Live News From Spain As It Happens

SEVEN towns on the Costa del Sol are due to set up 'low-emissions zones' thanks to European Union funding.

Air pollution is directly responsible for around seven million deaths worldwide per year – about one in every 1,000 inhabitants – and transport is the biggest generator of unclean air; also, carbon dioxide emissions trap heat within the earth's atmosphere, contributing to climate change and extreme weather.

To this end, towns all over Spain with a population of 50,000 or more are now required to create low-emissions zones, and can claim cash from the EU Next Generation Fund to help them out.

This goes beyond merely banning cars from a town-centre area, as people and goods need to get about, so it covers public transport reinforcement, cycle lanes and electrically-powered vehicles, among other actions.

Even planting trees may fall within the scope of the funding, since they are one of the planet's best allies against air pollution – they 'drink' CO2 and pump out oxygen.

Cash awarded to major Costa del Sol holiday hotspots will be substantial, and is based upon the size of their population.

To this end, the largest amount goes to Málaga city – just over €10 million – followed by Vélez-Málaga with a little over €3.7m and Benalmádena with nearly €2.9m.

Torremolinos will be given just short of €2m, Estepona slightly over €1.5m, with the final two getting six-figure sums.

Fuengirola will receive €462,000, and the quaint, historic and traditional town of Nerja – popular with holidaymakers who want to experience 'real Spain' and the Costa del Sol vibe on the same trip – receives just over €492,000.

SPANISH national president Pedro Sánchez is one in five million – literally.

This year, he turns 50, but unlike the other more than 6.5 billion inhabitants of planet earth, will not actually have a birthday at all.

Whether or not he plans to celebrate his five decades of life is another matter, but Sánchez has only had 12 birthdays, not counting the year he was born – and his last one was just a fortnight before Spain went into lockdown.

Sánchez's date of birth is February 29, 1972, meaning his milestone 'zero' birthday does not actually exist.

He was able to celebrate turning 20, and also his 40th, on the right dates – in 1992 and 2012 – but for obvious reasons, namely that leap years are always even-numbered, he did not get a 21st birthday; or an 18th, for that matter.

Pedro Sánchez will have to wait until his 60th to celebrate a milestone birthday on the actual date – in 2032, which will be a leap year – and will also be able to blow out 80 candles on the right day, in 2052.

Should he live to be 100 – not at all uncommon in Spain, which has one of the top five longest life expectancies on earth – Sánchez will be able to celebrate his entry into treble figures on the exact centenary of when he was born, in 2072.

Effectively, anyone born on February 29 only gets a 'zero' birthday every 20 years, and only when the first digit is an even number.

And with the exception of the recent Games in Tokyo, the Olympics always fall in a leap year - as do the UEFA Euros which, again, happened in a 365-day year for the first time ever last summer.

Sánchez in presidential hotseat, aged 11

Head of the centre-left Spanish Socialist Labour Party (PSOE), in power since summer 2018 when a cross-party no-confidence vote ousted his main rival, the right-wing PP, ending its leader Mariano Rajoy's nearly seven years in office, Pedro Sánchez was then elected as president in November 2019, but in a minority.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BANKS nationwide will soon be required by law to put measures in place that guarantee everyone can use their services, even the elderly, technologically-illiterate and those with disabilities or diversities.

Spain's government has released details of new procedures all high-street financial entities will be obliged to follow to ensure 'inclusiveness' – that nobody is left out in the cold from a basic public service that is as essential to daily living as electricity, water, telecommunications and transport.

Although local councils and regional governments in more isolated, rural parts of Spain, or those with a high retired population, have been making waves for some time to get banks to make themselves accessible, the real driving force behind the changes is 78-year-old Carlos San Juan and his online petition, which has gathered close to 700,000 signatures.

The retired doctor says he does use the internet, but his knowledge of it is fairly basic and his main concern is other people his age and above who cannot, or do not have a connection, as well as those who cannot afford a computer or a bang-up-to-date SmartPhone compatible with banking Apps.

After a local high-street bank attempted to charge him for withdrawing money over the counter rather than from a cashpoint, Carlos' now-viral response was: “I'm elderly, not stupid.”

The national government's reaction to the 'elderly uprising' has been swift and complete, and acts as proof that it is, indeed, listening to the people it represents.

Six-monthly analyses and reports will be drawn up by the Financial Inclusion Observatory to make certain that all banks comply, and that the new measures are working, as well as making recommendations for improvements.

Here's an outline of new legal obligations placed on banks to ensure everybody can use them.

Toll-free telephone assistance

Telephone-based services, as an alternative to online, App-based or face-to-face assistance will be reinforced, and the protocol signed by Spain's banking community commits them to guaranteeing the caller will always be able to speak to a human, not a standard recorded message.

Phone lines will be free of charge, so that those who do not have internet access or cannot get to a bank in person will not be forced, by default, to pay more than everyone else for the 'privilege' of having and managing an account.

Read the full article at thinkSPAIN.com

RESIDENTS of two towns in the far-western region of Extremadura were called upon to vote on Sunday whether they wanted to merge and become one bigger municipality.

A referendum was authorised by the State in early November, as both local councils believed they would become socially, financially and politically stronger if they joined forces – but they wanted to know what the people living in them thought.

The 37,300 inhabitants in Don Benito, and the 25,800 in neighbouring Villanueva de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz – which borders onto Portugal – where they were aged at least 16, were urged to cast their ballots, and both mayors had set a minimum threshold of 66% for 'yes' in each of the towns as a condition of going ahead with the merger.

All political parties along the spectrum from right to left, in both councils, are in favour of the move, and Don Benito's mayor José Luis Quintana and his counterpart in Villanueva de la Serena, Miguel Ángel Gallardo – both on the socialist, or PSOE party – have been leading a 'yes' campaign for the past four months.

They have been backed by MPs from elsewhere in the country, and published data from a detailed report drawn up by the Faculty of Business Economics at Extremadura University showing how the two smaller towns could benefit from being one large one of 63,100 residents.

A tale of two towns, or one city

In practice, as Villanueva de la Serena has a 'city' charter, despite its small size, the resulting municipality will be a city rather than a town, and will be the third-largest in Extremadura after the two provincial capitals of Badajoz (151,000 inhabitants) and Cáceres (96,500 residents), knocking the splendid Roman metropolis of Mérida (with 60,000) into fourth place.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

COVID 'passports' will no longer be needed in the Comunidad Valenciana to access anywhere other than care homes when visiting friends or relatives, starting today (Tuesday, February 22), regional president Ximo Puig has announced.

The original plan was to axe the requirement from Tuesday, March 1, provided contagion rates continued to fall, but the move has been brought forward a week.

Puig has also agreed to eliminate the legal limit of 10 customers to a table in bars and restaurants, and the requirement to keep these at least 1.5 metres (4'11”) apart.

But smoking in outside seating areas in cafés and eateries remains banned at the moment, as authorities consider it could lead to the virus spreading if a person with a cigarette is infected.

“These new times are calling for us not to extend restrictions for one day longer – our economic, social and emotional recovery is about to begin,” Puig stated in an inter-departmental meeting he chaired jointly with the regional public health secretary Isaura Navarro.

At present, the Comunidad Valenciana is the only region still requesting Covid 'passports', or vaccine certificates, as a condition of entry to inside areas of restaurants, bars, gyms, sports and concert arenas, theatres and cinemas, among other leisure premises which typically see large numbers of people in a confined space.

From February 22, they will only be needed by visitors to nursing homes, or by anyone entering Social Centres – a type of community hall-cum-café, sometimes with a theatre or cinema room inside – given that these are frequently used by the elderly.

Use of Covid certificates for these places needs to be approved by the regional High Court of Justice, which has the last word in each of Spain's 17 autonomously-governed regions concerning pandemic-related restrictions, but this organism is not expected to present any barriers to the rule change.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S Winter Olympic squad has now left the snowy slopes in the Peking area and are on their way back to proud families, friends and followers, with over half of them full of tales of their first-ever Games.

Week one saw Spain clinching our first medal above a bronze since 1972, only the second Spanish woman to gain a medal – snow-board rider Queralt Castellet, with a silver in halfpipe – and a fistful of Olympic diplomas.

First-timer Javier Lliso got one for sixth place in Big Air freestyle skiing, cross-country snow-boarder Lucas Eguibar earned a seventh-place diploma – his second, in three consecutive Games – and ice-dance duo Olivia Smart and Adrià Díaz have taken home an eighth-place diploma, the first time Spain has ever won anything in this field at a Winter Olympics.

This, along with having finished 13th at Sochi 2014 and 11th at Pyeongchang 2018 with his then ice-dancing partner Sara Hurtado, was enough to qualify Adrià to carry the Spanish flag at the closing ceremony.

For the opening ceremony, 'skeleton' rider Ander Mirambell, at his fourth Games, and Queralt Castellet, competing at her fifth and with a seventh-place diploma from Pyeongchang, carried the flag together.

Overall, results from the first week of this year's Winter Olympics meant Spain had already enjoyed at least equal success to the previous Games in South Korea four years earlier – fewer medals this time than the two bronzes in 2018, but a higher position, plus several 'firsts' and improved personal bests, and more diplomas.

But plenty of action was still left for the second week – here's how our 2022 national team fared.

Imanol Rojo matches his skiathlon position

Basque-born Imanol beat Spain's highest-finishing place in 15-kilometres freestyle skiing this year, ending 39th – the best sinceJosep Giró's 45th position at Sarajevo 1984 – and cracked his personal best in 30-kilometres skiathlon, with a time of 42 minutes, 15.2 seconds, ending 21st.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IF YOU had ancestors in the UK, Ireland, or the far north-eastern tip of the Americas over a millennium ago, you're probably a pirate.

That's because you may well be a distant relative of the Scandinavian colonisers known in Old Norse as víkingr, meaning 'pirate', and which morphed into 'Viking', now synonymous with fierce-looking men in horned helmets.

In reality, though, horns on helmets would have been impractical for combat, and were probably only used in ceremonies, whilst the 'everyday' headgear would have more likely been the spangelhelm, or several flattened bits of iron gripped together.

And women were 'Vikings', in the 'pirate' and the tribesperson senses of the description: They were very much more emancipated in the ninth century than they would have been 1,000 years later, able to choose to divorce or leave their husbands, live independently, own property in their own names, manage family farms and finances in the men's absence, and a few of them knew how to handle swords.

'Danish England' was in place for around 200 years, much of Scotland and especially the islands, along with Iceland, was under Norwegian rule, the western Baltic States and a large chunk of west Russia was ruled by the Swedes, Scandinavian Kingdoms were in place in strategic parts of Ireland for about two-and-a-half centuries, and historians are divided as to whether the Americas were actually 'discovered' by Leif Eriksson at around the start of the 11th century – certainly Greenland, now part of modern-day Denmark and therefore Europe, but in geological or tectonic-plate terms part of the American continent, was largely in Viking hands.

Mediterranean Vikings?

Vikings are rarely associated with the Mediterranean. Brief, relatively unsuccessful strongholds appeared across Normandy and the banks of the river Seine, and whole communities of Vikings were in service as mercenaries in Constantinople – now İstanbul, in Turkey – forming the Byzantine Emperor's Varangian Guard. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

LIGHTS, camera, Facebook: Your travel snaps will be dazzling after a night trip to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Great Mosque in İstanbul, and Alcalá del Júcar in the province of Albacete.

Wait...where?

You can probably place the first two, and may well have seen them in person, by day or night, and know that when they're lit up after dark, they're just magical. It doesn't have to be Christmas for you to get the same vibe from a scintillating street-scene; any time of year will do, and the stunning, fairytale glow will put you in a randomly festive mood without the stress of last-minute shopping, even on an unremarkable date on the calendar.

If you needed proof, the International Best Artistic Illuminations Award, granted by Philips in 1986, went to the Eiffel Tower, with a second prize to İstanbul's Great Mosque.

Even Nescafé was impressed

Third prize was presented to a location not on any known tourist trail – although it is now, as it's on Spain's extensive 'Most Beautiful Villages' network, which is exactly what you think it is and more.

Alcalá del Júcar, home to barely 1,200 residents, sits in the east of the Castilla-La Mancha province of province of Albacete, about 64 kilometres from the city of the same name, but much closer to the Valencia-province district known as the Ayora-Cofrentes Valley, deep in the rural hinterland of the Comunidad Valenciana and surrounded by dramatic, majestic pine-covered mountains as far as the eye can see.

Alcalá del Júcar is also close to the A-32 motorway, which leads north-east to the well-known wine region of Utiel-Requena (Valencia province), and little more than an hour to Valencia itself, Spain's third-largest city and right on the coast.

But back to the lights. Being the third-most attractively-illuminated location in the world, right up there with Paris' and İstanbul's globally-famous monuments, Alcalá del Júcar suddenly saw a spike in tourist numbers after receiving its award.

So beautiful, in fact, were its lights universally considered to be, that the village was used as the filming location for Nescafé's annual TV Christmas advert in 1988.

That's another feature Paris, İstanbul and Alcalá del Júcar have in common: Coffee. Paris for its iconic pavement cafés – many of which used to be a café-tabac, combining newsagency, tobacconist and coffee shop – İstanbul for Turkish coffee, which is practically always drunk without milk, and Alcalá del Júcar because it's in Spain and Spain is, objectively speaking and in our totally unbiased view, the country where the world's best coffee is served up.

Alcalá del Júcar started to get blasé about awards after a while – just a decade after the Nescafé advert, it was picked out of all 919 of Castilla-La Mancha's municipalities, its 1,200 residents out of the central region's two million, as winner of the Tourism Prize 1998 in recognition of its huge efforts in making itself a place people from elsewhere would want to visit.

What else to see in Alcalá del Júcar

Illuminations aside, the village's prettiest parts are best seen in daylight – like its 18th-century Roman bridge.

Yes, that's right – Roman in style (columns and arches, solid stone), designed to look as near as possible as though it was originally built at the time of this powerful pre-Mediaeval Empire, but constructed in 1771 across the river Júcar, which meanders through the provinces of Albacete and Valencia and which gives this brightly-lit village its name.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TRAFFIC police in Spain have explained how drivers should react if an ambulance or fire engine comes hurtling down the road with its sirens blaring – and point out that moving aside to let them past is not just about community spirit, but actually a legal requirement.

Whilst the overwhelming majority of motorists automatically react to let an emergency vehicle through, considering it their moral duty, if they failed to do so they could be fined €200 and lose points from their driving licences.

Spanish licences start off with 12 points, and these are deducted for breaches of traffic regulations, with an automatic ban at zero – the opposite system to countries such as the UK which start with zero and points are added, leading to a ban when the total reaches 12.

Unlike in the UK, though, where points are automatically 'spent' after a set period of time, recovering lost points in Spain means taking officially-approved courses at driving schools, which are State-run and physical premises.

National Police explain that if an ambulance or fire engine with the sirens and lights active is heading down a single-carriageway road, whether in a built-up area or an open trunk road, drivers should automatically veer towards the pavement or hard shoulder – their right-hand side, or the passenger seat side if they are in a standard continental car.

If the pavement is clear and the kerb sufficiently low to do so safely, drivers should ideally try to mount it to create even more space, especially where the road is narrow.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

'COVID passports' will no longer be compulsory for entry into hospitality, sports and entertainment premises from March 1 in the Comunidad Valenciana – the last-remaining region in Spain which is still using them.

Although 13 out of the 17 autonomously-governed regions opted to introduce them as mandatory from November, the requirement has been gradually axed, with Catalunya and the Balearic Islands the most recent to do so.

Only the east-coast region comprising the three provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón has still been making entry to bars, restaurants, gyms, sports stadia, theatres and cinemas conditional upon sight of a 'Covid certificate' in the last few weeks.

These are, essentially, a vaccine certificate, with a QR code scanned by staff upon entrance, showing that the holder had been fully jabbed no more than nine months ago – but they can also be obtained as proof that the person has had and recovered from Covid within the past six months, or has a negative PRC or antigen test result taken less than 72 and 24 hours, respectively, beforehand.

Their original purpose was for ease of safe international travel rather than everyday leisure.

The four mainland regions which opted not to implement either a screen-based or paper-based 'Covid passport' as an entry requirement cited reasons ranging from fears of creating a false sense of safety to concerns about, in practical terms, forcing bar staff to become 'Covid police'.

Also, attempts at fraud have not always been picked up – a person who does not wish to be vaccinated downloading someone else's 'Covid certificate' to enable them to continue eating out.

With third or booster vaccine doses now well under way and widespread, and pressure on hospitals lessening, Comunidad Valenciana regional president Ximo Puig says he thinks the 'Covid passport' system, other than for travel abroad, will 'not be necessary' after March 1 – provided the pandemic situation continues to evolve favourably.

During an interview on the radio station Cadena Ser, ahead of the Goya Awards ceremony held at Valencia's Palau de les Arts opera house, Puig said: “If things keep going as they are now, where we've got a massively diminishing amount of contagion, if we're okay, then the general wish is for no restrictions to remain in place any longer than they are needed.

“I don't think the Covid passport will be necessary after March 1.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HOW is Spain getting on at the Winter Olympics? The country's medal count has never been anywhere near that of the mainstream summer Olympics, and many of this year's competitors have never won any international titles, meaning Spain was fielding a fairly green team – in fact, for eight out of the 14, Peking 2022 is their first-ever Games.

But history has already been made within the first few days, thanks to the now-legendary Queralt Castellet, who has bounced back from a very dark place and finally seen her sporting fortunes turn around.

Others have broken their personal records or achieved more than they hoped for – or exactly what they hoped for – whilst a handful have been left disappointed, but for first-timers, nobody expects to see them on the podium just yet.

After all, Spain has only won five Winter Olympic medals in total, showing it's no easy feat.

Here's how it's looking for Team Spain a week in.

First diploma for Spain: Newcomer Javier Lliso is walking on (Big) Air

Madrid-born Javier, 24, joked that his teacher told him off for watching Sochi 2014 under the desk on his phone in class, not realising that her errant pupil would be representing their country in the next-but-one Games.

It's his first time in the Winter Olympics, and he has not yet reached a podium in an international tournament – although his 15th overall ranking and 8th in his class in Big Air freestyle skiing earlier this season, coupled with his finishing 12th in the World Cup in Slopestyle, means he set off for the Chinese capital with the status of being the highest-placed Spaniard at both levels in his sport.

Peking 2022 is the first year Big Air has been included in the freestyle category at the Winter Olympics, and has gone off with a bang for Spain and for Javi – his best international result yet, the gravity-defying youngster came sixth after taking a calculated risk in the first round, earning him and his country their first Olympic diploma of the year.

“I knew where the moves I did were going to leave me, but my main plan was to do a Switch 18 instead of a safety with a tail which would have given me crucial extra points,” Javi admits.

“In the second round, I opted for a safer double 16 and, in the third, to go all out and risk it.

“I tried to use my head more than my heart to try to get the result that I did in the end – and it worked!”

Javi's best two jumps out of a possible three gave him 171.50 points, only 9.5 below bronze medallist Henrik Harlaut – the Swedish veteran earned 181, pipped at the post by the USA's Colby Stevenson with 183 for the silver, whilst Norway's Birk Ruud was crowned champion with 187.75.

Given Javi's age, he should in theory be good for at least another two Winter Olympics, so it's very likely that hopes will be pinned on him before the decade is out to up Spain's historic medal count.

And talking of medals...

Halfpipe snow-boarder and bronze medallist at the most recent World Championships, Barcelona-born Queralt Castellet is the most experienced of the Spanish Winter Olympic squad – and she's now the only living female from Spain with a medal from the Games.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IT'S NEARLY two months until the Oscars, with nominations for Spain's most famous off-screen acting couple, although it will have been 20 years since the country last took home a statuette – so film fans there are trying not to get their hopes up.

And Spain's own version of the Oscars, the Goya Awards, are fast becoming just as famous.

Saturday night's ceremony saw the first-ever International Goya presented, a brand-new category for 2022 – although its winner already has her feet firmly entrenched in the world of Spanish cinema.

“Almodóvar is disgustingly talented!”

Australian screen star Cate Blanchett is due to star in Pedro Almodóvar's début full-length English-language film, based upon Lucia Berlin's short story collection Manual for Cleaning Women – and Cate herself is very much an admirer of the Spanish mainstream arts scene.

“When I was in high school I saw [Luis] Buñuel [post-censorship film director], and it changed how I viewed the world,” Ms Blanchett, 52, admitted in her acceptance speech at Valencia's Palau de les Arts opera house after taking her trophy from Hollywood legend Penélope Cruz and Almodóvar himself.

The star of Carol, Charlotte Grey and The House With a Clock in its Walls compared Penélope and Almodóvar to other huge film-making twosomes such as Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes, and Katharine Hepburn and George Cukor, and laughingly said Almodóvar was 'disgustingly talented'.

She concluded by wishing Penélope and her husband, Javier Bardem, the best of luck in the Oscars, where they are nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor respectively.

Cate admitted she did not speak Spanish beyond 'thank you and good night' to the audience, but says she hopes to learn the language during her time on set with Manual for Cleaning Women.

José Sacristán, 57 years of non-stop acting

This year's lifetime achievement award, or 'Honorary Goya', went to multiple prizewinner and prolific TV and film actor José Sacristán, 84, whose first major production was in 1965 (La Familia y Uno Más, or 'The Family and One More') and who has been acting and producing non-stop ever since – mainly involved in comedy features, Sacristán's most recent was in 2021, Cuidado Con Lo Que Deseas ('Be Careful What You Wish For').

Which films, cast and crew were nominated?

Real-life situations with a dash of comedy, or an unpacking of the past leading to shock discoveries, facing one's demons or both, gritty and topical issues, and a truly cult cast, were the 'theme of the year' for the 2022 Goyas; the winners will probably not surprise you, other than a few outsiders – famous British actors included.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S government has increased the minimum wage after striking a deal with national unions, a move that will affect at least 1.8 million workers.

According to figures held by work minister Yolanda Díaz's department, the typical profile of an employee who will see their salary rise is a woman aged from 16 to 34, on a temporary job contract, working in the service sector, the food industry, or farming.

The coalition government of the centre-left socialists and left-wing Podemos had always intended to work towards bringing the minimum wage into a four-figure monthly take-home sum by the beginning of 2022 or 2023 at the latest – and although the increased salary will take a couple of weeks to come into effect, when it does, this will be retroactive.

Pay rises will be backdated to January 1 and, as it is likely they will already be included in wage slips at the end of February, these will also include the additional figure for January.

In other words, someone who was on the minimum wage of €965 a month before tax – payable in 14 monthly instalments, in line with the dying-out tradition of companies giving a double salary in August and at Christmas – will, from March onwards, get an additional €35 a month gross in their pay slip, but for February, will receive an extra €70 before tax, to cover the rise for January's wage packet, which has already been and gone.

Now, the gross figure is €1,000 a month in 14 payments, or €14,000 a year before tax for a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job.

If this is received in 12 payments, a minimum wage-earner will now be taking home approximately €1,029 after taxes and other deductions.

Those who still work for companies which give a double salary twice-yearly will, in a normal month, get €871.50 after tax, but in August and December will receive an additional €945.60 each time – or, in summer and again at Christmas, will earn €1,817.10.

Prior to the 2022 increase, minimum wage-earners who received 12 monthly pay packets with no 'extras' would take home €1,006.50 a month after tax, whilst those getting a double pay twice a year would, in a standard month, earn €852.50 after tax and, in August and again in December, an additional €924, giving a total for each of these months of €1,776.50.

HYDROPLANES are being trialled as a future 'public transport' system to get residents between islands in the Canaries, and could be fully operating by the autumn.

Surcar Airlines has begun trialling its DHC-6 Twin Otter craft between Tenerife and La Palma, setting off from the former's North Pier and 'landing' in Santa Cruz on the latter within minutes.

The company says it is seeking to use sea-planes for short trips as a passenger transport alternative to mainstream aircraft and ferries – meaning it will be the first airline in Spain to operate them in over 65 years.

“A modern version of a romantic, nostalgic form of travel, which is safe and agile, will bring Canary Islanders even closer together,” says a Surcar Airlines spokesperson.

“This will be a turning point for the islands, and for the European transport industry, as it will improve connectivity and development.”

Surcar Airlines says this has been the case over the past 30 years in cities such as Copenhagen (Denmark), Seattle (USA) and Vancouver (Canada), where hydroplanes have become a key regional transport method.

For the Canaries, it means getting between islands much more quickly – between the region's two provincial capital cities, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in just half an hour.

Ferries are much slower, a mainstream aircraft is only slightly longer but involves the boarding and runway take-off process, adding on extra time, and is not a very environmentally-friendly way of covering the distance, due to the high emissions.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SECOND nano-satellite is set to be launched into space from Catalunya this autumn, with a budget of €1.7 million, as part of the ongoing fight against climate change.

It will collect data from 'watching' the earth in a range of spectral bands, giving scientists the information they need to monitor global warming, its process and effects, work out what to do to slow it down, and how to minimise the damage by devising ways of adapting to the more extreme weather and harsher conditions that come with it.

The first extra-small satellite – weighing around 4.2 kilos, or about the equivalent of just over four litre cartons of milk, or a small adult cat – went up in March 2021, primarily to support the 5G roll-out and provide internet and mobile phone coverage to all of Catalunya's residential areas, however remote.

It also serves the purpose of data collation for tackling climate change, and so far, the satellite baptised Enxaneta has managed to collect a huge corpus of information of vital help to the wine and vineyard industries.

Once again, the second satellite, which is double the size of Enxaneta, will go up from the world's first-ever space base – the Cosmodrome in Baykonur, Kazakhstan, and will cost more than three-and-a-half times the €574,000 spent on the initial launch 11 months ago.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SCIENTISTS in Spain may have found the key to early detection of a type of cancer which is rarely diagnosed until it is too late.

Pancreatic cancer is one of a number of strains known as a 'silent killer', since it is largely without symptoms until it is at a very advanced stage – typically stage four, which is incurable, meaning treatment will, at best, be about prolonging life by a few months or, at best, years, but is often too advanced for anything other than palliative care.

Now, though, a three-year research project by Barcelona's Hospital del Mar (pictured above) and the Barcelona Bio-Medical Research Institute (IIBB), part of Spain's National Research Council (CSIC), has identified a tumour marker present in 90% of pancreatic cancer cases.

Specific to pancreatic cancer, even early-stage

The third cause of cancer death in developed countries, with 8,700 cases diagnosed in Spain in 2021, the vast majority are known as 'pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma', explains Dr Pilar Navarro, team coordinator.

For the remaining 10%, the types found are so vast and varied that they continue to be rare in themselves, meaning effective research has not, as yet, been carried out.

And these are not as aggressive as the other 90%, meaning they are often more curable.

Until now, blood tests have been carried out to detect the tumour marker CA19-9, but its presence does not necessarily mean cancer – it also shows up in the case of pancreatitis, a health condition which is unpleasant, but treatable.

The latest discovery, though, is a protein called AXL Tirosine-Quinase, which shows up on a blood test in pancreatic cancer, from the earliest stage, but is not present with pancreatitis or any other illnesses affecting the organ.

Also, says senior researcher Dr Pablo García de Frutos, the AXL protein is not present in all types of cancer, meaning it is easier to narrow its presence down to specific strains of the disease.

Finding out why it is not involved in all tumour cells means honing treatment targets, and working out how cancerous cell mechanisms work, Dr García de Frutos explains.

Only two in 10 have a chance of a cure

According to Pilar Navarro: “Many patients with pancreatic cancer are not diagnosed until a very advanced stage, meaning surgery is not possible as the tumour has spread too far. We're talking about only around 20% of patients who can even have surgery, which is the only possible cure.

“In all other cases, drug treatment [such as chemotherapy] can extend the patient's life, but the only way we can actually cure pancreatic cancer is if we get to it in time to operate.”

Samples from 200 patients with chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer were used – from 59 patients at the Hospital del Mar, and later, from 142 being treated at Barcelona's Hospital Clínic.

A third set of samples came from those with pancreatic cancer who have a family history of the disease, and a fourth from mice.

Models included in-vitro analysis of human tumour cells – examining them in test tubes – and the result was that the AXL protein was absent in pancreatitis and in healthy individuals, only showing up in those with the type of pancreatic cancer which affects nine in 10 of those diagnosed.

'Low-cost' testing: Could be routine for whole population above a certain age

Within a year, Dr Navarro says, research will have advanced enough that the AXL marker could be used in clinical settings – through blood tests to detect its presence.

Doing so would come at 'very little cost' to the health service, compared with other forms of diagnosing cancer, she explains, as it would simply be another value to add to those being tested for in a routine blood sample.

Although the IIBB and Hospital del Mar appear to have done the spade-work, Dr Navarro says the hardest bit is putting it into practice – if late diagnosis is already the norm due to the condition being asymptomatic, testing for the AXL protein may not be carried out in time.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEARLY 30,000 tennis fans want Mallorca airport to be named after the greatest male player in recent history, if not in all time – a petition is gathering signatures practically by the half-hour.

Started by two residents on the largest of the Balearic Islands, Víctor Bonnin and Sebastián Muntaner, the Change.org campaign began the very day after Rafael Nadal netted his 21st Grand Slam title after an unexpected Australian Open win – it being one of the few venues he has found difficult to crack, having only taken home the trophy once before – and, in the space of a week, has gathered 29,070 supporters.

“Rafael Nadal is, without doubt, the best male tennis player in history and, certainly, the best ambassador the island of Mallorca has,” say the petition authors.

The sporting ace was born in Manacor, as was his wife Mery, whom he has been with since they were teenagers, and neither has ever lived anywhere else, except briefly for university in Palma de Mallorca.

“That's why we've started collecting signatures to ask the government of Spain, [national airport management company] AENA, and the Balearic government, to do whatever is in their power to rename Mallorca airport after Rafa Nadal.

“We think Rafa Nadal represents values that should be an example to us all: Modesty, honour, politeness, self-sacrifice, tenacity and hard work.

“Wherever he goes, he's made our island famous, and for that reason, nothing would delight us more than being able to see his name up in lights whenever we go past or use the airport.”

At the moment, Mallorca airport, in Palma, does not have a 'real person' in its title – the Son Sant Joan terminal is named after Saint John.

Airports are often renamed, around the world, either after the passing of a key figurehead or, sometimes, within their lifetimes – Indira Gandhi airport in Delhi, India, being one example; former South African president Nelson Mandela had an airport named after him in the capital of the west-African islands of Cabo Verde, Praia, when he was still alive.

The petition authors give some of Spain's more recent examples.

“In the past few years, we've seen how Granada-Jaén airport has incorporated the name of poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, Madrid's being renamed Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas [previously Madrid-Barajas, it took the name of the first-ever president in Spain's democratic era shortly after his death from Alzheimer's], Santander airport took the name of Seve Ballesteros [the late, great golfer who became the first of only two Spaniards ever to reach world number one], and Lanzarote incorporated the name of César Manrique,” the petition concludes.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OBLIGATORY mask-wearing in the open air is expected to end within the week, following an announcement by health minister Carolina Darías.

Spain's government plans to approve a decree to this effect on Tuesday (February 8), which will come into force on Thursday (February 10).

Masks will remain compulsory in indoor public spaces, such as shops, and on public transport, but will cease to be a legal requirement outdoors.

After months of not having to wear a mask out in the street, their mandatory use was reintroduced on Christmas Eve amid fears of rising contagion rates that may be exacerbated by gatherings of family, friends and work colleagues over the festive season.

As has been the case since summer 2020, though, masks still need to be worn outdoors in situations where keeping a minimum distance of two metres from the next person is difficult or impossible.

The only exception is on bar and restaurant terraces.

Restrictions in place to prevent the spread of Covid have been minimal for some time – since around the spring of 2021 – other than specific places and occasions where contagion levels have been particularly high.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EVEN though he may still be world number one, tennis fans will perhaps never know whether Rafa Nadal's recent crown as the only man in the sport to win 21 singles Grand Slams could have gone to Novak Djoković instead.

The Serbian 'top of the world' was absent from the recent Australian Open, as well as fellow 'Big Three' player, Switzerland's Roger Federer, but for very different reasons.

Whilst Federer missed out on the Melbourne event due to injury, Djoković was denied entry to the country due to not having been vaccinated against Covid.

It was his personal choice not to be jabbed, and he and his wife Jelena have publicly defended their 'right to decide' – but as his high-profile, headline-grabbing deportation has shown, not agreeing to be vaccinated could be seriously career-limiting for Djoković.

Like Federer, the brilliant Balkan currently holds 20 Grand Slam titles, and Rafa Nadal's triumph down under – only the second of his career – gave the Spaniard his 21st, but Djoković could be forgiven for suspecting that the honour of becoming the world's top man in tennis might have been his if only he had had his injection and been able to play.

None of the three greatest guys in the sport has yet reached the Grand Slam record of the all-girl history-making trio of Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf, with 24, 23 and 22 of these titles respectively, but Nadal is confident he will catch up with them one day as he has since publicly stated that '21 is not enough'.

And the gauntlet has been thrown down for Djoković, sparking rumours that he may have taken an abrupt U-turn over his anti-vax stance.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CHANGES made to travel and entry requirements within the European Union have come into force from today (Tuesday, February 1) and, for the first time in nearly two years, are now streamlined across the bloc independently of the pandemic situation in individual countries.

As a general rule, quarantine is no longer a set requirement unless a traveller tests positive for Covid, and the confusion involved in having to look up what to do before setting off on holiday or to see family and friends should now be eliminated.

Whether travelling into Spain from one of the other 26 member States, or to Spain from one of these – not including the UK, which ceased to be a part of the EU at the end of the 'transition period' in January 2021 – the new system operates as follows.

Your 'Covid passport' – now a key travel document

If you have not done so already, you will need to download your 'Covid certificate' which shows you have been fully vaccinated, from your regional health authority website (for instructions on how to do so, depending upon where you live, check out our article here). 

Again, depending upon where in Spain you live, you may have already had to do this just to be able to enter a bar or restaurant, even just to go for a coffee on an outside terrace; in the Comunidad Valenciana, scanning these at the entrance remains a requirement, although in some regions, such as Madrid, Extremadura and the two Castillas, it has never been obligatory.

Once your certificate is downloaded – in PDF format – you can either keep it on a mobile phone or tablet for the QR code to be scanned (it works with a cracked or dirty screen, too), or print it off and use the paper copy, or both.

From January 25, having an up-to-date 'Covid passport' has been enough to allow you to travel between EU countries without needing to take a test or quarantine, irrespective of which country you're entering or coming from, or the level of contagion therein. The 'traffic light system' was finally axed – due to the onset of the the Omicron variant, which a third jab is thought to provide extra protection against, practically the whole of the EU is on 'dark red', but contagion rates do not necessarily now translate to hospital admissions, serious illness or death – largely thanks to the high percentage of the population's having been vaccinated.

What if I don't have a 'Covid passport'?

Although the simple answer to this is to simply get vaccinated so you can have one, isolated cases of people who cannot have the jab are known – if, for example, you suffer an anaphylactic shock reaction to vaccines in general, which you would already be aware of as we all have a series of immunisations in childhood and early adulthood as standard; also, if you are a brand-new resident in an EU country and not yet on the public health system, having come from a country where the vaccine roll-out is not widespread.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com