Topics from the Spanish News for your Information and Prayer

News from the Churches

'Spain, we're praying for you' - thousands prayed for Spain. WEA leader visits Spain. New Bible presented. Church presentation on the issue of abortion broken up by women demonstrators. This and more... Read on! more >>

March 9th, recent news round-up

Snow continues to affect Catalonia - over 3000 spent night in sport halls, 1/4 million have no power - now affects Andalusia - BBC video, Guardian photos; Spanish owned fishing boat taken by Somali pirates; Chambers of Commerce believe banks must write off permanently €100 billion in loans to builders (1/3 of total); Cloone: Málaga firm offers empty (fill-yourself) coffee capsules; 8th: 600,000 rallied in Madrid against the abortion law currently in Congress, co-led by gypsy pastor Juan José Cortés, father of MariLuz - tens of thousands also took part in regional pro-life rallies on 6th - BBC, Europa Press video - new law to go live on 5th July; flooding continues in south and snow returns to north - major problems in Catalonia - 12cm in Barcelona, up to 65cm in Girona, France cut off by road and rail; Barcelona awarded headquarters of union for the Mediterranean. more >>

Sport headlines

Spain beat France 0-1. Nadal abandons against Murray in Melbourne 1/4 final. Barcelona wins Clubs World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Barcelona leads league. Madrid won 2008/9 rich club league. more >>

New abortion law passes Congress

March. In November (2009) a new abortion law went before the Congress. This has been long months in the planning stage and finally comes to full political debate. With the Roman Catholic influenced Partido Popular on the opposition benches, the law got a narrow victory. Main items are the closing of a clause which has allowed almost any woman to abort at any stage of pregnancy, but it now gives full freedom to abort up to 14 weeks. Assuming it passes the final stages, it is to become law on 5th July. A march on 6th March called for its cancellation. more >>

Inquisition museum opens

Early December saw the opening of the doors to the Castle of Saint George in Seville, former home of the Spanish Inquisition. more >>

News theme: weather and winter travel

Spain is not, contrary to its image, permanent summer! The tourist season is limited, even at coastal areas, except in the Canary Islands, to half the year. Winter, especially inland, is far harsher than it is in (mostly) mild Britain, so much further north. more >>

News Theme: The Economy

Unemployment in Spain (The Economist)

During the decade until 2007 Spain was seen as enjoying an economic miracle. Now Spain is among the worst hit nations in Europe, with economist all over the world, not least in Spain itself, hitting hard at the government for its policies. World economic woes are certainly affecting Spain, but it is suffering more due to local matters. Several billion Euros have now been thrown by the government at the problem, but unemployment reached over 4 million, or virtually 20% by the end of 2009. Experts believe the government is not adopting the best policies to get Spain back to work. We offer our view. more >>

News theme: Basque politics and ETA - 50 years on

31st July 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of ETA's terror campaign. To mark it, ETA planted a bomb outside a Civil Guard barracks in Burgos on 29th and under a patrol car in Mallorca on 30th, the latter causing two deaths. ETA is still alive and killing, but has achieved nothing useful for the Basques they claim to represent. On 19th June '09 ETA killed again. Here we offer some background thoughts to the problem. more >>

News Theme, The immigration crisis

Desperation (AFP)

Reports, almost daily, of open boats known variously as pateras (coming from Marrocco or Algeria) or larger cayucos (reaching the Canary islands from further south), combine with stories of illegal 'paperless' immigrants attempting to cross the fences at Ceuta and Melilla. Add to these high profile stories the situation of hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans and Romanians, not to mention Asians and you have the appearance of a significant immigration crisis. Throw in the confusion and disagreement of politicians as to how to deal with the phenomenon and you have a real crisis, now doubly significant as the jobs they are hoping for have dried up. more >>

More News

A few more news items and where to find more news about Spain:

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