Holidaymakers help immigrants in Tenerife

88 immigrants who arrived on La Tejita beach to the south of Tenerife in a small boat were rescued by shocked holidaymakers yesterday.

The Red Cross said that 8 of the immigrants had to be hospitalized due to hypothermia and dehydration although none were in a serious condition.

According to eye witnesses holidaymakers who were bathing in the sea were the first to come to the aid of the immigrants. Some of the holidaymakers used their own vehicles to take them to the Red Cross and Guardia Civil.

This is the third such boat to arrive in Tenerife recently although boats have been arriving in Lanzarote, which is nearer the African coast, almost everyday.

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Immigration in Spain

Madrid's Mayor officiates his first gay marriage

Madrid's mayor, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, carried out his first gay marriage yesterday in the capital despite opposition from the church and his own political party the 'Partido Popular' who are strongly opposed to such unions.

It is not the first time that Madrid's charasmatic mayor has broken ranks with his party. Gallardon was the president of the Region of Madrid for 8 years but his rise within the Popular Party was halted by José Maria Aznar who apparantly resented his popularity and favoured other members to take over the party leadership when he stepped down. During the final months of Aznar's presidency of Spain he asked Ruiz Gallardon to run for Mayor of Madrid in the last local elections and appointed hardliner Esperanza Aguirre to run as the canditate for President of Madrid. Although at the time Gallardon insisted that it was as much a privilege to serve as mayor as regional president, it was seen by most political commentators as an attempt by Aznar to take power away from one of his party's most popular members.

Gallardón yesterday defied his party in favour of what he called equality for all citizens as set out in article 14 of the Spanish Constitution. The gay marriage took place in Madrid's Plaza Mayor with over 70 guests present.

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Flights resume from Barcelona following strike

Following 11 chaotic hours flights have finally resumed from Barcelona airport, El Prat. Yesterday 544 out of 900 programmed flights had to be cancelled due to the lightening strike by some of Iberia's baggage handlers who were protesting against the possibility of subcontracting their work to other companies, something which they say could result in up to 900 Iberia staff being made redundant. The strike also led to delays and cancellations in Barajas airport, Madrid.

The Guardia Civil had to remove workers who were blocking the runways to allow flights to resume on one of the busiest days of the summer season leaving angry holdiay makers stranded.

The strike in which 1000 workers participated was supported by Spain's biggest Unions the CCOO, UGT and CGT.

Tour de France winner found guilty of doping

Tour de France winner, Floyd Lanis, has failed a drugs test following his triumph in the Tour de France this year. Yesterday it was revealed that he had falied a test which had shown higher levels of testosterone than is permitted.

However, the American cyclist has strongly denied these claims in an interview in 'Sports Illustrated' saying that he had not had any testosterone injections or used any patches.

The higher levels of testosterone were detected following tests on a urine sample taken following the 17th stage of the Tour. Floyd Landis has requested further tests in order to try and prove his innocence.

Depending on the results of these tests the Spanish cyclist Oscar Pereiro, who came second, could be moved into first place and Carlos Sastre, who came fourth, would be given third place. The final outcome won't be known until autumn.

Five die in gas explosion in Cantabria

Fve people have been found dead following a gas explosion in a block of flats in Laredo, Cantabria. The condensation of gas propano has been given as the probable cause fo the explosion.

The victims are a married couple, their daughter, an elderly person and their care assistant. All died from inhaling toxic fumes following the explosion.


Eye witnesses have said that there was an enormous explosion which extensively damaged the second and third floors of the building. The bodies were found on the third floor above where the explosion happened on the second floor.

Between four and six people have also been injured, including those who lived in the flat where the explosion happened.

The Who concert in Spain

Tonight the Who will perform live in Madrid for the first time. They are going to play a second concert in Zaragoza on Saturday. This is the first time that the legendary pop group have played in Spain in their 42 year history.

The singer Roger Daltry (62 years old) and the lead guitarist Pete Townsend (61 years old) will be accompanied by Pino Palladino on bass, John Rabbitt Bundrick on keyboard, Simon Townshend (Pete’s brother) on guitar and Zak Starkey, (Ringo Starr’s son) on drums.

The Who began as Mods in the 60’s , their most famous songs include My Generation (1965) and the excellent sound track to the classic film Quadrophenia (1973), later moving on to rock in the 70’s. Following some turbulent years the group have returned stronger than ever and have started composing new songs once again to great critical acclaim.

Foreign residents now represent 8.7% of Spain's population

The latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics show that 3,880,000 of Spain's official population of 44,390,000 million are foreigners. This is 8.7% of Spain's population.

Statistics from the 1st January 2006 show that infact the population has risen to 44,395,300 an increase of 132,000 since the same date last year. The number of officially registered foreign residents has also risen over the same period.

Within the automomous regions the Baleares is the place where the largest numbers of foreigners live making up 15.6% of this region's official population. Valencia, Murcia, Cataluña and Madrid follow. The regions with the smallest numbers of foreigners are Extremadura, Galicia y Asturias with only 2.5% of their official population made up of foreigner residents.

Morrocans followed by Equatorians and Rumanians are the largest foreign groups living in Spain. There are roughly the same number of male and female offically registered foreign residents.

Jazz Festival in Alicante

Last night George Benson opened Alicante's 9th International Festival of Jazz in a concert held within the Lucentum Roman Remains site. George Benson's was the first of several jazz concerts to be held in Alicante during this festival which goes on until 28th July.

The full programme of the International Festival of Jazz is as follows:

• 13th July: George Benson
• 15th July: Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis, holder of nine Grammys
• 16th July: Roberta Flack
• 21th July: Herbie Hancock and Lili Hayden
• 24th July: Chano Domínguez, artist specialising in mixing jazz, latin and flamenco sounds
• 28th July: Gilberto Gil, winner of a Latino Grammy Award in 2003 and currently Minister of Culture of the Government of Brazil.
  

Previous editions of Alicante Jazz Festival were held in the Port of Alicante, but this year the Festival is being organised in Lucentum and attendance is limited to 2,000 spectators per concert. All concerts start at 22.30 and tickets cost 15, 20, 24 or 30 euros, depending on the location of seats.

First case of bird flu in Spain

Government confirms first case of bird flu in Spain

Contrary to the first declarations made by the Basque Government, Spain's Vice President, María Teresa Fernandez de la Vega confirmed this morning that the bird found dead in Alava this week died from the bird flu virus H5N1. The bird was found in wetlands in Salburua in Avala in the Basque Country.

De la Vega appealed for calm, promised that the government would be totally transparent in any news related to the details of this first case of bird flu and assured the press that the emergency plan had been activated. An protection area has been set up in a 3-km. radius of around Salburua and all transport of wild and domestic fowl has been forbidden within a 10-km. radius.

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Penalty points system introduced in Spain

New penalty points driving license system in Spain.

Traffic authorities claimed that the immediate results of the new penalty points system were evident this weekend as the number of deaths in accidents caused by reckless driving fell sharply with respect to the same weekend last year. The Government hopes that the penalty points system will act as a deterrent to dangerous and drunk driving which is so common in Spain.

As from the 1st July all licences have a total of 12 points except in the case of drivers who have been driving for 3 years or less; licenses for those have just 8 points.

Points will be deducted from licenses of drivers caught committing all kinds of driving offences - many new to Spain. Offending drivers will have from 2 to 6 points deducted from their licence according to how serious the offence is (see list of possible offences and number of points deducted). Points can be recuperated for good driving (2 points for drivers who manage not to lose any points for two years), and for attending special refresher theory and road safety courses. Drivers who lose all their points due to repeated offences will have their license taken away for 6 months, if it is the first time, or 12 months if it is the second. They will have to attend special course and retake a driving exam before getting their licence back. When their licence is returned it will have just 8 points.

In theory the maximum points an offender can lose in one day is 8 points, although the new system does give traffic authorities to immediately withdraw the licence if the offence is considered to be extremely serious, i.e. driving under the effects of alcohol or drugs, refusing to do a breathaliser test or driving at over 50 percent the speed limit. This weekend one individual was stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol in Sevilla, and he is thought to have become the first driver to lose all his points (and his licence) at once.