Constitutional Court guarantees equality in electoral lists in Spain

According to sources from within the Constitutional Court it has given its full backing to the Law on Equality which makes it obligatory for political parties to present electoral lists that represent women in equal numbers to men despite an appeal by the PP main opposition party against this. Apparently only one member of the court, the conservative magistrate Jorge Rodríguez Zapata, opposed this decision which will be officially announced within the next few days.

The PP group within the Spanish parliament presented an appeal against this clause in the Equality law in June last year on the grounds that the rule on equality in electoral lists violated up to 6 constitutional precepts including the freedom of political parties to chose their own candidates, the freedom of ideology and even political pluralism.

In regional elections held in May last year all parties were forced to come up with electoral lists that did not consist of more than 60% men or less than 40% men or women. This norm meant that one of the electoral lists - in Garachico, Tenerife - presented by the PP was banned because it only consisted of women.

The decision by the Constitutional Court also undermines the question of unconstitutionality presented by courts in Tenerife against the banning of the PP’s electoral list in Garachico.

La Rioja declared world's best wine-producing region

US publication awards La Rioja prize for being the best wine producing region of the year

La Rioja has been awarded a prize by a US publication called ‘Wine Enthusiast’ for being the best wine producing region of the year. The prize is significant as it gives recognition to the popularity of Riojan wines in the US.

Víctor Pascual Artacho, the president of the Riojan Regulatory Board received the prize during at an awards ceremony and dinner held in New York’s public library attended by over 500 representatives from the wine producing industry both from the US and Europe.

In his thank you speech Pascual said that "this prize was international recognition of Riojan wines and gave him great satisfaction following years of hard work ".

The ceremony was attended the directors of Agriculture for La Rioja - Iñigo Nagore from the Basque Country, Gonzalo Sáenz from Samaniego and Begoña Sanzberro from Navarra all of whom were there as representatives of the Spanish exports industry

Rioja is Spain’s principal wine producing region and consists of parts of La Rioja, Navarra and the Basque Country all of whom share the official ‘Denominación de Origen’ classification of ‘Rioja’ for the wines produced there.

During the ceremony the prestigious US publication also awarded the Mexican company ‘Casa Herradura’ the prize for ‘distillery of the year’ for being one of the oldest and most respected producers of tequila in México.

Unemployment rises in Spain

Unemployment in Spain up by 8.6% in 2007

Following a 4 year period in which unemployment dropped steadily the number of unemployed went up by 117,000 in 2007 which is 6.46% more than in 2006. According to a survey of the active population presented today by the National Institute for Statistics (INE) the total number of unemployed now stands at 1,927,600 and the rate of unemployment is now 8.6%

José Luis Caldera, the minister in charge of employment has admitted that the rise of 6.46% is not very positive. He said that annual figures were positive although figures for the last quarter of 2007 were not. He insisted that there was no cause for alarm and he attributed the rise in unemployment between October and December last year to problems in the construction industry and related services in which 72,000 jobs were lost during this period.

According to Caldera, the loss of so many jobs in this sector is directly related to problems in the US housing market which led to the loss of investment in the sector and to the drop in property sales.

Caldera highlighted the creation of 46,000 jobs in industry and agriculture in the last quarter of 2007 and placed special emphasis on annual figures for 2007.
According to the results of the survey presented today by the INE employment in service industries went up by 482,000 and 70,000 new jobs have also been created in the construction industry despite the loss of jobs in the last quarter of 2007.

Caldera also pointed out that despite the rise in unemployment last year it is still 3 points less than when PSOE took over the government. In fact since the present government came to power 3,900,000 jobs have been created.

Islamic terrorist suspects planned attack on Barcelona metro

Jihads were planning suicide bombings on metro before being arrested

Ten of the twelve Pakistanis arrested last weekend in Barcelona are now in prison on charges of belonging to a jihad group which was planning an imminent attack in the Catalan Capital. Ismael Moreno, the judge in charge of the case said that most of the investigation was based on the testimony of a protected witness.

The information obtained from this person made it possible for the police to break up the Islamist cell that had already chosen three of its members to carry out an attack on Barcelona’s public transport system last weekend. The information given by the protected witness was later verified by answers given by those under arrest.

The testimony provided by the protected witness also helped the police discover that they were dealing with a cell specialising in the manufacture of explosives headed by Hafeez Ahmed. This information was also corroborated by Maroof Ahmed, Qadeer Malik and Sahib Iqbal all of whom are under arrest on terrorist charges. The police also discovered from the protected witness that they were dealing with suicide bombers.

Three of the group, Mohamed Shoaib, Mehmooh Khalib and Imran Cheema, are accused of being potential suicide bombers. It is believed that they arrived in Barcelona between October and the middle of January which Ismael Moreno, the judge in charge of investigations, said followed a familiar pattern used by extremist Islamist organizations before carrying out suicide attacks. It is believed that they were planning to carry out suicide bombings in Barcelona between 18th and 20th January.

Another two of those arrested at the weekend Maroof Ahmed Mirza and Mohammad Ayud Elahi Bibi are accused of leading the cell ideologically and operationally. Ahmed Mirza is believed to have been the religious leader of the group in charge of organizing the potential terrorist attacks.
Two of the twelve arrested have been released unconditionally. The Spanish high court has confirmed that this Islamist cell was extremely close to being fully operational and very near achieving the technical capacity needed for the manufacture of bombs.

Spanish judge tries to protect girl from genital mutilation

Judge in Lleida prevents a girl from being taken to Gambia for fear she may be subjected to female genital mutilation

A Judge in the locality of Cervera in Lleida has taken measures to protect a girl aged 7 years old. Her parents have been forbidden from taking her to Gambia where it is feared that she could be subject to female circumcision.

According to the Catalan high court cautionary measures such as withholding her residency permit and forbidding a passport being issued in her name and forbidding her parents from taking her out of Spanish territory have been taken following suspicions raised by neighbours of the family who alerted Catalan police of the possibility that the parents of the girl were planning a lengthy trip to Gambia.

The judge decided to prevent the girl from being taken out of Spanish territory following the appearance of her parents in court.

This decision also coincides with another controversial case last December in which a court in Barcelona decided to take away the custody of two Gambian girls aged 6 and 13 from their parents resident in Premià de Dalt based on fears that they could also be subjected to female circumcision following suspicions raised by the school attended by the girls.

However, last week another court decided to return the custody of the girls to their parents although this time they will share custoday with the Catalan department for the care of children. Further cautionary measures have been imposed under which no member of the family is allowed to leave Spain or apply for new passports and they must allow their daughters have regular medical examinations.

Spanish Catholic Church sells land to settle debts

Church makes a 19 million Euro profit over the sale of land in Ávila

The town hall in Ávila has paved the way for the diocese there to make a huge profit over the sale of land which had been previously regraded for industrial use by the local government run by the PP.

The land was given to the church by the Marquesa de Muñoz in 1969 through the creation of a religious foundation in her name. The value of this land shot up when it was regraded for industrial use in 2005.

Almost a million square metres if the land has been sold to Habit Business Initiatives S.A. which bought it is believed bought it for 19 million euros. The local government run by the PP justified its decision to regrade the land saying that Ávila needed more industrial land when in reality the present industrial estate hasonly developed to 60% of its capacity. Furthermore the town hall in Avila did not receive any land for future projects in the public domain.

The money will be used to pay off the huge debts accumulated by the Catholic university estimated to be in the region of 1000 to 1200 million pesetas. This debt has been building up since the creation of the university in 1996 on the initiative of the then bishop of Ávila, Antonio Cañizares, which was also supported by Ángel Acebes the then mayor of Ávila together with Sebastián González, now number 3 in the PP and then the president of the provincial government of Ávila.

Related: Buying land in Spain

Rising sea levels in the Mediterranean

The level of the Mediterranean sea on the Spanish coast rose on average from 4 to 16 centimetres between 1990 and 2005. Furthermore experts on climate change have predicted that sea levels on the Spanish Mediterranean could rise anywhere between 25 centimetres up to half a metre over the next 50 years if current forecasts on the rise in temperature are accurate.

According to Manuel Vargas the head of research at the Spanish Institute for Oceanography the rising sea levels in the Mediterranean fulfil current predictions for worst case scenarios. The Spanish Institute for Oceanography has been analyzing the evolution of sea levels, temperatures and salinity for the first time using information from scientific observations dating back to 1948.

Vargas also said that predictions on rising sea levels were conditioned by ‘what we do’ in the struggle against climate change. According to the Ministry for Science and Education if current predictions over rising sea levels are fulfilled the consequences for lower coastal areas on the Mediterranean would be very serious and if sea levels were to rise by half a metre which is the maximum predicted then this would have catastrophic results.

The temperature of the air over the Mediterranean and its superficial waters also rose significantly from the mid 70’s onwards. The temperature in superficial waters rose on average between 0.12 and 0.5 centigrade between 1948 and 2005, while in intermediate waters there were temperature rises of between 0.5 and 0.2 centigrade.

The rise in temperature in deeper waters was found to be between 0.03 and 0.1 centigrade. Vargas explained that although these temperature rises appear to be quite low you need to take into account that enormous levels of heat in the air temperature are required in order to produce a rise in temperature in deeper waters.
Data also exists to demonstrate a rise in the salinity of the Mediterranean due to the drop in rainfall and the amount of water flowing into the sea from rivers.
Vargas warned that climate change wasn’t the only human threat to the Mediterranean.

Zapatero creates committee of intellectuals

Zapatero to consult committee of intellectuals over PSOE’s electoral programme

The International Committee of Progressive Intellectuals that advises José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the General Secretary of PSOE and presidential candidate for re-election, is due to begin discussions today in order to draw up draft proposals for the socialist’s electoral manifesto. Decisions over the final content of the manifesto will be made later on this month.

The Committee of Intellectuals consists of experts in the economy, politics, communication, education, climate change, energy, peace and international relations. The job of the committee is to come up with ideas in order to help PSOE write its manifesto for the general elections due to be held later this year.

Personalities such as two Nobel Prize winners Helen Caldicott and Joseph Stiglitz are members of the committee as well as other well know personalities like André Sapir, Maria Joao Rodrigues, Wolfang Merkel, Jeremy Rifkin, George Lakoff and Nicholas Stern.

The members of the committee will participate in various round table discussions that will be chaired amongst others by Cristina Narbona, Juan Fernando López Aguilar and Miguel Ángel Moratinos.

2008 predictions for Spanish tourism

60 million foreign tourists predicted to visit Spain this year

According to Exceltur (the association which represents businesses in the Spanish tourist industry) 59.7 million foreign tourists visited Spain last year. This figure shows a 2% increase compared to 2006 and this year it expects that this number will increase to 60.7 million visitors.

José Luis Zoreda, the vice president for Exceltur said that results for 2007 had been positive given that Spanish businesses in this sector had experienced a moderate increase in sales and profits. He predicted that this trend would continue in 2008 except for air travel due to the price of fuel and the number of airlines competing against each other.

He said that the results for the sector were mainly due to the reduction in costs and better management rather than a significant increase in sales. He said that the number of foreign tourists helped to keep the sector afloat while internal tourism had slowed down.

Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada and Santiago de Compostela are the most popular tourist destinations partly due to their accessibility by air.

However Spain’s main tourist attractions - the sun and beaches - continued to suffer from competition from abroad. For example the number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey and Egypt increased by 18% and reached 32 million compared to an increase of just 1.8% for Spain.

Exceltur estimated that money spent by tourists in Spain increased below inflation at 3.6% compared to 2006. However, this wasn’t enough to compensate for inflation in Spain which averaged at 4.4% in 2007. This meant that in real terms tourists spent 628 euros each which was 0.7% less than the previous year.

Tourism from the UK and Germany showed signs of stagnating although tourism from Nordic countries and the USA recovered.

The number of visitors staying in hotels increased by 6.3% in urban locations and 0.7% for tourist destinations. The Vicepresident of Exceltur and Sol Meliá, Sebastián Escarrer, said that the number of visitors staying in Spanish hotels had improved in 2007 and he expected that 2008 would be a positive year for Spanish hotels

Flu and stomach bug causes havoc in Spanish hospitals

Spanish accident and emergency departments in crisis due to flu and stomach bug

It has become normal to see Spanish accident and emergency departments full of patients, even up to the point where patients need to wait on beds in the corridor at this time of year. However, over the last few weeks some Spanish hospitals have treated record numbers of patients some of which had to wait up to 12 hours before receiving treatment from a doctor. This situation has arisen due to a simple flu and stomach bug. However according to the General Director of Public Health, Manuel Oñorbe, the 2008 flu virus is not half as virulent as in previous years. He indicated that 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants is far from the numbers for 2000 and 2005 where were 600 cases per 100,000.

Given that this is a situation which arises every year around the same time some people have asked why hospitals in Spain find it so difficult to cope and why they don’t plan better.

There are a number of reasons to explain why hospitals still find it so difficult to accommodate flu epidemics. Firstly, the number of routine operations don’t go down which means that many beds are occupied. Another reason is lack of planning of staff holidays over the Christmas period and the fact that more than half of hospital admissions are through accident and emergency departments (out of 24.5 million people treated 3 million are admitted). In addition it appears that Spanish doctors are turning to other specialities where they have better chances of promotion.

Manuel Moya, the head of accident and emergency in the Puerta de Hierro Hospital in Madrid said that it is becoming more and more difficult to fill posts in his department. In addition the Spanish population has increased in recent years.

In Galicia the incidence of flu has created serious problems in hospitals which have seen the number of people attending accident and emergency shoot up by 25% compared to figures for last year. Some patients have had to wait between 8 and 12 hours to be seen. The Galician health service has opened a telephone line for patients to consult before going to their nearest hospital (902 40 01 16).

Hospitals in Valencia are experiencing fewer problems except for the General hospital in Alicante which has an excess of patients with flu symptoms. According to hospital authorities a large number of patients are not really urgent cases but have had to resort to coming to hospital to avoid having to wait days before being able to get an appointment with their local GP.

In the Basque Country accident and emergency departments have been finding it difficult to cope with the number of patients attending with flu symptoms. Although officials say that things are under control union officials have spoken of chaos in some hospitals. It is expected that things will worsen here in the next few days.
The situation in Madrid seems to be under control with beds in corridors considered as almost normal at this time of year.

In Andalucia the flu virus appears to be under control with the number of cases going down – 91% less than last year.

Retirement in Spain

Spaniards don’t want to work after 60

A study carried out by La Caixa entitled ‘The generation in transition: between work and retirement’ which looked at the personal and social consequences of an ageing population was presented last week in Madrid by the head of Sociology for the University of Madrid Víctor Pérez-Díaz and the lecturer on Sociology Juan Carlos Rodríguez.

The most significant finding was that Spaniards between 50 and 70 years old are not in favour of prolonging their working life after they reach 60 despite the present government’s policy of delaying the age of retirement to 70 years old by offering a number of economic incentives. It

Pérez-Díaz said that politicians would encounter deliberate resistance against delaying retirement and pointed out that only 25% of workers over 50 were considering retiring at the age of 64.

Another significant finding was that those included in the study expressed their deep concerns over the economic future of Spain. This is particularly significant given that the study was carried out in 2006 when the economic problems the country is experiencing today hadn’t emerged yet.

The study also showed that property ownership was the most important household expense for Spanish families. For example 91% of those questioned between 60 and 69 years old owned their own homes which is a figure much higher than the European average.

However the study also showed that a fifth of Spanish families nearing retirement age were still paying off a mortgage. Between around 20 and 27% of 50 to 65 year olds were still paying off a mortgage for their first home. This percentage was much lower at just 7% for those aged between 65 and 70 years old.

The study carried out by La Caixa also demonstrated that the transition from working to retirement resulted in a significant drop in income for most households. For example for an average household monthly income of 2.771 euros dropped 19% to 2.245 euros and the drop in income was even more severe at around 26.4% for those on lower incomes.

Spain's new national anthem

Placido Domingo to sing Spanish National Anthem for the first time on 21st January

The jury commissioned by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) and the General Society for Authors and Editors (SGAE) has finally chosen the words for the Spanish national anthem which until now only consisted of music. There were 7000 original entries to chose from. This number was whittled down to 1400 texts which were all given careful consideration.

The jury in charge of choosing the text for the national anthem had to take into consideration a number of things before making their final choice. They had to chose a text that was not only beautiful from a literary perspective but that also met certain requirements such as not being offensive to any one group, that was respectful towards Spain’s autonomous regions, diverse languages and politics and a text that was integrative.

Plácido Domingo is the person who had been chosen to sing the anthem publicly for the first time on January 21st at the Juan Carlos I Auditorium in Madrid. Other venues such as the Royal Theatre or the National Auditorium in Madrid had been considered but were unavailable. Domingo whose birthday is also on January 21st and who is currently in working in Brussels will be flown by private jet to sing the anthem for the first time.

The Orquestra for the Comunidad de Madrid directed by Miguel Roa will provide the music to accompany Domingo. Domingo was chosen in 1981 to sing the French national anthem when Mitterrand was sworn in as French president and also sang at the Spanish world cup in 1982 and at the centenary celebrations for one of Spain’s biggest football clubs Real Madrid.

Following its official acceptance by the Spanish Olympic Committee the COE hopes to get at least half a million signatures which will allow the text to be presented to parliament as a popular bill so that it can become Spain’s official national anthem.

Translation of the proposed words to the new national anthem:

Long live Spain!
We sing all together
With different voices
And one heart
Long live Spain!
From the green valleys
To the immense sea
A song for brotherhood
Love for the homeland
Which knows how to include
Below its blue skies
Free towns and villages
Glory to our children
Which give to history
Justice and greatness
Democracy and peace.

Spanish scientist makes breakthrough in fight against breast cancer

New Discovery in the fight against breast cancer

According to a study published in the scientific magazine Nature carried out by the research team led by Joan Massagué in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Centre, New York there has been a significant discovery on how breast cancer spreads to other organs in the body.

Breast cancer kills around 5000 women every year in Spain and this new development could be a way of controlling the disease. The spread of cancer to other organs is the principal cause of death for those suffering from this disease.

The results of the study carried out by Joan Massagué and his team in New York discovered that 3 ARN molecules are involved in preventing breast cancer spreading to the lungs and bones.

The research found that most aggressive and invasive cancers lack 3 key microARN molecules: miR-335, miR-126 and miR-206. According to the study when researchers introduced these molecules into rats who had breast cancer the tumours lost their capacity to spread to other organs.

Massagué, explained that microARN molecules stop cancer spreading because they interfere with cancerous cells and prevent them from migrating or proliferating. However, he also expressed caution regarding this discovery and how it can be applied to humans in the near future.

It is believed that microARN molecules regulate genetic activity. Following tests on rats levels of microARN cells were measured in 20 patients suffering from breast cancer. Lower levels of this molecule were discovered in those patients whose cancer had spread to other organs.

ETA planned bomb attack in Madrid

Explosives discovered in 2 ETA hideouts

According to the Spanish Home Office, 125 kilos of explosive material hidden in a secret ETA hideout in the province of Huesca were found by the Civil Guard on Monday following the arrest of two suspected members of ETA at the weekend. Yesterday another hideout was discovered in Navarra and police recovered more explosives. According to police heading the investigation, ETA was planning to plant a bomb in Madrid's financial center before the elections due to be held in March.

The first hideout contained explosives together with a dozen detonators and timers and was located in Sabiñánigo. Its location was discovered thanks to some documents obtained during the arrest of the two presumed members of ETA in Arrasate in Guipúzcoa last Sunday.

During the arrests both suspects, Igor Portu and Martín Sarasola, sustained injuries and Portu was admitted to the Intensive Care unit in San Sebastian hospital. The Basque nationalist party has questioned the length of time which passed between the men's arrest and their admission to hospital. The Home Office said that the injuries to both men were due to the force used by the Civil Guard as both resisted the arrest. Last month two Civil Guards were shot by two ETA suspects when they prepared to arrest them in France. Both died as a result of their injuries. According to Rubalcaba the Minister for the Home Office, Portu and Sarasola not only resisted arrest, but were also carrying hand guns. He emphasised that the Civil Guard acted within the law at all times. An investigation has however been opened to examine the incident.

According to reports in the Spanish media today, both suspects have admitted their involvement in the terrorist attack in Barajas Airport last year which signalled the end of the "permanent ceasefire" announced by ETA in 2006.

Spanish police discover cocaine in frozen octupus

9.4 tonnes of cocaine camouflaged as octopus seized by Spanish and Portuguese authorities

The Spanish national police together with the Portuguese authorities seized over 9 tonnes of cocaine camouflaged as octopus in a refrigerated container which had docked in Lisbon port last month.

According to Spanish police the operation, carried out together with the Portuguese authorities, has broken a criminal gang which operated from various places on the Peninsula and intended to introduce large quantities of cocaine into the rest of Europe. As a result 8 people have been detained by the police.

Properties in Madrid, Toledo and Salamanca have also been searched. As a result around 50,000 euros, a high number of mobile telephones, various laptop computers and electronic diaries, two luxury cars and many documents related to drug trafficking and money laundering activities have been found. Police searches of properties in Portugal had similar results.

The container in which the drugs were hidden arrived in Lisbon on December 22nd and contained 24 tonnes of octopus in 635 cardboard boxes out of which 235 contained an cocaine with a net weight of 9.4 tonnes. The other boxes are now being analyzed carefully to see whether they contain any traces of the drug.

The Spanish police and Civil Guard have both expressed their surprise in the unusual way the drugs were camouflaged and said that this was a previously unknown method of smuggling cocaine up to now.

The drugs came from Venezuela and were destined for a Potuguese imports company. The consignment of drugs was then intended to be sent to Spain for further distribution.

New rent subsidies available for youngsters in Spain

The new policy of state grants announced by the Spanish government late last year to help youngsters to pay their monthly rent came into force this week. The new accommodation grants have caused so much expectation that both government websites with information on the rent aid collapsed yesterday and neither sites were available this morning.

The grants are called "Renta básica de emancipación" (Basic income for Emancipation) and, as their name suggests, they are aimed at helping young people move away from their parents' home. They are available for people living in rented accommodation, aged between 22 and 29 years old with a yearly income of under 22,000 euros. Anyone applying must be able to present a copy of the contract signed between themselves (as tenants) and the owner of the property and specifying the duration of the tenancy and the cost of the rent.

Yesterday both the Housing Ministry website and the Accommodation Grants for Young Poeple (Ayudas para Vivienda Joven) websites crashed in the morning as they were inundated with visits.

The Government promised to restore the sites as soon as possible, and at the time of writing, one of the two sites, Ayudas para Vivienda Joven has just become available. Anyone interested in finding out more about these grants or downloading an application form can consult the information here: http://www.ayudasviviendajoven.es/M_NOTICIAS/NoticiasDetalle.aspx?idf=03NOT601&id=18410