Live News From Spain As It Happens

GUARDIA Civil traffic police have exposed some of the most common 'clever tricks' used by drivers over the alcohol limit to fool officers into thinking they are sober and to try to 'beat the breathalyser' - but, bad news for anyone with little regard for other road-users' safety: they don't work.

Random breathalysing checks are often programmed ahead of major public holidays, during the start of the summer traffic exodus and the 'operation return' in September, during or after important football matches, parties or events and, less frequently, over ordinary summer evenings and weekends - but they can also crop up for no apparent reason.

You may as well cooperate, because refusing to be breathalysed is a criminal offence - and, if you've taken the decision to drive, you should be in a position not to have to worry about the test.

But the Guardia Civil says there are always motorists who think they can outsmart the police, and there will always be someone in a social group who confidently tells the others that they 'only have to do this one thing' and authorities will 'send you on your way'.

This is not clever, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) says, because alcohol is present in 30% to 50% of crashes involving deaths, making it one of the biggest risk factors on Spain's roads.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PEDRO Sánchez and the PSOE (socialists) have won by far the most seats at yesterday's (Sunday's) general election – fewer than the 140 he aspired to, but at 123, as many as the right-wing PP earned following the 2015 vote.

This still leaves him short of the 176 needed for an outright majority, but the results gained by the main right-wing parties mean he has little risk of being trumped by a coalition agreement between them.

For the first time since Felipe González's reign, which ended in 1998, the socialists have won the general election in 40 of Spain's 52 constituencies, and also acquired the most seats at the Senate, with 123.

In total, the PSOE gained nearly 7.5 million votes in an election which saw a much higher participation than the one in summer 2016 – 75.75% of the electorate, as opposed to 66.48% last time – representing 28.68% of ballots.

The right-wing PP has plunged in popularity – the 123 seats gained in 2015 and the 137 won in 2016 under Mariano Rajoy has now dropped to 66 under Pablo Casado, with just under 4.4 million votes, or 16.7% of ballots.

Until the 2015 elections, voting was always a straight contest between the 'Big Two', the PP and PSOE, but the emergence of powerful independent parties means the likelihood of any one outfit gaining a clear majority is now very remote; in fact, centre-right Ciudadanos is now tailgating the PP with 57 seats, resulting from 4.14m votes, or 15.86% of ballots.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALL cars sold after the year 2022 in the European Union will have 'smart speed assistants' built in, meaning they will adjust the speed of the vehicle to the limits on the road it is travelling on.

This move had already been proposed by Spain's General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) a year ago, but as yet, the plan is that car drivers will be able to deactivate it if they wish - only drivers of coaches, buses, lorries and vans will not be able to switch theirs off.

It is not yet known when, if at all, European Parliament will opt to make it compulsory for the devices to be activated at all times.

Other 'smart' systems which all vehicles manufactured from 2022 will be required to have as standard include advanced braking systems, distraction warning systems, devices which warn drivers if they are drifting out of the correct lane, reverse detection devices, an interface which stops the car engine from switching on if the driver is over the alcohol limit, an emergency stop signal, and a 'black box' to record accident data.

The 'smart speed assistant' alone would cut road deaths by 20%, according to European Parliament - the European Commission has revealed that in 2018 alone, over 25,000 people were killed in crashes on roads in the 28 member States, and 135,000 were seriously injured.

Spain's Road Safety and Prevention manager at the MAPFRE Foundation - the social action arm of MAPFRE insurance - Jesús Monclús says if every single car in the country was equipped with a speed assistant that blocked them from going faster than the limit, around 400 fewer deaths per year would occur.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITISH stage director Peter Brook has won the 2019 Princess of Asturias Arts Award in recognition of his 'highly-attractive and social mises en scène' and for being 'one of the greatest renovators of the performing arts'.

London-born Brook, 94, was director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Opera House in the mid-20th century before moving to Paris and founding an international experimental theatre and creation group.

Brook is still director of the Centre International de Créations Théâtrales (CICT) to this day.

He is considered to be the 'king of experimental theatre', not just in London, but worldwide.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SEVEN-FOOT teenager has sparked debate about whether he should continue with his junior basketball team or be promoted to the adult side after beating his rivals 49-121.

Olivier Roux, from Canada, is just 13 years old and is already 2.18 metres (7'2") tall, towering above his colleagues on the Real Madrid Under-13 and Under-14 teams.

His début with the top-ranking club was at an away match this weekend, when he scored 20 points against BBA Castelldefels (Barcelona province) within minutes.

The youngster, to spectators, apparently had an easy ride thanks to his height, meaning the result of the FIBA International U13 and U14 Tournament was almost a foregone conclusion and BBA Castelldefels players went home disheartened.

Comments on social media afterwards said it was not fair on Real Madrid's rivals.

But others pointed out that for Olivier to play in the U13 squad was unfair on the lofty teen, too.

His promise in the sport has been described as 'off the planet', and playing matches he is certain to win for his team means he is not being challenged enough.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TORRENTIAL rain over Easter reaching up to 17.3 centimetres (6.8 inches) on the east coast has helped replenish ailing reservoirs which have been struggling to remain topped up after several years of either drought or well-below average rainfall.

Water sources, including rivers, wells and man-made lake-sized deposits, increased by 0.7% over the four-day holiday alone, acquiring 390 cubic hectometres, or 39,000 cubic metres.

The average household in Spain uses around 41 cubic metres, or 41,000 litres, of water per month, meaning this extra volume has proven very welcome - enough to supply just over 79 homes for the next year.

At present, the country's reservoirs hold 32,779 cubic hectometres - nearly 32.8 billion litres - and are up to 58.4% of their capacity.

This is still considerably lower than a year ago, however, when reservoirs stood at 70.78%, or 39,690 cubic hectometres, and even less than a decade ago when the nation's water reserves held 41,025 cubic hectometres, or were 73.1% full.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IT'S NOW 10 days since one of the greatest breakthroughs in space science - the publishing of the first image of a black hole - and our own knowledge of these gigantic, terrifying, bottomless pits has grown considerably since then as the incredible phenomenon gathers more and more internet searches and social media followers. Spanish scientists were key in creating the footage and, if you've ever been skiing in the Sierra Nevada, you'll be stunned to know that the powerful telescope used is based just metres from the piste where you were.

Dr José Luis Gómez, investigator at the High Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) in Spain and based at the Andalucía Astrophysics Institute (IAA) says: "I wish Einstein had been alive to see this."

And not only Einstein, but the legendary Stephen Hawking, the Brit who brought space science to the ordinary person on the street, Prince of Asturias Award winner and presenter of numerous astrophysics fairs and conferences in Spain.

"This image will be the one that appears in the textbooks," Dr Gómez, who developed one of the three algorithms used in the reconstruction, explains.

"It's like breaking through glass. For the first time, we have this photo in our hands, and now we know that we can actually study these objects.

"We're confident that this finding will open the door to a better understanding of how black holes function."

Dr Iván Martí-Vidal, from Spain's National Geographical Institute (IGN), designed the algorithms that allowed the global team to combine data from the radio-telescopes that make up the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) network and build the image.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A CANDIDATE in the 21-strong shortlist for the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, Stonehenge represents one of the UK's greatest mysteries.

Like the only surviving member of the original seven wonders - the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt - how this huge circle of standing stones was built has always been part of the great unknown of Europe's most ancient history.

But we do know a little about the actual builders: London's Natural History Museum has revealed that they could well have been Spanish or Portuguese.

Experts in prehistoric genetics compared DNA from the remains of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age humans from what is now known as Europe, and found that that of the vast majority of those living in the modern-day UK were almost identical to that of humans living on the Iberian Peninsula.

Stonehenge is believed to have been built in what is now the county of Wiltshire back then, and humans from the Iberian Peninsula are thought to have been responsible for introducing the tradition of constructing monuments with megaliths, or gigantic stones, into the north-western part of the continent.

Read moe at thinkSPAIN.com

GIVEN that bright sunshine and warm temperatures may not be on the cards this Easter, cold-weather activities for the next four days may suddenly come back into fashion at an unusual time of year - but luckily, 19 ski stations across Spain will remain open for the holidays.

According to ATUDEM, which covers ski resorts in Spain, Andorra, Portugal and in the French Pyrénées, says snow in parts of all four countries in the last few weeks have meant some stations expecting to close by early April at the latest are still busy.

These include 60% of resorts in Spain.

In total, on the Iberian Peninsula, 26 will be trading between now and Easter Monday inclusive - 19 in Spain, three in Andorra, three in the French Pyrénées and one in Portugal.

The snow is quite thin in some of them - only 10 centimetres, or four inches - but enough to prevent patches of mud, grass and rocks appearing to pull you up dead and unbalance you halfway down the slope.

In others, it is up to three metres (9'9") deep.

Three ski resorts open over Easter in Aragón are those in the Pyrénéen province of Huesca: Formigal-Panticosa, Astún-Candanchú, and Cerler (pictured); those in the province of Teruel - Javalambre and Valdelinares - closed on March 24 after one of the shortest and warmest seasons in their history, having not opened until nearly January and skiers sweltering in temperatures of up to 24ºC in the shade and with the only snow all winter having come from cannons as there had been less than four inches of 'real' snow all year.

The Sierra Nevada (Granada province) and the Snowzone in Madrid are open, for those who do not want to venture too far north - although the latter only has 2.2 kilometres of slopes on two pistes as opposed to over 103 kilometres in the former.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOR those of you who haven't opted to spend Easter on the Mediterranean, this weekend is likely to see you stocking up creme eggs in the fridge and, if you have children, spending a fortune on the larger versions lining the shelves at Tesco, making daffodil-shaped Easter bonnets, and something to do with rabbits (we can't remember, exactly). But if you're in Spain for the holidays, the experience awaiting you from tonight (Good Friday) is radically different - even if you're based near enough to a British-run supermarket to have bulk-bought hot-cross buns and kept Cadbury's in business for the rest of the year.

Many of Spain's fiestas have at least a tenuous religious link, even if it's only because they're celebrated on the day of a given saint; often, in fact, the biblical foundations of a Spanish festival are completely unknown even to those in the thick of it, but this doesn't spoil their enjoyment of them or reduce their participation. You don't need to have been to catechism to dance to live music or DJs until sunrise, indulge in public paellas, drink too much or don elaborate, psychedelic costumes and parade round town serenaded by marching bands.

But Semana Santa, or 'Holy Week', is serious stuff. Easter is when religion takes centre stage and, if you're an atheist and planning on watching these haunting, daunting parades, we recommend you read up on the story of the crucifixion first to give yourself some background knowledge.

Preparing for Easter: from the Carnival to the Passion of Christ

Six weeks ago, you may have been lucky enough to pop to a Carnival and let it all hang out, or just watched the splendid, often hilarious, fancy-dress costumes from the sidelines; this, along with Shrove Tuesday in the UK, or 'pancake day', is a final fling before the start of Lent - a season of abstinence in the run-up to Easter to mark Jesus Christ's 42-day fast in the desert, when he successfully resisted the temptation by the Devil to turn the rivers into wine and the rocks into bread. This is all part of the modern-day warm-up for Easter weekend, a series of events that greet the early spring and re-enact the winter of Jesus' life, which you may have seen traces of in Spain or in your home country. Five weeks after the Carnival is Palm Sunday when, in the UK, those who go to church receive a cross woven from a palm leaf, but which, in Spain, is the subject of a street parade with brass bands and locals carrying huge, intricate and decorative fans made from dried palm, or entire branches from the trees; this depicts Christ's final entry into Jerusalem before he is crucified, riding a donkey - at the time, the most humble form of transport - along streets carpeted with palm leaves to soften them for his mount's hooves.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE CANARIAN island of La Gomera will see its name up in lights at Cannes Film Festival this year, thanks to a production focusing on its lost language.

Whilst it has practically died out, the island's native tongue remains UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, and it is about to be brought back to life by Romanian film director Corneliu Porumboiu.

La Gomera - the name of the island and the film - is completely unique insofar as its language does not involve any spoken words: its 'speakers' communicate by whistling.

The Cannes début for this tiny island features a police officer who travels there to learn its whistling language, known as El Silbo (literally, 'The Whistle').

Other entries are gradually being revealed: whilst Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón was unable to compete last year with his Goya Award-winning film Roma, since the French festival does not permit Netflix productions, he will be there this year with his restored version of the Stanley Kubrick 1980 classic, The Shining.

An eponymous documentary about Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona, directed by Asif Kapadia - who has also created documentaries about late stars, Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna and rocker Amy Winehouse - is 'entering' hors concours and will be the second of its type about Maradona to appear at Cannes: the first was in 2008, by Emir Kusturica.

Terrence Malick, who won the 2011 Palme d'Or with The Tree of Life will be back this year with A Hidden Life, set in World War II - but Cannes' managing director Thierry Frémaux warns Malick, if he is there in person, 'will not be seen by anyone', as he is said to be very adept at avoiding reporters.

British singer Elton John will be present at the festival - Frémaux says the organisers will 'hide a piano' there 'in case he wants to regale us with his immense talent' - since a film about his life, Rocketman, will be entered, starring Taron Egerton and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE DUKE of Westminster plans to invest €200 million in 'the most patriotic' Madrid suburb to turn it into an exclusive des-res area.

Hugh Grosvenor, 26, who became Duke in August 2016 upon the death of his father Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, is said to be attracted by the traditional community of the borough of Chamberí, which is made up of six neighbourhoods - Gaztambide, Arapiles, Trafalgar, Almagro, Ríos Rosas, and Vallehermoso - and which is home to around 150,000 people.

Godfather of Prince George - son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine - Hugh inherited his father's company, Grosvenor Group Limited, which was founded in London in 1677.

Concerning Madrid, its philosophy is one of 'exclusivity' and 'community life' rather than 'trumped-up fake luxury'.

The Duke became owner of 0.22% of the UK's land when he inherited his title, in Cheshire, Oxfordshire, Scotland, Liverpool, and the up-market London boroughs of Belgravia and Mayfair, among others.

He also owns The Westminster Nanpeidai in Shibuya, Tokyo; the Skärholmen Centrum in Stockholm; several condominiums in Alberta, Canada; and in Silicon Valley in California, USA.

His land alone is worth €8 billion, and his share capital €15bn.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LEADING consumer association has warned members of the public not to answer calls with one of five country prefixes, since they could end up with a huge telephone bill as a result.

Those who know someone in any of the countries listed and normally speak to them by phone should check the number on their screen before picking up, and ignore it if they do not recognise it.

FACUA-Consumers in Action has had numerous reports of calls from numbers with the country codes 225 (Côte d'Ivoire, formerly the Ivory Coast), 233 (Ghana), 234 (Nigeria), 355 (Albania), and 387 (Bosnia), who end up getting charged just for answering.

Where a mobile or landline customer does fall victim to one of these additional-tariff number scams, FACUA says, they should notify their operator in writing to advise them and request an itemised bill which breaks down the cost of the rogue call.

The customer can then opt not to pay this part of the bill and, if the phone company sends reminders and the customer still does not pay, the operator is not permitted to cut their line off.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ARMED robbery at the Bank of Spain in the heart of Madrid in the middle of a huge football final took place in the early hours of yesterday (Monday) - but all was not as it seemed.

The city centre block including the Cibeles fountain roundabout and the nation's economic and financial hub were shut off to traffic and pedestrians in the dead of night for a key scene in Jaume Balagueró's latest film, Way Down, to be shot.

A brilliant engineer with a cunning plan to break into a fortress-like bank, legendary lost treasure, a massive football final that keeps the city distracted, and a tale of ancient pirates, 'all mixed together and well stirred up', Balagueró described his forthcoming production back in February.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOUR full days off work without using up any annual leave is not exactly a regular feature on any national calendar – even in Spain where, if a month goes by without a bank holiday, the workforce starts to get tired and cross. So Easter is a perfect chance to grab a quick getaway – and, with a world of options within Spain itself, you don’t even need to worry about inflated holiday flight prices.

For the uninitiated, Spain is a beach destination par excellence, and although the usual sweltering summer weather is some months off, the spring sunshine means you might be able to grab a couple of hours in the middle of the day soaking up the rays, but don’t expect it to be hot; you’ll have to wait until June or July for that. And, actually, Spanish beaches have become victims of their own success: those who just want hot weather, relaxation and a tan have the bottom half of Europe and the top half of Africa to choose from, at similar prices and without the hassle of long-haul flights; yet with Spain having won the stakes as a sunseeking Mecca means few bother to look beyond the coast to see what else this incredibly versatile country can offer travellers.

Basically, holidaying in Spain and spending your time on the beach is a bit like heading to Rome or Paris and sitting in a bar all day and night – a terrible waste of tourism gems. The Easter break is a great chance to savour some of these without committing yourself to a two-week annual holiday – and hopefully, will inspire you to come back for more.

For families

Probably one of the safest and most welcoming countries for kids, the list of fantastic, fun and educational breaks that suit the little ones is literally endless, although most of these options are also brilliant entertainment for adults, with or without children in tow.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN was one of the worst-affected countries by yesterday's social media crash, which saw Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp go down all at once.

Much of the east and south-east and far north-west of England, The Netherlands, northern Belgium, central Europe to the east of France and south-east of Germany as far as Hungary, the Istanbul and Ankara areas of Turkey, patches of southern Portugal, the Cairo and northern Sinai parts of Egypt, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and parts of the USA were affected.

But the whole of Spain and Italy, except the south coast of the latter, were a complete social media blank from around 12.30 mainland Spanish time (11.30 in the Canary Islands) until mid-afternoon.

Connections started to reappear at around 15.00 in some areas of Spain, but it was not until nightfall that they were all back online.

The Instagram news feed was not working, Facebook's server was not responding and it was not possible to log in, and WhatsApp users reported problems with sending and receiving messages.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S population has broken the 47 million barrier again for the first time since 2013, and foreigner numbers are increasing with Brits totalling nearly a quarter of a million.

The annual data from the National Institute of Statistics, based upon the census as at January 1 this year, have just been published and reveal that 8.9 million people in Spain are aged over 65, that the youngest foreigners are from Hondurás and the oldest are from the UK.

Distribution by sexes - 49% men and 51% women - has not changed, but the country as a whole is getting older: only 15.7% are aged under 16, whilst over a third, or 36.3% are between 16 and 44, another 28.7% are aged from 45 to 64 and the over-65s make up 19.3%.

Whilst foreigners account for just over 10.7%, or around five million, a growing number were born in Spain; the total figure for those born abroad, whether they are Spanish or foreign, is 14.3%.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPANISH patrol boat rescued a Nigerian merchant ship which had been kidnapped by pirates in the Guinean Gulf, reports the ministry of defence.

The P-71 Serviola is based on the west African coast and was carrying out security operations on Tuesday when its crew located the ship, which was navigating 'erratically' and without transmitting via the Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Spanish Naval officials radioed the ship's crew, who confirmed they had been hijacked four days ago.

The pirates had shifted away when they saw the Spanish Navy craft, although it was likely they would return once the coast was clear.

According to the Nigerian captain, nobody on board the merchant ship had been harmed during the four days they had been under siege.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOR the first time ever, off-grid living can be shared between communities of owners or between traders with neighbouring premises, thanks to a new law covering self-generated power supply due to come into force tomorrow (Sunday).

Until this weekend, only individuals were able to power their homes via solar panels, which can be a costly exercise - even though the original outlaw will be clawed back within a few years from money saved on mains electricity bills - but from tomorrow, a new legal figure, dubbed 'collective self-generated consumption', has been launched so that entire apartment blocks, urbanisations, or even unrelated neighbours can share their supply.

And any energy they produce which they do not need to use can be 'sold back' to the mains electricity company by way of a discount on owners' bills during times when they need to resort to the grid.

Previously, homeowners were only permitted to install solar panels on their own premises for personal use, but now, by clubbing together, groups, communities of owners and traders who share industrial estates can opt to set theirs up elsewhere.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MADRID-BORN PhD student in Computational Neuroscience was part of the winning crew at this year's Oxford and Cambridge boat race, which the latter won for the second consecutive year and in both the men's and the women's race.

Described as a 'genius', Adriana Pérez is the daughter of scientist parents and was schooled at the Lycée Française, representing them in the 2012 Mathematics Olympics, graduated in maths and physics from the University of Columbia, USA, and her glowing academic CV meant she had the option to choose between the UK's two most prestigious higher education centres to research her doctoral thesis.

Both offered her a full scholarship, and she opted for Cambridge in the end, where her sporting prowess has also been highly appreciated.

An all-rounder, Adriana runs marathons, competes in triathlons and is a competent and successful rower - enough to be picked for the first eight and to help her fellow female oarswomen to their third victory on the trot in the gruelling race.

Cambridge women beat Oxford women, taking their overall tally to 44-30, and Adriana has become the first Spaniard ever to row to victory in the famous Putney-to-Mortlake race.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IT is often hard to comprehend how a modern, progressive country such as Spain was almost a third-world nation in the grip of a fascist dictatorship just 45 years ago - and democracy at local level is even younger.

Two months away from the municipal elections - which all EU citizens on the census, including Brits, Brexit or no Brexit, can vote in - it may not seem any great privilege, being able to drop your ballot paper in a box in an attempt to choose the party you think is most likely to follow through with their pledges on more parking spaces, lower property taxes, and recycling bins closer than a 15-minute walk away.

But this week saw Spain marking its 40th anniversary of the first democratic local elections, the first time residents were allowed to vote for their local government.

Until as recently as 1979, few adults in Spain had ever voted at all - they had never had a voice.

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SPAIN will reopen its Consulate in Manchester in response to popular request from expats who are starting to panic about getting appointments in time to resolve their affairs before Brexit and to register to vote in the general elections on April 28.

National government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá says the office, which was closed in 2011, will once again serve the north and north-west of England, North and West Yorkshire, East Wales, the West Midlands, East and South Yorkshire and the Isle of Man, although not Cumbria, which is covered by the Consulate in Edinburgh - one of only two currently open along with London.

Since Manchester closed eight years ago, 'the number of Spaniards resident in the UK has grown considerably', says Sra Celaá.

"In light of the situation of an imminent Brexit, we need to reinforce Consular presence in the UK to offer legal security to Spaniards living there and help them with all the information and admin they require," she announced yesterday (Friday).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AFTER unusually-high temperatures graced Spain during the first weekend of spring, a mass of cold air heading down from Greenland means winter is on its way back - and, in some parts of the country, has already arrived.

A multi-car pile-up on mountain roads in Asturias, leaving several drivers and passengers with minor injuries, was caused by hail on Tuesday, whilst on the Mediterranean, temperatures plummeted to around 11ºC on Sunday and Monday with two days of non-stop rain.

In the northern half of the country, maximum temperatures of around 9ºC are expected until at least this coming Sunday, and snow is forecast at altitudes of above 400 metres.

Ironically, an almost total lack of snowfall south of the Pyrénées meant several of Spain's ski resorts were unable to open until nearly January and, even then, the only white stuff on the pistes was generated by snow-making cannons - and yet, now that most of them have been closed for at least a week, they may suddenly get the snow they have been missing all winter.

This morning (Thursday), exceptionally cold temperatures were reported throughout the mainland - mostly in the northern and central parts, although also in pockets of the south.

The lowest was recorded in Puerto de Leitariegos (Asturias), at -3.2ºC, followed by Puerto de San Isidro (León province, Castilla y León), at -3.1ºC.

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SOCIETY ‘needs tourism to broaden its horizons and so as not to build walls’, Spanish president Pedro Sánchez said today (Wednesday) at an international industry summit in Sevilla.

He opened his speech at the World Travel & Tourism Council by thanking the global sector leaders present for their plans to invest up to €3 billion in Spain in the next few years, and by highlighting the ‘enormous potential’ of the rural holiday industry in the country, ‘not just because it is so attractive’, but because this sector is ‘a great future opportunity’ for facing up to ‘one of the nation’s main challenges’, that of re-populating villages in danger of extinction.

Sanchez recalled that Spain is ‘the number one global powerhouse’ in tourism, breaking even its own records in 2018 with 83 million international visitors – almost doubling the resident population – and some of the highest amounts spent by holidaymakers ever registered.

This said, Spain is a little concerned about the impact on the industry of Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia, which for years were considered off-limits due to perceived terrorism risk and are once again attracting sunseekers to their beaches, undercutting Spain on price.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A COLOMBIAN court has embargoed the Spanish galleon San José, sunk by British pirates near Cartagena de Indias in the 18th century, in response to an appeal by a US treasure-hunting firm which is claiming the rights to 50% of the goods on board.

The High Court of Barranquilla has overturned a ruling of October 2017 and returned to that of the same month in 1994, placing the shipwreck under government custody once again.

This earlier verdict was passed after Sea Search Armada (SSA) sued the Colombian government in 1989, claiming 100% of its ‘financial, historic, cultural and scientific’ treasure belonged to the company ‘if it was found within the continental platform’, or within a set of secret coordinates dating back to 1982.

A lower court in Barranquilla ruled that the treasure on board should be split half each between Colombia and SSA, but at the time, the San José had not been found.

Famously mentioned in Nobel Literature Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Love in the Time of Cholera, with the main characters hoping to trace it and claim the treasure inside, the San José finally emerged on December 4, 2015 – an historic mystery solved 300 years on and announced by former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos.

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SPANISH dentists have confirmed that keeping hold of your milk teeth after they fall out could indeed save your life later on.

Dr Óscar Castro Reino, chairman of the General Council of Dentists in Spain, responded to a study recently published in the USA: “It has been shown that the cavity in your first teeth contain blood vessels, nerves and also stem cells which could be used to regenerate damaged tissue.”

These stem cells are preserved in the teeth via the umbilical cord, and can be used in regenerative therapy for diabetes, cancer and heart attacks.

And they are well-conserved because they have not been exposed to the same environmental damage as adult teeth, given that they fall out at between the ages of five and eight.

Dr Castro says keeping them – rather than letting the tooth fairy have them – is ‘an investment in your future’.

‘Tooth banks’ are already operating worldwide, especially in the USA, run by companies who keep milk teeth preserved until they are needed.

They need to be kept in optimum conditions – ideally frozen, in the same way as a woman’s eggs or a man’s sperm are frozen so they can have children later in life.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

WHILST Spain’s coasts and its major cities are densely-packed, cosmopolitan and – mostly – modern and well-connected, with the number of nationalities living like neighbours and equal members of the community running into three figures, five or six languages being heard in conversation on the average 10-minute walk, a short journey inland from the beach or out of the suburbs tells a different story: vast swathes of open, unoccupied countryside, villages made up of just two or three families, hamlets tucked into the mountains whose populations can be counted on fingers and toes.

These beautiful, tranquil areas are a paradise for anyone seeking peace, clean air and nature, and to see elements of life that have remained unchanged for centuries: working donkeys, hand-ploughed fields, close-knit communities whose members are known by third-generation nicknames, mail addressed to the local bar instead of houses, no need to email your mayor because you’ll probably be chatting to him over a beer or a coffee in said bar at some point that day anyway.

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FOR the first time since before the financial crisis, annual house sales in Spain have broken the half-a-million barrier, say the latest figures, with a 10.1% hike in residential property changing hands in 2018.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), a total of 515,051 homes were sold in 2018 – a factor attributed to a combination of economic growth, financial strength, improvements in the job market, and residential property being much cheaper now than just before the ‘bubble’ burst in 2008.

INE data show that last year saw the market beginning to plateau, with the most moderate rise in purchase growth since 2014 – a year when the number of transactions only rose by 2%, compared with 11.5% the following year, 14% in 2016, and 15.4% in 2017.

But sales numbers at the end of last year were their highest in a decade, and both new builds and second-hand homes were behind the annual growth, according to the INE.

This fifth year of increases in home sales numbers is in stark contrast to the worst years of the financial crisis – 2008 and 2009, when property purchases plunged by 25.1% and 28.8% respectively.

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THREE locations in Spain have made it into the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice top 25 European destinations, and one into the world’s top 25.

London wins both, and is a popular choice for Spaniards on city breaks and also those moving abroad to seek jobs – in fact, Britain is home to over a quarter of a million Spanish nationals, a high number of whom live in the capital.

Barcelona comes fifth, after Paris, Rome and the Greek island of Crete, in that order – both in the world and the Europe list.

Its entry on the Travellers’ Choice page recommends visitors do not miss seeing the Casa Amatller – an optical illusion of a house with an undulating façade that looks to be straight out of a Grimm’s or Andersen’s fairytale – the Bellesguard Tower, designed by Antoni Gaudí, the same architect who created the ultra-modern and quirky Sagrada Família cathedral, and the Barcelona History Museum, or MUHBA.

The description cites Gaudí’s influence and surrealist artist Salvador Dalí’s having spent time there, and mentions the spectacular, colourful mosaïc complex, the Güell Park, as well as ‘flamboyant street performers' and pavement cafés on Las Ramblas, the popular and animated pedestrianised tourist boulevard through the city centre.

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HUMANS continue to produce new brain cells until their ninth decade of life, Spanish scientists have discovered.

According to the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre, part of Madrid Autonomous University and the High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), adult brains not affected with degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s carry on creating new neurons until around the age of 90, replacing those which die off.

This process, known as Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis, is impeded by the present of Alzheimer’s.

Neuron regeneration slows with age – and earlier studies have revealed that age-related memory loss begins to set in at around 27 years old – but does not stop altogether, which explains why it is still possible for the middle-aged and even elderly to learn new mental and physical skills.

Published in the magazine Nature Medicine, the Severo Ochoa Centre’s report says: “Despite a slight reduction in the number of neurons generated during ageing, a high number of these neurons remain present in individuals who do not suffer from any neurological illness until at least the age of 87.”

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