Live News From Spain As It Happens

EUROZONE interest rates have fallen again, ending February on -0.191% and reducing the average Spanish mortgage by €54 a year.

Experts believe the rate, known as the Euribor, will remain below zero for the whole of 2018.

A slight rise in January, to -0.189%, proved temporary and the rate is once again at an historic low.

Based upon a 20-year mortgage of €120,000 on a 'Euribor +1%' contract – the average type of home loan in Spain - this means an annual saving of €54.12, or €4.51 a month.

The Euribor went into minus figures in February 2016 for the first time in history in an attempt to help the Eurozone recover from the ongoing recession, and has not gone above 0% since then.

Analyst Joaquín Robles from XTB says until the Eurozone reaches its inflation objective of 2%, there is no chance the Euribor will rise.

“In September, the Central European Bank (BCE) will decide again whether or not to continue with its current debt-buying programme or whether prolong it in line with the evolution of inflation,” Robles explains.

“However, the current long-term previsions lead us to believe we will not see an increase in interest ratest until at least the middle of 2019, so we expect the Euribor to continue below zero for the whole of 2018.”

But Robles warns savers should not allow themselves to become confused by this situation, since the current length of a mortgage loan is typically 25 years, and the current price of money could well increase during this time.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CATALUNYA Left Republicans (ERC) leader Oriol Junqueras says 'prison life is tough' and has complained about being jailed 'without conviction' despite being a democratically-elected regional MP in an interview with the BBC.

“This would not happen in the UK,” Junqueras, the deposed deputy regional president and second-in-command to Catalunya's former leader Carles Puigdemont argues.

“I have always expressed myself democratically and peacefully,” says Junqueras, who is worried about wasting years in prison away from his two children.

Junqueras was interviewed by the BBC via a list of questions given to his solicitors at Estremera jail in the Greater Madrid region, and his responses have been particularly relevant this weekend in light of the referendum controversy throwing a spanner in the works of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where leading politicians in Catalunya refused to attend the King's reception as the monarch did not condemn the alleged police violence on voting day.

A 'popular, democratic and non-violent movement', as Junqueras defines the pro-independence brigade, is measured in terms of its resilience by how able it is to 'broaden itself', the former deputy president says.

He has called for the regional election impasse to be resolved and for the Spanish State to stop blocking Puigdemont's being sworn in as president again.

Currently under State control, Catalunya will not be able to return to self-governing until it has an elected leader in the hotseat – and Puigdemont is, according to the various independence parties who gained a collective majority in the December 21 elections, the only candidate for president.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

'STORM Emma' is about to hit Spain – a cold front bringing torrential rain together with snow at low altitudes across practically the whole of the country.

Already, emergency services and gritter-lorries are on standby on four motorways in Castilla y León over probably snowfall – the AP6 between Villalba and Adanero and the AP-61 between San Rafael and Segovia, both in the province of Segovia; the AP-51 between Villacastín and Ávila (Ávila province) and the AP-71 from León to Astorga (León province), all toll routes, currently have seven 'winter traffic bases' set up with 43 snow-ploughs and 200 maintenance and rescue workers ready to act.

Following reports at the weekend of exceptionally-low night temperatures throughout the country, weather warnings ranging from yellow to orange have been issued for 22 provinces for tomorrow (Tuesday).

Snow at low altitudes throughout the mainland, and at sea-level in parts of the north, is the result of a warm and humid mass of Atlantic air coming in from the south-east and a freezing front drifting over from Siberia towards the north-east of Spain.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GUARDIA Civil officers in Spain have waged war on pirate download sites and have so far blocked 23 of them, with more likely to follow in the next few weeks or months as new domain names continue to be created.

Operation Cascada ('Waterfall') has targeted sites where music, films, serials and video games are distributed via peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing networks from computers without fixed servers or IP addresses.

These unauthorised free downloads are a breach of copyright and cause financial loss to writers, musicians, directors, actors and other persons involved who would normally be paid royalties. 

In fact, prolific Spanish novelist Lucía Etxebarría – author of a long string of profound 'chick-lit' works well-known for their mixture of stream-of-consciousness and gritty realism through observing society's hang-ups and plumbing psychological depths – said over a year ago that she did not plan to write any more books as she was earning nothing from them thanks to illegal downloads.

And until they become world-famous, authors and artists in general make very little money from their work.

According to the Guardia Civil, the domain names blocked so far – some very recently created and a few not even launched in Spain yet – had very high traffic with hundreds or thousands of daily hits.

Three of them – Divxtotal.com, Estrenosdtl.com and Gamestorrents.com – were set up by an undisclosed Spaniard who sold them to a firm based in Argentina.

Read mroe at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S first-ever satellite has been launched successfully into space from the military base in Vandenberg, California on the scheduled date, and will be a 'ground-breaking tool for protecting national security', according to Intelligence services.

The PAZ, which means 'peace' in Spanish, was taken up by the SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 at exactly 06.17 local time on Thursday (15.17 mainland Spain time), its launch having been postponed from the previous Sunday, and now hovers at 516 kilometres above the earth's surface.

PAZ's launch was streamed live worldwide in the same way as that of the Falcon Heavy, owned by the firm Elon Musk and, after Germany and Italy, makes Spain only the third country in the EU with its own observation satellite in space.

Secretary of State for Defence Agustín Conde Bajén, who travelled to California to oversee the launch, says the PAZ will be able to take accurate footage of the earth whatever the weather thanks to its high-resolution radar, which uses Synthetic-Opening Radar technology, which will be used both for civil and military purposes as well as gathering data which will be used in scientific research.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPANISH teenager who survived the Florida school shoot-out says 'if someone had sat down with' the killer 'for five minutes', the lives of all 17 students murdered could have been saved.

Alfonso Calderón, 16 (pictured), originally from Alcobendas a few kilometres to the east of Madrid, is heading up the movement Never Again, which is calling for the Whitehouse to clamp down on weapons possession.

He is spearheading the pressure group along with classmates David Hogg and Emma González from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida – a massive student movement that has gone viral around the globe calling for strict gun control in the USA.

The immense power of the USA's National Rifle Association (NRA) and national president Donald Trump's unwillingness to ban firearms possession means the students have a huge battle on their hands – as yet, Trump's response has been, instead of restricting gun sales, to consider arming school teachers.

“We want to start a dialogue, speak to our senators and with people from other political parties,” Calderón explains.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MANCHESTER City FC trainer Pep Guardiola's family's aeroplane was searched when they travelled to Barcelona yesterday (Thursday) and also the previous Sunday as the Guardia Civil wanted to check deposed Catalunya president Carles Puigdemont was not in hiding.

Puigdemont is in exile in Belgium along with four of his ministers, and if they return to Spain they would immediately be taken into custody in accordance with a national arrest warrant – but as it does not apply beyond the country's borders, they can remain free anywhere else in the world.

But Puigdemont is the only presidential candidate for the pro-independence parties which earned the most collective votes in the December 21 regional elections, and cannot be sworn in unless he attends a ceremony in person at the Catalunya Parliament offices.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A DEAD shark of nearly four metres (13 feet) long and weighing 200 kilos (31st 6lb) has been found on the beach in Santa Pola, south of Alicante.

It was first seen on the shores of Levante Beach on Wednesday afternoon, but it was not until yesterday (Thursday) morning that the Local Police contacted the transport firm Urbaser to remove its remains.

Urbaser had to use a crane to lift the giant shark and move it onto the pier, before taking it back to their warehouse.

They are waiting to hear from the Marine Environmental Institute, part of the regional government of Valencia, to see whether they should take the shark to them to be studied.

The shark's species has not been confirmed.

Western Mediterranean waters are often home to blue fin sharks, which habitually cause alarm when they are spotted near beaches but which do not present any danger to humans, as they feed entirely on small fish.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A PHOTOGRAPHIC exhibition titled 'Political Prisoners' at Madrid's ARCO art fair has been banned as 'too controversial'.

Artist Santiago Sierra presented 24 photos with the faces pixelated, but otherwise recognisable, in his display – some of which are of politicians from Catalunya who are in custody over their involvement with the disputed independence referendum.

But the national government, in response to accusations of censorship, said: “There are no political prisoners in Spain.”

The decision to remove the exhibit was made by the organisers of the fair at Madrid's IFEMA centre as they wanted to 'avoid conflict and problems'.

They feared Sierra's display would distract visitors from all the other exhibits and lead to the Catalunya crisis hijacking the art fair.

Sierra considers the removal of his photographic exhibition will harm the image and reputation of ARCO Madrid and says it reflects 'an atmosphere of persecution'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PRO-INDEPENDENCE politician Anna Gabriel from the Catalunya party CUP has fled to Switzerland and faces a national arrest warrant if she returns to Spain.

She has been summoned by a court in Madrid for a hearing, but has refused to go as she does not believe she would have a fair trial.

“I'll be more useful to the independence movement in a country that will protect my rights than I would be behind bars,” Sra Gabriel told Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

According to the broadsheet, the CUP member could be jailed for up to 30 years for sedition due to her active role in the disputed independence referendum in October.

But Switzerland has said it will not extradite her.

Spokesman for the Federal Justice Office, Folco Galli, says: “This appears to be a political offence and, according to our criminal code and the European Convention on Human Rights, an extradition order where all forms of legal assistance cannot be agreed.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THREE British tourists have been arrested in Gran Canaria for constantly insulting a gay couple on their flight from East Midlands airport.

The accused holidaymakers, aged between 25 and 28, made homophobic comments throughout the journey from the Nottingham terminal to the Canary Islands on Thursday, February 8, and carried on doing so on the bus from the aircraft to the terminal.

Their victims, an all-male couple, told the police upon arrival and, two weeks later, the Guardia Civil has managed to locate their tormenters at a resort in the Playa del Inglés area in the south of the island.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TRAIN drivers have called a six-day strike in March in protest over the State-run railboard's 'failure to adhere to' the working conditions agreement drawn up with their unions.

They will down tools on the first two Fridays in March, the first being on March 2 for 24 hours, then the second Friday and four more days in time slots.

Drivers will be out of action on March 9 from noon to 16.00 and then 18.00 to 22.00, and from 19.00 to 23.00 on Sunday, March 11.

Strikes on the following Monday, March 12 will be from 05.00 to 09.00 to coincide with the morning rush hour, then 14.00 to 16.00 to disrupt the lunchtime exodus and 18.00 to 22.00 to affect commuters' return home.

Similar time slots will be observed on Tuesday, March 13 – from 05.30 to 09.30, from 13.00 to 15.00 and from 19.00 to 23.00 – on Wednesday, March 14 in the morning only, from 06.00 to 10.00.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S economy minister Luis de Guindos has been chosen as deputy chairman of the European Central Bank (BCE) after rival candidate Philip Lane's application was withdrawn by the Irish government.

Lane, who is governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, looked set to clinch the role – which carries a salary of around €350,000 – due to his very relevant experience, but finance minister in the country, Paschal Donohoe, announced the BCE job was no longer under consideration.

This meant De Guindos was the sole candidate and he will now be second in command to BCE chairman Mario Draghi from June, after Portugal's Vítor Constáncio leaves when his term of office ends.

De Guindos' new job, which will see his salary go up more than fivefold, will not be confirmed until tomorrow (Tuesday) when the official announcement is made.

But Philip Lane has not been barred from applying to the BCE altogether – in the next two years, five key roles at the central Eurozone hub in Frankfurt will come up for renewal and Lane will be permitted to file his candidature.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BIG changes are afoot in driving test requirements, and are likely to come into effect before the end of this month.

General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) chairman Gregorio Serrano says pupils will be obliged to attend classes at a recognised driving academy before applying for their theory tests, since a high number decide to study the exam themselves online and fail, meaning test centres are frequently overstretched.

As well as not allowing candidates to apply for their test until they are considered sufficientely prepared, the new law will require them to watch videos of 'problems' that may arise whilst driving and write an essay proposing how to handle them.

Other new material in theory classes will include night driving, and practical lessons and tests will involve a GPS sat-nav system giving directions instead of the examiner instructing the candidate on where to turn and stop.

The additions to the theory test mean it will move away from the typical multiple choice format and lean more towards a written exam.

Finally, pupils will be required to take an 'awareness course' before putting in for either their theory or practical tests, where they will learn about risks they may face at the wheel and the consequences of dangerous and illegal behaviour such as speeding, mobile phone use and alcohol.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MASS protest with over 2,500 people has taken over the centre of Palma de Mallorca over the requirement for anyone working in the health service to be able to speak the regional language.

Balearic tongues – Ibicuenco, Menorquín and Mallorquín – belong to the same family as catalán, which is spoken in Catalunya and valenciano, spoken in the three eastern provinces of Valencia, Castellón and Alicante.

In all these areas – along with the Basque Country and Galicia, which also have co-official languages, euskera and galego – anyone working in the public sector has to show certificates to prove they are fluent in these tonuges, even if they are native Spanish-speakers, given that all residents have the right to communicate and be communicated with in the vernacular if they wish.

But the Palma protesters say 'languages do not save lives, medical knowledge does', and are calling for a health service 'without linguistic barriers'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A GROUP of West Bromwich Albion FC players are accused of stealing a taxi in Barcelona and have been quizzed by the Mossos d'Esquadra before being released with charges.

According to Catalunya's regional military police, four key players from the West Midlands-based team pinched the parked cab from outside a fast-food restaurant in the early hours of Thursday morning whilst in Barcelona for a series of training matches.

They had booked a taxi to the eatery, but drove it back to their hotel themselves as the driver was off duty by then, at 05.30 in the morning.

The cabbie reported it missing and the hotel also phoned the police after seeing the players arrive in it without its driver, and it was swiftly returned to its rightful owner.

None of the players has been named, and they were all under a curfew from midnight onwards, as they had a match the next day.

West Brom manager Alan Pardew said he felt 'let down' and described the culprits' behaviour as 'unacceptable'.

The team is not in a good place at present anyway, having failed to win 24 of the last 25 Premier League matches and sitting at the bottom of the table, teetering on the edge of relegation.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HEALTH authorities in Spain have warned of the dangers of e-cigarettes and 'non-combustible tobacco' after finding carcinogenic substances in the liquid and vapour of the former and say the latter are even more addictive than traditional cigarettes.

The Inter-Territorial Health Commission, part of the ministry of health, says it 'cannot rule out' risks to the general population from 'passive vaping' and consider the risk of developing cancer is 'significant'.

Spanish pneumologists have been warning for some time that 'vapers' are suffering from lung conditions 'very similar' to those developed by smokers, and results of research published in the European Respiratory Journalclaims the vapour from e-cigarettes can increase levels of bacteria that cause pneumonia.

These papers state that the vapour inhaled from e-cigarettes 'create a similar effect to that of traditional cigarettes' and increase the risk of lung infections.

Meanwhile, the national health authority says the glycerol – a substance derived from glycerine of vegetable sources – and propylenglycol found in cartridges used in e-cigarettes produce carcinogens, or potentially dangerous elements which are capable of generating cancer.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BAR and restaurant trade went up last year for the first time since Spain was still in recession, according to market research firm The NPD Group.

Overall, visits to cafés and eateries rose by 1%, to 98 million, whilst spending rose by 1.3% to over €36 billion, with each customer typically shelling out an extra €4.88 on each trip.

Fast food outlets, pizza restaurants and tapas bars account for the most growth – 86% of the total.

In 2017 as a whole, restaurant and bar sales went up by 2.5%, partly due to increased visits and partly because of customers spending more.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN has won its first Winter Olympic medal in 26 years – Regino Hernández has netted the bronze in boardercross.

The snowboarder, from the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast just across the water from Gibraltar is only the third Spaniard ever to win a Winter Olympic medal, after the Fernández Ochoa siblings did so 20 years apart.

Paco Fernández Ochoa – who would have been 68 this year, but died from cancer in 2006 - took the gold in slalom skiing 46 years ago in Sapporo, Japan and his sister Blanca scooped up the bronze in the same discipline 26 years ago in Albertville, France.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has announced 29 new routes from Spain for the summer and increased frequency for an existing 25.

Flights will run from Valencia to Bourgogne (France), Cagliari and Palermo in Sicily (Italy), Fez and Tangiers (Morocco), and Bristol (UK), and four times weekly to Valletta (Malta) from Barcelona.

New routes will open from Palma de Mallorca to Milan, Bergamo and Rome Ciampino (Italy) and Düsseldorf Weeze (Germany); from Tenerife South to Milan Malpensa, and Gran Canaria to Venice Treviso.

Alicante flights will now include routes to Bologna (Italy), Gdansk (Poland) and Newquay in Cornwall (UK), and an additional connection will run from Santander, Cantabria to Budapest (Hungary).

Sevilla airport will get the most new routes – 13 in total – with flights between two and three times a week to Bristol, Edinburgh (Scotland, UK), Cagliari and Catania (Siciliy), Valletta, Nantes (France), Oporto (Portugal), Tangiers and Rabat (Morocco), Venice Treviso, Luxembourg, and national connections to Alicante and the island of Fuerteventura.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S residential property market had grown by 23% year-on-year by the third quarter of 2017, and pending year-end results, an overall annual increase of at least 20% has been given as the provisional figure.

In nine months, the residential home market saw €53.9 billion change hands in sales and purchases, with one in 10 of the latter being for new builds.

The same period in 2016 saw transactions totalling €43.9bn, and the year end on a total of €60.8bn.

This is still lower than the record high of €80.8bn in 2010, but at the time, was the highest since then – a sum that has since been beaten.

The nearly €54bn in the first nine months of 2017 translates to 374,027 homes sold – 23.4% more second-hand properties and 19% more new builds.

Madrid was the region that saw the highest amount of cash change hands, at €11.4bn, followed by Catalunya at just under €11bn, Andalucía at €8.7bn and Valencia at €5.9bn.

The Balearic Islands (€3.08bn), the Basque Country (€2.8bn), Canary Islands (€2.4bn) follow, with Castilla y León, Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia and Aragón sitting between €1.54bn and €1bn.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE COSTA Brava's capital city has agreed to change the name of a prominent square to 'Plaça 1 d'Octubre' in homage to the date of the disputed independence referendum in Catalunya.

Girona is governed by the pro-secession party PDeCAT and, along with the Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC) and the CUP, all of which are in favour of the region's independence, presented a motion to re-baptise the Plaza de la Constitución ('Constitution Square').

Catalunya's separatists insist the Spanish Constitution should not apply to them as 90% of those who cast their ballots in the controversial referendum – about 40% of eligible voters – opted for independence.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

YOUNG adults in Spain are now more worried about air pollution than the state of the country's economy, according to an ongoing social attitudes study.

Ulises, a sociology research section of daily newspaper 20minutos, published an IberCaja-financed report by MyWord which found that respondents aged 18 to 24 were more concerned about climate change and air quality than national economic health and even poverty.

Across the board, those who took part in the survey gave the economy a 7.69 out of 10 for how preoccupied they were – slightly higher than the 7.54 they gave to air pollution.

But adults under 25, although they showed similar concerns to the rest about air quality – 7.55 out of 10 – this was somewhat higher than the 7.13 for the state of the economy and 7.12 for poverty they gave.

This may be partly because a high number of under-25s are often still in full-time education and have less contact with financial issues, although the score out of 10 is still fairly significant, meaning they may well be thinking ahead to when they need to try to forge a career and hope to buy or rent a home.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NEW mobile phone App which allows members of the public, companies and sole traders to file their annual tax returns with one click is due for launch in a month's time.

The App, created by the tax collection agency or Agencia Tributaria, is suitable for those who, upon receiving their draft return form or borrador, do not have to add any additional information or paperwork.

Nowadays, thanks to interactive technology, details about mortgages, pension funds, personal loans, deposit and current account balances and other banking data – and even charity donations made – are automatically sent to the tax authority and included on the borrador.

Many of these elements, such as credit and pensions, are offset against annual tax and help to reduce the bill, but until a few years ago, customers typically had to hand in piles of papers from their banks along with their borradores.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ESSEX teen on the run for six months after fatally shooting a man at a petrol station could be in Ibiza, say officers in the eastern UK county.

Bradley Blundell, who was 17 at the time, killed 34-year-old electrician John Pordage with a single shot wound to the chest at a BP garage on Baddo Road in Chelmsford at around 02.00 on August 5, sending shock-waves through a city where this time of night would normally see the streets filled with revellers walking to and from clubs.

Blundell's alleged accomplice, aged 16, who cannot be named as he is a minor, was acquitted yesterday (Friday) in court and the older man was considered to be the material author of the shooting.

The killer had already pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and perverting the course of justice.

A third man, Saul Stanley, 18, was found to be involved but was cleared of murder, although he was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and possession of firearms.

Reports after Blundell, now 18, went on the run confirmed he had flown out of an Essex airfield, and police believe he has 'a safe base' in Ibiza and 'a good support network', which may make finding him difficult.

But Essex police are working with national and regional authorities in Spain and intend to launch a major appeal across the Balearic Islands.

They say posters with the killer's face on it will be 'spread all over Ibiza' and that members of the force would be travelling out to the Spanish party island in the next few days.

A European arrest warrant, which makes capture and extradition easier across continental borders, has been issued at the request of the county's force.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SAVERS can now cash in their private pensions in Spain after 10 years of contributions, the government has announced after approving a new law yesterday (Friday).

Although a tax reform in 2015 already allowed for all or part of private pensions to be liquidated by the holder subject to a minimum of a decade in contributions, the necessary regulations had not been developed until now.

The aim is to stimulate personal saving and create greater flexibility in personal pension funds, explains economy minister Luis de Guindos, who may be leaving his post in a couple of months if he is successful in his application to become deputy chairman of the European Central Bank (BCE).

But those wishing to withdraw funds can only do so from 10 years after the 2015 tax reform, or later if they did not start to contribute to a personal pension until after that year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CAKE manufacturers Dulcesol has announced all its products will use free-range eggs only within a maximum of five years, having already started on actively checking out its suppliers.

German supermarket Lidl has made the ground-breaking step of axing all stock made with eggs produced by battery hens and other stores have pledged to follow suit, although over a longer period of time.

The Dulcesol Group, set up by a family in Gandia (Valencia province), uses over 7,500 tonnes of liquid egg every year, laid by hens at the farm it owns in Terrateig in the Vall d'Albaida district, a few kilometres inland from the factory.

The Terrateig farm opened in the 1980s, and Dulcesol has confirmed that the hens in one of its four units are now free-range and get the run of a pen instead of being cooped up in cages.

This will shortly be the case for all the half a million hens on the farm. 

Dulcesol keeps its own hens so it can guarantee the origin and quality of its egg supplies, since 90% of the eggs it uses comes from the farm in the Vall d'Albaida.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

VISITORS to the smallest of the Balearic Islands who want to take their cars or motorbikes will have to apply for a permit from the regional government from summer 2019.

In a bid to reduce the pressure of tourism, driving straight off the ferry when arriving in Formentera will no longer be possible in 18 months' time unless the car-owner obtains prior permission.

During high season, Formentera has around 47,000 de facto residents – including year-round dwellers, holidaymakers, holiday home owners, and those working in the tourism industry who leave the island at the end of summer.

Effectively, the population quadruples for three or four months of the year, upping the number of cars on the island to over 30,000.

The highway network is only 38,500 metres long, meaning that if everyone went out driving at once, each car would only have 78 centimetres (31 inches) of road.

Given this clearly unsustainable situation, authorities are almost unanimous in considering that action has to be taken.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

REAL Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo plans to open a five-star hotel on the bustling central Gran Vía in the city – a move he hopes to follow up with three others in the same chain.

As well as New York, father-of-four Ronaldo wants to invest in his home country, Portugal, with luxury resorts in Lisbon and on the island of Madeira, where he was born.

The multiple Ballon d'Or winner is said to have reached a deal with the Madrid-based property developer who owns the building at number 29 of the Gran Vía, the ground floor of which is occupied by national book store chain, Casa del Libro.

According to Portuguese newspaper El Confidencial, Ronaldo wants to build a hotel and keep the top floor for himself, turning it into a penthouse where he will live with his family – Aragón-born model Georgina Rodríguez, 23, their newborn baby Alana Martina, Ronaldo's seven-year-old son Cristiano Junior and eight-month-old twins Eva and Mateo.

Bookworms reacted in horror to the news, which led to Casa del Libro taking to social media to assure customers they were not going to have to shut the branch as the hotel would be built above it.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S economy minister Luis de Guindos has been put forward for the job of deputy chairman of the Central European Bank (BCE) to replace Portugal's Vítor Constáncio whose turn in the role ends on May 31.

But De Guindos, 58, will not resign yet from his post in the Spanish government until he knows the results of the bank's decision on March 23.

He only has one rival for the job – governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Philip Lane.

Both will have to go through a serious of closed-door interviews next Wednesday, February 14 in the Commission for Economy in European Parliament, then the 'winner' will be informally chosen five days later and confirmed on Tuesday, February 20.

The decision will not be formally set in stone until the Summit of March 22 and 23.

Mariano Rajoy's government recommended De Guindos for the job, and he is in with a good chance – he needs to have the approval of at least 14 of the European Union's 28 member States representing at least 65% of the EU population, which looks likely and, as Rajoy's cabinet recalls, the bloc has a 'representation debt' with Spain.

Ever since the Spanish deputy chair of the European Commission left, Spain has had no positions of reponsibility or leadership within the EU, despite being the fourth-largest economy in the Eurozone.

De Guindos had tried for EU president in 2015, without success, and attempts by Belén Romana and Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña to get the jobs of MEDE Director-General and on the BCE Council failed in 2012.

“Spain's going to win this,” said a supremely-confident Luis de Guindos, who is already backed by France and Germany.

“Both president Rajoy and I have gained sufficient support to achieve a qualified majority and there's a very real possibility of Spain's candidature being successful.”

He could face dissent in European Parliament, given that he is a minister, meaning he is not politically neutral, has no background in monetary policy or in the BCE Council, and is a man in a bloc where women remain under-represented in key roles.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MAINS gas provider CEPSA has launched a new package which allows customers to buy all their fuel – even petrol – from the same firm.

In a bid to reach up to 1.5 million customers and become one of the top four domestic fuel retail suppliers, the CEPSA Hogar deal will see the petroleum giant link its more than 1,500 service stations to households.

The corporation says it is aiming to provide solutions for 'modern energy demands', which are gradually leaning more towards electricity and seeking renewable sources, by the year 2030.

It will offer three types of tariff – a fixed monthly fee, a flexible tariff where customers pay for what they use each month based upon the same energy prices all year, and the 'optimum' package where customers pay for the energy at cost price only plus admin fees.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 'LOW-COST', 'no-frills' version of Spain's high-speed AVE line will be launched next year, with its first connection being between Madrid and Barcelona via El Prat de Llobregat.

Rail board RENFE hopes to attract long-distance travellers who normally opt for much cheaper means such as Bla Bla Car, and typical prices will be about 20% to 25% lower than the usual Alta Velocidad Española ('Spanish High-Speed', or AVE) tickets.

The budget version has been called the 'EVA' – AVE backwards, and a woman's name, according to minister for public works Íñigo de la Serna – meaning it is not an acronym for anything else, unlike its sister service whose initials spell out ave, or 'bird' in Spanish.

Unlike the Barcelona-Madrid AVE, the EVA will start from El Prat de Llobregat rather than Sants station, since El Prat is closer to the airport and more convenient for the metro, the outer suburban line or Rodalies, and for coaches and taxis.

RENFE says 25% of residents in Barcelona's metropolitan area find it quicker to get to El Prat than to Sants.

An investment of €2 million will be needed to revamp El Prat station to house a high-speed connection.

The EVA will be on track by 2019, since from the year 2020, rail travel will be open to private-sector competition and RENFE will have to work harder to attract and keep customers once it no longer holds a monopoly.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN INDOOR theme park based upon Mad Men and The Hunger Games will open in Madrid next year – the only one in Europe and the second in the world, with another due to launch later in New York.

Based in a covered complex of just over an acre, the pioneering interactive museum is the result of a deal struck between Hollywood Lionsgate and Parques Reunidos and led by three Spanish celebrities – Luis Álvarez, comedian José Mota and star of the Torrente 'disastrous cop' series of films, Santiago Segura.

Called La Estación, it will be based in Madrid's old North Station – once a direct rival for Atocha but which fell into disuse when Chamartín station opened, the building will soon be partially relaunched as the Bankia-Príncipe Pío Grand Theatre, complete with a concert hall and terraces with panoramic views of the Royal Palace and the Almudena Cathedral.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE father of a baby born to an 11-year-old girl at Murcia's La Arrixaca Hospital is the infant's uncle, who is just 14, according to police and social services.

As is always the case when a minor becomes pregnant, authorities open an inquiry into the family environment to find out whether child sex abuse is involved, or whether the parents are guilty of neglect through 'failure to supervise adequately'.

In the case of the little Bolivian girl who went into labour at the weekend, her 14-year-old brother has turned out to be the baby's father.

As yet, it has still not been revealed whether the two children had a consenting relationship or whether the younger sister was abused by her older brother.

The girl was rushed into A&E by her parents when she complained of serious stomach pains, since her family did not know she was pregnant – and it is believed the young mother was also ignorant of her condition.

Medics quickly discovered the 'pains' were caused by her going into labour, although despite the mother's young age meaning the pregnancy and birth posed an extreme risk to her life, she did not need surgery and is now on a maternity ward with her newborn son, who is, it has transpired, also her nephew.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOREIGN buyers spent 20% more on residential property in Spain last year than in 2016, according to the ministry of public works – showing that the country remains as popular as ever as a new destination for those wishing to emigrate and as a base for a holiday home.

Data by nationality are only available for the first nine months of 2017 so far, but these figures show that nearly €10.1 billion was spent on Spanish homes during that time by people born abroad.

The vast majority of this – nearly €9bn – went on pre-owned property, and this alone was higher than the entire spend for the same period in 2016, which was just over €8.4bn.

Second-hand residential property sales among migrants went up by 19.7% in that time, and sales of new builds to non-Spaniards rose by 19.8%.

The majority of transactions took place in the Comunidad Valenciana, where expats spent almost €2.2bn on homes, followed by Catalunya at €1.98bn and Andalucía at €1.97bn.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SNOW across the country has led to flight delays in at least two major airports, rail traffic disrupted in Asturias and Catalunya, and roads blocked or driving restrictions put in place.

So far, 387 roads are affected, with 50 shut and another 132 where snow chains are needed.

The latter includes the A-23 motorway which runs from Valencia to Zaragoza, with snow on the highway from the province of Teruel northwards (pictured).

Lorries were banned from the M-40 Madrid extra-metropolitan motorway for an hour and a half this morning, and drivers were not allowed to use the overtaking lane as this was needed for snow ploughs and emergency vehicles.

Planes landing at Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport and Barcelona's El Prat terminal are having to be spaced out because of snow and ice on the runway, causing turnover and take-off delays and leading to a knock-on effect with flights in general.

Up to 42 flights have been cancelled today alone from Madrid.

Thousands of children in several regions have been unable to go to school and are also likely to be off tomorrow.

Read more ta thinkSPAIN.com

TWO Spanish scientists have managed to cure pulmonary fibrosis in rats – a preliminary stage in extrapolating the methods used to humans.

Typically caused by heart attacks or injuries, pulmonary fibrosis is where the tissue in the lungs becomes scarred and hardens, eventually reducing patients' respiratory capacity and making it harder and harder for them to breathe.

Until now, it had no known cure.

Causes are many and varied and it is more common in those aged over 70, especially if they have been exposed to asbestos or other toxins or have a family history of the condition.

Dr María A. Blasco of the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and gene-therapy expert Dr Fàtima Bosch of Barcelona Autonomous University have managed to cure 'idiopathic' pulmonary fibrosis – or a type with an undefined or unknown cause.

They found that all sufferers had shorter telomeres than non-sufferers.

Telomeres are a protein structure which protect cells and are located at the tail end of the chromosomes inside them, and the ageing process is associated with telomeres reducing in size.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN HISTORICAL mystery that has had academics scratching their heads for 500 years has finally been solved – the letters in 'code' sent from King Fernando of Aragón and military leader Gonzalo de Córdoba giving orders on wartime strategy.

The monarch, whose marriage to Isabel of Castilla united the two kingdoms Spain was split into, wrote his messages giving instructions on deploying troops during the Italian invasion in the early 1500s in code just in case the enemies found the papers, given that they could have landed in rogue hands in the two weeks it would have taken for the missives to reach Gonzalo de Córdoba in southern Italy from the king's palace.

This enigmatic written language has never been deciphered until now – historians have discovered it was made up of 88 symbols and 237 letters, each with two to six additional numbers, or characters such as triangles, and with no spaces between words or sentences and no punctuation.

At the time, Spain was trying to take over the Mediterranean and fighting France for the stronghold in a five-year battle based in the Kingdom of Naples which ended in 1504 with a victory for Spain.

Naples was a Spanish territory for the next 143 years.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

RESIDENTIAL property prices are now back up almost to levels seen before the financial crisis, according to the official national index.

Whilst 2007 saw home values shoot up by 9.8%, they dropped dramatically from 2008 – by 1.5%, then with a huge dip by 6.7% in 2009 and finally reaching a floor in 2012 after dropping 13.7%.

Since then, they have gradually climbed and, by the end of 2017, had risen by 6.7%, over halfway back up between 2008 and 2007 values.

The Home Price Index (índice de Precios de Vivienda, or IPV), part of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) says the greatest rises in residential property values have been seen in the Greater Madrid region where, along with the city of Barcelona, the region of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish-owned enclave of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast, they are well above average in terms of value increase.

The national average increase since 2008 is 112.4% over 10 full years, rising to 123.9% in Madrid, 119.1% in Catalunya, 118% in the Balearics and 112.9% in Ceuta.

Nowhere has the property price rise been lower than 100% - at the bottom is the central region of Castilla-La Mancha at 101.6%, followed by the land-locked western region of Extremadura at 102.3% - and several are only slightly below the national average: Ceuta's extra-continental neighbour Melilla, near the Algerian border (110.6%); the Basque Country (109.7%); the Canary Islands (107.9%); Cantabria, on the northern coast (107.7%), and Andalucía (106.9%).

As well as Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, however, bargain homes can still be found in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León, which has seen a rise of 102.4% over the last decade; Asturias (103.1%); Murcia, in the south-east and La Rioja in the far north (both 103.7%); Galicia in the far north-west (104.3%), and Navarra, inland near the Pyrénées (104.5%).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HEALTH authorities in the southern region of Andalucía will 'tag' patients in hospitals in different colours to 'classify' them by condition in a bid to keep them safe and ensure they are attended to correctly.

Entries and exits from all Andalucía hospitals will be monitored to prevent patients who decide to discharge themselves from leaving without telling anyone first.

Coloured wrist bands will make sure that anyone who needs treating urgently will be seen to as a priority and their conditions are known about if they are 'fragile and vulnerable', 'cannot speak' and 'attend hospitals on their own'.

Regional health authorities have held urgent meetings to review procedures, especially in A&E departments, allowing them to keep a closer eye on patients.

Two very serious and avoidable incidents have raised the alarm recently – a 64-year-old woman who was left unattended for 12 hours in A&E in San Juan Hospital in Úbeda (Jaén province) and a man aged just 44 who had suffered a stroke and waited five hours to be seen in hospital in Antequera (Málaga province) both died within weeks of each other.

To prevent such unnecessary tragedies from recurring, Andalucía hospitals will ensure all patients are closely watched by designated staff from the moment they are admitted to A&E, and regular rounds will be carried out in waiting areas.

Patients with more 'delicate' conditions will be grouped together, and wrist bands in different colours will include each patient's name and identification details.

New procedures will include active searches for patients in A&E who cannot be found when called, and security guards at the exits, since on many occasions, those who feel they have waited long enough walk out without telling anyone – but this cannot be assumed, as they may have collapsed in the toilets or suffered another serious incident.

Telephone numbers of patients and those who accompany them will be taken down, and even a radio-frequency localisation system may be set up.

Also, health authorities have called for the public to 'respect the rules' about the number of companions a patient may have – one at a time in A&E – since large groups of family members often go along with the sick person and get in the way of staff doing their jobs.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

RECENT storms sweeping Spain have helped ease the drought a little – reservoirs were down to under 37% full at the beginning of 2018, but are now up to 42%.

The last week alone, which brought a cold front from the Atlantic with snow in the centre and north of the mainland and torrential rain and gales on the east coast, has seen reservoirs rise by 0.4%, or a total of 23,487 cubic hectometres.

Although relatively little and still well below the amounts needed to guarantee a water supply 24 hours a day for the entire population this summer, it is still the eighth increase in a row, says the ministry of agriculture.

Downpours this week left up to 85.5 litres of rainfall per square metre (8.55 centimetres, or 3.36 inches) in the province of Alicante especially, one of the areas of Spain which most suffers from the drought and typically sees less annual rainfall than in the Sahel strip of the Sahara desert.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BARCELONA couple has left over €1.55 million to the city's Biomedical Research Institute (IRB) to help them in their ongoing investigations into cancer.

This is the first time the IRB has been left funds in a will, and says it has come from a married couple who specified it should be put towards researching metastasis.

Their names have not been revealed, but their solicitor Jaume Solé Janer says the couple has 'always been committed to cancer research', having made 'numerous donations whilst alive' to hospitals, charities and scientific organisations to help fund research and care for cancer patients.

“Their impression of the IRB in Barcelona was always excellent,” said Solé Janer, who revealed that the couple had decided to leave their fortune to the institute after meeting its co-director, Dr Joan Massagué, in 2009.

Manager Dr Joan J. Guinovart says: “For over seven years, we kept in constant contact, met on several occasions, and they visited our laboratories.

“The considered research into metastasis to be absolutely necessary and a chance to advance in our knowledge and improve general health – it made them very happy to be able to leave their funds to us.”

Several key research projects into the origins and treatment of metastatic cancer are currently under way at the IRB, and the money will be 'crucial' to speeding up their studies, Guinovart reveals.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com