Live News From Spain As It Happens

REAL Madrid manager Zinedine 'Zizou' Zidane has stunned fans by quitting just days after the premier league club's epic 13th Champions' title in Kiev.

The French national, who took over from Rafa Benítez in January 2016, called a press conference today (Thursday) at the Valdebebas stadium after breaking the news to club chairman Florentino Pérez.

Speculation was rife as to what he was going to say, especially after star player Cristiano Ronaldo's cryptic remark after the Champions' League final that 'it was great playing with Real Madrid', sparking concern that the Portuguese five-times Ballon d'Or winner was on the move.

Pérez and Zidane appeared together on the stage at the start of the conference, which the chairman opened by telling those present that the club's brilliant trainer had 'informed him of an unexpected decision'.

Taking the mic from Pérez, Zidane confirmed he was leaving Real Madrid because 'the club needs a change after such a successful period'.

Nobody, not even Florentino Pérez, appeared completely clear as to Zidane's exact reasons. 

In his two years and five months with Real Madrid, the club has racked up a record nine titles, including three Champions' Leagues on the trot, the Liga title last year, two Euro Supercups, two World Club Championships, and a Spanish Supercup.

In fact, in the last two-and-a-half seasons, it has only failed to clinch four out of 13 possible trophies under Zizou's auspices.

This makes the Marseille-born manager – who was named 'man of the match' 20 years ago when he helped his national team, France, win the FIFA World Cup – the most successful in Real Madrid's entire history.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEW regional president of Catalunya Quim Torra has relented in his ardent pro-independence stance and named ministers who are neither in custody nor in exile.

The leader of Junts per Catalunya ('Together for Catalunya', or JxCat) was accused by the national government of stirring up, and threatened with Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution – which strips a region of its self-governing powers – being kept in place, rendering his appointment merely nominal.

Torra has named Elsa Artadi as minister for the presidency, Àngels Chacón as minister of business and information, Laura Borràs as head of culture and heritage, and the three men on the team, Damià Calvet, Jordi Puigneró and Miquel Buch, as leaders of land and sustainability, of digital policy and public administration, and of the interior respectively.

This means he has hand-picked a cabinet with a 50-50 gender split and members who have no charges against them and are not under investigation over the disputed independence referendum held on October 1.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CABIN crew on Ryanair flights across Europe have threatened strike action this summer starting from July 1 – potentially hitting Spain's tourism industry hard.

The low-cost Irish carrier has been revealed as officially the cheapest and best value for money for short-haul flights, especially as it is the only one that allows two hand luggage bags – the larger of which is placed in the hold at the departure gate for non-priority boarding passengers.

This means the company is a popular choice for breaks in Spain and often transports tourists who only planned to visit because they saw a knock-down flight price, having not otherwise intended to travel.

Spending less on a flight also means tourists have more cash at their disposal once actually in Spain, but the strikes could lead to planes being grounded if insufficient staff are available to provide essential cabin services.

Spanish unions USO and SITCPLA, together with Portuguese union SNVPAC, Italy's UIL and Belgium's CNE met yesterday (Monday) in Madrid to demand Ryanair applies national labour legislation for each country where this is more generous than Irish employment law.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THREE top-flight members of the reigning PP party have been sent straight to prison following the historic Gürtel corruption trial, and the fate of another 12 will be decided on Wednesday.

Luis Bárcenas (pictured), who was treasurer until 2009 – and who spent 19 months in custody at the beginning of the Gürtel investigations – along with former regional minister from Madrid, Alberto López Viejo and ex-mayor of Majadahonda (Madrid region), Guillermo Ortega are all now behind bars following a five-hour hearing at the National Court today.

The criminal section of the court said sending them straight to jail – even though the sentence is open to appeal - was justified, given the number of years they will have to serve and the sophisticated and long-running financial and business network and organisation dedicated to making off-the-books cash running into millions.

Despite Bárcenas' release after his 19-month spell in Madrid's Soto del Real prison based upon his defence persuading a judge he was not a flight risk, it has now been decided he may abscond, given that part of the huge amount of funds he held – up to €48.2 million in Swiss bank accounts – has never been located.

He will go back to Soto del Real along with López Viejo and Ortega, and their fellow inmates include Catalunya politicians Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart – leaders of the Catalunya National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural respectively – and former FC Barcelona chairman Sandro Rosell.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN APARTMENT block in Sabadell (Barcelona province) has been evacuated after one of the occupants was electrocuted in the shower.

Municipal Police inspected the building, to the north of the town, after an electric shock coming from the water supply caused a resident's death on Friday.

They found the electrics and waterworks in the block to be generally unsafe and that its occupants' lives could be at serious risk.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SCARY new theme park is set to open in the province of Barcelona this autumn to coincide with Hallowe'en and get visitors into the spirit of the season.

Horrorland will be based in the disused waterworks and neighbouring warehouses in Cercs, a town around an hour from Barcelona city.

According to promotional blurb for the park, it will be a place where 'nightmares become reality' and will include numerous attractions and rides with a 'terror' theme, plus 'challenge' or obstacle courses where visitors have to get through 'frightening' hurdles to reach the final.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SUPERMARKET chain Mercadona has launched a new mobile phone App for ordering groceries online, compatible with Android and iOS.

Users can enter their postcode to check whether delivery is available in their area, and can zoom in on ingredients labels to check produce is suitable for those with allergies.

Regular customers will find their usual purchases pop up so they can select them easily.

Deliveries have now been extended to hourly between 07.00 and 22.00, Monday to Saturday, and an instant chat service on the App and website is open from 07.00 to 22.30 for queries.

Mercadona promises maximum speed and temperature control for fresh produce, and all deliveries are carried out by company employees on contracts rather than being outsourced to courier firms, so the chain can ensure it has full control over quality and efficiency.

Minimum purchases to qualify for delivery are €50, plus a €7 fee for bringing the goods to customers' door.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SIX young adults are facing prison and hefty fines for 'occupying' an uninhabited village in ruins in the province of Guadalajara (Castilla-La Mancha).

Deep in the heart of the Sierra Norte nature reserve and down a never-used forestry track, the hamlet of Fraguas was last occupied in the 1960s after the State, under General Franco's dictatorship, expropriated the entire village and forced its 40 inhabitants out.

It has only been used briefly for a few days in the 1990s for Army training.

Two women – Isa and Mila – and four men, Dani, Javi, Isato and Lalo, all city-dwellers, wanted to escape to the country and live a healthier, more natural existence.

They rebuilt three of the ruined houses in Fraguas using traditional construction materials – stone, mud-brick and wood – and techniques, restoring them to how they would have looked until the exodus.

They set up an allotment to grow their own fruit and vegetables, a pump in a well fed by a natural spring for their water supply, and solar panels for electricity.

The group has been living there peacefully for five years, but have now been ordered to leave and to pay the costs of 'un-restoring' the ruins, and could even face up to four-and-a-half years in jail.

MP for Guadalajara Alberto Rojo says it is not a case of wanting to lock them up, but the fact that they are living permanently in a green-belt area 'cannot be overlooked'.

Their solicitor, Erlantz Ibarrondo, says the group have done no harm, have respected the natural environment and have even repaired the forestry track with their bare hands.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ELON Musk's super-fast train link is getting ready to go live around the world – and Málaga could be one of its first stops.

The Hyperloop, where passengers half-sit and half-lie in booths, allows distances that would take up to 10 hours by car to be covered in under an hour.

For example, travelling from Madrid to Algeciras (Cádiz province), the town on Spain's southernmost tip, would take just 42 minutes.

Musk's company Hyperloop One – a holding of the US firm Virgin - has contacted Spain's government to ask for public funding and to be allowed to set up a test and maintenance centre on the high-speed AVE rail link which connects the small inland town of Antequera (Málaga province) to Carmona (Sevilla province).

The AVE track, of 77 kilometres, will then be used to launch the first Hyperloop in Europe.

Spain's ministry of public works is currently in talks with Hyperloop One and may be willing to invest tens of millions as an initial deposit in the form of a loan.

Over the coming years, the Hyperloop system is expected to change the face of public transport with international as well as national links between major cities.

This could include a London-Madrid connection which would take just an hour and a half – faster than travelling by aeroplane.

And to get from Madrid to Morocco's northernmost city of Tangiers, a distance of 629 kilometres that would normally take seven hours of driving and at least another two on the ferry – not counting passport control and customs queues – would be as little as 47 minutes.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TARRAGONA-BASED them park PortAventuraWorld has unveiled five new attractions within its Ferrari Land complex – a feature that led to Easter visits rocketing by over 60%.

The park expects to see around five million visitors by the end of the year, and its general manager Fernando Aldecoa says the Catalunya political crisis has had no negative effects at all on PortAventuraWorld's success.

Opening Ferrari Land this year – the only one of its kind in Europe – has seen the park take off, and the €5 million it has invested in the five new rides for children is likely to be money well spent.

Aldecoa says 80% of visitors are families with young children, and the new rides have been designed with the youngsters in mind.

The Junior Red Force – a children's version of the main Red Force ride (pictured) - along with the Kids' Tower, which has a nine-metre free-fall track and the Crazy Pistons which simulates the movement of engine pistons are among the new attractions.

PortAventura has also launched the Champions' Race, where kids can enjoy all the thrills of driving a Ferrari at high speed around a Grand Prix track – but safely, as it is only a simulator.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MORE Mediterranean beaches have been temporarily shut as a precaution after Portuguese Man O'War were found on their shores.

In the province of Alicante, Benidorm's Mal Pas and Calpe's L'Arenal beaches have been closed to bathers, along with those of Villajoyosa, El Campello and at least one in Alicante city.

So far, only one stinging incident has been reported in the province – an 11-year-old boy from Elche came into contact with one of these poisonous amoeba, but has since been discharged from hospital.

Across the water, Palma de Mallorca has closed its Can Pastilla beach and a bathing zone in the El Molinar district until further notice.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A DRAMATIC crash at Barcelona's Montmeló circuit has left MotoGP rider Tito Rabat in hospital and his bike destroyed by fire.

The Real Avintia Racing rider lost control of his bike on a bend during a Michelin tyre test run and was flung clear of his vehicle, landing in one of the track's emergency exits.

His bike was seen flying through the air in flames, having caught light due to the impact of the smash.

Rabat, who was born in and lives in Barcelona, was rushed to the Quirón Dexeus hospital in his home city.

Despite the horrific nature of his accident and the height and speed from which he hit the tarmac, Tito got up and walked away from the scene unaided.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NON-RESIDENT traffic will be banned from the whole of the centre of Madrid from November in a bid to drastically cut air pollution.

The massive circle marked out by the city council in which vehicles will no longer be allowed from the end of the year includes the streets near the main Atocha station, the Plaza de España, the Gran Vía, the Paseo del Prado and almost as far as the Retiro Park and the Cibeles fountain roundabout.

To make up for the car restrictions, cycle lanes will be extended.

Other environmentally-friendly measures will include replacing the city buses with hybrid or electric vehicles and cutting the speed limit on the M-30 ringroad to 70 kilometres per hour.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GERMAN prosecutors have called for deposed Catalunya president Carles Puigdemont's extradition for 'rebellion' after having reviewed the additional information sent by the Spanish justice system, even though this is not technically a criminal offence in the northern European country.

The crime of 'high treason' does exist under German law, but the regional court of Schleswig-Holstein considered it did not apply to Puigdemont as the disputed independence referendum did not involve violence perpetrated or organised by the ex-leader or his government.

Initially, the court in the region where Puigdemont was arrested – just south of the Danish border, as he was driving home to Belgium from a conference at Helsinki University – rejected the prosecution's call for the former president to be extradited, but in light of new information received from Spain upon request from the judge, the prosecution has put forward a fresh recommendation which the court is required to review.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TERUEL is seeking to aid peace talks between US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un – three of its star products are being shipped over to Singapore in time for the historic bilateral summit on June 12.

Home-made wood-kiln baked bread from Castelserás, Teruel ham, and oil from the official olive-growing region Bajo Aragón ('Lower Aragón') will be mailed to south-east Asia via the Singaporean Consul in Madrid, and may or may not end up on the table when Trump and Jong-Un dine together, says Ricardo Mosteo, chairman of the official production label Jamón de Teruel ('Teruel Ham').

“It's an initiative which seeks to put ingredients on the negotiation table – in an informal way – that inspire happiness in those around them,” Mosteo says.

“And it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to be served up to the presidents, since they are very healthy and olive oil especially is excellent for controlling blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart attacks.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN OPERA based upon the bizarre tale of an elderly lady's botched restoration of a 19th-century frescohas been aired in Arizona ahead of its world première.

Cecilia Giménez was 81 when, in 2012, she decided to restore the well-worn painting of the Ecce Homoin her local church in the sleepy Zaragoza province town of Borja.

An accomplished amateur artist who said the priest always gave her free rein to repair damaged artworks in the church, Cecilia's worst nightmare came true when the unfinished restoration of the Christ portrait hit the headlines, upsetting the painter's surviving relatives and leading to their threatening to sue her for six-figure sums for wilful damage.

But while Cecilia took to her bed with a panic attack, the world's press converged on Borja and campaigns and petitions were launched to leave the 'new' Ecce Homo as it was.

Visitors began to turn up from all over the world, Ryanair launched flights to Zaragoza for €1, and bars in the tiny market town said they had never enjoyed such a roaring trade.

Eventually, entry tickets to the church in Borja were charged and souvenirs created – including T-shirts, pens, mugs, keyrings and fridge magnets – featuring the 'new' version of the painting.

From being completely unheard of and surviving on agriculture and family-run local retail trade, Borja became a global tourism magnet and has been thriving for the last six years.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HUGE swathes of Madrid have been left without on-tap water due to a massive underground pipe burst.

Sources from the water infrastructure board, the Canal de Isabel II, advised this evening that the majority of those affected had their supply back, but major damage had been caused to the drainage network and a sink-hole had appeared in the Avenida Niceto Alcalá Zamora.

They expect possible further sink-holes to appear in the next few days due to the colossal amounts of leaked water that has filtered into the sub-soil from the pipe link, and which may lead to roads being shut to traffic for a few days at a time.

Around a million residents in the metropolitan area were without water all day today, of whom 828,000 live in the main hub of the capital and close on 200,000 in the outer suburbs.

The districts of Villa de Vallecas, Barajas, Hortaleza, San Blas, Ciudad Lineal, Vicálvaro and Las Tablas were affected, as well as parts of three commuter towns, Paracuellos del Jarama, Coslada and Alcobendas.

Roads already shut off to traffic before the sink-holes were discovered include the Avenida Niceto Alcalá Zamora itself, the C/ Príncipe Carlos, the Glorieta Francisco Pi and the C/ Margall, in the Hortaleza area.

Over 70 water board engineers have been working on repairs since the breakdown was first reported early this morning, focusing mainly on repairing the parts which affected residents' on-tap supply.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

'COOL caps' are beginning to come into use – albeit in very limited number – in Spanish hospitals to help prevent patients in chemotherapy from losing their hair.

Already standard in many UK hospitals – brands such as 'Dignicap' are often worn, especially by women – oncologists in Spain are mostly unaware of the availability of 'cool caps' as the focus is more on treating the cancer and relieving the painful and uncomfortable side-effects than on the psychological effects.

'Cool caps' look like transparent silicone swimming caps which are kept at sub-zero temperatures and then placed on the patient's head, covered then with a tightly-fitting skull-cap held in place with a chin strap.

They have 'tubes' running through them, filled with a cold gel, and are attached to a cooling machine to keep them as chilled as possible throughout and after the treatment session.

The aim is to 'freeze' the circulation in the veins in the scalp so that the drug combination, which destroys healthy cells as well as cancerous cells, does not reach the hair follicles.

Some oncologists are unsure about them as they believe it could be risky with the chemotherapy drugs not travelling through the scalp veins, as they may not pick up any microscopic cancerous cells there, but as yet reports do not appear to support any significant increase in the danger of tumour cells being 'left behind' as a result of using 'cool caps'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITISH authorities have made a video with the help of a Spanish doctor in a bid to combat the foolhardy practice of 'balconing', which claims and destroys lives every year in popular Balearic Island resorts.

Dr Juan José Segura Sampedro, 33, is based at Mallorca's Son Espases hospital and sees the results of 'balconing' stunts far too regularly.

He treats between 10 and 15 holidaymakers a year who have fallen whilst trying to jump from their terraces into the swimming pool below, or from balcony to balcony.

Some of them do not survive, and others suffer serious head and neck injuries with irreversible consequences.

Those who survive 'balconing' falls are frequently left paralysed from the neck down for life.

Son Espases' research shows that 61% of holidaymakers killed or injured in 'balconing' falls are British, the average age is 24, and 97% of them are male.

In 98% of cases, those injured or killed whilst 'balconing' were extremely drunk.

Typical cases tend to be 'boys of around 19 or 20', says Dr Segura Sampedro, a trauma surgeon.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BOND villain Javier Bardem has been out sailing off the shores of Catalunya to collect plastic waste from the sea – partly to help out, and partly to raise awareness of the problem.

Bardem, who is married to Almodóvar Girl-turned-Hollywood regular Penélope Cruz, went out from the port of Blanes (Girona province) and all the plastic waste he scooped out of the water will be sent to a company which melts it down to make sunglasses.

The Skyfall 'baddie' has helped promote several environmental campaigns, including the one Greenpeace is currently running in the Antarctic.

And he was horrified by what he saw when he took part in the plastic-clearing exercise in Blanes.

“We've only been out for a couple of hours, but we cast the net and you wouldn't believe what got caught up in it,” Bardem said as he got off the boat on his return to Blanes port.

“Everything from balls to mains water pipes, flags, bottles, golf balls and old fishing nets – stuff that takes over 300 years to biodegrade.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPANISH fast-food home-delivery chain Telepizza has joined forces with US giant Pizza Hut, making the two together the largest of their type in the world.

Founded in 1988 by Cuban immigrant Leopoldo Fernández Pujals with the backing of a group of small investors from Madrid and Vigo, Galicia, Telepizza is currently the largest non-American pizza chain in the world.

As a result of the merger, Telepizza will rebrand its branches in Latin America as 'Pizza Hut', although it will still offer the telephone and internet home delivery service which, 30 years ago, set it apart from the rest of the fast food industry in Spain and Europe.

But the 592 branches in Spain and the 108 in Portugal will retain the brand name of 'Telepizza'.

Having started out from humble beginnings in a small shop in Madrid, Telepizza now has 1,300 branches, most of which are in Spain, with its second-largest market being in Chile, which has 135 outlets, followed by Poland, with 115, Portugal and Colombia, with 108 each.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE first €10,000 of lottery winnings will be tax-exempt from this year, rising to €40,000 by the year 2020.

Opposition parties UPN, from Navarra, Ciudadanos, and the Basque National Party (PNV) have voted in favour of a move by the right-wing PP-led national government to raise the maximum exempt from tax from €2,500 to €10,000.

Until a few years ago, lottery winnings were not subject to tax at any amount, but the PP brought in a law which stipulated that the first 21% would be stopped on all winnings exceeding €2,500.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S government and opposition has warned Catalunya that it will continue to be extra-vigilant and will have no compunction about applying Article 155 of the national Constitution again if they consider the region's new president to be 'breaking the law'.

Quim Torra (pictured), leader of the Catalunya culture and social rights organisation Òmnium Cultural – whose latest member is US-born Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen – and MP for the party Junts per Catalunya ('Together for Catalunya', or JxCat) has now been sworn in as regional president.

Spain's leader Mariano Rajoy, of the right-wing PP party, and his direct rival Pedro Sánchez of the socialists, or PSOE, are already on their guard, as Torra is even more staunchly pro-independence than his predecessor, deposed president of Catalunya Carles Puigdemont, who is currently on bail in Germany after having fled to Belgium in October to avoid arrest.

North-western regional daily La Voz de Galicia has retrieved columns written by Torra in the past which had some choice insults for born-and-bred Catalunya natives who speak Spanish as their first language.

And his swearing-in speech focused on creating an 'independent republic'.

Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution was applied following the disputed independence referendum on October 1, stripping Catalunya of its self-governing powers, but will automatically be lifted once Torra officially takes up office and the region has a new government.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THIS year will see the housing market in Spain grow by at least 18% based upon current data, according to analysts from Caixabank.

Its property sales wing, Servihabitat, says the factors driving forecasts of how residential home purchases evolve over the coming year include demand, ease or otherwise of obtaining mortgage finance, increase or decrease in investment interest and the pace at which new developments gain planning permission.

Andalucía, Catalunya and Madrid are expected to be the regions which show the highest percentages of property sales over the course of 2018, says Servihabitat, mirroring results from 2017, although the greatest market growth was seen in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, at 23.8% and the northern community of La Rioja, at 23.1%.

New builds are losing ground to second-hand homes in terms of sales, with the latter accounting for 75%, Servihabitat's figures reveal.

Seven in 10 residential properties sold last year were priced at less than €150,000, and just over a third of homes which changed hands were between 30 and 90 square metres in size, showing that the smaller, cheaper first-time buyer flats or apartments were those most likely to shift.

The type of property most in demand in 2017 was a three-bedroomed house or flat, if it was for a main residence, or with four bedrooms if it was for a holiday home.

As at the close of 2017, Servihabitat reveals that a total of 76,800 new builds were under construction, a figure it predicts will have increased by 22% by the end of 2018, rising to 93,600.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LATE-ERA Picasso painting was bought online by 25,000 individuals before being put on display in a Swiss museum.

The 1968 Buste de mousquetaire (pictured) has just been set up at Geneva's MAMCO museum, six months after its sale in what the gallery's director Lionel Bovier calls 'very unusual circumstances'.

Normally, M. Bovier explains, major works of art are acquired by sole investors, either private individuals or companies, and it is rare for owners to agree for them to go to completely unknown buyers.

But this time, the 58 x 28.5-centimetre painting was sold off in 40,000 'parts' via the Swiss auction site QoQa – the first time an online community has acquired a major work of art and, possibly, setting a precedent for future ownership of famous pieces.

This way, small investors can buy shares in a work of art, and it enables the piece itself to 'connect with the community', says QoQa founder Pascal Meyer.

Each of the 40,000 'chunks' of the Picasso was on sale for 50 Swiss francs (€41.83), and some buyers purchased two or more 'chunks', giving a total of 25,000 owners and a final total sale price of €1.67 million, or two million Swiss francs.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SOME trains from Barcelona to Paris will be cancelled tomorrow (Monday) due to strikes in France – but not all of them, meaning travellers should check with the rail board before making travel plans.

Whilst the 09.25 from Barcelona to the French capital, and other connections from the north-eastern city to Marseille, Toulouse and Lyon were grounded due to SNCF staff industrial action, the 13.20 to Paris left on schedule today, says Spanish rail board RENFE.

Tomorrow's Toulouse-Barcelona train will only go as far as Perpignan, whilst the Marseille-Madrid train starts at Figueres-Vilafant, already over the Spanish border.

Disruptions and cancellations have been announcd on some of the Barcelona to Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse lines, and also on the return trains back to the French cities.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITISH tabloid headlines warning of volcanic eruptions in Tenerife – illustrated with a picture of lava spilling from a crater in Hawaii – have annoyed Spanish geologists and tourism industry workers.

The front page of the Sunday Express reads: “Tenerife volcano alert: Shock as 270 earthquakes hit Brit holiday favourite Canary Islands.”

And in The Sun, a headline reads: “The Big One coming? Volcano fears for Brit tourists after 270 earthquakes strike near holiday hotspots Tenerife and Gran Canaria in past 10 days.”

A photograph in the Express article shows the Kilauea erupting in Hawaii, but refers to the Teide – a dormant volcano at the centre of one of the Canary Islands' most famous national parks, which has not erupted in well over a century and is visited by hordes of tourists daily, who walk into the crater as part of their visit.

And the connection between Canary Island earthquakes and a possible Teide eruption is nonsense, says expert David Calvo from the Canarian Institute of Vulcanology. 

“What has happened is that the last few days has seen what we call a 'sismic swarm', or a string of very minor earthquakes in a short period of time – and in a volcanic region such as the Canary Islands, this is completely normal,” Calvo explains.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONE-PARENT families with two children or more will be officially recognised as 'large' family units for the purposes of discounts, grants and tax breaks, the government has announced.

Secretary of State for Social Services and Equality, Mario Garcés, says the move has been on the cards and has been a 'political commitment' of his party, the right-wing PP, since they regained power in the autumn of 2016.

Until now, only families with three or more children – irrespective of whether they were living with one parent or two – were classed as 'large families', but recent reports showed that one in 10 single parents in the country are living in actual poverty, defined in Spain as 'at risk of social exclusion'.

Also, families with four children or more will be classified as 'special large families', giving them even greater support than that awarded to 'large families' with three children.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LORD of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen has joined the Catalunya culture, language and civil rights society Òmnium Cultural, whose leader, Jordi Cuixart, is one of a number of the region's top-ranking politicians in jail over the disputed independence referendum.

Mortensen, 59, born in New York to a Danish father and half-Canadian, half-US mother, is the latest and among the most famous of Òmnium Cultural's 115,000 members.

The actor, who played Aragorn in the epic fantasy series based upon Tolkien's bestselling series of novels, also signed up a year ago to the manifesto Let catalanes vote.

Òmnium Cultural fights to preserve the unique language and social culture of Catalunya, but goes a step further in pushing for its right to vote on whether or not to become an independent nation, something it strongly supports.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITAIN'S government will place a cap on fees charged by solicitors who handle sickness cases for clients who have been abroad in a bid to clamp down on the lucrative 'fake food poisoning' fraud which is crippling hotels and holiday resorts along the Mediterranean.

The number of claims against tour operators – which are passed on to the resort owners - for illness allegedly suffered by UK holidaymakers has increased 500% in just three years.

Spain is not the only victim – typical sun, sea and sand destinations across southern Europe including Portugal, Greece and Cyprus have also fallen victim to the scam – but Spanish hotels appear to be the main target, especially in the Canary and Balearic Islands, the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, particularly Benidorm.

Justice minister Rafael Catalá says the cost to hotels and holiday complexes in Spain runs into millions of euros.

Claim touts have been seen patrolling tourist belts in vans designed to look like ambulances, approaching Brits on the street and asking them if they would like 'a free holiday'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN is once again world number one for the most blue-flag beaches – with nearly 700 to choose from, the total continues to rise and has gone up by 12 this year.

Yacht marinas and tourist boats also receive the superior-quality kitemark ahead of each summer, and 101 of the former, compared with 100 in 2017, plus five of the latter – three in Mallorca and two in Málaga – have earned blue flags.

Beaches are the main recipients, and last year's 579 blue-flag coastal areas have now risen to 590.

In total, Spain now holds 696 blue flags, a small increase on last summer's 684.

A high number of blue-flag beaches have been winning these awards consistently for many years – about 20% have received the kitemark every year for the last five to nine years inclusive, and another 10% for a decade or more.

The Comunidad Valenciana, along the east coast of the mainland, continues to be Spain's largest blue-flag beach region, with 132, up from 129 last year.

Galicia in the far north-west has 109, having lost four from 2017, and Catalunya has 101, representing a slight increase on last year's 96.

Catalunya, the Balearic Islands, Andalucía, Galicia and the Comunidad Valenciana have the most blue-flag yacht marinas, in that order.

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BRITISH-BORN Spanish Film Academy chairwoman Yvonne Blake will not return to her role following her stroke in January, and the job is likely to go to her current second-in-command.

Celebrated costume designer Ms Blake, 77, is expected to be out of action for some time as she recovers, meaning her deputy, Mariano Barroso, has announced she will be replaced next month.

She has been named Honorary Chairwoman, but the executive role will be subject to election on June 9.

The closing date for candidates' applications was on Friday (May 4), and only Barroso has put his name forward.

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THREE Spanish firemen who were arrested on the Greek island of Lesbos two years ago charged with 'human trafficking' are about to face trial, and have hit out at how aid work is being systematically 'criminalised'.

Manuel Blanco, Enrique Rodríguez and Julio Latorre, from Sevilla, joined the charity Proem-Aid in January 2016 as volunteers to help refugees, rescuing desperate migrants who were drowning in the Mediterranean in an attempt to reach a safe haven from war, poverty and persecution.

The three firefighters spent several days in a police cell before being granted bail to the tune of €5,000 a head.

“This is a trial that goes far beyond our own situation – it's humanitarian aid that's going to be on trial,” said Manuel.

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THREE men have been arrested in Tenerife on suspicion of sending a terrorist recruit to Syria to fight with the Jihad organisation Al-Nusra.

National Police say the recruit, a 35-year-old Moroccan, was 'radicalised' in an internet café in San Isidro run by his three compatriots aged 27, 35 and 37, and also at the local mosque.

They trained their quarry to be a so-called 'foreign fighter', acting as 'spokesmen, Imans and custodians' at the mosque, according to investigators.

They lured the 'foreign fighter' over to the Jihad cause and arranged for him to go to Syria in 2013, including funding his trip.

He returned to Spain, fully trained, in 2015, but badly injured, having lost his left hand in combat.

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ONE of the motorcyclists killed in a crash in Madrid on Sunday was president Mariano Rajoy's police escort, confirm sources from the Moncloa, the leader's official residence.

A policeman and a 32-year-old woman riding pillion lost their lives when they were hit by a car at about 16.00 yesterday, when the driver attempted to avoid another oncoming vehicle at the crossroads of the C/ María de Molina, the C/ López de Hoyo and the C/ Serrano.

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A BRITISH fugitive who has been on the run for over two years has been caught in Barcelona, despite trying to convince police he was an Italian tourist.

Jamie Acourt, 41, was one of the 10 'most wanted' whose photograph appeared on the Crimestoppers and National Crime Agency (NCA) 'Operation Capture' list – one of which has been released in Spain every year since 2007.

Of the 96 fugitives featured so far, 81, including Acourt, have been traced and arrested.

The south-Londoner was accused of being involved in a major drug-dealing racket, and had also been a suspect in the murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Acourt, who was 16 at the time, has always protested his innocence in connection with the unprovoked racially-motivated murder.

He appeared on the Operation Capture poster along with other criminals on the run believed to be hiding out in Spain, taking advantage of the cosmopolitan nature of some of the country's more densely-populated areas, in a campaign aimed at British expats and holidaymakers who may spot the fugitives on their travels and who are given a safe, anonymous channel through which to report them.

Acourt was leaving the Metropolitan Gym next to the iconic, modernist Sagrada Família cathedral when National Police, who had tracked him down, handcuffed him.

The accused is said to have been living in a rented apartment close to the cathedral.

He is reported to have had help and protection during his two-year exile, and had been using fake ID and several different names.

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SPANISH 'super-surgeon' Dr Pedro Cavadas has reattached a North American Naval officer's severed hand after the 21-year-old suffered a submarine accident off the coast of Cartagena (Murcia).

Following the 'catastrophic' crash 70 miles offshore in the USA's Sixth Fleet on March 27, it would take 10 hours before the victim got to Manises Hospital, close to Valencia airport, as he had to be taken back to dry land by lifeboat and then flown by helicopter, arriving at 04.30 on March 28.

This delay would make the operation far more complex as blood flow to the hand was lost.

But Dr Cavadas worked through the early hours of the morning and the soldier was out of theatre by 09.30.

He had to create and artificial flow of blood to the injured man's hand before attempting to reattach it, but was quietly confident of success given that it had been torn off at the wrist, meaning it was a clean break.

Micro-surgery and reconstructive surgery, as well as a skin graft from the patient's right lower leg, were all involved in the five-hour operation.

“It's great operating on soldiers, because they're happy with everything you do, have a high pain threshold and nothing bothers them,” said a cheerful Dr Cavadas.

“I never mind operating on patients who are so cooperative and easy to handle.”

Although the surgery was now over two months ago, it is only now that details have been revealed in the media as the soldier needed time to ensure it would be a success.

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The Spanish Met Office (Aemet) has forecast temperatures as high as 30ºC in some areas of Andalusia and Extremadura this weekend, after several days of almost winter weather.

The weather will be more stable, except along the Mediterranean, where storms will prevail owing to an area of low pressure in the region. Storms, heavy rain and in some cases, hail, will affect large swathes of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, and eastern Andalusia.

Temperatures, however, will start to move from the relatively fresh, to somewhat warmer than normal for the time of year, for example in the south of the country where the mercury is likely to reach 30ºC, and in Madrid and areas of Castilla y León where it will reach 25/27ºC.

Saturday will see temperatures rise in the north west of the country and in the Balearic Islands, with overnight lows increasing practically nationwide.

Sevilla and Córdoba will see highs of 27ºC, followed by Badajoz, Pontevedra and Orense with 26ºC, Gerona with 25ºC and Zaragoza, Toledo, Murcia, Madrid, Huelva, Granada, Guadalajara and Cáceres with 24ºC.

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BASQUE separatist terrorists ETA is due to make a 'key announcement' on Friday in Cambo-les-Bains, south-western France, and speculation has been rife as to whether the organisation planned to break up – but that speculation has now ended with a written communication.

Nearly half a century to the day of the terrorism cell's first fatal attack, an open letter to various institutions in the northern region has been published on several news sites in the Basque Country and nationally.

ETA says it intends to 'permanently end [its] historic cycle and function' and has 'dissolved all its structures', putting 'an end to [its] political initiative'.

The organisation has already issued a public apology for the 2,742 terrorist attacks, the first of which was in 1968 and the last in summer 2009, and the deaths of around 850 people, of which 198 remain unresolved.

But the Terrorism Victims' Foundation was unconvinced and its chairwoman Maite Pagazaurtundua – who lost her brother Joseba to ETA 15 years ago – said the 'small print' in the cell's speech 'cancelled out all the nice words about being truly sorry'.

Senior politicians continue to suspect an ulterior motive – for ETA to be 'offering' to disband as a bargaining tool for its prisoners to be released or moved to jails in the Basque Country nearer their families – and as yet, all ETA's promises have rung hollow with those whose wounds remain raw, in some cases literally.

During ETA's most active years – broadly, from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s – regular attacks aimed at authorities and civilian lives were lost as collateral in addition to the Guardia Civil and National Police officers and Armed Forces members who perished.

In total, 798 terror attacks targeted these three bodies.

ETA's other main focus for its bomb blasts and shoot-outs were tourist resort areas, to create maximum visibility, although these tended to involve fewer fatalities.

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AN ANIMAL charity in Spain has approached the United Nations to request an International Police Dogs' Day in recognition of the invaluable work these brave four-legged 'officers' carry out and the constant risks and stress they face.

Héroes de 4 Patas ('Heroes on four legs'), which takes in retired or injured service dogs who can no longer work and finds them new forever homes, says these faithful creatures risk their lives every day helping to rescue people from hazardous situations, tracing explosives and toxic chemicals, searching for missing persons and assisting in terrorism and other violent crime operations.

Not only do Spain's police forces use them, but so do the fire brigade, the Armed Forces, the Civil Protection squad, various rescue teams and private companies, for security.

With their own International Day, 'society can reflect on their vital work at least once a year', says Héroes de 4 Patas.

The charity has recently organised a series of 'animal fairs', involving workshops and talks on pet care, adoption, police dog demonstrations and food and merchandise on sale for domestic animals, all in an attempt to raise awareness, affection and care standards of furry companions.

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CONSUMER authorities in Spain have 'named and shamed' a total of 23 products on sale purporting to work 'diet miracles' and aid weight loss, and reveals that there is currently no real control over advertising or distribution of these goods.

The OCU's Kilos de Mentiras ('Kilos of Lies') campaign says many dietary supplements, slimming pills and foodstuffs promising to cause or speed up weight loss make false claims on their labels and in publicity – it is illegal to advertise 'health results', the organisation says, and yet many do so.

'Health results' are, in this case, claims such as 'reduces weight', 'helps control weight' or 'for a flat stomach'.

In addition to the 23 products which breach advertising rules, the OCU has visited 80 pharmacies, parapharmacies, plus fitness, health and herb shops, and slimming centres.

It says 'certain establishments' advertise 'diagnostic techniques or treatment' which have no evidence of any success.

One of these is the famous 'imaginary gastric band', in which customers are hypnotised to believe they have had a stomach reduction and think they are full long before they really are, leading to their eating less.

Other than 12 pharmacies of a total of 28, and one fitness centre, all the other 80 premises failed their inspection – staff had no identification, meaning it was not possible to check what qualifications or training they held and, despite the fact that none of the confederates who posed as customers actually needed to lose weight, fewer than half the establishments commented on this.

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LABOUR Day marches across Spain have been 'more feminist than ever' and also much older, as pensioners joined in to to call for pay rises after six years of getting no more than the legal minimum of 0.25% every January.

Spain's largest two unions, the Labourers' Commissions (CCOO) and General Workers' Union (UGT) led the various processions across the country's main towns and cities, including the biggest of all in Madrid, which attracted 12,000 followers based upon the organisers' estimates or 4,000 according to the provincial government.

Starting out fro the Plaza de Neptuno at noon, they carried banners and chanted, calling for greater equality, liveable wages and pensions, and job security.

They were joined by national leaders of left-wing political parties, including Pedro Sánchez of the socialists (PSOE), Pablo Iglesias of Podemos and Alberto Garzón of United Left.

Centre-right Ciudadanos' pension spokesman Sergio del Campo and MP for Madrid Victoria Alonso also took part.

Staff from the logistics centre of budget Swedish clothing chain H&M made up a cluster of the demonstrators, since they are currently staging strikes over pay.

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A TELEVISION documentary on the BBC is planned covering the death of Scottish newlywed Kirsty Maxwell in a fall from a 9th-floor Benidorm hotel.

Spanish reporter Ainhoa Urcelay is working with the BBC on the production, and says: “With a tragedy of this magnitude, many probes are launched which are hindered by the obvious cultural differences and language barriers.”

The programme, produced by STV for BBC Scotland, focuses on how Mrs Maxwell's grieving family and friends, including her widower Adam Maxwell (pictured), are coping after she lost her life on a hen weekend in the Costa Blanca holiday capital.

The documentary will also feature the parents of Craig Mallon, 26, a Scottish tourist killed with a single punch outside the Rockefellers' nightclub in Lloret de Mar (Girona province) in May 2012.

In both cases, other British tourists are believed to be involved.

Kirsty (also pictured) had gone out with her group of female friends and is believed to have entered the wrong hotel room upon her return to the resort in the Rincón de Loix neighbourhood, known locally as La Zona Inglesa, or 'The English Zone'.

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