Live News From Spain As It Happens

SPAIN'S government is considering increasing the minimum age for consenting to sexual relations with adults to 16.

At present it is 13, one of the lowest in the western world, and UNICEF has been advising Spain to increase it since around 2007 in order to prevent child abuse.

And the European Commission considers that a child aged under 15 years is not capable of consenting to sex with adults.

Although a significant increase in the minimum age of sexual consent has been under discussion for many years, the real debate was sparked at the end of last year when a 13-year-old girl was shot dead by her boyfriend of 39, who later shot himself in the head when surrounded by police.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BRITISH man was thrown bodily out of his Torrevieja (Alicante) flat when a bottle of insecticide exploded.

The undisclosed victim, said to be aged 47, was using an aerosol-based repellent spray to get rid of a cockroach in the semi-enclosed balcony of his first-floor apartment when the cannister blew up with such force that it took out an entire wall of the building.

At the same time, the Briton was flung out by the sheer force of the expansive wave caused by the explosion and landed five metres below on the street.

He is said to be in hospital in a serious condition with multiple bruising and numerous broken bones, but it is not known whether his life is in danger and medics are not yet sure of what after-effects he may be left with.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MOROCCAN woman living in Soria has been arrested for trying to sell her sister's kidney for 400,000 euros.

The accused, N. M., aged 34, had put up adverts around the city with a contact number, hoping to attract a potential buyer who needed a kidney transplant.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NUTRITIONISTS in Spain claim the traditional Mediterranean diet is a myth and that the average resident eats very large portions with a high level of saturated fat and carbohydrates.

And obesity is on the rise, with nearly half of all Spain's children being overweight and nearly six in 10 adults, says a survey by the ministry of health.

Dieticians say only five per cent of obesity or excess weight is caused by health problems, and that the remaining 95 per cent of people with a higher-than-healthy body-mass index are this way because of eating too much and not exercising enough.

Genetic factors play a part, but this is very limited, say nutritionists.

But on the whole Spain's population is not undernourished, but a high number of people suffering from malnutrition has been detected and this is said to be due to a poor balance of vitamins and minerals rather than through not enough to eat

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LOCAL Police officer off sick with depression stabbed a retired bank manager who had sold him 300,000 euros of preferential shares which are now worthless.

The accused, who is said to have lost everything after investing his life's savings in the nationalised entity Bankia, went to the former manager's home, a country house just outside Valencia in an area known as La Punta.

He became embroiled in a heated discussion with the victim, which the latter's wife witnessed, before stabbing him twice in the neck.

National Police rushed to the scene at around 18.45hrs on Sunday and found the former Bankia worker bleeding heavily.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE entire PP party boycotted a presentation in the Congress building yesterday by former government president José María Aznar, thought to be in protest over comments he made slamming Rajoy's economic policies.

Aznar, also on the PP and husband of Madrid's mayoress Ana Botella, was giving a conference on the biographies published of various high-profile political figures.

President of Spain until 2004 when he was succeeded by socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and recently taken on by a top law firm to head up their Latin America division, Aznar said in television interview last week that he had not ruled out a return to the political field.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FREE petrol for young drivers in the early hours of the morning who can prove they have not drunk any alcohol is being given by Huelva city council in the south-west of Spain.

Numerous checkpoints have been set up around the city to breathalyse drivers and those who show a zero alcohol reading will be given petrol vouchers. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GERMANY may agree to provide 'special credits' to small and medium-sized businesses in Spain and Portugal to help them grow, and later to those in Greece.

According to German national daily Der Spiegel, the central European country's equivalent of Spain's Official Credit Institute – the KfW – is considering investing up to 10 billion euros in small companies and sole traders' enterprises in the southern EU nations, taking advantage of currently low interest rates.

Finance minister for Germany Wolfgang Schäuble (pictured), in a letter to economy minister Philipp Rösler, compared the situation of Spain, Portugal and Greece vis à vis the rest of Europe with that of East and West Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN UNEMPLOYED graduate who 'sang' his CV whilst playing the Ukelele on the Barcelona metro has been given a job by Spain's Channel 6, La Sexta.

Enzo Vizcaíno's performance on the train went viral on YouTube and hit national headlines, after he joked in song about his experience as a community manager – social network administrator for companies – and Ukelele-player.

Vizcaíno has a degree in journalism, but has despaired of finding work after months on the dole following redundancy.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BUSINESS-OWNERS and self-employed persons may no longer have to risk their main homes to pay back debts relating to their commercial activity if a new law under discussion goes ahead.

The government wants to allow people to set up a limited company, or an S.L., in the true sense, meaning that their liability as a firm will not affect their personal assets up to a limit of 300,000 euros.

This will involve an initial capital investment of a lower amount than the present minimum of 3,000 euros, with a total of 20 per cent of the profits going into the required capital reserve fund.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PETROL has just gone up by 0.5 per cent and diesel by 0.38 per cent this week.

Now at an average cost of 1.412 euros per litre for 95 unleaded, filling up a tank will cost 0.8 per cent more than in January this year.

And diesel will cost 2.7 per cent more, at an average cost of 1.329 euros a litre.

Prices of petrol only dipped below 1.40 euros a litre once this year – in early May – after having gone down for three weeks in a row.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TAX evasion is costing the average Spanish resident around 2,000 euros a year out of their pay-packets, figures show.

According to Hacienda, the country's fiscal authorities, this varies by region from 2,776 in La Rioja to 1,113 in Extremadura, but means a typical inhabitant in Spain sees 1,910 euros a year more coming out of their income than they would if tax avoidance did not occur.

Increases in taxes and social security have affected salaried employees the most, says tax office union GESTHA, since these have no way of hiding any of their tax liabilities, unlike self-employed workers or business owners, potentially. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AMNESTY International has condemned the 'unnecessary violence' used by riot police during public demonstrations in Spain and the 'lack of guarantees' for people whose homes have been repossessed.

In its annual report, AI listed six areas where it considered Spain needed to improve its human rights policies.

Other entries included anti-terrorism measures, racism and domestic violence, but particularly emphasised repossession of homes and 'aggressiveness' by police in protest marches as being two areas directly caused by the financial crisis.

The report mentioned two cases in point concerning the latter – the death of Ángela Jaramillo from a heart attack three months after being repeatedly beaten with truncheons by police officers when taking part in a peaceful demonstration, the after-effects of which required medical treatment; and reporter Paloma Aznar, who suffered a serious eye injury after being hit by a rubber bullet fired at her, despite wearing her press identification in a prominent place about her person.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FORMER Spanish president José María Aznar (PP) has heavily criticised Mariano Rajoy's policies and says he has 'not ruled out' returning to top-level politics.

Aznar, who lost the 2004 general elections after claiming the Madrid train bombing was the work of Basque separatist cell ETA – as opposed to Al-Qaeda – says Rajoy should reduce taxes rather than increasing them, because 'the damage being caused' by high taxes 'to the middle class' is 'too great'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWELVE Greenpeace activists have been arrested after parking a fishing boat outside the ministry of agriculture and chaining themselves to it.

They pinned up a huge sign saying 'Cañete, don't sink the fishing industry', addressed to agricultural minister Miguel Arias Cañete.

These activists, who are volunteer members of Greenpeace, anchored themselves to the boat in a bid to convince the Spanish government to hold talks with them and with fishermen's representatives to promote more environmentally-friendly ways of conducting trade.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE wedding of Ana Aznar, daughter of former Spanish president José María Aznar and mayoress of Madrid Ana Botella, was paid for in part through the Gürtel case companies.

According to the case notes, an invoice was found for the sum of 32,452 euros from the banquet hall at the Los Arcos stud farm in San Lorenzo del Escorial (Madrid) titled 'wedding Alejandro Agag', who is Ana Aznar's husband.

It detailed costs of lighting, generators, parking, invitations, scaffolding and other elements relating to decorating and catering for the guests.

Unlike other invoices and account records found in connection with the companies owned by Rafael Correa, chief suspect in the Gürtel corruption case, which showed the actual cost of the services subcontracted together with the amount payable by the customers and the profit obtained, the Los Arcos bill shows that Correa paid the entire amount without charging the bride and groom.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A TEENAGE boy was rushed to hospital in Valencia yesterday (Sunday) after being dragged by a bus when his arm became caught in the door.

Jerry Cunningham, 14, was running for the bus in the city and attempted to board it just a split second before the doors closed, trapping his arm.

After running a few metres, the boy fell and was dragged along the ground by his arm.

Terrified passengers attempted to alert the driver, who eventually realised what was happening and stopped the vehicle to attend to the victim.

Jerry was air-lifted to hospital with fractures to his face, ribs and ankle, and is said to be in a serious condition.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GUARDIA Civil officers in Madrid have detected 67 illegal connections to the mains water network allowing those who set them up to have on-tap water without paying.

They have arrested 59 people who are said to have 'stolen' 286,000 cubic metres of drinking water – the average household consumes approximately 40 cubic metres a month, meaning the total amount siphoned illegally was enough to supply each of the accused parties for an average of 10 years.

Many of those thought to have been 'stealing' water are owners of companies, which habitually consume more, so police do not believe the situation has been going on for more than a few months.

Over a kilometre of unauthorised pipes tapping into the mains supply was found following extensive investigations that involved geo-radar robotic equipment.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOREIGN investors who could potentially create jobs in Spain may be given automatic residence rights and visas in a new move by the central government to encourage multi-national firms to set up branches in the country.

Companies or individuals who bring a 'notable socio-economic impact' or 'important scientific or technological innovation' into Spain will find the paper-trail required to obtain residence will be considerably simplified.

Where these people, or the owners and existing key staff of the firms in question are self-employed and involved in more than one area of activity, they will be given a discount on their monthly social security contributions.

They will need to provide evidence that they intend to make 'significant financial investments' in Spain and 'create jobs' in order to benefit from an easier residence process.

The new law allowing for this is hoped to make Spain a more attractive place for highly-qualified professionals and scientific investigators by cutting down on the red tape required for settling in the country. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPECTACULAR win for Spain's Rafa Nadal against Roger Federer in Rome left fans open-mouthed as the Swiss world number two crashed out and handed his rival his seventh Italian Open title on a plate.

In just 68 minutes, Mallorca-born Rafa wiped the floor with Federer, ending their 30^th match against each other on a score of 6-1 6-3.

“I didn't have my best day,” Federer admitted afterwards, saying that despite trying to 'play offensively', Rafa had more topspin than anyone else he had played last week in Rome, marking a dramatic change for Federer and meaning the match 'did not go as he had hoped'.

Federer's forehand did not help him and he was broken in the third game, having got off to a poor start with numerous unforced mistakes, whilst Rafa's stunning backhand at the beginning of the fourth game netted him his 11^th point out of 13 and put him at a strong advantage.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MADRID was the coldest capital city in the world on Friday (May 17) – it's official.

With maximum daytime temperatures of 9.2ºC, it was chillier than every other capital city in the northern and southern hemisphere that day.

And the humidity levels registered meant that it felt much colder than 9.2ºC, according to weather records.

Even Moscow reached maximum temperatures of 25ºC, and the second-coldest capital in Europe – Brussels – had highs of 9.7ºC, or 0.5ºC warmer than Madrid.

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, was the third-chilliest capital in the world at 10ºC.

Even in the southern hemisphere, where winter is fast approaching, temperatures were higher than in Madrid – Buenos Aires was the coldest capital in South America (which officially starts at the México-Guatemala border) at 15.5ºC and Canberra (Australia) registered highs of 14.6ºC.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S Dani Pedrosa roared to victory in the Moto GP in Le Mans today during a rain-soaked race, and was joined on the podium by the UK's Cal Crutchlow and Pedrosa's team mate Marc Márquez.

This puts Barcelona-born Pedrosa in the lead in the world championship rankings ahead of Márquez, who started badly in today's race despite gaining pole position on Saturday and dropped back to eighth place because of the wet conditions on the track.

But once he had got the hang of the circuit and how to ride it in the rain, a spectacular comeback saw him soaring to third place.

Cal Crutchlow also managed to storm ahead and overtake several riders, netting second place and showing that he had fully recovered from his accident during Saturday's pre-race training session. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HUNDREDS of women staged a flash-mob siege, known as an escrache outside the home of justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón this week in protest over the abortion law reform.

Gallardón wants to make it illegal for women to terminate a pregnancy on the grounds of the foetus being deformed or likely to be born with a severe mental or physical handicap, and for girls under 18 to have to seek their parents' permission to have an abortion.

If the reform goes ahead, the only real basis for ending a pregnancy before term will be where the mother's life or health is in serious danger, and will need a doctor to confirm this in writing.

The 300 women who staged what they called a 'feminist escrache' said that as it was they who would have to give birth and to care for the child – possibly for the rest of its life if it were to be born with a serious handicap – they should be the ones to decide whether or not they wish to continue with the pregnancy.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOUR Spanish MEPs say they believe their country is using EU agriculture grants on promoting and televising bull-fighting, and have called for an investigation and possible sanctions.

Alfred Bosch, Ana Miranda, Raúl Romeva and Ramón Tremosa say these grants are not even used on the actual breeding of bulls, but on filming, entry tickets, repairing and decorating bull-rings, advertising, TV rights, and benefits for promoters of and companies in the bull-fighting industry.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HUGE protest has been planned for May 25 over the fact that the Infanta Cristina has once again been released from her obligation to testify over the infamous Nóos case which her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, is facing trial over.

The King and Queen's eldest daughter was called up twice over suspicions that she may be involved in the money-laundering and fraud racket which Urdangarín and his co-director Diego Torres allegedly used the Nóos Institute as a front for, but on both occasions she has been let off.

Although the judge handling the case believed there was reason to suspect the Infanta's involvement, the prosecution service did not agree, saying there was no evidence to show she had committed any criminal offence and claiming that she was being discriminated against, or used as a public example because of her status.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

JUDGES can now prevent mortgage lenders from repossessing properties where 'abusive' clauses are included in the loan contract, and grant a two-year stay of grace on repossession for homeowners considered to be 'especially vulnerable'.

The new mortgage and repossession law – which came into force yesterday (Wednesday) after being approved in Parliament a week previously – limits interest rate hikes on repayments made as a penalty for defaulting on a monthly quota, and also forces banks to set a minimum reserve when auctioning off properties they have already taken back from their owners.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MAN is seriously ill in hospital after being struck by lightning in Madrid.

The victim, a 43-year-old Ecuadorian national, was talking on his mobile phone while standing under a tree in the Puente de Vallecas district of the capital at around 21.30hrs last night (Tuesday).

Witnesses say he was playing football in the park at the crossroads between the C/ León Felipe and the Avenida Miguel Hernández when it started to rain and he sought refuge under a tree.

He was struck through the upper chest, near the collar-bone, and the bolt of lightning went through him and came out near his groin.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRUSSELS has opened an inquiry into petrol companies for possibly 'manipulating' prices.

Several companies in two EU member States are under scrutiny for allegedly 'providing distorted information about petrol prices' to the relevant authorities with 'the intention of illegally adjusting prices to the consumer'.

According to the EU, the companies in question 'may have prevented their competitors from participating' in the price evaluation process – also in order to 'manipulate their end prices'.

If these practices are confirmed, the offending companies will be considered to be in breach of European Directives covering fair competition and could face substantial fines.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEARLY 50 per cent of children of expatriates in Spain say they 'feel Spanish', according to a recent survey.

Although the research by Princetown University and the University College of Ortega y Gasset found that the process of integration for children is 'difficult', they are now feeling more at home than ever.

Concentrating on kids born in Spain to foreign parents, or those who moved to Spain with their parents before they reached the age of 12, the study found that 48.3 per cent do not consider themselves to be closer to the nationality of their family of origin.

This figure has made a giant leap in the last four years, with 28.7 per cent admitting similar sentiments at the end of 2008.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TRAFFIC authorities have developed a system that allows them to tell whether or not a car is insured by reading its number plate.

And it also wants to get older cars off the road, with none aged over seven by the year 2016, by launching a 'repair history record' of all vehicles registered in Spain.

The number-plate radar was launched just after Easter, and is connected to a central database which immediately shows whether a vehicle has at least third party liability insurance cover, the minimum required by law for a car to be used on the road.

Without this insurance cover, damage to another driver's vehicle, or injury or death to other road-users have to be compensated for out of the offending car-owner's pocket, and as this can often run into tens of thousands or even millions, third party cover is essential.

Read more at thnkSPAIN.com

THE number of Spanish people who have emigrated to the UK has trebled in the past decade, recent studies claim.

Around 11,000 moved to Britain in 2002, compared to 30,000 in 2011, according to head of the High Council for Scientific Investigations (CSIC), Amparo González.

But she does not believe the economic crisis in Spain is the main driving factor.

Although González, an expert in sociology, says the number of Spanish people who got their first National Insurance numbers in the UK to be able to work went up by 6,000 in just one year between 2010 and 2011, which shows an 'evident' impact caused by the recession in their home country, she says moving abroad is 'a costly and risky exercise' that requires resources such as a human support network, sound knowledge of the language of the destination country, enough money to get settled until they find stable work and get their first pay packet, and no financial or family ties in Spain.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ANDALUCÍA'S regional government says it has no intention of withdrawing a new law allowing it to expropriate properties from banks to prevent defaulting owners from being thrown out on the street, despite Brussels announcing it may not be legal.

Regional minister for the economy Antonio Ávila says the new law is 'perfectly sound' and has the full support of the public, but that the EU claims it might not be 'compatible' with the conditions imposed on Spain when it was granted bail-out funds for its banks.

And regional president of Andalucía José Antonio Griñán says he 'does not understand this lack of sensitivity' and that if Brussels wants to go down this route, then 'the EU is not worth it'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Barcelona have claimed their 22nd Liga title after Espanyol held Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw at the Cornellà-El Prat on Saturday.

Espanyol took the lead after Stuani found the back of the net, but Higuain's second-half equaliser still left Mourinho's defending champions seven points adrift of their rivals with only two games left.

Barcelona capped their title celebrations with a 2-1 win at Atlético Madrid, but the evening was soured by an injury to Lionel Messi, who limped off after 67 minutes.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

VICTIMS of the devastating earthquake in Lorca (Murcia) say there are still thousands of homeless families – two years on to the day.

Today (Saturday) is the second anniversary of the tremor which reached 5.6 on the Richter scale and left several dead, including an 11-year-old boy, as well as tens of thousands of homes reduced to rubble, leaving their owners on the street.

And residents of Lorca marked the occasion with a protest march, saying, 'this is not bureaucracy, it's just inefficient', and 'where am I going to sleep tonight?' 'Can you sleep in the churches?'

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

POLICE union leaders have complained that officers in Benidorm are suffering unpleasant health problems as a result of a massive haul of cannabis plants stored at the station.

Over 600 plants were seized from a villa in Calpe (Alicante) and two British nations arrested last week, and since then, members of the National Police have reported constant headaches, feeling sick, dizziness and mental impairment akin to drunkenness.

They say inmates who are held in custody pending further inquiries or trial are also complaining of the same symptoms.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BARÇA player Leo Messi, considered the best footballer in the world at the tender age of 25, is about to have a film of his life made.

The Argentinian-born is likely to hit the silver screen in time to coincide with the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 in an uplifting drama based upon his biography, Messi: The inside story of the boy who became a legend, written by Luca Caioli.

Film company Epic Pictures will centre the production on Messi's childhood, his humble background, relatively poor roots, and battle against physical drawbacks such as the fact he is short in height, none of which stopped him from becoming a footballing legend at a time when most other boys his age are still at university.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

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PRACTICALLY every school and university in Spain was empty today as teachers, pupils and their parents joined in a nationwide strike and protest march against the proposed education reform.

The new law, according to schools, is leaning in favour of privatisation and will 'neglect' State schools in favour of private ones.

It will also give schools less independence and freedom to set the curriculum and content of the various subjects.

Education minister José Ignacio Wert has already said he will 'not be moved' by strikes and protests, which he considers part and parcel of being a high-level politician.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ELEVEN Spaniards have put their names down to live in a colony on Mars, from which there will be no return.

The 'Mars One' project is aimed at populating the red planet with humans, and since it was announced two weeks ago that volunteers were needed, 78,000 people from 120 countries have signed up.

In Spain, this includes eight men – three of whom have been named and are said to be aged 37, 30 and 22 with jobs in solar power and IT and, in the case of one of them, aeronautical training.

Three women have also signed up, including 28-year-old Araceli, who says she feels an 'affinity' with the astronaut Pedro Duque because their birthday is on the same day.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A PATIENT from Llíria (Valencia) has 'borrowed' a replacement knee from another man after the Arnau de Vilanova removed one they had just fitted to him because he could not afford to pay. Adrián García, 23, had an arthroscopy last Tuesday and an external knee replacement was carried out to keep his leg straight and immobile while his own knee healed. But nobody had told him he needed to pay for the operation and he was surprised to be given a bill for 120 euros when he came round from the anaesthetic. Two days later, the head of the orthopaedic firm involved turned up at the hospital and told Adrián he would need to pay 152 euros, of which the regional health authorities would refund him 122 euros...

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PRESIDENT of the Madrid region Esperanza Aguirre (PP) has called for Spain's leader Mariano Rajoy to put income tax down again.

She says now that Europe has relaxed its demands for Spain to pay back its State deficit, now is the time for the PP government to 'leave IRPF as they found it' when they came into power.

In September 2012, income tax for the self-employed went up from 15 per cent to 21 per cent, and retentions for those on job contracts earning salaries, or for any other type of earnings – which are calculated according to the person's individual situation – also increased considerably.

This has seen a huge impact on consumer spending, combined with the IVA hike which saw value-added tax at 'ordinary' rate go up in the same month from 18 to 21 per cent.

Aguirre (pictured) also added that the government should have 'explained its intentions from the word go' in order to avoid 'disheartening the population' when he announced the latest series of reforms on April 26.

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A 58-YEAR-OLD Granada man is seriously ill in hospital after a member of his family served him a glass of acid-based metal-cleaner telling him it was wine as a 'practical joke'.

Said to be an act of tongue-in-cheek 'revenge' for an earlier stunt pulled by the victim on the bartender, a close relative, the 'drink' served at the pensioners' club bar in Cogollos de Guadix (Granada) has caused damage that could be permanent and very serious.

The victim has suffered severe burns to his lips, mouth, throat and tongue, as well as perforations to his gullet, medical sources say.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN is under investigation from EU authorities in Brussels for not making children's services such as school canteen costs and childcare exempt from IVA, despite a European Directive allowing them to do so.

Algirdas Semeta, European Commissioner for Fiscal Affairs, has said he intends to ask the country for 'explanations' in response to requests to do so by MEPs from the Spanish parties Convergència i Unió (CiU), Iniciativa, and the PSC (Catalán Socialist Party).  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DEPUTY President María Dolores del Cospedal has challenged Spain's various nationwide protest groups to 'enter into politics themselves if they have so much to say'.

"Social campaign associations often arise spontaneously and if they don't fizzle out over time, they end up becoming something more institutional," Cospedal stated.

"And if these groups think they represent society, they should do so properly and enter into politics – the Spanish democratic system allows the entry of minority groups."

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MAINTENANCE of Spain's roads is 'extremely bad' and 'lacking in investment', leading to a rise in accidents and damage to cars, claims the Spanish Highways Association (AEC).

It says only those roads which come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Works have any money spent on them at all, and that even this is not enough.

A total of two per cent of the value of the roads should be invested in maintenance as a minimum every year, the AEC says, which should be 1.6 billion in the case of the Ministry of Public Works, but that the department only spends one billion on highway repairs. 

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AN IMMIGRANT who had lived in Spain for eight years has died of tuberculosis after being refused medical treatment because he did not have a health card.

The international charity Médicos del Mundo ('World Doctors') and independent political party MÉS de Mallorca have publicly condemned the fact that the young man from Sénégal lost his life when the hospital in Inca (Mallorca) declined to carry out any tests on him.

They say this is a direct result of cutbacks in healthcare funding including the Spanish government's decision to withdraw health cards from all non-EU immigrants who are not paying into the Social Security system enabling them to have a residence permit.

The deceased had gone to his local doctors' surgery on April 21, and was told to go to Inca Hospital immediately.

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MARTA del Castillo Casanueva's father has slammed the court system and said judges 'can't be bothered to get off their behinds'.

The latest trial over the murder of the 17-year-old in Sevilla in January 2009 has ended with the judge filing the case after insufficient evidence was found against Francisco Javier Delgado, stepbrother of the self-confessed murderer and ex-boyfriend of Marta, Miguel Carcaño, now 24.

In his fourth year of a 21-year jail term, Carcaño recently came up with a seventh version of how Marta met her demise, this time blaming his stepbrother, who denies the charges.

Delgado was summoned, testified, and the case immediately thrown out.

And Marta's body has never been found, with the accused giving four different stories as to where he put her after he killed her at his flat in the Sevilla neighbourhood of Camas.

“Judge Francisco de Asís Molina is no longer interested in finding out the truth – either he's got bored with it or he doesn't want to rock the boat of the so-called 'justice system',” Antonio del Castillo storms.

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A COSMIC shower said to be the largest to occur in the spring will be clearly visible for the whole of tonight (Sunday) through to the early hours of Monday morning.

Known as the Eta Acuaridas, the 'stardust' is made up of particles of Halley's Comet, which only comes near the Earth every 75 years, the length of time it takes to orbit the sun.

Although Halley's Comet is in the outer depths of our Solar System at present, it will not be seen again in the sky until the year 2061 – but shards of its 'tail' come away and 'rain' over the Earth twice a year, in May and October.

The Eta Acuaridas travels at 70 kilometres per second – 4,200 kilometres per hour – fast enough to cause its particles to ignite and give the appearance of a cosmic firework display.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEW-STYLE five-euro notes came into circulation on Thursday, featuring Greece and Cyprus for the first time.

These were not EU member States when the five-euro note came into being 11 years ago.

The colour of the number '5' has changed to dark blue and is embossed, lined and reflective, to allow people with sight problems to identify them easily.

Other features include water marks, holograms, embossed lines so that they are more difficult to forge, and they are coated with varnish to strengthen them so they do not rip so easily.  

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COMPANIES in southern Europe having to pay far more than those in the north to get finance is 'unacceptable', says Herman van Rompuy, president of the Council of Europe.

He has called for the Central European Bank (BCE) to 'take more committed action' to stop this discrimination and make it easier for small and medium-sized companies (SMCs) to obtain credit in accordance with the Spanish government's request.

“Restrictive credit conditions mean recovery is a huge upheaval which affects smaller firms to a much greater degree,” stated Van Rompuy yesterday (Thursday) at a conference in Estoril (Portugal) which was broadcast internally at the EU offices in Brussels.

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KING Juan Carlos' daughter and son-in-law offset their son's birthday party and presents as 'business expenses' when declaring the tax for their company, Aizoon.

Iñaki Urdangarín and the Infanta Cristina, the Duke and Duchess of Palma, supplied an invoice from a company which organises children's parties to reduce their tax bill for the company the owned, according to the Spanish press.

The date of the invoice, May 1, 2007, means it would tie in with the birthday of their third child, Miguel.

It has come to light that other personal expenses were often offset against the company's tax obligations, since the judge handling the infamous Nóos case called for the couple to present their last 10 tax returns.  

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THE government's new 'reform' plan for the economy includes cutting funds in care for the elderly and disabled by just over 1.1 billion and in healthcare by 700 million.

They say benefits to carers will increase gradually by five per cent over three years as a result of the cuts, and that it needs to adjust the investment made into the scheme to match the 'reality' of dependent persons and those who look after them.  

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INTEREST rates in the Eurozone have fallen to an historic 0.5 per cent, which will save the average mortgage holder nearly 700 euros a year.

Those who hold a variable-rate loan which is due for its annual revision around now will see their monthly payments plummet by an average of 55 euros a month.

Spain's opposition socialist party says this is a 'cause for celebration' as it will relieve some pressure on householders struggling to cope with falling wages and rising unemployment.

But the Central European Bank (BCE) says economic policy in the Eurozone will 'have to change dramatically' because the recession is now 'no longer affecting the minority'.

Although Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland are suffering the most, even France – fairly stable until recently – has seen a rise in jobless figures and Germany is beginning to feel the pinch.  

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HUGO Chávez's successor as Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has told Spain's foreign affairs minister to 'keep his nose out' of the country's business.

José Manuel García-Margallo was due to travel to Caracas, but has been told to 'pay more attention to his own people' instead.

“The Spanish chancellor has said he is ready to come over and sort out Venezuela. Mister Spanish chancellor, don't come over to sort out Venezuela – go out onto the street and take responsibility for the Spanish working class, whom you have deprived of the right to work, the right to a salary and the right to a State pension,” stormed Maduro in a conference at the capital of the Latin American country today.

“Mister Spanish chancellor, keep your nose out of Venezuela, get out of here, you impertinent person. Venezuela deserves respect,” concluded the man who used to be Chávez's right-hand man and is now president.

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AT LEAST 7,000 people packed into the council offices in Almussafes (Valencia) yesterday because they thought the Swedish furniture giant IKEA was offering jobs there.

In fact, the town hall was merely carrying out a training workshop for its unemployed residents to enable them to apply for work at IKEA in the future when it finally opened in neighbouring Alfafar.

But the council's advert was misread by hopeful jobseekers,who thought it was a recruitment day after seeing notices on Facebook urging people to turn up there with a copy of their CV.

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