Live News From Spain As It Happens

MILITARY troops from the USA will be based permanently in Spain to allow them to prepare missions in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

A deal has been reached between the Spanish government, led by Mariano Rajoy and US president Barack Obama for 2,200 American soldiers and 500 civilian employees as back-up to work permanently from the airbase at Morón de la Frontera (Sevilla province).

This means they will be closer to sites of major conflict and better-placed to handle humanitarian crises, and to provide protection for US embassies and for American citizens abroad who run into trouble in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, helping to reinforce efforts to bring stability to troubled areas in these three parts of the world.

US military aircraft in use at the Morón base would increase to 26 planes, and the 850 US soldiers already stationed there would nearly treble.

An agreement will be signed on Monday this week in Spain when US Secretary of State, John Kerry, travels there.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

VALENCIA'S first-ever Irish pub, Finnegan's has pulled its last pint of Guinness after 20 years trading in the heart of the city and closed down for good.

Set up by Irish expat Peter Finnegan, the bar was practically a clone of the one his family runs in the Emerald Isle and which goes by the same name in the town of Dalkey, south of Dublin.

The décor was brought over from Ireland to Peter's premises in the Plaza de la Reina, close to the famous Micalet bell-tower next to the cathedral, and popular with locals in the city as well as tourists.

Since 1995, Finnegan's of Dublin was one of the few pubs in Valencia where customers could watch the Rugby Six Nations or the British Premier League matches - and fans from all over Spain and Europe used it as their 'watering hole' when Valencia FC or Levante UD played major matches.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SUPERMARKET chain Mercadona has made it into the top 50 biggest family-run businesses in the world, beating Spanish clothing empire Inditex by seven places.

A list of the 500 largest on the planet put together by the Centre for Excellence at Ernst&Young accountants, together with the Family-Run Business Centre at Switzerland's Saint Gallen University, features the Valencia-based company at number 48.

This means the supermarket network, which now has branches all over the country and was founded by Juan Roig and family, has beaten the firm behind the Zara chain in terms of size.

As was to be expected, the largest family-run company on Earth is Wal-Mart, in the USA, which has an annual turnover of €437 billion (US$476.3bn) – and, in fact, the United States accounts for 20% of the total, or 101 out of the 500.

But considering the size of Spain in comparison to that of the USA, the fact that the latter only has 10 times as many firms in the top 500 as the former is a massive achievement for the Mediterranean company.

Spain's 10 largest family firms include global department store El Corte Inglés, transport and infrastructure corporation Ferrovial, service and maintenance giant FCC, plus Acciona, Corporación Gestamp, OHL, Prisa, and Grupo Antolín.

This means Mercadona is bigger and more profitable than El Corte Inglés and the firm behind Spain's railways, with its turnover of €22.3bn (US$24.3bn).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MADRID city council has been accused of 'mass destruction' of in-house paperwork which may even include the municipal population census, or padrón, and the last will and testament of King Carlos III.

One of Spain's major unions, the labourers' commission (CCOO) says the decision to shred papers is taken, by law, by the incoming city council after each election, and has slammed the existing mayoress, Ana Botella, for pre-empting this.

“The CCOO has never heard of such a reckless and radical document destruction incident,” complains the union, which considers the city hall's response that it was 'only trying to clear some space' to be 'a poor excuse'.

“Wouldn't it be more logical to wait for the new local government to decide what is surplus to requirements, what is needed, and how much space is necessary?” the CCOO wonders.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AIR-TRAFFIC controllers in Spain have planned four strikes hitting morning and afternoon flights in two weeks' time.

They will down tools for four hours on Monday, June 8 and on Wednesday and Friday of that week, and then again on Sunday, June 14.

The strike will be split equally between mornings – from 10.00hrs to noon - and evenings from 18.00hrs to 20.00hrs, meaning flights are likely to be cancelled or delayed.

According to the air-traffic control workers' union, USCA, they had planned the demonstrations for March, but the Germanwings crash in the French Alps en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, of which there were no survivors, forced them to put it off.

They were then going to strike over Easter and during the local and regional elections in Spain, held on Sunday, but decided to leave it until June.

This is in response to fines issued to 61 air-traffic controllers who went on strike in December 2010 despite the then president of the government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, declaring a state of emergency to prevent them from doing so.

They were suspended from their jobs for a month without pay, and one air-traffic controller in the north-western cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela was fired after Spanish air-space was closed on December 3 and 4, 2010.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONE in four men aged 35 to 44 live alone and men make up six in 10 of all under-65s who are the sole occupants of their homes, according to Eurostat.

Men who live alone are predominantly single or divorced, whilst female sole occupants tend to be widows – this is true of 58.8% of them.
One in 10 people in Spain live on their own, or one in four households.
The average household was made up of 2.51 people by the end of last year, a fall from the 2.53 average in 2013.
Three in 10 homes are occupied by two people, who account for 5.5 million in total.
Households based around couples are the most common, with 10.3 million families of this type in Spain, and just under 40% of them do not have any children whilst a quarter of them have just one child.

Families of three or more children now only make up 600,000 of Spain's households, or 3.3%, although they have increased in number in the past year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DOZENS of would-be migrants from various parts of Africa have hijacked a delivery lorry in the Valencia area which was heading for the UK in an attempt to get into the latter country.

The driver, Galicia-based Carlos Cudeiro, 37, said he was transporting pre-cooked sliced bread from a factory to Britain via France, but only got as far as Quart de Poblet (Valencia) before he was held up by '20 or 30 men' who were 'armed with crowbars, knives and picks'.

Cudeiro said he saw them beating up the Lithuanian lorry driver who was just in front of him in a traffic queue on the A-7 motorway, breaking the chains around the back door and trying to enter the container.

Seeing the Lithuanian lorry was full of pallets and there was no room for them, the gang approached Carlos' lorry, which was carrying a cargo from the bread factory in Feignies, northern France to take to Rugby, Warwickshire via the Eurotunnel in Calais.

"They threatened me through the window. They said if I didn't keep quiet, they'd beat me up," he reveals.

The men reportedly forced their way into the cabin and the container, throwing full boxes of bread out onto the road - rendering it unsaleable - in order to get inside.

Cudeiro had to ring the factory and explain what had happened, and they told him to turn back without completing his journey, for his own safety.

An hour into his return journey, hearing banging noises in the hold, Cudeiro realised he was 'not travelling alone' and rang the transport company in Valencia to warn them.

They called the National Police and the Gendarmerie in France, who agreed he should stop at the next layby on the A26, near Arrás.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TOWN councils in Spain which were dissolved ahead of Sunday's elections will re-form on June 13 – and in some cases, the parties involved will need every minute of that time for negotiations and coalition-forming.

Residents in Spain of all nationalities voted for 8,122 mayors' roles and 67,640 councillors' seats, and with many of these more fragmented than ever, a high number of winning parties will either be governing in minority or have to wait and see whether enough parties on the opposition can band together to make a significant enough minority to be able to oust them and take control.

The PP party has, across the board, been the one to earn the most votes at local council level, but in the majority of cases with a significant loss of seats leaving them in a minority.

Saturday, June 13 will be when an internal vote is held – all councillors who now occupy a seat will be required to vote for a lead candidate to become mayor or mayoress – the female form of the title exists in the Spanish language, which differentiates between alcalde and alcaldesa, unlike in English where a mayoress is the name given to a mayor's wife, be the mayor a man or a woman – but if this vote does not decide who will lead the town, the number one candidate of the party which won the most seats will become mayor, or mayoress.

If this is tied, the 'winning' name will literally be pulled out of a hat.

Where parties which have not won enough seats to govern decide to form pacts or coalitions with others on the list in order to obtain a majority large enough to run the town, they will be expected to present details, including a lead candidate, at the first full public council meeting of the new term of office on June 13.

'Majority' means a different number for each town depending upon their population – winning more votes than any other party does not necessarily mean the most successful outfit's leader will take over the reins.

For villages with fewer than 100 inhabitants, the minimum number of council seats available in total is three, and there is no maximum.

Cities, towns and villages with up to 100,000 inhabitants have 25 council seats, and for each additional 100,000 residents, another seat is added.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRAND-NEW independent party Podemos says Spain's bipartite political system is 'starting to write its final chapter' and is celebrating the election results as the first step on the way to 'irreversible changes'.

Leader Pablo Iglesias, a 36-year-old university lecturer who started Podemos 18 months ago in a borrowed garage in Madrid, was among the first party boss to speak out publicly after the full recount of the ballots.

Iglesias says his team has 'accepted the challenge' of winning the general elections in November and governing Spain.

The left-wing independents did not run for local elections in many town councils and, where they did, they did not use the party's title - they opted to use alternative names for their local circles, or for members to stand as independent candidates in parties with similar values, such as United Left.

But Podemos ran for the regional elections and has been one of the key forces behind the historical loss of seats for the 'big two' combined.

"The 'caste' [PP and PSOE] has had some of its worst results ever," Iglesias commented.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy has spoken to his cabinet after the regional and local elections in a much-anticipated meeting after the PP lost 2.5 million votes and saw its outright majority in the country's 17 federal communities disappear overnight.

Rajoy said unnecessarily that the results were 'not what he had hoped for', although thanked the six million voters who had 'shown their confidence' in the party.

But the fact the PP still earned the highest number of votes 'proves it is still the favourite' for 'the Spanish', said Rajoy.

"The PP's victory is unquestionable, but we have not attained the majorities that the people of Spain gave us four years ago, so we are not satisfied - denying this is as absurd as denying we've won the elections," the president commented.

"I'm not going to shield myself from the disappointment by reminding myself we're the most-voted-for party, because we want more. The PP will continue to work either as government or as opposition for Spain's recovery - our aim is for people's quality of life to improve."

Rajoy continued to stress the importance of 'stability' in government because 'economic recovery is easier this way' and that consistency in ruling is 'valuable'.

"When it comes to negotiating pacts or coalitions, our philosophy is the creation of transparent and stable alliances, but always respecting the most-voted candidate lists," Rajoy continued.

Echoing the words of the winning candidate for Madrid's regional presidency, Cristina Cifuentes, Rajoy admitted the PP needed to be 'closer to the people' and that it suffered from 'communication problems', but said the poor results would not have any negative consequences for the government itself or the PP.

"I've been with this party for many years and I'm very comfortable and content here. I have no plans to make changes - I don't believe the problems come from changing or not changing, and I intend to run for presidency again at the general elections."

He has finally admitted that the corruption cases blighting members of the PP had indeed affected the results of the local and regional elections, but insisted that those which had come to light in the months leading up to the elections dated back from 'a very long time ago'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEW European Union rules could reduce the numbers of plastic carrier bags used in member States even further, according to a report by Eroski Consumer, part of the Spain-wide supermarket chain which originated in the Basque Country.

The directive of April 29, number 2015/720, says the 28 countries must either reduce the number of carrier bags each person is allowed to take home from the supermarket, or limit the number given out without charge.

In Spain, supermarkets already charge a small fee for carrier bags, ranging from two to 10 cents, depending upon the size.

This means it would be obliged to restrict carrier bag sales, aiming for a maximum of 90 per person by the end of 2019 in total, or 40 at most by the end of this year.

For countries other than Spain, where bags are free of charge at the till,  they must cease to be so by December 21, 2018.

The full EU Directive must be incorporated into national law by November 27, 2016.

Carrier bag recycling remains very low in the EU and use of them varies dramatically from country to country, depending upon consumers' attitudes to them.

Many use them as rubbish bags instead of buying separate bin liners, meaning they would have to be swapped for plastic sacks and the saving in amounts of plastic damaging the environment would therefore be minimal, or even non-existent.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEARLY a third of family dogs decide their owners' holiday destinations these days – and if they opt for Ibiza, the four-legged members of the clan can spend it in the lap of luxury.

Around 50 hotels on the island have gone from 'tolerating' dogs accompanying human guests to actively catering for them, VIP-style.

They regale the animals with a personalised gift basket, dressing gown, blanket, bottle of mineral water and an 'extra' such as a furry toy, bone, or giant dog biscuit.

Gift baskets include 'dog champagne', swimwear so they can use the pool, and dog shampoo.

Activities for pampered pets include themed walks and manicures on the beach.

Menus for dogs are included in the human food list in the hotel room and varieties include dishes made with rice, chicken soup, carrots, onions, green asparagus and spinach, or chopped fillet steak, or chopped pork in cous cous with carrot and courgette – and even desserts.

Depending upon levels of luxury required, pet suites can cost from €4 a night through to anything up to €650 a week – more than the monthly minimum wage in Spain.

Top-end hotels and package deals even include shops where owners can buy Swarovski crystal-studded accessories for their dogs, with at least one hotel chain on Ibiza offering private jet services to transport customers and their pets to luxury suites with prices starting at €5,500 per night, and package deals including return flights from the dogs' and humans' home country ranging from €25,000 to €100,000, depending upon where they are in the world.

With half of all homes in Spain having at least one pet, this means 16.1 million potential furry customers.

Add to this the fact that 32% of British, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and German tourists choose their holiday destination according to where pets will be allowed and where they will get the best facilities for them, and it is clear why the 50 or so hotels which cater specifically for dogs are doing a roaring trade.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LEADER of up-and-coming centre-right independent party Ciudadanos says public authorities should have the power to investigate 'over-populated' homes.

Albert Rivera (pictured) says 'council control' over 'public and private space' should be linked to 'those actions necessary to ensure security and harmonious community living', and preventing crime.

Among such actions is allowing town halls to inspect properties believed to be occupied by too many people at once, and apply fines where necessary.

Rivera says the maximum allowed should be two people per bedroom - as in, six people to a three-bedroom property, four people in a two-bed home and so on.

Where homes are 'over-populated', occupants may be denied the right to register on the town's headcount register, the padrón.

Ciudadanos' proposed move is to prevent masses of people signing on the padrón at others' addresses, with or without their permission, in order to benefit from local services such as financial aid, healthcare and education.

It is also to prevent what they call 'toy-boat flats' - the expression referring to jerry-built rafts carrying a dangerously-high number of would-be African migrants, and meaning flats where immigrants live crammed like sardines with four or five to a bedroom in order to save money, so that practically everything they earn can be sent home to feed their families.

These over-occupied flats often end up with their tenants living in conditions not fit for a human being, and which are unhygienic and unhealthy.

But the Spanish Federation of Large Families says it intends to contact the party to obtain a full explanation.

"Although it seems clear that they want to try to prevent huge numbers of people living in small flats and in insalubrious conditions not conducive to health, but the way they have worded the proposal is far from ideal," says the Federation.

"It means a couple with three children living in a two-bedroom property - with the children sharing one room - would exceed this limit and leave the family open to fines."

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BUY-OUT of mobile and internet provider Jazztel by its French counterpart Orange has been approved by the European Commission and is reported to carry a price tag of €3.4 billion.

This will make Orange the third-largest telecommunications operator in Spain after Telefónica and Vodafone, just ahead of Yoigo and ONO.

As part of the terms of the deal, Orange has agreed to supply a network of fibreoptic home internet (FTTH) covering between 700,000 and 800,000 properties in five of Spain's largest cities – Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla and Málaga.

The firm has also agreed to provide access to Jazztel ADSL to buyers of the fibreoptic network for up to eight years.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HOLLYWOOD couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may be seeking a second home in Los Montesinos, near Torrevieja (Alicante province), rumours claim.

They first visited the area in 2013, flying into Murcia's San Javier airport, and are reported to have made several undercover trips there since.

According to residents who believe they saw them, the Pitt-Jolie family - complete with their six children - are said to have been seduced by the peace and quiet of the village of 2,500 inhabitants just inland from the coast near the southernmost border of the Comunidad Valenciana.

Speculation has been rife recently that the celebrity couple was looking for a holiday home in Spain, although Madrid and the land-locked western province of Cáceres were said to be the favourites.

And many locals in Los Montesinos - a high number of whom are expatriates, mainly British - say Angelina and Brad have been seen in dark glasses, surrounded by bodyguards and slipping in and out of luxury cars with blacked-out windows.

Ex-England football captain David Beckham's biographer, Andrew Atkinson, says the former Real Madrid player is a good friend of Brad's and he may have influenced the family's choice of a holiday pad in Spain, although it is not known whether he recommended any particular location.

Local reporters claim Angelina and Brad have been viewing properties with a price tag of around a million euros.

Given that they have not signed any contracts as yet, it is thought they may well be back in the area - several times.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD African boy smuggled into Spain in a suitcase has been reunited with his mother when she travelled to Ceuta to appear in court.

Little Adou – whom some sources say is called Abou – was carried over the border from Morocco into the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta after his father, a legal resident in Fuerteventura since 2007, paid a 19-year-old woman to sneak him into the country.

Alí Ouattara, 43, did not know Fatima Y. intended to transport his son in a small suitcase, crouched into the foetal position with very little oxygen and unable to open the case from the inside – but he is still being held in prison without bail facing eight years behind bars for 'human trafficking'.

In the meantime, his young son is being kept in a children's care home in Ceuta while the family's lawyer attempts to get his father out of jail and allow his mother to have custody of him.

Alí, originally from the Côte d'Ivoire – formerly known as the Ivory Coast in English, until last year, and now officially referred to by its name in French – has given DNA samples to authorities in Ceuta and the boy's birth certificate has been sent to them to prove he is the child's father.

His wife, Lucie Ouattara, 38 (pictured), knew nothing about Adou's being smuggled into Spain until she saw the headlines on the news with a picture of her son through the X-ray machines at the border.

She is now in Ceuta testifying and giving DNA samples.

Lucie was allowed to visit the care home where Adou is being looked after so she could see her son under supervision.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE biggest cruise-liner in the world has docked in Barcelona, from where it will run all its weekly trips throughout the summer, bringing a cash injection of €27 million to the Spanish economy.

A Royal Caribbean passenger ship, the Allure of the Seas has space for up to 6,318 tourists and was last seen in Málaga in April when it made a day-long stop-off.

With Barcelona port being a world leader for cruise traffic thanks to its excellent facilities – including recent additions, such as a walkway between terminals B and C – and plenty of space for extra-large liners to dock and turn around, Royal Caribbean intends to increase its presence in Spain's second-largest city by running cruises from next summer with the Allure's sister ship, the Harmony of the Seas, which is still under construction.

From Barcelona, the Allure will visit the ports of Palma de Mallorca, Marseille in southern France, La Spezia (Florence and Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), the island of Capri in the Bay of Naples, and Málaga between now and October, when it will head back across the pond to run Caribbean cruises over the winter.

In total, the ship will bring as much as €27m into Spain, of which €17.5m for Barcelona, €8m for Palma and the remainder for Málaga.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BOTTLED gas has gone down again in price to €14.11 from its previous €15.80 – the second reduction in two months.

Butane gas went down 9.7% in March and has now gone down another 10.6%.

Light relief for the eight million or so people in Spain who consume it regularly, gas has fallen in price due to the reduction in costs of the raw material itself, which has come down even more to the end user due to the fall of the euro against the US dollar.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BANCO Sabadell's purchase of British high-street entity TSB has been approved by the European Commission.

The takeover will involve a buy-out of all of the Lloyds banking group's shares in the firm, meaning it will be 81.23% owned by the Spanish corporation, whose head office is in the town of Sabadell, Barcelona province.

A purchase price of 1.7 billion pounds (€2.34bn) was agreed on March 20, but the deal could not be sealed until it had been agreed by Spain's National Values Market Commission (CNMV) and the European Commission's competition committee had given it the green light.

The latter needed to investigate whether the takeover would suppose an unfair level of competition, or a near-monopoly on the British high street, but has concluded that it would not.

On the contrary, TSB's position on the high street would be reinforced, allowing it to compete on a stronger footing with other firms specialising in personal banking and small business loans – a situation which would 'benefit British consumers', the European Commission considers.

Lloyds TSB was one of the banks propped up by the UK government at the start of the financial crisis, having received a cash injection of 17bn pounds (nearly €24bn) in 2008, allowing it to acquire the HBOS Group which was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ONLINE petition calling for the release of an Ivory Coast national in the Canary Islands jailed for 'human trafficking' after his son was smuggled into Spain in a suitcase has gone viral.

The page on change.org had netted 45,000 signatures within its first two days.

Its authors believe charging 43-year-old Alí Abou Outtara with human smuggling means equating him to unscrupulous mafia-style organisations who ship migrants to Spain and exploit them, when in his case, he was acting in desperation after Spanish authorities refused to let his eight-year-old boy live with him.

And Alí Abou had no idea his little boy was going to be packed into a suitcase in the foetal position when he paid 19-year-old Moroccan woman Fatima Y. to smuggle him into the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on the northern coast of Africa.

This is what his wife, Lucie Ouattara, 38, says.

"I haven't slept since I saw the image of my son on the customs scanner at the border of Ceuta in the news - I want to talk to my husband and son, and I want Alí to tell me what really happened, but it seems he is not allowed to ring me and I cannot get through to him.

"This is so hard for me and for the rest of the family, I'm devastated," Lucie says.

She was pregnant with little Abou when, in 2007, Alí travelled to the Canary Islands on a jerry-built raft, as thousands of Africans attempt to do almost daily to get into Spain, Italy, Malta and Greece.

Unlike many others, Alí's venture allowed him to turn his life around: he has been a legal resident in Puerto del Rosario on the island of Fuerteventura for nearly eight years and has a permanent, full-time job in a laundrette's.

He applied for his wife and three children to join him once he was settled.

Lucie and their 11-year-old daughter were allowed to live with him as legal residents, but to be able to bring their eldest son and the youngest, eight-year-old Abou, Alí would need to be earning a net €2,500 a month since otherwise he was considered not to be taking home enough money to support all three, meaning two of them would become 'a burden on the State'.

For Alí's daughter, wife and youngest son to join him, he would need to be earning €1,331 per month to be considered to have the necessary funds to avoid the little boy being 'a drain on public resources'.

Alí's wages fall short of this figure by just €41 a month, says his lawyer.

This was the only reason his application to bring his son into Spain was denied.

Despite repeated appeals, Spanish authorities refused to budge.

"As parents, we simply could not leave our children behind, with the situation as it is in the Ivory Coast," says Lucie, referring to the ongoing crisis following the Second Civil War, the result of a military coup - still lingering even though French armed forces are helping the transition to democracy - high crime levels and the threat of Ebola.

"For this reason, we tried many times to bring Abou here legally, but they kept turning us down - my husband has not stopped working to get them to agree.

"I spend several months of the year in the Ivory Coast looking after Abou, because he is anaemic and has had malaria.

"Alí trusted the woman he paid at the Ceuta border - he did not know she was going to try to bring Abou into Spain in a suitcase.

"I just give thanks to God that my son is alive, because he could have died - I never imagined I'd see him like this.

"If Alí had known this was how he was going to be brought into Spain, he would never have agreed to it. I know him, I've been married to him for 20 years, and he wouldn't. He's an excellent father and loves his children."

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A goal by Lionel Messi gave Barcelona their 23rd Spanish title as they beat Atlético Madrid in the Spanish capital today.

The Argentinian striker's 41st league goal of the season leaves Barça four points ahead of arch rivals Real Madrid with just one game left. Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick in Real's 4-1 win against Espanyol was not enough to prevent Barcelona taking the title.

It is Barcelona's fifth championship title in seven years.

With one title now in the bag, Luis Enrique's men will continue to chase the treble they last claimed in 2008-09 under Pep Guardiola, facing Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey on May 30th, before playing Juventus in the Champions League final in Berlin on June 6th.

The Barcelona players ran onto the pitch at the Vicente Calderón in celebration after reclaiming the crown they lost to Atlético on the final day of last season exactly a year ago.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE Costa Blanca's worst fire in over 20 years flared up again yesterday (Saturday) late afternoon and the road to the valley was cut off to traffic.

Pego (Alicante province) was surrounded by a ring of fire on Thursday – the hottest day in May in the Valencia region since 1869 – and Friday after a farmer in the Vall d'Ebo ignored warnings about the ongoing drought and extreme heat and lit a bonfire, which raged out of control.

At least 50 homes in the Los Verdales and Les Comes rural urbanisations and the residential area behind the stations of the cross, leading up to the hilltop chapel, in Pego had to be evacuated on Thursday and the main road leading from Pego to the Vall d'Ebo, on to Forna and then back to the town of Oliva in the northern Valencia province was shut.

Gas masks were handed out in Pego town centre and residents advised to stay indoors, although some who had to go out were seen holding wet towels over their faces.

All evacuees were told they could return home on Friday, but as the fire was still burning – albeit under control - many were reluctant to do so.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

YESTERDAY'S record for the highest temperature was in Lanzarote airport, where the mercury soared to a whopping 42.4ºC – among the hottest days in history for the time of year.

Whilst the month of May is normally known for its mild climate and bright sunshine, hovering around the low 20ºCs, the start of spring 2015 has brought figures more in keeping with July.

Lanzarote airport's top temperature of 42.4ºC was in fact recorded at 17.00hrs – an hour behind the mainland, when it would have been 18.00hrs – as opposed to at midday when thermometers usually rocket.

The Tasarte area of La Aldea de San Nicolás in Gran Canaria registered temperatures of 42.1ºC at 16.00hrs (17.00hrs mainland Spain time), higher even than on Tuesday when it reached 41.2ºC, and making it the second-hottest part of Spain.

Wednesday's hottest place on the mainland was Castuera in the province of Badajoz, in the land-locked western region of Extremadura, at 41.6ºC, followed by Córdoba airport's 41.1ºC, Sevilla airport's 40.7ºC and the town of Fuentes de Andalucía in the province of Sevilla at 40.3ºC.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MASSIVE forest fire in a mountain valley above the Costa Blanca has left an entire village covered in ash and residents being given oxygen masks.

The blaze broke out in the Vall d'Ebo, in the far north of the province of Alicante, early yesterday afternoon (Thursday) in the Solana de Garrofar area close to the neighbouring valley, the Vall d'Alcalà.

Armed forces members have been sent out to help tackle the inferno and the Red Cross has been deployed in the nearest town, Pego.

The fire continues to burn out of control, and residents on the Los Verdales urbanisation have been evacuated from their villas as a precaution.

Homes on the very edge of Pego town have been affected by the flames, which have reached the stations of the cross up the hill to the chapel where the Good Friday parades take place.

Nearby Adsubia may be the next to see residents evacuated - most inhabitants are on the Les Bassetes urbanisation, and a high number of them are expatriates, including Britons.

Seven hydroplanes were drafted in yesterday afternoon, although they were unable to continue fighting the fire after night fell.

Flames spread to within half a kilometre of Pego, a town about four kilometres inland with some 10,000 inhabitants, and the sky was bright orange.

Ashes and smoke completely covered the town centre, and emergency services have had to hand out oxygen masks to residents.

The fire is now so huge that red clouds could be seen from as far away as Oliva (Valencia province).

It is not thought anyone on Monte Pego, the town's largest urbanisation mostly populated by expatriates, is at risk or has had breathing problems leading to oxygen masks being required.

Residents in Pego are heavily criticising the lack of proper facilities for putting out the fire and, when regional president Alberto Fabra visited the site of the devastation yesterday afternoon, he was jeered and booed at by the crowds.

One man threw himself onto the president and started to beat him up before he was hauled away by police.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S National Court has called off the Spanish football strike which was threatening the First and Second Division Championship finals - and quite possibly the Champions' League final between Barça FC and Juventus, too.

The Professional Football League (LFP) brought the case against the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) in a bid to stop the strike before it went ahead on Saturday.

For the case to go ahead, the LFP had to deposit €5 million with the National Court as a guarantee fund.

According to the judge's verdict, not proceeding with the final national matches of the season would effectively create an organisational nightmare which could never be resolved - non-Spanish players on various teams have commitments to their national sides, such as Brazil's Neymar and Argentina's Messi for the American Cup (Copa de América) immediately after the end of the Spanish season.

And footballers' own annual leave could be affected, says the court.

It rejected the AFE's appeal on the grounds that the right to strike was contained within the Spanish Constitution, saying this right only applies when exercising it would not cause public chaos.

The strike was called by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in light of ongoing discussions about distribution of income from TV footage, which has always been biased towards the 'duopoly' of Barça FC and Real Madrid FC, Spain's two biggest teams.

A collective negotiation agreement was set to be introduced and a Bill of Law passed by the Council of Ministers, which looked likely to settle the argument – even Barça and Real had been persuaded of the unfairness of their getting the lion's share of TV revenue.

The RFEF says it was not consulted on the Bill of Law and its terms – some of which the Federation does not agree with – have been unilaterally decided by the central government.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Barcelona will face Juventus in the Champions League final after the Italian side secured a 3-2 aggregate win over Real Madrid at the Bernabéu tonight.

Real Madrid blew the chance of setting up an all-Spanish final with a lack of precision in front of goal.

Real came into tonight's match with a 1-2 deficit from the first leg in Turin, but wasted no time in evening things up when Cristiano Ronaldo converted a 23rd-minute penalty to put Real ahead on away goals.

But Álvaro Morata, who moved from Madrid to Turin last summer, came back to haunt his former side with a 57th-minute strike to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and the all-important away goal that booked Juve's place in the final in Berlin on June 6th.

Despite having the majority of possession and looking the more dangerous side in attack, Real were unable to capitalise on any of their numerous chances on goal, a failure that would eventually prove costly to the Spanish side.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONE in 20 first-time mums in Spain are in their 40s – the second-highest number in Europe, a new study has shown.

According to the EU's statistics agency Eurostat, Italy has the greatest proportion of new mothers over 40 – latest figures only reach until the end of 2013, but over that year, 6.1% of previously-childless women born during or before 1973 had babies.

In Spain, first-time mums aged 40 or more accounted for 5.1% of all women who gave birth in 2013.

Greece was just behind, at 4.1%, followed by Luxembourg at 3.8%.

The study also found Spain's number of teenage mothers was below average at 3.5% of the total.

During 2013, a total of 15.6% of babies in Romania were born to women and girls aged under 20, the highest number in Europe, followed by 14.7% of those in Bulgaria and 11% of those in Hungary, whilst at the other end of the scale, Luxembourg's and Cyprus' new babies were born to mothers under 20 in just 2.4% of cases, those in The Netherlands in 2.2% of cases, with just 1.9% and 1.8% respectively in Slovenia and Italy born to teenage mums.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Barcelona are through to the final of the Champions League after beating Bayern Munich 5-3 on aggregate.

Luis Enrique's men lost 3-2 at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night, but their 3-0 win in the first leg was enough to see them into their first Champions League final in four years.

Barça suffered an early scare when Medhi Benatia gave Bayern the lead with a goal in the seventh minute, but two goals from Neymar put the away side back in the driving seat by the break.

Bayern Munich produced a comeback of their own in the second half with goals from Lewandowski and Muller, but it was not enough to stop the La Liga leaders from booking their place in next month’s final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on June 6th.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE best cheese in the world comes from Spain - it's official.

With a near-perfect score of 99.85%, the Gran Reserva Dehesa de los Llanos has won the most recent World Championship Cheese Contest, held in Wisconsin, USA.

Even before then, the premium brand from the officially-registered origin, the Dehesa de los Llanos dairy farm five kilometres from Albacete, had a global title to its name after winning the World Cheese Awards in 2012, and has been winning international prizes since 2007.

Cured for a minimum of nine months, the Gran Reserva variety is said to be enjoyed for its intense flavour, 'meaty' texture which 'melts in the mouth', and a strong, slightly spicy taste.

It is championed by some of Spain's top chefs who use it in their dishes - Carme Ruscadella, Ferrán Adrià and Martín Berasategui are all said to be huge fans.

Using milk from sheep bred on the farm and made entirely via traditional methods - it is said to pass through the hands of the creator 10 times before it is finished - only limited quantities of the Gran Reserva Dehesa de los Llanos are available.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

The area of high pressure and hot air affecting mainland Spain and the Canary Islands has put 23 provinces from 9 different Autonomous Communities on high alert, with temperatures set to reach over 40ºC in parts of Andalusia.

The provinces of Córdoba and Sevilla are on amber alert (high risk) for top temperatures of 40ºC; Huelva and Jaén are at risk of temperatures reaching 39ºC.

The Canary Islands have activated an amber alert on the islands of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, where maximum temperatures of 38ºC are expected; in El Hierro, La Gomera, La Palma and Tenerife the mercury is expected to rise to 34ºC.

Aragón has put all its provinces on alert for expected temperatures of 37ºC, and in Navarra there is a risk of temperatures reaching 36ºC in the Ribera del Ebro.

The province of Madrid is preparing itself for temperatures of 38ºC in the south and west, with 37ºC forecast for the capital and Henares.

All the provinces in Castilla La-Mancha are on yellow alert for temperatures of between 36ºC in Albacete to 39ºC in the Tajo valley.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BRITISH woman aged 55 is said to be in a serious condition after falling from a second-floor hotel balcony on the Avenida Doctor Fleming in San Antonio, Ibiza.

The circumstances behind her fall are not known, but witnesses say she was very 'stressed out and upset'.

She has suffered injuries to her spinal column and is in Ibiza's Can Misses hospital.

A series of falls from balconies has blighted the Balearic Islands this weekend – a 46-year-old man lost his life in the early hours of Sunday after plummeting from a terrace in the Casablanca Apartments in Santa Ponça, part of the town of Calvià (Mallorca), and a 27-year-old man is in a critical condition following an eight-metre fall from an apartment in Palma on Saturday night.

Just a week ago, a 58-year-old man, believed to be British, fell from the balcony of an apartment block on the Punta Ballena strip in Magaluf, also part of Calvià and was killed instantly in the impact, whilst another man sustained multiple fractures on the same day after an accidental plunge from a first-floor apartment in Palma.

Falls from apartment or hotel patios become a regular occurrence in Ibiza and Mallorca every summer, although not all of them are accidental.

The British Foreign Office website has warned against the foolhardy practice of 'balconing', whereby young European tourists – often from the UK and frequently under the influence of alcohol – attempt to jump into the swimming pool from their hotel balconies or hop from terrace to terrace.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SUITCASE carried by a 19-year-old woman from Morocco into Ceuta was found to contain an eight-year-old from the Ivory Coast.

The child's father, who lives in the Canary Islands, had paid the woman to transport his son into the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast, and she is not thought to be related to him.

Abou was said to be 'in an awful condition' when he was found by customs authorities who inspected the case for drugs after the young woman 'hesitated' and began 'acting suspiciously' at the border.

The child showed up on the X-ray machines when scanned at the border.

His dad, who is also called Abou, moved to Gran Canaria two years ago and had hoped to be reunited with his son.

He had travelled back to the Ivory Coast to collect him, paid the Moroccan woman to smuggle him through, and waited an hour and a half before following him through the land border between the Spanish territory and the north African country.

He was immediately arrested and DNA samples have been taken to confirm he is indeed the child's father as he claims, and not a child-trafficker.

Abou Senior was born in 1972 and lives in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he holds a valid residence card.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BARS and hotels in Granada are starting to ban hen and stag parties and weekends on their premises in a city that was recently reported to be the most popular in Spain for pre-wedding celebrations.

The south-eastern city, world-famous for its spectacular UNESCO Moorish palace, the Alhambra (pictured), is also a regular short-break destination for other attractions such as its Arab-style souks in windy lanes that resemble the back streets of Marrakech, with stalls and tiny shops selling arts, crafts, textiles and jewellery, often with an Arab flair.

But revellers celebrating their last few days of singlehood along with their friends are spoiling it for everyone, local traders complain.

Hotels and bars are now beginning to put signs on their doors reading, 'we do not serve hen and stag party customers'.

“This is a bar, not a circus,” said one disgruntled proprietor.

“Groups of young women and men in silly costumes with megaphones and trumpets entering drunk are lowering the tone.

“We are not going to allow people to come into our bar in their underwear or decked out in 'erotic' decorations or any other unsuitable garb when we have families with children dining peacefully on the premises.

“And they cause loads of problems – they don't respect other customers, they leave without paying, and our neighbours have started to complain.”

Managers of the Granada Old Town Hostel say they had a group from Logroño (La Rioja) staying there a year and a half ago who 'destroyed the place'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) will go on strike from Saturday, May 16, coinciding with the penultimate day of the First Division League.

According to a press release, the RFEF is complaining of not having seen a draft law approved by the Council of Ministers concerning distribution of royalties from TV coverage

And inspections by tax and Social Security authorities on football clubs have forced people out of work, the Federation reveals.

Although higher taxes may not dent well-paid players' pockets too heavily, lower and middle management and admin staff - 'the true soul of our sport', says the RFEF - have been 'forced to abandon their posts'.

The Federation says it has never been consulted on any of the legal changes, but that it 'reiterates its offer to discuss the matter' with the government.

In a nutshell, the strike relates to a tug-of-war over who runs football in the country and ongoing discussions about distribution of income from TV footage, which has always been biased towards the 'duopoly' of Barça FC and Real Madrid FC, Spain's two biggest teams.

A collective negotiation agreement was set to be introduced and a Bill of Law passed by the Council of Ministers, which looked likely to settle the argument – even Barça and Real had been persuaded of the unfairness of their getting the lion's share of TV revenue.

Now, though, the RFEF has staged an 'indefinite' strike because it feels it was not consulted on the Bill of Law and its terms – some of which the Federation does not agree with – have been unilaterally decided by the central government.

Among these terms is an 'unfairly stingy' share of revenue among non-League clubs, whose players do not earn the multi-millions of those of Barça and Real but sums closer to a typical Spanish wage in 'ordinary' jobs – in fact, some players even have additional full- or part-time work on top of practising their sport in order to make ends meet.

The 'unfair distribution of wealth' in terms of TV coverage earnings means richer players will become richer and poorer ones poorer – including those on teams which have already faced financial troubles and who have gone months without getting their wages.

Racing Santander FC went on strike when they were due to play in the 2014 quarter final Spanish Cup match against Real Sociedad FC, which effectively knocked them out of the competition.

Players had not been paid for some time and their fans supported them with a standing ovation when they refused to kick off.

And even League footballers earn far less than those playing for some foreign sides – Spanish players have often been keen to take up transfers to England clubs to boost their income.

Insiders – and sports critics from elsewhere – warn that the strike is not merely a threat to try to force the government's hand, but that the RFEF is serious about downing tools and had given it a lot of thought before coming to the decision to do so.

This is shown by the fact that players will have been on strike for a fortnight already by the time the Copa del Rey (King's Cup) final match between Barça and Athletic Bilbao FC comes round on May 30 – and if a compromise cannot be reached before then, the match will not go ahead, with all the massive loss of revenue across the board this entails.

Additionally, the RFEF says the Spanish government is interfering in the administration of professional football, something which is banned by the FIFA – and if it is deemed the RFEF is correct in its interpretation, Spain could be barred from international tournaments including the FIFA Euro Cup and the World Cup.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE first mortal victim from Spain of the Nepali earthquake has been found, and another eight Spaniards are still being searched for, reveals the country's foreign office.

Roser Palau, 37, was hiking in the Langtang National Park, one of the worst-hit areas of the Asian country when it was struck by a quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, followed by 35 aftershocks reaching 6.6.

She had sent an email to her father a day before the quake saying she would be in a mountain area with no mobile signal, according to Xavier Godàs, mayor of Vilassar de Dalt (Barcelona province) where Roser lived.

Roser left her accommodation at 07.30hrs on the day of the tremor to go for a walk without her tour group.

Langtang National Park is very popular with walkers and, along with Kathmandu and the Himalayas, is among the most-visited tourism attractions in Nepal.

The loss of Roser brings the death toll to 7,557, and a total of 14,409 have been injured.

Most of these victims were in the district of Sindhupalchowk, to the north of Kathmandu, and in the capital itself.

A total of 99 hikers in the Langtang park have been found dead.

Spain is still trying to contact eight of its citizens in Nepal, out of the original 579 tourists and expatriates known to be there.

Tourists, and expats who wished to be, have been repatriated.

One holidaymaker, a doctor, said he wanted to stay in the country to help with the aftermath.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HUMAN-TRAFFICKING network which smuggled up to 40 Chinese nationals a month into the UK, USA, Ireland and Canada via Barcelona for €20,000 a head has been broken up.

The tightly-organised racket relied upon word of mouth among communities in south-western China to target would-be migrants, and booked airline tickets via a travel agency in Spain run by Chinese nationals.

Ringleaders allegedly told the immigrants they could 'get them into any country they wanted' for a five-figure sum.

They were flown to Barcelona, and then sent on to countries which form part of the Schengen treaty meaning border checks are minimal, or even non-existent.

Migrants were either given fake passports or stolen ones belonging to people who looked like them.

Once they arrived at their final destination, they were threatened into paying the full €20,000.

The immigrants were told that they would have to work in slave-like conditions or in prostitution until they have paid off the money unless they provided it in cash.

Upon their initial arrival in Barcelona, the migrants were met by Chinese nationals already living in Spain who remained close by them until they got them to the flats where they would be staying until they flew out to the British Isles or North America.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MORTGAGES in Spain are set to get cheaper yet again now the Eurozone interest rate has plummeted still further.

The Euribor at the close of April stood at 0.18%, its lowest in history, having been as high as 5.3% towards the end of 2007.

Given that the majority of mortgages in Spain are variable rate loans which are revalued annually, this means a typical homeowner will save about €284 a year.

Fixed-rate mortgages in Spain do exist, but borrowers rarely ask for them since they attract an additional fee and any fluctuation is annual only, meaning they have plenty of time to prepare and take action if interest rates do begin to rise sharply.

This has not happened in eight years and, in fact, a mortgage of approximately €90,000 over a 35-year term at the beginning of 2007 would have cost in region of €500 a month, but by the beginning of 2015, would have gone down to around €288 a month.

April started off with the Euribor at 0.196%, and it gradually fell throughout the month reaching 0.171% on the last day.

Economists say it is 'a long way below' the 0.6% seen in the same period last year, although in practice in the case of the aforementioned €90,000 loan, the difference in monthly repayments year-on-year is in region of €12.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PARKING and driving fines increased in number by more than 80% during the main 'crisis years', according to a study by motor insurer Línea Directa.

Between the years 2000 and 2006, a total of 16 million fines were handed out, compared to nearly double – 29 million – from 2007 to 2013 inclusive.

And a survey contained within the study shows 92% of drivers – 24 million in Spain - consider parking and traffic fines to be 'a clear way of making more money, since they do not believe driving standards can have got worse to such a degree or car-owners have suddenly become more careless about parking, and they also refer to the fact the amounts charged for parking fines have rocketed – from around €40 in 2006 to between €200 and €300 in 2012.

A total of 85% of drivers in Spain believe parking fines are a 'stealth tax', and only 11% believe speed cameras are set up for safety reasons.

An analysis of over 770,000 fines given out between 2009 and 2014 inclusive shows 50% were for speeding – which Línea Directa says is 'easier to prove' than drink-driving or mobile phone use at the wheel – and 38% were for parking 'illegally'.

And 24 million drivers, or 92%, say there is 'no point' in appealing against a parking or traffic fine because they have 'no chance' of winning, with 70% paying theirs before the deadline to take advantage of lower amounts, since they believe they would 'never win' if they appealed.

They have slammed their 'defencelessness' in the event of fines, since police do not have to stop drivers and inform them if they see them committing an offence, and parking and driving fines can be sent through the post anything up to a year after the illegality was detected, by which time the car-owner cannot usually remember what he or she had been doing on that day.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DEBATE has opened across Spain's main political parties over legalising – or decriminalising – certain currently-illegal drugs, with centre-right Ciudadanos calling for 'more information and control' and the right-wing PP being dead against harmful substances getting any legal protection.

“The aim is not for drug consumption to proliferate, but the opposite – reduce and eradicate drug-use by informing, controlling and monitoring,” says Albert Rivera (pictured), leader of Ciudadanos.

He referred to certain countries in Europe where 'soft' drugs have been made legal, something he does not consider 'a good criterion in general', but stresses that some 'drugs' have always been legal including alcohol and tobacco.

“These are drugs in the sense that they are addictive and harmful,” Rivera points out.

“When I say 'legalise', I don't mean 'approving' or 'being in favour' of them, but to regulate certain aspects of them – look for solutions rather than turning a blind eye.”

Rivera has also discussed 'regulating' prostitution, which has attracted criticism from other parties towards him.

“We could act like ostriches, stick our heads in the sand, carry on being hypocritical and continue to allow human trafficking to happen behind closed doors. Or we could regulate this activity for those who practise it so that they have basic rights and do not suffer exploitation,” said Rivera in an interview on radio station Onda Cero.

He has criticised the current reigning PP, at local, regional and national level, for failing to respond or outright refusing to talk to his party.

“There's a lack of vision in this country. Spain is about to change dramatically, it needs to change dramatically, nobody is going to enjoy absolute majorities any longer, and this is the situation whether the PP likes it or not,” Rivera stated categorically.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

YOUNG adults in Spain have long been famous for remaining in the family nest longer than their northern European counterparts, but four other EU countries beat them hands down, latest figures from the continent's statistics agency, Eurostat, claim.

Whilst Swedes leave home at a much younger age than anywhere else on the continent – at just over 19-and-a-half years old – Croatians are on average only a month shy of their 32^nd birthdays when they finally stop living with their parents.

Sweden is the only EU country where the average adult is under 20 upon leaving home, but in only three cases are they already in their 30s – Croatia, Slovakia (30-and-three-quarters) and Malta (30 years and six weeks) – although in Italy, sons and daughters typically leave their parents' home to start a new, independent life about five or six weeks before their 30^th birthdays.

In Spain, they are just over a month short of turning 28 when they leave home, on average.

Northern Europeans tend to leave home earlier - Danes typically do so at age 21 and Finns just a month or so before they turn 22.

In the UK, similar ages are found to those of 'Nordic' countries – taken to be Scandinavia and The Netherlands – and the 'Northern block', being Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria.

A typical age of 23 – being 22 for women and 24 for men – is seen, but with most young people priced out of the British housing market and job security and wages having reduced, an estimated 42% of under-25s in the UK still live with their parents and nearly a third do not leave until they are at least 27.

Studies indicate a north-south divide in terms of independence culture – northern Europeans value independence more, and it is less socially acceptable to live with one's parents beyond early adulthood, although with income levels tending to be lower among very young adults they are more likely to return to the nest for short spells.

By contrast, the family unit remaining together is considered more important in southern Europe, with many adults in their 20s and 30s or even beyond who could afford to leave home simply helping towards household running costs and staying with their parents, but once they leave, this tends to be a permanent arrangement.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO videos made in Spain in tribute to the telescope Hubble have won prizes in the 25^th anniversary competition organised by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Both short film documentaries have been acclaimed for their 'scientific precision' and 'audience participation', as well as their level of innovation, artistic quality, and overall content.

The winner, titled Bariónica, was produced by Desiré de Palacios using images captured by Hubble over its 25-year history.

And in second place, Hubble's Time Machine was put together by members of the Valencia University Observatory.

As first prize, Bariónica will receive a chunk of the solar panels attached to Hubble, mounted in plexiglass – panels which spent three years in space and had to be replaced in 1993.

Desiré de Palacios will also get a copy of a photo captured by Hubble – the one chosen to represent the 25^th anniversary – signed by the spacemen and spacewomen who have worked on it and by the astronomers observing it.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LAW in Iceland allowing people from the Basque Country to be murdered has been repealed 400 years on.

This was sealed with a handshake between the MP for the province of Guipúzcoa, the capital of which is San Sebastián and the Scandinavian country's minister for education and culture.

“It's safe for Basque people to come here now,” says Jónas Guðmundsson, commissioner for the coastal village of Hólmavík (pictured).

Back in the year 1615, an agreement between Icelanders and the Basque people having set up for a whale-hunting station to be installed on the island nation's coast which both would benefit from, a particularly harsh season with sparse catch caused hardship for both the northern Spaniards and the Scandinavians.

Huge blocks of ice formed on the coast of Iceland, causing Basque fishing boats to crash and sink.

Although the majority managed to swim to safety and got back to Spain alive, 31 Basques remained in Iceland.

Conflict broke out between the locals and the Basque people, and local sheriff Ari Magnússon ordered the latter to be executed.

Since then, the law allowing the Basques to be murdered in Iceland has never been repealed – until now.

The execution of the 31 Basques has become known as 'the Spanish slaughter' by the Icelanders, and a plaque in their memory has been set up, written in Icelandic, Spanish, English and the Basque language, euskera.

“Obviously, the law change and the plaque unveiling  is no more than a fun gesture, given that there  is already other legislation in this country which would forbid the assassination of Basque people,” pointed out Guðmundsson.

When asked whether more Basque tourists were expected to be seen in Iceland as a result of the law change, he said: “At least it's safe for them to come here now.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MALLORCA, the Costa Blanca, Tenerife and the Costa del Sol have all earned a place in the top 10 best golfing destinations in Europe, with the outright winner being Palma, the Balearic Islands' capital, according to a recent survey.

The Avios Airmiles Value Tracker poll put the province of Alicante third and, although the Region of Murcia does not get a mention, it has long been considered one of Spain's best locations for a round of golf.

Likewise, the province of Valencia is hugely popular with those who enjoy practising their swing: Oliva Nova, a resort on the southern border, is a venue for international tournaments and local amateurs alike thanks to its course designed by the late golfing legend Severiano Ballesteros – and the complex has the added bonus of hosting global-level showjumping and dressage events throughout the spring and autumn, bringing in Olympic and Nations' Cup riders from every continent.

Gibraltar, the Algarve and Lisbon came second, fourth and sixth respectively.

In fact, properties near golf courses hold their value – and increase in price, having continued to climb even during the housing market crash – second only to those right on the seafront in popular beach resort towns.

Investing in a property next to a golf course means lucrative holiday guests as well as a perfect location for practising – figures from over 3,000 estate agencies specialising in homes in Spain show that when fans of the sport choose a quality destination for their getaways, they tend to be prepared to push the boat out.

They are often tourists with a high level of spending power, or at least those who save up all year to ensure they do not have to scrimp during their holiday – restaurants, spas and shops in golf resorts all report buoyant takings from golfing visitors.

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CANDIDATE number three for new left-wing independent party Podemos, Juan Carlos Monedero, has resigned from 'all his roles' within the team over 'differences of opinion' and partly due to criticism from supporters in light of concerns over his tax declarations.

Monedero has been in charge of the electoral programme – Podemos is gunning for the regional and national elections, but not local council seats, although some branches of the party are standing under different names – and was one of the three founder members along with Íñigo Errejón, at number two, and leader Pablo Iglesias, a 36-year-old university lecturer in politics who earned less than €1,000 a month and lived in a rented flat with his dog when Podemos won five European Parliament seats last May.

The outgoing candidate has been the subject of controversial headlines over six-figure sums earned for advisory work in Venezuela which had allegedly not been declared to the tax authorities.

He was ordered to file a supplementary tax declaration and, in light of ongoing corruption cases surrounding members of the current reigning PP government and Podemos' drive to be the party which was most representative of the ordinary taxpayer, Monedero's situation did not go down well with some of his colleagues and supporters.

But it is not clear whether fears he would tarnish the 'clean and transparent' image of the party were among the reasons that provoked his decision to leave.

Monedero was said to have criticised some of Podemos' strategies, and leader Pablo Iglesias says of his colleague's resignation: “Perhaps Juan Carlos isn't a 'political party' man; he's an intellectual who needs to spread his wings.”

Iglesias says he and Monedero had agreed amicably over the latter's departure, and for Monedero to continue working behind the scenes for Podemos 'without the pressure' or the 'milestone around his neck' of 'organisational responsibilities'.

“Our friendship and working together will continue,” Iglesias insists.

He admitted, when asked by reporters, that he 'did not share' some of Monedero's views, but that this 'did not change the fact they are enormously valuable'.

“Monedero's critical approach is crucial for me and for us as a party – we need this critical stance, and we need Juan Carlos to spread his wings and have a lot more freedom to do what he does best, and to hit the nail on the head about things.

“Of course Juan Carlos has had to suffer – in politics, when you are working to protect people rather than the powers that be, you run these risks, and Juan Carlos has had to go through difficult situations – the most complicated situations possible.”

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