Live News From Spain As It Happens

AROUND 700,000 diesel cars manufactured by Seat - the Spanish arm of Volkswagen – are said to be carrying emissions data-rigging software, according to company sources.

This is about 6.3% of the 11 million 'doctored' vehicles uncovered in the VW scam.

Spain is aware of just over 3,000 Volkswagen brands with emissions-masking programmes, and has withdrawn them from sale.

All Seat and Volkswagen-Audi vehicles with an EA-189 diesel engine – some 3,320 in total – have been recalled as a preventive measure.

Manufacturers have assured their customers that the vehicles are completely safe to drive, as the fraudulent software only affects emissions readings.

Seat is attempting to contact everyone it has on record as having bought an affected car to get the owners to bring them in for testing, and has enabled a search engine on its web page so anyone who has bought a Seat diesel engine can check whether their model is among those rigged.

In the meantime, Seat, Audi, Skoda and VW dealerships say they have been plunged into chaos – customers are queueing up to ask them if their cars may be affected, but no official data on which actual models have been rigged have been released.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CHILDREN are required by law to travel in the back seats of cars from this Thursday, October 1, according to a new traffic regulation.

Youngsters of 4'6” (1.36m) or less in height must not travel in the front seat, and should be in booster seats or similar suitable for their age, height and weight.

Three exceptions apply – where the vehicle does not have back seats; where all back seats are occupied by children of identical characteristics, and where child restraint or seating systems cannot physically be installed because they would not fit.

As well as being part of a European Union directive on passenger safety, the new regulation responds to scientific research carried out in Spain showing that children's safety is severely compromised by travelling in the front of a car.

Child restraint or booster seat systems reduce crash deaths by 75%, and cut the risk of serious injuries by 90%.

Spain's traffic department even recommends using booster seats and remaining in the back of the car until the child is at least 4'11” (1.5m) in height, even though many adults are no taller than this.

The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) strongly recommends not carrying children on laps, nor using the same seatbelt to protect a child and an adult at once, making sure baby and toddler seats are properly fitted and that the child's head does not go over the top of the back of the seat.

Where a child has to travel in the front as a result of one of the three legal exceptions cited, restraint seats should always be facing the rear of the car if the airbag has been deactivated.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HOMES in Spain classed as 'energy-efficient' will get a 20% rebate on their IBI tax from next year, the central government treasury has announced.

The ultimate decision as to whether to cut rates will rest with town councils, but the PP government has changed the law to allow them to make the reductions.

Properties with a poor energy consumption level – rated F and G – or with no energy certificate will not get a discount, but they will not see their IBI rise either.

Those considered to be the most energy-efficient houses and flats, rated A, will be entitled to 20% off their IBI if their town council agrees to adopt the move.

Homes rated B for energy use will get a reduction of 16%, whilst those classed as C can obtain up to 12% off.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MIXED results of the regional elections in Catalunya mean the pro-independence brigade is in a stronger position than ever, but no single party has won an outright majority.

Current regional leader Artur Mas, head of Convergence and Democracy for Catalunya (CDC) and Oriol Junqueras of Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC), whose strategy involved bringing together all bar one of the parties who were in favour of secession under the heading of Junts pel Sí ('together for the 'yes' vote') has in some ways succeeded – of the 68 seats needed for a complete majority, they have gained 62, with 47.86% of the votes – but in others failed, since they won 70 seats at the 2012 regional elections, meaning a loss of eight.

The remaining pro-secession party, CUP (Candidature for Unity of the People) which decided to go it alone won 10 seats, compared to just three in 2012, meaning in theory, if it hooked up with Junts pel Sí in coalition, those in favour of unilaterally declaring independence would have a full majority with 72 seats.

But CUP leader Antonio Baños has already said his party would not back Mas as regional president in the in-house elections which will take place between now and early November.

Without either a minimum of 68 seats or a coalition agreement with CUP, Junts pel Sí's strategy for Catalunya's secession from Spain cannot get off the ground.

Ciudadanos, the centre-right independent party which burst onto the national scene this year in time for the local and regional elections and intends to run for national government in December, has been present in Catalunya for nine years and is now the second-strongest party in the region's Parliament – an opposition with 25 of the total of 135 seats. 

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ONE in three visitors to the Comunidad Valenciana goes there for the food, a recent study claims.

During the Tourism and Cuisine Promotion Fair in Valencia, which is due to head to Bilbao, Sevilla and Madrid shortly and is an event aimed at professionals in the industry with conferences and debates, the conclusion reached was that 'food holidays' is a growing worldwide trend.

And in the case of the Valencia region, the local wines and 'authentic' paella are among the main tourism magnets, along with its mild climate and hot summers.

Conference leaders say society in general is 'more concerned about what they eat' these days, and have 'increasingly more sophisticated tastes' – and tourism is 'merely a reflection of what happens in wider society'.

“You only have to see how cooking programmes on TV lead in the ratings,” said culinary expert Iñaki Gaztelmendi, “and this forces holiday destinations to make a greater effort in providing higher-quality and more affordable cuisine.”

Last year, although the local food was 'not the main reason' for holidaymakers to travel to the Valencia region, 'culinary features were what was given the highest marks' by tourists surveyed.

Tourism bosses are now discussing package deals featuring on 'food and wine breaks' and events such as culinary fairs and tapas festivals with participating restaurants and bars offering set, reduced prices for a taste of their best dishes with a drink thrown in.

With Spain coming out of its worst recession in history, a small number of bars and restaurants are choosing to re-open or renovate their premises, updating their offers, as they are seeing that 'customers are starting to come back', said secretary-general of Saborea España ('taste Spain'), Emilio Gallego.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PRESIDENT Barack Obama's 'personal' perfume creator has launched a new scent inspired by the island of Tabarca off the coast of southern Alicante.

The fragrance, named Tabarca 1760 – after the year when the island was officially founded – contains up to 42 natural essences to give it 'the scent of the Mediterranean'.

Pedro de Leana, Count of San Jorge and owner of the Leana Spa in Fortuna (Murcia Region) says the scent reflects Tabarca's history and present, making it completely unique.
Oranges and green mandarines from the Liguria region in north-western Italy where Tabarca's original inhabitants came from, geraniums, essences of the sea and other plants have been combined to give the perfume a flavour of Italy, Tunisia and Mediterranean Spain, combined with the lush greenery of the tiny island.
The first 100 bottles sold come with a certificate and issue number as a one-off souvenir.

An offshoot of Tabarca 1760 is Llop Marí ('marine wolf'), after the cave of the same name on the island, and carries a fresh, seaside aroma with extracts of seaweed and the 'scent of the ozone', rather like grass and trees after a summer rain shower.
Both are retailed at Leana Spa, on Tabarca itself and in select boutiques in Torrevieja (Alicante province) just across the water, although the creator plans to roll it out to perfume shops all along the western Mediterranean.

Tabarca Island: Tuscany meets Tunisia
Visted by over 3,000 tourists a day in summer, Tabarca Island – which is just over a mile long and a third of a mile wide – only has 61 inhabitants of whom fewer than 10 live there year-round.
It was first habited by 69 families from Genoa who had lived on the Tunisian island of Tabarka were enslaved and tortured.

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AN EX-STUDENT of Castellón University was one of the investigators who uncovered the Volkswagen emissions data rigging scam.

Vicente Franco, industrial engineer with a PhD from the Jaume I University (UJI) in the eastern Spanish city, near where he was born, moved to Berlin two years ago to take up a job with the International Council for Clean Transport (ICCT).

The company started a research project on the difference in CO2 emissions between diesel cars in the USA and Europe, and tested two VWs and a BMW on the road.

West Virginia University in the USA took part in the research.

During testing, they found the Volkswagen cars exceeded Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) emission levels 40 times over compared to laboratory results from when the VW models were registered and signed off before hitting the forecourts.

Dr Franco says he and his team were obliged to inform environmental monitoring organisations in California, which immediately launched an inquiry.

Had it not been for Vicente Franco and his company deciding to carry out the research and choosing Volkswagen cars as their guinea pigs, the fraudulent software designed to hide emissions readings would probably never have been discovered.

It led to further research in Europe of CO2 data over 140 hours from 12 different types of vehicles, showing that the problem of toxic emissions from diesel cars on the continent is 'very serious'.

Urgent action is needed from European authorities to remedy the situation, says Dr Franco, who led the investigation team at the ICCT.

He reveals that the main problem is that legislation relating to NOX output – gases which have been shown to be harmful to health – is 'much more lax' in Europe than in the USA, and aggravated by the fact Europe has a much higher percentage of diesel-run cars.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN has called for answers from car manufacturer Volkswagen, but has decided not to take legal action – even though ITV inspectors say they would be unable to tell whether or not a car's emissions data had been tampered with.

Motor vehicles in Spain undergo compulsory roadworthiness inspections every two years until they are 10 years old, and then annually thereafter, known as an ITV – the Spanish answer to an MOT in Britain – and many regional governments include emissions levels as part of the pass-or-fail criteria.

But head of the association for ITV centres, Enrique García, says the software installed by the German car manufacturer to rig emissions data – uncovered in the USA – would go undetected during the test.

“During ITV tests, it is forbidden to dismantle any element of the car,” reveals García.

“This would make it impossible for a scam like this to be detected.

“The only emissions which can be picked up and measured during ITV inspections are those which come out of the exhaust pipe.

“We can only uncover rigging if we find a car is making a strange noise, or there is some visual element which appears suspicious.”

Four Volkswagen Group models – the Golf, Beetle, Jetta and Audi A3 where they were made in or after 2009, and the Passat where it was manufactured in or later

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SPAIN'S grasp of the English language remains among the poorest in Europe, coming 17^th out of 24 countries studied and 20^th out of 63 worldwide, according to research by Education First.

Expats who think they will never need to learn Spanish because 'everyone speaks English in Spain' may be in for a shock, but the country's limited grasp of the language means business opportunities for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and traders catering for English-speakers, as well as much greater choice of jobs for those who do have a good command of it – and, of course, the inability to be understood in English could be the catalyst many expats want or need to push them into learning a new language, which is proven to strengthen the grey matter and protect it against dementia.

For English-speakers living in, or holidaymakers visiting the Basque Country or Madrid, however, the problem is less marked, according to the English Proficiency Index which commissioned the research: a far higher number of their inhabitants were found to have a 'high' level of the language, meaning they were able to converse comfortably on any topic with few minor errors and no significant ones, and could hold down a job where English was the sole, dominant or an essential tongue in their role.

But in the land-locked western region of Extremadura, those who spoke any at all had a very low level, barely able to introduce themselves, order food from a restaurant or hold a very basic conversation.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NATIONAL basketball legend Pau Gasol has had to fend off oblique but unfounded hints in the French media about doping, but managed to deflect them with equal subtlety on Instagram.

A reporter's blog in France's best-known national daily newspaper Le Monde referred to the relationship between Gasol and Spanish physiologist Dr Nicolás Terrados when discussing the factors behind the former's apparent super-human strength and powerful play.

Dr Terrado, one-time GP to the ONCE national Spanish cycling team, was fined 30,000 French francs (about €4,080) during the 1998 Tour de France when containers of corticosteroids, anabolic substances, caffeine capsules and other stimulants were found in his hotel room.

During the same competition, ONCE team leader Laurent Jalabert tested positive for doping and Swiss cyclist Alex Zülle has since admitted he and 'about another 20 or so' others consumed stimulants during their time on the team 'under the control of Dr Terrado and a doctor called José'.

Concerning Pau Gasol, the Le Monde article explains how he and his trainer Joaquín Juan approached Dr Terrados 'to study his metabolism and energy production, and to optimise them', before going on to say: “Nicolás Terrados knows all about energy,” as a lead-in to his fine in the 1998 doping scandal.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MENINGITIS-B vaccine is now available over the counter at pharmacies in Spain.

Until now, the inoculation against the brain infection was only allowed to be used in hospitals, and was given to high-risk cases, but it has now been reclassified as 'non-restricted prescription medicine' after being passed by the Spanish Agency for Medication and Health Products (AEMPS), part of the ministry of health.

From October 1, high-street chemists are authorised to sell the vaccine 'Bexsero', marketed by Novartis – two years and 10 months after it was approved by the European Union.

So far, 1.2 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed worldwide after stringent quality-control testing.

It is suitable for use after the age of two months.

Meningitis-B, or Neisseria meningitidis group B, is the virus responsible for seven in 10 cases of the disease in Spain.

The bacteria can cause both meningitis and meningioccocal septicaemia, both of which are potentially fatal.

In the first scenario, the death toll is around 10% and in the second, up to 40% - but one in five children who survive the second strain suffer extreme after-effects including loss of limbs, convulsions, severe loss of hearing, and brain damage.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S international markets have grown faster in 2015 than they have since 1971, slashing the country's trade deficit.

Exports went up between January and July inclusive by 5.5%, the greatest hike seen for the same period in 44 years.

Sales of goods to Saudi Arabia increased by 42.8% and to Egypt by 28%.

Overall figures by the end of July stood at just over €148.6 billion, reducing Spain's negative foreign trade balance from €13.7bn to €12.87bn.

The best result to date in the last six years was seen in 2013, when the import-over-export figures dropped from €21.3bn to €6.86bn, but in terms of growth in a seven-month period, Spain has set itself a new record.

The rise of 5.5% is slightly higher than the average for the EU-28, which sits at 5.4%, and higher still than the average for the Eurozone, which is currently 4.9%.

Only Germany, showing a growth of 6.8%, has presented better results than Spain.

France and Italy registered an export increase of 5.2% and 4.7%, and the UK's exports fell by 2%.

Figures were helped by a reduction in imports into Spain of 4.5%, down to just over €161.5bn, bringing the trade defict down by 23.6% on the same period last year.

General improvement in the economy elsewhere in the European Union, including the Eurozone, has meant Spain's exports have seen higher demand.

Nearly three-quarters – 64.6% - of exports from Spain went to EU clients, up on last year's 63.6%, with sales within the EU-28 as a whole rising by 7.2% from January to July inclusive and by 6.5% over the same period within the Eurozone.

France has historically been Spain's main international client, representing 15.9% of the total and having made purchases so far this year at a value of 5.1% higher than in the same seven months of 2014.

Germany, Italy and the UK increased its trade with Spain, with sales to these three countries rising by 7.3%, 10.8% and 8% respectively.

Non-EU countries, which make up just over a third of the total, only showed growth of 2.6% in purchases from Spain.

Motor vehicles, chemical products and foodstuffs are the most-exported goods.

Saudi Arabia has invested more in aircraft and, to a lesser extent, rail transport material and clothing produced in Spain; the United Arab Emirates mainly buys petroleum derivatives, electrical appliances and telecommunications equipment; Lebanon buys meat products, and Egypt purchases aircraft, gas and electrical appliances.

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MAJOR international airlines have announced a total of 26 new direct flight routes to and from Tenerife to meet growing demand.

Head of the island council for Tenerife – known as the Cabildo – Carlos Alonso and his tourism leader Alberto Bernabé have been in talks with British Airways, Norwegian, SunExpress, Vueling, Brussels, Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines during a flight path development conference in South Africa.

Britain, Germany and mainland Spain have shown a higher output of tourists this year and bookings are up already for the winter season, when the Canary Islands' weather tends to be warmer and sunnier than the rest of the country.

A total of 10 direct British Airways routes, seven to Tenerife South (pictured) and three to Tenerife North have been pledged by the UK carrier, whilst Lufthansa has expressed its satisfaction at sales results for its new flight planned from Munich for the winter season.

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LAS PALMAS de Gran Canaria has asked the regional tourist board to stop using photos of its most famous beach to promote other islands as holiday destinations.

“You're confusing potential tourists,” says city councillor Pedro Quevedo in his letter to the Canary Island Parliament.

The State-run website, HolaIslasCanarias.com, features a photo of the idyllic, golden Las Canteras beach (pictured) as a generic image for the archipelago as a whole, but without saying where it is or even on which island.

Instead, the names of each island in the region are superimposed on the photo.

Quevedo says this is 'very likely to cause confusion' among holidaymakers, since they will see the golden beach and think this is typical of the islands as a whole.

In practice, most of the beaches have black, volcanic sand, with just a few golden ones purpose-built using sand from the Sahara desert.

Quevedo has complained to the tourist board, Promotur, and stressed it needs to highlight the individual attractions and charms of each island separately instead, as the website could effectively deceive holidaymakers who have never been to the islands.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Spain beat Lithuania 80-63 in tonight's Eurobasket final, notching up their third European title in the last four championships in front of a record 27,372 crowd at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille.

Pau Gasol, with 22 points and 10 rebounds, was voted MVP (most valuable player) of the tournament for the second time in his career, and the team as a whole - with Rudy, Llull and Claver outstanding once again - proved why they have been a force to be reckoned with for the past 16 years.

No other team has won three European titles since the former Yugoslavia achieved the feat in 1973, 1983 and 1991.

Spain's defence, their Achilles heel in the opening phase of the tournament, turned into their passport to glory in the final which they dominated from start to finish. The Spaniards came out with all guns firing and a Gasol block on Maciulis set the scene for the match. Extraordinary defensive work gave the Lithuanian side few options on the court and Spain were already 19-6 up by the eighth minute.

The second quarter saw the Spanish side pick up where they had left off, with Rudy finding his rhythm in attack. Midway through the second quarter Lithuania had only netted five times in open play (27-14) and a renewed push by Mirotic and Gasol brought their opponents' defence to its knees (34-18, min 16). The Baltic side survived thanks to their successful counter-attacks, Spain's only weak point, and kept their hopes alive with a triple from Kalnietis, two from Seibutis and another from Maciulis (41-33, min 20).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DRUNKEN tourists causing problems on the plane to Spain could soon become a thing of the past – British PM David Cameron has announced plans to deny boarding to passengers who are clearly heavily intoxicated.

Recent research by Jetcost.com showed that one in seven British travellers is already drunk by the time he or she gets on a plane to Spain. *

It claimed a typical young adult going away for a summer break with friends gets to the airport just under four hours before the flight to maximise drinking time and 'start their holiday as they mean to go on'.

Nearly one in 14 passengers said they had started consuming alcohol before boarding, and another one in 14 did so once on board.

Only a few said they did so to calm their nerves because they were afraid of flying.

Since the start of this year alone, 156 drink-related incidents on airlines heading out of the UK for sunny destinations – among them mainland Spain and the islands – have been recorded, the highest figure on record since the late 1990s.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A JOINT effort between British Airways and low-cost carrier Vueling means customers can buy combined tickets for flights with both companies.

Using the BA or Vueling websites, passengers can purchase tickets from one or the other and combine return flights – for example, a ticket with Vueling to a London airport and a long-haul flight from Heathrow to another continent can be bought as one trip, with luggage checked in at the Vueling desk in Spain and collected at the final destination.

At present, this allows customers to book flights from London Gatwick to Barcelona, Rome and Naples as one trip with a connecting flight, via the same website.

The move will shortly include flights from Gatwick to Alicante, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Ibiza, Sevilla, Málaga and in Italy, Bari, Pisa, Torino, Venice, Verona, Cagliari, Catania (Sardinia), Pisa and Genova.

A third phase will include combined tickets on Vueling flights to London and all BA destinations from Heathrow in one purchase on the same website.

This means Vueling flights between London and Barcelona will increase from four to 15 a day. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GREENPEACE staged a protest in Madrid on Friday with cannisters set up in the central Puerta del Sol square imitating those containing radioactive waste.

This is the latest in a series of demonstrations by environmental groups and members of the public against central government plans to build a nuclear refuse storage warehouse in Villar de Cañas (Cuenca province).

Campaigners wanted to raise awareness of the dangers they say are involved in nuclear waste disposal plants, especially given that the toxic residue has to be transported by road, meaning if the vehicle is caught up in a crash, the outcome could be catastrophic.

The province of Cuenca, in the large central region of Castilla-La Mancha and halfway between Madrid and Valencia, which is on the east coast, is very sparsely populated, but Greenpeace says in addition to the dangers the plant would create for those living within a very wide radius of it, similar perils would affect towns and villages radioactive waste transport lorries travelled through.

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ANIMAL protection groups, their supporters and ordinary citizens plan to take legal action against the mayor of Tordesillas (Valladolid province) over the bloodthirsty bull-killing 'spectacle', the Toro de la Vega, which he refuses to scrap.

National outcry, including radio phone-ins resulted from the bull Rompesuelas being lanced to death by the crowds surrounding him, then left lying on the ground to die from loss of blood and in extreme agony.

Public pressure for the village in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León to end the torture 'festival' it is famous for extends throughout Spain, where an estimated 90% of inhabitants are against bull-fighting or any other form of 'show' which causes distress, death or injury to animals.

Spanish reporters were shoved aside and one was even hit, and protesters also criticised the lack of action by security forces.

In a 'sideways' tactic end the cruelty, the long list of animal welfare associations intend to file a formal grievance to the court based upon the dangers to spectators involved in the festival.

Those who went along to denounce the torture said members of the public present were in 'a situation of real danger to their lives and health'.

Among those who have joined the move are the Association of Vets for the Abolition of Bull-fighting and Animal Cruelty (AVATMA), Pet Owners United, Torture Is Not Culture, the Federation of Animal Protection Associations for Greater Madrid (FAPAM), Gladiators for Peace, Excálibur, Violence Against People and Animals Research Group (GEHVA), and radio DJ Carlos Rodríguez who runs the show Como el perro y el gato ('like the dog and the cat').

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THE European Commission has reiterated to Catalunya that if it becomes an independent nation, it would automatically be outside the Union and would have to reapply

“If part of a member State becomes a separate country, it will be considered a 'third State' and European treaties would cease to apply to them,” says spokesman Margaritis Schinas.

“I can confirm that the position of European Commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker  would remain along the same lines as the EC has been consistently stating since 2004, when its previous chairman Romano Prodi said the same.”

Schinas added that for a region opting for secession from its country to be able to form part of the EU again, 'it would have to reapply for membership'.

He recalled that during the European Parliamentary election campaign leading up to May 2014, Juncker 'made it clear' in his interviews with the Spanish press that if Catalunya separated from Spain, it would, by default, mean its exit from the EU

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HIGH-STREET clothing empire Inditex has reported an upsurge in profits due to healthier retail activity in Spain complementing the firm's existing success overseas.

Founded by Galicia-born tycoon Amancio Ortega and his late ex-wife Rosalía Mera, Inditex encompasses the world-famous cut-price brand Zara, one of the best-known of its brands outside Spain.

Zara's 'younger sister' Bershka, budget girlie streetwear chain Stradivarius, rock-chick and casual men's and women's label Pull&Bear, underwear firm Oysho, mid-upper high-street stores Massimo Dutti and Uterqüe, and high-quality interiors brand Zara Home make up the rest of the multinational's ranges.

Half-year profits are up 26% on last year, climbing to €1.16 billion over the six-month period between February and July inclusive.

This is normally the less-buoyant time of year for retailers, since the August-January period includes the summer and post-Christmas sales.

Taking the turnover hike from newly-opened branches out of the equation, Inditex registered a year-on-year rise in sales in stores that were open during the same six months of 2014 of 7%.

The hotter-than-usual summer across Europe has meant more summer clothing being sold than in previous years.

A third of Inditex's stores are based outside Europe, but these make up the majority of its profits and include branches in Asia and the Middle East, and Central and South America.

A total of 94 stores, mainly Zara and Zara Home, were opened worldwide in the six months leading up to the end of July this year, and between summer 2014 and now, around 12,000 new jobs have been created.

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A TRAIN travelling at 1,200 kilometres per hour (750mph) – just shy of the as-yet unbroken land-speed record and capable of breaking the sound barrier – will be able to carry passengers from Madrid to Barcelona in 30 minutes.

And it is expected to be on track in Spain within three to four years.

Known as a Hyperloop, the high-speed capsule is similar to Japan's bullet trains and uses very little energy despite the fact it would be able to get from Valencia to Madrid in little more than 20 minutes.

The brainchild of US business tycoon Elon Musk, who also created PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX – the latter two of which are involved in developing the capsule train – Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has 420 people from numerous multinationals in different countries working for the firm in exchange for a slice of its shares.

NASA, Boeing, Cisco, Google, Yahoo, Airbus, Harvard and Stanford Universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Spanish firm Next Limit Technologies all dedicate around 10 hours a week to Hyperloop.

Chief Executive Officer Dirk Ahlborn says a model of the Hyperloop has been tested over an eight-kilometre stretch in California's Quay Valley, and is ready to roll in Spain.

“At the end of 2014 we finished the feasibility study; we've got the technology, we're working on the licences, and next year we'll start building,” Ahlborn said at the recent business entrepreneurial summit XSpain.

The test-run in California is 'a prototype which works', the CEO revealed, and with which Hyperloop Transportation Technologies expect to move 10 million people a year with in Spain alone.

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A SYRIAN refugee who was brutally kicked by a Hungarian reporter as he carried his son past the border has been given a job by Getafe FC as a football trainer.

Osama Abdul Mohsen (pictured centre), who reached Germany on Tuesday, was flown to Madrid the next day to start work with the National Centre for Training Football Trainers (CENAFE), where he will be a coach to the Liga side's players and also carry out general office work.

According to CENAFE's chairman Miguel Ángel Galán (pictured second from left), he decided to take Osama on after reading an article in Spanish national daily El Mundo where his elder son Almuhannad said he thought his dad would be happiest in Spain 'because of the football'.

The youngster told the newspaper that his father had been a coach for a first division team in Syria before the civil war broke out.

“That's when I thought I really ought to do something for this chap,” Galán confesses.

“We contacted the El Mundo journalist to enable us to get in contact with Osama.

“Fortunately, we have a student at CENAFE of Arabic origin [Moroccan expatriate Mohammed Labrouzi, pictured right] who offered to travel out to Germany and act as interpreter, and accompany Osama back to Madrid.

The 51-year-old Syrian reached Madrid's Atocha station last night with his little boy Zaid, seven (pictured left) whom he was carrying at the time he was viciously kicked by Hungarian reporter Petra László, and another of his sons, Mohammed, 18 (pictured second right) whom he 'picked up' from Paris en route.

Osama's wife and two other children are currently in a refugee camp in Turkey, but Galán says they will also be brought to Madrid.

“The first thing we're going to do is get him a Spanish teacher,” the chairman explains.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEARLY half of Spain's homeowners who have a mortgage expect to pay it off before the end of the term, according to a recent survey.

A total of 54% of mortgages in the country were incepted with a term of between 20 and 30 years and a small number are as low as 15 years.

Despite the upsurge of offers of mortgages running for 50 years back in 2007, mainly offered to the under-35s to help them get on the housing ladder due to very high home values, not many existing loans of this nature were taken up.

And across the board, 47% of mortgage holders are confident they will be able to pay theirs off early.

About 26% are not sure whether they will be able to or not, but only 28% were convinced they would need the full mortgage term.

According to the survey by Pisos.com, variable-rate mortgages continue to be the most popular and, in most cases, the most sensible option.

Eurozone interest rates, or the Euribor, which sat at over 5.5% at the end of 2007 is now at around 0.16% and no plans are afoot to increase it.

Any increase is likely to be gradual and with plenty of warning, meaning those who fear their repayments getting out of hand will have time to arrange a fixed rate.

Spanish mortgages are reviewed and revalued annually, which gives homeowners a long breather and time to alter their borrowing strategy if economic factors look set to change.

The 82% of homeowners on a variable-rate mortgage have enjoyed gradually lowering repayments for some years, although the 9% on a fixed rate may have been paying over the odds.

Setting up a fixed rate normally means buying an interest figure slightly higher than that of a variable-rate mortgage, and involves a fee, meaning the potential for extra expense is higher – at times of climbing rates, this could be worth it for security reasons, but now it is likely that the signs would be on the horizon long in advance of a variable rate becoming risky.

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TICKET sales from Villarreal FC's first Liga match will be donated to helping Syrian refugees, a club spokesperson has announced.

The home match which kicks off the season will see the Castellón province-based team up against Athletic Club next Sunday from 18.15hrs.

In an open letter, Villarreal FC expresses its 'frustration and profound sadness' for the 'pain, anxiety and suffering of millions of Syrians' who 'regrettably, have to flee their country desperately in order to survive'.

“After over four years of civil war in Syria, millions of people – more than half of them children – have had to abandon their homes and everything they own in order to seek safety in other countries,” the missive reads.

“The Syrian refugee emergency is one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time, and the needs of these families are increasing, due to escalating violence that has affected their country since 2011 and which has risen to unprecedented levels of cruelty and brutality.”

As a result, their first premier league match of the season, played at home in the El Madrigal stadium in Villarreal, will be a fund-raiser for refugees, the club says.

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A BIKE stolen from a Vuelta a España rider was found in a second-hand shop on the Costa del Sol, priced at 1% of its value.

Team Orica Greenedge competitor Simon Gerrans, from Australia, had not had time to report the cycle (pictured) stolen after it vanished at the beginning of Spain's answer to the Tour de France, when the race was due to cut through the province of Málaga.

But he got it back just in time for the final stage, which ended in Madrid yesterday (Sunday).

The bicycle was found after police raided the store, which they believed had stolen items on sale – although it is not clear whether the owners were aware of this.

Its 'exceptional technical features' aroused their suspicions and prompted a full inquiry.

A man from the Costa del Sol who is known to police for several other criminal offences is believed to have taken the cycle and sold it to the shop.

He was arrested and charged with theft and handling stolen goods

Although the bike was on sale for €120, its current value is in region of €12,000.

Police, on their Twitter site, ironised about the 'yellow jersey' given to the winner of each stage of the Vuelta: “We're offering a striped jersey to the person who stole the Orica Greenedge bike, and his race will end in prison.”

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OVER 100,000 animal-lovers staged one of the largest protests ever in Madrid yesterday (Saturday) calling for politicians to outlaw a bull-massacre festival in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León.

The bloodthirsty Toro de la Vega, held annually in the village of Tordesillas (Valladolid province) involves a loose bull being surrounded by a large crowd who hurl spears or spiked lances at them en masse.

Bulls in extreme pain, dripping with blood from open stab-wounds have no escape from their torture as they are trapped by the crowds – charging and goring to break free means they will be struck with even more spears.

Eventually, the injured bulls bleed to death, having been left lying on the ground while the next victim is let loose in the crowd.

Tordesillas' local council has flatly refused to scrap the Toro de la Vega, saying its popularity with residents more than justifies its continuing.

Nationally-famous and internationally-acclaimed pop and rock stars, actors, comedians and other performing artists have offered to stage a massive arts festival in Tordesillas free of charge in exchange for the Toro de la Vega being scrapped, saying their shows would bring in so many tourists that the event would more than make up for scrapping the bull-killing ritual and would put the town on the map for the right reasons, rather than the wrong ones.

But the mayor of Tordesillas responded that he 'refused to be blackmailed' – the artists were welcome, he said, to stage a festival free of charge, but he would 'not be held to ransom' by their 'demanding' he scrapped the Toro de la Vega as a condition.

The protest in Madrid started out from the central Puerta del Sol square, taking care not to coincide with another demonstration which set out from Atocha station at 19.00hrs with 2,500 calling for war refugees to be welcomed into Spain.

With over 100,000 participants, the anti-bull torture march doubled up the crowds who joined in an identical protest this time last year, according to the Pro-Animal Party (PACMA) which organised it.

This is the third year running the demonstration has taken over the capital, says PACMA spokeswoman Laura Duarte, and 'shows that the majority of people are against' the Toro de la Vega, and it is 'only residents in Tordesillas' who 'continue to defend and get pleasure out of' such a 'barbaric' ritual.

“We cannot carry on permitting this appalling animal torture in a modern European country in the 21^st century, and we want to see politicians behind it putting an end to it immediately,” Sra Duarte stated.

PACMA has handed in one of numerous petitions, featuring 120,000 signatures, to the Secretary-General of the socialist party at central government level, Pedro Sánchez.

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THE body of an American tourist walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrims' trail has been found after extensive searches in the province of León.

Denise Pikka Thiem, 41, a US national of Chinese descent was undertaking the world-famous and popular hike to the Galician cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, following in the tracks of ancient pilgrims, on her own in April when she went missing in Astorga (León province).

She had been contacting friends and family every day via email and Facebook, and her last message was titled 'Hello from Astorga'.

Her family and friends became concerned when they had not heard from her for a couple of days.

The search for her barely got off the ground, but Spain's president Mariano Rajoy received a letter from US senator John McCain asking what authorities were doing about looking for Denise.

Rajoy answered the letter immediately and the search was resumed, with over 300 rescue workers combing wells and areas of subsoil, and scrutinising the Astorga area from the air.

Last night (Friday), police reported that a man had been arrested in Grandas de Salime, in the northern region of Asturias, in connection with Denise's death.

Miguel M. B., 39, led officers to a decomposed body hidden among tree branches on a piece of land he owns between Santa Catalina de Somoza and San Martín de Agostedo, in the province of León, not far from Astorgas.

Police believe the body is that of Denise, but a post-mortem will be carried out to confirm.

The search showed that the last photograph Denise uploaded onto her Facebook site of the walk, which she had been undertaking for a month, was on April 4, taken the day before, in an unidentified location.

She last used her bank card on April 1 to draw €50 out of her account, and her email to her friend from Astorga was on April 4.

Denise showed her Camino 'passport' to be stamped at the official pilgrims' hostel of San Javier, near Astorga, and the following day – Easter Sunday – had breakfast in the Café Gaudí in the village with other hikers.

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THOUSANDS of people have taken to Barcelona's central streets to celebrate National Catalunya Day, or the Diada de Catalunya – and what was once little more than a flag-waving procession has become a global cry for independence.

The Diada march includes members of the pro-secession political parties Junts Pel Sí ('Together for the 'yes' vote') and CUP and has been largely spearheaded this year – as it has been since 2012 – by the National Assembly of Catalunya (ANC), another organisation in favour of the region's becoming a separate country.

Kicking off at 17.15hrs this evening (Friday), the Diada now has the main boulevards of Barcelona awash with giant Catalunya regional flags, each marcher carrying one and several huge banners borne between teams of dozens or even hundreds of members of the public.

The slogan for this year's Catalunya Day is Vía Libre a la República Catalana, or 'free way ahead for the Republic of Catalunya'.

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SPAIN'S refugee quota of 14,931 decided by the European Union would be the third-highest of the 22 countries which fall within the 'distribution pact', after Germany and France.

Germany will take 31,443 and France, 24,031.

Although the UK has announced it is willing to take 20,000 – more than Spain – along with Ireland and Denmark, the country has special dispensation which means it does not have to go along with justice or foreign affairs pacts affecting the rest of the Union.

At present, 54,000 refugees are currently held up in Hungary, another 50,400 in Greece and 15,600 in Italy, and the EU plan – spearheaded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French prime minister François Hollande – involves taking the weight off these three countries and distributing 120,000 people fleeing the wars in Syria and Iraq across 22 nations.

The quotas have been worked out based upon a percentage of the existing population, each country's GDP and its economic situation, including unemployment figures.

Spain's unemployment remains the second-lowest in the Eurozone at 22% after Greece's 25%, but to date, the Spanish government's asylum record is one of the poorest, along with that of the UK.

Britain rejects nearly 72% of all asylum claims; Spain sends back 80%.

Over a third of these are overturned on appeal, costing the taxpayer even more than if they had been accepted in the first place, the London Refugee Council and its Spanish counterpart, ACNUR, complain.

Poland will take the fourth-highest number of war refugees at 9,287, followed by The Netherlands at 7,214, Romania at 4,646, Belgium at 4,564 and Sweden at 4,469.

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A STUDENT who hit the headlines after posing with the rich and famous and claiming to be an unpaid infiltrator for the government says he wants to run as a candidate for the Senate in the general elections on December 20 – in order to close the Senate down.

“I only believe in what works, and the Senate does not work,” said 21-year-old Francisco Nicolás Gómez – who says he is always known as 'Fran' but whom the press dubbed as 'Little Nicolás' a year ago after his antics were revealed.

The youngster, who was pictured in the line-up at King Felipe VI's coronation in July, says he will apply as an independent candidate.

According to 'Fran', or 'Little Nicolás': “The system has used me and indoctrinated me, but I do not have any political ideology.”

His campaign video shows him slimmer than last year, having cut his hair and wearing a navy-blue suit which he wore for his end-of-term party at his university in Madrid, and the supporting photo, sent to much of Spain's media, carries the title Houseofcards.jpg.

The self-confessed 'volunteer spy' says he has 'voted PP all his life', although in practice he would only have been eligible to vote at all in this year's local and regional elections and in last year's European Parliamentary elections as he was not old enough to vote until 2012 – and admits he did not bother to vote in the regionals.

“Democracy is overrated,” 'Little Nicolás' considers, adding: “I'm tired of the division between left and right; I believe in the division between what works and what doesn't, and the Senate doesn't. The High Chamber in Parliament is useless; nobody remembers which senators they voted for in the last elections and my ideologies do not go beyond numbers.

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BRITISH prime minister David Cameron has warned Catalunya that if it wants to become an independent nation, it will 'have to join the back of the queue' when applying to become part of the European Union.

Stating that 'together we are stronger and more prosperous' – despite having pledged to hold a referendum on the UK's ongoing membership of the EU in 2017 – the Conservative leader says if the north-eastern region of Spain wants to 'take a different path', it will need to 'comply with international law' and wait its turn to join the European Union behind other candidates waiting to be considered, including Turkey and some of the Balkan nations.

“Spain is a great country with a long history, like the United Kingdom, and is better together,” Cameron told regional president Artur Mas in a recent press conference.

“If I had to send you a message, it would be the same as in Britain during the Scotland independence vote: we're better together, and should stay together,” said the PM in a meeting with Spain's president Mariano Rajoy in the Moncloa Palace, the Spanish answer to 10 Downing Street.

Although Cameron says the situations for Scotland and Catalunya were 'not completely the same', the 'primordial condition' linking them both was that they are both obliged to 'comply with the law', he stated.

Catalunya does not agree, with its pro-secession parties claiming the European Union 'would never kick Catalunya out', missing the point that as a brand-new country it would not be able to continue as a member on the back of Spain's only status as one of the EU-28.

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MADRID'S new mayoress wants to see pictures of the city printed on paper napkins in bars and restaurants to promote the capital's tourist attractions.

“I would love it if serviette logos were not those of a supply company, but instead were pictures of Madrid and manufactured by the city hall,” says Manuela Carmena from the left-wing independent party Ahora Madrid.

The retired judge, known for her social conscience, put forward the idea at the Deloitte-ABC business and finance forum yesterday (Tuesday).

Another suggestion was that of city scenes or a blanket tourism logo for Madrid to be printed on shopping bags produced for all retailers in the metropolitan area.

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FILM platform Netflix has confirmed it will launch in Spain next month, with subscription costs of less than €100 a year for the basic version.

Although the exact start date has not been confirmed, the US-based firm says this will definitely be in October and that monthly quotas will start at €7.99 plus IVA.

This tariff will allow subscribers to view content in SD quality on just one device such as a tablet, computer, Playstation 3 or 4 consoles, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Wii U, SmartTV or SmartPhone.

For an extra euro a month, at €8.99, viewers can watch videos in HD on two different devices.

The most expensive option costs €11.99 plus IVA and lets subscribers view content in 4K on up to four devices.

Netflix recommends potential customers have an internet connection of at least 15MB for the top-rate tariff with content in 4K on four devices, whilst a connection of between 5MB and 7MB will suffice for the two-device, HD rate and 1.5MB is enough for the SD single-device tariff.

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A POLICE officer who 'infiltrated' the family of a young man who murdered his ex-girlfriend in January 2009 has revealed what happened to her body, six-and-a-half years of fruitless searches later.

Marta del Castillo Casanueva was 17 when she arranged to meet Miguel Carcaño, then 20, to 'discuss rumours' her ex-boyfriend had been allegedly spreading about her.

According to Carcaño, the former couple had a row and he threw an ashtray at her in temper, knocking her unconscious but, fearing her dead, panicked and threw her in the river Guadalquivir near his home in Sevilla.

Later versions which came out when Carcaño and his accomplices were interrogated revealed Marta was probably gang-raped and strangled, with at least three young men taking it in turns to pin her down whilst others assaulted her.

Carcaño has long claimed he does not know where her body is, and has given seven different versions leading to unsuccessful searches in rubbish tips, ditches and farm fields.

But a forensic who 'befriended' the family of one of Carcaño's alleged accomplices, known as 'El Cuco', who was 15 at the time of the murder, spent two-and-a-half years gathering information and making secret recordings, leading him to believe Marta's body had been chopped into several pieces and disposed of in various rubbish bags.

A neighbour had apparently seen the body being transported in a wheelchair from a house which was not the one where Carcaño and his elder stepbrother Francisco Javier lived, and the forensic said he had 'been given information' hinting that a 'non-Spanish friend' of Carcaño's had helped out in the crime.

The officer says he has recorded over 600 hours of conversations whilst infiltrating El Cuco's family.

He considers that if Carcaño really knew where Marta's body was, he 'would have played that card already'.

When the officer asked El Cuco what he felt when he saw 'so many people searching the river and the rubbish tip', the young accomplice had said it 'made him laugh' and assured he had 'never felt any remorse, empathy or grief'. 

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TWO men have been killed in flash floods in the province of Granada, whilst cars have floated away down the street in parts of the province of Almería and streets have turned into rivers in Alicante.

The body of a 50-year-old man was found in the Pago la Luna area of Albuñol (Granada province) in a riverbed which is normally dry but was several feet deep in water after recent torrential rain.

It is thought he was dragged by the current.

Police were called out by several local residents at around 19.30hrs last night.

The man's identity is not yet known, and he has not been reported missing.

Earlier, a man aged 61 was found dead inside a car which had been washed away by the floods in Polopos-La Mamola, also in the province of Granada.

He is said to have been working an evening shift as a security guard in a plastics recycling plant and, when the area began to flood, sought refuge in his car.

This was parked in a dry riverbed now mostly used as a road, but which filled up quickly with water and carried his vehicle downstream.

Local residents called the police when they saw the car being dragged by the current, and emergency services who attended the scene found the man's body inside.

In the neighbouring province of Almería, over 30 people have had to be rescued from their cars after being trapped by the floods, and up to two feet of water filled the streets of the towns of Adra, Berja, Roquetas de Mar, Balerma, Almerimar and El Ejido.

The force of the water even smashed a few shop windows, as well as flooding out ground-floor buildings.

A roof collapsed in El Ejido, and the health centre had to close after it became flooded. 

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A COMEDY operetta centred on the 'restoration' of the Ecce Homo fresco in Borja (Zaragoza) by 85-year-old parishioner Cecilia Giménez will go live in the USA next year and be staged in the painting's home town in 2017.

Playwright Andrew Flack, from Denver, Colorado said his friend, composer Paul Fowler had been 'hassling him for years' to write an operetta, and he got his long-awaited idea after reading a news article titled Crazy old woman ruins priceless masterpiece.

“Residents were furious, but Cecilia didn't seem crazy to me – she came across very well,” said Flack.

Cecilia (pictured below right), then 82, had started to restore the badly-deteriorated 1930s fresco in her local church under her own steam, something she says she had always done before and with the priest's full knowledge and blessing, for no pay, merely because she loved art.

She maintains that when the 'restored' painting hit the headlines, she had barely started, and that it was not intended to remain that way.

Initially, the small land-locked town in Aragón was in uproar and the descendants of the artist planning to sue her for wilful destruction, but such was the media repercussion that curious tourists from all over the world started to flock to Borja to see the 'botched' restoration for themselves.

Petitions followed, calling for the fresco to be left as it was, and now, the church charges tickets for visitors to view it and take 'selfies' with it.

Bars, shops, hotels and restaurants in a town that, prior to 2012, nobody had ever heard of are now doing a roaring trade – and low-cost carrier Ryanair began running flights to Zaragoza from the UK and Ireland for €1.

Borja has never looked back, and now, Cecilia's story is about to become art in other ways.

Flack said he rang Fowler and said: “Paul, here's the idea – a woman ruins a nearly-worthless fresco and saves an entire town.”

The playwright travelled to Borja in September 2013 to meet Cecilia in person and, in 2014, finished the libretto for the first act.

By July this year, the libretto for act two was penned....

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VALENCIA'S regional government has called for president Mariano Rajoy's cabinet in Madrid to agree to take on far more refugees from the war-torn Middle East than the 2,000 he has proposed to date, saying if every town in the eastern federal community housed one family, this alone would cover more than 1,000.

Deputy regional president Mònica Oltra (Compromís), whose party governs in coalition with the socialists says the Comunidad Valenciana and Valencia city will offer its public buildings as accommodation, including local authority-owned empty houses, and universities, particularly halls of residence.

“We want to welcome refugees. We want our region to be a welcoming one,” Mònica said.

The Comunidad Valenciana has joined the list of regions in Spain which have set up a register of residents who have space in their homes to offer rooms to refugees, and has 110 social workers who are qualified to help asylum-seekers acquire refugee status.

Sra Oltra recalls that over 40% of those fleeing Syria are children, and called the situation 'an embarrassment to the west'.

“This is not the Europe we dreamt of,” she said, referring to countries reluctant to take in refugees and those actively trying to keep them out, such as Hungary which is threatening to put anyone who enters the country illegally in jail for five years and is now transporting tens of thousands of migrants by coach to neighbouring Austria.

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BRITISH astrophysics expert Stephen Hawking will visit Tenerife on Sunday, September 20 for the presentation of the third edition of the 'Starmus' festival, due to be held next year from June 27 to July 2.

The festival will be a tribute to the scientist, titled Beyond the horizon: A homage to Stephen Hawking, and will involve 12 Nobel Prize winners among its speakers – physics expert Peter Higgs and economics award winner François Englert have just confirmed their attendance.

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins will also be there for a second time running, and head of Astrophysics at Oxford University, Professor Steven Balbus, who earned the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2013.

Physics professor from the University of Manchester, Brian E Cox, known for his TV programmes, is also due to speak at the event.

Other Nobel Prize winners in the fields of physics, chemistry and medicine are Harold Kroto and Eric Betzig, who won the chemistry prize in 1996 and 2014 respectively; biologists Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn, joint winners of the medicine category in 2009; Robert Wilson and David Gross, who won the physics category in 1978 and 2004; Adam Reiss and Brian Schmidt, who shared the Nobel Physics Prize in 2011, and husband-and-wife team Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser, winners of the Nobel Physiology and Nobel Medicine Prizes in 2014.

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MORE towns and cities in Spain have agreed to take in refugees fleeing war zones in the Middle East, with all nine provincial capitals in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León coming forward.

Ávila, Zamora, Valladolid, Salamanca, Soria, Segovia, León, Burgos and Palencia have all announced their willingness to help and to put aside extra funds to help any Syrians sent to their cities.

Castilla y León regional government has agreed to provide funding and to take in those who have arrived in Europe trying to escape the war and the bloodthirsty régime of DAESH (ISIS).

And a Facebook group has been set up calling for volunteers in and around the province of Alicante, eastern Spain, to offer rooms in their homes to Syrians.

They can be found by searching for Red Alicantina de Familias de Acogida de Refugiados.

Spain's central government has agreed to form part of the European refugee distribution programme, but like most member States, has not been able to agree on how many the country will accept.

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 A BRITISH couple who left their 17-year-old son behind in their Mallorca hotel when he refused to return home with them have been arrested at the airport.

The family was due to catch a coach at 09.00hrs on Tuesday this week back to Son Sant Joan airport in Palma de Mallorca to fly home to the UK, but their eldest son refused to go with them.

They told him he could stay put and 'sort himself out', and left without him.

He did not have any further booking at the hotel in Alcúdia, to the north of the island.

His parents were arrested the same day at the airport and their son handed over to the authorities to be taken into care until they were released.

A court in Inca has sentenced them to a year in jail, but as this is a first offence and the custodial term is less than two years, they will not have to serve it. 

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ROMANIA has agreed to extradite the suspected murderer of two young women in the province of Cuenca, one of whom was his ex-girlfriend.

Sergio Morate's family has disowned him and have refused to contact him since his former partner, Ukrainian national Marina Okarynska and her friend Laura del Hoyo, both in their mid-20s, were found bludgeoned to death on a riverbed.

They had gone to his house to collect Marina's belongings.

Morate fled Spain via the French border in Portbau (Girona province) and was found and arrested several days later in Lugoj, a town of around 50,000 inhabitants in Romania.

His green Seat Ibiza has been impounded and will be inspected by Spain's National Police.

The suspect has maintained he is innocent, that there is no proof he is the killer and that he would not get a fair trial in Spain due to the 'media circus' surrounding the incident.

He claims his phone has been tapped and entire conversations he had with his mother 'ended up on TV the next day'.

But his appeal against extradition has been rejected by judge Iulian Dragomir on the grounds it is 'unfounded', and that only the Spanish justice system is permitted to decide whether or not there is sufficient evidence to convict the defendant.

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SPAIN continues to be a world leader in organ transplants, with 36 donors per million inhabitants and carrying out 6% of the planet's operations of this type.

A total of 1,682 organs were donated last year and 4,360 transplant operations were conducted, according to the World Transplant Register.

And the number of donated organs per million inhabitants is considerably higher than the European Union average of 19.6, or the USA's figure of 26.6.

In fact, Spain has been the global transplant leader for the last 24 consecutive years, meaning its record has been unbroken since the year 1991.

The register, administered by Spain's National Transplant Organisation (ONT) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows how new organs were implanted into 118,117 patients around the globe in 2014 – but this is barely 12% of the total of those who need them.

But Spain is doing its bit – 17% of transplants in Europe and 6% of those worldwide are carried out in the country, with last year seeing 2,678 kidney transplants, 1,068 new livers implanted, 265 hearts, 262 lungs, 81 pancreas, and six new intestines.

This is exceptionally high for a country whose population accounts for just 0.7% of the world's headcount.

Live donation of kidneys represents 15.8% of the total in Spain.

Over the past five years, the number of transplants conducted around the world has gone up by 13.5%, with an annual average of 2.7%, rising to 3% last year, according to data obtained from 112 countries.

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BORDER guards found an African migrant lying next to a car engine and another squashed behind the back seat as the driver entered Spanish territory on Sunday, reports have just confirmed.

The Mercedes 300 was checked at the frontier between the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast as it was being driven from the latter country via the El Tarajal checkpoint.

A man said to be from Guinea-Conakry in western Africa was lying under the bonnet on his side, squashed up against the engine with practically no oxygen and, due to his position, inhaling exhaust fumes constantly.

The combination could easily have been fatal, and it is likely the migrant would have died if he had spent a few minutes more in his hiding place.

A second man, also from Guinea-Conakry was discovered in the compartment behind the back seats, again with no air supply and sitting cramped up with his knees bent.

Both men were said to be weak and faint from lack of oxygen and had to be rushed to hospital.

Further background checks on the driver and car revealed that the Mercedes bore a fake registration number.

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SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy has travelled to Berlin for a crisis meeting with heads of State from the European Union's 28 nations over the current refugee situation.

He met informally with German leader Angela Merkel beforehand at Meseberg Castle, some 70 kilometres from the capital, and the two heads of State went for a walk in the Lake Huwenow area before stopping for a beer.

Rajoy told Merkel Spain was willing to cooperate with the refugee plan on the table, and to work together on aid for and cooperation with African countries where most economic migrants come from.

He considered that the only solution to the ongoing displacement of immigrants from Africa was through two-way conversation with their countries of origin, and giving support to these nations to eventually remove the need for their natives to migrate.

Rajoy says the Spanish State can take in up to 2,000 refugees, but the opposition socialists have told him, 'don't be stingy', and called for Spain to accept at least 4,000.

Around a quarter of a million migrants from war-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East are thought to be in Europe at present, with more on their way as the conflict deepens and fundamentalist terror group DAESH, or ISIS, leaves millions fearing for their lives.

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VALENCIA city council has imposed speed limits of 30 kilometres per hour (less than 19 miles per hour) on its urban streets.

From today (Tuesday, September 1), all roads within the city-centre hub or inner ringroad will slow down practically to a standstill as cars will have to be driven in first or second gear.

Police will pull over anyone travelling faster than this, but will not fine them until the new bye-law is common knowledge, unless it is a second offence.

According to mayor Joan Ribó (Compromís) and his transport councillor Giuseppe Grezzi, the city centre 'should not be used as a through route' but as a 'place for people'.

“We want Valencia to be a pleasanter and more sustainable area where the elderly can walk more safely and children can play,” Grezzi reveals.

He says the council wants to give priority to pedestrians and cyclists.

If walkers do not use a zebra crossing, they take their lives into their hands getting across Valencia's streets, where fast-moving cars travel at speeds more suitable for a national highway.

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