Live News From Spain As It Happens

PEDRO Sánchez's government has opened the door to the country's first law on euthanasia, which would allow 'dying with dignity' to become an integral part of the State healthcare system.

All parties except the right-wing PP, in government until early June, voted for the debate to go ahead on this highly-delicate issue.

Research shows that 84% of residents in Spain agree euthanasia should be possible where there is no other alternative, although dissenters fear it could open a can of worms whereby sick, elderly or disabled people who are concerned about being a burden feel 'pressured' or 'morally obliged' to opt to end their lives.

Spokeswoman for the reigning socialist party, Adriana Lastra, says the legislation would regulate assisted dying for patients with serious and incurable illness or severe and chronic disability which leads to 'extreme suffering', as an optional alternative to 'prolonging a life when this merely means prolonging intolerable agony'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A COMPANY based in León has launched the world's first-ever shampoo for bald people.

Chief executive officer of Carobels, Juan José Cabero – who describes himself as 'bald and proud' – says the shampoo is neither designed to prevent hair loss, nor to help regrowth, but merely to care for the scalp when it does not have hair to protect it.

He said people were surprised to see the new product when it hit the shelves, since 'nobody every thinks about things like that'.

“The scalp needs special care, and this need is heightened when it's exposed,” Cabero says.

Ordinary soap or shower gel does not provide this level of care, he explains, and he invented the shampoo called Doctor Bald, a line from his brand Beardbury's, when he realised there was nothing on the market anywhere to meet the 'cosmetic and dermatological needs' specific to people with no hair.

It is gradually being sold in barbershops in the provinces of León, Valencia and Madrid and across the region of Galicia, and may well hit the shelves in mainstream stores shortly.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A DOCTOR believed to have been involved in Spain's huge undercover 'stolen baby' scandal will appear in court tomorrow (Tuesday) – the first person in history summoned to the dock over the decades-long racket which started after Franco gained power through the Civil War.

An estimated 300,000 babies born between 1965 and 1990 were taken from their parents, who were normally told their infants had died and in many cases were even handed coffins, although many more may have been stolen and sold on in the 25 years prior to this.

The figures are quoted by the association ANADIR, founded by Juan Luis Moreno and Antonio Barroso seven years ago after they uncovered the racket when they discovered the people they grew up believing were their parents had actually bought them in Zaragoza from a priest.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

YET another Jet2 flight to Spain has had to be diverted due to rowdy stag party passengers – the second in two weeks.

This time, the flight had set off from Birmingham with a group of 27 young men on board who became aggressive and displayed 'appalling behaviour', according to the airline.

Reports released today say one of the group had been denied boarding on the Friday flight to Ibiza because of his drunken, unseemly and confrontational attitude, and cabin crew refused to sell alcohol on the flight to any passenger as a precaution.

Midway through the journey to the Balearic party island, the crew opted to land in the nearest airport, Toulouse (south-western France) and order the men to get off.

One of them is said to have been banned from flying with Jet2 for life.

Air stewards said they gave the stag group numerous warnings about their behaviour before making the drastic decision to land and disembark them – an option carriers do not take up lightly due to extra costs and delays involved – but deemed it essential 'in the interests of everyone's comfort and safety'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CRACKDOWNS have already started in key 'booze and beach' holiday destinations in Mallorca which could relieve young tourists of all their spending money if they act in an anti-social fashion.

Magaluf, Palmanova and Santa Ponça, popular with British holidaymakers between late teens and mid-20s in groups seeking cheap alcohol, nightclubs and hi-jinks now sport posters all over their main streets in English and Spanish warning of hefty fines for anyone who fails to behave appropriately in public.

Drinking alcohol in the street will cost them €500 per offence, and walking around naked or otherwise indecently – bottom halves or breasts showing – will attract a €400 fine, says the council of the inland town of Calvià, which these beach satellite areas belong to.

Shouting and screaming in the street at any time of the day or night means a fine of €400, as does fighting or any other, similar public disturbance.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EX-BEATLE Ringo Starr is back in Spain, having not performed in the country since 1965 – a trip he remembers well for reasons other than his gig with the 'Fab Four'.

“I think we went to a bull-fight, and I became vegetarian that very day,” the 78-year-old legend admitted in Paris on the first day of his recently-launched European tour.

With a 19th studio album under his belt – Give More Love, released in late 2017 – the Liverpudlian born Richard Starkey within a year of World War II's breaking out has 21 dates on his concert calendar, with the first in Spain being this coming Tuesday, June 26 in Barcelona as part of the GuitarBcn Festival 2018.

Next, on Thursday (June 28), Starr moves on to Madrid where he will hit the stage in the WiZink Centre, before heading north-west to A Coruña for a gig on Friday, June 29 at the Coliseum.

His first musical trip to Spain in 53 years will end in Bilbao's Euskalduna Palace with a show on Sunday, July 1.

“I don't know why that happened,” Starr said when asked about his not having performed in Spain in over half a century.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OVER 100,000 Brits and Europeans marched through their towns and cities in the UK yesterday (Saturday) calling for a 'People's Vote' on the final Brexit deal – which remainers have been campaigning to include an option to stay in the European Union.

Among those who joined the main march in London were British expats in Spain who had travelled over specially, and the thousands of Spaniards who live in the UK capital, both of whom fear their ability to live, work, retire and receive healthcare in their countries may be threatened by the process.

Bremain in Spain, a Facebook-led campaign group headed up by Sue Wilson (pictured) took to the streetsto fight for the rights of Brits in Europe and Europeans in the UK.

Sue is shown here (centre, left) with María Luisa and Nacho Romero, Bremain members from Spain who live in the UK.

As well as the People's Vote march, Sue will be meeting up this week with representatives from Reuniting Britain, Best for Britain, Britain for Europe/GCG, the association for Europeans living in the UK, In Limbo, and SODEM.

The second picture shows Sue with fellow Bremainer Elspeth with their newly-designed 'Brexit is Bonkers' flag.

Polls in the UK have shown that support for a second referendum is growing fast and that, if this were to go ahead, Remain would lead over Leave by 5%.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SEVEN in 10 women in Spain aged 35 do not have children, says the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF), warning that the government needs to put 'urgent measures' in place to encourage motherhood and increase the birth rate.

The current average age for a first-time mother is 32.1 years – up from 32 a year ago – and one in five women who have their first baby is aged over 40.

Whilst this means fertility clinics across the country are busy, it also means many women will never have children at all since, by the time they are in stable work with a home of their own, a long-term partner and savings behind them, they will be leaving it too late. Some opt to freeze their eggs which, at an average price of €2,000, is much lower than in the UK and elsewhere in northern Europe, but still out of the reach of women on a typical salary.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PROTESTS are set to be staged all over Spain now that the men who gang-raped an 18-year-old girl at Pamplona's Sanfermines bull-running festival have been released on bail.

In another bitter blow for the victim and other rape survivors nationwide, José Ángel Prenda, Ángel Boza, Jesús Escudero, Antonio Manuel Guerrero and Alfonso Jesús Cabezuelo – all originally from Sevilla and who go under the collective street name of La Manada ('The Herd') have been freed after paying a bail release to the tune of €6,000 each.

They had already been sentenced, but have appealed, and their release has been agreed until the final verdict comes through.

Protesters have already been storming the streets in every province since the end of April, when the male judges in charge of the case decided they were not guilty of rape, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years, but instead 'sexual abuse', which cut their custodial terms to nine years each.

According to the magistrates, no force, violence or intimidation had been used and the victim had not struggled, nor had she expressly refused sex.

The young woman, on holiday from Madrid, had been very drunk when the men offered to walk her home but instead took her into a doorway and took turns to rape her whilst filming each other.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LUXURY Girona eatery El Celler de Can Roca is a step closer to reclaiming its world number one throne after rising to second this year behind Italy's Osteria Francescana, based in Modena, north-west of Venice.

This year's World's 50 Best Restaurants – featured annually in the British magazine Restaurant – includes seven in Spain, with four of them having dropped several places in the ranking.

Commonly known as the Oscars of the culinary world and the biggest foodies' prizegiving on earth, the awards were presented this week at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao.

El Celler de Can Roca (first picture) has crept up to number two from its third place in 2017, ahead of France's Mirazur but still not yet a match for Massimo Bottura's world-beating premises in Modena.

Fourth this year is previous winner Eleven Madison Park in New York, run by chef Daniel Humm, who also took the Best Restaurant in North America prize.

Thailand's Gaggan Restaurant came fifth and two in Perú – Central and Maido – came sixth and seventh respectively, followed by Restaurant Arpège in France at number eight.

In total, Spain has three restaurants in the top 10 – the Asador Etxebarri rotisserie in Axpe in the Basque province of Vizcaya, the capital of which is Bilbao, only just making it after dropping from number four in 2017, whilst San Sebastián's Mugaritz sits at number nine, the same as last year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EUROPEAN Parliament has agreed to look into a complaint about low-cost carrier Ryanair's seating families apart.

Balearic regional consumer protection office CONSUBAL filed the case after receiving 'a multitude of complaints' from travellers, saying this practice went 'against the rights of customers'.

According to CONSUBAL, passengers on Ryanair flights travelling as a family group have repeatedly been split up, and the airline, the organisation argues, is using its 'random seating' policy as 'an excuse', saying that if families want to guarantee they will sit together, they need to pay the seat reservation fee or for priority boarding.

CONSUBAL filed the complaint with the European Parliament in March, and has just been notified that the case has been accepted, reveals the consumer group's spokesman Alfonso Rodríguez.

But the Irish-based airline hotly denies 'abusive practices'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S new minister of public works, José Luis Ábalos has announced plans to scrap the tolls on three motorways when their franchises come up for renewal this and next year.

The previous national government had pledged to do so, but appeared to be backtracking, and other promises relating to essential transport infrastructure and highway safety have been systematically broken, leaving local councils and residents sceptical and disillusioned.

Both have been clamouring for well over 15 years for the AP-7 to become toll-free or bypasses built - as well as the tolls costing more than the petrol for the same journey, long-distance lorry drivers avoid it to cut costs, clogging up town centres all along the east coast.

Running from Tarragona to Alicante with a break in the middle, the two stretches motorists have to pay to use total 378 kilometres.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN EARTHQUAKE measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale shook the province of Granada in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday) – but failed to wake the neighbours.

According to the National Geographical Institute (IGN), the epicentre of the tremor, registered at exactly 05.12 today, was to the south-west of the town of Loja, close to that of Archidona.

As the quake was 11 kilometres underground, it was deep enough that nobody felt it.

Closer to the surface, at this magnitude, an earthquake would normally produce a split second's sharp movement and rumbling, which may cause precariously-situated and lightweight objects to fall or for those in vulnerable positions, such as up a shaky ladder, to struggle with their balance for a moment.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

VOLUNTEERS on the Aquarius have told heart-wrenching tales of the migrants they helped rescue who docked today (Sunday) in Valencia and embarked on a new life filled with hope.

One of them, Fernando Justa, was in tears as he described how an orphaned 12-year-old girl fell into his arms.

The youngster, from Guinea-Conakry, started to get off the lifeboat and then froze in a state of shock, literally unable to take a step forward.

Justa talked to her and gave her a teddy bear to encourage her, and was waiting with a hug for her as she took her first steps on Valencian soil.

“It's been a long time since anyone's given me a hug like that,” she said.

Fernando said he will never forget those words.

All day, volunteers from various charities worked with around 124 children – those on the Aquarius itself were aged 15 and 16, and those on the Dattilo lifeboat were between three and 14, the vast majority of them unaccompanied.

They displayed 'a great deal of uncertainty and fear' when they arrived, so the charities' 'basic function' was 'keeping them company', Fernando explained.

Describing the task as 'rewarding and encouraging', he said: “We need to keep working to carry on putting the smiles back on all their faces.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DOUBLE Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso stunned fans with a spectacular Le Mans 24 Hours win today (Sunday), having never attempted the race before.

And it was an historic moment for his team, too – along with fellow drivers and ex-Formula 1 racers Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, Toyota took home its first-ever victory in the global motorsport event.

Le Mans 24 Hours is one of the races in the so-called 'triple motorsport crown', which includes the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix.

Alonso, originally from Oviedo, Asturias, has won the Monaco Grand Prix twice and, now with Le Mans under his belt, he is hoping for victory in the Indianapolis 500 to make him only the second person in racing history to take all three titles.

So far, the only racing driver ever to do so is the UK's Graham Hill.

Alonso, who has not tasted success for far too long in Formula 1, is combining his main discipline with the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with team Toyota – the only on that uses a hybrid car in LMP1 – the aim of which decision was purely to rack up a victory at Le Mans.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO tourist attractions in Spain have made it to the 25 Travellers' Choice Awards Top World Landmarks list on TripAdvisor – one of which, Sevilla's Plaza de España, is at number two.

Beaten only by the spectacular temple of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia – which takes three full days to tour around – the Plaza de España (first picture) beats such international gems as the Sydney Opera House, the Acropolis in Greece and the Duomo, or cathedral, in Milan.

Sevilla's liveliest central hub comes above the United Arab Emirates' Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre in Abu Dhabi, at number three, and even above the Basilica di San Pietro in Rome – or, more correctly, in Vatican City.

Spain once again enters the top five with the splendid ancient mosque in Córdoba (second picture) – giving not just the country, but the region of Andalucía two entries in a list covering all five continents – and the top recommendations refer to the 'rows and rows of beautifully-striped columns', the 'ornate cathedral in the middle of the mosque' and call it 'truly a sight to behold'.

Such a sight, in fact, that it beats the Taj Mahal in Agra, northern India, into sixth place.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CENTRAL European Bank (BCE) bosses have opted to keep interest rates at their current level until at least summer 2019, or longer if necessary, as part of their continued strategy to reach inflation objects and promote growth in the common currency area.

Lending to high-street banks by the BCE will attract interest at 0%, although the Eurozone governing body will continue to charge 0.4% for excess of reserves at one day, or marginal deposit facility.

It will continue with one-day lending rates, or marginal credit facilities, of 0.25%.

This conclusion was reached by the board of governors today (Thursday) at its meeting in the Latvian capital of Riga.

During the session, the BCE also decided to reduce debt-buying to a maximum of €15 billion per month and cease altogether after December.

This low interest policy also suggests the Euribor, or Eurozone consumer interest rate, will remain at rock bottom – having been below 1% for five-and-a-half years and dropping into minus figures for the first time ever in February 2016, the month of May closed this year on -0.188%.

A very slight rise is predicted for the end of this June, to -0.181%.

Spanish mortgages and some personal loans and credit cards are linked to the Euribor, and homeowners have been enjoying not only exceptionally low buying prices, but the cheapest mortgages in history.

Outside of major cities and sought-after beach locations, it is now possible to buy a medium-sized apartment with a mortgage of around €300 a month – albeit banks now require a minimum deposit of 20%, or 40% for a second or subsequent property, and taxes and fees in addition make up 12.5% of the purchase price.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S new government is working on a Bill of Law, or Royal Decree that will once again make free healthcare universal for everyone living in the country, irrespective of their legal status.

The previous right-wing PP-led government stopped healthcare for anyone who was not legally resident, except for emergency treatment, all care for the under-18s and for pregnant or post-partum women, back in 2012.

And hospitals and clinics did not always have the same criteria as to what constituted an emergency.

An overwhelming number of doctors defied the ruling, which they said was 'cruel' and 'leaving people to die or stay ill', and continued to treat anyone who walked through their surgery doors without asking questions.

One of the most vocal in this sense was the region of Valencia, whose newly-elected regional government, in 2015, announced healthcare would be available free to anyone who needed it – and who were ordered by the State and the courts to follow the rules.

Health experts have said restricting care and expecting those not eligible to pay for it does not actually save money – in fact, it costs more, because most of those left untreated would be unable to fund their own medical attention and would eventually become an emergency, costing more to assist because the problem had been left unmedicated for too long.

Also, with undocumented migrants refused all but emergency or childbirth-related care, the risk of infectious tropical conditions was high.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CURRENTLY the shortest-lived minister in Spain's democracy, author and newspaper columnist Màxim Huerta has quit his role as head of culture, media and sports after leaked reports of how he has a previous charge of tax evasion against his name.

Between 2006 and 2008 inclusive, Huerta – who writes for the left-wing daily newspaper 20 Minutos– avoided paying €218,000 in income tax by setting up a front company for his annual declarations, meaning he was liable for less.

At the time, Huerta was a TV presenter, and the case was finally resolved last year by the regional High Court of Justice in Madrid with a verdict ordering him to refund the unpaid tax and stump up a fine to the tune of €366,000.

The dormant company was 'open' from 2006 to 2016 inclusive, but Huerta used it as a 'structure' for his tax payments for the first three only.

During these three years, he earnt around €800,000 for presenting the Telecinco show El Programa de Ana Rosa – which is still running and, famously, recently featured stage saboteur Jimmy Jump camping outside ex-Catalunya president Carles Puigdemont's prison cell in Germany.

Huerta insists that his dispute with the tax authority was due to 'a change in fiscal criteria' and that he had always been 'up to date' with his dues.

“Invoicing through a company was common practice in the profession and was not considered illegal at the time,” he insists.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MÁLAGA-BORN sports director for the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Fernando Hierro, will take over as national team coach today in place of outgoing Julen Lopetegui, who was sacked this lunchtime after Real Madrid leaked the news that he had been taken on as club manager.

He was due to give a press conference at 17.30 mainland Spain time at the Krasnodar Stadium, then hold the first training session with the national team ahead of their opening match on Friday against current European champions, Portugal.

Hierro was one of the names thought likely to take over from Lopetegui, who was fired after Real Madrid leaked his new appointment as manager taking over from outgoing 'Zizou' Zidane.

Another possibility was Albert Celades, current under-21 national team manager who had travelled with Lopetegui to Russia.

Hierro, 50 – a year younger than Lopetegui – is well known to the national squad both as sports director and former footballer.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Julen Lopetegui has been axed as Spain manager after it emerged that he had agreed to take over at Real Madrid after the World Cup.

Real Madrid announced on Tuesday that Lopetegui would succeed Zinedine Zidane on a three-year-deal with the club.

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) said today (Wednesday) it had dismissed Lopetegui because the negotiations with Real Madrid occurred "without any information to the RFEF".

The Spanish Football Association president, Luis Rubiales, was supposed to be at the FIFA congress in Moscow on Wednesday but flew to Spain’s training base late on Tuesday night to deal with the matter.

“We have been forced to dispense with the national coach. We wish him the greatest of luck,” said Rubiales.

“The negotiations have occurred without any information to the Spanish FA and we were informed just five minutes before the press release," said Rubiales, making it clear he was unhappy with the way the situation had been handled.

Lopetegui became Spain manager in 2016 following Vicente del Bosque's retirement, and remained unbeaten throughout his short reign.

Spain won 14 of 20 games under Lopetegui's guidance, drawing the remaining six.

No hints have been given as to who might step in for Lopetegui at this late stage, but the RFEF head: “We are going to touch as little as possible. We are working on it. When we know we will tell you.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

KING Felipe's brother-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail after his custodial term was reduced on appeal by five months.

He will be able to choose which prison he goes to if he hands himself in rather than waiting to be arrested.

The former Duke of Palma, who lost his title when found guilty of a multi-million public fund embezzlement racket in which he took advantage of his Royal connections to gain publicity for his cause, had attempted unsuccessfully to strike a bargain in which he was sentenced to no more than two years, given that, for a first offence, anything less than this does not have to be served.

Urdangarín (pictured), who is married to HRH Felipe VI's youngest sister, the Infanta (non-Crown Princess) Cristina, set up what purported to be a non-profit association, the Nóos Institute, aimed at promoting and organising sporting and cultural events and attracting public funds to pay for them.

Urdangarín and his Nóos partner Diego Torres inflated the estimates and invoices involved and pocketed the difference.

Read mroe at thinkSPAIN.com

A THREE-DIMENSIONAL zebra crossing that looks as though pedestrians are hopping across raised blocks is being painted in Almussafes (Valencia province).

The yellow-and-white crossing looks two-dimensional to those on foot using it, but for drivers approaching it, their instinct is to stop dead so as not to collide with an apparent barrier of nearly half a metre in height.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN will take in the 629 migrants on board the Aquarius 'for humanitarian reasons' after Italy's right-wing government refused to let them dock in the country.

The would-be refugees were rescued by the charity SOS Méditerranée, but Italian authorities sent them to Malta instead.

Malta, however, also refused to let them disembark on national territory.

Pedro Sánchez's government volunteered to take them, and they are set to dock in the port of Valencia in the next few hours.

Regional president of Valencia, Ximo Puig – on the same party as Sánchez – says he has already given authorisation to Spain's deputy president Carmen Calvo for the craft to dock in the harbour of the country's third-largest city.

Puig slammed other European governments for 'abandoning' the migrants in the Mediterranean, calling it 'deeply unfair'.

Valencia's deputy regional president Mònica Oltra, from the left-wing party Compromís, recalled that her and Puig's cabinet had set up a complete refugee settlement system 'many years ago'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SURVEY by travel guide giant The Lonely Planet has revealed that the sexiest accent in the world is Spanish.

Native speakers of the language of Cervantes in Europe even beat the French – albeit by a slim margin – and the Italians, who come sixth out of nine, for the most attractive accent.

A total of 700 people were polled on Facebook, although their own nationality split has not been revealed.

After Spain and France, the people of Ireland are said to have the third-sexiest accent, followed by the Scots, the Australians and mainland Italians.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 19-YEAR-OLD man saved the life of a driver who suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his car and mounted the pavement in Santa María de la Cabeza (Madrid) yesterday (Sunday).

Manu was walking through town when he saw the driver, 47, apparently 'drowning' and in pain as his car swerved onto the pathway, and rushed immediately to his aid.

He called emergency services and, seeing that the motorist had lost consciousness, began performing CPR.

Manu kept up his efforts until a SAMUR life-support ambulance reached the scene and paramedics were able to take over.

It is believed the patient has survived, although the Civil Protection, manning the ambulance, said he would have died or at least suffered irreversible damage had it not been for the teenager's presence of mind.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S minimum wage could be about to go up within the next week, to €1,000 a month over 14 monthly payments, based upon a double wage slip at Christmas and in August.

This would mean an annual salary of €14,000 – a monthly gross pay of €1,166.67, or €1,004.50 after tax, a few céntimos less for temporary workers, based upon the current tax-free threshold of €12,000.

This is based upon a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job, and responds to one of the longest-running claims by unions – although likely to be hit by opposition from companies.

The outgoing PP government's idea was to increase the minimum wage from its current €739 over 14 months, or €858.55 over 12 months, to €14,000 a year by 2020.

But new president Pedro Sánchez's government wants to do so straight away, and the change could come about even before the planned nationwide protests over low wages on Saturday, June 16.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ICON of 1980s' pop has made a comeback and is due in Spain later this year for two concerts in Madrid and Barcelona.

Rick Astley soared from anonymity to world fame overnight when his first-ever record, Never Gonna Give You Up, went straight to number one in his native UK in late 1987.

Aged just 21 at the time, the new rising star from Newton-le-Willows followed up this unexpected success with the single Together Forever, which also went to number one, and his first album, Whenever You Need Somebody.

Subsequent studio albums and singles failed to live up to his spectacular début, but with 40 million album sales worldwide, Astley has had little to complain about.

And those who have been following the British music scene may have noticed that Rick has never stopped producing music – at least, not until 2006.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola urges new Spanish president Pedro Sánchez to 'release the political prisoners' held in custody following Catalunya's disputed independence referendum.

During a golf tournament for retired football players at PGA Catalunya Resort camp in Caldes de Malavella, the former FC Barcelona star said he believed letting the jailed politicians go free would be 'the first step' towards dialogue between the national and regional governments.

“Let's hope the first thing Pedro Sánchez does [in terms of Catalunya] is not to approach the prisoners, but to release the – that's the most important thing to attempt to start talking and trying to understand each other,” Guardiola said.

This should be the starting point, according to the UK Premier League club trainer – for the pro-independence politicians to 'return home to their people and get on with doing politics'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEW president Pedro Sánchez has nominated anti-terrorist prosecutor Dolores Delgado, an expert in Jihad-related crimes, as minister of justice, and Isabel Celaá, one-time minister of former Basque regional president or Lehendakari Patxi López, as education minister.

Constantino Méndez, who was secretary of State for defence under former socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is now minister of the same department.

Health minister, replacing the PP's Dolors Montserrat, is Carmen Montón, from the Valencia regional government – a woman who has started the process of de-privatising hospitals and GP surgeries in Alzira (Valencia), Dénia (Alicante) and with others set to follow.

Sra Montón and her team also defied the right-wing PP government's decision to cease all but emergency free healthcare for undocumented migrants, insisting that medical treatment should be universal and available to all, not just those with the means to pay for it.

Probably the person with Spain's most crucial role is Magdalena Valerio (pictured), minister of work and pensions, who has already admitted 'there is a lot to do' once she starts in earnest.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOLLOWING the unexpected major team changes announced in MotoGP with Jorge Lorenzo taking Dani Pedrosa's place at Repsol Honda, fans were quite ready to believe four-times world champion Marc Márquez had made a sideways career move into Formula 1.

But the 25-year-old Lleida-born prodigy's spin round Austria's Red Bull Ring in a Toro Rosso was just a reward by his sponsors for his excellent results.

Márquez, from Cervera in inland Catalunya, started off in a Formula 1 simulator at the Red Bull factory and stunned the motor racing team with his natural skills, adapting his reactions and braking to suit four wheels rather than two.

He then got behind the wheel for real and went for a spin, putting to good use the advice given to him during the simulator session by veteran world championship Formula 1 drivers Niki Lauda and Mark Webber and Red Bull's team advisor Helmut Marko.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MARKETING researchers Kantar Worldpanel have released their 2018 'brand footprint ranking', revealing the top 10 grocery products bought by customers in Spain.

Of these, six are Spanish brands, two French, one Mexican and one from the United States – although the jury has long been out whether this, too, was originally created in Spain.

It may come as no surprise that the number one brand appearing in Spanish residents' grocery baskets is Coca-Cola, given that it is the most famous on the planet – it boasts 137.6 million 'consumer reach points' (CRPs), defined as how many times an item is purchased, irrespective of how many people buy it and at what frequency.

At any one time, 76.1% of households in Spain will have at least one product manufactured by Coca-Cola in its fridge or cupboard.

Typically associated with its known commercial origins in the USA, a brewery in the inland Valencia-province village of Aielo de Malferit claims to have invented the formula in 1885, and has the handwritten recipe on its premises.

In fact, Coca-Cola is the most-purchased brand on the planet, followed by Colgate, for toothpaste, and Maggi for soups.

El Pozo ham and processed meat, packaged in Murcia, is the second-most popular grocery brand in Spain, reaching 130.9 million consumers and found in 78.5% of households nationwide.

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A DOLL which 'survived' the Titanic and was recovered from the sea bed 65 years later is up for auction again, her current owner has revealed.

Only the head remains of passenger Eva Hart's favourite doll, whom she had to leave behind in her berth when she fled the sinking ship on April 1, 1912.

The doll was found 41 years ago, 2,000 metres under water, halfway across the Atlantic between Southampton, UK and New York, by Captain Abel Federico Nogueiras of the shipping company Argenbel, and he kept her for the next 15 years until his death.

Collector Teresa Martín, from the province of Huelva in Spain's far south-west, contacted Eva Hart and came to an agreement allowing her to keep the doll.

Eva died in 1996, never having seen her doll again, but happy in the knowledge that she had been found.

Before the doll was recovered, Eva had always made reference to her when interviewed about her ordeal on the Titanic and her survival after the luxury ocean-going liner sank on its maiden voyage.

Four years ago, Teresa Martín put her collection of over 300 dolls on display in the local museum in her home village of Ayamonte, which is where they remain today.

Teresa had always had a soft spot for Eva's doll, but has decided she needs a new home and has listed her on the online auction site, Catawiki, until tomorrow (Tuesday, June 5) at 20.00.

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A DAM in the province of Salamanca which has already been on an Oscar-winning production is about to 'travel' to Hollywood again – this time, in a scene in Arnold Schwarznegger's Terminator 6.

The ravine in Aldeadávila which houses a lock owned by electricity board Iberdrola for producing hydraulic energy, part of the river Duero and in the middle of a nature reserve, will see around 200 cast and crew members descend on it, of whom around 20 are from Aldeadávila and will be working as extras or taken on for a few days to work behind the scenes.

Some of Iberdrola's hydraulic power station staff on the site will be among the extras.

A dramatic series of scenes against a dramatic backdrop, the part of the latest in the Terminator series shot in the dam will involve high-speed cameras and drones.

It is now 26 years since the Terminator 2 was thrust into the unusual situation of being a sequel more famous and popular than the original production, hurling Schwarznegger into the global spotlight and adding expressions like “I'll be back,” and “Hasta la vista, baby,” to common speak.

Since then, Schwarznegger has been governor of the State of California, but he is due back in his leathers, 'fleshing' out the molten-metal-cored mechanical hero, under the auspices of director James Cameron.

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CASTELLÓN is about to change its name officially as part of the city council's bid to 'Valencianise' the east-coast provincial capital.

It will drop the final 'n' and become Castelló, following votes in favour from the socialists (PSOE), the independent local party Castelló en Moviment, and the left-wing regional party Compromís.

Centre-right Ciudadanos and the right-wing PP voted against.

The city, like many municipalities in the Comunidad Valenciana, has two names – Castellón, which is Spanish, and Castelló, which is valenciano – so the PP and Ciudadanos do not see the sense in scrapping the Spanish version of the name, which is the most-used for Castellón outside the region and worldwide.

Spokesman for Castelló en Moviment, Xavi del Señor, argues that the name change 'does not oblige anyone to speak in a certain way', and councillor for Compromís, Enric Porcar, says the move 'is not against anyone or any language'.

They say 'historic' and 'scientific' data bear out the fact that the city should be called 'Castelló', in valenciano, and that 'four high-profile experts' – Germà Colón, Vicent Pitarch, Vicent García Edo and Antonio Gascó – have signed a manifesto to that effect.

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CUTTING electricity bills, increasing pensions and the minimum wage, limiting presidential terms of office, reducing waiting lists for care allowances and scrapping the harsh Public Safety Reform, known as the'gagging law', are among Pedro Sánchez's ambitious plans for his 18 months as Spain's leader before his job is up for vote again in the next general elections.

State pensions, thanks to a reform that has meant annual rises never exceeded the legal minimum of 0.25% since January 2012, have become one of Spanish society's greatest concerns, and Sánchez has pledged to ensure they increase in line with inflation at the very least.

Sánchez's party, the PSOE (socialists) have been insisting for years that the minimum wage needs to increase – at €735.90 per month, it is half that of France and, at €24.53 per day, works out at just €3 per hour.

This is based upon workers getting 14 payslips a year – a double one in August and at Christmas – meaning the minimum annual wage is €10,302.60, or €858.55 a month with 12 payslips, and below the minimum taxpaying threshold of €12,000 per annum.

Increasing this, and setting up a complex package of measures to help young people – defined as the under-35s – into the job market in equal conditions, and a reform of the Formación Profesional (FP) system, Spain's answer to BTECs, are on Sánchez's agenda and he will seek support from left-wing party Podemos in doing so.

Also on family finances, Sánchez wants to address the issue of tenants being priced out of the rental market with ever-increasing costs, which experts fear could lead to a new housing 'bubble' if unchecked.

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PEDRO Sánchez will be sworn in tomorrow (Saturday) as president, and is the third socialist leader of the country since Spain's famous Transition to Democracy.

The Transition started on the day of dictator General Franco's death – November 20, 1975 – and was complete by December 1, 1982.

It was on this date that the first socialist president of Spain, Felipe González, entered the Moncloa Palace – the official presidential residence – with 207 votes in his favour out of the Parliamentary total of 350.

He was re-elected on July 23, 1986 with his own party's 184 votes alone, and again over December 4 and 5 of 1989.

González's fourth reign started on July 9, 1993 and ended on May 4, 1996 when the PP first took up office, led by José María Aznar.

Socialist number two, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero won a landslide victory in the 2004 elections, gaining office on April 16 and ending Aznar's second reign after the then PP leader fell out of favour for claiming the al-Qaeda bombs which killed 192 commuters on a Madrid train was the work of Basque separatists ETA.

Zapatero, seeing his mandate was weakening, took the decision to call a general election six months early, on November 21, 2011, ending his second term of office.

His alleged denial of the financial crisis until it had fully set in, and the public blaming him for it, was enough to paint Spain blue and give a massive majority to the PP and Mariano Rajoy.

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MESSAGES from European leaders have been pouring into Spain following the announcement of its new president, PSOE (socialist) head Pedro Sánchez.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) says she hopes that following the change in government in Spai, the two countries will 'maintain their close and trusting cooperation' and also the friendship between two of the European Union's largest and most powerful members.

Spokesman for the German government, Steffen Seibert – pictured right next to Frau Merkel - wished outgoing president Mariano Rajoy all the best and thanked him for his 'cooperation' and the 'reforms' he implemented which 'have returned Spain to growth'.

Seibert refused to give any views on the no-confidence vote against Rajoy which has put Sánchez in the hotseat: “We don't comment on in-house democratic processes that take place in our allied countries,” he said.

Mayoress of Paris Anne Hidalgo – who is of Andalucía origin, having been born in San Fernando (Cádiz province) – said Sánchez was 'the leader Spain needs today' and that the country's return to socialism gave her a 'very strong and concrete' positive feeling for its future.

“This is good news, not only for Spain, but also for Europe and for the social democrats – [Pedro Sánchez] is an educated man, rational, reasonable and I believe he is the leader Spain needs.

Mme Hidalgo believes Sánchez is 'very authentic, very sincere' in his 'political commitment', and 'very clear in his objectives and balanced in his economic and social plan' for Spain.

Sánchez is 'a social democrat, ecologist and feminist' like herself, Mme Hidalgo concludes.

Leader of the French socialist party Olivier Fauré tweeted: “Bravo, esteemed Pedro Sánchez Castejón, new president of the Spanish government! All my best wishes for success in this formidable challenge, for Spain, for Europe and for the Left.”

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SOCIALIST leader Pedro Sánchez is now president of Spain after a no-confidence vote against the PP's Mariano Rajoy prospered with 180 votes – four more than the 176 majority needed to pass the motion.

Sánchez is now preparing to move into the Moncloa Palace, the official presidential residence, after receiving votes in favour from Unidos Podemos, two Catalunya regional parties ERC and PDeCAT, Basque parties PNV and EH Bildu, and the sole MP from Nueva Canaria, Pedro Quevedo.

Canarian Coalition's lone MP Ana Oramas abstained, and Spain's fourth-largest political party, the centre-right Ciudadanos, voted against as they believe the motion to be undemocratic and a snap general election should be called instead.

But Pedro Sánchez, a 46-year-old economics graduate and keen basketball player from Madrid, is going to have a tough challenge on his hands: his party, the second-largest in Parliament, only holds 84 seats out of the total of 350, and his new job comes right in the middle of the Catalunya separatist crisis which led to the right-wing PP government stripping the region of its self-ruling powers and to several politicians being jailed or forced into exile.

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