Live News From Spain As It Happens

ANOTHER human avalanche at the Spanish border on the northern Moroccan coast has led to even greater overcrowding at the immigration centres and sparked further debate on how far border police should be allowed to go in deterring illegal migrants.

The 200 sub-Saharan Africans who climbed the fence into the Spanish-owned city-province of Melilla en masse allegely threw sticks, stones and bottles at border guards, who have been ordered not to use rubber bullets in light of the recent tragedy at the other outpost of Spain on the same coast, Ceuta, in which 16 Africans lost their lives.

Whilst the Guardia Civil – backed by the ministry of the interior – claims it only fired shots into the air to scare the would-be migrants, video footage shows them aiming rubber pellets at the 'intruders' and shouting insults.

The European Commission has called for an inquiry, whilst the police unions say 'depriving' officers of their rubber bullets is like 'depriving a surgeon of his scalpel'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ICONIC flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía has died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 66 on a beach in Playa del Carmen, eastern México whilst playing football with his grandsons.

Paco, who owns a house in nearby Tulúm where he now lives for most of the year, is said to have complained of serious chest pains and feeling unwell.

He took himself to a private hospital on foot, but died shortly after arrival.

Born with the unremarkable name of Francisco Sánchez Gómez in Algeciras (Cádiz province) in December 1947 and having been playing music since the age of seven, by the end of his tragically-short life, Paco de Lucía was anything but the boy next door – he had conquered two generations of jazz, pop and mostly flamenco fans who are publicly mourning his death in their hundreds of thousands.

Twitter tributes have included his close friend, pop singer Alejandro Sanz, and singers Mónica Naranjo and Pastora Soler, the latter of whom came 10^th in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest for Spain.

Son of poor street-vendor and busker Antonio Sánchez Pecino and Portuguese housewife Luzía Gonçalves Gomes, he recorded his first album in 1962 and is regarded as one of the great masters of flamenco music in Spain. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

INITIAL reports by the court governing body on a new law proposing fines of up to 600,000 euros for public demonstrations without a permit and for photographing police in the course of their duty has slammed the contents and said the text is 'dubious' in terms of whether or not it goes against the Spanish Constitution.

A draft paper – pending input from other speakers of the General Judicial Power Council (GCPJ) – drawn up by pro-progress Victoria Cinto and conservative Wenceslao Olea says the fines stated in the proposed Law of Public Safety are 'disproportionate' to the offences, and that some of these cannot even be considered offences as such.

It contains criteria which is 'excessively wide and fluid' for justifying police involvement in a situation, and both Cinto and Olea believe that the idea of 'mere suspicion' being enough to warrant police pressing charges against a member of the public is 'unacceptable'.

They consider that the regulations relating to police ordering to see people's ID or placing them in custody for 'criminal or civil offences' goes against the Constitution and that no clear definition is given between 'criminal' and 'civil', possibly giving rise to a person being tried twice for the same incident, which goes against standard judicial procedures.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

JOB contracts for new staff at all firms will carry a flat rate of 100 euros a month in Social Security payments made by the employer on behalf of the employee, announced president Mariano Rajoy yesterday (Tuesday) during the first half of the Parliamentary congress dubbed 'the great debate of the nation'.

This type of contract will only be available for companies taking on extra staff and expanding their payroll, not replacing those who have left, in order to prevent unscrupulous bosses from finding reasons to fire existing employees so that they can substitute them with new ones and pay lower Social Security.

The 100-euro-a-month Social Security will continue for the first two years of the new staff member's time with the firm, provided the contract is a fixed, or 'indefinite' one rather than for a temporary placement.

Bosses must keep each of these employees on for a minimum of three years, or they will have to refund the extra Social Security they would normally have paid.

This is designed to act as an incentive to companies to provide job security, something which is sorely lacking now Rajoy's labour reform is in place.

The new system does not allow firms to get rid of staff after three years and take on new workers to fill their places in order to benefit from lower contributions, since this will not happen – they will only be entitled to the reduced payments for additional workers on top of those they already have.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO hospitals in Granada have implanted an artificial cornea for the first time ever during a clinical trial on a 51-year-old man with a serious eye complaint.

Specialists from the San Cecilio and Virgen de las Nieves hospitals say the implant contains two types of different human cells and a bio-material based upon nano-technology.

The patient, José Luis, suffered a corneal fibrosis which meant he was only able to see light, not colours or objects – a condition for which there is no other cure or effective treatment at present.

Nine surgeons, led by ophthalmologists Dr Miguel González Andrades and Dr Santiago Medialdea operated on José Luis last week and, just two days after the procedure, he was already said to be experiencing relief from the pain and irritation he had been suffering in his eye as a result of his condition.

He will need to go for check-ups on a regular basis for the next two years.

One of 20 patients with serious corneal ulcers or opaque cornea were involved in the clinical trial, of whom five were initially picked out for the artificial implant, and the first of whom was José Luis.

Each one will be monitored for six weeks before the next person is operated on and, once their progress has been closely studied and deemed acceptable, the other 15 candidates on the trial will undergo the same procedure.

Five of them will have an artificial cornea and the rest will have a transplant of an amniotic membrane, which is a more conventional method of treating serious corneal ulcers.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SOCIALIST politicians will propose at today's (Tuesday's) two-day Parliamentary congress that pensioners, the unemployed and workers earning less than 16,000 euros a year and who have children are exempt from paying income tax.

Vice-secretary general of the national PSOE party, Elena Valenciano says at the great debate about the state of the nation in Parliament, she will call for 'those who have little money' to not have to pay taxes, whilst 'those who are very wealthy' pay much more.

“We know that there are people out there who have a lot of money and are not paying the tax they should be,” Valenciano said.

She made this announcement whilst visiting a school in Alaquàs (Valencia province) where a group of parents had staged a lock-in to protest over the regional PP government's plans to make teachers redundant and cut class groups in the three provinces of the Comunidad Valenciana.

Additionally, United Left president Cayo Lara says he has planned some scathing responses for when – not if, he says – head of State Mariano Rajoy (PP) 'defends' his cabinet's reforms and funding cuts by claiming the economy is improving as a result.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GOVERNMENT investment in public works and services has plummeted by 90 per cent in the last three years due to funding cuts, according to the Organisation for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD).

Expenditure on infrastructure and scientific research – which includes medical investigation – went up by 3.6 per cent on average every year between 2002 and 2007, and in 2006 reached over 46 billion euros, rising to 46.7 billion by 2009.

But in 2013, spending in these areas nosedived to just eight billion.

Investment in medical research went down by 7.22 per cent, following the trend of the previous year, 2012, says the Higher Centre for Scientific Investigation, which was nearly facing closure last year due to lack of funding, and the Prince Felipe Investigation Centre in Valencia, which was forced to make 114 scientists redundant in 2012.

Spain, with its change in government and policies, went from sustaining its investment levels in 2010 with measures such as the so-called Plan E for building local infrastructure, to suffering a fall in this expenditure of 13 per cent by the end of the year, by 36 per cent in 2011 and then by 48 per cent in 2012, according to European think-tank Bruegel.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GERMANY has received the highest number of Spanish migrants since the 1960s in the years since the financial crisis in Spain started, according to the country's national statistics.

Of those Spaniards who live in Germany, 22 per cent have moved there in the last five years, totalling 26,000, compared to 32 per cent who have been in the central European nation for more than 40 years, who account for just under 39,000.

In the four-year period between January 2010 and October 2013, the number of Spaniards in Germany has increased by 16 per cent, a rise of 16,229,

The typical profile for a relatively new Spanish immigrant in the country is that of a highly-qualified person in his or her 20s or 30s, normally with a university education or the equivalent, reasonably fluent in English although not necessarily in German, and who did not have a job lined up to go to when he or she emigrated.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TERRORISTS belonging to the Basque separatist cell ETA reclaimed their weapons as soon as the cameras stopped rolling on a recent video published exclusively by the BBC showing them handing over their arms to the International Verification Commission (CIV).

They merely showed the guns and explosives to the CIV representatives Ronnie Kasrils, Chris MacCabe and Ram Manikkalingam, produced an itinerary and collected them up before leaving with them, according to the CIV.

The three men from the CIV said they received an anonymous letter asking them to attend a flat in an undisclosed location in Toulouse, south-western France, and the two of them who attended were met at the station in the city by a man with a cap and glasses waiting in a car.

This man, pictured above left, has not been identified.

He took them into the underground car park of the block of flats and accompanied them upstairs in the lift, where the CIV members were met with the scenario shown on the BBC video – a table covered in a white cloth bearing the ETA symbol, a snake winding round an axe, and various weapons.

Two ETA members with their faces covered in balaclavas provided a list of the arms present, signed by three of them declaring that the weapons were now 'out of use'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN,com

PROTESTERS from all over Valencia, the Costa Blanca and the Balearic Islands took to the streets yesterday (Saturday) to publicly condemn plans to drill for oil in the Mediterranean between the two regions.

Around 20,000 people turned out – 3,000 in Palma de Mallorca, 12,000 in Ibiza town and 5,000 in Castellón, north of the Valencia region.

Coaches were thrown on in Dénia, Jávea, Calpe, Benissa and Teulada (Alicante province) and Gandia (Valencia province) to travel to Castellón to join the march.

Town councils, residents, fishermen, business-owners and employees in all areas of the tourism industry, environmental groups and water sports associations and clubs have all stated they are against plans by Cairn Energy to extract oil from below the sea-bed between the Balearics and the Gulf of Valencia.

Even Jávea-born tennis ace David Ferrer has supported his town's campaign against the fracking.

Representatives of all political parties joined in and the PP vice-mayoress of Castellón city hall, Marta Gallén, said the previous national government, that of then socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was the one which paved the way for the fracking plans by passing two Bills of Law allowing it to take place off the coast of the Valencia region, which Castellón's PP party was against back then, and still is even though the national government has changed to a PP-led cabinet which is continuing to take the move forward.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S 2014 Eurovision Song Contest entry will be Dancing in the rain sung by Ruth Lorenzo after the youngster, who is better-known in the UK than in Spain, won the most votes.

Ruth came fourth in the British version of The X-Factor and will now represent her native country at the B&W Hallerna in Copenhagen, Denmark.

She was chosen out of five finalists by a professional jury made up of established artists with a long-running pop career in Spain behind them – Mónica Naranjo, whose haunting melodies hogged the top end of the charts in the 1990s, and David Bustamante and Merche, both of whom started their careers on the earlier version of Spain's Factor X, known as Operación Triunfo, or OT.

The jury coincided with television viewers in votes given for the songs, although initially they were leaning more in favour of La Brequette singing Más (Run).

Both Ruth and La Brequette obtained 66 points, whilst La Dama with Estrella fugaz got 36 points, Jorge González with Aunque se acabe el mundo ('even if the world ends') earned 48 points and Raúl – also an established artist who shot to fame in 2000 with the hit song Hace tanto que sueño a su boca and the album of the same title – scooped up 42 points for Seguir sin ti ('carrying on without you').

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ARTICLE on everyday Spanish customs in The New York Times asks whether now is a good moment for the country to rethink its working hours and prime-time TV slots, if not actually to return to GMT – a time-lag it was in before World War II.

Spain, Land of 10pm dinners, asks if it's time to reset the clock describes a group of young adults in a bar in Madrid sitting down to watch a football match whilst evening meal orders are being taken around them at 22.00hrs at night.

It highlights how programmes on the television aimed at capturing the highest viewer ratings do not finish until around 01.00hrs and that according to surveys, a quarter of Spaniards are still watching TV at this time of night on weekdays.

The reporter speaks to one of the football-watchers, who has to get up the next morning to start his bank job at 08.00hrs, and does not find the late dinner and match anything unusual, calling it 'the Spanish identity'.

Following this, the article questions whether part of the reason for Spain's ongoing economic crisis is that its working hours are 'inefficient' and not conducive to productivity, which may change if it 'adopted a more regular schedule' which was 'more in sync with the rest of Europe'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HIGH-PROFILE member of the Spanish aristocracy and the woman who holds the world record for the longest list of nobility titles could be first in line to Scotland's throne if it succeeds in its bid for independence from Britain.

The Duchess of Alba, 87, one of Spain's richest landed gentry holds 18 Marquess titles, 20 Countess titles, is a Viscountess, five times a Duchess, a Countess-Duchess and 'Constabless' as well as holding 14 Great of Spain titles.

María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva – Cayetana to her friends and family, and 'the Duchess of Alba' for ease of reference in public address – is a direct descendent of King James II of England and VII of Scotland, the last Monarch to reign north of the Hadrian's Wall.

She is the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of James Fitz-James, the illegitimate son of King James VII of Scotland, the result of an extra-marital affair by the Monarch and his lover, Arabella Churchill, and is the XI Duchess of Berwick as well as XVIII Duchess of Alba.

And she is the oldest surviving direct descendent of the last Scottish King, who reigned between 1685 and 1688 and was the last Catholic Monarch of what was soon to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain, before fleeing to France where King Louis XIV, also Catholic, took him under his wing.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HAIRDRESSERS are calling for finance minister Cristóbal Montoro to drop IVA on their services from the highest-rated 21 per cent to the 'middle rate' of 10 per cent in a bid to stop more salons being forced out of business.

They say they have had to absorb the IVA increase – which went up from eight per cent in September 2012 after a tax rise and their being pushed into the top band – since otherwise, they would not have any customers.

But the result of this is a dramatic drop in takings, which means a huge number of salons across the country are struggling to survive, with many saying every cent of their profits goes into staying open with nothing left for the owners to live on.

Since the IVA rise 18 months ago, a total of 5,000 of Spain's 48,000 salons have shut down for financial reasons, leaving 20,000 residents on the dole, and it is predicted that by the end of this year, another 5,600 will go out of business, leaving 14,000 more people unemployed.

Protest marches in the streets on Monday took place in 23 provinces in Spain at the same time.

Some 200 hairdressing employees and their customers took to the streets in Barcelona, blocking off the traffic on main roads. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

'EXCESSIVE dependence on one's mother' is sufficient grounds for the annulment of a marriage in a Catholic church – but this fact is not widely known about in Spain.

According to the Church, when one half of a married couple 'leans too much' on his or her mother, he or she is 'incapable of fulfilling marital duties'.

This situation, for the other spouse, has been likened to 'effectively being married to the mother-in-law'.

Whilst no cases have yet hit the headlines in Spain – where 80 per cent of the population identify as Catholic - about divorce caused by a husband or wife being tied to the apron strings, it is very much in practice in Italy, where head of legal affairs at the Diocese of Liguria in the north-west, Paolo Rigon led a discussion on the matter during the ceremony for the start of the new Ecclesiastical Year in the region.

A 'condition' known in Italian as Mammismo, it means that 'for every decision, every movement that a married couple wishes to take', one spouse needs to seek the approval of his or her mother – or father, in fact – first.

Rigon explained that 'psychologically', this means 'the true spouse' of the mother-dependent party is 'merely a substitute'.

He says he has come across 'cases in point' where husbands and wives of all ages, 'due to psychological immaturity' and 'not having learned enough about life', get married 'without really knowing what is in store for them' and 'continue their lives as they did before, when they were children or teenagers'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO members of Basque terrorist cell ETA have been extradited to Spain after hiding out for 22 years in a popular Mexican holiday destination.

Juan Jesús Narváez Goñi, alias 'Pajas' and Itzíar Alberdi Uranga, known as 'María' had been living in their neighbourhood in Puerto Vallarta, on the west coast of México for six years before they were caught, with their two children.

All four had false identities.

Narváez and Alberdi were part of the Liberated Ekaitz Commando and committed more than 18 murders in one year by planting bombs and shooting people.

One of their most prominent crimes was the assassination of university Dean, Manuel Broseta, in Valencia with a shot to the head.

They have been on the ETA most-wanted list since they fled the course of justice in 1992.

Shocked neighbours say the family were 'normal people', 'very polite' and 'never got into any problems with anyone'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BOND legend Sean Connery and his wife have denied any involvement with building corruption and money-laundering offences relating to their villa in Marbella in a case that has been ongoing since 2007 and features several public figureheads as accused parties.

Connery said he had 'no connection with' the mayor of the Costa del Sol town, Jesús Gil, and 'did not know him personally', having only ever seen him once at a public event and not actually spoken to him.

Neither did the actor know former Marbella mayor Julián Muñoz or councillor Juan Antonio Roca, both of whom are charged with multi-million-euro tax evasion and corruption offences concerning a luxury residential development on the Costa del Sol.

“I saw him at a public event, but do not consider that this could be defined as my having known him.

“I did not enter into any relations with him.

“In the 1990s, I instructed by lawyer, Héctor Díaz-Bastién to order Sr Gil to withdraw his video campaigning for his re-election as mayor of Marbella, and which contained footage of me without my consent, from circulation. This request was duly attended to,” Connery stated in a Málaga court last week.

“I have not obtained any benefit whatsoever in relation to the contracts mentioned,” the actor continued.

He declared that he had 'never been in Gil's offices', nor even inside Marbella town hall, in his life. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOURTEEN Guardia Civil officers on duty at Málaga airport have been found guilty by a jury of requesting and accepting cash bribes from passengers to allow certain items through into the departure lounge which were either banned or, in other cases, the carrier believed them to be prohibited.

A Chinese national has also been found guilty of the same offence, and three other police officers acquitted.

They will now face fines and suspension of employment, plus a ban on working in the force for a set number of years.

The jury heard that the accused officers asked airline travellers for money in exchange for not confiscating goods they tried to take through the X-rays at the entrance to the departure gates, at the end of 2005.

Read more at thnkSPAIN.com

NEW road traffic legislation will mean that drivers who have lost points from their licences and want to get them back will have to pass a test, and foreign motorists who commit offences can be chased overseas for their fines.

Unlike in the UK where a 'clean' licence has no points and those gained are eventually 'spent' and automatically removed after a certain number of years, Spanish licences start with 12 points which are deducted when driving offences are committed and to recover them, the licence-holder has to undertake a 're-education and awareness' course at a local driving school as they do not expire.

Until now, attending the course and receiving a certificate in confirmation from the driving school meant the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) would automatically replace the lost points – but with the new law, the candidate will have to go to a DGT office, based only in provincial capital cities, in person to take a test and will only recover their points once they have passed.

The government says the test will not be the same as the one taken by learner drivers.

Also, a greater number of driving schools will be given authority to run courses, which at present is only held by a select few.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CHILDREN as young as eight are competent using the internet, only three in 10 teens use their mobile telephones to actually telephone anyone and an identical number leaves theirs switched on 24 hours a day, says a recent report.

Taking data from 1,800 questionnaires aimed at young people aged between 11 and 14, the research found that at this age, 76 per cent regularly used the free text-messaging service WhatsApp and 65 per cent joined in group chats and file-sharing via this system. 

On the whole, they prefer instant messaging systems such as WhatsApp to traditional social network sites such as Tuenti – aimed at teens and young adults – or MySpace, Twitter or Facebook.

This is because they can have group conversations and share photos and videos, according to the report.

And only 29 per cent regularly use their mobiles to make phone calls, whilst 25 per cent never do and 45 per cent do so 'occasionally'.

This effectively means only one per cent of teens and pre-teens regularly make telephone calls from their mobiles, whilst for the rest, it is almost exclusively a tool for messages, games and internet use. 

One in three admitted that they had installed applications, or 'Apps', which were able to to access their personal data, whilst 16 per cent had no idea whether or not the 'geo-localisation' function – which records and broadcasts where the user is in the world – was activated on their handsets and 9.5 per cent had this activated at all times. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MAJORITY vote in Spanish Parliament means the controversial abortion law reform has been approved and will become law, meaning women will only be able to choose to terminate a pregnancy if it is the result of a rape – and only within the first 12 weeks – or if her life and health is in serious danger.

Opposition socialists, who say the bill will force women who cannot afford a 'charter flight to London or Paris' into back-street abortion clinics, challenged the law reform in Congress, but as the right-wing PP government is in the majority, it only needed the agreement from the reigning party for the law to be passed.

In the end, opponents' 151 votes to scrap the reform were up against 183 votes in favour of the abortion restrictions in a process which, for the first time, permitted anonymous ballots.

Members of a political party are not allowed to publicly oppose its policies and can be fined for doing so, particularly where they are in government – unlike in other northern European nations where dissidence is commonplace.

A number of MPs on the PP party are against the reform, and the secret ballot box gave them a chance to say so without fear of identification or reprisal.

But even then, enough PP members voted for the reform to go ahead that the impact of those who oppose it made no difference in the end.

Surveys show that eight in 10 Spanish nationals do not agree with the restrictions, and that a significant number of them identify as Catholics.

Famously, a nun recently declared on her blog that it was not up to the church or the government to decide 'what a woman does with her body', and that abortion was a private and personal decision, as well as a highly-emotive one, which should only be made by the woman herself and others directly involved.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A CHANGE to the law of 'universal justice' means crimes committed outside of Spain against Spanish nationals or residents will not be tried by the national legal system – a move that will affect cases such as the murder of Spanish TV cameraman José Couso in Iraq.

People from Spain who fall victim to crime abroad will now only have the national laws of the country where this occurred to protect them and, in some cases, these may not be compatible with those of a western nation. 

And hundreds of cases currently being handled in Spanish courts will now be closed, leaving the victim with no redress in their home country. 

Opposition members rejected the change in justice legislation unanimously, but the PP is a majority government and their vote alone was sufficient to see it go through. 

They say Spain's government is 'bowing down' to the Chinese authorities, who have called for an end to the trials being dealt with in the former country over the repression in Tibet. 

Socialist spokeswoman Soraya Rodríguez has met with the family of José Couso, who are bitterly disappointed and say they feel let down. 

And Rosa Díez of Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) has urged the PP to withdraw the new law 'if not for the good of the people, at least for their electoral interests', pointing out that China's people do not vote in national elections but families of crime victims such as José Couso do. 

Other opposition members said crimes against humanity should be able to be judged 'in any corner of the universe' because they are 'universal crimes'. 

Judges in Spain can only investigate genocide or human bodily harm when the charges are levied against Spanish citizens, or foreigners who live in Spain and will not be extradited.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase by 0.9 per cent this year and 1.9 per cent next year – signs that the economy is growing once again, according to figures released by the BBVA bank.

This will be enough for creation of 'sustainable' employment to begin, says the entity, but it warns that jobless figures are unlikely to drop below 25.6 per cent this year and 24.8 per cent in 2015.

Consumer spending in Spain is expected to rise in 2014 by 0.9 per cent and by 1.3 per cent next year, with lack of national demand gradually ceasing to pose barriers to micro-economic growth over the next two years and ongoing efforts in increasing exports will set the scene for the economy to begin its recovery, the BBVA reveals.

It predicts that this will only be possible if Spain's government continues with its radical blanket reforms, including fiscal and labour-related, saying efforts in the former area in particular are 'insufficient', running the risk of the country failing to meet its debt target of 6.5 per cent of the GDP for 2013.

Any fiscal reform should 'encourage job creation and household savings nationally' whilst 'attracting foreign investment' and 'increasing growth potential', the BBVA report continues.

ANOTHER record rollover on the Primitivo lottery will see the highest-ever jackpot up for grabs this coming Thursday after the last draw failed to produce any outright winners .

The Saturday (February 8) draw of six numbers and a bonus ball did not match any tickets sold, meaning the rollover this week will be 70 million euros.

This is currently the highest in the history of the Primitivo lottery, beating the previous top jackpot figure of 67.1 million euros in August last year which went to one sole ticket-holder in Sevilla.

An eight-euro ticket bought by one person in Pamplona, Navarra in January last year saw the third-highest prize pot on record at 32.4 million euros.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CONSUMER protection groups have criticised the government's new electricity billing structure as it 'penalises' those who use the least power and does not provide any incentive to save on energy consumption.

A year ago, the 'fixed' part of a household bill accounted for 35 per cent and the variable part, relating to consumption, was 65 per cent, but this was changed last July with a gradual move towards the standing charge taking up a higher percentage of what is paid by residential homes.

Now that this gradual migration has finished, from this week onwards, the fixed charge will be 60 per cent of the bill and the variable consumption-related part 40 per cent.

The government's argument is that the previous method 'penalised' large families with children and meant holiday home owners had cheaper bills.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN has more nature reserves than anywhere else in Europe and the second-highest number on the planet, according to UNESCO – and has just added another three to its list. 

The world heritage charity says Spain is the 'most active' in its biodiversity programmes, with 45 protected nature reserves – the USA has 47, making it the country with the largest number, and México comes third with 40.

In total, UNESCO's natural heritage sites come to 621 and are spread around 117 countries. 

Three new biospheres in Spain have been added to the list this week -  La Granja and El Espinar, in the provice of Segovia, Castilla y León; As Mariñas Coruñesas and Terras do Mandeo, in the north-western region of Galicia, and the Ebro delta in Catalunya. 

But UNESCO has warned that the number may reduce in the foreseeable future because some are in danger of falling short of minimum conservation requirements.

Fortunately, none of these are in Spain, which has been praised for its 'magnificent' environmental conscience in this area and its strong awareness of the 'immense value' of its natural heritage. 

Spain's biosphere reserves cover 8.6 per cent of its territory and 7.2 per cent of the world's total, now that the three new ones have been added. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PRINCES William and Harry have been spotted taking part in a hunting excursion in the province of Córdoba this weekend, having been invited by the Duke of Westminster to his private farm near the village of La Conquista.

Arriving on separate planes due to Royal protocol, with a group of friends and various police officers employed as escorts, the Princes are staying at the La Garganta estate owned by Duke Gerald Grosvenor, one of the richest men in England and Prince William's godfather.

They reached Andalucía on Thursday and will stay to the other side of the weekend hunting deer and wild boar, but Princess Catherine is not expected to join them as she will be staying at home to care for the future king, baby Prince George, having just returned from a holiday in the Caribbean.

News of the hunting trip has sat uncomfortably with animal activists, given how William Duke of Cambridge and his father, Prince Charles are staunch supporters of animal rights and campaigners against illegal hunting of elephants and rhinocerous for their tusks.

In a video announcement, father and son call for an end to commercial hunting of animals in danger of extinction, such as tigers, and of rhinos and elephants for the illegal ivory trade – the latest in their passionate series of campaigns against the killing of wild animals.

Although the hunting trip on the La Garganta estate is completely legal, critics say this could lead to Prince William being accused of double standards and weaken his image as an animal rights activist.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A RECORD number of companies and sole traders went into receivership or were declared bankrupt last year – a total of 9,660, which is the highest ever seen since bankruptcy became legally-recognised 10 years ago.

This represents a rise of 6.5 per cent on the figure for 2012, and never before have this many insolvencies been declared in the space of a year in Spain, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

In the first three years after the Insolvency Law was passed in 2004, up to and including 2007 there were between 968 and 1,147 firms going bankrupt or into receivership each year, but this shot up to 3,298 with the start of the financial crisis.

This again nearly doubled in 2009 when the recession and mass unemployment began to truly bite in Spain, reaching 6,197 that year, dropping slightly to 5,962 in 2010 but then soaring again in 2011 to 6,863.

However, the last two calendar years have seen a sharp increase, with insolvencies shooting up by over 50 per cent.

In 2012, a year which started two months after the current reigning PP government got into power after an eight-year spell of socialist rule, firms and sole traders going into receivership or out of business soared to 9,071 and last year, to 9,660.

Although the last quarter of 2013 saw a slight drop in the number of bankruptcies on the same period in 2012 – by 15.4 per cent with 2,285 new insolvencies declared – this was still 19.8 more than in the final quarter of 2011.

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KING Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía's daughter, the Infanta Cristina testified today (Saturday) in court in Palma de Mallorca, and reportedly gave answers which were 'evasive' in '95 per cent of cases', claiming she simply 'signed what her husband told her to'.

The Duchess of Palma, who has run the charitable and cultural arm of La Caixa bank for over 20 years in various locations in Spain, in Miami and now in Geneva, owed 50 per cent of the company Aizoon and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, owned the other half.

But she says she had no idea that the couple's housekeeping staff were employed via Aizoon and that she simply 'trusted her husband' and let him run the company.

Judge José Castro asked her about the money given to her by her father, the King of Spain, to buy the Duke and Duchess' multi-million mansion in Pedralbes (Barcelona province), and the Infanta says she is paying it back in instalments.

As the King is her father, he trusts her to pay it back and no money-laundering is involved, the Infanta declared.

She was asked about the activities of Aizoon invoice by invoice in an exhaustive interrogation lasting from 10.00hrs to 18.00hrs with just a 10-minute break and an hour and a half for lunch, having flown in from Geneva where she transferred to with La Caixa.

The Duchess denied accusations that the firm Aizoon had been set up as a 'front' to launder money and avoid paying tax, saying the Spanish fiscal authority, Hacienda, 'investigates her more than anyone' because of her wealth and status as daughter of the reigning monarch.

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IRISH-BASED low-cost airline Ryanair has suffered a significant loss in profits – despite passenger numbers having increasted by six per cent, according to its website.

Ruthless competition in the sector means a price war has left the flight company chaired by Michael O'Leary 35.2 million euros in the red, even though it has seen numbers of travellers go up by 10 million – from 17.3 million in 2012 to 18.3 million last year.

The firm attributes this to a nine-per-cent drop in flight prices and to the weakening of the pound sterling.

In order to compete with rapidly falling prices, Ryanair has commenced a concerted drive to improve its customer service, according to O'Leary.

At the end of last year, the company chairman famously stated: “We're going to stop doing the things that [expletive] customers off.”

This means stringent hand luggage requirements have been relaxed, and passengers can now take a small handbag or duty-free shopping bag on board along with their usual hand luggage.

Also, seats are now allocated automatically from Saturday, February 1 and 'silent' flights will be launched, meaning no music or unnecessary announcements will be played on night trips, whilst use of electronic equipment is now permitted in flight with effect from yesterday (Wednesday, February 6).

And the airline began to lower prices again in September last year.

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WAGES have gone down by an average of 10 per cent, and the typical redundancy pay-off to 26 days' salary per year of service, according to research by three recruitment agencies.

Adecco, the Sagardoy Foundation and the Excellence in Sustainability Club – which all form the official Observatory for monitoring the government's labour reform – studied 200 companies, most of which have a minimum of 50 employees.

They say redundancy pay has gone down, but remains on the whole higher than the requisite 20 days' salary per year of service which is the legal minimum for a 'fair dismissal'.

This means that where a company makes staff cuts due to finances, restructure or other legitimate reasons which it can prove beyond all reasonable doubt, it has to pay this minimum to employees when making them redundant, but where a dismissal is not justified or the company cannot prove the reason – or in certain cases, where firms wish to cover their backs – the minimum rises to 45 days' salary per year of service.

Job contracts are more likely to be part-time or temporary rather than full-time, permanent positions and larger companies are opting to take on new staff with 'training and apprenticeship' contracts, which run for a limited duration and with a lower wage, now that these have been created by the labour reform.

Overall, the Observatory says firms of 50 or more employees have doubled the number of 'training and apprenticeship' contracts they give out since this time last year – from 8.1 per cent to 16.6 per cent.

The number of companies which have made redundancies, slashed pay or restricted working conditions to the detriment of staff has grown in the same period from 72 per cent to 76.2 per cent.

This said, only 10.6 per cent of organisations reducing their payroll have awarded the minimum redundancy package, with the remaining 89.4 per cent giving more.

Over a third of companies have cut their staff's hours to less than 15 per cent of their previous timetables in an attempt to avoid redundancies, and mass redundancy is now less frequent than individual dismissals for either objective reasons – financial, or a person's job 'disappearing' due to restructure – or disciplinary reasons.

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A CARGO ship has crashed off the coast of south-western France and the 12 Spanish members of the crew have been evacuated.

The Luno, a Spanish container ferry, literally broke in half when it collided with a pier in the port of Bayonne, near Biarritz and close to Spain's Basque Country border.

It was not loaded at the time, meaning it was lighter than usual and the gale-force winds and torrential rain off the north coast of Spain battered it about, thrusting it into the pier when captain Lunel Delort tried to dock.

Winds in the Bay of Biscay, from Brittany in north-western France down to Galicia in north-western Spain have reached nearly 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), making it difficult for rescue boats and helicopters to travel to the scene of incidents.

In the end, the 12 occupants of the ship were airlifted via a French military helicopter to dry land, says the mayor of the nearby town of Anglet, Jean Espilondo.

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COLOMBIAN and Peruvian citizens travelling to Europe will no longer need a visa for short stays, the EU has decided.

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy had called for visa requirements to be relaxed, given the high number of Colombian and Peruvian nationals living in Spain whose family members face headaches when travelling to visit them.

Also, EU nationals can visit most Latin American countries with just a valid passport and stay for up to three months before needing a visa, provided they do not exercise any commercial activity whilst there.

European Union ambassador in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, María Antonia van Gool says the exact date for visa requirements to be dropped is not yet known, since it will depend upon the necessary legislation and administrative transactions being completed, but that EU leaders were unanimously in favour of the move.

It will allow Peruvian and Colombian passport-holders to freely visit any of the countries which form part of the Schengen agreement relating to free movement.

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THE whole of northern Spain and most of the centre is on alert for gale-force winds, tidal waves, snow and freezing temperatures for most of this week with weather conditions that have already devastated the Atlantic coast set to worsen.

According to the State meteorological agency, AEMET, gusts of up to 140 kilometres per hour (around 88mph) are expected to strike the north-western region of Galicia, the Basque Country, Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, and Navarra, and at least 100 kilometres per hour (about 63mph) in Castilla y León and the province of Cáceres in the western region of Extremadura.

Already, the wind started to become extremely strong in Galicia, impeding efforts of rescue services in their search for a 15-year-old boy swept out to sea in Foz (A Coruña province) when cycling along the esplanade of the A Rapadoira beach.

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HEATING uses up the most electricity in the average Spanish home, followed by refrigerators – which consume more energy than the washing machine and TV put together, says a recent study.

The Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) monitored home electricity use for a year and have just released their findings, which include some surprises.

Television sets use more power than washing machines, which drink more electricity than ovens, whilst an average desktop computer costs more to run than a freezer or dishwasher.

And out of all electrical appliances, tumble-driers use the least power – less, in fact, that lightbulbs.

The average household in Spain uses 10,521 kWh (kilowatts per hour) in a year, of which 47 per cent goes on heating and 21.7 on appliances.

Hot water boilers account for 18.9 per cent of the total consumption, cooking 7.4 per cent, lightbulbs and flexible cables 4.1 per cent, and air-conditioning a lower-than-expected 0.8 per cent.

However, given that this is the annual average and the summer months on the southern and Mediterranean coasts, the central plains and the islands are only punishingly-hot for two to four months of the year, whilst the north of Spain generally sees brief, cool summers, the actual proportion of electricity used may be higher – although the study does not break down power usage by seasons.

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BANKIA is due to go private and expects to have paid back its State bail-out within less than two years, according to CEO José Ignacio Goirigolzarri.

The entity, formed through a merger of the bankrupt Caja Madrid and Bancaja which were 'rescued' with multi-billion funds borrowed by the Spanish government from the Troika, intends to start floating its shares on the stockmarket gradually with the aim of all its capital being in private hands by the year 2016.

Taxpayers were furious when the 22.4-billion-euro bail-out for Bankia had to come out of their pockets via stringent funding cuts and higher taxes, since the government was unable to sell the two entities for more than the cost of the funds required to rescue them.

But Goirigolzarri said less than a year ago that the bank was the 'only one' which 'would be able to refund' the public cash used to keep it afloat.

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TIDAL waves sweeping the northern coast of Spain have caused widespread damage, including flooding 27 cars, and a teenage boy is missing and feared dead.

Streets in the historic quarter of San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, were left under five feet of water when huge waves crashed over the shores and the river burst its banks, and a 15-year-old who was riding his bike along the seafront esplanade near the Rapadoira lighthouse in Foz (Lugo province, Galicia region) was swept away at around 18.30hrs yesterday (Sunday) by high tides, and has not been seen since.

A friend who was cycling with him reported the incident and a search party has been combing the area all night.

Back in San Sebastián, three of the four main bridges in the city have been shut, and in nearby towns in the same province – that of Guipúzcoa – streets have flooded as waves of several metres in height bypassed the groins and the seafront promenades and parked cars floated away.

A solid concrete wave-break was smashed down in the town of Bermeo in the province of Bizkaia, also in the Basque Country, and in nearby Ondarroa, 27 cars in a car park were filled up with water.

Waves of over 10 metres (32'6”) hitting the coast of Cantabria, the region immediately to the west of the Basque Country, left streets, garages, ground floor flats and shops, and parks under water in Santander, Bareyo and San Vicente de la Barquera, among other towns.

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AIRPORTS in Spain have relaxed restrictions on carrying liquids in hand luggage and plan to eliminate these altogether by 2016 in accordance with new European Union rules.

Since Friday (January 31), any drinks, aerosols or gels purchased in 'transit' countries whilst on connecting flights will be allowed through the X-ray machines.

They will only be scanned, not confiscated.

For example, if a passenger was travelling from a Latin American country to an airport in Italy and changing planes in Madrid, where he or she had bought a bottle of whisky in the duty free in the Latin American airport, it would be confiscated in Madrid.

But this will no longer be the case, provided it is in a sealed bag provided at the check-out by the duty free store.

The same would apply with duty free goods purchased on board a plane.

Also, liquids exceeding 100ml in volume which are classed as medication, baby food or diet products will now be allowed through into the departure lounge provided they are inspected first.

Spain's airport governing body, AENA, which manages the country's 47 terminals and 187 million annual passengers, believes the relaxation of the rules will only affect around one percent of travellers initially, but says that according to the European Commission, if this tentative first step is successful, liquids may no longer be prohibited in hand luggage two years from now.

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ELECTRICITY prices due to go up in January have risen by far more than expected, with the part of a household's bill relating to government charges and taxes rocketing by 18 per cent.

Although minister for industry José Manuel Soria had already warned that the tariff based upon consumption would increase by 2.3 per cent on January 1 this year, the fact that the fixed fee element was about to soar has not been widely announced.

National media agencies spotted it in the State Official Bulletin (BOE), where any government decisions have to be published and, once they have been, any move of this nature is deemed to have been communicated to society as a whole.

The element of electricity bills which goes into the government's pocket in taxes and charges totals 55 per cent of the consumer's invoice, and will now rise to 42.04 euros per kilowatt (kW).

This part of the bill has not been amended since August 2013, when the State approved a 'general' rise of 1.2 per cent following new measures being introduced to its energy reform.

For most consumers, 45 per cent of the bill relates to consumption, which is dictated by the prices achieved in the three-monthly State 'auctions' of the energy supply franchise, and the remaining 55 per cent – the government's taxes and charges – covers transport, distribution, 'green' taxes, and other fees.

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A CAT from the Canary Islands turned up in a garage in Aberdeenshire, Scotland recently – and as yet, nobody knows how she got there.

Juanita, a tabby female was discovered by Rosy Long in her garage in the town of Muchalls, and she thought the cat must have been a local one who had gone astray and was hiding from the extreme cold.

The family took Juanita to the Cats' Protection League and then to the vet's, where her chip was read, revealing her name and the fact that she originally lives in Fuerteventura.

Rosy says Juanita is 'clearly very affectionate' and that this tells her the globe-trotting female must have a loving owner who 'misses her very much'.

But as yet, all attempts to find Juanita's 'parents' have proven fruitless

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THOUSANDS of people across Spain joined in a countrywide protest over rocketing electricity prices on Saturday.

Demonstrations were held in 23 cities, mostly provincial capitals, including Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, Barcelona, Murcia, Málaga, Almería, Granada, Córdoba, Huelva, Sevilla, Cádiz, Jaén, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Carrying banners calling for Luz a precio justo ('electricity at a fair price'), the demonstrators clamoured against the government's forcing the consumer to bear the cost of its own debt with energy suppliers, leaving already hard-pressed householders suffering prohibitive prices.

Those trying to feed a family on the basic unemployment benefit of 425 euros a month often end up living literally by candlelight and washing in cold water because their supply is cut off due to non-payment.

Around 500 different organisations, including consumer group ADICAE were behind the march, which they say was intended to push for a 'reform of the electricity reform' and to 'condemn the abuse suffered by millions of households' in Spain.

“Consumers are not going to continue to accept this situation, and we want to see immediate and urgent changes including a review of the mechanisms involved in fixing electricity prices and all other costs that make up the total of the electricity bill,” said ADICAE.

“We want a guaranteed supply at a reasonable price and an independent audit of the alleged energy debt carried out with consumers' participation, which clarifies how much exactly this debt is and what part of it is genuine.

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RACING Santander FC called a protest on the pitch as the quarter finals of the King's Cup against Real Sociedad kicked off.

The Cantabria-based team has not been paid in 'months', say players and coaches, who formed a human chain, arm in arm around the centre circle without moving after Sociedad kicked the ball to start the match.

Midfielder Javi Soria said it was 'a shame' they had been forced into drastic action which effectively cost them the match – even though Sociedad was 3-1 up by then – and that they 'just want to get back to playing as normal' and make Racing Santander 'the best possible'.

They had already warned of their strike in a press release unless Racing chairman Ángel Lavin and the board of directors resigned.

The team, which is in the third division – the first being La Liga, or The League – warmed up as usual but once on the pitch, left fans open-mouthed as they stood stock-still while Sociedad kicked the ball around for a few minutes before the referee declared the match over. 

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SPANISH football team manager Luis Aragonés, who took 'the reds' to victory in the 2008 Euro Cup and paved the way for their success in the 2012 Championship as well as the 2010 World Cup, has died in a Madrid hospital at the age of 75. 

Doctors who had been treating the sporting hero for leukaemia for many years were visibly moved at the loss of a great national team coach, saying that by the end he was unable to speak but understood what was being said to him. 

Aragonés had been fighting leukaemia for two months, with several relapses, but had not wanted his condition to be made public. 

The champion team manager had turned around a side which had been almost a nonentity for decades – the 2008 European Cup was the first international trophy Spain had won in 44 years, and was the first of a hat-trick involving the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euro Cup – and the country will be waiting with bated breath this year to see whether 'the reds' achieve four on the trot with the 2014 World Cup in São Paulo, Brazil. 

Aragonés also managed some of Spain's most prestigious football clubs, such as Barça FC and Atlético Madrid, which won the League trophy 37 years ago. 

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A COSTA Blanca hospital is offering check-ups to European holidaymakers and has been advertising this as one of its 'unique selling points' at the recent FITUR international tourism trade fair in Madrid.

Whilst complaints against so-called 'health tourism' have been met with conflicting responses – former British Ambassador for Spain Giles Paxman publicly refuted claims that UK nationals were 'deliberately' travelling to the country to make use of its health service, the European Directive on cross-border healthcare passed in October now means that any EU citizen can opt for medical treatment in any member State.

In any case, where tourists from any EU member State are treated in another, the health authorities of the latter country has always claimed back the costs from the patient's country of residence.

But since October, this situation has become easier and also means residents who are not working and therefore paying social security, and are not yet State pension age, no longer fall into the loophole of not being covered for medical assistance – provided they are EU nationals.

Dr Rafael Giménez, area manager for the Quirón Hospital in Torrevieja (Alicante province) says the southern Costa Blanca town should be 'one of the reception points' for tourists who 'seek to undergo operations and receive quality treatment', taking advantage of the fact they are already on holiday in the area.

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