Live News From Spain As It Happens

SEVERAL famous Brits living in Spain have decided to seal their links with their adopted country and become Spanish citizens after Brexit.

Ex-footballer and sports commentator Michael Robinson (first picture) made his début with the Spanish national radio and television broadcaster TVE in 1989 – two years after he left the UK to finish his career on the pitch with Club Atlético Osasuna, based in Pamplona.

Since 1990 he has been one of the most recognisable voices on Canal+, where he was joint presenter with Carlos Martínez, and he has won two Premios Ondas ('Airwaves Awards') and the Vázquez Montalbán International Journalism Award.

The Leicester-born 61-year-old would not have been able to vote in the June 2016 referendum on Brexit, since he had been resident outside the UK for more than 15 years, and he does not mince his words over his opposition to the country's leaving the European Union and what he thinks of those who are leading the procedure.

“I've already started the process of getting Spanish nationality,” Robinson reveals.

“I refuse to be a foreigner in a country that has opened its arms and its homes to me.”

John Carlin, 63, was the first reporter to interview David Beckham after he signed for Real Madrid and, as well as numerous British and US newspapers and television channels, he has worked in Argentina, where he lived for a while as a child since his British father was ambassador there, and also for El País.

Born to a Spanish mother, Carlin (second picture) did not have any problems in obtaining nationality in his adopted country.

He says he actually feels 'relieved' about Brexit happening tomorrow, even though he is strongly against it.

“After three-and-a-half years of fighting, it finally won't be in my life any more,” Carlin says.

“I feel like you do in those complex marriages where one of the two is battling to save the relationship and, suddenly, realises it's impossible and decides, that's it, stuff you, it's over.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TEMPERATURES are set to soar and the sun is due to come out across Spain in February – a complete contrast to the recent cold snap and freak storms caused by Hurricane Gloria.

Barely any rainfall is predicted for next month, and the mercury is likely to be higher than average for the time of year across Europe – especially in Spain.

Starting tomorrow (Thursday), the thermometer will rise to at least 20ºC during the day in the northern regions bordering the Cantabrian Sea, and will creep up above 22ºC on the Mediterranean.

The north-east will see figures of around 16ºC to 18ºC, the central plains around 13ºC to 16ºC, and Andalucía in the south between 15ºC and 18ºC.

Initially, though, some instability and colder temperatures are expected to hit the northern strip from around February 4 due to an anti-cyclone, or chilly snap, heading across these regions.

But this is unlikely to affect the east, centre or south of the country or the islands.

In the first half of the month, conditions will be variable, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

From around mid-February, however, these will become more stable with mild temperatures and high pressures dominating.

At first, residents in parts of the country affected by ice and snow have been recommended to keep clear of rivers, since the mass thaw caused by rising temperatures could cause water levels to rise.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PLASTIC straws will be withdrawn from all McDonald's branches in Spain from February 24 – and the chain has put its last-ever straw up for auction on eBay.

All proceeds raised from the eventual sale will go to the Ronald McDonald Foundation, which sets up family accommodation in hospitals so parents can be with their sick children.

The fast food company plans to reduce its plastic waste by over 1,350 tonnes by the end of the year in line with European Union requirements, but ahead of the deadlines set by the EU.

Single-use plastic cups and cutlery will be replaced this year – a process which started in 2019 with its salad bowls and McFlurry ice-creams now being in cardboard containers without tops.

By 2018, McDonald's in Spain said 80% of its containers were from recycled, renewable or certified sources, and it is aiming to reach 100% within five years.

McDonald's restaurants in Spain all have recycling bins to 'encourage good habits' among customers, and since 2009, all used cooking oil is collected up for producing bio-diesel.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPANISH music has made its presence felt at the 2020 Grammys, with nationally-famous artists Rosalía and Alejandro Sanz each carrying off an award.

Overshadowed by the sudden death of NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, 13, in a helicopter crash, the 62^nd Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles featured tributes to the basketball legend, with Alicia Keyes, presenting, admitting that everyone was 'literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe built'.

Catalunya-born Rosalía, 26, who became the first Spanish woman ever to win an MTV Award back in August and who won two Latin Grammys in 2018, gave an emotional trilingual speech after picking up her Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album.

Speaking in Spanish, catalán and English, the flamenco-hip hop sensation – who has barely been on the chart music scene for three years – said her golden gramophone trophy 'meant a lot' to her, and thanked all those who had 'embraced' her project, including her team and her family 'for taking risks all the time'.

Rosalía's album was, in fact, her final-year university project for her degree in music and flamenco studies, and her single Malamente not only became an instant hit, but created a new genre of urban pop overnight.

In the nominations for the Grammy Awards, Rosalía's album was up against X 100PRE by Bad Bunny, Oasis by J. Balvin and Bad Bunny, Indestructible by Flor de Toloache, and Almadura by iLe.

Veteran pop name Alejandro Sanz won Best Latin Pop Album for his #ELDISCO, showing he not only still has plenty of potential more than 20 years on from his début, but is still growing as an artist.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HUNDREDS of volunteers all along the Mediterranean coast have been flocking to their nearest beach to help clean up the mess left by hurricane Gloria.

After a whole weekend's work, local helpers in Catalunya and also in the cosmopolitan seaside town of Dénia, northern Alicante province, amassed tonnes of plastic and other waste which had been washed up by giant waves, torrential rain and winds of up to 115 kilometres per hour.

In Catalunya alone, around 500 coastal towns have suffered damage and, although work has already started in earnest on their repair, some will take months to resolve, such as the R1 suburban railway line between Blanes and Malgrat (Barcelona).

But residents are doing what they can – organised groups have been scooping up rubbish from the beaches and surrounding roads, separating plastics, paper and cardboard, cans and bottles, so they can be recycled, and non-recyclable waste, as well as organic matter such as seaweed which may be suitable for compost.

The weekends since the freak storm battered the Mediterranean seaboard have seen dozens of residents on every beach from L'Estartit (Girona) to L'Ampolla (Tarragona) and on the 20 kilometres of beach in Dénia.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S Pau Gasol has posted a tribute to his 'big brother' Kobe Bryant, saying he is 'beyond devastated' at the NBA ace's death in a helicopter crash last night (Sunday).

Tributes from all over the sporting world in Spain and beyond have been pouring in for the retired Los Angeles Lakers star after he and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were confirmed as having perished along with seven others in Calabasas, California, at around 10.00 local time (19.00 mainland Spain time).

But Pau Gasol who, along with his brother Marc, is Spain's greatest basketball export in history, is particularly affected, since he and Kobe were team-mates with the Lakers.

“Beyond devastated...my big brother...I can't, I just can't believe it,” wrote Pau on Twitter.

The above photograph shows Pau and Kobe together during a Lakers game.

Marc Gasol, who plays for San Antonio Spurs, heard the news after his match against the Toronto Raptors, and said: “I just want to go home and hug my kids.”

Fellow Lakers player Shaquille O'Neal wrote: “There's [sic] no words to express the pain I'm going through with this tragedy of losing my niece Gigi and my brother Kobe Bryant. I love you and you will be missed. My condolences go[es] out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. I'm sick right now.”

Others in the basketball world who reacted on social media include Spain's José Manuel Calderón, who said he 'could not believe it', that 'it hurts so much', and that he 'cried' when he heard about the fatal crash in which the star from Philadelphia – whom Calderón thanked for 'all he had given to basketball' – had lost his life.

Felipe Reyes was up against the 6'3” (1.91m) giant when the Spanish and US national teams played each other, and described being Kobe's rival as 'an honour'.

“Wherever you are now, you'll still always be a legend,” he wrote on Twitter.

Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, who used to play basketball for Real Madrid, posted a photo of himself with Kobe's daughter Gianna, who also died in the crash.

Spanish president Pedro Sánchez is a basketball fanatic, and paid tribute to Kobe on Twitter: “Tragic news for those of us who love basketball and the NBA. Unbeatable competitor whom we'll always remember making those impossible shots.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Things have often become explosive in Catalunya. Just as you cross the Pyrénées towards what is now the Costa Brava, you could find out how hot-headed the region was, and how it liked to blow its top.

When thinking about volcanoes in Spain, the Canary Islands tends to be the region which springs to mind – El Hierro has one under the sea just off its coast, which was in constant eruption for about a year and a half and, although it did not cause damage or injury, kept geologists fascinated as they studied its structure and activity. And, of course, there's the Teide National Park – although this is in fact an active volcano, it has not erupted since November 18, 1909, just over 111 years since the previous time, and is not expected to do so again for a long time, if ever. Even if it does, there'll be plenty of time for the tourists exploring it to be moved to safety, and there are no residential areas near enough to be in danger – albeit air travel could well be disrupted over several continents, as was the case with the Icelandic eruptions of Eyjäfjällajökull and Bardárbunga, where the worst of the immediate damage was caused by floods, not lava, as the snow on these mountains melted.

But you probably hadn't realised Catalunya was home to around 50 volcanoes, too.

La Garrocha National Park emerges from earth's crust

The La Garrocha ('La Garrotxa', in catalán) National Park volcanoes are thought to have formed at the end of the Miocene era, around 5.3 million years ago.

A series of fractures started to appear in the westernmost part of what is now the continent of Europe, stretching from the North Sea to the south of mainland Spain and Portugal.

As a result, the magma (hot, molten rock – known as 'lava' once it has broken through the surface) beneath the earth's crust began to rise, taking advantage of the cracks, and creating volcanoes.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FAMILY members of seven-times world Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher have almost finished renovating their new mansion in Andratx, Mallorca so they can move him there permanently.

The former Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes driver, known as 'The Kaiser' to fans, has not been 'trapped' in his mansion in Switzerland all the time since his life-altering accident whilst skiing off-piste in Méribel, France at the end of 2013 – he has travelled to Andratx several times.

Like many German nationals, the Balearic Islands is one of their favourite sunshine destinations, and the Schumacher family spent many long holidays in Mallorca when Michael was still on the Grand Prix circuit.

The Andratx villa, which they bought from Real Madrid chairman Florentino Pérez, is about three kilometres from the beach and the Sierra de Tramuntana mountains, a UNESCO heritage site and walker's paradise where Michael's family will be able to go out and explore to clear their heads.

Michael's wife Corinna Schumacher decided on Andratx as soon as the ex-motorsport ace was able to travel again, and Michael's brother and fellow racing driver Ralf Schumacher, who had once owned a holiday home there, began asking around.

Corinna Schumacher wanted somewhere secluded and private, but it also had to be renovated to be fully medically-equipped, since Michael is not likely to ever make a significant recovery.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BUDGET airline Ryanair has launched a mass 'January sale' with over a million seats at heavily-reduced prices across Europe, including most of its destinations in Spain and connections between here and the UK and Ireland.

February is low season for northern hemisphere airlines, and as the low-cost versions need 'bums on seats' in both directions to cover their costs, the coming month is always a cheap time of the year to fly as carriers seek to fill up empty places.

The Ryanair offer, however, is valid for travel between February and June, meaning deals are also out there for Easter, typically an expensive week to travel.

Spain's Ryanair director Alejandra Ruiz says: “Now 2020 is here, there's no better way to celebrate the New Year than by booking a few days' break to escape the coldest days of winter.

“We've launched a massive offer of flights with up to 20% discounts on a million seats throughout our European network.”

Prices from Alicante airport start from as little as €8.99 one way and include Bourgogne, Haugesund (Norway), Kerry (Ireland), London Southend, Marseille (France), Oporto (Portugal), Toulouse, and Växjö-Småland (Sweden), all for under €10.

Luton, Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle, London Stansted, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, East Midlands, Glasgow, Leeds-Bradford, Newquay-Cornwall, Belfast, Cork, Shannon, Bournemouth, Dublin and Knock come in at between €12.99 and €34.05, with the majority being at the lower end of this range.

Destinations in Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden, Slovakia, Morocco, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Lithuania, Greece, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Malta and Luxembourg – as well as the UK and other parts of Spain – run from the Spanish airports of Tenerife North, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Santander, Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), Sevilla, Reus (Tarragona), Girona, Ibiza, Menorca, Mallorca, Málaga, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), Valencia, Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, and even Castellón (the latter only to London Stansted).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S government has increased the minimum wage in line with its pledged scale of rises back in 2018, which aims for it to reach the European Union requirement of 60% of the national average wage by the year 2022.

The minimum gross pay a person working a full-time, 40-hour week can earn is now €950 per month in a 14-month year, up from €900 in 2019.

Traditionally, employees in Spain would receive a double pay packet in August and again at Christmas, and the minimum wage is always calculated on this basis, even though fewer and fewer firms follow this practice nowadays.

Over a 12-month year, the gross minimum wage sat at €1,050 a month until this week, and will now rise to €1,108.33.

As a result, the average worker on the minimum wage in a full-time job will have seen his or her monthly take-home pay, based upon 12 pay packets a year, rise from €964.50 to €996.80.

When the left-wing socialist government came into power in June 2018, the minimum wage was €735.90 a month over a 14-month year, or 12 monthly take-home pays of approximately €791.70.

During the right-wing PP government's reign from November 2011 to June 2018, the minimum wage only rose by a total of €94.50 in six-and-a-half years, or 14%.

It went up in 2013 by just €3.90 a month before tax, then two years later, by €3.30 a month, having been frozen in 2014.

Another €6.60 monthly increase was agreed in 2016, taking the minimum wage to €655.20 in 14 payments, or approximately 12 take-home pays of €700.

In the three years before the PP's reign, it had barely gone up, being above €600 but below €640 as a gross figure paid in 14 instalments.

The newly-announced increase means that in the past two years, the minimum gross monthly wage for a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job will have gone up by 29%, or by €214.

President Pedro Sánchez's coalition partners Podemos want to see it rise to a minimum of €1,000 in 14 payments, which will give 12 monthly take-home salaries of approximately €1,030.

This is expected to be the case by the beginning of 2021.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TWO men have made a sandwich with the planet as its filling after finding each other on Reddit – each buttered the bread and laid it at exactly the same time and at exact opposite ends of the earth.

New Zealand-based IT student Étienne Naude, 19, studied the longitude and latitude of Bucklands Beach in Auckland to find the exact opposite point on earth, then started searching for a volunteer in the Antipodes of his home town – which turned out to be on the cusp of the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga.

Through Reddit, he found Ángel Sierra, 34, a chef, who was willing to lay the other slice of bread on the 'earth sandwich'.

They worked on locating the exact spot either side of the planet on Google Maps, to within a few metres, then zoomed in on Street View to make sure they were directly opposite each other to the millimetre.

As well as calculating precise distances to ensure the two slices of bread were level with each other 12,724 kilometres apart, they had to make certain they laid them at exactly the same time.

This involved some considerable coordination, since there is a 12-hour time lag between Auckland and mainland Spain during the northern hemisphere winter, the former being half a day behind.

Working out the precise end-to-end spot on earth is harder than it looks, Naude says – it was difficult to find a place 'which wasn't water' on the New Zealand side, or where public roads, paths and buildings did not get in the way.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALL TOWNS and cities in Spain with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants will soon be required by law to implement their own 'Madrid Central' in a bid to cut air pollution and slow down climate change.

President Pedro Sánchez had already proposed this in his July presidential investiture speech – when he failed to be voted in due to not securing enough support from the opposition for his minority government – but now he is officially in power thanks to a coalition deal with fellow leftists Podemos, the 'proposal' is set to become an 'obligation'.

'Madrid Central' was set up by the capital's former mayoress, Manuela Carmena, from Ahora Madrid, a branch of Podemos, and effectively bans traffic from the middle 'almond' of the city.

Emissions-free vehicles are allowed in, as well as those heading directly for a parking space, plus residents, public transport, and loading and unloading vehicles during certain times of day.

The move was introduced after Madrid and Barcelona, among a number of other cities across the continent, were hauled before the European Commission to explain what they intended to do about their air pollution problems.

Until then, Manuela Carmena had been staging impromptu traffic restrictions within the M-30 ringroad on days when pollution levels were high, some of which involved alternative-numbered registration plates – a difficult concept to police, especially where new car sales had been high during a given year and low in another, leading to a heavy bias towards one registration plate letter or another.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BOOZY holidays in the Balearics could soon become a thing of the past now that the regional government has outlawed all tourism and commercial activities that encourage excess drinking.

Cheap accommodation, flights and packages mean the islands' coasts are popular with young northern Europeans, typically groups of friends and often on one of their first holidays away from home, and the availability and inexpensive nature of alcohol creates a round-the-clock drinking culture in the spring and summer months in certain key resort towns.

Anti-social behaviour is usually rife in these areas at night in high season – vomiting, urinating and defecating in the streets, nudism, sexual acts in public, fights, noise and vandalism make life unpleasant for locals and lower the tone of the area, giving the Balearics an unjustifiably poor image as a bargain basement holiday destination.

In fact, the Balearic Islands are a huge hit with families, culture vultures, history and nature lovers, and have plenty to offer the discerning visitor at any time of year, but unfortunately, it has been the drunken antics of mostly-British young adults which have made international headlines.

The regional government has finally decided to take action to change all that.

Targeting the most tourist-heavy areas – Magaluf, Palma beach and the West End of San Antonio (Sant Antoni de Portmany) in Ibiza, authorities have passed a law which is described as 'pioneering in Europe': organised pub-crawls are now illegal, 'happy hours' and two-for-one and three-for-one promotions in bars are not permitted, automatic alcohol dispensers banned, shops prohibited from selling alcohol between 21.30 and 08.00, and hotels and restaurants are only allowed to let each customer have a maximum of three alcoholic drinks with a meal.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

'EQUALITY' is set to continue to be a hot topic for the decade of the '20s, and the planet's younger generations, especially, are unlikely to let their leaders get away with overlooking this crucial issue: in terms of gender, specifically, as this is a condition that none of us can escape.

And it's not just about women demanding to wield the whip and keep men down, as some sectors of society believe – it's about both men and women having access to the same rights and opportunities, and being subject to the same moral and legal duties, as each other.

Although it seems like a tired subject for some, 'feminism' or, better termed, 'gender equality' is actually quite a new battle in historical terms: plenty of adults from western cultures who are not even yet retired will remember a time when women could not take out loans or hire purchase, open a bank account or sign for a mortgage, without their husbands' permission; when men were denied the chance of being stay-at-home dads or to work part-time and become chief childcarer; when married women were barred from promotion at work or even forced to leave when they wed; when men would have been unable to apply for jobs as secretaries or nurses, or sure to be rejected in favour of women if they did.

Effectively, in all fields of the global economy and as little as 40 or 50 years ago, the ideas, talents and perspective of half the population was excluded – men's ideas and talents, as well as women's.

For today's young adults, the thought of a 'house husband' being the subject of a double-page magazine feature, or a woman earning less than a man for the same quality, amount and relevance of work, are unthinkable, or even laughable; but figures show that even in the first world, there is still plenty to achieve to close the gap and give males and females equal consideration and chances.

And Spain is the place where they can achieve all this – it's officially in the world top 10 for gender equality.

Here's how and why, and what Spain as a nation has accomplished so far this century.

How Spain managed to be world number eight

According to the Global Economic Forum's Gender Gap report, Spain is eighth-best in the world and has made massive leaps in the last year alone.

Whilst in 2018, the western Mediterranean country sat at number 29 in the world – still among the top 10% of the planet or 20% of countries studied – by the end of 2019, it had soared an eye-watering 21 slots up the ranking.

Overall, Spain has managed to close the gender gap in all areas by 79.5%, and the countries which are ahead of it in terms of progress are exactly those you would expect: the highly socially-evolved Scandinavian nations.

Iceland is the planet's most gender-equal country, having closed the sex gap by 88%, followed by Norway, at 84%, Finland at 83.2%, and Sweden at 82%.

Surprisingly, Nicaragua is above Spain – one of Central America's poorest nations, it nevertheless needs its women for survival and, like many regions in this area, men are more likely to emigrate to find work to feed their families, meaning it is the women who practically run the country.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SCIENTISTS have come up with evidence of how at least 70% of the dinosaur population was wiped out in a study at Yale University, in which palaeontologist Dr Laia Alegret (pictured), took part.

The researcher from the Aragón Institute of Environmental Science, part of Zaragoza University, was one of the team which has concluded that the dinosaurs were largely wiped out by an asteroid.

In a debate spanning generations, researchers have never been able to agree on whether these giant reptiles became extinct because of a volcanic eruption and the global warming that came with it, or whether they were struck by an asteroid hitting the earth.

But the Yale team believes both factors came into play – although the asteroid was the main cause of extinction.

According to the article published in Science magazine, the volcanic eruptions which led to planetary warming started before, and finished after, the asteroid incident.

It is known that, around 66 million years ago between the end of the Cretacean era and the start of the Tertiary period, an asteroid of 10 kilometres (6.25 miles) in diameter crash-landed on the Yucatán peninsula in eastern México, giving off a massive amount of gases and molten mass into the atmosphere, which caused acid rain and huge quantities of acid in the surface of the oceans – a natural disaster of which the effects went on at least for days, but possibly even for years.

A DRIVERLESS mini-bus powered by electricity is about to be piloted as intra-campus student transport at Madrid Autonomous University (UAM).

Unveiled this month and due to be put into operation next month, the Z10 is the result of a joint effort between Madrid Regional Transport Consortium, the national traffic authority (DGT), ALSA coaches, and the university itself.

It has six seats and space for a further six standing passengers, and will travel a total circuit of 3.8 kilometres around the Cantoblanco campus.

At present, around 30,000 students and staff travel these same roads in over 6,000 conventional vehicles, the UAM says.

Although transport for 12 at a time will not make much of a dent in the emissions generated by these daily 30,000, if the new ALSA mini-bus works well, it is likely more and more of them will be used on campus – as a prelude to their starting to operate on mainstream roads and in towns.

The mini-bus, adapted for disabled users, has built-in sensors, cameras and other latest-generation technology to ensure it is safe to move around without a human driver.

For the moment, though, a separate bus lane has been set up, meaning it should not face any physical obstacles.

Test 'driving' is under way, and engineers are riding on it to monitor how it works and look out for potential incidents, such as double-parked cars in its way.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE MOST expensive bread in the world contains gold, silver and flowers, and is made in Málaga – the latest unusual fact to come out of the Madrid Fusión culinary fair.

Created by Juan Manuel Moreno and costing €1,380 for a 400g chunk, the élite loaf was unveiled yesterday (Tuesday) at one of Europe's largest gourmet trade fairs.

Master baker Moreno says the 400g loaf contains a gram each of edible gold and silver, plus 20 grams of edible flowers, and uses salt which is hand-extracted from rocks in order to avoid having to 'blow them up', causing damage to the environment.

Moreno presented another VIP bread at Madrid Fusión last year, which was then one of the most expensive in the world – but 'only' a seventh of the price of this year's, at €200 a loaf.

Yesterday, he showcased two, of the same weight, price and ingredients, but the second also included quinoa and chia.

Moreno's Pan Piña in Algatocín, Málaga province, is considered one of the best bakeries in Spain and his regular clients include Arab Sheikhs and Chinese and Russian billionaire tycoons.

Other weirdness to come out of Madrid Fusión is Ángel León's sea-honey, sea-sugar and fish-chips.

Owner of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Aponiente, León showed how slow-boiling the marine plant ruppia – harvested from the coastal marshes in the province of Cádiz – could produce honey.

He and other chefs have started using a type of worm used for fishing and found in the marshes as main ingredients for some of their dishes, insisting that the public's repulsion at the idea of eating worms is 'purely cultural' and 'should be challenged'.

Last year, León presented a type of sugar he had created from sea water, but admitted later it had 'not gone down very well'.

In a bid to get kids to eat more fish, León has been working with school catering firm Compass to create foodstuffs that do not, in fact, look like fish – pieces that appear more like chicken, plus pasta, and even chips made entirely from fish with no potato in them.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THIS year's Oscar Awards has brought three nominations for the Spanish film industry – and the first of his career for Hollywood legend Antonio Banderas.

Málaga-born Banderas, 59, has already received congratulations from his ex-wife Melanie Griffith, from whom he split five years ago – and although the Almodóvar veteran has five Golden Globe, four Goya, and an Emmy, a Tony and two Actors' Union nominations, he has never yet been in the running for an Oscar despite having been in the acting business since 1982.

He is up for Best Actor for his (pictured) rôle in Pedro Almodóvar's Dolor y Gloria ('Pain and Glory'), which is nominated for Best International Film.

The third nomination for Spain is for Klaus, produced by the country's third channel Atresmedia, broadcast by Netflix and directed by Sergio Pablos and Carlos Martínez López, for Best Animated Film.

Dolor y Gloria, nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe, is up against the South Korean black comedy-cum-psychological thriller Parasite, which is the favourite to win a Best International Film Oscar.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FRESHLY-SQUEEZED fruit juice does not lose vitamin content unless it is drunk immediately, says one of Spain's leading consumer organisations, the OCU.

In a review of orange juice across the country's major supermarkets, the organisation tested the vitamin C content in each the moment it was extracted, a few hours later, then again at intervals of 24, 48 and 72 hours.

After this time, it is generally not suitable for drinking anyway, but the OCU says the levels of vitamin C remained the same at every test.

More and more Spanish supermarkets are offering a 'squeeze-your-own' service, where locally- and nationally-produced fresh oranges are piled into a giant machine, customers take an empty bottle, normally available in different sizes, and pump the juice into it themselves.

It is an ideal option for those who do not have juicers at home, and is more popular than the varieties sold by the carton – in fact, an increasing number of Spanish residents are tending to drink fresh juice rather than pre-packaged.

Some concerns have been raised among the public about the amount of additional single-use plastic this relatively new system generates, since as yet, no supermarket has a 'return' service for empty bottles, and reusing these after rinsing them out is strongly discouraged by stores – even though it is technically possible as the barcode reading applies to the product, not to individual bottles.

Customers who use the 'squeeze-your-own' machines are urged to reuse bottles for other purposes where they can, and afterwards, deposit them in the 'yellow bin', where plastic, cartons, tins and cans are recycled.

The OCU studied 24 samples in three different branches of each of the eight supermarkets it reviewed – Mercadona, Carrefour, Alcampo, Hípercor, Lidl, Aldi, Día, and Ahorramás.

Its first study addressed what turned out to be unfounded concerns among some consumers – whether the 'squeeze-your-own' machines were hygienic.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S first-ever coalition government starts work tomorrow (Tuesday) in earnest and, for the first time, has more women than men on board.

PSOE (socialist) leader Pedro Sánchez is president, three female ministers are deputy presidents – Nadia Calviño, Carmen Calvo and Teresa Ribera – as well as leader of coalition partner Podemos, Pablo Iglesias.

In total, 11 ministers are female and 11 are men in one of the largest, in terms of people numbers, cabinets in democratic history.

Former justice minister and prosecutor specialising in extremist terrorism Dolores Delgado (first picture) has been dubbed 'minister 23', as she has been picked to head up the State prosecution service – a decision which has led to backlash from the right-wing opposition as they consider it a conflict of interest and believe independent national powers should be kept separate from political colours.

Delgado has deleted her Twitter account and assures that her lengthy experience in the field will make her completely unbiased, as would be expected of a professional in her rôle.

Some ministerial names had already been confirmed on Friday, including interior (Fernando Grande-Marlaska), industry (Reyes Maroto), education (Isabel Celaá), treasury (María Jesús Montero, who is also now PSOE spokeswoman), science (Pedro Duque), agriculture (Luis Planas), transport, mobility and urban agenda – the new name for the ministry of public works (José Luis Ábalos), presidency, Parliamentary relations and equality (Carmen Calvo), economy (Nadia Calviño), and energy transition and environment (Teresa Ribera).

New ones confirmed today include foreign affairs, European Union and cooperation, led by Arancha González Laya (second picture), 50, from Tolosa in the Basque Country, an expert in international trade with extensive experience within the WTO, the UN and the EU, whose new challenges will involve dealing with the Bolivia crisis and Brexit; justice, led by Juan Carlos Campo, 58, from Osuna, Sevilla province, a criminal court judge; Margarita Robles, 63, from León, a judge by profession who will continue with her previous rôle as minister of defence; and Yolanda Díaz (third picture), 48, from Fene, A Coruña province, a solicitor expert in employment law, who will head up the ministry of work and focus on scrapping part of the largely-unpopular 2012 labour reform and negotiate with companies and unions, with one of her first jobs being that of increasing the minimum wage.

Social Security (national insurance) has now been separated from the ministry of work for the first time due to the urgency of addressing major issues affecting pensions and employment separately, which require ministers to focus entirely on each, and migration and inclusion has been added to Social Security, which is now headed up by José Luis Escrivá, 59, an economist from Albacete.

Territorial policy is also a new ministry and will focus, at least at first, on updating financing for Spain's 17 autonomously-governed regions, several of which are sorely underfunded despite bearing the bulk of the country's tourism industry, which requires considerable extra investment and spending – Carolina Darias (fourth picture), 54, a civil servant from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and former regional president for the Canary Islands will be in charge.

José Manuel Rodríguez, 51, a professional juror from Valencia will take over culture and sports, whilst Salvador Illa, 53, a philosopher from La Roca del Vallès (Barcelona province), will take over as minister of health.

Illa's first challenges will involve addressing the universal and timeless issues of short-staffing and waiting lists, as well as progressively eliminating prescription charges for pensioners and those on a low income, including dentist services within the State health system, and tackling the delicate subject of legalising euthanasia.

One of the youngest ministers is Alberto Garzón, leader of United Left – which joined Podemos in coalition at the last four elections – the 34-year-old economist from Logroño, La Rioja will be the first minister for consumer affairs since the Civil War and will focus initially on consumer protection and on toughening up gambling laws.

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TAKING a trip to Spain, or exploring it further if you already live there, offers literally whatever you want to get out of a holiday, whatever your age, tastes or budget – although too often, it's only famed for its hot summers and beaches. Naturally, these are popular magnets for good reason (nowhere else in the world has as many blue flag beaches as Spain), but if these are not your idea of fun or you'd prefer something radically different for your next break, chances are you'll find yourself looking at other destinations.

Stop right there: Unless you have an urge to explore a specific region or to go to a country you've never seen before, it's almost certain you needn't look farther afield than Spain.

Sure, you've seen documentaries on TV, travel brochure photos, and television comedy dramas, and you know it's not hard to find tourist-heavy sunshine hotspots where most of the other guests are of the same nationality, and a lot of the bars and restaurants are run by them, too. But these are only a tiny proportion of the country; if you want to escape the Brits, the chip shops and the crowds, you still have about 95% of Spain to choose from.

You can still find tourist hotspots without bumping into a single Brit all week; if you seek hustle and bustle, there's lots of it out there in places northern Europeans rarely visit; there's no need to give up the beach to avoid the package holiday resorts; although peace and quiet, relative isolation and inland destinations are abundant – and often just as cheap.

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EVEN with the festive season running a whole 12 days, not ending until the kids go back to school and adults back to the grindstone on the nearest working day to January 7, life can still feel a bit flat at this time of year. But as you've probably come to expect if you live in Spain, there's always something fun on the horizon to beat the January blues.

To cheer everyone up during the 'Crimbo Limbo', the festival of San Antón comes hot on the heels of the Three Kings – daft but cute animal blessings are normally programmed for the closest Sunday to the patron saint's day, January 17, although some hold them the week before – and it is also around this time that Mediaeval market season kicks off.

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FOR the first time in Spain's democratic history, the new government will have four deputy presidents – and three of them will be female.

Leader of left-wing Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, who struck a coalition agreement with elected president Pedro Sánchez of the PSOE (socialists) within 48 hours of the country's going to the polls, will be the 'main' deputy, and supporters of leftist parties believe the combination will work well: the PSOE is more centre-left than 'true' left-wing, whilst Podemos is dubbed 'far left' by its antagonists, meaning the two men will keep each other's policies 'in check' and ensure a good balance.

This is, however, the first coalition government Spain has had since the Transition to democracy in 1975, and is the first left-wing government since 2011, meaning time will tell whether it will be a success or whether at the November 2023 elections, Spaniards opt once again for a right-wing leader.

Current acting deputy president, the PSOE's Carmen Calvo, will continue in the rôle, whilst the present minister for the economy and former director-general for budgets with the European Commission, Galicia-born Nadia Calviño, 51, will join her.

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SPAIN'S Rafael Nadal is the first tennis player in history to have been world number one in three different decades – a fact that the Mallorca-born ace says 'makes him feel old'.

Newly-married Rafa, 33, is embroiled in the ATP Cup at present, where Spain has just beaten Georgia and Uruguay and is through to the third round, showing it is a force to be reckoned with, having also recently won the Davis Cup.

And Spain's star player has started the New Year as ATP number one, something he also achieved in the 2010s and the 2000s.

The Manacor-born star was asked by reporters in Perth, Australia 'what his secret was'.

Rafa first shot to number one in 2008, a year when he won Wimbledon for the first time after an agonising final against Switzerland's Roger Federer, and also took his fourth consecutive Paris Open title at the Roland Garros stadium – a competition he has now won 12 times.

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ANYONE who still has some of the €1.61 billion in pesetas in coins and notes in their homes needs to change them into euros before the end of this year – or they will be stuck with them, the Bank of Spain recalls.

Notes minted after 1939 – the final year of the Civil War in which dictator General Franco came into power, a reign ended by his death in 1975 – can automatically be changed by the Bank of Spain, the only entity able to do so.

Any notes issued between 1936 and 1939 inclusive can also be exchanged, but Bank of Spain experts need to analyse them first, so it will not be an instant process.

As for coins, only those which were still in circulation as at New Year's Day 2002 can be exchanged.

Coins that can be changed for euros include collectors' and limited edition commemorative versions.

This said, the Bank of Spain recommends anyone who still owns peseta coins and notes show them to a collector first, since certain editions can be worth tens or even hundreds of euros.

They do not even need to be historic or antique – some peseta coins from as recently as 1995 can attract upwards of €100, and certain coins from the mid to late 1940s have fetched between €10,500 and €36,000 on auction sites.

This is clearly not the case with all peseta coins, only with certain ones that are considered highly-collectible, but as the description of these is long and often includes surprisingly ordinary-looking versions, it is always worth consulting a collector.

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PEDRO Sánchez is now officially president of Spain and King Felipe VI has signed the paperwork giving his Royal assent to the appointment.

The PSOE's (socialists') coalition partners, leftists Podemos, had struck a deal with Sánchez 24 hours after the elections on November 10 – despite these elections having been held as a result of the two parties' failing to reach an agreement after Spain went to the polls in April – and will now form an active part of the new government, including running ministries.

Full details of appointments will be revealed over the next few days.

Podemos' leader, Pablo Iglesias, burst into tears of relief and joy when Sánchez made it through the second round of Parliamentary voting with 167 in favour and 165 against.

In the first round, Sánchez needed an outright majority of MPs to vote in his favour – 176 out of 350 – which, until four or five years ago, was normally straightforward as one of the two main parties would always achieve a majority of seats in a general election.

Nowadays, with more parties on the scene, a hung Parliament is normally guaranteed, meaning the presidential candidate has to negotiate with all the opposition outfits to convince them to vote in his favour.

If – as was the case with Sánchez on Sunday – the first round failed to provide a majority in his support, the candidate goes through to a second round 48 hours later, in which he needs only a simple majority, or more 'yes' than 'no' votes.

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THIS year's jackpot-winning El Niño number is 57342, worth €200,000 for a décimo, or tenth of a ticket.

In the same way as the Christmas El Gordo draw on December 22, the pupils at Madrid's San Ildefonso school 'sing' the numbers as the balls roll out.

The first prize has been won by ticket-holders all over the country, including Toledo, Albacete, Rianxo (A Coruña), Mollet del Vallès, Vilanova del Camí, Pineda de Mar (Barcelona), Veguellina de Orbigo (León), Manises, Simat de la Valldigna (Valencia), Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid), San Sebastián, Tarancón (Cuenca), Santander, Quintanar de la Orden, Villa de Don Fadrique (Toledo province), Lleida, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Lorca (Murcia).

As has been the case with almost every El Gordo and El Niño draw for as long as anyone in Madrid can remember, the lottery shop known as Doña Manolita sold a batch of the jackpot number – a total of 10 décimos.

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If you're in Spain whilst you're reading this, you'll have been in for a treat last night – the Three Kings, as the country refers to the Magi, would have been parading around your town, flinging out sweets to the children, and then giving them gifts bought and wrapped by their parents and sent to the town hall for distribution.

Of course, don't tell the kids that this is how the Kings got hold of them – as far as the little ones are concerned, the Reyes Magos have travelled from the Orient, following a star, and bearing presents with them which the children wrote to tell them they wanted when the Royal Pages visited a few days ago to collect their letters...

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AFTER a lifetime of the daily grind, retirement and earning a pension used to be what happened when we were literally too old to work, let alone do anything fun – but it's generally understood these days that retirement is a time when we've worked quite enough, thank you very much, and we're now going to relax, enjoy ourselves and take up all those hobbies we never had a free moment for earlier in life.

If you're thinking of moving abroad for this 'golden age' in your life, you may well find yourself bombarded with choices – especially if you don't have a 'special place' where you've spent plenty of time and feel an affinity with, and don't have family or close friends overseas you'd like to live nearer to.

It's stating the obvious to say Spain is one of the top choices for northern Europeans seeking warmer climates for their retirement – excellent healthcare, free at the point of access to all residents, fabulous food, a lower cost of living than most countries above the Pyrénées and several below them, mild winters, balmy springs and autumns and sun-drenched summers, idyllic beaches, beautiful scenery, and – depending upon what you're seeking – there's plenty of choice between cosmopolitan communities where you'll meet people of your own nationality and others, or where you're completely immersed in Spanish society, or where you're on the cusp of both and can choose between them as the mood takes you.

But don't listen to us, because we're biased – of course we're going to tell you Spain is the best place in the world to retire to.

Just to prove we're right, though, we had a look at the Forbes magazine top 10 retirement destinations, and – guess what? Not only is Spain in it, but three places in the list are on Spanish soil, and it's the only country with more than one destination mentioned.

What might surprise you, though, is that two of these are off the traditional tourist trail, and may not even have occurred to you – so we've just inflated your list and made your choice harder.

Sorry about that.

What to consider

Sunshine is not enough. You need to be sure you're living somewhere safe, somewhere affordable, with good-quality housing, decent driving conditions in the first decade or two of your retirement, the economy in general...

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NEW YEAR'S Day tends to get off to an uncomfortable start in coastal parts of Spain – and not just because of the monster hangover or stomach acid from forcing down 12 grapes in as many seconds.

In Barcelona and in Jávea (northern Alicante province), residents famously take a freezing dip in the sea on the first day of each year – a tradition dating back decades that requires a hefty dose of courage; not just from those participating, but from those watching, since it is enough to send a chill down any spectator's spine and have them reaching for their warmest coats.

Spain's second-largest city has been staging its New Year's Day dip since the dawn of 1996 on Sant Sebastiá beach, organised by Barcelona Athletic Swimming Club, and normally involves a token fee for participants, which goes to charity.

In Jávea, the January 1 sea-swim started as a one-off event many years ago by the British-run bar The Lancashire Bruja on the Arenal beach, and became a custom which has never yet been broken.

All participants have to be in fancy dress when they get wet, and cannot claim to have 'completed' the challenge unless they manage to stay submerged to at least shoulder-height for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Few succeed in staying there more than the 10 minutes.

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ANOTHER two motorways will become toll-free from tomorrow – in fact, in one case, from 22.00 tonight – and one town is even holding a New Year's Eve party at a service station to celebrate.

Campaigns to end the tolls on the AP-7 stretch starting from the Valencia province towns of Silla and finishing at the pictured exit in San Juan (Alicante province) have been ongoing for nearly 20 years, and the start of 2020 will see it become free of charge for the first time since the 1970s.

Tolls along this 157-kilometre section of the coastal highway from the French border to the Costa del Sol amount to about 150% of fuel costs for the same trek – and even when they were cheaper, they still added extra expense for long-distance drivers, especially commercial haulage firms.

To this end, the vast majority use the N-332 inter-provincial highway instead, which is free of charge.

But the N-332 runs straight through the town centres of Favara, Bellreguard, L'Alqueria de la Comtessa, Palmera, and Oliva (Valencia province), and Gata de Gorgos, Benissa, Altea, Albir and l'Alfàs del Pi (Alicante province), where they are single-carriageway and in the heart of residential and shopping zones.

All these towns have suffered permanent, round-the-clock gridlock, noise levels proven to be up to 50% higher than the World Health Organisation's recommended safe maximum, air pollution, damage to road surfaces and buildings – blackened rendering and worn-out tarmac – hazardous situations for pedestrians, accidents, road rage and very long delays with traffic queues moving so slowly it is actually quicker to walk than to drive.

So it is no wonder they are actively celebrating – or that a huge party will be held tonight at the Sant Antoni service station near the Benissa exit off the AP-7.

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DADS of the first babies born in 2020 will be the earliest to enjoy 12 weeks' paternity leave, as the central government pledged to increase this from four weeks starting from January 1.

They still do not get as much paid time off as mums, who have 16 weeks on full salary if they are employed, although this is likely to change in the next few years – and some argue that mothers need more time off after a birth because they have to recover from pregnancy and labour.

This year, no babies were born during the chimes or in the first seconds of the New Year, as is often the case – but Ariadna, who came into the world in the hospital in Elda (Vinalopó Mitjà district, southern Alicante province) and Carlos Dariel, born at the Infanta Leonor hospital in Madrid, both appeared at exactly 00.02 this morning (Wednesday).

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