News from Spain

Very high pollen counts predicted for Spring in Spain Experts are predicting an intense spring for people allergic to pollen given that airborne pollen will be double the amount recorded in 2009 due to abundant rainfall earlier this year.Javier Subiza, a leading expert in the area of immunology, said that...

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7 out of every 10 Spaniards use online social networks According to the results of a survey published last week by the Association for Research into the Means of Communication (AIMC) around 71.3% of the Spanish population are registered with an online social network, an increase of 20.5% compared to...

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Storm predicted to hit Spain this weekendAccording to the State meteorological Agenct (Aemet) a storm which is currently crossing the Atlantic will hit Spain this weekend. It is expected that Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria will bear the brunt of the storm with winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour....

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EU defence ministers are meeting this week in Majorca to discuss the new EU policy on defence and security as established in the Lisbon treaty. The conference which was officially inaugurated yesterday by the Spanish defence minister, Carmen Chacón, will also be attended by defence ministers from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritius,...

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Home Office Minister says that limits must be put on volume of traffic in Spanish cities The Spanish Home office Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said yesterday that mayors have changed their outlook on the subject of road safety because ‘we are all aware that the volume of traffic in cities...

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Tourism in Spain grew by 1.1% in January According to a survey carried out by Frontur for the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce on the movement of foreign tourists 2.54 million tourists visited Spain in January this year which is an increase of 1.1% compared to the same period...

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King of Spain to publish his daily agenda via InternetDon Juan Carlos, the King of Spain, has decided to publish his daily agenda of official meetings held in the Zarzuela palace. From now on the public and the press will have details of who he is meeting and what he...

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Number of immigrants grew by 7.1% in Spain in 2009The number of immigrants living in Spain grew by 300,000 last year. This is equivalent to 7.1% and is the lowest figure since 1992 according to information provided this week by Consuelo Rumí, the Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration.Rumí...

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Spanish consumers gaining confidence as consumption in Spanish households increases for the first time in two years According to the latest figures published by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) Spanish households have started to consume more. Consumption by Spanish households had been decreasing continuously since the beginning of...

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Pensioner groups ask for more limits on early retirement in Spain Various associations representing pensioners in Spain have called on the Spanish parliament to reject the government’s proposals to raise the legal age of retirement to 67. They also rejected the government’s plans to raise the number of years for...

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Spain willing to accept five Guantanamo inmates The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, has announced that Spain is prepared to accept five inmates from the Guantánamo prison in Cuba, as long as legal and security conditions are carefully respected during their transfer. During a breakfast meeting organized by...

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Obama and Spanish King Juan Carlos to meet this week The White House confirmed during a press conference last week that the president of the United States, Barack Obama, and the King of Spain are to meet for the first time on 17th February while the King, Juan Carlos, is...

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The Economist calls for more leadership from Zapatero inorder to overcome ‘inertia’ and ‘paranoia’The Economist has published three articles criticising the Spanish government for its handling of the recession. Although it points out that Spain is not facing the same problems as Greece, The Economist says that Spain is the...

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For the fourth time in ten months the government has been asked by Parliament to reduce the money it spends on highly paid posts by 25%. The call to reduce costs has come from the PP, backed by the PNV. The PP has accused Zapatero of increasing highly paid posts...

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Spanish government promises to reduce budget deficit to 3% Yesterday, the Minister for the Economy, Elena Salgado, set out the government’s plans to reduce its budget deficit during a visit to London in an attempt to calm fears about the state of the Spanish economy. Salgado met with the directors...

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Latest polls indicate that PSOE is losing popularity amongst voters Two new opinion polls published yesterday by two of Spain’s largest daily newspapers show that PSOE is losing popularity amongst voters. According to the poll carried out by Metroscopia for EL País PSOE’s electoral base has plummeted due to the...

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Spanish president attends the National Prayer Breakfast in WashingtonAt yesterday’s meeting of the Fellowship Foundation, also known as ‘The Family’, the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, spoke at about the government’s commitment to helping the unemployed. During his speech, which lasted for 15 minutes, he also spoke about...

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The extreme weather conditions on the Canary Islands damaged hundreds of buildings and also resulted in many people being left without electricity or running water for hours yesterday. Tenerife is the worst affected island with the metropolitan areas La Laguna and Santa Cruz suffering the worst damage. In Anaga,...

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According to figures published by the Ministry of Work and Immigration unemployment in Spain rose by 124,890 in January which is a rise of 3.1% compared to figures for December 2009. At the end of last month the official figure for the number of unemployed in Spain was 4,048,493 which...

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The results of a survey on tourist spending carried out by Egatur show a severe fall in the number of foreign tourists visiting Spain last year, and a fall in the amount of money they spent here. The fall in revenue from foreign tourism is partly down to British tourists...

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First Microsoft Centre of Investigation into Health Innovation confirmed for Valencia.Following a meeting in New York yesterday the president of Valencia's regional government, Francisco Camps, confirmed that Microsoft had signed an agreement to set up its first ever Centre for Health Innovation (I+D+i) in the Comunidad Valenciana. However, the...

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ETA prisoner begin hunger strike in protest against Spain's prison system for convicted terrorists EPPK, the group representing ETA prisoners has announced that prisoners in this group will begin a hunger strike today in protest against prison conditions for convicted ETA terrorists. This announcement applies to ETA prisoners in Spanish...

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Leading Spanish Bullfighter, Esplá to defend bullfighting in the Catalan parliamentLuis Francisco Esplá, one of Spain’s most famous bullfighters, is expected to appear in the Catalan parliament to defend bullfighting against the proposed legislation to ban it in Catalonia. According to some sources Joselito, also one of Spain’s most well...

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The Director of Greenpeace in Spain, Juan López de Uralde, was finally freed yesterday from the Copenhague prison where he and three other members of the organization were being held after they were arrested when they managed to enter the banquet hall and brandish protest banners during a dinner hosted...

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Aminatu Haidar who has been on hunger strike in Spain since she was refused permission to board her flight from Morocco to Laayoune on her Sahari passport. On her return from a trip to the USA where she was presented an award for her activist work, Morroccan authorities seized her...

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