Live News From Spain As It Happens

OVER 35,000 drivers have been fined for speeding in the space of just one week during a crackdown campaign by traffic police.

One motorist on the AP-7 in the province of Valencia was fined 9,000 euros and lost his licence for 20 months after being caught travelling at 252 kilometres per hour – more than double the 120-kilometre speed limit.

Another was caught on the A-92 through Málaga, where the limit is the same, at 219 kilometres per hour and a third was fined on the A-45 in the Córdoba area travelling at 184 kilometres per hour where the limit was 90.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MADRID mother's petition on change.org calling for schools to supply their own textbooks or for them to be sold more cheaply has netted 233,120 signatures at the time of publication – over half of which have been collected in the last three days.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

COMPUTERS held at the PP ex-treasurer's office in Madrid after he left had their hard drives wiped once he left, Mariano Rajoy's government confirms.

The two laptops were handed over to judge Pablo Ruz at his request to find out whether the data held on them matched the dual account records Luis Bárcenas had stored on a pen-drive.

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SPAIN has suspended all arms trade to Egypt including riot protection gear and tanks, and has revoked licences for deliveries due to be made.

Military equipment makes up 90 per cent of Spain's exports to the war-torn Middle Eastern country, in particular now Egypt's once-buoyant tourist industry is a shadow of its former self.

The European Union agreed on August 21 that its member States would no longer supply arms, given that Egypt appears on the brink of a civil war, but Spain was ahead of the rest already since, when the Muslim Brotherhood was arrested on July 3, the ministry of defence began to discuss whether to cease trade of military equipment with its Egyptian counterpart.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BEACH in Cádiz was closed yesterday (Tuesday) when a shark was detected in the sea after a 50-year-old man was bitten by one off a Basque Country shore.

The Torreguadiaro beach in San Roque on the Costa de la Luz was blocked off for five hours and sun-seekers sent home when a shark of two metres (6'6”) in length was seen very close to the shore.

A woman who had been sunning herself on the beach at the time called the 112 emergency hotline and a team of rescue forces, including the Local Police, Guardia Civil, SEPRONA environmental protection officers and the Civil Protection squad went out in boats to shoo it away.

It is believed to be a Blue Shark, however, which feeds on small fish and is relatively harmless to humans unless cornered or under threat.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

POLICE in the Murcia region have confiscated 14,000 cannabis shrubs in one illegal plantation – the highest-ever found in Spain in one place.

They found the hash 'allotment' in Esparragal, near Puerto Lumbreras, distributed between four huge greenhouses on a piece of land of around 5,000 square metres, which had been set up to look like a vegetable farm.

It had gone unnoticed for a considerable length of time because it was in an isolated rural area surrounded by numerous farms with greenhouses, but a burglary at a neighbouring plantation leading to the arrest of four known and regular criminals led to police uncovering the massive drug-dealing and production racket.  

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SPAIN is an ornithologist's paradise – it's official, according to the charity SEO/Birdlife.

The country has the greatest variety of avian species in Europe, with a total recorded to date of 569, many of which are rare or unseen in the rest of the continent.

Some 30 per cent of Spain is classified as official nature reserve or national park land, including many regional or provincial versions of national parks known as parajes protegidos or parques naturales.

SEO/Birdlife says Spain is also the northernmost limit for natural habitats of birds from the southern hemisphere and parts of Africa and Asia north of the equator, and is the southernmost limit for birds from the Arctic circle and northern Europe, meaning a wide range of everything from tropical to polar species congregate in the country.

The Strait of Gibraltar and the wetlands throughout the east and south of Spain are also directly in the way of migratory routes for birds heading south in winter, and frequently serve as pit-stops for them as a source of food – mainly small fish and insects – and shelter.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEARLY 1.7 billion euros in pesetas are still stashed in houses throughout the country, according to the Bank of Spain.

Some 874 million euros' worth of the old currency, which was phased out in early 2002, are in notes and 807 million in coins.

Last year alone, the Bank of Spain changed 16 million euros – 2,662 million pesetas – and in July this year, two million euros were handed out in exchange for 333 million of the former currency.

Around 45 per cent of pesetas as yet unchanged will never be handed in, since they are being kept by collectors, small notes or coins held by Spaniards as 'souvenirs', or are deteriorated or out of the country – many are believed to be in purses and wallets of one-time tourists to Spain who kept them as a collector's item due to their minimal value if exchanged, and some hang onto their coins and notes believing that one day they may be worth a lot more money than their face value.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A WOMAN aged 28 who did not have a driving licence has been caught and arrested over a hit-and-run incident leading to the death of a British pedestrian in Torrevieja (Alicante) in February.

The accused, a Spanish national, is said to have been driving a car she owned when knocked down a 74-year-old expatriate crossing the C/ Rodrigo on the urbanisation La Siesta, exactly six months ago today.  

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EUROPEAN Commissioners have refused to investigate Gibraltar for 'money-laundering' or 'tax avoidance' as requested by Spain's PP government and insists it will merely concentrate on border queues and inspections, and smuggling of contraband goods and people.

Spokeswoman for the EC, Pia Åhrenkilde, said in a press conference today (Tuesday): “The brief for this fact-finding mission was to investigate purely those issues which the EC president, José Manuel Durão Barroso had occasion to discuss with Rajoy and Cameron – that is quite clear.”

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TWO infants at Córdoba's Reina Sofía hospital (pictured) have been found to be infected with the klebseilla pneumoniae virus, one of whom has died.

Staff at the centre say they now have the outbreak of the bug, which is immune to antibiotics, under control and newborns thought to be carriers are being isolated.

In total, the virus has been found in nine children since it claimed its first victim a week ago – a newborn baby girl – and a baby boy is said to have become infected since.

Medics say the infant is responding well to treatment. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 23-YEAR-OLD man has died after falling from a balcony whilst trying to find a Wi-Fi signal on his mobile phone.

The victim, who has not been named, is said to have slipped and bumped into the railings and then fallen six metres from the second floor of a block in Beniaján (Murcia) on the C/ María Matas.

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STRICT border controls by Spanish authorities on cars entering and leaving the Rock have been staged to prevent smuggling because 'the relationship of trust between Spain and Gibraltar has broken down', claims the former's foreign affairs minister.

“This has forced us to impose stricter control measures at the border to fight against illegal trafficking,” the minister declared.

José Manuel García-Margallo said in a press conference in Brussels today that if the relationship were able to be re-established, the controls may be reduced.

“As soon as this trust is recovered, it is most probable that we will be able to reduce our efforts at the border – which are very expensive for the Spanish government – provided we have the cooperation of the government of Gibraltar,” Margallo added.

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A MEMBER of Parliament for Madrid on the reigning PP party who was injured in the Santiago train crash has called for the ministry of public works to be held liable.

Teresa Gómez Limón was travelling on the ill-fated train from the capital destined for the northernmost Galicia port city of Ferrol on July 24 when it derailed at high speed, killing 79 people and injuring over 170.

The MP, who was returning to Ferrol to spend some time on holiday with her family after having been to an assembly meeting in Madrid, said minister Ana Pastor 'should have made sure the trains and lines were completely safe'.

And she does not believe the driver was at fault, saying the issue was the inferior braking system on the track.

“José Blanco [former socialist minister of public works until November 2011], when he cut the red tape on the new high-speed line linking Galicia with Madrid, did so without the correct safety measures in place, which to me, is fraud.

“But when Ana Pastor took over, she should have taken it upon herself to really investigate rail safety, particularly on high-speed lines where the risk is much greater,” Gómez Limón stated in a recent interview.

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A THREE-YEAR-OLD child lost his life in a hot car in Riópar (Albacete) on Tuesday afternoon, emergency services confirm.

The infant had managed to get into the family car while his parents were in the house they were staying at on their holidays, without their noticing.

He had been unable to get out because he had somehow managed to lock the doors.

By the time his parents found him, at around 17.30hrs, he was unconscious and showing signs of heat-stroke.

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A WEEK of 'suffocating heat' has been forecast for the whole of Spain with temperatures in the shade reaching 41ºC.

The hottest parts of the country will be southern inland provinces including Sevilla, Jaén, Córdoba and the region of Extremadura, and the south and east coasts will see the mercury rocket to 36ºC in the shade.

Night-time minimum temperatures will be over 23ºC in most parts of the country, but will not reach 30ºC.

Cádiz, Granada and Huelva, also in Andalucía, will see temperatures of over 40ºC inland and 36ºC on the coast, and most of the Comunidad de Madrid – the greater capital region – is on 'orange alert' as the midday sun may cause thermometers to shoot up to 39ºC at least.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 40-YEAR-OLD man who fell from a 'human tower' at a fiesta in Barcelona is conscious and out of danger, but may have suffered brain damage, medics advise.

Known in Catalunya as acasteller and in Valencia as a muixeranga, human towers are a popular feature of local festivals and are usually formed by trained gymnasts, dancers or climbers.

In the case of the tower made by the Vila de Gràcia fiesta association in Barcelona, this involved eight levels with five people per level, supported by extras on the ground.

Safety elements are normally taken very seriously, with under-18s obliged to wear helmets, soft surfacing placed on the ground before the display, and netting used during rehearsals.

Falls and other accidents are very rare, says the regional castellercoordinator, the CCCC.

A tower collapsed during a display on Sunday in Barcelona and an as yet unnamed man hit the ground and passed out.

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EUROPEAN Commission president José Manuel Durão Barroso has warned Spain that it would be 'illegal' to charge a fee to cross the Gibraltar border into Spain.

Barroso, in a telephone conversation to Spanish president Mariano Rajoy, called for the country to 'respect EU laws' in its tensions with the UK over boundary issues with the Rock and said that although Brussels did not intend to pass comment 'officially' over the 50-euro border charge threatened by the foreign affairs minister – since it had not yet been applied – if Spain were to go ahead on this basis, it would be breaking the law.

The EC president spoke to Rajoy by telephone at around midday today (Monday) to find out Spain's position over the dispute, having had a similar conversation with British prime minister David Cameron on Friday.

“The Commission hopes that the UK and Spain will discuss the matter in the way we would expect two European Union member states to do. It is up to them to find a solution and overcome their obstacles,” stated EC spokesman Olivier Bailly.

Bailly adds that the telephone conversations with both Rajoy and Cameron were 'similar in nature' and that they have asked both heads of State to 'respect the applicable EU laws' and that 'any toll or tax to cross borders between two EU member States would be illegal'.

“There are elements of European law that certain countries need reminding of,” Bailly said rather pointedly in a press conference.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OSPREYS could be breeding once again in the Basque Country after having been extinct there for many years, thanks to a joint project between Spain and the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) authorities.

Experts took 12 young birds from their nests in Scotland and released them in suitable conditions in the Basque Country after obtaining the requisite permission from the SNH.

The birds, which were taken from the Highlands and Moray region, were set free on the edge of the Urdaibai estuary near the town of Mundaka in the Vizcaya province (Bay of Biscay), a pit-stop on the way to West Africa during the migrating season, and food and nest platforms have been provided. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPANISH fishermen staged a protest at the Gibraltar border today over the artificial concrete reef that they claim is damaging their work area.

According to fishermen from the province of Cádiz, they have lost over 1.5 million euros in profits since Gibraltarian authorities began to 'hinder' their work.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S Rafa Nadal has beaten the USA's John Isner on home turf to scoop up his first-ever Cincinnati title – one of the few left for him to win – and the 59^th victory of his career.

Apologising to his rival for flattening him 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-3), Mallorca-born Rafa will be bumped back up to world number two today (Monday) as a result of his win.

On a roll after beating Canada's Milos Raonic – again on home ground – to win the Montréal Rogers' Cup just a week ago, the 27-year-old saved two set points during a tight first set, levelling the match at 6-6 and went on to an 8-8 draw in the tie-break, which he won after his rival slammed the ball into the net.

Handing Rafa a set point on a plate, and his return falling short of the net, Isner lost the first set to the 'man from Manacor', but made him sweat for the privilege – and did not give him a much easier ride in set two.

Rafa's calculated forehands across the court kept Isner on his toes and two particularly energetic ones left him, by game 10, just two match points short of snatching up the title.

The American's two very precise backhands brought the match level at 5-5, a temporary setback for Rafa, but the Spaniard came through a second tie-break to snap up the 26^th Masters victory of his career.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITISH prime minister David Cameron has called for the European Commission to send inspectors to Gibraltar to study what he calls 'excessive' border checks by Spanish authorities, leading to queues of between three and seven hours for commuters and tourists.

He is said to have telephoned EC president José Manuel Durão Barroso to give his opinions on the tense situation between the UK and Spain over the Rock, and is also gathering evidence that the border inspections are 'illegal' and merely a retaliation to Gibraltar's having dropped concrete blocks in the sea to make an artificial reef.

Spanish authorities say the blocks will destroy fishing nets and also a major source for fishermen from Spain, whilst the UK says Spanish patrol boats have staged incursions in Gibraltarian waters and opened fire on a jet-skier.

Barroso is said to have confirmed to Cameron (pictured below right) that he will have 'no hesitation' in applying EU laws in relation to the border inspections.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ICONIC painting 'restored' by an elderly churchgoer which went badly wrong has turned out to be a lucky – and lucrative – mistake, says the tourist board in Borja (Zaragoza province).

What could have been the pensioner's worst nightmare with the threat of legal action for 'destroying heritage property' looming has made her the most famous octogenarian in the country and netted over 50,000 euros for charity.

She has also put her sleepy and hitherto unknown home town on the world map, and international tourism is booming in the area.

Over 40,000 'pilgrims' from several countries have been to see the fresco at the Santuario de la Merced church, paying an entry fee and also leaving donations towards repairing the building.

And the domino effect has not stopped there: the unintentional celebrity has signed a contract with the council and has launched her own exhibition of 28 of her works in the town, which look set to bring in thousands more visitors from around the globe.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE first-ever case of a 'stolen baby' in Spain has reached the European Court of Human n Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg amid claims by the family that a 'cover-up' operation has been deliberately staged to prevent them from finding out the truth.

Solicitor for the national pressure group SOS Niños Robados ('SOS Stolen Children') Enrique Vila has presented the case to Europe after the highest court in Spain, the Tribunal Constitucional, threw it out on a 'technicality' – namely,that the legal time limit for taking action had passed.

The case relates to a baby girl born in Málaga Civil Hospital on October 12, 1964, and whose family were told she had been stillborn.

Her sister says none of the family ever saw the body of the baby and no documentation has ever been found relating to her death or the circumstances involved.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A EUROLINES coach crash in France which killed an Alicante woman was caused by a paranoid schizophrenic grabbing the wheel from the driver, investigations reveal.

The 29-year-old Ukrainian may not be considered criminally responsible, since the paranoid deliriums he suffers means he would not have known the nature and quality of his actions.

According to the prosecutor in Narbonne, David Charmatz, the accused admitted he had needed to go to the toilet and tried to get the driver to stop, but grabbed the wheel when he refused to do so.

As a result, the driver lost control and the coach veered off the A-9 motorway near Fitou, in the department of Aude, at around 01.30hrs on Monday.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AT LEAST seven million cars are expected to be on the roads between today (Thursday) and Sunday night as a result of the national holiday, say sources from the general directorate of traffic.

Police have upped vigilance on motorways and other major highways, given that millions of residents will be taking short breaks which involve travelling.

Today (Thursday, August 15) is a public holiday throughout Spain, but many workers will have either been given Friday off or will have booked it as a day's annual leave to give them a four-day weekend.

For this reason, traffic volume began to increase from around 15.00hrs yesterday (Wednesday) and is likely to continue until the end of the weekend.

Extra breathalysing for alcohol and drugs will be carried out on random drivers, particularly in areas where the greatest density of traffic is predicted – from big cities, particularly Madrid and central Spain in general, towards the coasts of Murcia, Valencia, Catalunya and Andalucía.

Some 22 per cent of journeys will take place on, or towards, the east coast, and then in reverse on Sunday evening, plus around 21 per cent in the middle of the country and 20 per cent in the south.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S richest woman Rosalía Mera, ex-wife of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega is in a critical condition in hospital following a brain haemorrhage.

Sra Mera, 69, is in intensive care at the Mateu Orfila hospital in Menorca, and her condition is 'irreversible', according to medics.

President of the Paideia Foundation, Rosalía – cited by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest woman in Spain and a businesswoman in her own right as well as co-founder of Inditex – is said to have suffered 'serious neurological damage' due to 'massive sub-arachnoid bleeding'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A UK Member of Parliament has urged Britons to 'boycott' Spain when it comes to booking their holidays in response to mounting tensions between the two countries over ownership of Gibraltar and its waters.

Gibraltar and South-West England Euro MP Julie Girling posted a message on Twitter saying: “There has been enough talking, now there must be action.

“I urge constituents across the UK to consider taking their summer holidays elsewhere this year.

“Spain is not on our side,” she states.

Speaking out about 'outlandish threats' by Spain against the Rock and its citizens, and 'menacing proposals', the MEP calls for UK citizens to either take a 'staycation' this summer – holidaying in another part of Britain – or choose another foreign destination altogether.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SECRETARY-GENERAL of the reigning PP party María Dolores del Cospedal and her two predecessors, Javier Arenas and Francisco Álvarez Cascos (pictured L-R) are due in the dock this week over the Bárcenas slush-fund case.

Cospedal's turn is Wednesday and Arenas and Cascos appeared today, but the outcome of their hearing has not been released yet.

Cascos entered the court building on foot at 11.00hrs this morning, dressed in a grey suit and greeted with multiple cries of 'tea-leaf', 'robber', and accusations of 'bare-faced cheek' and 'corruption'.

He was secretary-general of the PP between 1989 and 1999 and is said to have received 412,000 euros in cash-in-hand wage top-ups, and to have continued receiving during his spell as minister of public works as part of José María Aznar's government, which is against the Law of Compatibility, legislation set up to ensure politicians with multiple titles do not earn a salary for every single one.

Between 1994 and 1996, he is said to have received 47 million pesetas, or 282,000 euros.

Arenas arrived at 12.20hrs this morning and got a similar welcome from the crowds around the entrance to the court building, many of whom wore masks with president Mariano Rajoy's face on them.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GIBRALTARIAN government leader Fabián Picardo has responded to Spain's decision to appeal for United Nations help in their wrangling over the British-owned enclave, saying, 'go for it'.

“Spain's foreign affairs minister seems to be considering referring the issues in the dispute between Gibraltar and Britain, and Spain, to the international courts,” Picardo commented yesterday. (Monday).

“[He] appears to have realised at last that this is the sensible and civilised way to resolve conflicts, as opposed to his illegitimate and over-the-top border inspections.”

Picardo says Spanish authorities' behaviour is merely 'taking it out on innocent people' and turning them into 'victims of unjustifiable political pressure'.

He 'urges' Spain to 'go ahead', adding that all legislation relating to the territorial tensions would be considered carefully by judges handling the case – including the 'application of the inalienable right' of the people of Gibraltar to 'self-determination'.

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SPAIN'S Rafa Nadal took just one hour and eight minutes to beat world number 13, Canada's Milos Raonic on home turf yesterday (Sunday) in two sets, walking away comfortably with his fourth Masters 1000 of the season.

Back on form and playing better than ever after his unexpectedly early exit from Wimbledon in July, Mallorca-born Rafa took out the world's top player, Serbia's Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals at Montréal before clinching his eighth title of 2013 against Raonic, the first-ever Canadian to reach the finals of the Québéc tournament since veteran Robert Bedard in 1958.

Losing just one point on serve in the first set, the former world champion left Raonic struggling to hold his own despite his usual awe-inspiring delivery, and then stormed through to win 6-2 after two breaks.

Taking advantage of Raonic's double fault at break point, the 'man from Manacor' enjoyed an easy win in set one and went on to repeat the performance in the second.

After gaining a second break in the seventh game of set two, fourth-seeded Rafa served out and clinched a 6-2 victory again which saw him sweeping up his third Canadian title after those of 2005 and 2008.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S foreign affairs minister is hoping to team up with his Argentine counterpart and launch a double territory dispute against the UK with the help of the United Nations to win back both Gibraltar – which has been British for over 300 years – and the Falkland Islands, known to Argentina as Las Malvinas.

José Manuel García-Margallo is due to fly out to the South American country next month to discuss the legal wrangling between the two nations over the expropriation of Repsol shares in the petroleum plant, YPF, and he claims that he and Argentine foreign minister Héctor Timerman 'will analyse the possibility' of the two countries approaching the UN jointly over the Rock and the Falklands.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

COLOMBIAN president Juan Manuel Santos says his country's citizens have 'been given a wonderful birthday present' – Spain wants to scrap visa requirements for visitors and residents.

One of Spain's most prolific foreign groups, many Colombian nationals have been living in the country for between eight and 15 years, and their family members and friends have to apply for visas whenever they want to visit them, just as Colombians living in Spain have to constantly renew theirs to be able to carry on living there, even when they have jobs and mortgages.

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy wants to eliminate this hassle and bureaucracy for them, and plans to speak to the European Union.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN is one of the USA's top spying targets, along with France, Italy, Japan and Germany, says national daily newspaper from the latter country, Der Spiegel.

It cites documents belonging to former CIA analyst and exiled whistleblower, Edward Snowden, which claim the National Security Agency (NSA) defined 'intelligence priorities' in terms of the numbers 1 to 5, with 1 being 'maximum interest' and 5, 'little interest'.

Germany is around the middle-upper range, along with France and Japan, and only slightly ahead of Spain and France.

In terms of the USA's focus of interest, it has Germany on a level 3 for foreign policies, economic stability, and analysis of financial risks; level 4 for arms exportation and international trade, and level 5 for cyber-attacks.

The European Union as a whole is on level 3 for international trade, foreign policies and economic stability.

According to the article in the German broadsheet, the USA has been spying on EU and United Nations outposts in Washington and New York. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A TOTAL of 54 MPs have waived their pension entitlement or chosen to stop receiving it.

According to Member of Parliament for the leading PP party, Rafael Merino, any president, vice-president, minister or Secretary of State has the right to a government pension when they retire.

But he says that 35 former Secretaries of State, 15 ex-ministers, one ex-president and three retired vice-presidents have declined to take theirs.

Only three are now claiming a pension.

This is said to be due to the fact that austerity measures brought in a year ago meant that a government pension was no longer compatible with any other income of any description, meaning those in receipt of it would have to give up any other form of earnings.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

POLICE have warned that the so-called 'tyre-puncturing' highway robbers are back and actively targeting hired cars and those with foreign registration plates.

The thieves' modus operandi involves puncturing a wheel either when the car is stationary at an airport or petrol station, or by firing a shot at it when it is in motion then, when the driver and passengers get out to check, offer to help them while an accomplice sneaks into the vehicle and relieves the occupants of their contents.

Other variations include stopping drivers for directions, or flashing cars to warn them of a mechanical problem such as a falling exhaust pipe or lights not working.

Distraction techniques mean that lightning-quick thieves can get in the car while the driver is otherwise occupied – even just for a matter of seconds.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A WILD animal thought to have been extinct for over 100 years has been found alive and well in the western province of Zamora.

Experts say a colony of the brown bear (otherwise known as the 'grizzly bear')has been found in the La Carballeda valley and the village of Sanabria, according to witnesses and, although these statements are not scientifically conclusive, the information given has been enough to show that the animals are likely to still be breeding and living in the wild.

One of the witnesses was a bee-keeper whose hives in Vega del Castillo were attacked by brown bears at the end of May, and who has allowed the authorities to set up CCTV cameras in the area to capture the mammals on film.  

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S rail board RENFE says there were no mechanical problems with the train which crashed just outside Santiago de Compostela, but admitted the signalling could have been better.

And ADIF, the rail franchise firm, which initially said 'the driver has to do something, if not there's not point in having one' has recently admitted that if the track had been fitted with ETCS automatic braking, the accident would not have happened.

Analysis of the train showed that the brake pedal known as the 'dead man', which comes on when there is no response from the driver and is designed to prevent accidents where he or she loses consciousness or dies at the wheel was flat to the floor.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

UNIONS across Spain have categorically rejected calls from the FMI and the EU to cut salaries in Spain by 10 per cent in a bid to 'stimulate employment', saying the only result would be to stifle consumer spending even further.

PR manager for the Labourers' Commission (CCOO) says policies since the start of the financial crisis have been aimed at 'national devaluation' including a worsening of working conditions and pay which have proven 'ineffective' in helping the country to recover.

“Not only that, but they have actually ended up prolonging it,” states Fernando Lezcano, “and cutting salaries further would create even more problems for people on a wage they can barely survive on.

“This idea is totally unacceptable, both because it is not going to get Spain out of recession and because of the additional suffering it would cause people.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TENSIONS are mounting between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar as three Spanish fishermen have been caught smuggling contraband cigarettes and British prime minister David Cameron has telephoned Mariano Rajoy to discuss the situation.

The Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) found several cartons of fake cigarettes on board the San Francisco, a fishing boat from La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) in the Catalán Bay area of the Rock at about 04.00hrs this morning (Wednesday).

Three men, all from La Línea and aged 46, 49 and 51 were taken into custody along with three Gibraltarians – two aged 38 and one aged 42 – who were waiting on the beach at Catalán Bay for the illicit packages.

In the meantime Spanish president Mariano Rajoy has told Conservative leader David Cameron that Gibraltar's 'unilateral actions' are 'unacceptable'.

During the 10-minute conversation between the two heads of State, in which Rajoy recalled that the UK and Spain were 'friends, allies and fellow EU members', Cameron was told that the action of dropping concrete blocks into the sea around the rock near the port town of Algeciras (Cádiz) to form an artificial reef was not acceptable to the Spanish authorities.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE sixth forest fire in the province of Guadalajara in less than a week broke out today (Tuesday), this time in the village of Valdeconcha.

It has led to the main CM-2007 road, which leads from Valdeconcha to Albóndiga, being blocked off to traffic, and 13 hydroplanes and helicopters have been drafted in, along with the military and 30 fire engines.

At present, there are no plans to evacuate the village of Valdeconcha, which has around 500 inhabitants and is located in the south of the central-Spain province, since the flames are blowing in the opposite way, in the direction of Fuentelecina.

Most of the affected area is low-lying scrubland, which means that with the current dry conditions and intense heat, the blaze is spreading fast.

This is the sixth major inferno in as many days, with the most serious so far being the one registered in Tortuero which forced firefighters to evacuate hundreds of residents.

Guadalajara, a flat, clay-soil province with a low population density, is located in the region of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain's central plains.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN charges the fourth-highest tariffs per minute for calls made from mobile phones in the European Union, at an average of 13.3 cents per minute, research claims.

According to the European Commission (EC), prices between the 28 member States vary by as much as 774 per cent – from 14.7 cents per minute in The Netherlands to 1.9 cents per minute in Lithuania.

And vice-president of the Commission Neelie Kroes says there is no relation whatsoever between price, quality of service or level of buying power in customers.

After The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium are the most expensive countries in the EU to make a telephone call, at an average of 14.6 and 13.8 cents respectively, with Spain fourth.

Based upon mobile-to-mobile calls, prices per minute range from 12.7 cents in France and 9.7 cents in the UK to 8.8 cents in Germany and 6.9 cents in Italy.

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A PAEDOPHILE reprieved and released from a Moroccan prison in error used to live in Torrevieja (Alicante) and is wanted for abusing a little girl in the town some years ago, police say.

Daniel Galván Viña, 64, a retired Spaniard who owns three properties in Kenitra, northern Morocco and a fourth in Torrevieja, was arrested in room 101 at the one-star Hotel Legazpi in Murcia (pictured below right with its manager, Juan Sánchez) after the nature of his crimes were revealed and King Mohammed VI revoked his pardon, largely due to public pressure and protests in major Moroccan cities.

Police had to wait for an international arrest warrant before detaining him, and waited in hiding outside the hotel.

“I don't believe he could have known about the furore surrounding him, because he wouldn't have let himself be so exposed,” says Sánchez (pictured), the hotel manager.

Sr Sánchez explains that all guests checking in at the guest house – Murcia's oldest, having been open for 30 years – have to give their personal details and these are sent straight to the police to check they are not criminals.

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IF THE International Monetary Fund (FMI)'s predictions about Spain's economy turn out to be true, it 'may not be able to guarantee' healthcare for all its residents, according to a hard-hitting report by the BBVA Foundation and Murcia University.

This will become more serious in the heavily-populated and constantly growing regions

The average expenditure on healthcare across the country would need to increase by 4.4 per cent a year between now and 2016 to be certain that every resident in Spain has access to medical treatment.

And the economy would need to show growth of 1.4 per cent a year over the next three to four years.

This is way below the level of growth predicted by the FMI.

Whilst health centres only represent 15 per cent of expenditure increase, the rest largely relates to hospitals and specialist areas, and staff costs account for 50 per cent of the total – despite many district hospitals in coastal areas and big cities being severely understaffed. 

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A FATHER who murdered his two children by drugging them and incinerating them alive has bragged about how he is 'going to get rich on TV' after being approached by mainstream channels to perform live interviews.

José Bretón, serving 40 years for killing six-year-old Ruth and José, two, to get revenge on his wife Ruth Ortiz after she announced she wanted a divorce, is allegedly receiving offers on a daily basis for giving an interview to an unnamed analogue channel.

But Mediaset, the broadcasting control body, has put a stop to it as a result of public outrage when the news leaked.

The channel was making lucrative offers, sources claim.

Bretón was reported as saying: “I'm going to have to tell my dad to stop sending me 60 euros a week, because the TV people are going to make me rich.”

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BRITAIN has called for information from Spain about prohibitive measures it intends to put in place for Gibraltarians in what appears to be a 'tit-for-tat' situation following UK complaints about border queues.

Foreign affairs minister for Spain, José Manuel García-Margallo, has announced plans to charge a 50-euro entrance or exit fee to or from the Rock, closure of the airspace in the Cádiz province district of Campo de Gibraltar, and to set the taxman on the '6,000 or so Gibraltarians who own property in Sotogrande'.

Margallo insists that the border checks on cars travelling between Gibraltar and Spain, regularly leading to queues of between three and seven hours in intense heat, are 'in proportion' and that the Spanish authorities have the right to continue carrying them out.

But people who live in the province of Cádiz and work in Gibraltar fear that their jobs could be at risk with three to seven hours added twice-daily to their commute and regularly being late for work because of what the UK calls 'unjustifiable, unacceptable and disproportionate' border inspections.

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KING Mohammed VI of Morocco (pictured) has revoked the formal reprieve of a Spanish paedophile who was among the 48 prisoners from the country pardoned at the request of Spain's Royal family.

Daniel Fino Galván, a retired Spaniard who owns three apartments in Kenitra, north of the capital, Rabat, was jailed for 30 years in 2011 for the rape of at least 11 children aged between four and 15.

His reprieve and release from custody sparked violent protests in Rabat, as well as in Kenitra, Tetouan and Tangier, and national outrage last week.

Demonstrations were also held outside the Moroccan embassy in Paris, a city with a very high population of north Africans.

Following King Juan Carlos of Spain's recent visit to the north African country – his first Royal engagement abroad since his latest operation, this time on his spine – the Moroccan monarch, a close personal friend of HRH Juan Carlos, agreed to release 48 Spaniards.

Reprieves to prisoners are standard practice on the day of the national festival to celebrate the anniversary of the King's coronation.

Most of these had been jailed for offences related to cannabis-smuggling, and included a 67-year-old man who has always claimed the drugs were planted in his delivery lorry without his knowledge.

But King Mohammed VI says he had not been made aware of the nature of the crimes of the released prisoners in many cases, and in particular that of Sr Fino Galván.

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SPANISH president Mariano Rajoy has been compared to former US leader Richard Nixon (pictured) in a video launched by the opposition socialist party, the PSOE.

They have likened Rajoy, who spoke out in Parliament for the first time on Thursday over the Bárcenas slush-fund scandal allegedly involving him and other top-flight PP members, to Nixon in the Watergate case.

It was this case which forced the former American president to 'admit the truth, accept political responsibility and resign from his post in light of the seriousness of the situation', said the PSOE, who add that 'history is repeating itself'.

The socialists recalled that during Rajoy's speech in Congress this week, he said he did not benefit from being in politics – since he has another profession he could return to – and that he had no reason to hamper investigations or the course of justice, always proclaiming his honesty and innocence and flatly refusing to stand down as head of State.

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BRITAIN'S Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has called an 'urgent' meeting with the Spanish ambassador to find out why 'unjustifiable and unacceptable' border queues mounted up between Spain and Gibraltar last week.

Drivers were subjected to 'disproportionate' and 'unnecessary' checks, causing seven-hour delays getting to and from Gibraltar between July 26 and 30.

Hugo Swire will meet with ambassador Federico Trillo to request that such delays 'do not happen again'.

“Long delays of up to seven hours at the border between Gibraltar and Spain occurred as a result of completely over-the-top inspections on vehicles entering and leaving the Rock by Spanish authorities. The British government considers these delays unjustified, unacceptable and should not be happening between two European Union member States,” Swire stated.

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YET another foreign tourist has been killed in a 'balconing' accident – the second in the last week following a German youngster's death on the Costa Brava.

This time, the unnamed victim – who is said to be a young male, but whose age and nationality have not yet been revealed – jumped from the ninth floor of the Atlantic Park aparthotel in Magalluf (Mallorca) in an attempt to land in the swimming pool.

He was not a guest at the hotel and did not have any ID with him, meaning authorities have not been able to formally identify him.

Paramedics spent over an hour trying to revive the man, who was unconscious, but to no avail and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

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FIREFIGHTERS in two countries are working round the clock to bring a massive 'international' inferno under control.

The blaze started at around 16.20hrs on Thursday in Cicouro, north-eastern Portugal, in the Miranda do Douro/Mirando del Duero district, which sits across the Portuguese-Spanish border.

By around 18.30hrs, the flames had spread 'abroad' into the western Spanish province of Zamora, to the small town of Fonfría – 15 kilometres from Cicouro.

Two Portuguese firefighters are in a critical condition in hospital and four others have suffered injuries, and the car belonging to the first two was completely burnt out.  

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SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy (pictured) was effectively 'on trial' by an entire nation today, the first time since the Bárcenas scandal hit the headlines that he had agreed to give his version in person and in public.

Cross-examined by opposition parties both within the central government and from regional Parliaments in Spain's 17 autonomous regions, Rajoy kept insisting he was innocent and that his only mistake had been 'trusting the wrong man'.

“I'm not going to plead guilty, because I'm not guilty,” the PP leader stated.

“I have no evidence to show that my party was illegally financed, although you [addressing PSOE leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba] and your party have been, and the courts have proven it.

“I've done nothing contrary to ethical conduct, I did not get into politics to get rich from it because I already had a profession beforehand.

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SPANISH president Mariano Rajoy (pictured) is under attack from members of the opposition, each of whom have been given set time slots to respond to his initial hour-long speech.

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE), Josep Antoni Durán i Lleida (CiU), and Cayo Lara (IU) have had their turn, and the next up was Rosa Díez, from UpyD, who called Rajoy 'a disgrace to the institution'.

Díez (pictured below right) launched a battery of 20 questions aimed to put the president on the spot, asking:

“Can you confirm beyond reasonable doubt that there was no off-the-books accounting? Can you confirm beyond reasonable doubt that none of you received money in undeclared cash? Can you confirm beyond reasonable doubt that you respected the accounting laws of this country? Why did you take Bárcenas on as treasurer? Why did the PP continue to pay legal representation for Bárcenas when he was supposedly no longer on the party? Do you think it's right that a party forges contracts, as has been proven in the case of Sra De Cospedal? Did you meet with Bárcenas to discuss the matter when the illegal financing accusations came to light? Did you know that company representatives were going in person to the PP headquarters on C/ Génova [in Madrid] to give bribes in cash? Did you know the PP headquarters visitors' book had been destroyed? Can you confirm, beyond all reasonable doubt, that you neither gave your approval to, nor knew about, the handwritten accounts of 2008? Can you confirm beyond all reasonable doubt that the electoral campaigns were not financed with undeclared cash? Is it true that Bárcenas rang you to ask your wife not to make a grand celebrity entrance into the National Court? Did you tell the judge in charge of the case that Bárcenas was lying and blackmailing you? Did you know about the meeting between Bárcenas and the anti-fraud squad where he was recommended to make use of the fiscal amnesty? Is it true that Bárcenas was given an office in the PP headquarters? And finally, question 20, why did you lie on January 25, 2013, in an interview, that you could not remember when you last spoke to Bárcenas, if you had sent him a text message seven days previously?...

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SPANISH president Mariano Rajoy (pictured) is effectively 'in the dock' today and 'on trial' by an entire country, including members of the opposition.

For the first time since the Bárcenas slush-fund scandal hit the headlines, Sr Rajoy (PP) has agreed to go public and tell his version.

And the world's press is hanging on his every word.

A straw-poll says only 14 per cent of Spain believes Rajoy and other top-flight PP members are innocent of receiving cash-in-hand bonuses of twice the average Spanish salary on top of their wages, received millions in bribes from construction and maintenance firms, and tried to buy Bárcenas off to convince him to stay silent.

Reporters around the globe are following his speech minute by minute, which was due to start at 09.00hrs.

Kicking off at 09.06hrs with a minute's silence for the victims of the Santiago rail tragedy – which Rajoy showed genuine empathy for, given that this is his native city – the president went on to defend his economic policies.  

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YET another tourist has died as a result of the highly-dangerous practice of 'balconing', or jumping from hotel balconies into the swimming pool below.

The young German national, whose name and age have not been revealed until the embassy can contact his family, was holidaying on the Costa Brava, in Lloret de Mar (Girona province).

He jumped from a fifth-floor aparthotel balcony at around 01.00hrs on Tuesday morning in a daredevil attempt to land in the pool.

The Mossos d'Esquadra – Catalunya region's answer to the Guardia Civil – have carried out an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the youth's death, including whether or not he had consumed drugs or alcohol and whether there were any witnesses.

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