News, May 2009

May 29th, general news roundup.

10% less foreign tourists expected this year, but more Spaniards likely to stay in Spain - government to inject more funds in hotel renewal projects; transport Sec. Ray Lahood test rides AVE high speed rail from Zaragoza to Madrid; Javier Solana (EU foreign minister) backs renewal of license for Santa María de Garoña nuclear power station (Burgos), due to close this year; EU commissioner Almunia calls for structural change to speed up recovery; Supreme Court says judges have no right of 'conscientious objection' to register gay 'marriages'; 28th: Harmonised CPI down again: -0.8%; 'floating jail' USS Bataan visits Palma de Mallorca; German girl (6) goes missing on Costa Brava - later found dead on rocks; 27th: All eyes on Rome for Champions League final; judge Baltasar Garzón to be tried for prevarication; political attention centres on EU elections, but not European issues; SIMA home fair opens in Madrid despite crisis; princes Felipe and Letizia make official visit to Comlombia; Santander group to rebrand all UK businesses (Abbey, etc.,) under Santander name - BBC report; April retail sales down 8.4%; debt growing at 700 million per day; deficit reaches 6.5 billion Euros; infrastructure ministry to create 14,000 jobs in road maintenance; petrol price climbs again above one Euro; British Civil War veterans to get Spanish citizenship - 70 years later - The Times reports; fire engine driver fined for speeding to fire in Valencia; 25th: A-flu spreads, especially among military; 2 women die crushed at frontier post between Morocco and Ceuta; ETA announces time out to consider new 'effective political-armed strategy' - The Times reports on implications for foreigners; ETA member arrested in Paris; storm and rain warning in north; industrial prices fell record 3.4% in April; World bank leader warns Spain's leading paper El País of social unrest due to high unemployment - BBC comment.

Other recent news includes: 22nd: Abortion among top issues as EU election campaign opens; Constitutional Court gives 11th hour reprieve for new Basque party Iniciativa Internacionalista, previously banned as probably pro-ETA, but which had then condemned violence - but not ETA; 11 soldiers in quarantine for confirmed A flu at barracks close to Madrid - scare widens as a school visited the barracks last Monday- BBC report; 'plan E' spreads to car sales as government launches new 2000 discount scheme; rain breaks first bout of summer, but Mallorca temperatures hit May record of 38ºC; with new evidence, court reopens case against US army for death of journalist José Couso during iraq war - BBC report; 'World's oldest blogger' dies at 97 - BBC; 23 voodoo prostitution traffickers arrested - BBC report; 21st: General strike by nationalist unions in Basque Country - rail lines attacked; Cuba expels Spanish spies (investigating ETA terrorists); Morocco jails fugitive who had rented 3/11 suicide flat in Leganés (Madrid) - Spain wants extradition - El Mundo photos of fugitives (Spanish); Caja Madrid, the savings bank, defaults on interest payments on two funds due to underlying bad mortgage debts; other Cajas likely to have liquidity trouble soon; 20th:

The Alhambra, Granada

Norman Foster gets Principe de Asturias (Spanish Nobel) prize for arts; GNP -3.0% in Q1, worse than advance figure of last week, confirming severity of recession, while 'better' than most of EU; 17 arrested in Bilbao on Al Qaeda finance charges; Camps, regional president of Valencia in court on corruption charge (Gürtel case); president of Canaries also accused of corruption; ETA blames police for 'disappearance' of terrorist Jon Anza in France; workers threaten strike on 27th at Spain's nº1 tourist attraction, the Alhambra in Granada; Cruz and Almodóvar in Cannes - BBC photo; Iberdrola switches on Europe's largest wind farm in Scotland - BBC report; 19th: Retired general Navarro jailed and fined for false identification of bodies after crash of troop flight in Turkey in 2003 - BBC report; Barcelona 'rapist' absolved after trial presents lack of proof; judge Garzón jails Camorra leader arrested in Marbella - BBC report; 35 civil servants to be questioned in Gürtel case over corruption in Partido Popular; as new 2000€ car sales aid plan launched, row breaks out over new 1/2 million Euro armoured BMW for Caja Madrid boss; Cajas and banks now hold 15,000 houses and flats for resae- at up to 50% discount; Renfe rail workers to strike nationally on 9th and 10th June over transfer of Catalan suburban services to regional government; Ferrovial to challenge BAA break-up order - BBC report; Ciudad Real airport, with just two airlines using it, faces bankruptcy and could close - far from becoming a second airport for Madrid as hoped; banned party Iniciativa Internacionalista makes declaration repudiating ETA violence and appeals for reconsideration to fight EU elections in Basque Country; as EU elections loom, MEPs rally support for expropriated ex-pat home owners - BBC report; Daniel Carrasco, man who gave name to Danone (as son of founder), dies at 103; 2 Spaniards arrested in London on terror charges after taking photos of Buckingham Palace walls and London Eye - they were subsequently released; Thomas Becket paintings revealed in Soria - BBC report.

Other recent news includes: 14th: GNP for Q1 down 2.9% - BBC comment; new freer abortion bill published by government today; government challenges pro-ETA Euro election candidates list; Berlusconi invites Zapatero to July G8 meeting; 13th: Inflation -0.2% - but prices slightly above March; State of the Nation: government measures do not convince most - home purchase rebate to end in 2011, airlines which grow passenger numbers get free charges on the new passengers..; number of illegals reaching Canaries down 50% due to better policing and crisis; A-flu diagnosed now in 100; 11 of 14 absolved in supporting 3/11 Madrid train bombings; ING Spanish profit up 14 million; new Barcelona airport terminal 1 to open 17th June; free Cocaine! study shows the air in Madrid and Barcelona is full of it (and other drugs), especially at weekends; 12th: State of the Nation debate today in Congress; Madrid metro train derails - none seriously injured; home sales down 34% in Q1; Iberia loses 92 million in Q1 and announces lay-offs - schedule may also suffer; 11th: Health ministry authorises over counter sale of Day After abortion pill; Bicentenary of Latin American independence - celebration opened in Madrid by King Juan Carlos and president Zapatero; 2 weapons hides of former terror group GRAPO found in France - arms in good condition; government prosecutor challenges court decision to release 14 pirates captured last week by oil tanker Marqués de Ensenada - they will be handed over to Kenya ASAP; new socialist government in Basque Country gets into stride; bad debt news worsens by the day; Repsol announces new oil find in Brazil.

7th: 4 pateras intercepted off Cabo de Gata (Almería) with 60 migrants; tenor Josep Carreras retires from opera; 7th: Rainy day: 500 million Pesetas hoarded 'for old times' sake' at the start of the Euro era converted to Euros at the Bank of Spain in March - savers got 3 million Euros; Fiat plans for Opel include cuts at Zaragoza plant, which builds Corsas, Combos and Merivas - the plant has just produced its 10 millionth car; 6th: New Basque Lehendakari refuses to use traditional oath 'humbled before God' to swear in to office; 2 bombs hit radio masts close to Basque contry, presumably ETA; AENA airport operator tells inquiry judge security will improve after the August 2008 Spanair crash; mortgage defaults among immigrants reach 12.5%; 5th: Socialist Patxi Lopez elected as Basque Lehendakari (regional president) -BBC report, former Lehendakari Ibarretxe retires from politics; unemployment slightly up (by 40,000) to 3,644,880 - BBC, The Economist; 4th: Finance frees up as 7 billion lent for mortgages in March; re-designated 'A flu' confirmed cases up to 54; Russian bans imports of Spanish pork; Q1 make-up sales up 26%; EU Commission expects Spanish unemployment to top 20% (now 17.4%)- this is already affecting evangelical churches above 'average', due to the high proportion of immigrants - government ponders paying fares for up to 70.000 unemployed Romanians who want to return home - BBC Europe figures; GDP is to fall 3.2% in same EU study - BBC Europe-wide comment; April car sales fall less than half - by 46%; 2 major Taliban attacks repelled by Spanish Afghanistan troops; 8 Britons arrested in Magaluf, Mallorca, for selling drugs.

Earlier news headlines: click here.