News, June 2009

June 29th, general news roundup.

2 seriously ill with A-flu in Madrid and Tarragona - first serious cases in Spain - one is pregnant and has had forced birth at 27 weeks - baby doing well, mother expected to die; 7 migrants die as patera hits rocks in Straits - up to 40 were aboard, another 2 pateras reach Mallorca; inflation (HCPI advance figure) -1%; major ETA arms hide located in France; Sales begin for holidays - 30% discounts available; electricity rises on 1st July and then state controlled pricing ends - but few generators offer discounts to change supplier; IBEX market index at highest since October; 'good drivers' get 2 point reward on 1st July for staying clean in first years of points system.

Other recent news includes: 26th: 5 arrested in Morocco on suspicion of planning Islamic terror attack in Spain; Bank rescue plan launched - BBC report; ETA sends round of extortion letters; Carrefour to become first major supermarket chain in Spain to stop free plastic bags - Lidl has never given them; new immigration bill planned; 41% fall in mortgages in April - to 50,000; National Police to get new Navy Blue uniform; bill announced to limit cross-frontier legal action by judges like Baltasar Garzón (and the famous Pinochet case) - BBC report; 25th: 2 members of ETA arrested in Paris - possibly major leaders; 2 cruise passengers isolated in Palma due to A-flu; 24th: Bus rolls at roundabout in Extremadura - 3 dead, 12 injured; OECD downgrades Spain's growth prospects to -4.2%; 23rd: 3 presumed ETA members arrested in Basque Country - plus 75kg explosive - suspected on attacks on high speed rail works - 'armed and ready to attack'; Catalan Generalitat to cut 900 million Euros from budget, including L9 Metro line to new airport terminal T1 - debt is overwhelming; Socialists and left fail to revise so-called 'Beckham's Law', which lets top foreign footballers off tax; Partido Popular complains of withdrawal of body guard for leader Mariano Rajoy on foreign trips; Zapatero refuses to 'cheapen lay-offs, despite international pressure'; 500 'Portuguese men of war' spotted floating off Gibraltar; King and Queen visit New Zealand; 22nd: 137 migrants reach Spain aboard 3 pateras; radar speeding fines increase 5 fold in Madrid from 50,000€ to 264,500€ Jan to May; ECB calls on Spaniards to moderate salary growth; tourist arrivals to May down 12% - Mallorca taxi cabs' income down 50% over winter and now 35% lower; in India several hundred thousands celebrate the life of humanitarian worker Vicente Ferrer as he is buried- his widow, Anne Perry from Essex (England) continues the work of his foundation 'to eradicate extreme poverty in India'; Madrid's new suburban rail hub at Puerta del Sol ready to open next Saturday.

19th: ETA kills again as car bomb explodes in Bilbao car park - police chief inspector dead - BBC report; first artificial 'Berlin heart' implant for baby in Córdoba; 18th: Bad debts reached 4.4% in April; Barcelona 'rapist' set free before trial; 17th: Barcelona Airport T1 opens for flights - Airport presentation - most early flights were on time; patera sinks off Almería - one dead, one missing, 9 rescued; Pullmantour's Ocean Dream, carrying Spanish cruisers denied docking in Barbados and Grenada due to A-Flu outbreak; drunkenness increasing among young people - one in four every weekend, half once a month, according to Health Ministry study; Iberdrola (Scottish Power/ Energy East) raises major capital through institutional share issue; 16th: As new abortion white paper faces first reading in Congress, anti-abortion lobbyists, led by RC dominated but church-independent HazteOir send 4 emails per second to call for support to amendment from Navarre conservative party UPN to delay consideration of the bill - government is likely to win by small margin - see HazteOir and Derecho a Vivir sites - Congress; 2 Spanish F-18 fighters crash into sea near Canaries - pilots rescued; jobs losses increase as Nissan drops 600 after Pirelli announced factory closure, both in Barcelona area; May home sales down 47.6% - new record; Bank of Spain governor Fernández Ordóñez warns that higher unemployment will slow recovery; 60 sweat shops inspected in Catalonia in crack down on Chinese mafia; Barcelona airport's new T1 terminal opened today by national and regional presidents- first flights tomorrow; 15th: Temperatures fall after weekend heat wave in high 30s and low 40s; banks' Q1 results 21% down on increased bad debts; ETA hide discovered 'by chance' in France with arms and 180 kg of explosive; new ETA communiqué takes responsibility for 5 more attacks; new Basque Lehendakari (regional president), socialist Patxi Lopez, commemorates ETA victims among Basque police (Ertzaintza); report highlights lack of air traffic controllers affecting 3 airports; Goya painting to be auctioned by Sothebys in London on July 8th; arrested for falsification in Santander man who claimed neighbours' identity to keep their driving licences clear - 24 fines of 12 people went his way - but vicarious suffering is not permitted by the traffic dept.!

12th: Judge Garzón finally allowed to exhume Civil War dead - BBC report; economic questions surround Real Madrid's spending spree - the club is heading for a billion Euros of long-term debt - BBC comment; 10th: CPI for May at record -0.9%; Inditex (Zara) Q1 profit down 16% - BBC report-video; Iberworld Airbus A320 makes emergency landing in Las Palmas (Canaries) with engine problem; world first - a keyhole kidney transplant in Barcelona; after cool wet spell, 39ºC heat wave threatens centre and south; Spain refuses to allow Gibraltar to be taken off UN list of colonies; Picasso sketchbook worth 8 million Euros stolen from Paris museum - BBC report; 9th: Rail strike called off; cross-border search on for 2 ETA members who wounded a Gendarme in Bayonne, French Basque Country; home sales touch record low with barely 100,000 transactions in all Spain in Q1; 8th: Conservative Partido Popular wins highest ever European election vote, threatening Socialists' hold on government - leader Mariano Rajoy claims a victory for conservative values - as the new abortion bill was high in voters' minds; rail strike tomorrow and 10th, but 'minimum services' up to 75%; technical report says Garoña nuclear power station is safe for 10 more years - it's licence must be renewed this month, after 40 years - decision will be political; Spanish Coke sales fall 10% as Cuba Libre drinkers stay at home - and dry; fashion prices down 50% a month before Sales open; PwC reckons Spanish banking sector needs up to 70 billion Euros to recapitalise effectively - some mergers or government support is now expected for the Cajas, partially nationalised savings banks.

4th: Opposition leader Rajoy warns of new bank rescue after Sundays EU elections; 2008 birth rate highest since 1990 at 1.46; patera sinks in Strait of Gibraltar - 30 migrants missing presumed drowned; Florida court orders Odyssey to hand over to Spain millions of gold coins brought up from wreck of galleon Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes - worth 500 million - BBC report; decision on future of ageing nuclear power station Garoña postponed -perhaps to after elections; David Attenborough gets Principe de Asturias prize for Social Sciences; judges' self-regulators let Garzón off the hook over US income in 2005-6 not declared (to them) - not a tax issue, no harm was meant; 3rd: EU to finance Spanish anti-unemployment spending from Social Fund - 2.3 billion Euros; Iberia cuts flight schedule to Mexico and announces possible extra lay-offs; advance population data for 1st January show 330,000 new migrants in Spain, with total population now 46.6 million and total foreigners 5.6 million, or 12%, including 2.3 million from the EU; A flu advances in Madrid schools - 24 pupils have it confirms health dept.; 2nd: Unemployment falls for first time in 14 months - almost 25,000 less claimants; 7 Pateras intecepted off Almería with 116 migrants on board; The Economist reports on business interests of new Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez and Scottish Power boss Ignacio Sánchez Galán - and how business works here; Queen Sofia flies Ryanair from Santander to London to visit sister; 'A taste of Spain' took to the streets of London this weekend, until Tuesday - next month (17-19 July) in Edinburgh.

Earlier news headlines: click here.