Live News From Spain As It Happens

A BRIEF respite from the heatwave is on the cards for this weekend with temperatures across Spain set to fall by an average of 6ºC, accompanied by rain storms, thunder and lightning.

Heavy downpours may ensue, with up to 50 litres per square metre (five centimetres, or two inches) forecast for the province of Castellón today (Thursday) and tomorrow.

Strong winds and even hail may hit parts of the Comunidad Valenciana and Catalunya on the east coast, the central and centre-north regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, Aragón, and the Pyrénéen areas of Navarra.

Today will continue to see extreme temperatures in inland parts of Andalucía such as the provinces of Córdoba, Jaén and Granada, with the mercury rising to at least 40ºC, whilst elsewhere in all but the far north, thermometers will go up to between 36ºC and 38ºC, but from tomorrow, they will start to drop significantly, settling at normal levels for the time of year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE owner and an instructor at an adventure sports firm in the province of Granada have been charged over the death of a 23-year-old British woman during a bungee-jumping excursion.

Kleyo de Abreu, a fashion student from Brixton, south London, bungee-jumped off the Tablate bridge between the towns of El Pinar and Lanjarón and hit the original Roman aqueduct below it with such force that she was killed instantly by the impact.

She had been staying with her aunt and cousins in the Lanjarón area after having travelled through Morocco – and her aunt was said to have witnessed the fatal accident last week on Tuesday, July 21.

Inquiries have shown that the group of 14 young bungee-jumpers had just one instructor with them – not enough to guarantee their safety.

The instructor, who was also responsible for the watertight safety of all equipment used, is said to have fitted Kleyo's harness and then run to the other end of the bridge to tighten the cords which she would be suspended from.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PARENTS of a 12-year-old girl left for several hours locked in a hot car have been arrested in Marbella.

The youngster was in a shopping centre car park with the doors child-locked, meaning she could not get out.

A woman who saw her plight alerted a National Police officer who was controlling the car park.

He called for back-up, and they saw the young girl was suffering symptoms of anxiety and was sweating profusely.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NEARLY-·EXTINCT breed of wild cat has been brought back to southern Spain after an intensive 10-year breeding plan at a conservation park in the province of Jaén.

The Iberian Lynx, described by breeders at the La Olivilla centre in Santa Elena as a 'national treasure' on the same scale as the Alhambra Palace or the mosque of Córdoba, was on the verge of dying out as recently as 2005 – only 90 of them remained in Spain, in the Doñana National Park (Cádiz province) and the Andújar area of Jaén.

La Olivilla staff release the lynx into the wild once they have matured sufficiently to fend for themselves – and an estimated 327 are now roaming around rural parts of Andalucía, Extremadura and central Spain, although some are known to have crossed the border into Portugal.

This means the species is on the way to being 'saved' completely, having recently seen its status change from 'critically-endangered' to just 'endangered'.

La Olivilla is running a conservation programme titled 'Iberlince', which has so far released some 140 lynx into the wild.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A VILLAGE mayor in the province of Toledo has decided to spend the council's annual bullfight budget on school materials for local children.

Julián Bolaños, leader of Villafranca de los Caballeros' local authorities, says he thinks bullfighting is 'cruel', but that his 'personal opinions' are not the main reason for re-routing the €18,000 pot.

“It's about priorities – with so much unemployment in Villafranca, people just do not have enough money to buy textbooks and other equipment for their kids for school,” Bolaños admits.

“I think bullfighting is cruel, but it's not that we're doing this because of being against it in principle. It's just that it's money we can spend on other things. If any other company is prepared to pay for bullfights here themselves, then they're welcome to.”

Although some mayors who have stopped funding bullfights and bull-runs out of the council coffers and refused to allow bull-related shows on public land – as opposed to banning them outright – have suffered abuse, threats and even violence from fans of these events, Bolaños says he has only had positive feedback to his decision.

Even those who enjoy the annual September bullfights in Villafranca have admitted they can go to other towns or villages to watch them if they want, and that the hard-pressed families who live locally need the money more.

Most of the councils who have effectively barred bull-runs and bullfights by denying funding or land use, or those who have pledged to hold a referendum ahead of next year's fiestas, are left of the centre and were either voted in during this year's local elections in May or formed as coalitions out of opposition parties banding together.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CHAIRWOMAN of Banco Santander Ana Botín has become an advisor to UK prime minister David Cameron.

Sra Botín, who ran the British arm of Santander between 2010 and 2014, is one of 19 members of a 'business advisory group' who will meet every quarter, and who include corporate figureheads such as managing director of BP, Bob Dudley; Xavier Rolet, managing director of the London Stock Exchange; Steve Varley, chairman of EY, and managing director of Rolls Royce, Warren East.

They have been brought together to 'provide high-level advice' to the prime minister on 'critical issues' relating to the economy and trade in the UK.

The business advisory group will serve as a forum for discussion about the main problems and priorities relating to the economy and the UK's major trade sectors.

It will be informal in nature and apolitical, the British government stresses.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HUNTER, initially reported as being Spanish, and who allegedly paid guides at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park to shoot a lion who has been its star attraction for many years, has now been identified by the country's authorities as an American dentist.

Cecil the lion, who was 13, was found headless and skinned just outside the park – meaning his killing initially appeared 'legal', but a GPS on his collar which had been attached by researchers at Oxford University showed the animal was tricked into leaving the enclosure in order to avoid problems with the law.

Using a recently-killed smaller animal as bait, Cecil was lured out of the park and then shot with a bow and arrow.

This is a technique used by hunters so they cannot be accused of killing within protected areas.

Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force boss Johnny Rodrigues says the loss of Cecil is a huge tragedy as he was a 'symbol' of the country.

And his six cubs will not survive because other male lions will kill them so that they can mate with Cecil's female partners, since lionesses will not let males mate with them when they have suckling cubs with them.

The Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer, who took Cecil's life allegedly bribed the park keepers €50,000 to make his kill.

Cecil was one of 62 lions in the safari park tagged since 1999 to find out how far shooting for 'pleasure' had an impact on the wildcat population.

Of these, 34 died – 24 of them at the hands of 'leisure' shooters – in fact, 72% of adult male lions wearing GPS tags were shot dead.

Wildlife organisations are attempting to block any possible import of Cecil's head as a 'trophy'.

Between the years 2007 and 2012, Spain imported over 450 lion's heads from southern Africa, the highest number in Europe – Germany was the second-highest with 100.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPANIARD who reportedly paid guides at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park to shoot a lion who has been its star attraction for many years is being searched for by the country's authorities.

Cecil the lion, who was 13, was found headless and skinned just outside the park – meaning his killing initially appeared 'legal', but a GPS on his collar which had been attached by Oxford University showed the animal was tricked into leaving the enclosure in order to avoid problems with the law.

Using a recently-killed smaller animal as bait, Cecil was lured out of the park and then shot with a bow and arrow.

This is a technique used by hunters so they cannot be accused of killing within protected areas.

Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force boss Johnny Rodrigues says the loss of Cecil is a huge tragedy as he was a 'symbol' of the country.

And his six cubs will not survive because other male lions will kill them so that they can mate with Cecil's female partners, since lionesses will not let males mate with them when they have suckling cubs with them.

The Spaniard who killed Cecil allegedly bribed the park keepers €50,000 to be able to do so.

Although the park keepers are now behind bars, the Spaniard has not been identified or traced.

Cecil was one of 62 lions in the safari park tagged since 1999 to find out how far shooting for 'pleasure' had an impact on the wildcat population.

Of these, 34 died – 24 of them at the hands of 'leisure' shooters – in fact, 72% of adult male lions wearing GPS tags were shot dead.

Wildlife organisations are attempting to block any possible import of Cecil's head as a 'trophy'.

Between the years 2007 and 2012, Spain imported over 450 lion's heads from southern Africa, the highest number in Europe – Germany was the second-highest with 100.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MASSIVE wildfire in the province of Barcelona has just been brought under control after 30 hours of constant battling by emergency services, and evacuees have been allowed to return home.

Although it is not yet out, the blaze in Òdena is now contained, having wiped out 1,235 hectares so far.

And 72 children at a summer playscheme camp at the Can Puig stately home in Sant Salvador de Guardiola have now been permitted to return to their accommodation, having been evacuated as a precaution yesterday.

Around 11 hydroplanes were sent out in what is said to be the worst forest fire in Catalunya so far this year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BORDER blockades staged by French farmers are stopping produce from Germany and Spain being transported into France in a protest over non-competitive price practices.

Agricultural workers in France closed off six roads leading to Germany through the Strasbourg area, stopping lorries going through, but clearing the way for cars.

With meat consumption having gone down, less demand from the Chinese market and in light of Russia's refusal to let in exports from the European Union, French farmers are struggling to make ends meet and, according to François Hollande, one in 10 could soon be out of business.

Other border roads have been blockaded by farmers, with the A-64 motorway in the south-west of France to stop lorries getting into the country from Spain.

Tractor drivers barricading the highway threatened to take consignments of meat and fruit being brought into France off their lorries.

Debt aid and tax waivers to the tune of some €100 million were promised to farmers by Hollande's government a week ago, but agricultural workers' unions say this will only serve as a temporary repair job, since the root of the issue is cheap produce being imported into France from elsewhere in the EU – especially those where wages are lower allowing greater profit margins.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO athletes have been given Spanish nationality in recognition of their sporting achievement.

Orlando Ortega Alejo, 23, from La Habana in Cuba, achieved the third-best time in the world this year in 110-metre hurdles, and has been keen to represent Spain at next year's Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

His new passport, giving him joint Spanish-Cuban nationality, means he will now be able to do so.

Javier Sotomayor (pictured), 47, from Limonar in Cuba, is now retired but is considered to be the best high-jumper of all time, currently holding the world record for indoor and outdoor heights at 2.43m (7'11”) and 2.45m (8'0”) respectively, both achieved in Salamanca in Spain's centre-north region of Castilla y León.

He won a silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and a gold at Barcelona 1992 with a height of 2.34m (7'7.5”), has two outdoor high-jump world championships – Stuttgart 1993 and Athens 1997 – to his name and four indoor high-jump world titles: Budapest 1989, where he broke the world record; Toronto 1993, Barcelona 1995, and Maebashi 1999.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

POLICE in Spain have warned of a series of fraudulent 'sales' of mobile phones via a website purporting to offer very competitive prices.

So far, 16 'customers', or victims, have been traced across Spain, five of whom were from the capital city of the northern wine region of La Rioja, Logroño.

They say once payment was made to the alleged sellers, no goods were ever received.

When buyers tried to contact them by telephone or email to find out what had happened to the phones they had ordered, they received no response.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AIR-TRAFFIC control strikes will continue this evening (Sunday) between 17.00hrs and 20.00hrs across Spain, which may cause delays and cancellations, says airport governing body Enaire, the parent company of AENA.

A planned strike held yesterday (Saturday) morning between 10.00hrs and 13.00hrs had minimal impact on air travel, Enaire reveals, with only a few flights delayed by a relatively short period of time.

The ministry of public works, infrastructure and transport has obliged air-traffic controllers to guarantee at least 'minimum services', or 80%, meaning despite the strikes taking place during peak tourism months, little difference has been seen so far as a result.

Two-day strikes held earlier this year, and over the weekend of July 11 and 12, also failed to cause any real problems for passengers or the airlines themselves, leading Enaire and most carriers based in Spanish airports to expect today's strike will probably go almost unnoticed.

Any possible disruptions will not only affect flights taking off from and landing in Spain, but also others crossing through Spanish air-space en route to their destinations.

Delays of more than three hours, and cancellations, mean passengers are automatically entitled to compensation under European civil aviation legislation, and no carrier is permitted to impose contract terms which render these rights invalid – if they do, said contract conditions are, by default, null and void.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SMALL earthquake gave residents in Mérida a rude awakening this morning (Saturday), says the national geographical institute.

Emergency services on the 112 hotline received a flood of calls after the quake to the south of the city in the land-locked western region of Extremadura was felt at 09.54hrs.

It only measured 2.4 on the Richter scale, but was fairly close to the surface – two kilometres below ground – meaning it was felt by almost everyone in the area.

Most who rang 112 say they heard what sounded like a rumble of thunder, followed by the floor vibrating for a couple of seconds.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CRIME in Spain has decreased in the last six months, following an ongoing downward trend, says interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz.
Overall, criminal activity has dropped by 1.9% in the first six months of this year in comparison with the same period in 2014.
Violent crime has reduced the most – murders decreased by 26.5%, aggravated robbery by 12.1%, burglary involving forcible and violent entry or exit by 12%, assaults by 10.6% and theft from non-residential premises involving force by 9.9%.
Statistically, violent crime rates are very low in Spain – in fact, among the lowest in Europe, if not the world.
Car theft reduced by 3.8%, drug-dealing and smuggling by 3.4%, pickpocketing and shoplifting by 1.3% and malicious damage or vandalism by 1%.
Crime rate in Spain in general sits at around 4.43 offences per 100 inhabitants, making it 'one of the safest countries in Europe', according to Fernández Díaz.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BEER manufacturer Heineken Spain has seen its profits soar in the last year with a 4.4% rise to just under €1 billion.

The company's turnover, including its distribution centre and restaurant holding, has risen by 132% to €59 million, having bounced back from major losses in 2012 following the merger with Portuguese drinks firm Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas which led to Heineken falling into the red by €142m.

But with production rising to over 10 million hectolitres, of which 40% comes from its factory in Sevilla, and an investment of €66m in modernising and expanding its plants in Sevilla, Jaén, Madrid and Valencia, Heineken has managed to absorb its losses over the last three years.

Chairman of Heineken Spain, Richard Weissend, says over 90% of the ingredients used to make its beer comes from producers local to each of its four factories.

He says the company's sharp recovery has been the result of improving efficiency, investing in human capital and talent, brand management, and innovation.

Weissend reveals that in the second half of 2013, the corporation started to see signs of positive change in its finances which have continued throughout 2014 and the first half of 2015, with more of its drinks consumed in bars and restaurants than in previous years where crisis-stricken Spain avoided any unnecessary expenditure in a bid to make ends meet.

In fact, in the past year, consumption has gone up by 5% and Weissend is confident it will continue to rise.

Heineken has improved its slice of the market and is now neck-and-neck with its nearest rival in Spain, Mahou San Miguel, and its Sevilla factory is the most modern in Europe, having inflated its production by 6% since 2013 to two million litres a day, five days a week.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN has agreed to take 1,300 Syrian and Eritrean asylum-seekers out of the 40,000 who have fled to Greece and Italy, but not the quota of 4,288 requested by the European Union as part of its distribution plan among member States.

And of the existing 20,000 asylum-seekers from further countries, who have already been granted 'refugee' status allowing them to remain in Europe for a spell, Spain will take 1,449 as opposed to the 1,549 originally called for.

Spain's interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz announced this after the recent Summit of his counterparts in the other 27 member States to debate the proposed quota system.

The European Commission had allocated a portion of the 40,000 asylum-seekers currently waiting to hear whether their applications will be accepted after entering Greece and Italy via the 'back door'.

Fernández Díaz had initially refused, saying Spain could not cope with such a high number of refugees when the country was already crippled by unemployment – even though the European Union had promised grants per head to allow member States to fund the resettlement and living costs of each migrant during their stay.

A petition on Avaaz.org amassed over 450,000 signatures calling for Spain not to block the refugee quota plan, and many signees were war-zone dwellers themselves who wrote heart-wrenching messages on the website pleading with Fernández Díaz, addressing him as 'Dear Jorge'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Spain is heading for record year for tourism with an unparalleled 29.2 million foreign tourists visiting the country in the first half of the year.

The 2015 figures represent a 4.2% increase on the same period last year and equate to some 1.2 million more tourists than in the first six months of 2014.

These figures, which illustrate the best first-six-months figures on record, coupled with the "highly positive" outlook for the summer prompted Spain's Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, to say that there would "very probably" be more record-breaking figures by the end of the year.

The minister pointed out that holiday accommodation occupation rates for the summer months were at 90% in many places along the coast, at 70% in rural areas and 80% in the state-run network of Paradores.

In June alone, almost 6.7 million foreign tourists visited Spain, 1.4% more than in 2014 and surpassing all previous records for the month of June.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Officers from the National Police in Melilla have arrested a Spanish man accused of capturing and indoctrinating women in order to send them into Islamic State combat areas.

The arrest comes as a continuation of the police operations carried out in August and December last year in Ceuta, Melilla, Barcelona, Arrecife and Morocco, which have led to the arrest of a total of 11 people.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that the detainee was believed to be in the habit of showing his own son, a minor, radical jihadist material to familiarize him with the tactics as well as dressing him completely in black, giving him a huge machete and teaching him to obey only 'Sharia' law.

Documents seized have established links between the detainee and women shown to be involved in the network.
 
The man arrested today is accused of recording radical sermons inciting people to disobey all laws not included in the Islamic 'Sharia' law, to have no contact with infidels and to reject all government other than that of the Caliphate, the system imposed by the so-called Islamic State.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A VALENCIA woman's entire flat was flooded with marijuana buds and cut hash after her toilet backflowed because her upstairs neighbour had blocked the pipes throwing his illicit haul down the lavatory.

Gloria, who rents a home on the C/ Mediterráneo in the city, said the man living above her had kept a huge cannabis farm and police went round to inspect after the smell of the drug gave the culprit away.

He refused to open the door to officers, and instead threw buds from several hundred plants and nearly a kilo of hash down the toilet and flushed it away.

The 30-year-old man fled the property before the police got inside.

Officers found the flat, which the culprit had been renting for about five weeks, full of water, soil, empty flowerpots, and marijuana plants – of which they confiscated around 110.

But most of it ended up in Gloria's flat.

The illicit haul blocked the communal water pipes, and sewage backflowed through the plug hole in the bath and through the toilet, and leaked through the walls and ceilings.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IT-GIRL Paris Hilton has started her summer job in Ibiza as resident DJ at Amnesia nightclub, and has wise words about the economic crisis.

The hotel chain heiress says: “I work because I enjoy it. I think we just have to work harder and harder and not think so much about the financial crisis.”

Creator of the party 'Foam and Diamonds', which brings in over 5,000 clubbers every night dancing through to the early hours, Paris' first session at Amnesia was just over two hours long and served as the ideal chance to present her new dance video, High off my love.

She appeared wearing a silvery sequin-covered 'dress' which only covered her 'modesty' and left little to the imagination, and uploaded photos and videos on Instagram which she captioned declaring how 'proud' she was to be DJ-ing on the same island as some of the world's best mixers.

Despite being a regular feature of the Ibizan summer club scene, Paris has so far failed to be taken seriously as a DJ and is treated as someone who sells club tickets purely because of who she is, rather than what she does.

Even famous Pacha DJ Joan Ribas, deputy mayor of Ibiza town council on the independent left-of-the-centre party Guanyem, has called her a 'fake'.

“This is what I enjoy doing – when I get up in front of the mixing desk and see so many happy people, I find it really exciting,” Paris reveals.

“I've worked and studied hard to become a DJ, and I'm always surprised that so many people say bad things about me without even knowing what I do, or knowing me personally.”

She was not referring specifically to Joan Ribas, as she does not know him and had not heard his qualification of her abilities.

Paris is probably one of Ibiza's best-paid DJs – between photo shoots and club sessions, which will continue until September 12 and will be the longest she has spent on the island in one hit in her three-year DJ career, her 'unofficial' fees total €260,000 per season.

SPEED-TRAPS on Spain's roads are set to double this week in light of the extra traffic on minor and major highways with tourists heading for coast and country.

Surveys show that just over a third of drivers admit to breaking the limits on secondary roads, which is where eight in 10 fatal accidents occur.

A total of 37% say they drive too fast on motorways, and 11% on town roads.

Excessive speed is a factor in three in 10 crashes where one or more people die, and also sharply increases the risk of survivors suffering serious injuries leading to lifelong, permanent disabilities.

Last year, over 7,000 accidents in Spain were a direct cause of speeding, and the European report Sartre 3 reveals how Spanish drivers break the limit more than the average motorist on the continent.

Speed cameras which are visible to drivers, more obscure ones where the location is published on the traffic authority website, DGT.es in advance, and detectors from the air fitted to helicopters such as Pegasus, which are capable of reading a registration number, photographing a car and its driver in detail, and confirming the exact speed it is travelling at, from a kilometre up in the air.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A JOINT train-and-plane ticket is set to be launched by Iberia airlines in conjunction with State rail board RENFE.

Travellers buy a ticket for the high-speed AVE train, which will take them straight into Terminal 4 at Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport and which will include the cost of their flight.

In the same way as a connecting flight, if the train is delayed, passengers will not have to miss their plane and buy another ticket as they will automatically be put on the next one without any extra costs.

It will also mean train times are streamlined with check-in times, avoiding unnecessary rushing around or waiting.

Luggage would be checked in at the train station and collected at the final, usually long-haul, destination.

As yet, the deal has not been closed and Spain's public works and infrastructure minister Ana Pastor is still in talks with both parties.

Last August, Iberia launched a temporary pilot train-to-plane ticket from high-speed AVE stations in Zaragoza, Valladolid, Sevilla, Córdoba and Málaga to Madrid's airport, and it proved very popular.

Coach companies Alsa and Avanza have already put in place bus-to-train tickets, allowing residents in towns without a railway station to book their entire journey in one hit, and with Iberia, 'Bus&Fly' tickets where coaches take passengers straight to the airport in time for their airline travel.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO Spanish riders have died in the MotoAmerica Superbike and Superstock race at the Laguna Seca circuit in an accident on the first lap.

Bernat Martínez, 35, from Alberic (Valencia province) and Dani Rivas (pictured), 27, from Moaña (Pontevedra province, in Galicia) were crushed to death in a pile-up just after the start.

Rivas' bike would not start because of a mechanical fault, and he was knocked off and run over by riders leaving the grid.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LIGHTNING strikes inland have caused 12 forest fires in the province of Castellón and another in Valencia.

Thunder storms yesterday (Saturday) evening had the fire brigade working flat-out after flames broke out near small towns and villages in rural parts of the Comunidad Valenciana's northernmost province.

Planes and helicopters were drafted in to deal with blazes in Cinctorres, Xert, Morella, Vallibona, Torrechiva, Vistabella, Benafigos, Tirig, Cirat, Alcalá de Xivert, Segorbe (picture taken by the regional government emergency response team), and Cervera del Maestre – the latter of which was not brought under control until just before 07.00hrs this morning.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONLY one bidder has come forward with a view to buying the never-used airport in Ciudad Real, in the southern part of the central region of Castilla-La Mancha - and has offered just €10,000.

A company set up in Madrid in March, comprising several Chinese firms under one umbrella, is considering buying the terminal to use as a point of entry to Spain for its merchandise.

Tzaneen International will become the official owner of the €450-million airport, which has been in receivership since 2010, if nobody comes up with an offer meeting or exceeding the reserve price of €28m within the next three weeks.

The firm, which started up with a capital of just €4,000, was the only bidder in a public auction where the terminal was up for sale at 70% of its original price of €40m and, if it is successful, will be handed the 'keys' to the car park, unfinished runway which leads to the railway line, and all other buildings and facilities necessary for its functioning as an airport.

But the sale does not include the extra land required to form part of the deal in accordance with legal requirements on environmental impact.

Ciudad Real airport has in fact been used, but only for test runs and never for commercial use - although this still means it cannot be listed as 'brand-new' and has to be sold as a 'second-hand' installation.

Another firm, Griffin-Pegasus Airports, has expressed an interest in acquiring the terminal but plans to attempt to have the auction declared null and void due to 'errors of format' in the way it was conducted.

And even the company which owns the complex, Ciudad Real International Airport, S.L., wants to appeal against the manner in which the auction was carried out.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEW regional Parliament members in Valencia have overridden the national government and reinstated healthcare for all residents, irrespective of their immigration status.

Until now, over 30,000 illegal migrants had been left without access to healthcare and, as most did not have the money to pay for it, their lives and quality of life were at risk.

Health boss for the three provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón, Carmen Montón, says steps are in place to return SIP cards to all those who have had them confiscated since September 2012 when former central government minister Ana Mato announced non-documented foreigners would need to fund their own treatment.

Sra Montón said her team, a coalition of the socialists, eco-nationalists Compromís, and independents Podemos, was in the process of 'ending the exclusive and abusive' system put in place by the central government and which 'deprived humans of their rights'.

At the next Inter-Territorial Healthcare Council meeting, Montón says her regional government will formally request the decree restricting medical treatment be abolished.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CHRISTMAS may be an unwelcome word for residents and tourists enjoying the Spanish summer sunshine, but forward planning is always useful – such as buying your festive lottery ticket five months early.

The State betting agency has put the famous El Gordo Christmas lottery on sale already, even though it is not drawn until the night of December 22.

Their aim is for the 202-year-old competition to increase its prize pot by persuading holidaymakers to buy a décimo, or 10^th of a ticket, the price of which remains fixed at €20.

That way, they can 'take a piece of Spanish luck home with them', says lottery board chairwoman Inmaculada García.

Also, it will help cashflow for year-round residents who would otherwise decide not to buy an El Gordo ticket in December as the usual extra Christmas expenditure means €20 is harder to find.

Over 10,400 points of sale have opened across Spain, but mostly in coastal areas and other towns popular with tourists.

An advertising slogan on a poster reads: “¿Y si cae aquí el Gordo de Navidad?” ('What if the Christmas El Gordo lottery struck here?'), with the word aquí, or 'here', as the name of a town on a signpost.

Just like last year, the El Gordo lottery will hand out €640 million in prize money, with the winning ticket netting a cool €4m.

But as a full ticket costs €200, most people buy a décimo, or 10^th of a ticket at €20, meaning the first prize will be €400,000.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S longest heatwave since 1975 is beginning to subside and temperatures today (Thursday) across the country will become more bearable, according to the Met office.

'Orange alerts' remain in place in Andalucía, Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and Madrid, where temperatures are expected to exceed 40ºC in the shade, but the mercury will start to drop in other regions hit by the unprecedented heat including the Balearic Islands and Valencia.

Although it may take until Friday for the intense humidity and high temperatures to subside everywhere in Spain, by the weekend the whole country will be experiencing its normal July weather.

Heat and humidity colliding with cooler air is likely to cause thunder and lightning in the south and centre of the country today, the Met office reveals.

Spain is not the only country to have been hit by excessive heat, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, which says the first two weeks in July saw the longest hot front in decades - in Spain, the last time a heatwave went on for so long was 40 years ago.

Already, two people have died from heatstroke and two men aged 50 and 45 collapsed in the street and were admitted to hospital in a critical condition.

One of the deceased was found unconscious in the middle of town in Cantalojas (Guadalajara province) and another was an 82-year-old man in Sevilla.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MADRID'S mayoress has denied reports that a 'tourist tax' will be applied in the city, calling them 'a misunderstanding'.

Manuela Carmena of independent party Ahora Madrid - a faction of Podemos - says she has 'no intention' of making a daily charge to visitors to the capital, nor applying a tax to cashpoint machines as has been claimed.

She held an urgent meeting with regional president Cristina Cifuentes (PP) to clarify the situation, and promised 'there was no reason to worry' about the taxes mentioned, because 'they will never be approved'.

Certain countries request tourists pay a tax upon leaving them - one of which is Perú - and some towns popular with holidaymakers charge a daily fee, collected by hotel reception desks upon checking in or out, and which is paid to the municipal government.

These include burgeoning tourist resort areas such as the island of Sal in Cape Verde, and is aimed at funding infrastructure, services and facilities needed for travellers seeking to spend their holidays in the area.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OVER 100 pop and rock bands, solo artists and stand-up comedians have offered to stage a massive arts and music festival free of charge in the town of Tordesillas if it agrees to scrap its bloodthirsty bull massacre - but the mayor has refused.

The Valladolid-province municipality in the central-northern region of Castilla y León is infamous for its cruel Toro de la Vega festival (pictured), where bulls are let loose individually and surrounded by crowds who take it in turns to hurl spears at him.

They keep trying until their aim reaches its target, and the bulls bleed to death very slowly as lances strike him from all sides.

A petition on the international campaign site Avaaz.org with 300,000 signatures was handed to mayor José Antonio González Poncela (PSOE) along with an open letter from some of Spain's top celebrities.

They propose performing for free at a music festival of international proportions which they have already named Rock in Vega, and given a Twitter hashtag to.

Pressure groups including Torture Is Not Culture and the International Anti-Bullfight Network have joined the campaign, saying in exchange for scrapping one of Tordesillas' well-known but sickening 'attraction', huge bestselling artists will put the town on the map for a very different reason: as a world-famous festival site.

That way, they say, 'everyone wins', including the bulls.

But González Poncela calls it 'blackmail'.

He says he is happy to consider holding a world-beating music festival in the town for free, but 'refuses to be held to ransom'.

"We'll stop the Toro de la Vega when the people of Tordesillas themselves want to," the mayor insisted, "but not when others try to blackmail us into it.

He said he would not stop the violent bull rite unless the rest of Spain was forced by law to ban similar acts and Tordesillas was left with no choice.

"They'll have to cease all events in all bull-rings in Spain, and only then will we cease ours," he concluded.

Celebrities who have put their names down for the proposed arts festival include The Voice Spain coach Antonio Orozco - who recently hit the headlines for performing a 'private' concert for 380 embryos in a fertility clinic - indie-pop band M-Clan, pop reality show contestant-turned-chart-topper Fran Perea, legendary Basque pop-ballad trio La Oreja de Van Gogh, the deceptively-named all-male rock group Love of Lesbian, indie bands Siniestro Total, El Gran Wyoming and Amistades Peligrosas, and the auspiciously-named Toreros Muertos, which translates as 'dead bullfighters'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A TOWN in Catalunya is feeding contraceptive pills to pigeons to stop them breeding uncontrollably and covering cars and buildings with droppings.

According to local authorities in Badia del Vallès (Barcelona province), stocking up automatic bird-feeders with maize grains soaked in Nicarbazine, within four or five years the pigeon population will have decreased by about 80%.

The doctored food, produced by the animal feed company Ambiens under the brand name of Ovistop, is carefully dosed out to ensure pigeons consume 10 grams a day of the contraceptive drug.

Three dispensers in the street mean the birds can access as much food as they need, and their self-regulated daily intake will automatically contain the right quantity of birth control.

They will only be given 'drugged food' until December, and then again from next July, because the second half of the year is when most pigeon reproduction takes place.

Pigeons 'pair off' in the same way as heterosexual humans and the female lays two eggs per cycle.

The birds are sexually mature at two months and are able to produce 'grandchildren' for the original pigeon pair.

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A FRENCHMAN has been arrested for attempting to smuggle an African migrant into Spain in the boot of his car.

The accused, 54, identified only by his initials of B.R.J.F., was detained after customs officers inspected his vehicle at the land border between Morocco and the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on its northern coast.

Armed border police say car boots and under the bonnet wrapped around the engine are two of the most common hiding places for Africans attempting to get into Spain, having crossed the continent overland to Morocco.

These are among the first places they search in every car driven between the two continents.

On this occasion, they found a 32-year-old man from Gabon and charged the driver with breach of foreign nationals' rights.

The Gabon man was taken to Ceuta's asylum centre where illegal migrants are held until they are either given temporary residence, granted refugee status, or deported.

By the end of this weekend, the centre in Ceuta was up to 722 residents, even though it only has capacity for 512.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A TOP Spanish chef has broken off a lucrative contract to manage the élite restaurant belonging to Donald Trump's hotel chain after the property tycoon and presidential candidate slated Mexican immigrants.

Republican Trump said México was sending the USA people with lots of problems, and that the Mexicans who move north 'are bringing drugs, crime and rapists'.

He conceded that 'some of them are okay' – and, embarrassingly for the billionaire magnate, the press has since shown photos of the eponymous labels in his clothing range which bear the words 'made in México', leading to comments along the lines of 'they're drug-dealers and rapists, but they're good enough to make his clothes for him'.

Trump also said he would repeal the recently-passed equal marriage act if he got into power, because he only believed in 'traditional' marriage – and a gay male reporter said publicly that Trump's having wed three times already was 'not very traditional'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE first Spanish woman to make it to a Grand Slam final in 15 years - and the first at Wimbledon since 1996 - has lost out to six-times winner Serena Williams yesterday (Saturday) in two straight sets lasting an hour and 23 minutes.

Garbiñe Muguruza, 21, a Spanish national who is half-Venezuelan and was born in Caracas, was seeded 20th and made the USA's top player work hard for her 21st Grand Slam title, three of which she has won this year.

As well as the first Grand Slam final for a Spanish woman since the Millennium, it was also the first of Muguruza's career, but she had top-seeded Williams on her toes as she fought back from 5-1 down with two breaks.

In the first game, Muguruza broke Williams' powerful serve, taking advantage of the American's three double faults.

Williams found herself 0-30 down in game three and Muguruza was on the verge of being a double-break ahead, but the Spaniard missed a return on the second serve.

This momentary lapse on Muguruza's part gave Williams a renewed surge of energy and, despite bringing her double fault total up to five, clinched the set 6-4.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HUGE smack of jellyfish spanning most of the Costa del Sol has led to beaches being closed and at least 200 bathers being stung.

Lifeguards hoisted the red flag on the sands in Málaga city and the El Cristo beach in Estepona, among several others, to stop sunseekers from going into the sea.

Numerous bathers, unable to go for a dip or a paddle, decided to amuse themselves by catching jellyfish in small nets on poles to help with the clear-up operation.

Each person managed to fill at least one bucket with jellyfish.

Normally, fishermen will be sent out in boats to collect them up when they fill the part of the sea closest to the beach and prevent bathers from entering the water.

When a smack of jellyfish threatens safe bathing, they are normally cleared away and the beach reopened in a day or two.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BRONZE plaque from the Titanic sold by a British antique dealer has turned up in Granada 100 years after it was given up for lost.

The plaque describes the ill-fated ship as 'the latest, largest and finest steamer afloat' and calls it 'the Queen of the Ocean', and shows that the price of crossing to New York from Southampton, London and Liverpool at third-class rates was seven pounds and nine shillings.

An art dealer in the Alhambra city had it in his possession, saying his grandfather bought it from a British man who 'needed some money' and had to sell it.

It is an alloy of silver and bronze, measuring 28.5 by 37 centimetres (11.5 by 15 inches) and weighs 1.8 kilos (about four pounds).

An interior light and a small window in the middle shows an image of the Titanic and the lamp itself and original electric cable remain intact, showing it has never been switched on in a century.

The plaque was presented to the mayor of Southampton, Lord William James Pirrie, who was also chairman of Harland and Wolff ship-builders, the creators of the Titanic, by the Royal Mail Steamship Union on April 9, 1912.

At the time, the presentation made front-page news.

Back in 2003, a British man sold it to a Barcelona art dealer, and neither the vendor nor the buyer knew anything of its history or origins.

The Barcelona dealer's grandson Leo Lorenzo Sancho, a self-confessed Titanic 'fanatic' who owns a similar shop in Granada, was in his grandfather's premises in Barcelona at the time and overheard the conversation.

He surprised his granddad by buying it from him 'to hang up in his bedroom'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOREST fires sweeping the provinces of Granada and Jaén have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and continue to spread out of control.

Two infernos in the Cazorla nature reserve, close to Segura and Las Villas in the province of Jaén but several kilometres apart are threatening to join in the middle and are fast heading for the border with Granada to the south-east.

Flames of five or six metres in height have engulfed pine forests in the mountains north of Lújar and are spreading rapidly west towards Motril, on the coast.

Overnight, the Granada fire crossed the GR-5607 highway west towards the Bolúcar area, and 624 residents have already been evacuated.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HEALTH and social services in all Spain's 17 autonomously-governed regions will finally soon be 'talking to each other' - a new computer system means any doctor anywhere in the country will be able to access a patient's medical history.

If a patient from Valencia travels to Valladolid, or from Barcelona to Badajoz, Madrid to Málaga or Tenerife to Teruel, doctors will still be able to read their entire healthcare and treatment file without having to ask a long list of questions.

Computer data at present is still only accessible by medical staff within the same region where a patient lives or is habitually treated - and, in fact, electronically-stored medical files have only just become a reality, since patients generally had to carry X-ray plates and paper-based consultants' reports to their GP for perusal, as he or she would not otherwise know anything about the actions taken at the hospital.

This poses a problem when residents go on holiday or for weekend breaks to other parts of Spain and fall ill or suffer accidents, or if they move house to another part of the country.

But health minister Alfonso Alonso's new draft Social and Healthcare Assistance Strategy will include, as a priority, setting up an interface so that any hospital or health centre in the country can read any patient's details, wherever they come from.

Minister Alonso says that within just five years from now, one-fifth of Spain's population will be aged 65 and over, and in patients of all ages it will be chronic, or ongoing and long-lasting conditions which become the main cause of disability, daily home care needs, and doctors' and hospital visits.

For this reason, he says systems need to be in place by then to guarantee any treatment plan or monitoring which has been started will carry on uninterrupted wherever the patient is based.

Eventually, the systems will include full data about dependent patients' care needs, including their current situation, their support network - family members, friends or professional carers who are mainly involved with their day-to-day - and even financial details to ascertain whether they may need necessary emergency help.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DERMATOLOGISTS in Spain have warned that a dangerous trend known as 'sunburn art' is not just painful, but can cause skin cancer.

Originally created by Chinese designer Yu-Chiao Wang and marketed as 'economical, environmentally-friendly, quick and painless' - in comparison with traditional tattoos using needles and dye - 'sunburn art' features T-shirts and body stickers leaving gaps which form patterns or pictures.

When sitting in the sun, the gaps mean the skin burns in these areas, leaving an imprint which can be anything from a sun or Chinese lettering through to the Mona Lisa.

Now trending heavily on Twitter and filling Instagram under the hashtag #sunburnart, photos of these perilous tattoos - which started out in the USA - have been uploaded by people in Spain taking advantage of the suffocating heatwave sweeping the country.

But skin doctors say they are highly dangerous as well as painful, and point out that more and more skin cancer patients are very young adults.

In fact, melanoma is the type of cancer which is increasing more than any other in Spain, with a 10% rise in the number of cases, or 40% since 2010.

"What's most alarming is that in the vast majority of cases, it could have been prevented," says Dr Miguel Sánchez Viera of the national dermatology institute.

"Suffering sunburn five times or more during your youth increases the risk of melanoma by 80%.

"Every year, we diagnose hundreds of thousands of skin cancer cases in Spain, and it's a trend which is increasing in younger people.

"We want to try to change the way society sees suntans as a sign of beauty - any level of tan is skin damage, and sun exposure not only causes skin cancer but also premature ageing and wrinkles."

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TEMPERATURES in the Comunidad Valenciana were the highest in the country yesterday (Tuesday) with the record for Spain being in the inland town of Xàtiva where the mercury rose to just short of 46ºC in the shade.

This is the highest seen since August 2012, which broke all records.

Xàtiva's nearest neighbouring town, Ontinyent, was only slightly 'cooler' at 44.9ºC whilst Llíria got to 42.3ºC.

Practically everywhere inland in the region saw highs of over 40ºC yesterday, including the southern Alicante province town of Villena at 41ºC.

On the coast, Alicante city hit 40.9ºC and Oliva and Gandia (Valencia province) reached 42ºC and 44ºC in the shade respectively.

Some respite from the sweltering climes was enjoyed in Valencia city, where highs 'only' reached 34.6ºC, and in Morella (Castellón province) where the mercury rose to 38ºC - although this is the highest temperature ever seen in the town since July 1984.

In most of Castellón, thermometers did not go above 35ºC and in Vinaròs on the coast and Castellfort, they sat at a 'mere' 34ºC and 33ºC respectively.

The coolest part of the Comunidad Valenciana was in the village of Barx, in the north of the Valencia province and a few kilometres inland, where temperatures did not go above 30.9ºC all day.

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SPANISH president Mariano Rajoy has denied rumours that the general elections may be put back to December this year, although he has previously countered claims he was thinking of bringing them forward to September.

When asked about when Spaniards may be going to the polls, the PP leader replied that 'to be absolutely frank' he did not yet know what the date would be.

Rajoy merely confirmed the elections would be 'at the end of the year'.

At first he said he 'could not be sure' that the nation would be casting its ballots in December, but in a subsequent interview on Spain's Channel 5, TeleCinco, the president gave a firm 'no' when asked if election day would be a date on the Advent calendar.

This said, when the TV reporter asked if the elections would be in November, Rajoy replied that he 'could not say'.

As a result, nobody is really sure when they will be voting in their national government for the next four years.

Former Madrid regional president and unsuccessful mayoral candidate for the city, Esperanza Aguirre, who is also on the PP has told Rajoy he should hold elections in September to coincide with the regional polls in Catalunya.

And rumours began that the elections would indeed be brought forward, but Rajoy denied those.

His immediate rival, PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez, has publicly called for the president to convene the general elections 'now'.

But Rajoy says before he dissolves Parliament, he wants to get next year's budget agreed and rubber-stamped in order to provide 'certainty and security'.

"I'm going to work with diligence, reason, arguments, and by speaking to as many of the Spanish public as I can," Rajoy announced.

And his in-tray is full to bursting, with 46 pending new laws he wants to get signed off before the elections.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BRITISH couple has been arrested at a Costa Blanca villa for faking a kidnap in order to extort money from the woman's parents and gain back custody of their daughter.

Guardia Civil officers and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) report that a British man sent a series of emails and text messages to his wife's parents demanding ransom money.

He told them he had his wife hostage and that unless they sent him 5,000 pounds (about €6,500) and let the couple have their young daughter back, he would kill his spouse.

The woman's parents in Manchester, UK have custody of their granddaughter because of the child's father's history of violent criminal activity, says the NCA.

Some of the messages included photos which seemed to be of the wife tied up in a bedroom with multiple bruising to her face - but this turned out to have been staged, and the bruises were painted on with make-up.

British police worked out that the couple may be in a villa in Guardamar del Segura, in the south of the Alicante province on the coast, and contacted the Guardia Civil.

Spanish officers kept the villa under close watch from a discreet distance, and saw no movement or anything suspicious happening inside it.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EMERGENCY services have warned bathers to be prudent and avoid unnecessary risks after five people drowned in one weekend in Spain.

A man of 40 and a woman of 59 drowned at the weekend off the beach near the El Plomo bay in the Níjar (Almería province) area whilst a 45-year-old Senegalese man drowned whilst swimming in the river Arga near Huarte, Navarra.

Rescuers were unable to save a man of 55 who was pulled unconscious from the sea off a beach in the La Manga area of Murcia, opposite the urbanisation Manga Beach.

And a 30-year-old man originally from Hondurás, bathing with his partner and children in the river Tajo near Aranjuez, in the Greater Madrid region, drowned on Saturday and the rest of the family had to be pulled out of the water by lifeguards.

At least three young children have been reported as having drowned in swimming pools, and two others in water parks, in the last month.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PRESIDENT of Spain Mariano Rajoy has called another urgent meeting for this morning (Monday) in light of Greece's 'no' vote to ascertain whether it will have any negative consequences for other European member States.

The Commission for Economic Affairs, comprising the ministries of the treasury, employment, economy, public works and infrastructure, industry, agriculture and the secretaries of State for the treasury and the economy will discuss any possible impact on Spain and what steps to take ahead of any problems.

Rajoy had been staunchly defending the 'yes', or nai vote, as had his direct rival, socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, although head of independent party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, championed the 'no' or oxi vote and congratulated the people of Greece, over six in 10 of whom rejected the EU's debt proposals, on Twitter.

Iglesias had previously said the Troika's insistence on cutting salaries and pensions, increasing taxes including IVA, and making redundancies cheaper or even free was a form of 'financial terrorism'.

The Greeks themselves point out that seven years ago, people begging in the street was something they only saw abroad and which horrified them, but that now, it is a common sight in their own towns.

They say their lax attitude to filing tax returns and paying tax was because it was so high that they could not afford to and it was stifling them.

But Greece has come under fire for fat pensions for very early-retired workers as well as its failure to clamp down on non-payment of taxes.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE second heatwave in less than a fortnight is set to continue until at least Sunday, July 12 with temperatures exceeding 40ºC in the shade in many parts of the country, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

Clear skies with practically no winds are forecast for the next six days everywhere except in the far north and north-west, in Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria where possible light showers may be felt and the soaring mercury will stop at a more bearable 25ºC to 30ºC.

For these three regions, which back onto the turbulent Cantabrian Sea, this is still much hotter than usual for the time of year.

But in the parts of Spain typically considered to be the hottest on the mainland at any time, thermometers will go off the scale: Sevilla and Granada can look forward to temperatures of 41ºC and 43ºC, whilst in Córdoba, the heat is expected to rocket to a sweltering 46ºC in the shade.

Most of the south and east coasts will hover between 32ºC – fairly typical for early July – and 39ºC, but may break the 40ºC barrier especially in Alicante, Murcia and Valencia.

Some of the most scorching parts of the mainland include the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, particularly in Toledo and Ciudad Real, plus the land-locked north-eastern region of Aragón, other than the Pyrénéen province of Huesca, as well as Madrid, and other inland provinces in Catalunya, Andalucía and Extremadura – in all of these, temperatures will sit at around 40ºC to 42ºC in the daytime.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THREE-QUARTERS of all Spanish people interviewed say they believe political parties' electoral campaign promises should constitute a legally-binding contract.

According to the Sigma Dos questionnaire distributed by the Transform Spain Foundation, eight in 10, or 79.8% consider these manifestos to be 'important' when deciding whom to vote for, and just over half - 50.3% - say it is their content that influences them more than the party's political colours or the candidates.

In three out of four cases, or 74.8% of respondents, voters believe that as they cast their ballots in good faith based upon these promises, they should be enforced if the party gets into power and that, if the politicians in question breach the contract, they should be treated in the same way as if they had broken any other binding trade agreement: required to fulfil their side of the bargain, resign, face financial sanctions, or otherwise be held accountable.

An overwhelming majority, nine in 10, believe elected parties are generally very unlikely to do what their manifesto says; in fact, whilst 46% say they 'rarely' do so, 44% say they 'never' do.

And more than nine in 10 Spaniards interviewed - 93.4% - say failure to fulfil the aims of an electoral campaign programme means society loses trust in the party itself and the entire political system.

Independent party Podemos' faction in the capital, Ahora Madrid, and its leader Manuela Carmena - now mayoress - said before the elections that her programme was 'only a suggestion'; rival candidate on the PP Esperanza Aguirre produced just one sheet of paper with 10 bullet points, and the now-ex regional president of Castilla-La Mancha and secretary-general of the PP-run central government María Dolores de Cospedal failed to produce her own manifesto until May 22 this year, when the public was due to go to the polls on May 24.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DOZENS of residents in an Ibiza village have had to flee their homes as a wildfire which started last night (Friday) continues to rage out of control.

Three planes and a helicopter were drafted in after flames were spotted in the rural Can Planells stretch of countryside close to a residential area in Sant Joan de Labritja, but they had to withdraw from the scene when night fell.

Emergency services say the blaze is 'pretty serious' and that high winds are fanning the flames.

The main road to the village has been closed to traffic.

And according to councillor for independent party Guanyem, Gianandrea di Terlizzi, the situation 'does not look good'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPANISH tennis ace Rafa Nadal's Wimbledon record has just taken another nose-dive after he was beaten in round two by a qualifier who has only ever won four matches in his career.

As the Mallorca-born sporting legend (pictured) struggles to regain his form after more than two years plagued with one injury after another, three-times world champion John McEnroe tells him to 'get a new coach'.

The outspoken former player says Rafa's uncle, Toni Nadal, has 'done an excellent job' with his nephew 'since he was a young kid', but believes 'new blood is needed' to give him a fresh angle to his play.

Speaking of what is now Rafa's fourth 'shock' defeat at the All England Club, McEnroe said: "Once you lose that aura, it's hard to get it back. Players feel it and can feed off it."

Whilst Rafa's prize money pot over his 15-year career reaches nearly €66 million, his rival, qualifier Dustin Brown, does not even have a coach and has to buy his own racquets.

And some say the greatest 'shock' of all about the Mallorcan's early losses against previously-unknown players is that it is no longer, in fact, a shock at all.

Critics say Nadal's relentless play, his super-powered forehand and top-spin and extreme force of his tactics which has hitherto left his opponents quaking in their boots may have come back to bite him: such powerful techniques are physically demanding and mean he could well burn out quicker.

They say he is 'old for his age', 29, in the physical sense, with a chronic tendonitis that he has only been able to keep under control rather than cure, compared to older players who are still going strong such as 33-year-old Swiss former champion Roger Federer whose game is less aggressive and therefore puts less strain on his body.

Read more at thinkPSAIN.com

ACTRESS Audrey Hepburn's son Sean has filed an arbitration order against the manager of Granada's iconic Alhambra Palace for 'accusing' him of celebrating an 'illegal wedding' at the Mediaeval tourist hotspot.

The union took place at the Carlos V Palace within the Alhambra complex and mayor of Granada, José Torres Hurtado (PP) attended.

But the heritage trust manager María del Mar Villafranca admitted it was 'not a legal wedding', which Sean Hepburn Ferrer says is 'damaging to his international reputation', both as son of the legendary silver-screen star and as UNICEF ambassador.

He says he has been 'accused' of 'using the monument illegally' for his wedding in August, and the opposition socialist party in Granada city council has called for explanations from Torres Hurtado.

The mayor says the 'wedding' was actually a concert which Hepburn had wanted to throw on for his friends, and that the Alhambra management board had declined his request in May for his actual exchanging of vows to take place there because the law did not allow a 'proper' nuptial ceremony to be held on the site.

Although the bride appears in a white wedding dress, Hurtado says the couple had actually married in Gibraltar before they were taken, and that they were merely celebrating a concert as a belated wedding reception at the Alhambra afterwards.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE heatwave currently frying Spain is likely to lead to an upsurge in mobile phones and tablets breaking down, possibly irreparably.

According to repair service and parts store PhoneHouse, excess exposure to heat or sunlight is the second-highest cause of mobiles ceasing to function.

And 40% of mobile breakdowns happen between June and August, half of them being due to overheating or direct sunlight.

Year-round, phones being dropped are the main causes of their breaking and being taken to a repair centre, in 80% of cases, and heat accounts for 14% of phones needing to be repaired.

Men are more likely to drop their phones than women - 59% as opposed to 51% - and women have their mobiles stolen more than men, in 28% of cases compared with 23%.

The highest incidence of mobile phones damaged and taken in for repairs is in the centre-north regional of Castilla y León, with 71% of mobiles owned needing repair due to being dropped or being left in the heat.

In Galicia, the rate is around two-thirds, or 67%, compared with 54% in Catalunya and just under 50% in the Balearic Islands.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OWNERS of land classified as 'developable' will no longer have to pay full residential property rates for their annual IBI taxes, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Instead, they will pay 'rustic' or 'farmland' tariffs, which are a fraction of the price.

This will come as a breath of fresh air for hundreds of thousands of people who bought plots of land with the intention of building a house on it or selling it to a developer, but who saw their plans thwarted by the property market crash and the recession.

In the Comunidad Valenciana alone, one of the most-populated coastlines and an area which saw a real building frenzy in the 'boom' years, some 50,000 hectares of land fit this description – up to 1.8 million homes were due to be built on them either for private use or for resale.

And throughout Spain as a whole, 'developable' land which has not been built on totals over 900,000 plots.

Even where the council has reclassified a plot of land to allow it to be built on, owners will pay their annual IBI tax at 'agricultural land' rates, which in some cases rarely reaches double figures.

They will not have to pay 'residential rates' until they have a concrete plan for constructing property, planning permission from the council, and necessary infrastructure such as mains drainage and water and electricity connected to the grid.

At this point, even if the property or estate itself is not yet built, the owner will have to pay IBI per square metre at the same level as those with identical land which has been developed.

Owners themselves do not have to take any action, since it is the town councils who are obliged to inform the land registry about plots classified as fit for development but which are not in fact developed.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SUMMER sales officially started in Spain yesterday with up to 50% off existing stock, with even lower prices expected in later weeks.

Cutting prices has meant the retail sector has been able to increase the number of temporary jobs offered - some 116,000 people will be employed in high-street shops between now and September, about 4% more than during last year's sales.

At this time of year, shop owners make nearly 35% of their annual takings in just two months since, although business over the Christmas period is also buoyant, the New Year sales are less commonly-frequented as consumers tend to be more strapped for cash after the festive season.

Whilst Spain's government changed the rules two years ago allowing shops to hold sale periods whenever they wanted, rather than just during the Christmas and January campaign and over the summer, many stick to the old pattern because the 'novelty' of much lower prices for the same goods means an upsurge in customers.

And areas granted official 'tourist destination' status are legally permitted to open shops on Sundays and bank holidays, meaning greater profits for high-street traders in large city centres or coastal towns in the regions of Murcia, Madrid, Catalunya, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Asturias, La Rioja, Andalucía, Galicia, Aragón, Extremadura, and Valencia.

In all of these regions bar Valencia, Sunday trading is allowed year-round.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A FILM of the life of the late, great golfer Severiano Ballesteros was shown for the first time on Monday this week (June 30) in 11 cities in Spain.

Created by director John-Paul Davidson, who describes it as half-documentary, half-fiction, the film Seve was premièred in London over a year ago but had not yet been shown in Spain, despite having been filmed entirely on location there and featuring Spanish cast only.

Exclusive première passes were given out in Alicante, Santander - Ballesteros' native provincial capital - Cádiz, Sevilla, A Coruña, León, Cuenca, Barcelona, Salt (Girona province), Gijón (Asturias), and at the Callao City Lights palladium in Madrid.

It has not been shown anywhere in the province of Valencia, despite the fact Ballesteros designed the world-famous golf course at the Oliva Nova resort about 80 kilometres south of the city.

The film shows Seve's humble beginnings, teaching himself to play at the age of six on his nearest beach in Cantabria using a broken 3-iron tied to a cane, and most of the action takes place at the Pedreña Golf Club, which he was a member of all his life, in the town of the same name where he was born.

Seve is played by young professional golfer José Luis Gutiérrez, and his parents Carmen and Baldomero are fleshed out by Spanish actors María Molins and Adrián Salzedo, whilst Ballesteros' own cousin Gabriel Sota plays a fellow member of the Pedreña club.

Most of the film is shot in the northern region of Cantabria, in the same places Seve grew up in.

Its British producer Stephen Evans, whose long career includes screen adaptations of Shakespeare plays Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing, has been a BAFTA nominee twice for The Madness of King George and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

The film is edited by Tariq Anwar, double Oscar-nominee for The King's Speech and American Beauty, and the soundtrack is by Stephen Warbeck, who composed the music for Shakespeare in Love.

Although Seve is an Anglo-Spanish production, it is entirely in Spanish, but was subtitled into English for the London première.

Severiano Ballesteros Sota, born in Pedreña, Cantabria, was just 54 when he died of a brain tumour in May 2011 which he had been battling with since spring 2007, but which he did not admit to openly until October 2008.

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MAJOR traffic jams are expected and a rise in speeding fines as 81.5 million car journeys take place across Spain over the next two months.

Last summer alone, 220 people lost their lives in road crashes, and in an attempt to reduce the number this year the traffic authority has set up 1,500 speed traps which will remain in place for July, August and the early part of September.

These are in addition to existing fixed speed cameras, and Guardia Civil traffic police will spend 80% of their working hours monitoring secondary roads, given that eight in 10 road deaths occur on these rather than on motorways.

Three specific crackdown campaigns will take place over the next two months.

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AIR-TRAFFIC controllers across Spain have planned another partial strike next month in light of their governing body, Enaire's refusal to lift sanctions on the 61 of them who closed the country's air-space in December 2010.

They will down tools between 10.00hrs and 13.00hrs on Saturday, July 11 and Saturday, July 25, and between 17.00hrs and 20.00hrs on Sunday, July 12 and Sunday, July 26.

This follows on from four days of strikes in June, where they downed tools during both time slots – but the impact on flights turned out to be minimal with only a small number of delays of up to 20 or 30 minutes.

Air-traffic controllers consider their right to strike was breached in December 2010 when, in order to prevent them from abandoning their posts, the then president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero declared a 'state of emergency' – a lower level of public warning than a curfew or a siege, which would be used during times of armed conflict.

But 61 of them in Barcelona and one in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, went ahead anyway, leaving the control towers unmanned and forcing flight authorities to close Spain's air-space.

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STOCK markets were only slightly affected today as a result of the 'Greek crisis' – in Spain, the IBEX-35 fell by just 0.4%.

This is an improvement on Monday morning, when financial markets crashed – the IBEX-35 was down 4.56%, its worst fall since August 2012.

It closed on Monday with a loss of 10,853.9 points and a significant drop in share value for Spain's largest companies.

Banco Santander took the greatest blow with its shares dropping 6.7%, whilst BBVA bank fell by 6.02%, REPSOL by 4.23%, Inditex by 4.2%, Iberdrola by 3.87% and Telefónica by 3.86%.

With Greece having shut its banks and restricting withdrawals to €60 a day, cashpoints already empty and residents panic-buying food and petrol, the rest of Europe's financial markets suffered on Monday with Lisbon and Milan down by over 5%, Frankfurt and Paris by over 3% and London's FTSE-100 by nearly 2%.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com