Live News From Spain As It Happens

BRITS make up two-thirds of holiday home buyers in the verdant northern region of Cantabria, knowing they can lay their hands on excellent deals and a way of life that differs vastly from that seen on the Spanish Costas.

Rolling green hills, dairy cattle, central European-style chalets in gardens with lawns and hedges, clean and attractive towns and cities, picture-postcard villages and dramatic countryside for walking, cycling or riding horses mean Cantabria often appears at first glance to resemble Switzerland, France or Germany rather than Spain as many Brits know it – and, in fact, quite a lot like the more attractive and less agricultural rural parts of the UK and Ireland.

Perhaps a feeling of 'home from home' – seeing grazing cows and emerald hills may be less of a culture shock than palm trees and pine-covered rocky mountains, although the 1,000-metre-high Picos de Europa range adds a more exotic feel – or perhaps the fact it has not been invaded by mass beach tourism is some of the pull of Cantabria for British buyers.

Or perhaps it's the fact you can buy apartments with two to four bedrooms in the stunning Victorian-style seaside city of Santander for as little as €58,000, or a comfortable-sized villa with a plot size of over 1,000 square metres for between €115,000 and €150,000, making a home in Cantabria an excellent investment for the future as well as a more affordable holiday destination than the tourism belts.

Whilst the Costas are blessed with sun-drenched, idyllic golden beaches, superb tourist facilities, over 300 days a year of bright sunshine and a guaranteed three- to four-month summer, as well as a more exotic, holiday feel and winters where you can sit in a pavement café with a coat on and not suffer as you would doing the same in the UK, Cantabria is a perfect option for those who are not so fussed on sweltering heat and in-the-shade temperatures soaring to 35ºC in July and August.

If you don't mind a bit of rain and cooler winters – which are still warmer than in Britain and with more hours of daylight, given that it does not get dark until nearly 18.30hrs even on the shortest day – you'll be rewarded with a much more temperate summer but with less unpredictability in the weather than in the UK.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S government has increased the minimum legal age for marriage from 14 to 16, and will allow notaries and court secretaries to carry out weddings and uncontested divorces where there are no underage children involved.

A reform of the Civil Code means marriage rites in accordance with Orthodox, Buddhist, Jehovah's Witness and Mormon tradition will now be recognised in terms of their legal content.

Until now, only Catholic, Jewish and Muslim ceremonies were legally recognised as a marriage, since these are faiths of long-standing tradition in Spain.

Changes to the Criminal Code two years ago meant the minimum legal age for consenting sexual relations went up from 13 to 16, and minimum marriage age has risen in line with this.

It also means that for a minor, under 18, to be considered an 'adult' in all legal senses of the word through having married, this will not apply until age 16.

Previously, a 14-year-old who legally married would no longer be considered a 'minor' at law.

Court secretaries, notaries, Civil Registry managers, justice of the peace, mayors or elected councillors can now perform marriage ceremonies and attend to fostering and adoption matters.

The aim is to free up judges to clear their backlog of court cases by giving legal matters which do not involve disputes to other representatives of judicial bodies

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALL passengers and crew have been evacuated from a ferry which caught fire in the middle of the Mediterranean yesterday (Tuesday).

It has taken most of the night for emergency services to transport the 157 occupants to safety, but so far, nobody is said to be injured.

The Sorrento, one of the Trasmediterránea fleet, was on its way to Valencia from Palma de Mallorca, and was only 18 miles from the island when the blaze broke out.

Most of the passengers were put on board the Puglia, one of fellow Mediterranean crossing firm Baleària's ships.

The Puglia had to divert from its intended journey between Ibiza and Barcelona to help with the rescue operation.

Six crew members were unable to reach the lifeboat station on the ferry in time, and had to be taken to dry land by helicopter.

Everyone was taken to the port of Palma by ferry, except for a 25-year-old Italian woman who suffered mild smoke inhalation and a Philippine man who had a panic attack, both of whom were airlifted to hospital, but have since been discharged.

A total of 12 nationalities of passengers were travelling on the Sorrento, and around 80 of them were lorry drivers who were returning to Valencia with their vehicles.

Another 45 were crew members.

Travellers, as well as Spaniards, were said to be German, Chinese, Romanian, Australian, Argentinian, Bulgarian, Algerian, Austrian, Albanian, Colombian, Sénégalese and Ecuadorian, but none are believed to be British or Irish.

Coastguard rescue services were alerted of the inferno at 13.50hrs yesterday.

Initially, it was thought there would be no need to evacuate, but when staff were unable to bring the flames under control themselves and the fire began to spread at an alarming rate, the captain gave the order for lifeboats and life-jackets to be released and for everyone to abandon ship.

Once in Palma port, the passengers and crew were met by the Red Cross, whose workers were waiting on stand-by with wheelchairs, blankets, and counsellors to help those who were distressed and in shock.

Trasmediterránea has put all evacuees up in hotels in Palma and says it will arrange their onward travel or return home in accordance with each passenger's requirements.

Fears have been raised that the burning ferry may cause a massive fuel spillage and destroy marine life in exactly the same way as the Russian fishing boat, the Oleg Naydenov, off the coast of Gran Canaria.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NATIONAL Police are calling for help in finding an American woman who has gone missing whilst walking the Camino de Santiago, or pilgrims' route to the north-western cathedral city.

Denise Pikka Thiem, 40, was last seen in the Hotel Suero de Quiñones in the León province village of Hospital de Órbigo 24 days ago, on April 4.

She was undertaking the Santiago walk alone, but is said to be fit, healthy and an experienced hiker.

According to the hotel owner, Denise left that morning after breakfast and checking out, paying with a credit card, and has not been seen since.

Denise's brother Cedric, who lives with her in Arizona, has travelled to Spain to help search for her.

He said she would never have gone missing voluntarily.

Cedric said he began to get worried when he stopped getting calls and emails from his sister, since they spoke on Skype every other day and she sent him daily emails.

In fact, given that they are very close, Cedric knows her email password, and signed into her account to see whether she had written to anyone else in the days since she had not been seen.

He contacted with some of the other 'pilgrims' Denise had met en route, including Javier Pombo who said he met her on March 26 and she became friends instantly with his daughter and three nieces and nephews.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN EMOTIVE funeral service for victims of the Germanwings air crash is being held this evening (Monday) at Barcelona's famous Sagrada Família cathedral.

Around 1,200 are expected to be attending, including Spanish president Mariano Rajoy, regional president Artur Mas, and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

Although many of the families and friends of the deceased had requested the service be 'inter-religious', as Catholicisim is the traditional faith in Catalunya, it will be conducted within the Catholic framework, in the same way as a similar service for the victims in Germany was given in accordance with the Lutheran faith.

But representatives from the Jewish, Muslim and Evangelical communities will give readings.

Whilst the service will mainly be conducted in the catalán language, much of it will be translated into Spanish and English, French and German will be used in different prayers and hymns.

The Evangelical psalm will be sung in Greek, 'reflecting the universal spirit of Greek as a lingua franca and remembering the victims of different branches of the Christian faith', said the Archbishop of Barcelona.

A total of 150 people lost their lives when the Germanwings flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashed in the French Alps with no survivors on March 24.

They included a group of 15-year-olds from a German high school who had just finished an exchange visit staying with pupils the same age in the Barcelona area, plus company representatives, TV presenters, tourists, and British expatriates visiting the UK via a connecting flight.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN will send an aircraft to Nepal this morning (Monday) with 30 tonnes of aid including food and medication for survivors of the devastating earthquake which shook the country on Saturday.

UNICEF, Oxfam, Save the Children, Plan Internacional and the Red Cross are working round the clock and calling for more aid parcels and human resources.

Already, over 3,200 have been confirmed dead and over 6,000 injured.

Two Spanish mountaineers, from Asturias and Navarra survived a huge avalanche caused by the quake whilst climbing Everest, and have described how they heard the mountain 'go crunch'.

They are trapped at Base Camp and helping with rescue operations, saying around eight other climbers – mainly of Chinese and Japanese nationality – have been killed.

Spanish authorities are attempting to contact all citizens known to be in Nepal at the time of the quake, including tourists and expatriates.

A total of 70 Spaniards are waiting for an Armed Forces plane to fly them home – over 50 have spent the night at Kathmandu airport and 15 of them in a hotel owned by the honorary Consul, Ambice Shresta.

So far, Spain's foreign office has managed to make contact with 332 citizens in Nepal, but another 162 have not been traced, of whom 117 are tourists.

Minister of foreign affairs José Manuel García Margallo was already in the wider area at the time, having flown to Delhi, India, some 800 kilometres west of the Nepalese capital to meet with business owners and politicians in the subcontinent.

But his agenda was scrapped and he is now involved in a race against time to locate the Spaniards who remain out of touch.

Such is the destruction in central Nepal that the plane carrying Margallo had to circle above Kathmandu’s airspace for over an hour until permission could be given to land, and the airport is said to be full to bursting as Nepalese people who have lost everything have sought refuge inside the terminal.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DESPITE ongoing media attention about Queen Letizia's slender frame and speculations about eating disorders, nutritionists say the diet followed by King Felipe's wife is one of the healthiest on record.

The former TV reporter, who became Queen in July when her husband was crowned Felipe VI, has suffered criticism in glossy magazines for being very slim and unfounded claims about anorexia – despite other women in her family having a very similar frame, showing her slight build is likely to be genetic.

But Dr Rubén Bravo of the European Medical Institute for Obesity (IMEO) says he and his team of 30 experts have studied over 150 so-called 'miracle weight-loss' diets and conclude that the Queen's régime is highly nutritious.

The Perricone Diet 'puts healthy eating ahead of weight loss as a priority', Dr Bravo explains.

“There may be a thousand and one ways of losing weight, but the end does not always justify the means, because you need to think about what's good for your health long-term and not fall into a vicious circle of rebound weight gain, metabolism disorders and other risks that counteract the effectiveness of different slimming plans,” says the nutritionist.

He and other specialists at the IMEO have found just five diets which work well, with the Perricone régime at the top of the list.

The healthiest slimming plans are those which aim for a moderate weight loss of no more than 1lb to 2lb, or half a kilo to a kilo a week, which are easy to stick to long-term and do not lead to rebound weight gain, Dr Bravo explains.

These diets include practically every food group, but with reduced quantities, and help to re-educate those who follow them by teaching them how to eat properly and lead a healthy lifestyle.

The Perricone diet includes all food groups, but reduces some and increases others depending upon the individual in order to prevent inflammation and oxidation of cells, which helps slow down the process of wrinkles forming and keeps infections at bay.

“A good diet, in my view, centres much more on being healthy than on how many kilos you can lose in how many days,” insists Dr Bravo.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWICE-WORLD champion Marc Márquez has just undergone an operation on a broken finger - but says he will not miss the Grand Prix in Jerez on Sunday, May 3.

The 22-year-old from Cervera (Lleida province) has just been discharged from the Dexeus Institute University Hospital after having had a titanium plate inserted into the little finger on his left hand.

"Once again, I'd like to thank Dr Javier Mir - I don't know what we'd do without him," said the MotoGP star on Facebook.

He broke his finger on Saturday when practicing dirt-track riding, one of his favourite training methods, and was rushed immediately to hospital for an operation, since any delays could risk leaving his hand at less than 100% and, unlike the majority of patients, ruin his career.

Márquez, who became world champion in his rookie year in 2013 and repeated the performance last year, will not know until the last minute whether he can go ahead with Friday's practice session in Jerez.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AMNESTY International staged a demonstration last night (Saturday) in Valencia with over 340 members calling for women's 'sexual and reproductive rights' to be considered 'basic human rights'.

They were largely protesting over Spain's plans to make it compulsory for women aged over 15 but under 18, or disabled women of any age, to obtain their parents' permission before being allowed to have an abortion for whatever reason, since they say this could put them at extreme risk.

Amnesty International, based upon figures from gynaecology departments, has shown that although the majority of women and girls aged under 18 are accompanied by one or both parents when they have an abortion, many of those who do not tell their parents are keeping it from them because of the potential psychological or even physical harm they could otherwise face.

From lifelong recriminations and put-downs to parents not allowing their daughters to have an abortion if they are against it in principle, through to being thrown out of the family home, forced to marry a rapist who got her pregnant, or even honour killings, women aged 16 and 17 who do not wish to tell their family are more likely to seek other, far more dangerous means of terminating a pregnancy, Amnesty International says.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

JOIN IN THE FUN AT THE 11TH ANNIVERSARY SOTOSOL WALK AND FUN RUN ON 30 MAY

The 11th annual Soto Solwalk and Fun Run is taking place on Saturday 30 May 2015 so make sure you add the date to your diary. The whole family (including the dog) can take part by choosing to walk or run 10KM or 16KM. It's all in aid of a fantastic charity helping children with cancer in Andalucía. Last year 550 people completed the event and raised a staggering Euro 25,000. 

There's no need to book in advance simply arrive on the day at Sotogrande International School at 9.30am with your voluntary donation and take part in the day's activities.  The finish line at The Hairy Lemon Sotogrande  in Puerto Sotogrande.

 Tee shirts, bandanas and wrist bands are available  all under Euro 10  and raffle tickets can be bought on the day or in advance  at Sotogrande International School. 

The walk is being sponsored by Jyske Bank , The Hairy Lemon Sotogrande, Patricia Darch Interior Design and William Hill. Patricia Darch's donation is made in memory of her grandson Arturo Darch who died of leukemia aged 18. All of the proceeds are accepted on behalf of Helping Children with Cancer - Danii children cancer's charity.

http://www.daniicharity.com/ 

The charity was started by former cancer sufferer Danii Toni and raises money for the Children's Oncology Ward, Virgen Del Rocio Hospital in Sevilla, the Fundacion Pequeno Desao and Andex.

Please also visit Facebook Daniicharity where you can see some of the hundreds of  children Danii has helped. 
 

PROTEST marches have seen over 10,000 people from Catalunya and parts of Valencia and Aragón this week in support of bull-running and non-fatal bull-fights gathering in the town of Amposta (Tarragona province).

The biggest demonstration the province has ever seen, the pro-bull crowds included livestock farmers who say 'someone sitting in an office in Barcelona' is 'encroaching on the freedom of a community'.

Catalunya and the Canary Islands are the only regions in Spain where bull-related activities are banned.

Although bull-fights are less common these days, bulls set loose in the streets under controlled conditions during fiestas are still part of the furniture.

In some cases, fireworks are tied to their horns or they are released into a ring opening out onto the sea so that members of the audience can join them and 'wind them up' in an attempt to get them to jump into the water.

A small number of cases of bulls drowning have led animal support groups to heighten their campaigning efforts, although in practice it tends to be people rather than bovines who end up in the sea, and spectator injury at bull-running events is very frequent.

One woman protesting in Amposta says many people who are against bull-running 'compare it to bull-fights' and to the bloodthirsty Toro de la Vega in Valladolid where bulls are surrounded by huge crowds of people attempting to spear them from the sidelines.

"In these cases, which happen outside Catalunya, they are indeed cruel because the bulls end up being tortured and killed," the protester says.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

The casino operator Paf (state-owned by the Finnish Aland Islands) and the Finnish hotel company Sunborn are in the process of opening an international casino on board the five-star super yacht hotel Sunborn Gibraltar. Subject to the grant of a license and regulatory approval, the planned soft launch will be on the 29^th April with the official launch planned for the 16^th May 2015.

This new casino promises its guests the most exclusive and luxurious casino experience in the region. This is no casual gaming room: the casino’s smart dress code, it’s tableside drink service, plus its membership programme, all ensure that at this casino provides an experience equal to that of Monte Carlo or Las Vegas.

The casino, to be referred to as Casino Sunborn, will offer visitors all the latest slot machines, five roulette tables and five card tables dedicated to the classic card games Black Jack and Punto Banco, plus our unique - Sunborn Stud Poker. Tables open daily from 4pm to 4am, slot machines open 24 hours a day.

For players who would like more privacy, or companies looking for a stylish corporate entertainment venue, the VIP Private Gaming Suite lives up to every expectation, with a dedicated waitress service and luxury food and beverage packages to suit every palate. The Suite also has a large open balcony and terrace where guests can enjoy a drink and stunning views across the marina with the imposing 'Rock' as your back drop, a unique experience.

Other VIP services will also include private jet, yacht and limousine transfer and charters and Harley Davidson bike rental. Guests can also book the adjoining suites for a 'Play & Stay' experience. Information about stakes and limits will be available on the website. For VIP Suite groups, table limits can be negotiated so that everyone can join in the games and experience the thrill of the moment. For suite groups and private clients contact info@casinosunborn.com for more information.

'The Casino Sunborn has truly reignited that unique Casino experience so often overlooked in the generic corporate venues that are now seen throughout the UK and Europe. Our concept is based on reviving the 'Club' atmosphere, intimate, friendly, welcoming and of course a safe, secure and professional gaming environment.' Dominick Stenson, Casino Manager

The casino is a joint proposal between Paf and Sunborn and will be located aboard the 142-metre-long seven-story-high Sunborn Super Yacht Hotel in Ocean Village Marina in downtown Gibraltar. The opening of this casino will create up to 75 new jobs for the local community in Gibraltar and Spain.

In addition to the international Casino Sunborn and the 189 five-star hotel guest rooms, the Sunborn Hotel in Gibraltar also offers a range of high-class restaurants and bars, an exclusive spa and pool area, a modern conference centre and a sundeck with stunning views across the straits of Gibraltar to the tip of northern Africa.

"The opening of the Casino Sunborn in Gibraltar signifies that Paf's land-based activities are now taking a big and exciting step into Europe, just like Paf.com online. The casino will also be a good base for creating synergies with our internet-based business. Our hope is that Paf's 50-year experience in the gaming industry combined with Sunborn’s knowledge of the international hotel industry will contribute to a unique casino experience for visitors," says Anders Ingves, CEO of Paf.

“Sunborn have an excellent partner in Paf for the casino development. As two well established Finnish-based companies we have a strong platform to establish an international casino business in Gibraltar. There is excellent potential for this and other future casino investments for Sunborn in Gibraltar and on board other future yacht hotels”, says Hans Niemi, Executive Director of Sunborn.

Sunborn is a privately-owned Finnish company with over 40 years experience in the hotel and hospitality business. Internationally, the Sunborn Group has just over 1,000 employees and an extensive property portfolio, which includes spa hotels, restaurants, yacht hotels and residential developments. Sunborn pioneered the floating hotel concept and specialises in designing, constructing and managing hotel projects around the world.

The Casino Sunborn is subject to licensing and regulatory approval from the Gibraltar Licensing Authority.

THE 13-year-old who murdered a supply teacher with a crossbow and injured two others had drawn Swastikas on his desk, according to sources from the Joan Fuster high school in Barcelona.

At least one of the unnamed pupil's classmates says he had compiled a blacklist of teachers and other students whom he 'did not like', and that although he talked of killing those on the list before committing suicide, they did not take him seriously.

He had made the murder weapon, a crossbow, himself out of wood and pens, having 'easily' found instructions for doing so on the internet.

The child also brought a machete and a home-made Molotov cocktail with him, which teachers just managed to stop him from blowing up in time.

Despite the murder having been planned, the teenager cannot be held criminally responsible – or even liable under civil law – because he is too young.

Spain's Minors' Law, which dates back to the year 2000, says under-18s cannot be found guilty of a criminal offence, although they are considered liable for their actions, and under-14s may not be held responsible at all.

This means the pupil cannot be held in custody, or even in a youth detention centre – unless he is found to be suffering from a certifiable psychiatric disorder that requires a hospital stay as an inpatient, he will remain free.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 13-year-old boy armed with a crossbow has killed a teacher and wounded three other people at a school in Barcelona this morning.

The incident occurred at 9.15am at the Instituto Joan Foster in the La Sagrera district in the north of the Catalan capital.

According to witnesses, the boy arrived late at the school and when a female teacher opened the door to him, he shot her in the face with a crossbow. The then fired at the teacher's daughter, a student in the class.

A supply teacher, who has been at the school for just over a week, responded to the cries and rushed into the classroom to protect his colleague, but the boy shot and killed him.

The boy, who was dressed in camouflage clothing and brandishing a knife as well as the crossbow, then went into another classroom where he threatened a second-year student.

Shortly afterwards the gym teacher found him in the corridor where he was preparing a petrol bomb and managed to control him until the police arrived.

The three injured people were taken to hospital but their wounds are not thought to be serious. Their attacker has been arrested, but if his age is confirmed as 13, he will not face charges as the age of criminal responsibility in Spain is 14.

The motive for the attacks is unclear, but there are reports that the boy was heard to say, “I hear voices; I want to stop all the voices.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NEW independent party running for local elections in May has chosen a DJ from the popular nightspot Pacha Ibiza as their mayoral candidate.

Joan Ribas, 51, will be gunning for the mayor's seat in Ibiza town in five weeks' time, but meanwhile, he will continue in the job he has held for over 20 years at the mixing desks of one of the White Isle's most heavily-frequented clubs.

Guanyem ('We Win') is a breakaway group which used to form part of Podemos, led at national level by university professor Pablo Iglesias and dubbed as 'the new centre-left' and a rival for the socialists.

Many Podemos members elected were not happy with their supporters' choice of number one candidate, and resigned en masse.

Following the Podemos-Guanyem split, the latter decided to hold its internal elections again, and Ribas got the highest number of votes.

But Ribas says: "Podemos supports Guanyem in many other town councils, and I personally know that many of them will support us here in Ibiza town, too."

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO streets in Spain have been named among the 'best in Europe' by the New York Times based upon their design, facilities and ease of access.

In fact, Spain is the only country on the list which has more than one street featured.

Madrid's C/ Zurbano has been picked because of its location and the fact it 'links the modern Chueca and Salesas districts in the centre' with the 'business and skyscraper district in the north', as well as for its spectacular buildings, some of its restaurants, and its museum dedicated to the Valencia-born 19th-century landscape painter Joaquín Sorolla.

San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, has seen its C/ 31 de Agosto chosen because of its wealth of bars where the region's typical cuisine can be enjoyed.

The other 10 streets featured in the article include one from the UK - Pimlico Road in London - and roads from two of Spain's neighbouring countries, France (Rue de Charonne in Paris) and Portugal (Rua Nova do Carvalho in Lisbon).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO Chinese men have been arrested in Palma de Mallorca for cheating in their driving theory exam.

One of them took the test in the main exam hall and filmed the questions, transmitting them in real time to the other, who sat in the hallway.

Each time the man in the hall went to answer a question, his complex gadgets beeped or vibrated at a very low volume to alert him of which were the right answers on the multiple choice paper, via the man in the corridor who was looking them up and tipping him off.

The candidate in the exam room had reportedly paid €2,000 for the other man's help to cheat in the test.

He is said to be an undocumented migrant.

Examiners became suspicious when they saw Y. X., aged 43, holding his question paper in an unnatural way to read it.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SINGAPOREAN multinational wants to open a six-star hotel and golf resort in Valencia's Juan Carlos I Royal Marina, complete with a museum made of glass, and gardens.

ARC Resorts also wants to help get the Formula 1 European Grand Prix back in Valencia, saying the extra revenue from the hotel will 'more than justify' its presence.

With an investment of €200 million over the next three years, the hotel complex will be 'the best urban resort in Europe' with 8,000 permanent new jobs, 754,000 extra tourists a year, private investment of up to €1 billion if the golf club and surrounding luxury residential estate planned is able to be built, an increase in Spain's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of €284m a year, rising to €5.6bn over 15 years.

The existing Docks building would be used, but the city council and regional government would have to agree to amendments to development and gambling regulations, given that the resort would probably include a casino.

According to ARC Resorts, the hotel would contain 120 suites, each measuring 400 square metres - about four times that of a spacious apartment or twice the floor area of a small villa – with a spa and sun terrace, but with the design always remaining in keeping with the original features of the Docks building, which was constructed in the year 1927.

It would include a casino, a 2,000-square-metre glass atrium, the only Global Glass Artist museum in Europe – which would be open to the public as well as hotel guests – limousines, yachts, and other services to 'meet the demand for top-end luxury'.

A huge concert and event arena with a souvenir shop selling fan merchandise, an indoor market and shopping centre 'three or four times the size' of the San Miguel one in Madrid, an arts and conference centre in the Veles e Vents building, a yacht club, offices and a sailing training centre in the Team Alinghi building, and another hotel – although with fewer than six stars – of 500 rooms are included in ARC Resorts' proposals.

The company would also modernise the park, gardens and landscape in general of the Marina.

ARC already has similar complexes up and running in Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan, and another built in the port of the city-State itself has turned Singapore Marina Bay into a booming and élite tourism and residential centre (pictured top left), whereas prior to its opening in 2003 the area was just a commercial harbour.

Valencia is 'ideal' for the project, because it boasts the necessary infrastructure, excellent weather and local cuisine and is very geared-up to tourism already, but the Marina, which 'could be the jewel in its crown' is 'lacking content'.

MÁLAGA'S famous annual film festival kicked off last night and will find the Costa del Sol capital replete with celebrities for the next 10 days.

A homage to Spanish cinema, the competition will feature 13 full-length feature films including those of experienced directors Antonio Hernández (Matar el Tiempo, or 'Killing Time') and Joaquín Oristrell (Hablar, or 'Speak'), Isabel Coixet (Aprendiendo a Conducir, or 'Learning to Drive'), and Alfonso Albacete (Sólo química, or 'Only chemistry').

The latter two will be hors concours, and an additional documentary will be shown of Coixet's personal and professional life from the beginning until the present day.

Among the up-and-coming male directors is Zoe Berriatúa with Los Héroes del Mal, or 'Heroes of Evil', a gritty coming-of-age tale centred on a group of teenagers, dealing with the intensity of young adult friendship and first love set against a backdrop of violence.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FORMER government vice-president for the economy and ex-chairman of Bankia Rodrigo Rato has been arrested and charged with fraud and money-laundering.

He was seen being placed in a police car just after 20.00hrs yesterday (Thursday) on the C/ Castelló in Madrid, outside his office.

Raids were carried out on the main residence of the accused in the up-market Salamanca neighbourhood of the capital.

Police cordoned off the street as they carried out stringent searches and removed five boxes of material for closer examination.

The tax collection authorities were behind the arrest of Rato,  66, who is the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (FMI) as well as minister of the economy during the reign of former PP president José María Aznar, which ended in 2004.

An arrest warrant means he will not have to appear before a judge, but pending further inquiries he is now said to have been released with charges.

His office in Madrid was searched, as was a solicitors' firm on the luxury Sotogrande urbanisation in San Roque (Cádiz) in southern Spain.

Rato has not denied that he took party in president Mariano Rajoy's 'tax amnesty' of 2012, in which anyone who had withheld assets from the authorities was given a 'window' to declare it, pay the outstanding dues, and avoid fines or further legal action.

But the tax collection department found 'contradictions' in the declarations made both during the amnesty and the following year, leading to his being placed on their list of money-laundering suspects.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HEALTH authorities in Spain have warned of the risks of heart problems and strokes caused by taking too much Ibuprofen, but assure that 'moderate doses' of the over-the-counter anti-inflammatory are 'safe'.

According to the Spanish Agency for Medication and Healthcare Products (AEMPS), part of the national government's ministry of health, doctors have now been recommended not to prescribe doses of 2.4 grams (approximately four tablets) a day of pure Ibuprofen, or 1.2 grams of Dexibuprofen per day to patients who have serious cardiovascular conditions, ischaemic cardiopathy, heart failure, peripheral arterial disease or have suffered or are at risk of a stroke or brain haemorrhage.

As is the case with all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, doctors should recommend the lowest dose possible for pain control over the shortest time period.

Taking 1.2 grams – normally two tablets – of Ibuprofen per day as an anti-inflammatory, pain-killer or anti-thermic medication 'is not normally associated with higher cardiovascular risks', AEMPS says.

But doses of 2.4 grams, typically four tablets – if these are 600mg pills, or three if they are 800mg – are not typical and would need to be prescribed.

Only around 2% of the population needs to take this much, AEMPS says.
 
In nine in 10 households in Spain, consumption of Ibuprofen is within safe limits – 21.51 defined daily doses (DDD) of 1.2 grams each per 1,000 inhabitants, according to health minister Alfonso Alonso.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NATIONAL Police have warned of an email scam from hackers purporting to be from the Spanish post office, Correos.

It claims the user has a registered letter or parcel to collect, for which they need to click on a link, and if they do not do so, Correos will charge them €7.55 a day for holding it.

Spaniards and those who speak Spanish to a high level will notice that the text contains grammatical errors, but for those who do not, the main clue that the message is not from the post office is in the fact that accented letters are replaced with an apostrophe before or after the vowel.

If users click on the link, this will automatically download malware which changes all files on the infected computer to 'encrypted'.

The programme changes the extensions on all documents to 'encrypted', meaning they cannot be opened or read.

And the hackers advise that to restore the files will cost €299, provided this is paid by a given deadline, after which the amount will double.

Police warn not to open any links unless the user is sure about where they come from, to keep antivirus software updated, never run files with the extension .exe unless certain they are safe, always ensure file extensions are visible and back up everything, ideally on a separate pen drive, so that in the event of a hacking attack the operating system can be reinstalled and the files will be safe.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BRITISH father-of-two who disappeared after a stag party in Barcelona showed up at the Consulate after having walked non-stop for 20 hours.

Marc Carn, 29, was reported missing when he failed to catch his return flight home to Plymouth, Devon (UK) on Sunday.

His partner Emma Harvey, 31, said Tuesday this week was their twin sons Stanley and Freddie's first birthday and he 'would never have wanted to miss it'.

Building firm owner Marc was drinking with friends at Flaherty's Irish bar on the lively tourist street, Las Ramblas, in Barcelona city centre on Saturday when he was last seen.

He says he had hailed a cab to take him back to hotel, but that the driver 'took him miles out of the city'.

When Marc told him his hotel was nowhere near where they were heading, the driver allegedly threw him out of the taxi and told him to 'find his own way home'.

The reveller's phone battery had gone flat and he had spent all his money in the bar, so had no way of calling for help.

He decided to walk back in the direction of the city and, as the hours wore on and he knew he was definitely going to miss his flight, began to search for the British Consulate.

It took him from Saturday night until Monday morning – 20 hours in total – to get there.

His sister-in-law Anna Harvey said she and the family were 'ecstatic' to learn he had been found alive and well after having feared the worst for nearly two days.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S foreign affairs minister suggested setting up an international 'terrorism tribunal' in a bid to fight the incessant spread of Jihad at the Euro-Arab summit meeting in Barcelona yesterday (Monday).

José Manuel García-Margallo says this would be a completely separate entity from the existing International Criminal Court in The Hague (Den Haag), The Netherlands, and would allow countries which have not yet signed up to the latter – such as China, the USA and Israel – to join forces in the war on terrorism.

A meeting is planned this Friday in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, with representatives from this and other countries including Spain and The Netherlands, and from UNESCO, to discuss the matter further.

UNESCO's presence relates to the recent destruction of historical heritage sites in northern Iraq, including Ninive and Nimrud, by the Islamic State.

Margallo says Spain intends to present its idea of an international court focusing entirely on terrorism to the United Nations' Security Council in October.

The suggestion has already been floated before in Europe, but not in recent decades.

An international terrorism tribunal was briefly launched in 1937, three years after the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia.

The main obstacle for a 21st-century version, however, is that the definition of 'terrorism' as a crime is full of grey areas and loopholes, Margallo admits.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GUARDIA Civil sniffer dogs have found traces of drugs inside a helicopter which had apparently 'crashed itself' in the province of Almería – it was discovered abandoned with no crew members, injured or otherwise, a week ago today.

Police say they cannot determine whether the drugs, believed to be marijuana, were in the craft when it fell out of the sky and landed in the Fernán Pérez area of the Cabo de Gata nature reserve in Níjar.

The craft had no flight plan and its navigation across Andalucía's air space was not recorded anywhere, according to the Guardia Civil.

It crashed and overturned with enough impact to destroy the helices and tail, but apparently not enough to cause any injuries or fatalities, given that the pilot and any other crew members on board were nowhere to be found.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

POLICE in Spain have disbanded a 'virtual kidnapping' racket run by prisoners in Chile to blackmail thousands of euros out of residents across the pond.

Inmates in a jail in Santiago de Chile (pictured), the capital of the South American country, had been phoning Spanish numbers randomly and claiming to be holding one of their relatives hostage, demanding huge sums in ransom money.

They would keep the victim on the phone with threats of violence towards the 'kidnapped' family member, which would prevent the victim from hanging up and phoning the person in question to check they were safe, and with the intention of making them pay up in panic.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LEADING consumer association in Spain has released details of the five most common forms of telephone-based fraud, annoyances or forms of deception which are not technically illegal which it deals with on a daily basis.

The OCU receives over 40,000 complaints relating to mobile and landline phones and internet connections every year, and a significant number of these concern premium-rate lines and text messages, hard selling via cold calling and bothersome advertising.

One of these is the 'missed call scam' whereby the mobile phone owner fails to answer a call in time from an unknown number and, when returning it to find out who it was, is re-routed automatically to a premium-rate line – typically those starting in 806, 807, 906 or 907.

These either cost a very high sum per minute or, if the phone owner picks up in time, will be billed up to €4 just for answering.

A similar fraud involves an answerphone message if the phone owner answers in time, advising of a message or package to be sent to their home, which they need to send a text message to confirm can be delivered.

From that moment on, the mobile user is billed for a subscription to an expensive 'service' whereby he or she is charged a high amount for receiving adverts via text message – a system known as SMS Premium.

Other premium-rate phone number scams include calling or texting the mobile user about a job offer, which they are then advised to call a certain line to get details of.

These are high-cost numbers, usually starting 806 or 807, but in the event of a voice call the mobile user is told to phone 'eighty, seventy-five', and so on rather than 'eight zero seven', in an attempt to ensure they do not notice this is the case.

Apps with a built-in virus are frequent, but the phone owner does not realise until he or she gets a bill at the end of the month.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CATALUNYA has responded to Spanish president Mariano Rajoy's assertion that Europe will 'never accept a one-sided declaration of independence' by reminding him that 25 years ago, many of the countries in the European Union did not exist.

“International politics are constantly changing,” insisted Francesc Homs, regional minister of the presidency in Catalunya.

“It's a shame the president of Spain cannot show an approach closer to the essence of democracy and respect what the people of Catalunya feel,” Homs stated, referring to Rajoy's categoric refusal to enter into any discussions or negotiations and blocking any type of referendum, or even informal opinion poll, on Catalunya's secession.

“Rajoy only talks about laws – but does democracy actually count, or not?”

Homs says the government of Catalunya is not expecting any response from the European leaders to whom it has recently sent a memorandum explaining Rajoy's 'lack of willingness to discuss the issue', in the words of the region's president Artur Mas, but says Catalunya has had an 'intense schedule of officious contacts' with all EU governments and main global powers of late.

“There hasn't been a week gone by when we haven't had one contact or another of this nature,” according to Homs.

World welcomes 34 countries since 1990

Homs is quite correct insofar as the decade of the 1990s saw an upsurge of new countries being created, and several more followed in the first 10 years of the 21^st century – in fact, in the 25-year period Catalunya's minister for presidency refers to, a total of 34 countries have appeared which were not there before.

And eight of these are now in the European Union.

Curiously, Catalunya has indeed been an independent State already in recent history – from 1932 to 1934, and again during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 - meaning it has already experienced seven years of sovereignty in the 20th century alone.

MUSEUMS in Barcelona are beginning to ban 'selfie sticks' to prevent injuries to members of the public.

Poles of around 110 centimetres (3'7") to hold a mobile phone at a distance enabling their users to take better pictures of themselves are becoming rife in major tourist attractions and, although the Sagrada Família cathedral and the Barça Museum still allows them, several other venues in the city have added them to their banned list along with spiked umbrellas, large rucksacks, tripods, flashes, food and drink, chewing gum and animals other than guide dogs.

These so far include the Casa Amatller, the Casa Lleó i Morera, the Picasso Museum and the Catalunya National Art Museum.

The Sagrada Família is strict on 'any items which may cause danger or annoyance' to visitors or which 'impede the normal visiting process' of the cathedral, and bans skateboards, rollerskates, bikes, scissors, knives, highlighter pens, paint sprays, any clothing or accessories which prevents a person from being identified, and anyone entering under the influence of alcohol or drugs - but as yet, 'selfie sticks' are still permitted.

And the Barça FC Museum allows 'selfie sticks' as long as they are no more than 70 centimetres (2'3") long, even though it prohibits entry to visitors carrying objects weighing more than half a kilo (1.1lbs) and handbags, rucksacks and all other personal belongings are subject to searches.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LOW-COST carrier Ryanair has banned alcohol from flights between Ibiza and Glasgow as a result of 'inappropriate behaviour' by certain passengers, according to the company.

Drink will not be permitted in hand-luggage - despite the liquid restrictions, miniature bottles of spirits fall within the limits and can generally be carried on board - and will not be sold in flight on the route from Glasgow Prestwick airport to the Balearic party island.

Any alcohol purchased in duty free stores airside must be checked in at the departure gate in a proper bag where it will be labelled, although the airline says this will not carry an extra charge.

But passengers who try to sneak on board with booze and are caught will be refused entry to the craft and not entitled to refund or compensation.

Those who get drunk in the departure lounge to get around the in-flight booze ban are likely to be denied boarding if they are causing public disturbance.

Ryanair says it has already had to remove passengers from flights because they became rowdy after drinking.

A video from September showed a group of drunken travellers on a Ryanair connection from Glasgow to Ibiza who were swearing, stamping their feet and chanting.

And in 2013, a total of 14 passengers were removed from the plane for disorderly behaviour.

Their Glasgow-Ibiza flight had had to be diverted to Beauvais airport, near Paris, for safety reasons because of the way those on board were acting.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPACIOUS four-bed house in a Castellón province town has been won in a raffle for just €10.

Pepe Bolumar and his family inherited the 141-square-metre home in the large inland village of Segorbe, 32 kilometres from the nearest beach and just 80 kilometres from the ski slopes of Javalambre and Valdelinares in Teruel, and needed to sell it because the cost of keeping an empty property they did not use was proving a headache.

But it is a buyer's market at present, with bargains galore waiting to be snapped up by anyone who has the cash or can get the finance, mostly foreign buyers who currently have their choice of excellent homes close to beaches, on residential complexes with swimming pools, and near to all amenities including airports.

This meant that even though the property was advertised at just €90,000, the family did not get any viewers.

They then hit upon the idea of selling raffle tickets.

“People would then have the chance to buy a home for a discounted price, and we would still end up covering the value of it,” said Pepe, 35.

Setting up the website lotohome.es and advertising the coveted prize took over a year, since the family faced mountains of bureaucracy and had to convince the tax authorities to let them go ahead.

And they had to convince the public – worldwide, not just in Spain – that there really was no catch involved.

In fact, the prize home came with no strings attached – even purchasing taxes would be paid by the 'sellers'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TENNIS ace Rafa Nadal, NBA basketball star Pau Gasol and goalkeeper Iker Casillas are the three sports personalities most Spanish workers would like to have as their boss.

A survey by recruitment firm Adecco found Mallorca-born Rafa to be the most-admired leader in Spain, netting 38.9% of the votes and mostly from women, who also picked Iker Casillas, third-favourite with 25.6% of the votes.

Male workers were more likely to choose Pau Gasol, who took 25.7% of the votes, followed by Spanish football team trainer Vicente del Bosque, in fourth place with 24.9%, and Bayern Munich FC's Pep Guardiola, fifth with 24% of the votes.

Younger interview subjects picked Iker Casillas most often, and older workers were more likely to choose Vicente del Bosque.

The remainder of the top 10, which saw very close results between everyone on the list, was made up of footballer Andrés Iniesta, Formula 1 ex-champ Fernando Alonso, MotoGP whizz-kid Marc Márquez, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Mireia Belmonte, and retired gymnast Almudena Cid.

Those who chose these 10 celebrities to be their 'ideal boss' said their characters and style of leadership would make them the most happy at work.

All those surveyed were asked about the qualities they consider an 'ideal boss', sportsperson or otherwise, should have.

Practically all of them - 96% - said a 'good boss' is one who 'mucks in' and 'transmits positive energy' and 'good humour' to his or her team to get employees to produce their best.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TAX declaration season has started a fortnight early this year, and annual returns for income earned in 2014 can be filed from today (Tuesday, April 7).

Rebates will come earlier than usual, as was the case last year, but those who are required to make a payment because of a shortfall last year have until the end of June to do so or to request the total be divided into quotas.

Declaration forms, known as borradores, are not automatically sent to the taxpayer by post in paper format and have to be requested specifically.

In many cases, expatriates and Spaniards alike tend to use an accountant or gestor to file their tax return, especially where their income is from more than one source or where they have elements that can be offset against it or require additional declaration.

All pension income received from providers or governments outside of Spain must be declared, and anyone who has not done this in the past should do so immediately as they may be liable for tax based upon the last four years' income.

Appointments at the tax office can be booked online at agenciatributaria.es or by telephone on 901 22 33 44 (Monday to Friday from 09.00hrs to 19.00hrs) from May 6 until June 29, although the earliest date for a face-to-face visit will be May 11.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PRO-INDEPENDENCE parties in Catalunya have worked out a way of turning the region into a separate country within 18 months if they win the elections.

Left Republic of Catalunya (Esquerra Republicana Catalana, or ERC), CDC and Convergència ('Convergence') hope to form an alliance with left-wing party ICV-EUiA and with CUP and Unió ('Union'), together with the groups in favour of the region's secession – the Catalunya National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium and AMI.

If the regional elections – held on September 27 in Catalunya, rather than in May as is the case with most other parts of Spain – lead to an outright majority win for parties who support independence from Spain, the region will proclaim itself a separate State within 18 months.

The only condition will be a poll to agree the content of the State Constitution for Catalunya and a public referendum where residents in and citizens of the region vote 'yes' or 'no', in the same way as Scottish residents did last year.

Described as a 'route planner' to independence by 2017 – if that is what Catalunya's people want – those who hope the region will soon become the world's newest country are going all out for their goal this time and aiming for safety in numbers.

But they may face considerable opposition from the central government, since president Mariano Rajoy (PP) has already passed details of the 'independence route planner' to the State law service to find out how he can block it.

In the meantime, some of the parties in Catalunya with only a regional presence at the moment have considered not running for the national elections in order to give new left-wing independents Podemos a better chance.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

JUST over 10% of Spain's population is foreign, with British citizens making up the third national group among the country's expatriates, says the Permanent Observatory on Immigration (OPI).

The total figure stands at 4,925,089, based upon European Union nationals who hold a 'green certificate', which replaces the former photo residence card and the NIE certificate, and upon the numbers of non-EU nationals with a residence visa.

As at the last day of 2014 - for which the most recent statistics are available - a total of 2,773,707 were either EU nationals or immediate family members of these including husbands, wives and blood relatives such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces and nephews, meaning 56.32% of all foreign nationals in Spain are from countries adhering to the free movement treaty.

Of these, 370,580 were non-EU citizens but direct family members of those who are, and the remaining 2,403,127 are nationals of the 28 European Union member States.

Romanians make up the largest citizen group, with 953,183 of them living in Spain, followed by Moroccans, of whom 770,735 are legally resident, and Brits, who make up 275,817.

The number of foreign residents in Spain reduced last year by 183,598, of whom 82,530 were from the EU, but of the remaining 101,068 the decline was largely due to non-Europeans acquiring Spanish citizenship.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A CRASHED helicopter has been found near Níjar (Almería province) but with no passengers, crew or anybody injured.

The craft is only slightly damaged, leading Guardia Civil officers investigating the situation to believe it had not fallen out of the sky at speed or any great height, but it is lying on its side which suggests it has not just been parked and abandoned.

No injured persons have been found nearby, nor have any bodies.

A total mystery to police and Níjar's mayor Antonio Jesús Rodríguez, it appears as though it had flown itself and crashed, although not with any real impact.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ISRAEL is bringing sophisticated software to Spain to heighten airline safety in view of the Germanwings crash in the French Alps en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf.

An IT-based programme manufactured in the Middle Eastern country is capable of detecting people with psychological problems, including those who have difficulties working in a team or who support radical movements.

Used heavily on the national carrier Israel Airlines, the system is also employed with recruits for the Hebrew Armed Forces as well as in the public and private sector.

A vast majority of Israel Airlines' pilots were originally in the country's air force where they were obliged to undergo testing using the software before being allowed to work on commercial flights, and regular random tests are carried out on passenger plane carriers and crew or even customers themselves to attempt to prevent potential or active terrorists from boarding.

The Nemesysco Security Solutions programme even managed to detect former US president Bill Clinton was 'stressed' by analysing his voice on video when he explained to the nation about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPANISH high-street clothing empire Inditex's success lies in its 'swift production speed', says a London business college professor.

Speaking of sportswear brand Adidas' recently-announced plans to centre its operations on manufacturing in Europe, marketing tutor Vince Mitchell of Cass Business School says the textile firm owned by Spain's richest man, Amancio Ortega had paved the way for global success by concentrating on getting its goods made and on the shelves in record time.

He referred especially to budget label Zara, the main Inditex brand known outside of Spain, although the company's practices work similarly for its other lines - mid-upper high-street ranges Uterqüe and Massimo Dutti, quality interiors chain Zara Home, cut-price streetwear label Pull&Bear, underwear branch Oysho, and the cut-price versions of Zara - Bershka and Stradivarius, which are marketed for teenagers spending their pocket money.

And now German sports firm Adidas has taken its lead from the Galician empire - it is testing automated production units which, when combined with existing human staff's efforts, would make manufacturing faster and allow customers to seek a personal touch when buying goods.

So far, however, automated production has failed to convince investors outside of Europe or to keep rival brand Nike from encroaching on its market share - although it did cause an increase in share prices in Frankfurt.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN has been ordered to halt the deportation of an asylum-seeker from Cameroon thanks to a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) verdict.

The woman requested asylum at Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport, having managed to escape from her home country where she had been forced into an arranged marriage and was suffering extreme physical violence.

But the Office of Asylum and Refuge (OAR) in Spain turned down her application.

The Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR) took on the case and appealed, saying there were 'numerous indicators' that her life and 'physical integrity' would be in real danger if she was deported back to Cameroon.

After the National Court rejected the appeal, the CEAR's legal team, led by Paloma Favieres, applied to the ECHR in Strasbourg, France for an express verdict, given that the young woman's expulsion from Spain was imminent.

The ECHR agreed her case fell within the terms of 'Rule number 39', which prevents women at risk of forced marriage and domestic violence in their home countries from being made to leave the European country in which they had sought asylum.

During the three weeks since she arrived, the woman has remained in a cell at Madrid airport, but has now been able to leave and will be offered safe shelter in Spain.

In the past four years, the CEAR has appealed on behalf of 45 asylum-seekers and secured a favourable verdict for 42 of them.

Last year, the Commission successfully appealed against the deportation of 30 Saharans from the immigration internment centre in Fuerteventura.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A FIREBALL travelling at 45,000 kilometres per hour was seen from the province of Toledo this week - the second time this year.

The burning rock, a chunk of an asteroid, flew through the skies above the central region of Castilla-La Mancha at 04.39hrs on Monday, say astronomers from the observatory in La Hita, near Toledo.

It was about 26 kilometres up from the ground when it was first spotted, having firstly sailed across the horizon over nearby Espinosa del Rey at 85 kilometres up.

This is the second time in 2015 a fireball has crossed over Toledo - on February 20 at 01.47hrs, another fragment of an asteroid impacted with the atmosphere at a speed of 60,000 kilometres per hour above Talavera de la Reina before disappearing from the horizon over La Puebla de Almoradiel.

According to the observatory, this type of phenomenon is not unusual in the area.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com