Live News From Spain As It Happens

A PIANIST who played for refugees in a camp in Syria nearly two years ago will stage two concerts in Barcelona this week.

Aeham Ahmad, 29, from the Syrian capital of Damasco kept his displaced compatriots entertained through their ordeal as they hid out in inhuman conditions in a refugee camp in Yarmouk, a few kiilometres from his home city, in April 2015 – until Jihad terrorists set fire to his piano.

Now, thanks to strings pulled by organisers of the International María Canals Music Contest and the Catalunya Peace Association, Aeham will play for audiences in Barcelona on Friday and Sunday, in a move aimed at sending out a message of hope to refugees and calling for help and awareness from the European public.

Aeham, whose videos of him playing in empty streets and the ruins of buildings to symbolise the horrors of the Syrian civil war went viral on social networks, is a refugee himself – the self-styled 'Islamic State', or DAESH, occupied 90% of the territory where the camp was based, forcing him and those living there to flee for their lives.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO-THIRDS of self-employed workers have been in their current professional situation for at least three years, and just over half – 55.2% - have been trading for five years or more, according to a report by the Federation of Associations of Autonomous [self-employed] Workers (ATA).

A total of just under 3.2 million of Spain's workforce are self-employed, of whom over 1.97 million – nearly 62% - are sole traders, whilst the remaining 1.22 million are registered as either limited or public-limited companies.

The report shows that 86% of sole traders do not earn more than the bottom band for paying Social Security, or 'national insurance' – a total flat fee of €267.03 irrespective of earnings aimed at those with a gross monthly income of a maximum of €893 a month.

Only 0.8% of self-employed non-company workers earn more than three times the lowest-band maximum, or a gross monthly income exceeding €2,679.

One in five sole traders emply at least one other person, or 21.6% of the total, a growth of 0.7% of the total on 2015, with the overall figure of one-man bands becoming employers increasing by 4% in the last year.

Over the course of 2016, Spain's self-employed – sole traders and companies – created an net average of 193 jobs a day, or 45,011 throughout the year, in addition to the 25,479 who started working for sole traders or small companies on a self-employed basis themselves, giving a total of 70,490.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THOUSANDS of friends, family members and local residents turned out to Marbella's La Encarnación church yesterday (Sunday) to bid farewell to Pablo Ráez, a young leukaemia patient who became famous worldwide for trying to encourage bone-marrow donation.

Pablo, 20, passed away after a battle which restarted in the autumn following a 10-month remission, during which time he was training to represent Spain in the 2017 International Transplant Games.

Marbella town council has declared two days of mourning – yesterday and today (Monday) and, in the meantime, thousands have already signed a petition on Change.org for the local authority to name a street after the brave youngster.

Nationally-famous actor Dani Rovira, who met Pablo in hospital, paid tribute to him on Twitter, saying, “I love you with all my soul.”

He was due to have been the flag-carrier at the Transplant Games, held in Spain for the first time this year in late June, in his home provincial capital of Málaga.

His messages were always full of hope and happiness, and he was always smiling on his photos and videos.

'One Million Donor Challenge'

Pablo was training to be a firefigher when, at age 18, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and underwent several sessions of chemotherapy followed by a bone-marrow transplant, donated by his father who was found to be a match.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S government has insisted that 'the law is the same for everyone' in the face of public outrage over the apparently lenient sentences faced by bank bosses and politicians in the 'Black Cards' scandal and former Duke of Palma Iñaki Urdangarín's being released without bail.

Ex-directors of the now-defunct CAM bank, who include Rodrigo Rato (pictured) - former International Monetary Fund (FMI) chair and economy minister under one-time president José María Aznar – and Bankia chairman Miguel Blesa, have been sentenced to four-and-a-half and six years in jail respectively for multi-million tax evasion.

Key management figures and directors of the CAM had been using their company credit cards for personal and leisure expenses – including holidays, alcohol and meals out – meaning these costs were automatically offset against their income tax.

In the meantime, King Felipe's brother-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín and his co-director in the Nóos Institute, Diego Torres, have been sentenced to six and eight years respectively for public fund embezzlement – but released without bail.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MÁLAGA airport is the 'most accessible' in Europe in terms of ease and cost of getting to and from it, according to a new report.

Travel group GoEuro gave the Costa del Sol terminal a score of 99.9 out of 100, putting it ahead of some of the main European airports such as Paris-Charles de Gaulle, London Heathrow and Frankfurt.

GoEuro studied different combinations of methods of transport for the 30 airports with the highest level of passenger traffic in the EU, giving points for price, length of journey and how fast and convenient it was.

Málaga city centre is less than €2 from the airport, and it heads up the top 10 terminals in Europe for being the closest to the urban hub, along with Lisbon, where the metro is just outside the door of Arrivals, and Nice- Côte d'Azure.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LIMIT on the number of years a president can remain in office proposed by centre-right Ciudadanos would mean Spain's current leader Mariano Rajoy could not be re-elected.

Ciudadanos, led by Albert Rivera, wants to see an eight-year cap on how long any president can continue in the role, in a similar system to that seen in the USA.

Only a minor amendment would need to be made to the existing Law of Government, stating that a maximum of two terms of office, provided these totalled a minimum of eight years, would be permitted.

Oddly, this could effectively open the door to presidents choosing to call early elections in their second term, since their reign not having lasted eight years could allow them to run for a third.

Hypothetically, former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE, or socialists) could legitimately be elected again for another term if the amendment goes ahead, even though he has served two tenures: he became president in March 2004 and called elections in November 2011, choosing not to run again – but had he changed his mind later, he could have feasibly stood for president a third time.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

KING Felipe's brother-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín has announced he will appeal his six-year, three-month prison sentence for public fund embezzlement and tax fraud – even though this carries the risk of his being jailed for even longer.

Urdangarín's solicitor, Pascual Vives, says he has been 'convinced for years' that his blue-chip client would not have to go to prison, even though prosecutor Pedro Horrach refused to negotiate any deal that would reduce the sentence to less than two years, the minimum for a custodial term to be served for a first offence.

The husband of Felipe VI's youngest sister, the Infanta Cristina, was found guilty of inflating invoices and estimates for organising sports, arts and entertainment events through his so-called 'non-profit' association, the Nóos Institute, and laundering the proceeds through the dormant company he owned jointly with his wife, Aizoon.

Cristina escaped jail for tax evasion by offsetting household expenses against Aizoon, having claimed she simply 'signed what her husband told her to' because she 'trusted him', but still has to pay a €265,000 fine on top of the unpaid duties she has since refunded.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE ongoing debate as to whether to legalise cannabis consumption for medicinal purposes has reached Parliament for the first time after centre-right party Ciudadanos presented a legislative proposal – a legal tool used by MPs to push for specific action from government leaders.

Although a legislative proposal does not oblige the government to take action, it serves as a 'loudspeaker' for hot topics being debated in society, and the fact it has been presented by the moderately conservative Ciudadanos means the issue is more likely to raise discussion in Parliament.

The party says it sought advice from the Spanish Observatory for Medicinal Cannabis, and recalled that several other European Union member States have already set the wheels in motion, including Germany, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as 26 States in the USA and countries worldwide such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia.

This motion comes just days after a 75-year-old woman was arrested and then released without charges in San Sebastián after 14 marijuana plants were found in her flat.

She explained that she mashed up the shrubs with surgical spirit and used the salve as a muscle-rub for herself and her husband to alleviate their aches and pains.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 66-YEAR-OLD man has died after being attacked by five pitbulls all at once whilst walking across his own land in Beniarbeig (Alicante province).

Hours after setting off for his allotment, the victim's son became concerned that he had not returned and went to investigate.

He found the man with horrific wounds on his limbs and head, consistent with having tried to fight off several attacking animals at once.

As there are no wild predators in the area, police quizzed the tenant of the nearest house, who admitted to owning five dogs classed as 'dangerous breeds', all pitbull and bull-terrier crosses.

None of them bore signs of blood, but one of them was soaking wet as though it had just been washed.

Police say none of the dogs was microchipped, and the owner had no council permit showing they were on the local register, nor any documentation for any of the animals.

He did not have any public liability insurance for the dogs, which is essential with certain breeds.

Local Police say the owner has committed previous offences of letting his dogs run loose, rather than on a maximum-length lead of two metres (6'6”) and muzzled at all times, and that they had attacked at least one person in the past. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Former Spain international, David Villa, now playing for New York City, has become the first person to be sent off by a referee making use of the Video Assisted Referee (VAR) system for a red-card decision.

Villa was sent off in his team’s defeat to Houston Dynamo on Saturday night after the referee was able to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system to review footage of him punching an opponent in the face.

Fifa’s VAR initiative has been on trial in the Major League Soccer (MLS) pre-season in the US, and it is believed that if the technology proves to be a success there, it will be implemented during the second-half of the 2017 season.

Match officials can call on the technology to assist them in making 'game-changing' decisions, including goals, penalty appeals and direct red card incidents.

The use of video technology in other American sporting leagues – such as the NBA, NFL, MLB and the HHL – is commonplace.

Former Valencia and Barcelona striker Villa landed himself in hot water when he threw a punch at Dynamo midfielder AJ DeLaGarza in the first half, as both players tried to win the ball following an Andrea Pirlo corner. Villa lashed out in response to being held by DeLaGarza.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A WOMAN who took part in a hypnotist's show in Madrid had to be attended by paramedics when she did not wake up from her trance – and even they were unable to rouse her.

She was a volunteer on stage at the Palacio de la Prensa in Madrid in the El Mentalismo en el Cine show, led by renowned hypnotist Pablo Raijenstein (pictured left, on his own poster advertising the event).

But she went under so deeply that the organisers had to call out an emergency SAMUR ambulance with life-support equipment when Raijenstein was unable to bring her out of her stupor after an hour of trying.

Then, even paramedics were unable to awaken her, causing increasing alarm – all of this happening live on stage in front of an audience.

In desperation, an emergency psychiatric team was called in and they were able to stir her to some degree, after which she was taken straight to hospital – conscious, but not completely compos mentis.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE world's largest yacht has been impounded off the coast of Gibraltar over a €15.3 million debt, according to the Rock's Supreme Court.

German Naval Yards, based in Kiel, Germany, built the Sailing Yacht A – which carries a Bermuda flag – and is owed this amount of money by the proprietor, the company Valla Yachts Limited, based on the Caribbean island.

Valla Yachts Limited is owned by Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko.

When his firm did not pay up, German Naval Yards put the case in the hands of a solicitors' firm in Gibraltar, where the craft was moored, and the case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court of the British-owned enclave which borders onto the Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz province).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MOST of Spain will suffer a significant drop in temperature from today (Sunday) with heavy rain forecast on the Costa del Sol, the northern mainland and Canary Islands.

Tidal surge warnings have been issued for the coast of Andalucía as a whole, and thermometers will plunge in the southern and eastern halves of the country, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

Light frosts in mountainous areas, especially in the north, were expected for the early hours of this morning, with snow at altitudes of 1,100 and above.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NEW study into the effects of olive oil on cholesterol levels and circulatory health has shown that the so-called 'Mediterranean diet' may be even more beneficial to optimum organ function than first thought.

Researchers at Barcelona's Hospital del Mar Institute of Medical Investigations (IMIM) found that a diet rich in extra-virgin olive oil improves the work of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs, known as 'good cholesterol').

The job of HDLs is to extract 'bad' cholesterol from the arteries and transport it to the liver, which eliminates it from the body.

And according to the findings published in Circulation magazine, extra-virgin olive oil heightens the ability of HDLs to do this, making elimination of 'bad' cholesterol more effective and complete.

Until now, says the IMIM team, the benefits of the soi-disant 'good' cholesterol have only been demonstrated in clinical trials with medication, through surgical interventions, or through studies involving increasing consumption of certain specific foodstuffs – but as yet, no study has been carried out focusing on changing the patient's diet completely..

“We compared two types of Mediterranean diet: one rich in olive oil and the other rich in nuts; both within the context of a low-fat diet,” says the research team.

“We saw that adhering to a traditional Mediterranean diet, especially one rich in olive oil, was associated with a significant improvement in HDL functions.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AIRPORT governing body AENA has set up 'feedback machines' in 33 terminals in Spain, including Valencia and all those in the Balearic Islands.

Security checking, baggage reclaim, toilets and numerous other areas now have a number of 'HappyOrNot' units in each, allowing passengers to give their views on levels of service provided.

They feature four round buttons in red, pink, light green and dark green, with faces on them.

These range from wide smiles to downturned mouths, through half-smiles and 'flat' mouths, and passengers who choose to do so press the one they think most reflects how they feel about the services in question.

Smiley or non-smiley faces are used so as to avoid language barrier problems with international travellers.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SHARED custody of children has gone up from just 2% to 25% of families in a decade, according to latest figures – one in four divorced couples with one or more kids in common have set up an almost 50-50 régime of upbringing and residence.

Brought into play in 2005 through an amendment to the Spanish Civil Code, joint custody means the child effectively lives with both parents, alternating residence between them, although not necessarily strictly half their lives with each.

The aim was to prevent the agony suffered by one parent – usually, statistically, the father – of missing out on his child's life by becoming a 'weekend dad', or even going months or years without seeing the children at all.

In many cases, until then, a father could find himself paying the mortgage on the family home for the mother and children to live there, on top of his own mortgage or rent, plus a childcare allowance, and yet rarely spending any time with his sons or daughters at all.

But joint custody has proven to be a double-edged sword in a high number of cases: fathers who are not really interested in bringing up their children applying for shared custody to avoid paying childcare maintenance, or even – if he remarries and has stepchildren – to increase his immediate family unit to three kids or more to qualify as a 'large family', with the consequent benefits and tax breaks this brings.

It has even led to women who have left violent husbands being forced to let their children spend time with these men, and unable to detach themselves from their abusers, but numerous campaigns are currently running to call for anyone charged with domestic violence, male or female, to be barred from unsupervised access to his or her children.

Four in 10 families in Catalunya; fewer than one in 13 in Extremadura

Although shared custody has rocketed since 2005, after the first five years a huge difference has been seen by region, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

This was because some of Spain's 17 autonomously-governed regions introduced their own laws on child custody – for instance, parents in the land-locked western region of Extremadura are five times less likely to be able to access a joint care agreement than those in the north-eastern region of Catalunya.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALL shops in Spain will be required by law to charge a minimum of five cents for plastic carrier bags – and in some cases, could end up applying prices of up to 30 cents.

The environment ministry led by Isabel García Tejerina says free plastic bags will be banned from January 1 next year in an attempt to cut their use, in line with the European Directive of 2015 which all member States are obliged to apply progressively.

Bags of less than 50 micrograms in density, or the lightweight, easily-breakable supermarket kind, cause the greatest levels of pollution, including the water supply, although all sizes of carrier bag will attract a cost.

Spain has chosen to apply the EU rule ahead of its deadline of New Year's Eve on 2018.

Member States may choose not to charge for bags, but to limit their use to 90 per person per year by 2020 and 40 by 2026, although most EU countries have opted for applying a cost.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEARLY one in 13 Spaniards are vegetarians or vegans, and restaurants and food stores are rising to the challenge of catering to a market worth over US$4 billion per year worldwide.

A report titled The Green Revolution, by marketing consultants Lantern, carried out 2,000 telephone interviews on a stratified sample of the population and found that the number of non-meat eaters has risen sharply in the last five years.

Even in the last decade, vegetarianism in Spain was extremely rare, often unknown and frequently frowned upon with even doctors claiming it was impossible to follow a meat-free diet without lacking in essential nutrients.

But now, according to the research, 0.2% are vegan, meaning they do not consume any animal produce whatsoever.

Lantern split vegetarians into sub-categories, including 'pescatarians', who eat fish but not meat, and 'flexitarians', who only occasionally and sporadically consume animal protein, which may or may not include meat.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

JAPAN'S budget clothing chain Uniqlo will open its first-ever store in Spain this autumn, increasing its presence to 19 countries worldwide.

According to Fast Retailing, the company which owns the well-known cut-price brand, the flagship outlet in Spain will be based in Barcelona, although future branches elsewhere in the country may follow later.

The company has spent several years searching for a suitable premises for its début shop, with size and maximum visibility being the main priorities, and has finally plumped for a four-storey venue on the Catalunya city's main shopping precinct, the Passeig de Gràcia.

“I find this very exciting – I've been wanting to open a shop in Barcelona ever since I first visited the city in 1991 or 1992 with my family,” enthuses Fast Retailing chairman Tadashi Yanai (pictured).

“It's a very artistic, beautiful and open city.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ADMINISTRATION worker at Palma de Mallorca airport has won her case against her firm for refusing to let her wear her hijab in the office.

She had been subjected to disciplinary action seven times, which mainly involved suspending her and docking her pay for a day at a time.

The woman, who has not been named, worked for the franchise Acciona, dealing with passenger queries, on a permanent ad hoc job contract from 2007 meaning she was considered a fixed employee but had periodic lay-off periods during low season.

In December 2015, she told her superior that she wished to wear a hijab – a headscarf which leaves the face uncovered but conceals the throat and hair – during her working day, and this was agreed provisionally whilst a consultation was held at the head office in Madrid on the matter.

But between April and July 2016, she was repeatedly sanctioned by the firm.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THREE top bosses at the Bank of Spain have resigned due to being investigated in relation to the Bankia flotation scandal.

Manager Mariano Herrera, his right-hand man Pedro Comín and inspector Pedro González have stood down to protect the Bank of Spain's interests while the inquiry is open.

Former deputy manager Fernando Restoy, ex-governor Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, and ex-chairman of the National Markets and Values Commission (CNMV), Julio Segura, have also been named in the case, along with two other existing key employees Javier Arístegui and Jerónimo Martínez.

Despite repeated warnings by the Bank of Spain's investigation team about how the State-owned Bankia was not a viable flotation proposition, and that launching on the stock market would cause serious financial damage to its shareholders and contributors – to the tune of €15 billion – the Bank of Spain bosses under scrutiny still authorised the move.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 69-YEAR-OLD woman who found €900 in cash on the floor of a cashpoint booth and kept it has been arrested and charged with theft in Cantabria.

The pensioner, who has never committed any previous offence, discovered the money in a bank branch in the Marqués de la Hermida district of the city of Santander.

A man had lost it shortly beforehand, having withdrawn it, placed it in a plastic bag and then dropped it without noticing.

He was inside the bank at the counter when he realised he had dropped the cash, but it was not there when he went back.

CCTV footage showed a woman, identified only by her initials of A.S.M.A., leaving the premises with it.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

The number of people using public transport went up by 2.4% in 2016, the second consecutive increase since the 1% rise in 2015, and the biggest increase since 2005.

The number of passengers reached 4.631 billion, compared with 4.516 billion in 2015.

According to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (NIE), urban transport went up by 2.3% last year and intercity transport increased by 2.7%.

In terms of urban transport, last year saw more growth in bus travel (up by 3%) than in metro travel (up by 1.2%).

In terms of intercity travel, the number of people opting for air travel increased by 8.8%, compared with a 1.5% increase in the number of rail passengers and a 13.1% increase in martitime transport.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

STORMS and gales are forecast throughout today (Monday) across the country, with the worst-hit areas being Galicia, northern Aragón and Catalunya, the Strait of Gibraltar, the provinces of Burgos and Álava, and the central strip of the mainland.

All of Andalucía except the province of Almería; Aragón, except Teruel; most of Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León; all of Catalunya, Cantabria, Asturias, La Rioja, Murcia, Navarra, Madrid and the Basque Country are on yellow alerts for winds of up to 90 kilometres per hour.

Downpours are forecast in the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz (Andalucía), Madrid; Girona (Catalunya); Cáceres (Extremadura); Huesca (Aragón), and Ávila, Segovia and Salamanca (Castilla y León).

Only the Canary Islands will escape, with clear skies and dry weather predicted for today, giving the region some respite from the mayhem caused by yesterday's (Sunday's) hurricanes and deluges.

Power cuts, road closures, flights cancelled, electricity lines down, fences and trees falling and buildings collapsing were reported yesterday as a result of torrential rain, gales and tidal surges in the Canary Islands.

A family became trapped in La Laguna (Tenerife) after the only road out of their house was blocked by falling trees, whilst a building crumbling down in Punta del Hidalgo shut off a main highway.

Read more at thinkSpain.com

INTERIOR ministry bosses spent nearly €74,000 on security measures ahead of a visit to Sevilla by the then US president Barack Obama – which was cancelled.

The PP government revealed these figures in response to a request from the MP for United Left (IU), Miguel Ángel Bustamante.

Obama was due to visit the Andalucía city last of all on a three-day trip to Spain in summer which included Madrid and the US air base in Rota (Cádiz province), but his return home had to be brought forward due to the shoot-out in Dallas, Texas, which had cost the lives of five police officers.

The president's Spanish visit was cut to just 24 hours, barely giving him time to meet with his counterpart in the Mediterranean country and the head of State, King Felipe VI.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LEADING consumer organisation has tested 13 'whitening' toothpastes, and says they have all failed.

Using the so-called 'Vitapan' scale, the OCU says only five brands of toothpaste which claimed to whiten teeth did so by just one or two tones – barely enough to notice.

All toothpaste types were tested on at least two different people for a month, and the result is that 'it is not worth spending money' on those that purport to have a whitening effect, because tooth colour changes 'very little or not at all' as a result of their regular use.

Those which do reduce the yellow tinge very slightly are Binaca Blanqueante at the top, followed by Auchan Blancura, and Fluocaril Blanqueador, whilst the one which comes last is Oral B 3D White Luxe Perfection.

The top two still only achieved one star out of five for whitening effect, although the Fluocaril scored two

Others which scored one out of five for whitening were Colgate Total Blanqueador, Denivit Anti-Manchas Intensivo, Colgate Sensation White, Carrefour's own-branded White Blancura Brillante, Sensodyne Blanqueante, Lidl's own-branded Dentalux Complex 5 Blanqueador, Colgate Max White One, Oral-B Pro-Expert Blancura Saludable, Oral-B 3D White Luxe Seductor, and Oral-B 3D White Luxe Perfection.

All scored four out of five for effectiveness of cleaning and stain-removal, except Oral-B Pro-Expert Blancura Saludable and Denivit Anti-Manchas Intensive, which scored the full five.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A THIRD of all visits to paediatricians are for health problems related to mobile phone and internet use, according to medical data.

With 97% of teens aged 15 to 18 owning a mobile phone and over 90% being regular internet users, the potential for troubles ranging from addiction to repetitive strain, backache, headaches and eye problems, among others, is very high – and technology-savvy kids are getting younger all the time.

The Spanish Social Paediatrics Society says 40% of children and teenagers had accessed photos or videos of a sexual nature online, and 20% had shared images of other people they knew without their permission.

Parents are becoming more and more likely to seek medical advice, or at least be very worried about, their children's possible mobile phone and internet addiction, but kids and teens themselves appear to have 'little or no motivation' to moderate their own behaviour in this area.

The Society carried out a survey over the last academic year, and has now produced a report after fully analysing the data.

It warns technology abuse and addiction is on the rise, and can lead to distressing and life-limiting side-effects.

Those affected will typically spend more and more time using their mobile phones or surfing the net; have no willpower if they try to cut down, and suffer either agitation or feelings of deep sadness – sometimes both at once – when they attempt to control their own mobile and net use.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy is playing devil's advocate in a bid to maintain diplomatic relations with the USA – he has offered to be a 'go-between' for the North American country in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and north Africa.

The first-ever telephone conversation between the two leaders took place last night (Tuesday) and lasted for 15 minutes and covered issues such as bilateral USA-Spain relations, national security, and the economy.

Rajoy later tweeted that the chat was 'cordial' and had helped to 'continue to strengthen the bond that benefits the people of two allied countries'.

Trump was said to be especially interested in Spain's current economic situation, at which point Rajoy volunteered: “With a stable government and an economy growing at more than 3%, Spain is in the best possible condition to act as intermediary for the USA in Europe, Latin America and also in north Africa and the Middle East.”

STORMS continue to rage on in Spain with trees and walls down, two dead and 11 injured, although the turbulence is expected to start to calm down from today (Tuesday).

Unsettled conditions have moved towards the Pyrénées and the border crossings to France from the province of Huesca (Aragón) have been shut off.

A man aged 60 and a woman of 61 were critically injured on Sunday evening in Salou (Tarragona province) when a tree fell on them on the Paseo 30 de Octubre.

In Lorca (Murcia), a chunk of roof was ripped off and blown into a woman walking past, who needed surgery for serious wounds.

In total, over 70 calls were made to Murcia emergency services concerning falling objects, including strips of roofs and walls.

Hail and ice led to a serious accident in the province of Segovia, in Pinarejos, leaving three young adults aged 17 to 21 hurt, whilst a trailer blew over on the A-12 motorway in La Rioja, injuring one person.

Up to eight inches (20 centimetres) of rain and snow across the country, including in Madrid, plus winds upwards of 110 kilometres per hour (about 67mph) – rising to 163km/h in the northern Alicante province, or over 100mph – caused chaos, including the total destruction of a three-metre (9'9”) wall in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) and part of the bell tower in the village of Barruelo (Burgos province).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SIX-DAY cabin-crew strike on British Airways which started yesterday (Sunday) means flights to and from Spain will be among those affected.

The company does not believe any significant impact on travel will be felt, but advises anyone who has booked a flight to keep an eye on the BA website and contact the airline if they are concerned.

Staff have downed tools over working conditions and pay – a situation largely experienced by those taken on as 'floating crew' from 2010 onwards whose salaries are lower and employment terms more restrictive than those who started work with BA in 2009 or earlier.

According to Unite, the union which represents the company's cabin crew members, their basic pay is just under 12,200 pounds a year, meaning a monthly take-home of 955 pounds, plus three pounds per flight and the odd extra benefit which might include meals or drinks on board.

This means most of the newer cabin crew members have to find another part-time job on top to be able to make ends meet.

But the airline – run by Spaniard Álex Cruz and part of the Anglo-Spanish group IAG, which also owns Iberia – insists none of its staff earns less than 21,000 pounds a year, or 1,454 pounds a month after tax.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN will apply bfor a €308-million grant from the European Union to fund up to 44% of a series of transport projects, covering repairs, maintenance, new construction and amendments to road and rail infrastructure.

Some of this will be used for the so-called 'Mediterranean Corridor', as the eastern rail lines are known, and the Autopista del Mar or 'Sea Motorway'.

But it is unclear – and seems unlikely – whether this will involve the long-awaited and much-needed train between Valencia and Alicante on the coast, a stretch with hardly any public transport but which is crucial for airport travel, city commuting, and for linking France to south-eastern Spain in one unbroken line.

The central government had already rejected an appeal by the Valencia regional government for funding, and limited interest has been shown in its desire for the AP-7 coastal motorway to be made toll-free to prevent long-distance traffic, including lorries, from cutting through small towns to avoid the fees.

Other projects will include the soi-disant 'Atlantic Corridor' rail links and motorways along the Andalucía-Portugal coast, as yet not fully defined.

The north-western train network, the road link between the A-62 motorway and the IP-5 motorway in Portugal, improvement in air traffic management, increases in supplies of renewable energy for all types of transport, rail safety, 'smart' road transport, and the reopening of the Pau-Canfranc railway line in Catalunya are among the 47 plans for which the ministry of public works is seeking cash from Brussels.

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SPAIN'S justice system may own millions of euros to the heirs of a convicted Jihad terrorist involved with Al-Qaeda, says the General Judicial Power Council (CGPJ), the court governing body.

Jamal Hussein was accused of amassing millions of Iraqi dinar prior to the fall of Saddam Hussein – who is no relation – which money was held be the court despite its having been unable to demonstrate that the funds were connected with any criminal activity.

The accused filed legal action, requesting a refund of the cash and for additional interest due for its having been seized illegally.

According to a report by the CGPJ, Jamal Hussein had the right to compensation for the 'abnormal functioning of the justice system' which led to around €21 million, including interest, being withheld from him.

But Hussein died a few months ago.

Around 10 years ago, he was released with charges but without having served any real part of a sentence.

Shortly after his spell in custody, he was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm which later caused his death, a decade later – at around the same time as the CGPJ report confirmed he was entitled to his money back.

Who has the right to the money is not clear, the report says.

Hussein had taken Spanish citizenship, meaning his children or, in the absence of these, his nearest blood relatives are his automatic benefactors and he would be unable to change this by making a will, under Spanish law.

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SPANISH national airline Iberia has received official confirmation that citizens of the seven 'banned' majority-Muslim countries can now travel to the USA, as long as they have the required papers.

This includes anyone with a valid green card, visa – student, tourist or work – or who is resident in the country temporarily or permantly.

Iberia says it has been told it can now allow passengers with passports from Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Libya to board flights to the United States, as a Federal judge from the State of Washington has overturned president Donald Trump's 90-day veto on citizens of these countries travelling to the USA.

Legal action against the veto was presented by the States of Minnesota and Washington, and has been upheld.

Trump has announced he will appeal.

In the meantime, however, the veto has been suspended, announces the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office in the USA.

Given that anyone holding dual nationality – that of any of the seven countries and another nation, including the UK and the USA – has also been affected by the ban, it means they will no longer be denied travel.

SPAIN'S president Mariano Rajoy has voiced his disapproval of Donald Trump's ban on citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the USA – but avoided criticising too much so as not to cause a diplomatic crisis.

Madrid's mayoress Manuela Carmena, however, has likened Trump's election to office with that of Adolf Hitler.

During a meeting with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) held in tribute to the late Valencia mayoress Rita Barberá, Rajoy said he 'trusts the situation will be resolved' and that 'things will get back to normal'.

Rajoy stressed he is not in favour of vetos, nor borders, but believes that the world 'is not going to head down that road'.

Government spokesman Íñigo Méndez de Vigo assured that Spain would 'defend its values' and 'make its principles plain' both in its bilateral relations with the USA and in any international forum, but 'without resorting to strident protests or shouting', instead using 'diplomacy'.

Méndez de Vigo, who is also minister of culture and sports, says he 'appealed from the word go to México and the USA to rebuild their relationship'.

He denied accusations that the PP-led Spanish government had not publicly or privately condemned Trump's policies, insisting Spain had 'made its position very clear from the start'.

Less subtly, Manuela Carmena likened the 45^th US president's victory to that of the German Nazi leader responsible for World War II and the holocaust.

She did not name Adolf Hitler when she recalled that he was, like Trump, democratically elected, but the context made it very clear to whom she was referring.

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SIX in 10 applicants for firefighters' jobs in the centre-northern cathedral city of Burgos failed at the first hurdle – on their spelling.

Out of a total of 62 candidates, when it came to the dictation test part of their interview procedure – one of four tests in a 'knock-out' round including general knowledge, local knowledge and mathematical problem-solving – a total of 38 were excluded because of spelling mistakes.

Fire chief Julio Estébanez says this result is 'pathetic', especially considering the test required 'only fifth-form level spelling abilities'.

Mistakes included mixing up 's' and 'x'; 'll' and 'y', and adding or omitting the silent 'h'.

The phrase 'Saúl se hallaba en la cocina' ('Saúl was in the kitchen') was spelt at 'Saúl se hayaba'; the word hojaldres (pastries) was written commonly as ojaldres; and la receta se había echado en el olvido (literally, 'the recipe had fallen into oblivion') was spelt hechado en el olvido.

Other common confusion was seen with esclavo ('slave') spelt as exclavo; extirpar ('extract' or 'surgically remove') as estirpar; exagerado ('exaggerated') as esagerado, and asfixia ('asphyxia' or 'suffocation') as axfisia.

To apply to be a firefighter, candidates normally have to be graduates or hold a similar level of vocational qualification, and have to sit civil service exams, known as oposiciones.

Estébanez said he was appalled that anyone with this level of qualifications should make such basic spelling errors.

The dictation test carried a maximum of two points towards the total, and anyone who failed to achieve 0.8 points, or 40%, would be automatically excluded.

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