Live News From Spain As It Happens

THOUSANDS of students filled the streets of Barcelona and Girona yesterday (Thursday) carrying huge banners reading: “We don't want to fail democracy,” “We want to vote on 1-O,” and “We're voting to be free.”

High school, college and university students gathered in Barcelona in the Plaza de la Universidad as part of a mass demonstration organised by the campaign group Universitats per la República, whose spokesman Jordi Vives says the strikes and lock-ins in every campus in Catalunya were 'huge'.

“It's been massive, even at private universities,” he said.

Students marched carrying giant Catalunya regional flags, the Estelada, with some wrapping them around themselves like capes.

The protest was peaceful, although far from quiet – the students turned it into a street carnival – and ended outside Sants station in the square opposite, the Plaça dels Països Catalans ('Catalán nations') as a symbolic gesture of their support of the independence referendum.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EXPERTS from the United Nations believe the Spanish government's response to Catalunya's independence referendum 'could be in breach of human rights'.

Independent consultants on fundamental freedoms, David Kaye and Alfred de Zayas, have urged both sides of the debate to 'abstain from any acts of violence', especially during the 'peaceful protests' being staged across the north-eastern region ahead of the 'illegal' voting, and to 'exercise moderation'.

Both are working voluntarily on their 'promoting fair and democratic international order' report and have not been commissioned by the UN itself, even though they work for the global organisation and are using their professional experise in compiling the paper.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has announced a further 18,000 flights will be cancelled from mid-November to mid-March, affecting 34 routes and an estimated 400,000 customers.

A total of 25 aeroplanes in the Irish company's 400-strong fleet will cease to operate until March 18, 2018 to 'eliminate the risk' of further last-minute cancellations such as those suffered by passengers this month and also travellers who have booked for October.

“Flying 25 fewer aircraft this winter will result in a number of flight and schedule changes from November to March 2018,” Ryanair says.

“We have fewer than 400,000 customers booked on these flights.”

On average, one flight a day across Ryanair's 200 airports will be affected for the next five months, although the company stresses that many of these have not yet been booked.

From April 2018, when the carrier increases its fleet to 445 aircraft, a further 10 fewer planes will run to 'relieve the backlog' of annual leave.

“Fewer than 1% of the 50 million customers Ryanair will carry this winter are affected, and every one of these customers has received an email giving them between five weeks' to five months' notice of these schedule changes, offering them alternative flights or full refunds,” Ryanair continues.

“They have also received a €40 travel voucher (€80 return), again for travel between October and March

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AIRPORT chaos caused by a mass software failure is not thought to have affected any terminals in Spain, but may lead to delays and cancellations of flights due to arrive or land at several others worldwide.

London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Washington-Reagan (USA) have reported 'enormous queues' for several hours due to the booking and check-in programme – known as 'Altea', but with no connection to the Costa Blanca town of the same name – run by technology firm Amadeus having gone down.

Spokespersons from Gatwick and Heathrow say the service is 'gradually being restored', but the knock-on effect of queues building up since early this morning (Thursday) means delays may continue for some time.

Some of the worst-affected flights are those run by Air France, Southwest Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways and British Airways – the latter owned by the IAG group holding company, which Spanish national carrier Iberia belongs to – meaning a few flights heading for Spain may be delayed.

Messages on social media by passengers worldwide warned fellow travellers to get to their airports several hours earlier than planned to avoid missing their flights due to the check-in queues.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE 'official' Harry Potter exhibition will reach Madrid in November, allowing the young wizard's biggest fans to admire hundreds of props used in the blockbuster film series.

Visitors will be able to throw a quaffle into a Quidditch pitch, pull a Mandragora root out of a pot plant in Herbology class, poke around Hagrid's hut and even sit in his giant armchair.

Upon arrival, visitors will go through the 'sorting hat' process, and will be able to walk through simulation film sets including the Potions and Herbology classrooms, the Forbidden Forest, the dining hall and the Gryffindor dormitory, bumping into 'fantastic beasts' and hear an audio-guide on the making of the films.

Tickets cost €13.90 for children up to 12 and €16.90 for adults.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition opens on November 18 in Pavilion 1 at Madrid's IFEMA centre near the airport, running for 10 weeks.

Since it was launched in Chicago, the lifelike interactive display has been viewed by over four million visitors and has set up in Boston, Seattle, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Singapore, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Brussels and Amsterdam (pictured).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CATALUNYA'S police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra has been ordered to seal off all polling stations and a 100-metre radius around them to prevent voting on October 1 in the 'illegal' independence referendum.

Now that the State has taken control of the Mossos, they are required to follow orders from the ministry of the interior and not from Catalunya's regional government.

However, the order to block access to polling stations has come from the prosecution in Catalunya, led by José María Romero de Tejada who issued the orders last week for the national government to seize jurisdiction of the Mossos.

Mossos chiefs, although they admit they have little choice but to obey orders from the regional prosecution, say trying to stop the voting altogether – even in the street outside the polling stations – could lead to 'serious public disturbance issues'.

Already, many officers have been around the voting stations to identify and interrogate their team leaders and seize documents, ballot slips, and even ballot boxes and computers.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

UNITED States president Donald Trump told his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy he thinks Catalunya independence would be 'stupid'.

They met in the White House yesterday (Tuesday) for the first time officially – although they briefly said 'hello' to each other in Brussels earlier in the year – and Trump praised Rajoy's handling of the Catalunya referendum situation.

He said Spain was 'a great country' which 'should remain united'.

“Really, I think the people of Catalunya will stay in Spain, and I think it would be stupid not to; we're talking about staying in a country that's truly great, beautiful and historic,” the Republican leader said in a joint press conference with Rajoy following their meeting.

With five days to go as at yesterday before the 'illegal' referendum, Catalunya was the main topic of conversation between the two presidents, but during a working lunch they also analysed Spain's and the USA's bilateral relationship and international affairs such as North Korea and Venezuela.

Trump called for the European Union to apply sanctions to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Until now, the White House, speaking of Catalunya, has merely said the referendum was 'an in-house issue' for Spain but that it supported Rajoy's government.

This was the official line delivered by US defence minister James Mattis last weekend in a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Maria Dolores de Cospedal in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ZEBRA crossings in several Catalunya towns have been doctored to look like the regional flag in support of the 'illegal' independence referendum planned for October 1.

L'Espluga de Francolí (Tarragona province) and the Barcelona-province towns of Arenys de Munt, Berga, Vilassar de Mar, Sant Pere de Ribes, Igualada and Terrassa all have pedestrian crossings with the white lines extended at either end, points added, and a star in the middle of the curve to represent the flag, known as the Estelada.

Residents who support the referendum have taken photographs and uploaded them on Twitter under the hashtag #pasdestelada (Pas d'Estelada, or Estelada crossing).

But if those responsible are caught, they could face a daily fine for between 12 and 24 months plus between 10 and 40 days' community service, or a prison sentence of six months to two years – suspended if this is a first offence.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TALKS are due to get under way today between airport authorities and unions in a bid to avoid strike action planned for October, November and December.

Employee representatives say progress made to date with AENA and Enaire has given them 'cause to feel optimistic' that it may not need to go ahead with the pickets which would disrupt all areas of air travel services this autumn, from security and baggage-handling through to cafés and restaurants.

They are expecting to get results this week on issues such as pay increases and provision of extra staff, the only areas of dispute that the industrial action still hangs on.

Workers at AENA and Enaire complain their income in real terms has gone down by 8% in the last few years, with the rising cost of living and tax burdens on the general population, combined with wage freezes, decreasing spending power.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SIX in 10 residents in Catalunya believe the planned referendum is 'illegal' or 'invalid' and will not vote, according to a poll in national daily broadsheet El País – but regional president Carles Puigdemont has not set a minimum turn-out and plans to declare independence if anything over half of the remaining 40% vote for it.

This said, a high number of catalanes of all political persuasions firmly believe that a referendum agreed in format, date and legality by both the Spanish State and Catalunya is necessary.

Among those who would normally vote for the left-wing socialists (PSOE), three-quarters want to see an 'agreed' referendum, whilst 57% of those who voted for centre-right Ciudadanos and even 49% of citizens who voted for the currently-reigning right-wing PP believe this is the way forward.

Just two weeks ago, after Spain's Constitutional Court officially blocked the referendum – a verdict which has been ignored by Puigdemont's team – a total of 56% of residents in Catalunya said they did not consider the voting to be legal or valid, but this has since risen to 61%, according to El País.

An overwhelming number of Catalunya's residents, irrespective of whom they voted for or would vote for in the general elections, believe a referendum agreed by both parties is the way forward – over eight in 10 hold this opinion, according to a survey by Metroscopia – and only 31% believe that even if the current referendum on October 1 goes ahead, it would carry enough guarantees of being considered valid and legal internationally.

Nearly six in 10, or 57%, believe negotiations between Catalunya and Spain should form the basis of any referendum, in the same way as the Basque Country did 14 years ago with its famous 'Ibarretxe Plan'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MILLIONS of residents in Catalunya feel 'emotionally and sentimentally disconnected' from Spain – something which did not happen when the Basque Country attempted a unilateral independence bid in 2003, says a leading politician from the latter region.

Arnaldo Otegi, from the Basque reunification party EH Bildu, had already predicted the State would begin a 'frenetic' drive to try to stop Catalunya's secession referendum before it had even taken any action – and since he voiced his suspicions in an interview on TV3, the national government has seized control of Catalunya's finances and military police force, arrested 14 politicians and summoned 712 mayors to testify in court.

Even though upheaval was expected when former Basque president, or lehendakari, Juan José Ibarretxe presented his plan for independence in 2003, it did not reach the proportions it has escalated to in Catalunya.

What Otegi calls 'catalanism' is 'characterised by making a permanent offer to Spain' so that the country could 'still be the national State for the people of Catalunya', whilst 'respecting' the region as 'a nation with its own identity', he says, but what is occurring now in Catalunya is the result of this 'permanent offer' having been 'an exercise in futility' as the national government has refused all along to enter into discussions.

“The fact that understanding the multi-national nature of the country is practically impossible for Spain's leaders is entrenched in its political DNA,” Otegi says.

“They [Spain's leaders] consider that recognising the right to decide is effectively admitting that the State is in danger of breaking up, a sign of national tragedy recurring, and it's going to be very difficult for us to find a democratic answer unless the State learns to look at it in another way.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A TRAIN PASSENGER who got a free ride across Galicia has complained to rail board RENFE about his not having to pay for the journey.

José María Lorza set off from the station in his home town of Ferrol on Spain's far north-western coast, unable to buy a ticket due to machines being out of order.

Once he arrived in Ribadeo, where he travels to regularly, there was no conductor to check his ticket at the other end – a station with no barriers which require a ticket to pass through.

He went to the station information office and asked for a complaint form.

“A ticket for this journey costs me €2, but if nobody checks them or you can get on the train without buying one, how long are we going to have the service for before it's disbanded because it makes a loss?” Lorza queried.

“The rail service from Ferrol to Ribadeo is essential for the area, but if this is how it's managed, how long is it going to last?”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A EUROPEAN Union rule that requires English to be the official language between pilots and air-traffic controllers has come into force – and, curiously, even applies where both parties share a native tongue that is not English.

The rule only affects airports with over 50,000 international flights operating per year, meaning Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas and Barcelona's El Prat will become 'English-only', but many others, such as those in the Canary and Balearic Islands, will still be able to choose the language they wish to speak in.

Aiming to streamline communications for maximum security, pilots and air-traffic controllers having to speak English is not a problem, since being able to do so fluently is a basic requirement of their job.

But pilot unions in Spain SEPLA and USCA say it is 'ludicrous' to require this when both pilot and air-traffic controller are native Spanish-speakers.

Captains on board Iberia, Vueling and AirEuropa – all three being Spanish carriers and typically staffed with natives – will have to talk to the control towers in Barcelona and Madrid, also staffed with natives, in English.

USCA and SEPLA criticise the fact that the move 'has not taken into account' the 'criteria' of the professionals involved, and that using a language which is a foreign tongue to both rather than the native one they share 'is unlikely to bring about any potential air safety improvements'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has assured that all flights cancelled between now and the end of October are on heavily-frequented routes, meaning any affected passengers have a very good chance of being placed on another on the same or, at worst, the next day.

The Irish carrier has published a list of cancelled flights on its website as well as emailing all travellers.

Spain routes affected include one of 12 lines of flights in Barcelona and one of 13 in Madrid, whilst for the British Isles, one of 23 has been axed to and from Dublin and two of 41 from London Stansted.

Others affect Portugal's two main cities – Lisbon, with one of four cancelled and Oporto, with one of eight called off – and Italy with one in three cancelled from Rome Fiumicino and one in 14 from Milan Bergamo, two cities which have more than one airport, as is the case with Brussels where one of 13 lines of flights has been cancelled from Charleroi.

Although 2,000 flights in six weeks – or 40 to 50 a day – sounds a lot, the sheer number of trips run by one of Europe's most prolific airlines means that, in practice, the total cancelled only comes to 2% of those operating, meaning 98% of customers will still be able to travel on the flight they booked.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GUARDIA Civil officers have arrested 12 people so far in nine raids in the State's ongoing attempt to stop the Catalunya independence referendum.

Josep Maria Jové, right-hand man of the region's deputy president Oriol Junqueras, is among those now in custody, along with Catalunya's secretary for the treasury, Lluís Salvadó; head of IT and telecommunications Josué Sallent Rivas and one of his team members, David Franco Martos; social affairs office head Xavier Puig Farré; foreign affairs office member David Palancad Serrano, Juan Manuel Gómez of the regional ministry for the economy and taxation, plus two people linked to a warehouse which had been storing electoral campaign material, Pau Furriol and Mercedes Martínez.

Regional government offices, including that of Salvadó on the Ramblas in Barcelona and the economy ministry headquarters and tax collection office on the Gran Vía, have been searched extensively.

Police even entered the headquarters of the foreign affairs ministry, based in one wing of the Casa dels Canonges – the regional president's official residence, which is located inside the government headquarters.

IT and telecommunications companies including Indra and T-Systems and the homes of policy advisor Joan Ignasi Sánchez, a former Catalunya Left Republican (ERC) councillor, in Sabadell, have been raided.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the Guardia Civil seized 45,000 envelopes due to be used for ballot slips during a raid on several branches of the courier firm Unipost.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HOMELESS man hunting for food in a wheelie-bin in Ourense (Galicia) found a newborn baby – alive and well.

He discovered the infant at aroun 16.00 yesterday (Sunday) near number 20 of the C/ Río Bibei in the far north-western city, wrapped in a blanket.

The finder called over another two passers-by to help him dig the child out of the bin.

It was a boy, of around two kilos (4.4lb) in weight, with the umbilical cord still attached and only just born, at around 37 weeks of gestation.

The street-dweller borrowed a mobile phone to call the emergency services, and the baby was taken to Ourense University Hospital Complex (CHUO).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

RAIL board RENFE has just launched the biggest-ever recruitment drive in its history: a total of 675 jobs are up for grabs, most of which are permanent positions.

The transport firm is seeking 375 train drivers, 115 maintenance and manufacturing operators, and 115 sales staff, plus 70 technical and structural employees.

Applications from candidates with various different qualifications will be considered.

Some of these will involve existing temporary workers being made permanent, whilst others require brand-new outside staff being taken on, largely to replace employees who have left or retired in the last few years.

This is the third recruitment drive on RENFE's part in two years, and its largest since it set up as an independent service provider in 2005.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THOUSANDS of demonstrators have called for 'political bravery' on the part of governments to pass a law banning bull-fighting once and for all across Spain.

The pro-animal party PACMA took over the streets of Madrid last night (Saturday) clamouring for politicians to 'have the courage' to scrap the 'sport' and allow Spain to 'evolve and modernise as it deserves to'.

Chairwoman of PACMA Silvia Barquero spoke of the 'total inconsistency' of the fact that the Spanish Penal Code provides for up to two years in jail for ill-treating animals, whilst laws permitting bull-fighting allow for these animals to be ill-treated 'to the point of an atrocious death'.

“We can't understand how the law only protects certain species of animals and does not respond to the social outcry which recognises that bull-fighting is an example of animal cruelty,” Sra Barquero argues.

As well as bulls – and also cows, during local fiesta bull-runs – fights in the arena can lead to extreme pain and serious or even fatal injuries to horses used by picadores.

Under the slogan 'Mission abolition', PACMA and those who joined them in the march started out from Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square in a peaceful process which ended in front of the Parliament building, taking in the Paseo del Prado and C/ Alcalá, then returned to the Puerta del Sol where a manifesto was read to 'demand a political response to the public's requests'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has cancelled 2,000 flights between now and the end of October to 'improve its punctuality', which had become affected by air-traffic control and airport worker strikes, as well as adverse weather conditions.

Ryanair says fewer than 80% of its planes were taking off and arriving on time, which the company considers 'unacceptable'.

Until recently, over 90% of Ryanair flights arrived on time, and the company has worked out that it would be able to improve its record by calling off 2% of trips for the next six weeks.

As a result, around 40 to 50 flights a day to and from various different destinations have been axed between now and the end of next month.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EMPLOYEES should have the right to know what all their colleagues in their company earn, the opposition socialists (PSOE) in Spain's government says.

According to Pedro Sánchez, leader of the left-wing party and the reigning PP's main rival, being able to find out whether your salary is the same as everyone else's who does the same job would help close the gender pay gap which, experts believe, continues to exist across Europe even in its wealthiest and most-developed nations.

It would also prevent favouritism, such as relatives or friends of the boss earning more for the same work; 'bribes' to key staff members in the way of pay rises to make them stay with the company, and stop companies from paying certain employees less money on the grounds of health, having taken maternity leave, or even personality clashes.

Whilst it is likely that the vast majority of companies pay staff on a set scale according to their role and relevant skills, qualifications and experience rather than any other factors, and that there are sound, professional and above-board reasons for different salary levels or productivity bonuses, it is also likely that a small number of employers whose practices are less fair slip through the net.

Staff would have to make a formal request to their boss or HR department if the move became law – they would not automatically be told.

Although this information would not be allowed to be circulated outside the company, it would not be anonymous, either: lists of staff and their pay would include their full names so they could be identified by their colleagues.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MAYORS of 712 towns, villages and cities in Catalunya have been ordered to appear in court for having agreed to provide polling stations on October 1 for the 'illegal' independence referendum.

José Manuel Maza, the State prosecutor, says if any of these mayors – who are based in all four of the region's provinces of Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona – do not testify in court, he will order their arrest 'as soon as possible', probably before the voting takes place.

Maza says a letter signed by regional president Carles Puigdemont and deputy president Oriol Junqueras sent to all town councils in Catalunya have ordered them to provide venues for ballot boxes.

According to the prosecutor, if they did so, they would be 'committing a criminal offence'.

Among the 712 are the mayors of Manresa, Vic, Igualada, Vilafranca, Vilanova, Tortosa, Sitges, Reus, Cambrils, Amposta, Girona, Figueres, Olot, Balaguer, Les Borges Blanques, La Pobla de Segur, Solsona and Tàrrega.

Meanwhile, the government has blocked the referendum website created by the regional government – but Puigdemont has simply produced another one, which has gone live.

And spokespersons for 'minority' parties in Catalunya – PDeCat and ERC – plus Compromís in Valencia, the PNV and EH Bildu in the Basque Country, and Unidos Podemos at national level have called for Maza to appear in Parliament and explain his decision.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPEED limits in built-up areas should be a maximum of 30 kilometres per hour (18.75mph) to keep pedestrians safe, according to research.

According to the paper by Pons Seguridad Vial, anyone who is run over at this speed has a 90% chance of surviving the accident – and with 389 pedestrian deaths in 2016 alone, this is a serious issue which can and should be avoided, the study says.

Working with the association Red de Ciudades que Caminan ('Cities-that-Walk Network'), Pons Seguridad Vial's research, titled Ciudades pensadas para caminar ('Cities designed for walking'), claims that those built-up areas where the limit has been cut to 30km/h have seen an 80% reduction in pedestrian accidents.

In towns and cities where the speed limit has not been altered and remains at 50 kilometres per hour or 60km/h on outer urban minor roads, the number of walkers getting run over has risen by 18%.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HOLIDAYMAKER from Sevilla is in prison in St Petersburg accused of stealing a makeup bag at the airport.

María del Carmen R.S., 54, was with one of her daughters, Lola, at the time as they waited for a flight to Moscow.

Lola said she and her mum found the makeup bag on the floor five days into their holiday in Russia and asked as many people as they could around them whether it was theirs.

As everyone said no, María del Carmen stuffed it in her own bag.

It contained cosmetics with a retail value of around 7,000 roubles, or about €100.

María del Carmen apparently took the spectacles out of the bag and left it, along with the empty bag itself, on top of a vending machine, but pocketed the makeup.

Police officers nearby approached her and asked if the items were hers, and she explained she had found it dumped on the floor.

They were both taken to the police station, missing their flight and, as the police only spoke Russian and were unable to understand either Spanish or English – which Lola and her mother both speak – they ended up having to wait from 10.00 until 20.00 for an interpreter.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A POLICE officer has died in Valencia after being stabbed whilst arresting a suspect in a 'body in a bag' case in the city.

Blas Gámez, 51, a sub-inspector in the National Police homicide unit, sustained two knife-wounds in the heart during the scuffle on the C/ Sueca and, despite paramedics' attempts to revive him, lost his life within minutes.

He was said to have been arresting a man thought to have been behind the death of another whose body was chopped up and stuffed in a suitcase dumped at the Avenida Peris y Vallero-C/ Cabo Jubi crossroads, found in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CATALUNYA'S regional day with its traditional massive 'Diada' march was one of the biggest-ever today (Monday) in light of the controversial independence referendum scheduled for three weeks' time.

Barcelona city police, the Guardia Urbana, estimated that around a million people took to the streets, although the provincial government's guess was around 355,000.

As well as the usual giant flag held aloft by the parade participants, another, in yellow with a white ballot box joined it.

Regional president Carles Puigdemont has been told that the referendum is illegal as it goes against the Spanish Constitution, but he is determined to forge ahead, possibly risking his career and even a huge fine or prison sentence.

Numbers at this year's Diada were greater than last year, although in 2015 and 2014 respectively, as many as 1.4 million and 1.8 million hit the streets.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Fifty traffic cameras which will be able to tell if drivers and passengers are wearing seatbelts have been set up across Spain, and more are set to follow over the next few months.

Anyone caught on camera not strapped in will face a fine of up to €200 and lose three points from their licence.

But the national traffic authorities, the DGT, says for the first two months, the cameras will only be used to 'warn' offenders rather than to issue fines.

According to DGT boss Gregorio Serrano, seatbelts are 'the most important passive safety element in a vehicle', and reduces the likelihood of an accident being fatal by 60%.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HOME sales and purchases leapt 16.8% in July compared with the same month in 2016, with a total of 38,841 properties shifting hands,

Overall, residential property sales rose by 13.7% in the first seven months of the year, reveals the National Institute of Statistics (INE), with figures for the three months of May, June and July inclusive having seen sustained growth after a lull in April due to what is known in the industry as the 'Easter effect'.

Of those properties bought in July, the vast majority – 82.5% - were second-hand, totalling 32,049, as opposed to new builds.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FEARS of mortgages and loans in Spain getting more expensive this autumn have proven unfounded – the Central European Bank (BCE) has opted to keep interest rates at 0%.

This historic low has been in place since March 2016, although recent talks seemed to hint that the eurozone interest rate, or Euribor, would go up from September now that the common currency area is out of recession.

But homeowners can breathe a sigh of relief – although investors who rely on asset interest for their income will have to wait a while longer before they can enjoy new riches.

In fact, deposit interest will carry on sitting at -0.40%, or negative figures, but this does not mean banks will deduct funds instead of paying interest and anyone who finds their entity does so should appeal.

Loan interest, including mortgages, will remain at 0.25%, and current home loans range from around 1.5% to 4% on top of the Euribor, making them cheaper than ever for those who pay them in euros.

The difference between Euribor highs of late 2007 and early 2008, when the rate skyrocketed to over 5.5% for the first time ever, are huge – on a typical 35-year, €100,000 mortgage, the last nine years or over 5% drop would have seen the homeowner save around €170 a month.

Meanwhile, the BCE will continue to buy bonds on existing debt at the current rate of €60 billion a month until the end of this year at least, or possibly longer if it considers it necessary to do so.

Spain's government says it hopes the BCE's official interest rates will 'remain at current levels for a prolonged period', or a length of time which 'vastly exceeds its net bond-buying forecast timescale'.

This timescale, although only fixed until January, may well continue indefinitely until inflation levels meet the Bank's objectives.

Year-on-year Eurozone inflation in August rose to 1.5%, compared with 1.3% in July – its highest climb sincce April, according to the EU's statistics agency Eurostat.

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A REGIONAL law reform passed on Wednesday allowing Catalunya to hold a referendum and unilaterally declare independence if the public votes for it has been suspended by Spain's Constitutional Court.

Over 900 mayors in the region have been told by the highest court in the land that they could be fined and struck off if they cooperate with the voting process on October 1.

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy, who filed the appeal after an emergency cabinet meeting yesterday (Thursday) morning, has said the referendum on secession 'is not going to happen'.

He has told Catalunya's president Carles Puigdemont to 'just accept with good grace' that he 'will have to admit defeat'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOR the first time ever, both the male and female ATP world number one tennis players are Spanish – or they will be from Monday, when Wimbledon winner Garbiñe Muguruza soars to the top of the ranks.

Mallorca's Rafa Nadal regained his long-lost number one slot on August 21 after the Cincinnati Masters 1000, despite losing to ATP number 22 Nick Kyrgios.

And Garbiñe, a month and a half after scooping up the prestigious Grand Slam title at the Greater London All-England court, will be top of the WTA list when the rankings are released on September 11.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CATALUNYA'S regional government has passed the required legislation to allow it to go ahead with its independence referendum on October 1, thrusting Spain's central Parliament into panic.

Enough pro-secession or at least, pro-decision parties in Catalunya voted in favour, meaning the 'no' votes of the right-wing PP, left-wing socialists and centre-right Ciudadanos – or Ciutadans, as they are known in the north-eastern region – were not enough to stop the controversial law reform going ahead.

Parties determined to make secession happen include those who make up the regional coalition government – the CUP and Junts pel Sí ('Together for Yes').

In total, 72 out of the 135 regional MPs voted for the law reform.

The regional Parliamentary debate went all literally all day, not finishing until 23.30 when Catalunya's president Carles Puigdemont signed the necessary decree.

Left-wing Podemos, whose Catalunya faction is known as SiQueEsPot and covers the Barcelona-based En Comú Podem, abstained, meaning 11 votes out of 135 lost to the separatists.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HAUL of frozen cannabis oil uncovered in Ibiza has sparked public concern after police confirmed the substance is highly dangerous and far stronger than the type of marijuana smoked in joints.

The Guardia Civil found 28 kilos of hash oil in a warehouse on an industrial estate, together with 1,300 cannabis plants which had music played to them to help them grow.

Butane Hash Oil (BHO) has never yet been seen in Spain, let alone on the scale it was being produced at in Ibiza, says the Organised Crime Unit (UCO).

To extract oil from the plant, the process involves the use of highly-flammable gas in such huge quantities that just one spark could have caused an explosion that would have wiped out several blocks.

This information was supplied some time ago by the USA's drug squad, the DEA, after they uncovered a BHO laboratory with enough butane gas in it to blow up an entire street.

Although this is the first production site found in Spain, a 36-year-old man from Murcia was found to have been extracting hash oil a month ago.

He accidentally caused a gas blast, suffering fatal burns.

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THE world's top 1,000 universities include 29 in Spain – two more than last year – according to the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Along with the UK and Spain, a further 75 countries are present on the list which, once again, is topped by Oxford, with Cambridge having leap-frogged the California Institute of Technology to snatch second place from it, climbing from fourth last year.

Once again, Spain's highest-ranked university is the Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona (pictured), at number 140, sandwiched between the British universities of Leeds (139) and Birmingham (joint 141 with that of Eindhoven, The Netherlands).

In fact, the Pompeu Fabra, or UPF, has shot up 25 places from last year's 165, and Barcelona Autonomous University (UAB) has gone from 163 in the previous ranking to 147 – a meteoric rise, but dropping below the UPF.

Now sharing a ranking with the University of Nottingham and the University of Sussex (UK), Spain's second-ranked higher education institution is just below that of Oslo and just above that of Lancaster.

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BARCELONA airport security workers will resume their strike on October 6, but will not do so in September, their union representatives confirm.

The franchise firm, Eulen, has agreed not to sack or fine those employees who failed to provide the stipulated minimum services during the earlier summer strikes, which was one of security staff's requests, and in return, the planned industrial action for September will not go ahead.

Other demands, which include a €250-a-month pay rise to be paid on the basis of a 15-month year – or three double payments – are very unlikely to be agreed.

The Spanish government appointed an abitrator, a last resort if a strike cannot be resolved in any other way, and halfway-house measures have been drawn up.

But staff say Eulen is not complying with many of the terms.

These include not firing or sanctioning the workers who failed to provide minimum services, a condition that has been fulfilled, but those concerning a guarantee that employees can have a lunch break and stop to go to the toilet during their shift have not, the unions claim.

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THE two most expensive areas in Spain to buy a property have been revealed in recently-published research – and, surprisingly, neither are in the top five wealthiest towns in the country.

According to estate agency firm Idealista, villas – which make up most of the homes – in the urbanisation La Zagaleta in Benahavís (Málaga province) cost an average of €5.6 million to buy.

This is despite average income on the Costa del Sol being in the bottom third of the country, coming in at €18,000 to €20,000 per household per annum in August 2016, the latest figures released.

The second-most expensive location in Spain to buy a property is the La Moraleja neighbourhood in Alcobendas, about 20 kilometres to the east of Madrid, which is the fourth-wealthiest town in Spain – the average household takes home €50,500 a year.

In La Moreleja, once again, the majority of properties are villas, and average about €5m each – although on the street known as the Camino del Sur, they rise to €5.05m.

Just below €5m, and third-most pricey, are homes on the C/ del Castillo de Aysa, in Madrid city.

Buying a home on Barcelona's Avenida del Tibidabo will set you back an average of €4.83m, Idealista says.

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TEMPERATURES across Spain will return to normal for the time of year from this week after a disappointingly-cool and wet August, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

Even in the hottest parts of the country – traditionally Andalucía and the Mediterranean – the mercury barely reached 30ºC throughout most of last month, and rainfall ranging from drizzle through to downpours with thunder and lightning blighted the holidays for those tourists heading to Spain for a sunshine beach break.

But from today (Monday), they can expect the temperature to rise again and, although some rain is expected today – which could be heavy on the Costa Brava – it is expected to subside by the evening and the rest of the week should be dry.

The mercury will start to fall in the Canary Islands and along the Cantabrian Sea coast – the northern stretch from the western Pyrénées to Galicia, directly above Portugal – but will rise in most of the Mediterranean in particular.

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NATIONAL parks in Spain saw a record 15 million visitors last year, representing a 77% rise since 1997, according to recently-released figures.

With 15 National Parks in the country, this works out at one million for each one in 2016 – 83,333 per park every month, 19,231 a week or 2,747 a day.

The most-visited and the best-known is the Teide in Tenerife, where tourists can climb right into the crater of a 3,781-metre-high dormant volcano – and in fact, nearly 4.1 million did so last year.

Other National Parks which enjoyed a huge rise in visitor numbers were the Sierra Nevada in the province of Granada – Spain's most famous skiing destination in winter and a favourite with hikers in summer – the 2,000-metre-high Picos de Europa mountains (pictured) on the Cantabria-Asturias border, and the Atlantic Islands off the coast of the north-western region of Galicia.

The Picos de Europa saw the third-highest number of visitors, at just over 2.1 million, just behind the Sierra de Guadarrama – a mountain range to the north-west of the region of Madrid and spilling into the province of Segovia (Castilla y León), where well over 2.4 million tourists made a trip in 2016.

Fourth highest for numbers of visitors was the Timanfaya National Park, an eerie desert-lunar landscape on the island of Lanzarote, which 1.7 million tourists visited.

The Sierra Nevada, Spain's largest National Park at over 35,000 acres, was graced with 734,539 visitors, not far behind the Garajonay National Park on the tiny Canarian island of La Gomera, with 870,486 tourists.

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SPAIN'S Sunday night 3-0 victory against Italy means a giant leap forward in its quest for a place in the FIFA World Cup, with Real Madrid's Isco Alarcón scoring two of the goals in his home stadium, the Santiago Bernabéu.

Group G team Spain now has three matches left, aginst Liechtenstein, Albania and Israel, to determine whether it will be off to Russia next year to try to reclaim the coveted trophy it historically won in 2010 in South Africa, but lost in 2014 in Brazil.

The sweeping defeat of the azzurri, or 'The Blues' as the Italian side is known, was a satisfying revenge for Spain who crashed out before reaching the quarter-finals at the UEFA Euro last year – having won the last two, in 2008 and 2012, on the trot.

And former Valencia player David Villa was in his element – currently based in New York and with no plans to retire, the 35-year-old was among the surprise picks for the Spanish team to play in the qualifiers, having not been chosen for an international game in the previous three years.

But manager Julen Lopetegui's judgment proved sound, with 'The Reds' successfully flattening a team that has not lost a single qualifier in 11 years.

After Isco took a free kick which went straight into the net, and followed it up swiftly with a second, Sergio Ramos set up goal three which was driven home by Álvaro Morata, briefly home in Spain from his current base in Chelsea.

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