Live News From Spain As It Happens

PEDRO Sánchez has refused to stand down despite over half his executive committee resigning en masse to force his hand, saying he will continue with his plans to put the leadership out to vote among the PSOE's militants.

The primaries, or internal vote for party leader among paid-up members, will be on October 23, which would give the PSOE just a week to avert a third general election – an impossible deadline.

Sánchez has also called and extraordinary federal meeting over November 12 and 13 to renew everyone's roles within the party.

He wants to try to get all members to agree as far as possible on the way forward for a party which has been harbouring turmoil for around six years – over a year before the general election which ended its reign in government.

The only one of Spain's PSOE regional presidents who supports Sánchez – Francina Armengol, of the Balearic Islands, says: “Now is the time to unite. When two trains collide, it's the militants [paid-up subscribers] who need to decide.”

It was the militants who elected Sánchez, and the primaries on October 23 will see them either reaffirm their decision or change their minds.

Sánchez's rival in the last primaries, Eduardo Madina, coincides with Albert Rivera – head of centre-right party Ciudadanos – that the PSOE 'cannot form a government with only 85 seats' out of the total of 350 and the required majority of 176.

But Sánchez is stuck in the middle of warring factions – those who support his refusal to vote for Rajoy in the in-house presidential elections or even abstain to allow him to govern in minority with 137 seats, and those who believe he should let Rajoy through; those who are willing for Sánchez to negotiate with Podemos to be able to form a government, and those who are dead against it.

The latter camp includes Andalucía's regional president, Susana Díaz, who is tipped to be Sánchez's main rival, and whose supporters are among those who have resigned, along with those who back regional presidents Fernando Vara (Extremadura) and Emiliano García-Page (Castilla-La Mancha).

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A BRITISH columnist asked on Twitter for 'someone in Spain' to explain the PSOE crisis to him, and received a flood of creative answers – including from Podemos' leader Pablo Iglesias and one of his main men, Pablo Echenique.

Owen Jones (pictured), who writes for The Guardian and The Independent – the latter now an online publication only – got more than he bargained for in explanation, with some of the best coming from @Profeta_Baruc and @ManeldHorta.

The former wrote: “Somebody put drugs in their Cola Caos,” referring to one of Spain's best-known brands of hot chocolate.

And the latter compared the protagonists in the 'soap opera' with Star Wars characters.

“Aznar = Palpatine; Felipe González = Darth Vader; Pedro Sánchez = Luke Skywalker; Susana Díaz = Leia; Rajoy = Jar Jar Binks,” said Profeta Baruc, naming Spain's right-wing PP president from 1996 to 2004; PSOE president from 1982 to 1996; current PSOE leader; regional president for Andalucía, also PSOE; and Spain's acting PP president respectively.

TV presenter Ana Pastor – not to be confused with PP Parliament leader and former public works minister – showed a snippet of a video from Game of Thrones subtitled, “He was no dragon.”

Jones, tagging Pablo Iglesias, commented: “It sounds a little bit like a reenactment of The Godfather.”

@BRDramaKing replied: “It is some kind of Falcon Crest meets The Godfather and The Addams Family, in short.”

Podemos' Pablo Echenique responded to the original question with: “Old élite licking-boots so-called 'socialist leaders' have designed a mass-media-backed coup to prevent the PSOE from choosing change [sic],” a clear reference to the division between the party over whether or not to support Rajoy by abstaining, or whether to attempt to form a coalition with Podemos.

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ANOTHER 31 refugees from a camp in Greece have arrived in Spain and are on the way to their homes in the south and west of the country.

So far, Spain has taken in 604 war victims this year, but is a long way off its target of 18,000 before the end of 2017.

Of those who have found shelter and a new life in Spain, 325 have come from refugee camps in Greece and Italy.

The latest arrivals are four Iraqi nationals and 27 Syrians – in total, five men, five women and 21 children.

Five of them will live in Cáceres, in the land-locked western region of Extremadura, 10 each in Murcia and in Almería, and another six in the province of Cádiz.

The first group of unaccompanied children – a total of seven girls and boys - to reach Spain have now been in the country a week after being collected from Greece and taken to Motril (Granada province) as part of a pilot project in Andalucía involving 24 children's shelters set up for underage refugees with no adult family members.

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A FACE-CREAM from Lidl costing €2.99 has once again been found to be the most effective following research by a leading consumer organisation.

The OCU carried out rigorous tests, which involved every moisturiser being tested 'blindly' by at least 20 volunteer women over a four-week period.

None of them knew which brand they were testing out of the 17 creams which covered the full price range from a couple of euros to several hundred.

Ingredients were also examined by OCU researchers, with points deducted for those brands which contained substances that, although permitted by the European Union, are not recommended.

These include certain 'parabens', including Butylparaben and Propylparaben; the preservative Methylisothiazolinone, which has a high allergy-causing potential, and perfumes which may cause adverse skin reactions.

The OCU stressed that moisturising creams do not provide deep rehydration – only certain pharmaceutical products even reach the dermis, or second layer of skin, let alone penetrate it – meaning moisturisers are merely cosmetic and those which promise miracle anti-ageing skin-repair effects are only referring to the appearance they give, which lasts until the next time the face is cleansed.

Last time a study of this type was carried out by the OCU, Lidl's Cien Q10, in a yellow jar and costing €2.99 came out top – even causing stores across Spain to run out and queues to build up at the doors when the data were released.

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THE self-titled Islamic State has announced anyone caught wearing Barça FC or Real Madrid shirts will be punished with 80 lashes.

ISIS, or DAESH, has publicly stated that sports team wear by the brands Nike and Adidas are banned in its caliphates in Syria and Iraq.

These include Manchester United, Manchester City and Milane, but the main football club strips designed by the two brands are Spanish, including the national team La Roja ('The Reds'), Barça, Real Madrid, Oviedo and Zaragoza.

It also covers shirts worn by Spanish basketball, handball and tennis players, according to an article in the left-wing British tabloid, The Mirror.

The warning has been issued by the DAESH police, Al-Furat.

Spain has been named in the past by DAESH as a Muslim territory it intends to reconquer, referring to it by its Mediaeval Islamic name of Al-Andalus.

As yet, the ISIS militants caught in Spain have mostly been involved in online indoctrination and recruiting and arrested before they went any further.

Although the west as a whole is considered to be at risk from ISIS, Spain's threat is lower than in other parts of Europe, a factor which prosecutors specialising in Jihad attribute to the country's sophisticated Intelligence and policing services, and that it has never had any real problem with integration of other nationalities, cultures and religions.

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RESULTS of the Basque and Galician regional elections have been released following yesterday's (Sunday's) votes, and the existing presidents have retained their roles for the next four years.

Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) leader Íñigo Urkullu has won 29 seats – two more than in the September 2012 regional elections – and will continue as the federal president, or Lehendakari.

In fact, the PNV gained an additional 13,000 votes, or a total of 37.65% of the ballot papers.

Urkullu is still nine seats short of a majority, but in the second round of the in-house votes where he only needs a simple majority in his favour – more yes votes than no votes – it looks likely he will get through.

The only risk to his continuing in office would be if the left-wing parties banded together in coalition, but this would seem very improbable.

Socialist party PSE did reasonably well and is now able to govern in coalition in three provincial councils and three cities in the Basque Country, although it has still lost a major amount of seats with just nine after the final count.

And the predicted tie between nationalists EH-Bildu and left-wing independents Elkarrekin-Podemos did not arise, with the latter doing worse than predicted – gaining 11 seats – and EH-Bildu a long way off the PNV with 17 seats.

In Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo – who is about to become a dad for the first time at the age of 55, with his girlfriend of 51 – has gained his third outright majority on the trot, meaning he will have been regional president for 12 years by the time the next elections come round in September 2020.

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SPAIN'S inhabitants are the seventh-healthiest on the planet, according to a research project titled Global Burden of Disease (GBD).

Now published in the science magazine The Lancet, the report analyses how different countries have complied with, or otherwise, the United Nations' health objectives which cover a vast range of areas from reducing infant and maternal mortality and controlling AIDS and tuberculosis through to cutting road crash deaths and alcohol and drug addiction.

Each country studied was given a percentage, which in Spain's case was 82% - the same score as the UK, The Netherlands and Finland, some of the world's most developed countries.

Andorra pips them all at the post at 83%, whilst the joint three 'winners' are Iceland, Sweden and Singapore with 85%.

The last two places in the top 10 are occupied by Canada and Australia with 81%.

At the opposite end of the scale, the majority of the worst-scoring countries were in Africa , with the exception of Afghanistan – bottom of the list were the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia and South Sudan on 22%, followed by Niger on 23%, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 24%, Burundi and Mali on 26%, the same as Afghanistan, and Sierra Leone on 27%.

Threats to health studied clearly differ according to the developed nature of each country – United Nations reports place 'diarrhoea' as one of the top 10 causes of death in the world at present and expect it to still feature in the list by the year 2030 – but some of the greatest global health risks were very 'western' in nature, according to the research.

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A WOMAN who won a competition where the prize was an after-tax €1,200 monthly salary for the rest of her life has been forced to refund over €17,000 in dole money over a total of four years during which she was out of work.

The woman had registered for unemployment benefits payable for jobseekers aged 52 and over and received these between March 2011 and July 2014.

Her appeal against the initial verdict has now been turned down by the regional high court of the Balearic Islands, where she lives, but she is expected to continue to fight it through the Spanish legal system.

The defendant is calling for the amount refunded to be reduced to three months rather than four years, based upon the 'excessive and unreasonable delays' in investigating her case.

Also, she stresses that she has never tried to hide her income, but explained the situation in full when signing on at the dole office.

And she has always filed correct tax returns which clearly set out the source of her income.

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HIGH-STREET clothing empire Inditex earned €1.26 billion in the first six months of this year, proving once again that Galicia's most global enterprise is apparently immune to any financial crisis.

Founded by Europe's richest and the world's third-richest man Amancio Ortega, 80, Inditex is best known outside of Spain for its budget fashion store Zara.

It also covers the mid-upper high-street ranges Massimo Dutti and Uterqüe, Zara's cheaper 'younger sister' Bershka, cut-price streetwear chain Pull&Bear, underwear retailer Oysho, quality interiors range Zara Home, and budget young fashions store Stradivarius.

Inditex is also one of Spain's greatest job-creators – of the 10,000 new posts generated between February and July inclusive, a total of 2,421 were on home territory.

Overall, with sales at €10.465bn and net profits at €1.256bn, the company's earnings have increased by 8% and sales by 11% based upon the same period in 2015.

Positive growth has been seen in every part of the world, including all regions in Spain, where Inditex stores are based – a growth which, on average, sits at 7% compared with the same six months of last year.

Only 17% of sales were reported in Spain, however, with 25% in Asia, 43% in the rest of Europe and 15% in the Americas – the same percentages as last year.

Gross profits rose by 7% to €2.112bn and net profits to just over €16bn over the last year, with gross profit margins up to nearly €6bn or 9% more than last year.

Inditex continues to maintain its expenses under 'strict control', which has contributed to its 9% gross profit increase along with its newly-opened physical stores.

Online sales have risen by 13% in the two-month period since August 1, whilst a 'strong rhythm' of new job creation – including non-shop-floor positions in its head offices – has been largely maintained thanks to a further 83 stores opened in the first six months of this year in 38 countries.

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NATIONAL No Car Day in Spain started with heavier-than-usual traffic jams on the road into Barcelona and an accident on the Madrid M-40 leading to tailbacks, but saw a 5% increase in passengers on the metro and outer suburban rail lines in the former.

The B-23 was clogged early in the morning, and the Gran Vía suffered tailbacks due to an accident but 'no worse than at any other rush hour', says Barcelona city council, which assured there were 90,000 fewer cars on the road yesterday.

Tailbacks on the B-23 stretched back nine kilometres, especially at the A-2 motorway interchange between Sant Feliu de Llobregat and Barcelona, and Esplugues de Llobregat towards the city's Avenida Diagonal.

Three-kilometre queues were reported on the C-31 in Badalona and El Prat de Llobregat, and up to 10 kilometres on the C-58 between Ripollet near Sabadell and Barcelona and Sant Quirze del Vallès and the city.

The outer ringroad suffered four-kilometre gridlocks.

It is the first No Car Day since 2003 to be 'celebrated' in Barcelona, and the first-ever on a working day, and saw 54 city-centre streets shut including the Vía Laietana and the Gran Vía de Gràcia.

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PARENT-TEACHER associations have called a 'homework strike' for November after a recent survey revealed that 48.5% of mums and dads believe the amount of extra studying children have to do after school is affecting family life.

The Confederation of PTAs, CEAPA, wants homework to be axed altogether – following on from the 'Finland model' where education standards and results are the best in the world despite shorter hours and no studying at home.

Parents who join in the strike will formally ask their children's schools not to set them any homework over the weekends that month and, if they do so anyway, will send a note with the pupil on Monday explaining in their own words why this work was not done.

A study by CEAPA of the first half of 2016, up to and including the end of the summer term, includes responses from 1,748 pupils' parents, of whom 92% are in State-run schools.

Of these, 58.81% are in primary school and 25.64% are in the two-year run-up to their ESO, Spain's answer to GCSEs.

Just over one in five say their children spend over two hours a day on homework on school nights, and 58.82% say their kids' grades suffer if they do not do part or all of it.

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A FACEBOOK user has been fined nearly €1,000 for writing in his status that he wanted to blow up the Guardia Civil.

The unnamed individual, from the northern region of Cantabria, was referring to traffic police on duty in the town of Reinosa during the Spain Cycling Master's Championship race which was taking place there.

“Such a shame someone doesn't let off a bomb and blow them all through the air,” the comment said.

It was written on a profile which was accessible by thousands of locals from Reinosa and followers from further afield, rather than on the offender's own page.

The Guardia Civil Union (UGC) brought a private prosecution in addition to the criminal trial against the author.

Police said they 'will not permit any gratuitous humiliation, libel or defamation' of the forces and were prepared to 'use all means within their reach' to eradicate the 'sense of immunity' which they believe 'the trend for using social networks to stigmatise security forces' has led to.

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SPANISH Football Federation (RFEF) boss Ángel María Villar's niece has been murdered after being kidnapped in México DF, despite her family having paid part of the ransom money demanded.

María Villar Galaz, 39 (pictured), was leaving the IBM office, where she worked as a consultant, in the Santa Fe neighbourhood in the west of the Mexican capital on September 13 at night, and took a taxi to Polanco, the suburb where she lived.

Nothing further was known about her whereabouts between catching a taxi and her kidnappers calling her family in Spain the next day to demand a ransom of two million Mexican Pesos - US$100,800, or about €90,000.

According to acting foreign minister in Spain José Manuel García-Margallo, the family paid a sum 'considerably lower' than requested – 65,000 Pesos, being US$3,275 or €3,000 – the very same day, and reported the abduction immediately.

Whether or not they had done this to buy time and had agreed to find the rest of the money at a later date is not yet known, but the kidnappers did not consider this enough and the woman's body has since been found in a river.

Her husband and a male cousin duly attended the location the abductors ordered them to be at to hand over the money, in the México DF suburb of Iztapalapa, and handed over 65,000 Pesos.

María's body was discovered in a sewage channel in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, 56 kilometres from where she was kidnapped.

Her hands and feet were tied and a plastic bag taped over her head, which is thought to have been used to suffocate her.

A female friend who has worked with María in Madrid and in México DF says she was 'a straightforward person' and not at all ostentatious, 'not your typical starry type who dresses in Chanel and Rolex when she walks around town' and 'not a person who would attract attention' as someone of wealth and privilege.

“As a professional, she was a perfect 10; everyone spoke really highly of her. For a woman to scale the heights she did in a society as sexist as [México] and in such a tough field as IT shows how much she was worth. Whenever you had a problem, your first thought was, 'what would María do?' She always spoke very clearly and confidently in work meetings,” her colleague, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons, revealed.

María and her husband had moved to México DF in early 2012 to take up jobs at Everis IT Consultancy and, in 2015, María started work as a high-ranking member of the board of directors at IBM – a firm which has publicly expressed its condolences and says it is 'very much affected by this tragic incident'.

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RESIDENTS cut off from 'digital civilisation' in the north-eastern region of Aragón can look forward to faster, reliable internet connections – or simply having an internet connection – thanks to a move to get 700 towns and villages connected within the next three years.

Much of the region, which starts at the Pyrénées in its northermost province of Huesca and runs about a third of the way down the mainland, is very rural and isolated, which is part of its enduring charm but can be inconvenient on a day-to-day basis.

Most of the southernmost province of Teruel, whose capital 'city' has just 30,000 inhabitants, is open countryside with numerous villages whose headcount barely runs into treble figures – despite its being home to some of Spain's most popular ski slopes and less than a two-hour drive from the country's third-largest city, Valencia.

And, in fact, Aragón's largest city and capital of its 'middle' province, Zaragoza, is the fourth-largest in Spain.

But now, regional president Javier Lambán has signed a deal with the three provincial councils or Diputaciones of Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel in a meeting attended by representatives from Vodafone, Orange, Telefónica, Quantis and Masmóvil to get the region hooked up.

Whilst the rest of Spain is working on a gradual roll-out of 4G, 5G and fibreoptic – depending upon how developed their regions are – Aragón simply wants to guarantee access to a 20MB broadband internet connection.

Everyone in Aragón will be able to get online – and stay online – before the year 2020, Lambán stresses.

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GRANADA city hall may fine a local sports centre for ordering three women wearing a 'burkhini' to leave the outdoor swimming pool.

Spokesman for United Left, Francisco Puentedura, has asked the PSOE-led city council to take action against the leisure centre in the La Chana neighbourhood after it received a flood of complaints from local immigrant communities and feminist organisations.

Hundreds of residents have filed written complaints to the Equality department of the council, which runs the leisure centre for various admin reasons, and Puentedura has now passed the grievance onto the Sports department for a two-pronged attack on what he calls 'blatant discrimination'.

He has called for the local government to draw up a bye-law which 'makes it clear' that members of the public may not be banned from sports facilities for 'wearing whatever they like', since there is 'no law in the land which prevents' anyone from entering a pool in a bathing suit which covers all bar the hands, feet and face.

“There's no room for personal opinions,” the spokesman said, alluding to the leisure centre management's 'prejudice' against the three women ordered to leave the pool.

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CONSUMER organisation FACUA has warned that the side-effects of colourant E-110 'sunset yellow' have not been included in the prospectus of a painkiller medicine for children.

Dalsy, a mild Ibuprofen solution targeting pain and fever in children aged from three months to 12 years, contains the yellow colour E-110 but does not mention its possible adverse effects as required by European Union Regulation CE 1333/2008.

Side-effects sometimes, although rarely, seen as a result of the 'E-number' included relate to the child's 'psycho-motor capacity', says FACUA – which, roughly translated, can cause 'negative effects' on young patients' 'attention ability and activity'.

In other words, E-110 can make children excessively hyperactive, or the reverse – hypoactive.

Whilst FACUA does not warn against the use of E-110, it has warned that all additives, excipients and main ingredients in medication must be clearly labelled and possible allergic reactions, contraindications and adverse effects mentioned in the paperwork inside the packaging.

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A SPANISH teenager of Moroccan descent has been allowed back to school after over a week at home following the headmaster's orders that she should not return if she planned to wear her hiyab, or headscarf.

Takwa Rejeb, a Muslim born in Spain to Moroccan parents and planning to study an FP (Formación Profesional, or the Spanish answer to the BTEC route) in tourism, was sent home from the Benlliure high school in Valencia based upon what SOS Racism called 'a closed and overly-literal interpretation' of the centre's dress code, which bans balaclavas, woolly hats and baseball caps if they obscure the wearer's face.

A hiyab just covers the hair and throat, and is very similar to the hair-covering scarves often worn by African, Afro-Caribbean or Afro-Latin women, and is a cultural as well as a religious symbol.

Regional education authorities, headed up by minister Vicent Marzà, has tackled the issue with the school in question and with others which have taken a similar attitude.

Marzà's department says it plans to draft an urgent regional law on school dress code to prevent similar situations from recurring.

“Our ultimate aim is to guarantee the right to education for all pupils, and we need to draw on all tools necessary to encourage acceptance and tolerance of cultural diversity in Valencia region schools,” education autorities say.

The General Directorate of Education Policy is planning a day-long conference on 'new challenges and social contexts' to 'deal with cultural diversity in the classroom' and 'ensure good inter-cultural practices' in schools.

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SPAIN would normally have been celebrating its 30th anniversary as a member of the European Union in 2016, but a sombre note hangs over this landmark year as the country reflects on issues threatening the 'club', including the Brexit vote and increasing anti-EU sentiments in France, The Netherlands and elsewhere.
One-time vice-president of the European Commission, Spaniard Manuel Marín - who helped convince the other then member States to allow his native country to join - said he was one of the student diplomats at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, in 1973.

They were taken on day one to a ceremony housing the bodies of those who perished in the second World War, and reminded that this was the very reason the European Union existed.

Now, though, Spain is reflecting on a mixed history as a member State - austerity measures imposed by Brussels in light of national debts have caused hardship in Spain, and the country has narrowly escaped being fined for its continued, consistent failure to meet deficit targets.

And the lucrative trade agreement and political community has been shaken to the core by the Brexit vote, and the rising of the far right in some member States.

Bureaucracy, and very high expenses for MEPs and Commissioners, have come into question throughout, although most member States believe this can only be influenced by those who have a seat at the table - that is, each of the national leaders who make up the Council of Europe.

De Gaulle in 1944: “Spain can join when they get rid of Franco”
Three decades ago, joining the then European Economic Community (EEC), which would become the EU, was the launch-pad Spain needed to repair itself - it was still a very poor country with levels of illiteracy far higher than in any other civilised, western country, and had only known democracy for a decade after having been under a dictatorship spanning more than 40 years.

But the country's morale was given a sharp upwards push as its social and economic conditions went from strength to strength, achieving a drastic transformation in a relatively short time.

Of course, nowadays, the EU is a far cry from that which was designed by Altiero Spinelli, an Italian reporter exiled to Venice island after challenging the iron-fisted reign of Franco's ally, Benito Mussolini.
Spinelli wrote an open letter calling for a federal, united, but free Europe, in response to the mass killings he witnessed during the height of World War II - and this letter would form the basis to the European Coal and Steel Community, later to become the EEC and then the EU.

He wanted to see Europe becoming a 'united international force', ending nationalism and totalitarianism in individual States and protecting human rights, as a way of preventing a possible future World War III - given that the 1939-1945 conflict had left the equivalent of today's entire UK population dead in just six years.
Spinelli's idea was supported by the French Resistance, since president Charles de Gaulle and prominent diplomat Pierre Mendès France had decided to try to set up a 'European union' of France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy.

They said Spain would be asked to join them 'once they had got rid of Franco'.
It would take another 30 years, however, before Spain 'got rid of' its dictator, which only really happened when he died.

‘Repairing Spain’
Back in Franco's time, the European Union as it was then was symbolic of freedom from censorship and social and professional liberty - in fact, ex-European Parliamentary speaker José María Gil Robles says Spain used to be 'quite jealous of' students in universities elsewhere on the continent who were able to live as they wished and voice their opinions without reprisal...

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VALENCIA'S ex-mayoress Rita Barberá has multiplied her salary by nearly a third as a result of leaving the PP party but hanging onto her Senator's seat.

After the Supreme Court confirmed on Tuesday that she was under investigation for alleged money laundering and accepting bribes to finance the PP's electoral campaign last spring, Rita agreed to resign from the right-wing party at the request of its top-ranking national government members.

But she refused to give up her seat in the Senate, which 'travels' with the person and not the party, and means she will continue in the role as a non-affiliated Senator.

Cynics initially believed she wanted to hang onto the Senate because it would ensure her continued diplomatic immunity, whereby any legal case against her goes straight to the Supreme Court, leapfrogging the lower tribunals.

But it has since been revealed she will earn an extra €2,321 per month as a Senator not linked to a political party.

Already, Rita earns €2,813 as a wage from the Senate plus a further €1,822 as a 'local allowance' because her main residence is not in Madrid, where the role is based – a total of €4,635 a month.

Once her resignation from the PP, of which she was a founder member until she resigned on Wednesday, is complete, her monthly pay will go up to €6,956.

This is because the Senate groups are given an allowance which is split between members, and which some decide to use for personnel such as secretaries or consultants, but which does not have to be justified.

The non-affiliated group, which has 16 members, earns €39,470 for its place in the Senate and, once Rita moves across to it from the PP, will have 17 members.

And Rita will be entitled to one-17^th of this €39,470 for 'expenses' which do not require receipts, authorisation or any form of record.

Senators do not even have to pay their own transport for official journeys made as part of their role – their train, bus, boat or plane tickets are picked up by Parliament.

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SPAIN is now up to 28 Paralympic medals after Zaragoza-born swimmer Teresa Perales and Madrid's Israel Oliver scooped up golds in the 50-metres backstroke and 200 medley, categories S5 and SM11, respectively.

Two of the latest, won in the early hours of this morning (Sunday), were already guaranteed – a silver in men's wheelchair basketball and in men's table tennis.

A haul of medals for swimming came on Wednesday and Thursday after several days without any – an uncharacteristic situation for Spain whose Olympic and Paralympic water-borne sportsmen and, even more so, sportswomen are prolific prizewinners.

At present, Spain's swimmers now have six golds, eight silvers and three bronzes in swimming alone – a total of 17 out of the country's 28 medals.

For Perales, her gold is her 25^th Paralympic medal, and with the subsequent silver, she is now up to 26.

Wednesday earned three golds for Spain at the Aquatic Centre in Rio's Olympic Park, thanks to Óscar Salguero Galisteo, Michelle Alonso and Israel Oliver, plus a silver for Miguel Luque and two bronzes for María Delgado.

Salguero Galisteo led the way with Wednesday's flood of prizes, dominating the 100-metres breaststroke, category SB8, from the very beginning and reaching the finish in one minute, 11.11 seconds, a comfortable 1.57 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Italy's Federico Morlacchi, and 3.33 seconds in front of bronze-winner, Austria's Andreas Onea.

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A HIGH school in Valencia has sent a pupil home and refused to let her back into class unless she takes off her hiyab, or headscarf, reports SOS Racism.

The teenager is Muslim and of Moroccan descent, but was born in Spain and has Spanish nationality, and wears the hiyab out of choice, and when she was ordered on the first day back at school after the summer break to take her scarf off, she reported the incident to the Valencia-based branch of the anti-xenophobia charity.

Other organisations the complaint has been shared with include Movement Against Intolerance, the Civic Platform Against Islamophobia, and Valencia's Islamic Cultural Centre, and it has been referred to the regional and national ombudsman.

According to the pupil, she was called into the headmaster's office on the first day of term and told 'in no uncertain terms' to remove her hiyab and that she would not be allowed back in school the next day if she was still wearing it.

She has now missed over a week of school as a result.

The various organisations have been in contact with the regional education minister, who sent out the schools inspector to investigate.

Once the inspector was confident the pupil's version was completely accurate, he called the headmaster to his office for a meeting to 'request he change his attitude'.

The inspector said the headmaster had made a 'closed and literal interpretation' of a school dress code article which forbids students from wearing headgear in class, but which was drawn up with the aim of preventing them wearing balaclavas, baseball hats or woolly hats pulled down to cover their faces.

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AN IBIZA man threw himself off a cliff after stabbing his ex-wife to death in the doorway of her block in the early hours of this morning, police say.

They were called out to the C/ Menorca in Ibiza town just after 04.00 today (Saturday) when witnesses were awoken by the screams.

They found the victim, 34, lying dead in her doorway in a pool of blood.

Guardia Civil officers immediately went looking for her husband, from whom she was separated.

He was found dead near the Es Vedrà viewing point in Sant Josep, and the woman's car was parked on the Sa Pedrera cliff above it with the doors open and the engine running.

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A WOMAN from Galicia is eight months' pregnant with her third child at the age of 62 following successful IVF treatment, and says she is 'bursting with happiness' at becoming a mum again.

Qualified doctor Lina Álvarez, from Lugo, is no stranger to later-life pregnancy – her second child, Samuel, 10, was conceived via IVF and born when she was 52 – says she feels better in mind and body and physical and mental health now she is expecting again than before she conceived her little girl, who will be born in October.

The 'excitement, hormone changes and happiness at becoming a mother again' means she is in the peak of health, although the baby will be born by programmed Caesarian section due to her own age.

This means she will have had two biological children after going through the menopause at age 42.

Lina considers her third pregnancy as 'compensation' for the tough times she has suffered in her adult life, including living in poverty due to her salary being embargoed through legal battles, and her first child, who is now 27, suffering cerebral palsy and needing constant care.

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BRITISH and Canadian drivers nearly doubling the speed limit in souped-up McLaren racing cars on a Navarra highway have been fined €600 each.

Only three have been caught, since another four were going so fast that the police speed trap was unable to register them.

In the space of seven seconds, as many McLarens shot past, all close together, at kilometre 24 of the single-carriageway NA-132 from Estella to Sangüesa via Tafalla, as they passed the exit for Larraga.

The speed limit is 90 kilometres per hour (just over 56mph) and the two Brits and one Canadian who were caught were driving at 163, 167 and 171 kilometres per hour (about 102mph, 104mph and 107mph).

A flood of calls was made to the 112 emergency hotline, with some drivers saying they had been 'overtaken by seven aeroplanes'.

In practice, they were McLaren 650S Coupés and 675LT Spiders.

The seven sports cars had come from the Los Arcos race circuit and were not designed for general road use, say police, and caused considerable alarm among residents because their powerful engines give off a roaring noise way above safe decibel levels for public highways.

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VALENCIA city council's ex-mayoress Rita Barberá has resigned from the PP party over a recent probe into possible bribes and money laundering in the run-up to last year's elections, but refuses to leave her seat in the Senate.

Pressure was mounting for Rita to be forced to quit from some high-ranking members of the PP, including Galicia's regional president Alberto Núñez Feijóo and acting health minister Alfonso Alonso – who is standing as regional presidential candidate for the Basque Country elections in 11 days' time – and in the end the PP said it would have to 'suspend her membership'.

The party also wanted her to give up her position of Senator, given that, with a possible third general election on the cards in December, the PP – having been blighted by a string of corruption cases in the last five years or so – is keen to clean up its public image.

But Barberá pointed out that she is legally entitled to keep her seat, albeit as a non-affiliated Senator.

This means she will automatically keep her diplomatic immunity status, meaning any legal case against her goes straight to the Supreme Court, leap-frogging the lower tribunals.

Rita says giving up her place in the PP, having served as mayoress of Valencia for 24 years until she lost the elections last May, was 'very hard' and 'very painful'.

“I have submitted my resignation to the Partido Popular [People's Party] because they have asked me to and in doing so, in addition to offering a further demonstration of my dedication to the PP, I will avoid anyone using me as a shield and holding me responsible for any harm caused to the party or to hide their political and electoral results,” Rita says.

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VALENCIA regional tourist board has launched a mass complaint to Brussels about the proposed visa fee British holidaymakers may have to pay to enter the European Union post-Brexit.

Mainland Spain's eastern region lives largely from tourism and, in certain pockets – especially in the province of Alicante – UK nationals are among the most loyal customers.

In a bid to monitor the Union's outer borders in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium and France, the EU is setting up a visa system whereby visitors to the continent will pay a typical fee of €12.50, US$14.00, or about £11.00, which can be transacted online with a minimum of three days' notice.

It is not clear how this will affect British residents in EU nations travelling back and forth to visit family, or who split their time between the two countries, nor EU nationals living in the UK.

Neither is it clear whether the visa will only apply to non-EU countries – which the UK is not, as yet, but will be two years after Article 50 is triggered – or whether it relates to all nations not in the Schengen zone, meaning Britain would be affected even in the absence of Brexit.

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THE cross-border train which crashed in O Porriño in Galicia killing the driver, conductor and two passengers was travelling at 118 kilometres per hour in a 30-kilometre limit, according to the black box, which has been recovered from the wreckage.

Known as the 'Celtic Train', the regional line covered the route from Vigo in Galicia to Oporto in Portugal, and is a very old model – from the 1980s – using a now-outdated on-track braking system.

It sends the driver three warnings if the train is going too fast, then slows itself down if it does not register a response, unlike the more modern European-standard system which automatically pulls the train up if it is breaking the speed limit.

The driver received two warnings to slow down on the straight run, but apparently ignored them both.

When the warning, coded L1, comes through, the driver presses a button to acknowledge it to stop the flashing and beeping – and the now-deceased driver of the Celtic Train did so both times, showing that he had received the alerts.

Rail board RENFE, rail infrastructure board ADIF, the Rail Accidents Investigation Commission, engineering consultants, and Portuguese transport board Combois de Portugal have been examining the black box in the court building at O Porriño (Pontevedra province).

Trains along the Vigo-Oporto line travel at 100 kilometres per hour, but on this occasion, it had been diverted to a 'secondary' track due to works on the main line, with a speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour.

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FLASH flooding hit Valencia yesterday (Tuesday) evening out of the blue after months with barely a drop of rain and weeks of soaring temperatures.

State meteorological agency AEMET reported around 38 litres per square metre of rain within the space of an hour (3.8 centimetres, or one-and-a-half inches) of which 30 litres per square metre (three centimetres, or just over an inch) fell within the first half-hour.

Strong winds, thunder and lightning came with it, and even a mini-tornado over the El Saler beach.

Two women were injured when tree branches were blown off and landed on them on the C/ Primado Reig, and chunks of rendering fell off the Aqua shopping centre.

Hailstorms and high winds meant tricky landings for planes heading into Valencia airport in the nearby town of Manises, with visibility reduced to four kilometres during the worst of the storm.

The tunnel on the Avenida de Catalunya, heading north out of the city, was shut due to flooding, and the traffic lights on the Avenida del Cid, the westbound exit from the metropolitan area, stopped working.

Storms began in the province of Castellón yesterday afternoon and reached the northern and western parts of the province of Valencia by around 19.00 or 20.00 with what was described as a spectacular downpour. 

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TWISTS and turns have come to light in the 'needle-in-a-haystack' search for Madrid sixth-former Diana Quer, who went missing in the early hours of August 22 in the family's regular holiday haunt in Galicia.

The 18-year-old was described as a 'home-loving girl' who 'would never have run away voluntarily', and her last contact by telephone was a WhatsApp message to a friend at home in Madrid to say a man of gypsy origin was following her at 02.30 and trying to attract her attention.

Described as tall and slim – 1.75m and 55 kilos, or 5'9” and 8st 9lb – with very long, dark hair and wearing a white top, black lace-up shoes, pink shorts and a hoodie, Diana was said not to have made it home that night as her mother would have heard her, given that she 'sleeps with the door open'.

But her mother, also called Diana, has now admitted through her solicitor that her daughter must have returned home, since she found her pink shorts in her bedroom and a pair of jeans missing.

Diana Junior had taken her spare key to the holiday home in the seaside town of A Pobra do Caramiñal (A Coruña province) where she had spent every summer since she was three, but had left behind her DNI or national identity card and all her money, which was about €20 in cash.

It was initially thought she had been abducted during the walk home from the late-night open-air disco, part of the town's local fiestas, where she had been partying with friends.

But the 'man of gypsy origin', who was found to be one of the fairground workers and had been trying to hit on young women all night in the same way as he did with Diana, has been interrogated and ruled out as a suspect.

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CATALUNYA'S regional day festivities saw a smaller turnout than ever, but greater passion amongst those who did as cries for independence were heard loud and clear.

A group of supporters of the reigning pro-secession political party, the CUP, are expected to face charges for burning the Spanish flag and images of King Felipe VI.

Unlike in previous years where the procession has only taken place in Barcelona, this time parades were held in several towns in the region, with patriotic residents carrying the estelada, as the Catalunya regional flag is known.

More people than expected turned out – around 815,000 across all the towns – but this was only just over half of last year's 1.4 million and less than half of the 1.8 million seen in 2014.

Barcelona's mayoress Ada Colau, from En Comú Podem, a faction of the left-wing independent party Podemos, joined in the national day celebrations – known as the Diada – but refused to be photographed with the pro-secessionists.

Regional president Carles Puigdemont has said he and the other members of the CUP will call a unilateral referendum on independence next year.

His MP Gabriela Serra says it is likely to be held in June 2017, and the secession process will then start in August if, as looks increasingly likely, the majority vote is to break away from Spain.

Justice minister for Spain Rafael Catalá has said if Catalunya does hold a referendum, 'the full weight of the law' will come down on the CUP and Puigdemont.

Spain insists on blocking the referendum without discussion, has refused to mention 'independence' or talk to Catalunya's leaders about it, which is fuelling even greater rebellion among politicians and the public and which could feasibly lead to a majority in favour of seceding.

And a referendum on independence has become a red line preventing the other political parties in national government from forming a coalition to oust the acting right-wing PP cabinet.

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A TEENAGE spectator at the bous embolats in Vila-real (Castellón province) has suffered burns and head injuries, local authorities reveal.

The 15-year-old, originally from Algeria but resident in Vila-real, sustained a severe blow to the head and burns to his right hand and leg during the spectacle, which involves bulls with burning rags tied to their horns set loose in the street.

He was given first aid on site after the incident, just before midnight last night (Saturday), then rushed to La Plana hospital in Castellón city, accompanied by his mother.

Councillor for fiestas Javier Serralvo insists that the bous embolats 'shows' always have an expert bull-handler and 19 experienced volunteers on hand to monitor the enclosure and prevent under-18s, disabled or elderly people or those who appear drunk from entering.

“This system normally works fine, and there are actually a lot of people who are not allowed into the enclosure,” Serralvo argues.

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A PREGNANT woman with a Spanish national ID card has reached the Greek island of Lesbos in a refugee boat from Turkey, according to the Spain-based charity Proactiva Open Arms.

Its representative, Gerard Canals, says the woman is 23 years old, named Mercedes, is five months pregnant and is originally from Panamá, but says she was brought up in Zaragoza, Aragón's largest city.

She arrived in Lesbos on a jerry-built raft along with 50 other refugees, which was intercepted by the European border control agency FRONTEX.

Before she was taken to the migrant revision centre on the island, Canals' team spoke to her and she said she joined the refugee raft because it was 'the only way to get out of Turkey'.

She says she has been in Turkey since she was 18, and that life there is 'very difficult for a woman'.

Mercedes says she has suffered physical violence and that male bosses in the workplace and at interviews expect sexual favours in return for women keeping or getting jobs.

She told Proactiva that she had not paid a human trafficker and had been allowed to travel on the raft free of charge.

According to the police in Spain, Mercedes is being held in custody whilst her national identity card, or DNI, is checked.

If it turns out the document is genuine and belongs to her, she will be 'released immediately', officers say.

But she may still face charges for attempting to cross a country border by illegal means.

Refugees and asylum seekers are generally not punished for entering countries illegally, since by definition, this is usually the only way they can get out of their dangerous situation in their home nations.

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A PETITION has been set upon Change.org calling for MPs and party leaders not to get paid until they form a government.

Txerra Pardinas, who started the page, has also set up the Twitter hashtag #singobiernosinnómina ('no government, no salary') and has linked posts from the social network onto the petition.

“You're not going to get a pension,” he says, referring to the 22% unemployed who, as they are not working, are not contributing to their State retirement pot, “but they [MPs and party leaders] are still earning their €150 a day.”

“Every single politician has taken home €150 today for not turning up to work,” Txerra says in another post.

“It seems there's only one thing they all agree on – that of carrying on earning €4,000 a month to do nothing.

“Last month alone, your elected MPs spent €600,000 on official travel, and each one of them has taken home €36,000 so far this year for not doing any work.

“Can you imagine earning €4,000 a month for sitting on your backside?”

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A HOTEL chain based in Madrid offers beds, food and toys to dogs, cats and all other 'travelling' pets at its 31 establishments, of which 22 are in the capital and its wider region.

The Petit Palace's 'pet management' head Diana Hernández says 'pets are an important part of the family', and that the chain has been one of few in the country that allow furry guests.

Two years ago, the Petit Palace – which opened in 2001 – removed its size and weight limit for animals, meaning dogs of any size can now stay there.

Although still thin on the ground, hotels and holiday complexes which allow pets are on the rise, says Spain's spokesman for travel portal Trivago, Alberto Calcerrada.

At one time, animals were generally only allowed in a few countryside hotels, known as casas rurales, mainly in inland destinations, but they are now starting to open in cities and on the coast.

Head of the pet-friendly hotel website Srperro.com, Micaela de la Maza, says in the five years she has been in the role she has seen a sharp rise in the number of resorts and establishments open to animals.

Beds, food, drink and toys for four-legged guests are not as expensive as one would imagine, Micaela says – her web page brings together a long list of animal-friendly hotels, and these usually charge less for pets than for their owners.

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SPAIN is heading back to school and the usual high costs to parents have now increased because of having to buy new textbooks adapted to the PP's controversial education reform law, the LOMCE, which nine in 10 teachers are against.

Fundamentally, they accuse the former schools minister José Ignacio Wert of attempting to filter out the less-able students at the age of 14 or 15 by sending them down a 'factory-fodder' path in a two-tier system reminiscent of the old secondary modern-versus-grammar school set-up which was disbanded in the UK in around 1970.

Teenagers who have completed the first half of high school, from age 12 to nearly 15 will then have to choose whether to take 'academic' subjects leading them to their ESO, or Spain's answer to GCSEs, or 'practical' sujects, meaning they will leave school without their ESO but with the FP Básico, enabling them to study FP courses (Formación Profesional), the equivalent of a BTEC.

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THREE Spanish passengers have been arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport with a total of 259 live reptiles in their four suitcases.

According to customs officers in the Dutch capital, 10 of them had died en route from an undisclosed destination in México when they were transported illegally to Spain via The Netherlands.

The creatures included lizards, turtles and even snakes, and many of them are endangered species including the Chuckwalla lizard (pictured) which is only found on the Mexican island of San Esteban, and nowhere else in the world.

Their total market value was said to be around €80,000.

All surviving creatures were due to be taken to a rescue centre or safari park for proper, expert care.

The passengers were arrested and charged with breaking Dutch laws covering flora and fauna transporting, since they did not have the required permits to carry the reptiles into the country, and also with animal cruelty given that the creatures had been squashed into airless suitcases for a long-haul flight.

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SPAIN'S Paralympics team has been robbed just days after arriving in Rio de Janeiro for the games, which are due to start tomorrow (Wednesday).

According to the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), at least three members of the national team found money missing from their rooms yesterday, totalling around €350.

Police say the thieves pretended to be room cleaners in order to gain access to the Olympic Village (pictured) and competitors' dormitories, throwing once again into debate the level of security, or lack of, which the complex in Brazil suffers from.

The Paralympics, now in its 15^th year, will run for 11 days from tomorrow in the former Brazilian capital, using all the same facilities as the mainstream games.

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A BRITISH pensioner has died from heatstroke whilst on the Santiago pilgrimage route at its extreme south, in the province of Sevilla.

He was out walking during the hottest part of what was hitherto the hottest day of this year – Sunday – and in what is statistically one of the hottest provinces in the mainland, and was not carrying any food or water.

The victim, 70, was part of the way along the pictured route between Castiblanco de los Arroyos - where he had spent the night in one of the dedicated 'pilgrim' hostels along Spain's official footpaths eventually leading to the cathdral in Santiago de Compostela in the far north-west of the country – and Almadén de la Plata, in Sevilla's northern mountain ranges.

Another 'pilgrim' found him at around 14.00, when the 'midday' sun is at its strongest – given that 'noon' is an hour later in Europe due to the summer clock change, and two hours later in Spain because of its being in the wrong time zone.

He was complaining of feeling sick, dizzy and feverish, and had not brought any water or food with him.

The walker who found him gave him water and rang the 112 emergency hotline, but when the Guardia Civil arrived at the scene, it was already too late.

Andalucía's inland provinces are normally the hottest parts of the mainland in summer, with temperatures in the shade frequently rising well into the 40ªC bracket and, in the sun, over 50ºC.

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POLICE in Barcelona have arrested a 36-year-old man who was planning to stage an Orlando-style attack on homosexuals in the city.

The accused, from Mataró in the province of Barcelona, had uploaded 31 videos on YouTube showing himself with a Walther P22 9mm pistol and encouraging people to shoot gay men, lesbians and bisexual men and women in the head and 'treat them worse than animals'.

He published numerous tweets to the same effect.

One of his videos referred to the August LGB Pride festival in Barcelona, telling viewers he had '13 days to prepare' for a mass shoot-out.

He referred to homosexuals as 'sick', 'AIDS-ridden', 'drug addicts', 'ill' and 'abominations of nature' who should be 'exterminated'.

The accused was discovered after various Twitter users, including an LGB association in Madrid, tagged the National Police - @policia – in his comments.

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A SERIES of wildfires which have joined together in the northern Alicante province towns of Benitatxell and Jávea have led to at least five urbanisations – many largely occupied by British expats – being evacuated.

Reports claim that some homes, possibly as many as 20, have already burnt down.

The blaze initially started at around 16.00 on Sunday in Benitatxell's Cumbre del Sol urbanisation, but it later flared up again in at least two different places.

Emergency services believe it to be the work of arsonists.

Planes and helicopters had to withdraw at 21.00 when night fell, and the Armed Forces' emergency response team was drafted in.

A sports centre and high school have been turned into a communal camp, and schools which were due to start back today (Monday) remain shut.

Most of the roads into Jávea have been closed and a hotel has been evacuated.

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FORMER industry minister José Manuel Soria's nomination as candidate for World Bank chairman has led to uproar among the Spanish public, given that he was forced to resign after being named in the notorious 'Panamá Papers' leak.

Acting president Mariano Rajoy, of the right-wing PP, failed in his attempt to be invested as national leader again on Friday – and just hours later, it was revealed he had nominated the now-ex minister for the position despite his alleged involvement in running front companies in tax havens.

Other than lifelong PP voters, it looks likely that the party could suffer if the country goes to a third election in December, given that its leader's credibility has taken another nosedive.

Head of the PP's direct and historic rivals - the left-wing PSOE, or socialists – Pedro Sánchez wrote on Twitter: “Whilst Parliament was hosting the investiture debate, the PP was putting Soria [pictured] forward for World Bank chair. A surfeit of reasons for voting NO.”

Sánchez had been heavily criticised for refusing to at least abstain to allow Rajoy, the most-voted but without a majority, to become president again.

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TWO other cases of the Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever have been reported following the death of one man aged 62 and a nurse who treated him being admitted to isolation.

One of the new cases is in the Carlos III hospital (pictured) in Madrid, where Spain's three Ebola patients – including nurse Teresa Romero, who survived and is now back at work – were treated, and another is in an isolation ward in the Gómez Ulla hospital in the city.

The National Centre for Microbiology is currently analysing samples taken from the latest two in order to confirm that they are in fact suffering from the condition.

Madrid regional health authorities realised barely 24 hours ago that the two patients met the criteria for testing, possibly because of having come into contact with the man who died or the nurse being treated, although this has not been confirmed.

As yet, they are not thought to be displaying any symptoms or, at least, do not appear to be in danger, meaning their isolation may simply be as a precaution.

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Halogen lightbulbs are now gradually being withdrawn from sale in a bid to promote LED energy-saving bulbs.

They will now no longer be manufactured, and from 2018 can no longer be sold.

The move has come from a European Union directive which seeks to reduce energy consumption by scrapping the power-guzzling halogen bulbs which come in at around 50W each, as opposed to 3W or 5W for their LED equivalents.

This follows on from the withdrawal and subsequent ban on incandescent bulbs which began in 2009 and led to their disappearing entirely from households in the 28 member States of the EU after being taken off the shelves in 2012.

First to go were 100W bulbs, and 75W bulbs followed, having been around for 130 years.

These energy-wasting fixtures not only used up huge amounts of power, but converted it into heat as well as light, meaning bulbs would literally melt anything they pointed at eventually.

LED bulbs, which now come in many shapes and sizes and can easily be used to replace halogen ceiling spotlights, last up to 30,000 hours – three times that of a standard lightbulb – and are often even brighter.

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STATE authorities in Cambodia have denied arresting and deporting a Spanish scientist on suspicions of 'witchcraft', despite her saying one of the soldiers involved in her imprisonment claimed that 'everyone knows Spanish people fly around on broomsticks'.

Marga Bujosa was arrested for joining in a protest against the arrest of two of her colleagues who had been previously detained for joining in a similar march, this time in defence of human rights.

Bujosa, who is studying a PhD at Granada University and was in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, on a field trip, said she was 'kicked until she had swellings everywhere' whilst in custody.

She reported this to the Spanish embassy in Thailand, the nearest, since Cambodia does not have one.

The Mallorca-born scientist said she had refused to hand over her mobile phone to police, but they forced it off her anyway and returned it with all the photos of the protest she had taken deleted.

“Everyone knows the Spanish do magic – they can fly on broomsticks,” one of the military officers involved in her arrest allegedly said to her.

He later insisted his comments were 'just a joke'.

According to head of investigation at the Cambodian interior ministry's immigration department, Uk Heisela, “the Spanish woman was very aggressive with us, but we treated her politely and respectfully.”

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TWO possible cases of haemorrhagic fever, a virus imported from the Congo have been detected in Europe – one of which is in Madrid.

A man aged 62 died in the capital's Gregorio Marañón University Hospital (pictured) on August 25 after being transferred there from the Infanta Leonor, and results have just come back confirming the diagnosis.

The nurse who attended to him in the Infanta Leonor is currently in the high vigilance isolation unit at the La Paz-Carlos III Hospital, where three patients were treated for Ebola in 2014 – two missionary doctors who did not survive, and nurse Teresa Romero who caught it from one of the patients, but recovered and is now back at work.

A spokesman from the Carlos III said the nurse in isolation is 'stable', having suffered a fever overnight and her blood-clotting levels being worryingly unbalanced.

“It's a complex situation, because there's no concrete and scientific information available – but despite her condition being tricky, she is in fact stable,” the employee said.

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Measures the centre-right party Ciudadanos has pushed the PP into agreeing with include major fiscal and financial reforms, which range from close scrutiny of tax havens to in-work benefits for the low-paid; wealthy tax-dodgers who benefited from Rajoy's 'fiscal amnesty' being forced to pay up – around €2.8 billion in total – for investing in healthcare and education, and establishing consumers' rights to pay by credit or debit card for purchases of €10 or more.

Company profit tax, or Impuesto sobre Sociedades, will be adjusted to set it in line with the European average and layered according to the size of the firm – whilst multi-national corporations can bear the loss of up to a quarter of their earnings, two-man-band local shops cannot – and income tax will be adjusted once Spain has shown the European Union that it is able to contain its deficit and work towards imposed targets.

Regional governments may get more of a say in the State budgets before they are approved, and it is likely that the slice of the budget per region will be reviewed, giving that some – like the densely-populated tourism hotspot, the Comunidad Valenciana – receive a fraction per head of the amount given to others; for example, the Basque Country receives five times the per-capita allowance of Valencia, meaning the latter is unable to invest in infrastructure to improve quality of life.

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ACTING president Mariano Rajoy, of the right-wing PP party, has failed in his attempt to be invested as Spain's leader in the first round of the in-house elections which followed a day of lively debate and recriminations.

Thanks to a 150-point, 44-page agreement centre-right Ciudadanos' leader Albert Rivera pushed him into signing, completely rehashing all the PP's policies to date in terms of the economy, employment, education, healthcare and social services and including six 'non-negotiable' requisites to combat corruption and multi-million tax evasion, Rajoy was able to secure the unanimous 'yes' votes from all 32 of Ciudadanos' MPs.

The Canarian Coalition's one MP voted in favour since, according to its spokeswoman Ana Oramas, 'Spain and the Canary Islands cannot wait any longer'.

With the PP's own 137 MPs, this gave 170 votes in Rajoy's favour, but out of the 350 members of Parliament, he needed 176 to give him an outright majority.

And his direct rival, the PSOE (socialists), led by Pedro Sánchez, has stood firm in its 'no' to a party whose social and economic policies over the last five years have been totally against all that the PSOE represents.

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