Live News From Spain As It Happens

FOUR seasons in one day – or at least in one week – are relatively common in May and the northern half of the country tends to be cooler than the south; but this weekend will bring a rare, extreme contrast, says the Met office.

Whilst residents in and visitors to Córdoba and Sevilla will be blessing the invention of air-conditioning, those in the Basque Country and Cantabria will be digging out their coats.

According to the State meteorological agency, AEMET, temperatures at either end of the mainland between Thursday and Sunday will be polar opposites – in a manner of speaking – reaching up to 37ºC in the south and barely reaching 14ºC in the north.

The land-locked Andalucía cities of Sevilla and Córdoba are typically the hottest in Spain – in fact, the latter has named a street after the man who invented air-conditioning, saying he literally saved their lives – and this weekend will be no exception.

Elsewhere in Andalucía, particularly the inland province of Jaén but also in south-western Huelva and Granada in the south-east, the mercury is set to soar to around 33ºC or 34ºC, climbing to 35ºC in Badajoz in the western region of Extremadura.

The south end of Castilla-La Mancha will be less extreme but still summerlike with temperatures of 31ºC to 32ºC in the province of Ciudad Real, in the dead centre of the country.

Cáceres (Extremadura) will be less torrid than its neighbour, Badajoz, at around 31ºC.

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OVER 15,000 people have so far signed a petition for the car-free 'Madrid Central' to stay put now that the city may end up being governed by the right-wing PP in coalition with far-right Vox.

Put in place by hitherto mayoress Manuela Carmena of the Podemos faction Ahora Madrid ('Madrid Now'), the city centre is shut to traffic except authorised public transport, residents, residents' visitors – up to a maximum of 20 a month – service providers and delivery drivers, emissions-free vehicles, and lower-emission B and C vehicles en route to a public car park.

The idea was to cut air pollution in Spain's capital, after representatives from Madrid and Barcelona were summoned to Brussels to explain why emissions there were among the highest on the continent and to detail their plans to reduce it.

Spain was one of a long list of countries with polluted cities ordered by Brussels to do their environmental homework.

One of the petition's signatories, David de los Ríos, says: “There's still a lot to do in order to reduce air pollution and bring Madrid in line with other European capital cities; let's not lose what little we've achieved so far.”

The author of the petition, on Change.org – J. Sáez – said it would be 'a shame' for Madrid to 'fill up with cars, pollution and gridlock again', and called for residents to help campaign for 'Madrid Central' to stay in order to achieve a 'more modern, sustainable, visitable and pedestrian-friendly' city.

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KING Juan Carlos I has announced his retirement from public duty from this coming Sunday (June 2), exactly five years to the day since he abdicated in favour of his son, King Felipe VI.

The Rex Emeritus (pictured left) has been considering giving up his Royal engagements since last year when he turned 80, according to a formal letter he sent to his son (pictured right) in the latter's capacity of head of State.

This idea 'was reaffirmed in light of the unforgettable commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution', HRH Juan Carlos I reveals.

The 40th anniversary was on December 6 last year.

King Juan Carlos' final official act was the presentation of the Spanish Order Awards 2019 in the San Lorenzo de El Escorial Royal Monastery on May 17, when he handed the prestigious prize to historian Miguel Ángel Ladero.

And his last Royal trip was to Chile in March 2018, accompanied by his wife, Queen Sofía, who is the mother of the reigning monarch and from whom King Juan Carlos I has lived separately for many years.

HRH Juan Carlos I was a key figure in bringing the Spanish Constitution of December 1978 into effect, spelling once and for all the end of dictatorship and the dawn of democracy, sealing the Transition process that began with the death of General Franco in November 1975.

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AGE is nothing but a number – although it can help you qualify to run for local government in a party that was the third-most voted in its town yesterday (Sunday), as Charito and her colleagues in the Madrid region municipality of Patones have found out.

Whilst the PSOE (socialists) netted an outright majority – 60.9% of the votes and five councillors – the party Abuelas por Patones ('Grannies for Patones') earned 15.71% of the votes, putting them third ahead of the PP who obtained one council seat with 20.19%.

But an apparent tie between the PP and the 'Abuelas' which the Electoral Board has been called upon to resolve could strengthen the latter's position.

In any case, the 'Grannies' have obtained one seat in the village, which goes to Charito (pictured), its leader, aged 95.

Charito lives in the upper part of the village, Patones de Arriba, which has just 20 inhabitants but is considered an official cultural heritage site and sees more tourists than anywhere else in Patones.

In fact, Patones, outside of Madrid city, sees some of the highest numbers of tourists in the region because of its picturesque and traditional character.

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RESIDENTS in Spain are due to cast their ballots again today (Sunday) in a multiple election of the type that only crops up once every 20 years: the local and regional polls being held at the same time as the European Parliamentary vote.

The latter is every five years, and this time around, a total of 37,272,179 people in or from Spain are eligible to vote: 34,803,653 Spaniards living in the country, 2,103,216 Spanish people who live abroad and opted to vote for candidates representing their nation of origin rather than of residence; and 365,310 Europeans living in Spain.

Of these, nearly half are Romanian or British – even if Brexit had gone ahead on the planned date of March 29 or the initial extension of April 12, Brits may still have been voting for their Spanish MEPs due to the tightness of the deadline, as first-time voters had to register by January.

British nationals living in Spain were already going to be allowed to vote in the local council elections, since the country's president, Pedro Sánchez, had struck a deal with the UK allowing them to do so – the first of the 27 remaining member States to protect Britons' vote.

But only Spanish nationals are allowed to vote in the regional government elections – as is also the case with the general elections, the most recent of which was held on April 28 this year.

Regional elections have already been held in the Comunidad Valenciana (on April 28) and Andalucía (December 2, 2018), and are not due yet in Galicia, Catalunya or the Basque Country, meaning voting will take place in 12 of Spain's 17 regions, with 16,480,264 eligible to cast their ballots, of whom 966,121 live abroad.

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HALF A CENTURY ago, two young men begged Europe to stop a wetland in southern Spain from being wiped out by wealthy landowners exploiting the area for eucalyptus and rice farming – and the Doñana National Park, now one of the continents most treasured natural conservation areas, was born.

Bird-watcher and animal-lover Mauricio González-Gordon, 26, and his friend José Antonio Valverde, aged 23, sick, impoverished and having barely been to school, started the wheels in motion on what would become the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Spanish Ornithology Society (SEO) as well as saving what is now – according to the International Union for Nature Conservation's Green List - one of the 25 best-preserved natural beauty zones on earth.

By 1969, it had been designated as a National Park, and by 1994, a UNESCO natural heritage site.

Spanning three provinces – those of Cádiz, Sevilla and Huelva, where most of it is based – taking up 543 square kilometres of marshes, sand dunes and streams and flowing into the river Guadalquivir delta in the Atlantic Ocean, and twinned with southern France's Camargue Natural Regional Park (famous for its grey horses roaming wild), the Doñana was named after the wife of the VII Duke of Medina-Sidonia, Doña Ana de Silva y Mendoza (Doña being a respectful form of address for females).

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SIX points given to Spain's Eurovision Song Contest entry performed by Miki (pictured) by the former Soviet State of Belarus have been cancelled thanks to an IT error, leaving the country with a total of 54 from Saturday's show instead of 60.

According to the European Radio Broadcasting Union (UER), points from each country are given jointly by public votes and a panel of independent judges, none of which is able to vote for its own national entry.

Anecdotal evidence from each year's contest seems to point to most countries giving their neighbouring nations the most points, ranging from one to 12.

But the judges' panel in Belarus was fired just before the Eurovision was televised, as it revealed which countries were getting its votes and for how many points before these were broadcast live on the programme.

Although the public vote total has not changed, 'human error' meant the recalculation of what should have been the judges' points was upside-down.

The unusual situation of the judges' having been sacked just before the live screening meant the UER opted to take the average scores from countries bordering Belarus to calculate what the now-invalid votes ought to be.

But the system recorded these average scores backwards.

Whilst Israel was the country scoring the lowest points from the panels of judges in Belarus' nearest nations, the computer on the night gave it 12 – and Malta was the one attracting the most points from these regions, but was erroneously given the lowest score.

Spain's six points were granted in error, and when the system issue was corrected, turned out to have been awarded none at all.

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CHILDREN exposed regularly to nature may be less likely to suffer mental health problems in adulthood, according to research led by La Caixa bank's scientific unit.

Data were extracted from 3,600 people from areas of four countries – Barcelona, in Spain; Stoke-on-Trent, UK; Doetinchem, The Netherlands, and Kaunas, Lithuania, says the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal).

According to the results published in the International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health, a positive correlation was found between time spent in non-urban outdoor areas in childhood and better cognitive development and mental and physical well-being.

This correlation has been found to have a more or less immediate effect – nature and fresh air have long been thought to be beneficial for mind and body – but had not hitherto been tested for its longer-term qualities, or its impact on adulthood when exposed to it in childhood.

Also, prior studies have focused almost exclusively on 'green areas' – parks, gardens and woodlands – and rarely on 'blue areas', as the research terms them, such as ponds, streams, canals, rivers, lakes and beaches.

The investigation formed part of the European Phenotype Project – 'phenotype' being the combination of genes, or genotype, with the environment, seen in physical, mental and behavioural features that are part nature and part nurture – and involved a questionnaire for adult participants about how often they were exposed to nature as children.

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THE BASQUE port city of Bilbao is the 'most sustainable' in Spain in terms of mobility – or has made the greatest efforts in providing clean transport facilities, according to Canadian environmental charity Greenpeace.

Factors such as pedestrianised areas, pollution and noise, town planning, transparency, and management and provision of trains, buses, taxis and cycle lanes, among other yardsticks, were taken into account.

One of Bilbao's greatest environmental positives is the fact that nearly two-thirds, or 64% of travel around the city is on foot, although public transport is efficient enough that the standard one-car, one-person system can largely be avoided, keeping pollution to a minimum.

And speed limits have been dramatically reduced in 87% of Bilbao's streets, reducing noise, air contamination, and risk to pedestrians.

Out of 10, Greenpeace gives Bilbao (pictured) 6.9, and said it would give it a higher grade if it promoted cycling more, whilst warning the city council to keep on top of pollution levels and ensure they do not rise.

Another point in Bilbao's favour is its 'women-friendly' public transport system: taxis required by local bye-law to wait and ensure female passengers are safely indoors before departing, and bus stops set up closer together so women do not have to walk so far to get to their homes or work after alighting.

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IT'S exactly 15 years ago today (Wednesday) since Crown Prince Felipe of Asturias and the famous face of the ten o'clock news on Spain's first channel, TVE – reporter Letizia Ortiz – tied the knot in front of millions of television viewers at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, a day which saw the accomplished journalist suddenly thrust into the spotlight and analysed by the media.

A commoner, a divorcée, granddaughter of radio DJ Menchu Álvarez del Valle – her grandmother, who is still living and aged 91 – a media graduate with a bachelor's and a master's from Madrid's Complutense University who has worked for ABC, Bloomberg TV, CNN, EFE, various newspapers in her home city of Oviedo, Asturias and the Diario Siglo XXI in Guadalajara, México where she studied her unfinished PhD, the brand-new Princess Letizia was inevitably compared and contrasted with the late Princess Diana following her 2004 wedding to the future King of Spain.

Even Letizia's friends did not know just how famous her fiancé was, and constantly badgered her to tell them more about her 'mystery man' – although the woman who is now Queen of Spain cryptically and repeatedly told them they would 'find out soon enough'.

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VALENCIA-BASED celebrity chef Quique Dacosta's London restaurant is set to open on June 7 in the up-market Fitzroy neighbourhood, offering dishes largely based on the region's star recipe: paella.

Dacosta, who has three Michelin stars and two eponymous restaurants in Valencia city and in Dénia (Alicante province) – the latter of which was once named the top eatery in Spain – says his new premises at 64 Eastcastle Street in the UK capital is his first venture abroad.

“I'm very excited about being able to bring part of our tradition and cuisine to one of the five biggest capital cities in the world,” Dacosta says.

Its name says it all – Arròs QD – being the valenciano word for 'rice', followed by the chef's initials.

What non-Spaniards often term 'paella' is better known to Valencians as 'rice dishes', of which there are literally hundreds of recipes, paella making up just a handful of them and being probably the most-associated with Spanish food outside the country.

The extent of Dacosta's menu at his new London premises will give British diners an idea of just how many 'paellas' really exist a two-hour flight from their doorstep.

Other dishes will be served, of course – a selection of bespoke starters, vegetables, fish and roasted meat, plus dessert, using both Valencia rice and UK produce.

The wine list will be replete with Spanish varieties as well as from elsewhere in the world, helping to give wine from Spain a much-needed boost in the UK, where the only name really known is Rioja and where other varieties tend to be unbranded and cheap, giving an incorrect impression of the country's huge array of home-made drinks.

Also on the drinks front, 'creative' versions of classical cocktails will be served up in the exclusive lounge-bar area.

The restaurant is 1,000 square metres and has space for up to 140 diners on two floors and in four different settings.

Customers will be able to see the rice dishes being cooked on a wood fire before they eat.

Quique Dacosta is widely held to be one of the greatest experts in rice dishes on earth and published a book in 2005, Arroces contemporáneos ('Contemporary rice dishes').

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SPANISH celebrity chef José Andrés has offered a job to the dinner lady fired for letting a schoolboy have a US$8 lunch he was unable to pay for.

Andrés (pictured), who famously turned down a lucrative contract to run a restaurant at Trump Towers hotel in response to the then presidential candidate's negative comments about Latin Americans, has called canteen worker Bonnie Kimball a 'hero'.

A teenage boy at the Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Cannan, New Hampshire, did not have any money, so Ms Kimball said he could have his lunch anyway and pay for it when he was able.

His parents sent him to school with the cash, the equivalent of €7.16, the very next day, but Ms Kimball was sacked by the franchise offering school lunches, Café Services, for her decision, which the firm qualified as 'theft'.

Andrés, 49, who is from Asturias but has lived and worked in the USA for well over 20 years, tweeted: “If [Bonnie Kimball] needs a job we have openings at The Think Food Group. If you know her, let her know!”

The Think Food Group is a chain Andrés is about to open, adding to his existing restaurants in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco, México DF and the island of Puerto Rico, where he dished out free food to help the victims of Hurricane María.

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SPAIN may have had little success in the Eurovision Song Contest – poor Miki said last night that he and his team 'sang and danced their hearts out' and deserved a top 10 place, something the country has not achieved since Pastora Soler squeezed into it in 2010 – but it doesn't hurt for Spain to step aside and let another nation do something better. After all, there's plenty our country achieves that beats the rest of the world, or not far off.

We can list you 10 of these off the top of our heads, but there are almost certainly more we could add.

Tourism

Holidaymakers have always been among the biggest contributors to Spain's economy, but in the last few years its popularity has continued to soar. The number of foreign tourists who visit the country every year double that of the resident population – and not just those from the north seeking sunshine, beaches, cheap alcohol and outdoor swimming pools. Indeed, many other countries close by offer all this at a lower price – like Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt – and beach weather is only, at a push, five months of the year. Spain attracts tourists for many, many other reasons: highly-affordable skiing breaks, with many resorts suitable for beginners, novices or the nervous; beautiful countryside ranging from desert to water meadows, pine forest and mountains to rolling, emerald hills, huge, modern cities to crumbling, remote villages that still use working donkeys and plough by hand and where running water did not arrive until the 1970s, and some of the most stunning and unusual monuments on earth. For this reason, Spain is the second-most popular destination for tourism in the world – ahead of the USA, and only beaten by France.

Healthcare

It's official: however frustrated you may be stuck on a waiting list for a consultation, this is probably only an issue in your own area health department, and Spanish law states that you are free to choose another if you require in any case. With ongoing advances in technology and techniques, some of the most talented medical scientists in the world and an attitude that 'if you need it, you'll get it' – no excuses dished out because a certain treatment is 'too expensive', and nobody 'shamed' for going to A&E or booking an appointment because they 'should have known it was nothing' or 'it's not serious enough to warrant taking up health service time', it's unsurprising expats find being treated under the Spanish healthcare system a refreshing change. Spain's medical services are focusing more and more these days on prevention rather than cure, and whatever your age, you'll normally be expected to go to your GP for a blood test and general check-up at least once a year, even if you've never had so much as the common cold. Mammograms are provided automatically to all women aged 45 to 65 and bowel cancer screening from age 50 to70, but can be requested without issue before or after these ages.

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COINS found in the Utah desert may be evidence of Spanish settlers on the American continent at least 200 years before Christopher Columbus arrived – or they may merely be a hoax.

A hiker from Colorado found what he thought were two shards of scrap metal whilst out walking in the Arches National Park close to the Marina Holls Crossing, near Lake Powell, but on examining them closer at home, realised they had imprints which could have historic significance.

He took the two coins to the US National Parks Service for investigation, says the organisation's archaeologist Brian Harmon, and they are now at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Page, Arizona, where they are still being studied eight months later.

“We're trying not to touch them and contaminate them with our hands,” says Harmon.

“They appear to be very well-preserved. They're very thin; we think one is probably silver and the other copper.”

The coins were found in a touristy part of the park which had been underwater on occasions in the decades following the construction of the Glen Canyon dam in 1966.

If they turn out to be genuine, the next step is to try to solve the mystery of how they made it to Utah.

It is well-documented that two Spanish priests, Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Veles de Escalante went on an evangelising mission to that part of the American continent in 1776, but did not get close enough to the national park to have dropped the coins, and in any case, the inscriptions on them appear to date back much farther than the late 18th century.

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FOUR young adults with Down Syndrome are standing for the local elections on May 26, each in different regions.

Blanca San Segundo, 29, is number eight on the list for the centre-right party Ciudadanos in Godella (Valencia province) and stresses that 'people with mental disability are not ill' and in fact 'tend to have more empathy', which she says is 'necessary' in politics.

“You need to be able to put yourself in other people's shoes,” says the special education worker.

“People confuse mental disability with mental illness, and it's not the same.”

Blanca is just about to graduate from Valencia University with a degree in Occupational Therapy, and has not needed extra learning support or an adapted curriculum to do so.

She says she has 'never been given any special concessions' in any area of life and has achieved everything she has 'through effort and consistency', which are values she believes should be present in any level of government.

“For a disabled person to be able to defend his or her ideas and for these ideas to reach local politics is important,” Blanca argues.

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A DRAMATIC drop in the cost of mobile phone calls and text messages between European Union member States has been brought in from today (Wednesday), potentially saving travellers up to 70%.

Thanks to the newly-effective European Electronic Communications Code (CECE) and the Organisation of Electronic Communications Regulators (ORECE), calls between the 28 countries may no longer cost any more than 19 cents per minute, and SMS messages, six cents a minute.

These prices do not include IVA, or VAT, since this varies from nation to nation.

It comes just a year and 11 months after the EU dropped roaming charges for mobile phones used in member States other than those in which they were registered, but is not the same concept.

Roaming fees meant general data use, such as internet connection via an operator, was much more expensive outside the country of origin of the mobile phone – to such an extent that most travellers would put their phones into 'flight mode', disabling all connections, whenever they left their national borders, and only used them when they were in a WiFi hotspot.

But now, the costs for using a mobile phone, other than calls and text messages, are the same anywhere in the EU, as long as the phone is run via an operator in an EU country.

SMS messages and calls will not cost the same from one country to the next, but a strict cap has been placed on charges, reducing these – in the case of Spanish mobile operators – by around 70%.

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FAMILY doctors in Spain have debunked the popular myth about how a glass of red wine a day is good for the heart – there is no minimum safe alcohol level, and any amount of alcohol at all increases the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, GPs stress.

The national cancer research and care charity AECC has already stated in the past that every sip of alcohol is an increase in the risk of developing this devastating disease, and now, the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SemFYC) has reaffirmed this at its recent 39thCongress in Málaga.

For a long time now, unsubstantiated claims have been doing the rounds about how 30 grams of red wine a day is good for the heart, even helping to reverse the effects in anyone already diagnosed with a heart condition, but the SemFYC says: “There are no reasons for recommending the consumption of any type of alcohol to the population as beneficial for health.”

Professor Julio Basulto from the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing Sciences at Vic University refers to other popular alcohol myths, such as whisky being conducive to 'being a good lover', and says there are 'no well-designed scientific studies' that support any physical health benefits deriving from alcohol.

On the contrary, the 'healthy' glass-a-day cited by certain media and social media sources 'demonstrably' ups the risk of high blood pressure, haemorrhagic stroke and auricular fibrillation, Professor Basulto says.

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IT MAY not feel like it right now, but more chilly weather is on its way from Friday, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

Rain is forecast across the northern half of mainland Spain this weekend – and even snow at altitudes of more than 1,500 metres.

The last few days have brought near-summerlike weather to most of the mainland and Balearic Islands, closer to that seen in late June or early July than in the first half of May, but the Met office has warned residents they will need to rescue their coats and umbrellas from the mothballs before the week is out.

Temperatures will drop by up to 14ºC overnight across the whole of the mainland, although AEMET says the Mediterranean arc is likely to escape such a dramatic cool-down.

An Atlantic front entering via the north-western region of Galicia and due to arrive on Friday is the cause, and will work its way across the country over Saturday.

Thermometers will drop by between 10ºC and 12ºC in just 24 hours the Basque provinces of Vitoria and Vizcaya, in La Rioja, Madrid, Albacete (Castilla-La Mancha), and the Castilla y León provinces of Zamora, León, Soria, Palencia, Burgos and Salamanca.

The mercury will be in freefall to an even greater extent in the Castilla-La Mancha provinces of Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, the Castilla y León provinces of Valladolid, Segovia and Ávila, and in the southern Aragón province of Teruel, with drops of between 13ºC and 14ºC in the space of a day.

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POLICE in two countries are urging for help from expats, tourists and locals in finding Irish identical twin sisters who disappeared whilst celebrating their birthday in Madrid's La Latina neighbourhood.

Martha and Mary Osaro are 26 – as from Thursday, May 9 when they were last seen – and are said to be 1.75 metres (5'9”) tall, slim, dark-eyed, black, with long hair, straightened but slightly wavy.

According to the missing persons charity SOS Desaparecidos, which released the above photograph, the sisters know Madrid very well, as they had lived in the city on and off over the last five years.

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COMPANIES across Spain – without exception – are now required to have all their workers check in and out daily so as to keep a record of the exact hours they put in, and they could be fined up to €6,250 if they fail to do so.

A move brought in by minister for work and pensions Magdalena Valerio in conjunction with Spain's two largest unions, the Labourers' Commissions (CCOO) and General Workers' Union (UGT), the idea is not to 'police' staff who arrive a few minutes late, but to end the long-running culture of unpaid extra hours.

It is estimated that in Spain, staff work 5.6 million hours in overtime every week, but that 2.9 million of these hours are unpaid.

These non-remunerated extra working hours mean employers save themselves salaries worth 100,000 jobs – so, even though paid overtime is often welcome, especially if it is voluntary, 'free' additional hours are contributing to unemployment levels in Spain.

The law came in yesterday (Sunday, May 12) but, except for restaurant, bar and hotel workers, would have had little impact in the first 24 hours – the real changes would not make themselves felt until the first Monday after the legislation entered into force.

This new legislation is said to be 'without prejudice to' Article 34 of the Workers' Statute, which allows for flexibility – a factor that is to be encouraged in Spanish firms, given unions' and the government's ongoing campaigns to improve work-life balance and to ensure adequate rest and time available for family duties.

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MOST British Formula 1 fans who wanted to see the Spanish Grand Prix on the Catalunya Circuit today (Sunday) would have booked themselves a flight – these days, relatively cheaply, and involving less than two-and-a-half hours in the air – but David Last from Ipswich, Suffolk, travelled there on foot.

Arriving in time for his 60th birthday this weekend, it has taken David since March 27 – but the journey was worth it, he says.

David set off from the county capital of Suffolk at a cracking pace, with a daunting 1,348-kilometre hike ahead of him, and planned to reach Barcelona by this Wednesday, May 8.

His final thrust was to be a walk round the complete Catalunya Circuit.

The dates were set based upon an average distance covered of 31 to 40 kilometres a day, or 19 to 25 miles, and he has been training hard since October.

It's not about saving the cost of a flight, though: David's nephew's partner Hattie was diagnosed with breast cancer last year aged just 27, and he wants to raise £30,000 (about €34,500) for cancer charities.

He will split the funds equally between Breast Cancer Care, Trekstock and Caring For Me.

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ALREADY a staple ingredient in vegetarian and vegan ready meals and restaurant menus in many western countries, edamame has only just found its way to the vegetable counters of supermarkets in Spain.

But after advertising it as 'a tasty snack that helps you lose weight without trying', stores across the country have run out just as fast as they began to stock it.

A young, unripe soya bean consumed in its pod, edamame is normally boiled or steamed, with or without salt, and eaten whole, meaning no peeling, chopping or other preparation is required and they can be ready in two or three minutes.

They are filling and full of flavour, but with no fat, minimal carbohydrates and very few calories, meaning serial fridge-raiders can chomp them all day long without worrying too much about putting on extra pounds, or kilos.

Edamame pods have followed the same trail as aloe vera, green tea, quinoa and avocado as low-fat, high-nutrition foodstuffs that have made their way around the world onto the plates and into the cups of those who seek optimum health benefits from their diet.

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ON A TRAGIC day for the UK and Spain, former interior minister and government deputy president Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, 67, died in hospital just before 15.30 after a massive stroke on Wednesday evening – just hours after British comedian Freddie Starr passed away at his home in Mijas (Málaga province) aged 76.

Tributes have flooded in for Rubalcaba, who had been in a critical condition at the Puerta del Hierro Hospital in his home town of Majadahonda (Greater Madrid region) since 19.15, where he had undergone emergency surgery to disperse a blood clot in his brain.

Socialist regional presidents, and party leaders at regional level, along with nearly all members of the acting PSOE government had visited him in hospital and been supporting Rubalcaba's family, including his wife Pilar Goya, whom he would have been celebrating 40 years of marriage to this year.

Although the local, regional and European Parliamentary election campaigns officially started on Thursday and many socialist launch events still went ahead in recognition that this was what Rubalcaba would have wanted, the PSOE and all its rival parties, except the far-right Vox, have now shelved all their acts for the next three days as a mark of respect – and because, in the case of many PSOE candidates, it would be too difficult and painful to continue.

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THE first heatwave of 2019 is on its way with temperatures of up to 37ºC expected from this Friday, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

The mercury will start to climb on Friday from around 32ºC in Sevilla and Córdoba – two of Spain's hottest cities – and about 26ºC in Madrid, reaching 36ºC or 37ºC by Sunday in inland Andalucía and 31ºC or 32ºC in the Spanish capital.

Temperatures in the Canary Islands will be at least 15ºC higher than for the time of year, and thermometers will climb by between 9ºC and 10ºC from Friday to Sunday almost everywhere in the country.

Sunday is expected to be especially hot, with climates closer to those seen in late June or early

July than at the beginning of May.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A 22-YEAR-OLD Erasmus student missing in Paris since May 1 has been found alive, according to French police – despite everyone fearing the worst after her rucksack was discovered in a park five days later.

Natalia Sánchez Uribe's friends reported her disappearance after she vanished whilst moving her things into a Spanish friend's flat after her rental contract, signed in September, had expired.

The young woman had been reported as feeling 'alone' and saying she was convinced she was being 'followed', but until she vanished, nobody took her seriously as she was described as a 'nervous person', even though she was used to being away from home – she spent a year working in London and is now at university in Barcelona, a long way from her family's native stamping ground in Granada or her parents' home in Mallorca.

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SPAIN'S beaches may have lost 28 of their blue flags for 2019, but the country continues to hold the record for the highest number of these prestigious kitemarks in the world.

The provinces of Málaga and Huelva have lost eight blue flags apiece, including the former's famous Cabo Pino in Marbella, and the province of Cádiz has lost its quality indicator for is well-known Zahara de los Atunes, whilst that of Almería has also lost one.

Some town halls, however, opted not to apply for blue flags, conscious that they were not up to scratch due to – among other reasons – failure to comply with the Ley de Costas or 'Coastal Law', poor waste management, or inferior bathing water quality.

But with a total of 669 – of which 566 are for beaches, 98 for yachting marinas and five for ports for sustainable craft – Spain still wins hands-down worldwide and has plenty of top-notch beaches for holidaymakers to choose from.

A total of 50 beaches were unable to keep their blue flags, but 25 were awarded to those which did not have one in 2018.

Only three regions saw their blue flag totals rise: the Comunidad Valenciana, which is once again the region with the most, at 150, gained one for the province of Valencia and three for that of Alicante, two of which are in Dénia; the Spanish-owned city-province of Melilla on the northern Moroccan coast gained two, taking its total to four, and another of Extremadura's 'inland beaches' gained a flag, giving the region three.

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LOW-COST airline Norwegian has announced a new route from Madrid to Boston, Massachusetts, in the USA, making it the only carrier other than Iberia to cover the connection.

It will run flights in either direction every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

In total, 52,000 seats will be up for grabs on this route throughout the summer, until the end of October.

Norwegian also runs flights from Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport to Los Angeles four times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays – and daily to New York JFK.

All three US connections are run using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with 344 seats, of which 35 are in Premium Class and the remaining 309 in Economy.

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COURTS in Spain have agreed deposed Catalunya president Carles Puigdemont can stand for the European Parliamentary elections on May 26 if he wishes, as can his former ministers, Antoni Comín and Clara Ponsatí.

The fact that they are considered 'fugitives' is no barrier to their running for the elections, judges in several courts in Madrid have found.

All three filed appeals against the Central Electoral Board (JEC) after this excluded their candidatures as part of their recently formed party Lliures per Europa (Junts).

Puigdemont is still living in Waterloo, Belgium, as is Comín, and Dr Ponsatí is back in Edinburgh teaching economics at St Andrew's University, her old job before becoming regional minister for education in Catalunya.

Courts in Scotland and Belgium have refused to extradite them on the grounds that the offences they are charged with – sedition and rebellion – do not exist in the laws of either territory.

They were up against appeals by the right-wing PP and centre-right Ciudadanos, who applied for them to be banned from running for election, but the courts all found that their right to 'passive suffrage' is a fundamental one protected by the Spanish Constitution, unless thewy are in a condition in which they have been legally banned – and 'being found in rebellion' is not one of these conditions.

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SPAIN continues to be the top holiday destination for Brits, despite Brexit, according to tour operator Thomas Cook.

Although the number of UK residents who have booked their annual trips in European Union countries has gone down this year, following a continuing trend since the referendum on leaving the bloc in June 2016, Spain is still the most-chosen country for British holidaymakers.

Thomas Cook says nearly half of all trips across the industry, not just through their own agencies, booked for this year are in countries outside Europe – 48% overall, or 10% higher than in 2018.

But Spain accounts for the most bookings, followed by Turkey, Greece, the USA and Cyprus, in that order.

Holidays in Tunisia are now experiencing an upsurge as the British foreign office lifted its recommendation against all but necessary travel to the north African Mediterranean country just over a year ago.

The advice against travel to Tunisia was put in place in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on a hotel beach in Sousse in June 2015, which ISIS claimed to have perpetrated and in which over 30 people – nearly all tourists and mostly Brits – were killed.

Chief executive of Thomas Cook, Peter Frankhauser, said it was still 'early days' in terms of working out how far the delay in the Brexit deadline until October 31 had had a positive or negative effect on package holiday booking figures, but that there was 'little doubt' that 'prolonged uncertainty' about the 'form Brexit would take' or the exact moment of departure from the EU had 'led to many customers taking a raincheck on their summer holiday plans' for this year.

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AROUND 40 abandoned dogs seeking new homes will hit the catwalk – or maybe 'dogwalk' – at Valencia's Bioparc in two weeks' time, showing off how cute they are to potential mums and dads.

They have all been rescued by, or handed in to, the Adopta Un Perro Abandonado ('Adopt an Abandoned Dog', or AUPA) association, which holds a 'pooch parade' every year in the city to raise awareness of their animals' plight.

“Anyone who comes along on Sunday, May 19 will find a family-friendly, festive atmosphere overflowing with animal love,” says AUPA.

Potential adopters, or anyone who owns or is thinking about owning a pet, can get advice from the organisers at the show and get to know the dogs and stroke them.

Among those who will definitely be on stage are Melchor, a two-year-old who loves people; Maxi, a 15-month-old fun and playful pitbull; Gaia, nine months old and very happy and affectionate; and Nesto, a pensioner of nine years old who was found dumped in an appalling condition and horribly malnourished, but who is very calm, obedient and affectionate, having never lost his faith in the human race and calmly grateful for being rescued.

“We have dogs of every size, breed and age who have encountered the cruellest side of human nature and are now looking for a second chance to prove to us that they really are our best friends,” AUPA says.

“But adopting a dog should always be a premeditated decision, never a whim or an emotional or irresponsible action – taking on an animal is an enormous responsibility.

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IF YOU'RE a daredevil with a head for heights, hiking along the treacherous Caminito del Rey in the province of Málaga is the ultimate challenge this summer – but tickets are selling out fast.

The management put 100,000 tickets on sale a month ago for dates in July, August and September, at daily slots of roughly 30 minutes apart and have already shifted between half and two-thirds of these.

Between 200 and 450 a day are still available, with 'free entry' tickets at €10 a head for those who want to explore in their own time being snapped up the fastest, ahead of the €18 tickets for guided tours, which run in parallel format in Spanish and English.

Nestled between the three towns of Álora, Antequera and Ardales but mostly in the first of these, the stunning, dramatic river Guadalhorce canyon is the site of what was once described as the most dangerous footpath in Spain – but having reopened in March 2015 to tourists after extensive works, it now no longer holds this dubious honour.

It is in fact pretty safe, but does not exactly feel that way for anyone with vertigo – although for those who are not bothered about being up high, the views are spectacular and the rock formations are mind-blowing.

An eight-kilometre track through three canyons of the Los Gaitanes abyss, the name of the Caminito del Rey translates as 'King's Walkway', but it nearly became the 'President's Walkway' when former national leader Mariano Rajoy, a keen rambler, announced plans to give it a go once it reopened.

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FORMER Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas was rushed to hospital in Oporto (Portugal) after suffering a heart attack yesterday afternoon (Wednesday).

The Spaniard (pictured), who now plays for Oporto, underwent surgery, and is conscious and out of danger.

Portuguese media sources say he had stents fitted to open obstructed arteries.

“Casillas is fine, stable and his heart problem resolved,” Oporto football club has assured in a press conference.

They say he collapsed during training, which was swiftly interrupted to deal with the emergency.

His condition is known as an acute myocardial infarction, where blood flow to the heart becomes restricted and drastically reduces its ability to pump oxygen round the body.

Iker, 37, will not be able to play again for his team for the rest of the season, which includes the remaining three days of the Portuguese League tournament – and may even have to retire altogether, although this will depend upon his future recovery.

His wife, TV reporter Sara Carbonero, was working in Tarifa (Cádiz province) at the time and rushed to Iker's bedside as soon as she heard.

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RECENTLY-FREED Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López and his wife have moved into the Spanish embassy in the capital, Caracas, but Spain's government says they have not applied for asylum as yet.

After his release yesterday (Tuesday), López – along with disputed national president Juan Guaidó – made an appeal to the military to rise up against deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro, leading to mass demonstrations in the street both in favour and against their move.

Spain said it it stood by Guaidó as president, but would not tolerate a military coup and urged him to call a democratic election, whilst European Parliamentary president Antonio Tajani said López's release made yesterday 'an historic day' and augured the start of freedom and democracy again in Venezuela.

Whilst Venezuelans based in Spain gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, brandishing their national flags and championing Guaidó, López and his wife Lilian Tintori (pictured) and their 15-month-old daughter are said to have set up a temporary home in the Spanish embassy.

They initially sought refuge in that of Chile, but were reported today to have moved to that of Spain  'of their own free will', but not with any apparent intention of seeking asylum on Spanish soil.

Protests and riots across Venezuela, particularly in Caracas, on Tuesday caused one death and left at least 100 injured.

Maduro has called for the people and the military to retaliate and not to allow what he calls a coup d'état against his régime.

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SPAIN'S government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá says the country 'hopes with all its heart' that 'there is no bloodshed' in Venezuela following the people's uprising called by disputed president Juan Guaidó accompanied by the newly-freed opposition leader Leopoldo López, who is now out of house arrest.

As far as Spain is concerned, Guaidó is Venezuela's legitimate president, but Sra Celaá says she does not yet know whether her leader Pedro Sánchez has spoken to him on the phone.

"He is in constant receipt of information and updates from Venezuela," Celaá assures.

But she stresses Spain will 'not support a military coup' in the troubled South American nation, and is urging Guaidó and López for a 'peaceful democratic process' which should include the 'immediate convening of a general election'.

"Yes, it was a good idea and a democratic decision to support Guaidó - for us, he was and is the president and representative whom we consider legitimate to bring about transformation, and in this sense there is no question. Guaidó represents the alternative, which, socially, politically and humanly, is enough for us," Celaá said in a press conference this afternoon (Tuesday) after Guaidó and López attempted to rally the military against deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Spain's foreign ministry has 'activated all Consular channels' to protect Spanish expatriates in Venezuela, who are 'receiving special attention' in light of recent developments.

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