine of 75,000 euros and banned from practicing medicine of any description. 

Jean-Claude Mas, 74, founder of the company PIP in Marseilles, France in 1991, supplied breast implants at rock-bottom prices and became a market leader, until it was found he had been manufacturing them with industrial silicone which cost a tenth of that which is regulated by medical laws worldwide. 

He managed to save about a million euros a year by using cheap silicone until it was banned in 2010.

On average, within less than 11 years of a breast implant operation, the PIP (Poly Implant Prosthesis) sacs burst completely open and have to be removed by emergency surgery for the woman's safety. 

A total of 18,500 women in Spain alone have had PIP implants fitted, of whom 4.2 per cent did so for medical reasons, such as after a mastectomy, and 3,000 have had them taken out either after they burst or as a precaution.

Around 30,000 women in France have had them fitted and the worldwide total is estimated to be well in excess of 80,000.

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OVER 40,000 Spaniards abroad to find work in the first six months of this year, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE)'s Migration Report.

Most of them headed to the UK and France, although in terms of residents leaving the country for good, the majority went to Ecuador, since this was where they were originally from.

Of the 259,227 people who moved away from Spain between January and June 2013, more than 40,000 were Spanish nationals, whilst 134,312 foreigners moved to the country to live.

As a result, the country's 'migration balance' fell into negative figures – 124,915 more people left than arrived.

Those abandoning Spain increased in number by 50 per cent on the previous six months, from July to December 2012, resulting in a fall in immigration of 11 per cent and an increase in outward migration of 10.7 per cent.

Just 15,000 Spaniards who had previously left the country to find work returned in the first half of this year, meaning the 'migration balance' of Spanish nationals is also in negative with nearly 25,000 fewer living in their native country.

Only the Balearic and Canary Islands, Murcia, and the Spanish-owned city of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast have seen their populations rise this year.

Although Spain's foreign population fell by four per cent in the first six months of 2013, this was partly due to 124,000 non-nationals applying and being accepted for Spanish citizenship.

The government has recently announced plans to cut back drastically on the number of Spanish nationality applications it accepts, and to make conditions tougher.

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PRIVATE security guards now have the jurisdiction to identify, search and arrest people in public – duties that until now have only ever been carried out by the police.

It would also mean they had the legal power to arrest a person at a sports event, in a shopping precinct or practically anywhere public without having to call the police to do so.

The new Private Security Law has been amended over 70 times already but now has votes in favour from the PNV and the CiU, although the socialists and left-wing Izquierda Plural are against it, considering it would merely lead to privatisation of State protection services.

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ALCÀSSER killer Miguel Ricart has been sleeping rough after travelling from one end of the country to the other trying to find somewhere to stay, report various sources.

The only person to be convicted and jailed over the brutal murder, rape and torture of three random teenage girls, Toñi, Miriam and Désirée in November 1992, Ricart is considered to be the most hated man in Spain.

His family has apparently disowned him, and his ex-wife and the daughter who was born just days after his arrest have not had any contact with him in nearly 21 years.

And Ricart says he does not want his family 'dragged into' the media circus his release under European human rights law has caused.

After leaving the Herrera de la Mancha prison in Ciudad Real, Ricart, 44, took a train in the direction of the southern city of Jaén.

He has permanent police escorts, in accordance with the judge's orders, and the former chaplain of the prison is also accompanying the ex-convict.

Ricart got off the train in Linares to avoid the crowds of reporters awaiting him in Jaén, and was met by a television crew who took him to Madrid and put him in a four-star hotel.

But public outcry at the thought of the accused murderer being paid to appear on TV meant the station dropped the slot, and Ricart was forced to spend the week in what has been described as a 'dingy hostel' before making his way to the Andalucía city of Córdoba.

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OVER 2,000 Spaniards are currently in jail in other countries, with the majority – 316 – in prisons in Perú, followed by 205 in Colombia, according to the latest home office statistics.

A further 185 are in French prisons and 150 in jail in Italy.

Most Spanish inmates abroad – 82 per cent - are behind bars for drug-related offences, usually smuggling but sometimes possession.

Their only chance of returning to Spain before they have completed their sentences is to obtain an official reprieve, or pardon, from the authorities of the country where they are held in custody or, if this is not possible or not granted, to apply through the courts for a transfer to serve the rest of their jail term in Spain.

For this to be achieved, all appeal processes against the sentence itself must have been exhausted and both countries must have a bilateral or international agreement.

Also, the offence for which they are held must be considered a crime in Spain under the country's national law.

Spain's embassies and consular services are said by its foreign affairs office to be among the best, most thorough and most supportive in Europe and have a long-standing record for swift results of sentence appeals, repatriation of criminals and negotiating the release of kidnapping victims.

So far this year, 221 prisoners have managed to return to Spain to serve the rest of their sentences out of the 385 requests for transfer received by the foreign office.

Most of these come from Perú and Colombia – 77 and 63 respectively – followed by 58 from Ecuador, 32 from Italy, 22 from Portugal and 18 each from Panamá and Morocco.

During a Spanish national's stay in prison abroad, from the moment their arrest is advised of to the Spanish authorities, consular staff and the embassy in the country in question monitor the situation.

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TRAFFIC police are set to launch a drink-driving and drugs campaign tomorrow (Monday) running until the night of Sunday, December 15 as part of the lead-up to Christmas.

Legal limits of alcohol are not expected to change, continuing to be 0.15 milligrams per litre of air breathed in new drivers and professionals such as taxi, bus or train drivers, and 0.25 milligrams for everyone else.

But fines for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs are due to double from 500 euros to 1,000 euros, with a loss of six licence points.

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JUSTICE minister Alberto Ruíz-Gallardón has announced plans to bring the new abortion law into effect before the end of this year.

Meetings will be held with the cabinet on the next three Fridays to finalise the content, which he stresses will 'respect the historic discourse' of the PP on the subject.

Many of the elements introduced by the previous socialist government will be eliminated.

These include allowing a woman to terminate a pregnancy before a certain time on any grounds, although a psychologist's report would normally be needed if her physical or mental health or that of the child were not at risk.

They also include the fact that at present, girls aged 16 or 17 but under 18 do not need their parents' consent to terminate a pregnancy.

Now, anyone under 18 will need written permission from their parents or guardians to have an abortion.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OVER 130,000 couples a year get divorced in Spain – that's 360 a day, according to chairman of the National Association of Family Solicitors, César Tomás Martín.

In his self-help manual, How to win your divorce, Martín gives real-life cases of couples who have 'reached the limit' and believe a separation is the only answer, and how they can sometimes be brought back from the edge via certain techniques.

The solicitor says he 'does not always recommend' divorce as the answer, but that there are some cases where there is no other option for the sanity of the couple, he admits.

Martín says the average divorce in Spain takes four months, with an uncontested divorce costing around 1,000 euros and those which end up the courts, about 3,000 euros.

The average divorce comes after a marriage of 15 years, and the couple are typically aged between 42 and 44.

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SIX banks which have been ordered to pay a record fine for 'manipulating' the Euribor, or Eurozone interest rate, are based in Spain and where their mortgage customers were facing repossession for non-payment, these may now have legal grounds to challenge this decision.

JP Morgan, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, RP Martin and Société Générale have been hit with a total 1.7-billion-euro fine for flouting EU competition regulations – the highest in banking history.

The European Commission has not confirmed exactly how these entities manipulated the Euribor rate – currently at 0.5 per cent and expected to end the year on 0.25 per cent, but doing so enabled them to 'control' interest rates in other currencies, including the Japanese Yen.

All six banks formed a 'cartel' or alliance allowing them to benefit mutually from their practices, and the level and length of time of their involvement had a direct bearing on the amount of the fine, with Deutsche Bank being ordered to pay 465 million euros for its 32 months in the Euribor cartel and 259 million for a similar alliance with the Yen, whilst Royal Bank of Scotland, which had been involved for eight months, has been fined 131 million.

For the mortgage customer – a total of 6.7 million of them in Spain across all the banks – they may have paid interest rates above the actual level of the market.

And those seeking to have their mortgage contracts rendered null and void on the grounds of inflated interest rates and other 'abusive clauses' will now see their case strengthened in overturning their repossession for non-payment.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S first bank holiday for December to celebrate Constitution Day today (Friday) only saw five of the country's 17 regional presidents at the official act and hoisting of the flag.

The president of Castilla-La Mancha, María Dolores del Cospedal, is also the secretary-general of the central government, meaning she attended in both capacities, and Alberto Fabra, PP president of Valencia, was also at the event along with Ramón Luis Valcárcel, leader of the region of Murcia, and the presidents of the Canary Islands and Aragón.

Among the other 12 absentees, even Ignacio González, president of the region of Madrid – where the act was held – did not attend.

The sovereignty debate surrounding Catalunya meant its president, Artur Mas, did not turn up.

Now 35 years old to the day, the Spanish Constitution is under scrutiny as to whether it should be reformed to reflect changes in society since 1978.

Rosa Díez, from UPyD (Unión, Progreso y Democracia) says one of the first changes should be to cease referring to members of the public within the Constitution as 'Spanish' or 'citizens', given the multi-cultural nature of Spain today.

Government vice-president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said until there was consensus on the content, it could not feasibly be rewritten, and socialist leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba called for the government to 'seek it' in order to 'make it happen'. 

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Royal family and Spanish government describe their 'deep sadness' at the loss of a 'true fighter' as 'Madiba' loses his fight for life

SPAIN is in mourning for the late South African president and human rights' activist Nelson Mandela, and the King and Queen have already paid tribute to the great man's bravery and integrity.

Mandela, who was released from prison in 1990 after a lifelong battle against apartheid before securing a landslide victory in 1994 when he ran for president, passed away this morning (Friday) after many months of round-the-clock home care following a lung infection.

He was 95 years old.

President of the USA, Barack Obama said he could 'not imagine his own life' without Mandela's influence – both having become the first black presidents of countries where race hate at all levels of society was rife until just a few decades ago.

And King Juan Carlos of Spain, pictured here with the newly-released Mandela, mourned the loss of a 'great friend' to the Spanish Royal family.

The King, Queen Sofía and the Prince and Princess of Asturias, HRHs Felipe and Letizia, have written personally to South African president Jacob Zuma to express their 'deep sadness' about the loss of a 'close friend' and 'key figure in history'.

“He was a very good friend whom we'll never forget – a man with a fighting spirit, always searching for freedom, justice and peace among the people,” said the Royal letter.

HRHs Felipe and Letizia expressed their 'love and support' for Graça Machel, Mandela's widow.

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COUNCIL of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks says Spain's controversial Public Safety Law is 'highly problematic' and that if it 'goes any further', he will 'take it up with authorities' in the country.

Among the unpopular measures, which have been the subject of a barrage of complaints from members of the public, is the threat of a 600,000-euro fine for anyone organising demonstrations without prior consent from local, regional or national authorities as applicable – consent which they understand may be denied.

Pressure groups and society in general consider this a 'gagging order' preventing them from displaying their discontent in public over unpopular government policies.

And Commissioner Muiznieks believes the planned legislation could be 'dangerous' since it raises doubts as to how clear the legal terms involved are, from the point of view of interpretation by a judge and by the ordinary person, and also as to 'whether such restrictions are really necessary in a democratic society' to maintain public order 'without interfering too much in the right to freedom of demonstration'.

“If it goes any further I will take up the matter with the Spanish authorities,” stated Muiznieks.

He announced this after presenting the Council of Europe's report on the impact of the financial crisis on human rights at a conference in Brussels, during which he called upon the EU and the 'Troika' – the Central European Bank (BCE), the International Monetary Fund (FMI) and European Commission (EC) to bear in mind the 'impact' of their financial assistance terms and conditions on quality of life and basic rights of citizens in the countries in question.

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HEALTH authorities in the Valencia region plan to regulate sales and use of electronic or E-cigarettes and commission of experts is examining them to ascertain whether or not they are harmful.

E-cigarettes contain nicotine, the quantity of which is decided by the user, but do not carry other dangerous chemical elements such as tar or carbon monoxide in the way packet cigarettes do.

Although they do not give off smoke, they emit water vapour, and are not permitted on airlines.

But authorities want to ban them in bars and restaurants in the same way as they have with conventional cigarettes, at least until they know for certain whether the emissions produced could cause health problems.

Valencia regional health minister Manuel Llombart says his department is 'considering regulating' areas in which they can be used.

“These include places where people may be more susceptible to their ill-effects, if applicable, such as in schools, hospitals, health centres and residential care homes,” Llombart reveals.

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SPAIN is 40th out of a list of 177 countries on the world 'corruption scale', with number 177 – the most corrupt – being Somalia, according to figures released by a German charity.

Transparency International (TI) publishes the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) every year and has done since 1995 – and this year's results show Spain has fallen 10 places, having been at number 30 in 2012.

Spain has not been this far down the list since 1998.

On a scale of 0-100, with 100 being, literally, '100% corrupt', and 0 being 'completely clean', Spain's score was 59, falling from last year's 65.

Somalia, Afghanistan and North Korea, joint 175th out of the 177 countries, got a score of eight each, compared to the UK's 76, Finland's and Sweden's 89, Norway's 86 and Denmark's 91 – the 'cleanest' country and joint number one along with New Zealand out of 177.

Spain had the second-worst score in western Europe after Italy's 43, and most of eastern Europe fared worse than Spain.

And Spain's score was beaten by 'cleaner' countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Estonia, Qatar, Botswana, Cyprus, Portugal, Israel, Taiwan, Brunei and Poland, and had just one point more than Cabo Verde and Dominica, two more than Lithuania and Slovenia, and three more than Malta.

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THE planned new Ikea store near Valencia is actively seeking new recruits, and between 400 and 500 jobs are said to be up for grabs.

According to the Swedish low-cost furniture giant, the store in Alfafar wants employees 'of all ages, with or without previous experience' in the roles they will be applying for.

“We are looking for real people, not CVs,” a spokesperson from the multi-national states.
From today until New Year's Eve, candidates can fill in a form on the Ikea website giving personal and professional details and stating which types of job would most suit them.

Full-time and part-time jobs are available, meaning those who already work elsewhere can combine their employment at Ikea with other professional activities, or have the flexibility they need to look after dependent children or other relatives.

In-house promotion and relocation will fill some of the new roles, and others will go to complete outsiders.

Positions – around 400 in total - include shop-floor sales assistants and sales management, logistics or transport and delivery, customer service – providing information, arranging delivery of mail-order goods and handling complaints, refunds and exchanges, cashiers on the checkouts, restaurant staff and around 80 'indirect' jobs including cleaners, security guards, assembly and re-merchandising, delivery vehicle drivers and loading and unloading labourers. 

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Welsh football star Gareth Bale scored his first hat-trick for Real Madrid this weekend as the Spanish giants beat Real Valladolid 4-0 to move within three points of La Liga leaders Barcelona.

With Cristiano Ronaldo sidelined due to a hamstring injury, Bale made the most of his chance to take centre stage, netting three times and setting up fellow striker Karim Benzema for another.

The 24 year old Wales international increaed his goal-scoring tally to nine from 13 appearances for Real since his record-breaking €91m move from Tottenham Hotspur in September.

"Gareth Bale has fully adapted to the team. He has a lot of confidence and is very important for us," said coach Carlo Ancelotti. "I don't know if this was our best match so far, but we have to continue playing like this."

Gareth Bale has scored seven goals in this La Liga season, one more than Mesut Ozil managed in his first campaign with Real Madrid.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com