Live News From Spain As It Happens

PILOTS across Spain working for low-cost carrier Ryanair have announced five days of strikes in September – four of which are on the same day as those confirmed by cabin crew nationwide.

The Spanish Airline Pilots' Union (SEPLA), pictured left, of which 500 of Ryanair's 800 pilots in Spain are members, says the strikes will take place on Thursday and Friday, September 19 and 20, then on Sunday, September 22, and the following Friday and Sunday, September 27 and 29.

Cabin crew unions SITCPLA and USO have already formally announced industrial action starting this coming Sunday, September 1, and also on September 2, 6, 8,13 and 15.

They will also down tools on the last four days of the pilots' strike – September 20, 22, 27 and 29.

Ryanair has notified everyone by due to fly in the first half of the month whether their flights will go ahead as scheduled or whether there will be any changes.

It is expected those who have booked on strike days may be offered seats on different flights or at alternative times, although as yet, it is not known how many connections – if any – will be cancelled.

Those due to travel on the announced strike dates and who have been told their journey will proceed should allow plenty of extra time, but still be prepared for delays.

For short-haul flights, standard compensation for delays of three hours or more is a flat rate of €250, and affected travellers need only to contact the customer services team to arrange for this to be logged.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONCE again and for the 74^th time, the streets of Buñol are gushing with ketchup – the world-famous Tomatina festival took place this morning and gives a new definition to the term 'painting the town red'.

Buñol, which lies about 20 kilometres west of Valencia, becomes the scene of an inter-continental battle on the last Wednesday in August, where locals and visitors from as far away as Japan, South Korea and Australia actually pay for the privilege of spending an hour being pelted with salad.

The planet's biggest tomato fight and one of Spain's largest August fiestas kicked off as usual at 10.50 when a firework was let off as the starting signal – before which nobody is allowed near the fruit – and then six lorries full to bursting with ripe tomatoes poured their loads into the main square.

This year, 145 tonnes of tomatoes were hurled among the 22,000 – of whom 9,000 were Buñol residents, a town with just over 10,000 inhabitants – most of whom were wearing their oldest T-shirts, since after the Tomatina, they will never be able to put them on again.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A YOUNG Spanish tourist who lost his way at Munich airport and pressed the wrong button caused a security crisis that grounded 130 planes.

The returning holidaymaker, in his early 20s, was 'horrified' at the repercussions his mistake made, and to find himself under arrest.

He had just got off a flight from Bangkok after his break in Thailand and was due to catch a connecting flight via Lufthansa to Madrid from Germany's second-busiest airport.

But after popping to the toilet upon disembarking, the youth found the fellow passengers he had been following had already gone on ahead.

Not sure which way to go, he started walking, but was heading the wrong way down the passage.

And when he pressed a button to open a door that he thought led to the next stage of his trek to the boarding gate, he discovered too late that it was the back door to the one-way-only security checks.

On his trying to access a restricted area, alarms went off across the airport.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

POP newcomer Rosalía has become the first Spanish female in history to win an MTV Music Award after taking the top prize for Best Latin Videoclip.

The artist from San Esteban de Sasroviras (Barcelona province), who will turn 26 in a month's time, has enjoyed a meteoric rise to international fame in the past year or two, when her appearances in international arts festivals and her flamenco compilation album gave way to a firm presence at the top of the mainstream music charts, wide acclaim across Europe and the USA, and even a bespoke clothing range at high-street urbanwear store Pull&Bear.

In fact, Rosalía's second album, El Mal Querer - the November 2018 release that launched her into the music stratosphere – was her final-year degree project, part of the syllabus for her qualification in Flamenco Studies at the Catalunya High School of Music.

Six months earlier, however, she had already soared to number one in the Spanish music charts, Los 40 Principales, with the first release from the album, Malamente, which netted five Latin Grammy nominations.

Her unique flamenco-hip hop fusion style has shown no signs of falling out of favour, and her single Con Altura – released this March and featuring J. Balvín and El Guincho, was what won her Best Latin Videoclip at the weekend's MTV Awards.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Anyone who found themselves in Ferrol on mainland Spain's far north-western tip this weekend would have been plunged into cannon and rifle fire and surrounded by soldiers – but no armed conflict has been declared anywhere in Spain, so it clearly must have something to do with a summer fiesta.

For the last 30 years, Ferrol (A Coruña province) has re-enacted the historic British invasion of Galicia, when the townspeople staked out in the Brión mountains to defend their territory.

Dressed in typical soldier costume from the year 1800, participants travel by boat to San Felipe Castle just as they did 219 years ago on August 25 ahead of the confrontation.

Back then, Ferrol was in the middle of its Reina María Luisa patron saint fiestas when 100 British ships docked in its port with the intention of destroying arsenals of weapons held by the gallego people.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HUNDREDS of shoppers spent up to two nights camped outside the first-ever European branch of Chinese technology giant AliExpress before it opened yesterday (Sunday) morning in Madrid, in a bid to be first through the door to grab their latest-generation technology.

David, who had been sleeping on the floor outside the shop since Friday afternoon, was the first to get in when it opened at noon yesterday and the first to leave with a state-of-the-art Smartphone in his hand, to a backing track of applause from staff.

Those who had spent 48 hours camping outside AliExpress Plaza were hoping to get their hands on the free gifts promised on the opening day, which included Smartphones, electric skateboards, hands-free robot vaccuum-cleaners, drones, and dashcams.

The dedicated shoppers also got a much-needed free coffee, known as an AliExpresso and which all customers can now get from a machine in store, in the style of Waitrose supermarkets in the UK.

Whilst over 3,000 customers had camped for up to two days in the Intu Xanadú shopping centre, only the first 500 were given free gifts, hence the furore involved ahead of yesterday's opening.

Most of those who had heard of AliExpress' planned opening in Madrid – a first for Spain and for the continent of Europe – imagined it to be a bit like a high-street Chinese bazaar, which are present in most towns and sell everything from household and DIY implements to picture frames, pet accessories and cheap clothes and handbags, all at low prices, and which have replaced the old 100-peseta or 'Todo a 100' shops across the country.

But AliExpress Plaza turned out to be more of an ultra-modern gallery in the style of the globally-famous Apple stores.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IBERIA Express has launched an autumn travel campaign with discounts of up to 35% on internal flights, including the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Titled #SpanishAdventure, the low-cost affiliate of Spain's national airline is offering cut-price trips to 14 destinations for anyone who books before September 1.

The flights are for dates starting September 16 through December 15 and give travellers the chance to explore the country out of season, when the weather is still mild enough to enjoy the attractions of these destinations but not too hot that exploring is more of an effort.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A PREHISTORIC burial site nobody remembered existed has suddenly emerged in the province of Cáceres after the drought caused a river to run dry.

Based in the Valdecañas reservoir in the village of Peraleda de la Mata in the far-western region of Extremadura, the Stonehenge-like structure was first discovered in 1925 by German priest and archaeologist Hugo Obermaier.

Now, 94 years on, they have resurfaced – but could well get covered up again with the first of the autumn rainfall.

The Valdecañas reservoir was built in 1963 and the stones became completely submerged, meaning the only adults who would remember them would be in their mid-70s now, so the majority of the population would never have seen them and, most likely, have been unaware of their existence until this summer...

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CONSUMER organisations and police have warned of another round of phone scams and hoaxes, including calls with a Chile country prefix and WhatsApp messages telling users not to eat pork.

FACUA-Consumers in Action said on Twitter: “Whether or not they have spelling mistakes [usually a giveaway sign that a message is a hoax or virus] never pass on food alerts via WhatsApp unless they come with a link to a reliable source.”

It says a viral message has gone round warning users not to eat any pork products, in light of a listeria outbreak in Sevilla which has affected at least 155 people, including a baby, and claimed the life of a 90-year-old woman.

Andalucia regional health authorities have withdrawn all products from sale which come from the firm whose meat has caused the outbreak, but no other official warnings have been released.

The WhatsApp message reads: “Latest news on the listeria case. Do not eat pork products until the issue of where they come from has been clarified. It appears they come from an abattoir in Sevilla. This is being investigated. This has been communicated to us this afternoon.”

A punctuation error – a space between 'case' and the full stop – gives a clue that the message is a fake, and who the 'us' in the last line is has not been made clear.

As health authorities have pointed out, the only meat affected is by the brand 'La Mechá', owned by the firm Magrudis, and production of it was stopped in May but was still being consumed recently because it had a use-by date of three months from manufacture.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FORMER Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas has announced he will be undergoing tests in December to see whether he is fit to return to the game.

Since his heart attack during training in May, Casillas, 38, has moved onto the management team of FC Oporto, the club he was playing for at the time of his illness and emergency operation.

He has never confirmed rumours he may be forced to retire, insisting it will be he who decides when the right moment to do so comes along.

At present, he and his wife Sara Carbonero are taking some down time at their seafront villa in Oporto after having spent a few weeks in their native villages of Navalcruz, Ávila province, and in Toledo province, respectively.

Sara, 35, is undergoing treatment for early-stage ovarian cancer following surgery in May.

Fans voiced concerns about her latest Instagram photos, in which she is sitting on a beach in a bikini and appears to have lost weight.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AROUND 300 video rental shops continue to trade in Spain, even now in the era of HBO and Netflix – although the owners of many of them say they do not make a living from them.

As recently as 2005, Spain had 7,000 of what it calls 'vídeoclubs' still open, but digital platforms have killed off over 95% of them.

This said, the oldest one in the country – based in Barcelona – continues in business, along with nearly 300 others.

Vídeo Instan opened in the Eixample district of Spain's second-largest city in 1979, but has had to diversify in order to stay open.

Owner Aurora Depares (pictured here in her shop) had to crowdfund a new premises last year after the rent on the building of what is now called the Vídeo Instan Café Cinema went up from €3,000 to €10,000 a month.

Major film personalities in Spain contributed to this piece of their cultural history, and the business moved to the C/ Viladomat.

Although it still rents films – on DVD rather than video – the shop set up a café and a cinema with seating for 32 spectators, and holds its own film festivals and presentations.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BENIDORM has reportedly hit number one for stag party destinations in Europe for 2019, according to at least two sources, pinching Prague's crown - although the exact order of cities recommended for men's pre-wedding parties varies according to who is rating them.

UK-based tour operator The Stag Company says Benidorm (pictured) is top, with Prague second, a listing shared by the British stag party website 'Last Night of Freedom', which had Benidorm at number nine in 2018.

Other sites put Krakow in Poland, Riga in Latvia, Budapest in Hungary, and Bratislava in Slovakia near the top, and include Berlin and Amsterdam, with scoring related to price and entertainment opportunities.

Most lists feature Barcelona in the top 10, although behind the more northerly destinations, which include the UK cities of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Liverpool, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, and Brighton.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IF YOU WERE asked to guess where the biggest Origami museum in the world was based, you'd probably say Japan.

But of course, now you've read the question on here, you know it must be in Spain.

In fact, it's in Zaragoza, but the management wants to open branches beyond the Aragonese city and spread to Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai - and even Tokyo.

If this sounds a bit like selling oranges to Valencia, you might be surprised to hear how many Japanese tourists head to Zaragoza to see the Origami museum - many of whom first heard about it after watching documentaries on TV and booked a flight to Spain on that basis.

According to travel site TripAdvisor, the Zaragoza Origami Museum and School (EMOZ) is the second-highest ranked of all the city's tourist attractions, after the Basilica del Pilar, and ahead of the majestic stone edifice, the Monasterio de Piedra.

Opened in December 2013, the EMOZ has effectively been fighting to survive, says its director, engineer Jorge Pardo, but says he hopes this will change once Spain gets its elected socialist government, since 'it does not make sense' that there has 'never been any support' for the museum and that its maintenance has never been included in the regional budget for Aragón.

If everything goes according to plan, this one-off museum will become one of two - another branch of the EMOZ is, Pardo says, hopefully due to open in Málaga, 'the city of museums'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THOSE of you stuck in rainy Britain or Ireland with only the memory of your sun-drenched summer trip to Spain to brighten up your day might be taken aback by this bizarre fact: Spanish people go on holiday, too. Why, you might ask? With the beautiful weather the country enjoys – guaranteed hot summer for three or four months of the year, a pleasant and balmy spring and autumn and a winter that is generally short and just mild enough to be bearable in the south, the islands and on the Mediterranean (and ski resorts to cheer up those living in the coldest parts) – the idyllic beaches, proliferation of swimming pools, and amazing countryside and historical heritage, why would anyone born and bred in Spain even think about leaving it for two weeks at high season?

It seems hard to imagine miserable faces on the return plane when those going back to the daily grind and the humdrum of home are actually heading for Spain. But here’s the rub: Spaniards like to experience new cultures, languages and sights just as much as anyone else on the planet.

Only, sometimes, however much they’re enjoying their break from the drudgery of sunshine and palm-fringed beaches (yes, we know your heart bleeds for them), what they miss on a trip away can make Spanish travellers appreciate what they left behind.

A handful of Spanish holidaymakers answered a survey by national daily newspaper 20 Minutos about what they find weirdest whenever they leave their country – these were the top seven, albeit not in any particular order.

Knowing what Spaniards can’t (or prefer not to) live without also gives you a hint as to what you can expect when you visit Spain on holiday (before you also return home as one of those miserable plane-faces).

What, no blinds?!

Try explaining to a Spaniard on holiday in northern Europe that, even though it gets dark later and the sun comes up earlier in said parts, there are no fixed metal roller-blinds on their hotel or apartment windows. Many a Spanish traveller has reported waking up in broad daylight and getting fully dressed up and ready for breakfast before realising it’s still only 04.00 in the morning.  As well as blacking out the room to aid natural sleep (even the thickest and darkest curtains just don’t cut the mustard, they say) fixed blinds serve another crucial purpose in Spain in summer: keeping the heat of the sun out of the building during the daytime.

What’s wrong with ice cubes in coffee and olive oil on toast?

It’s hot, so you need a cold drink, but you could just murder a coffee. Bit of a dilemma in most of Europe. But not in Spain – natives and expats are very used to ordering a hot, caffeinated beverage, even made mostly from steamed milk, and then pouring it into a glass full of ice cubes. It’s called a café del tiempo and you might even find the odd bar that makes the ice cubes out of black coffee.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S government is in the process of reviewing 8,500 State pensions after the Constitutional Court scrapped calculation methods for part-time workers on the grounds that this discriminated against women.

From Monday this week, all days worked will be considered full days whether they are or not.
Until recently, State pensions were calculated on a pro-rata basis for part-timers - for example, a person who worked 20 hours a week instead of the standard 40 would, after 30 years, have only been considered to have 'paid into the system' for 15 years.

This has often meant workers retiring on a very low pension, far below the average for their region - which is typically generous compared with other EU member States - or would not be able to afford to retire at all.

The Constitutional Court considered that part-time workers were being doubly penalised, since their earnings were, by default, lower in any case in line with their reduced hours, which means a smaller sum in their pension pot.

And as 63% of part-time workers who reached State pension age last year were female and only 37% male, the Court considers that this 'double penalty' is discrimination against women.

Society in general considered the system outdated, since the last full pension calculation reform was 21 years ago and continued to respond to a demographic where pensioners would be on their first marriage and it was automatically considered the husband's duty to support the wife.

Read mroe at thinkSPAIN.com

THE WOMAN who has paid into Spain's State pension pot the longest has finally announced her decision to retire.

Dolores Agra Rodríguez, 78, or 'Loli' to friends and family, started work aged 14, meaning she has been contributing to her stamp for 64 years.

She runs a nightwear and underwear shop in the Galicia city of A Coruña, Lencería Marta - named after her daughter, a retired bank worker - and which now has a sign in the window reading, 'Liquidation due to retirement'.

But she will not give up work until all the stock is sold off.

After that, her son, Ricardo, will carry on running the business.

She does not plan to give up work altogether until February 2020, a year after starting the 'liquidation' sale, because, she says, 'there's a lot to sell off' and she has always considered she was 'needed' in the store.

It is likely to feel strange for Loli, handing over the reins to her son, given that she opened the shop at the start of the 1980s, having worked in similar retail premises most of her life.

Loli's first job, aged 14, paid her 12 pesetas a week cash in hand, but later in another premises, she would go on to earn 150 pesetas a week - about 90 euro cents.

She spent her days selling thread, buttons, lace, thimbles, and 'lots of other little things', because 'in those days, people used to sew a great deal'.

"I needed the money - it was very much lacking in my house," Loli explains.

"But now I want to enjoy the little pleasures in life - sitting with a coffee and doing nothing. I don't plan to travel, though, because I've always done plenty of that. When my children were small we went to Paris every year; in fact, my eldest granddaughter is living and working there now."

Read mroe at thinkSPAIN.com

RYANAIR cabin crew members have announced a series of strikes in September across the country in response to the company's announcement it intended to close three bases in Spain - those of Gran Canaria, Tenerife South and Girona-Costa Brava.

The industrial action will take place on Sunday, September 1 and Monday, September 2, then continue over Friday, September 6 and Sunday, September 8.

Strikes will continue every Friday and Sunday (September 13, 15, 20 and 22) for the next two weeks, then after the shutdown planned for Friday, September 27, staff will down tools again the following day, Saturday, September 28.

Staff shortages as a result will affect all 13 Ryanair bases in Spain.

Cabin crew union SITCPLA's spokesman Manuel Lodeiro said 'in the next few days' it would receive an summons from the company's arbitration service, and that it was hoped an agreement could be reached.

But if this is not forthcoming, employees will go ahead with their industrial action.

Secretary of organisation for the union USO-Ryanair, Jairo Gonzalo, is not confident that a deal will be made to avoid the closure of the three bases.

"We very much doubt Ryanair's willingness to come to an agreement or even to come to the table with the intention to negotiate," Gonzalo says.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ANYONE who still has Spain's old currency in their possession has until the end of next year to change it for its equivalent in euros at the Bank of Spain - but depending upon how old and collectible the coins are, selling them online might earn you more.

Peseta coins sold to date have fetched between €45 and €20,000, according to the dealer site Thelemonapp.

Examples include one-peseta coins dating from 1947 - these 72-year-old pieces were the first in which dictator General Franco's face appeared on the reverse and are known colloquially as rubias ('blondes'), and have fetched between €200 and €1,400.

A 2.5-peseta coin from 1953, currently very difficult to find, has a market value of between €750 and €1,700, and the 50-peseta coins minted in 1957 'retail' at about €775 on eBay - although the 'test versions' which were not actually released into circulation have been sold for as much as €10,000.

One of the most sought-after by collectors is the 2.5-peseta coin from 1946 - before Franco appeared on the reverse - and the non-circulating 'test coins' can fetch up to €10,500.

So far, the most lucrative coin sale reported has been that of a five-peseta 1949 piece (pictured), auctioned by Cayón Subastas for a start price of €30,000, but which eventually went for an eye-watering €36,000.

Smaller amounts for more recent coins can be earned on eBay, Foronum and Todo Colección - a 1987 coin can fetch €45, a 100-peseta one from 1983, up to €55, a 50-peseta coin from 1984 up to €70, a 25-peseta coin from as recently as 1995 can earn you €100, and a 100-peseta coin from 1966 or a five-peseta version from 1975 could net you €400 each.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A PAIR of Irish holidaymakers were arrested and charged with minor fraud after attempting to pay for their drinks with Monopoly money.

The unnamed lads, both 18, were said to be drunk at the time.

They found some Monopoly bank notes on the floor in the bar they had entered in Magaluf’s Punta Ballena strip, famous for its nightclubs and pubs and also as a holiday hangout for young Brits.

According to the bar, these notes had been props for a promotional game earlier in the night, but were clearly not legal tender.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

WHEREVER you are in Spain this August, it’s almost certain you’ll stumble across the odd fiesta in a town within striking distance of where you’re staying. Trying to decide where to go to make sure you get to witness the most spectacular and memorable of these is never straightforward – and just to make the choice even harder for you, here are some of the most splendid, silly, fascinating, unusual and exciting left on the festival calendar this month.

Semana Renacentista (‘Renaissance Week’), Medina del Campo

This may be the first you’ve heard of it, but Medina del Campo in the province of Valladolid, in the centre-northern regional of Castilla y León, was one of the most powerful and wealthy in Europe in the 15^th and 16^thcenturies. Its weekly market was among the continent’s biggest trading hubs. Unsurprisingly, then, when King Carlos I arrived in Spain and wanted the people of Medina del Campo to contribute money towards his being made Emperor, the commoners opted to revolt.

A completely unique historical pageant, the Semana Renacentista re-enacts the battle between the commoners and the imperials, and also recreates the weekly market in the form of a Renaissance fair. Starts this Wednesday, August 14 and continues until the following Wednesday, August 21.

El Cipotegato, Tarazona

It’s uncertain whether being picked to flesh out the character of the Cipotegato, or jester, is a great honour or your worst nightmare come true: you’re the star of the show on the first day of the fiesta, but you also get pelted with thousands of ripe tomatoes.

Dressed as a harlequin, he runs through the town of Tarazona (Zaragoza province in the north-eastern region of Aragón) being bombarded with tonnes of salad fruit, along a route that is never disclosed to anyone but the human target himself but which always begins and ends in the Plaza de España, where he has a statue in tribute to him.

Behind him, the crowds carry on the tomato fight, but these do not start until he has run past them.

At the end of his ‘mystery’ circuit, the jester is bodily lifted onto his statue, which he ties a scarf around, and which marks the start of the patron saint festival in honour of San Atilano – six days of parades, live music, folk dancing shows, foam parties and all the usual high jinks that come with any Spanish town’s main summer fiesta.

The Cipotegato’s tomato-drenching is always on August 27, and the fiesta continues until September 1 inclusive.

Aste Nagusia, Bilbao

Basque Country tradition is brought alive during the fiesta whose name means ‘Big Week’ in the regional language, euskera – stone-carrying and log-chopping competitions, a giants’ procession, the scary-looking Gargantua who eats kids (they climb up into his mouth, but then are released intact down a slide inside him and pop out from his backside), and folk music and dancing mean the streets of this international port city on the north coast are bursting with colour and craziness practically round the clock. Fireworks are let off every night, live bands and discos play on into the early hours, and food and drink stalls spill out onto every pavement.

The main fiesta character is, unusually, female, but not actually human; she’s Marijaia, a papier mâché figure who looks like a colourful farmer’s wife with rosy cheeks and a big smile. The Aste Nagusia...

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S Law of Historic Memory seeks to revive and commemorate the lives and times of those who perished under régimes of extreme violence, cruelty and fascist beliefs - and the latest move in line with this legislation dating from 2007 has been to name all Spaniards who died in Nazi concentration camps.

Even though Spain was not actively involved as a country in World War II, which started in the same year as the bloodthirsty Civil War came to an end, its dictatorial leader General Francisco Franco was an ally of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and of Mussolini's Fascist Italy, and conditions for the vast majority in Spain in the post-war years were intolerable: those who opposed Franco's régime could mysteriously 'disappear', and poverty and unemployment were rife.

Many fled over the border to France, to escape the dictatorship, to find work, or both, and were frequently rounded up and sent to horror camps such as Mauthausen and Dachau.

Although thousands survived – including Neus Català, from Tarragona, who passed away recently aged 103, and the father of Paquita Jourdà, who has just been reunited with the childhood photograph of her which was confiscated from her dad when he was captured - an estimated 5,000-plus did not make it out of the labour camps alive.

This weekend, the State Official Bulletin (BOE), a daily government announcement publication, has printed a list of 4,427 names of Spaniards known to have lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps.

ACTOR Richard Gere took parcels of food to the Spanish rescue boat Open Arms for the 121 migrants on board.

The craft, run by the charity of the same name and one of only two vessels currently working in the central Mediterranean, has been trying for over a week to get authorisation to dock.

So far, Italy and Malta have refused and Spain has not given a straight answer.

Meanwhile, Hollywood star Gere, 69, arranged for boxes of non-perishable food, plus fruit, vegetables and bottles of water, to be delivered by boat to the Open Arms and helped load it on board himself.

The charity tweeted: “Being a father means not caring about colours or borders. Richard Gere is one, too.”

His most recent child was born to his Spanish wife Alejandra Silva, 36, in February.

“Finally, some good news. Provisions are arriving at the Open Arms and we’ve got an exceptional new crew member with us – Richard Gere,” the charity said on its Twitter site, @openarms_fund.

A passionate activist, the Pretty Woman star is actively involved in his Galician wife’s Rais Foundation, a charitable network of homeless shelters in Madrid and the Basque Country, and also owns the Buddhist Centre in Pedreguer, northern Alicante province.

For the moment, the Open Arms remains adrift in the Mediterranean with 121 Africans on board wo were rescued when attempting to make the dangerous crossing to Europe on jerry-built rafts.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN IBERIAN Lynx has been born in the Pyrénées for the first time in over a century – hugely positive news for this highly-endangered species, reports the La Pedrera Catalunya Foundation.

Although the cub came into the world on May 28, the Foundation – which runs the MónNatura Pirineus animal recovery centre in Son (Lleida province) – has only just announced his birth as they wanted to be sure he would survive before doing so.

But the lynx, as yet unnamed, is said to be in excellent health.

He is the son of two Iberian Lynx who have been at the centre for the past 11 years.

Whilst the birth was not in the wild, the MónNatura shelter is open-air and animals roam in habitats as close as possible to their natural stamping grounds.

And even via controlled reproduction programmes, no Iberian Lynx has been born on the Spanish side of the French border mountains since the turn of the 20^th century.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

’SUPER-SURGEON’ Pedro Cavadas is no longer working for the public health service, having taken a job at a private clinic in Valencia.

Formerly based at the hospital in Manises – the nearest town to Valencia airport – which he left in mid-July, Dr Cavadas has made international headlines in his unusual career as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

Hailed as a ‘transplant genius’, Cavadas shot to national fame in 2004 when he managed to keep a 25-year-old patient’s severed arm ‘alive’ by connecting the veins and arteries in it to the man’s own upper thigh for nine days, before reimplanting the limb.

Later, in 2006, at Valencia’s La Fe hospital – one of the most high-tech and pioneering in the country – Dr Cavadas transplanted two hands and an arm below the elbow on a woman from Castellón (second picture) who had lost them 28 years previously in an explosion, a procedure which had only ever been carried out six times in history, in France, Austria and China.

And 10 years ago, he successfully completed out the first-ever face transplant in Spain, which was then only the eighth in the world, on a 43-year-old Canary Islander who had been left totally disfigured by an aggressive form of cancer.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DEBIT card use has soared in Spain so far this year and cashpoints are having to be adapted to offer other functions besides withdrawing notes, according to the Bank of Spain.

As at the end of the first quarter of 2019 – the most recent period for which figures are available – a record 85 million credit and debit cards were known to be in circulation, most of which were the latter, which accounted for 48 million.

This represented an increase of 4.27% on figures for 2018 – a rise never yet seen before, and even in spite of newer methods catching on, such as paying by mobile phone.

The rise in the number of credit cards – 37 million in circulation by the end of the first quarter of 2019 – was lower than some of the historic highs seen in the last 13 years, such as the 52 million in use in 2017.

According to the Bank of Spain, the increase in debit cards and their use is likely to be linked to changes in financial institution practices – new criteria were introduced in January 2018 to comply with a European Union directive on card payments.

Anecdotal evidence points at great changes on the high street in terms of card payment acceptance, with increasing numbers of shops allowing debit card use for even small amounts; until last year, it was mainly only supermarkets which would permit card transactions for purchases of any sum, whilst those shops which did accept cards imposed lower limits ranging from €10 to €30, and many more were ‘cash only’ premises.

A growing number of cafés and bars are now willing to take payment on a debit card just for one coffee – a scenario unheard of two years ago.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPANISH pensioner has just recovered a photograph of herself as a child which was confiscated from her father when he was captured by the Nazis and placed in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Paquita Jourdà, née González, is now 83 and was recently contacted by historical researchers working on the 'Stolen Memories' project, an attempt to find information about the millions of death camp victims during World War II.

Francisco González Cuadrado, who was born on October 13, 1913, did in fact survive both Mauthausen and Dachau, although he weighed just 40 kilos (6st 4lb) when he returned home.

Working as a lorry driver on the Republican side, holding a humanities degree and based in Algeria, the Barcelona-born prisoner had his few personal possessions confiscated when he entered the concentration camp – one of which was a photograph of his young daughter.

Asturias-based historian Antonio Muñoz, working on the Beatriu de Pinós project, was able to access details held by Tarragona's Rovira i Virgili University, which included a form with Francisco González's details on it and the stolen photo.

Muñoz decided to trace the girl in the picture and return it to her if she was still alive.

She is, and has lived in France since the age of 10, before which she was brought up in Cabrianes, Barcelona by grandparents and an uncle

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FIGURES released by airport governing body AENA show that the most-used carrier this year across all of Spain's terminals was Ryanair – by a considerable margin.

Between January and June 2019 inclusive, just under 23,571,000 passengers travelled to and from Spain on the Irish-based low-cost airline.

The second-most used flight company was Catalunya-based budget carrier Vueling, part of the IAG Group which owns Iberia and British Airways, with 19.6 million customers travelling to and from Spain.

Both these low-cost options were streets ahead of national airline Iberia – despite providing long-haul, short-haul and national flights, its traffic only accounted for just under 9.9 million passengers in the first six months of 2019.

Spanish carrier Air Europa, with 9.1 million, beat Ryanair's main rival, easyJet, which transported 8.32 million travellers.

Iberia would still have been only the third-busiest airline in Spain in the first half of this year even when taking into account passenger figures for its short-haul cheap holding Iberia Express – with 4.8 million, and regional branch Air Nostrum, with 4.28 million.

Norwegian beat Air Nostrum but was behind Iberia Express, carrying 4.55 million passengers.

Making up the remainder of the top 10 were Binter, with 3.57 million and Jet2, with 3.3 million.

20x20 centimetre bag on board, unless they pay €6 each way for priority boarding to include a 50x40x20 centimetre case, or €8 each way to check in a small case of this size.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SUMMER is the season when Spain seems to wake up in earnest – despite the heat making its inhabitants want to go back to sleep – and streets that were quiet the rest of the year start to overflow with people, parades, music, fireworks, and just about anything noisy and colourful it can get its hands on.

This is the season when towns and villages celebrate their patron saint festivals – and, as is normally the case with a Spanish fiesta, the actual high-jinks bear little resemblance to the 'saint of the day' on the calendar whose life and times it purports to honour.

Usually a formal mass and procession will be involved somewhere, but the rest of the week or fortnight involves late-night open-air live music and discos, huge al fresco dinners the public are invited to, and a massive firework display on the last day.

The odd sports tournament might take place, and children's water park set up, to keep everyone occupied in the daytime.

Many patron saint fiestas in the south and east are scheduled to coincide with the spectacular Moors and Christians festival – arguably one of the most visual and flamboyant of the year and one that every resident or tourist should ensure they witness at least once in a lifetime.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRAVEHEART actor Mel Gibson is on holiday with his family in the northern region of Asturias, and tells reporters he is fascinated by the history of the area and is planning to take a tour across the neighbouring regions.

Gibson, 63, was photographed arriving at a well-known – but undisclosed – hotel in the regional capital, Oviedo, late last week and spoke to journalists on the Asturias daily newspaper, La Nueva España.

“I've always been intrigued about the figure of Don Pelayo,” the What Women Want actor revealed.

Don Pelayo, known in the Anglophone world by his Latin name, Pelagius of Asturias, was reported to be the first monarch of the Kingdom of Asturias, was born in 685 and died in 737.

He is widely thought to have been the person who started the Reconquista, or the Christian reconquest of Spain from the Moors, as a result of his victory in the Battle of Covadonga.

“[Pelayo] brought his people together,” Gibson said.

“We tend to tell many stories about legends and things that are not true, and what he did was an historic feat.”

The New York-born star says he 'would not rule out' making a film about Pelagius of Asturias, because 'the story is a very attractive one'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com