Europe Calling

Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and opposition leader Pablo Casado of the Popular Party (PP) have agreed to open up a permanent communication channel on the issue of Catalonia, where the independence drive has deeply divided the region. APRIL was a good month for the job market. Employment, measured by Social Security affiliation, increased by 186,785 contributors compared to March. This means the number of people paying social security is now 19.23 million, the highest since July 2008 ........... In the newspapers.......... commenting after Notre Dame....let me run a few facts by you. In 2016 three females, with radical ties to Islam, were arrested in a street adjacent to Notre Dame; along with a lorry containing six gas cylinders and Arabic propaganda papers........ .....THE debate over Brexit isn’t about Brexit anymore. It’s about democratic accountability and the limits of referenda in modern politics. ....... There is no stipulation or law that mandates their results be taken as gospel nor a limit as to how many ones you can have. According to the House of Lords Constitution Committee, referendums “cannot be legally binding in the UK, and are therefore advisory.” The knife crime epidemic has been directly fuelled by drastic cuts in youth services, according to MPs' research published today. It found that police forces covering areas with the biggest youth services cuts – such as West Midlands, the Metropolitan, Cambridgeshire and Thames Valley – have also seen some of the highest increases in knife offences. Widespread fears over the harmful effects on teenagers of spending hours on social media could be misplaced, according to a major British study. It claims online activity only has a ‘trivial’ effect on their happiness, flying in the face of research and the prevailing opinion of many parents.

THE pollsters had it right and with 99.99 per cent of the votes counted, the PSOE were the most-voted party. The socialists headed by the current president Pedro Sanchez won 123 seats in the national parliament but will need pacts with other parties to govern. The Partido Popular, the PSOE’s closest rivals lagged further behind than expected with 66 seats and the party under Pablo Casado suffered its worst-ever defeat...........There was a record turnout of almost 76 per cent, nine percentage points more than in the 2016 general election. The Spanish labour market is proving to be more resilient than most people expected at a time of internal and external uncertainty. While unemployment grew in the first quarter of 2019, the Spanish economy has created 596,900 jobs over the past 12 months, representing a 3.14% increase, according to data released on IT IS estimated that repairs in the aftermath of the structural damage caused by the Easter storms up and down the coast could be as high as €350,000 euros, according to the Provincial Coast Service. A British man who helped his American friend 'granny dump' his dementia-suffering father in the UK so he could get free healthcare has been jailed. Former Worcestershire star Alex Hepburn, 23 was found guilty of raping the woman after she had consensual sex with his teammate Joe Clarke in the early hours of April 1 2017. The UK risks being cut out of the loop by American spies if it uses Huawei technology for its 5G mobile network, a senior US official warned today. Robert Strayer, the deputy assistant secretary for cyber security at the State Department, said any involvement of the Chinese tech giant poses an 'unacceptable risk'.

Almost 400 hundred people had to be evacuated from their homes as torrential rain lashed the east coast particularly hitting the British favourites of Benidorm and Torrevieja hard. Late on Sunday night the AEMET state Met Office weather alerts for Benidorm on the Costa Blanca were suddenly upgraded to the highest severe threat ‘red’ level. The televised debate between candidates running in Sunday’s general election in Spain has consolidated the deep division between two opposing blocs with irreconcilable positions on thorny matters such as Catalonia. ..... A group of six inmates walks out of the doors of the Segovia prison for the first time in years – one has been inside for over a decade. They belong to a select group that has been chosen to complete the final stage of their sentence as pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. In the UK......Mrs May appears to possess not an iota of self-awareness. Rather than preparing a dignified resignation statement, she has apparently spent the past few days contemplating a Cabinet reshuffle. The Swedish schoolgirl behind the children's climate strike has met politicians including Jeremy Corbyn during a visit to Parliament. Greta Thunberg is the 16- year-old whose refusal to go to school because of climate change led to children around the world skipping classes to protest.

Paris had to watch in horror as fire erupted from the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening....................It was here that a Mass was held after the liberation of Paris, on August 26, 1944, in what may be the single most important moment in French contemporary history. Naturally, the cathedral is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Paris itself was born on an island whose center is occupied by Notre-Dame, and it grew out from there. FOUR people in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cadiz) were charged with removing a workman’s clothing to conceal a work-related accident. The 42-year-old forklift driver, who was married with two children, had no social security and was not trained to operate heavy machinery. IBERIA bumped a 15-year-old off a Madrid flight and expected him to spend the night alone in a Dublin hotel. Upset when he was told he could only fly the next morning via Heathrow he called language school owner, Liz Einstein, who is hosting him in Ireland. GLOBAL wine production has hit a 15-year high after a dramatic slump last year. Wine output across the world saw year-on-year growth of 17 per cent in 2018 according to a report by the International Organisation for Vine and Wine (OIV). A CHARITY road rally from the UK to Spain is due to hit the road on April 23 and organisers say how much people spend on their chosen chariot is up to them but the cheaper and wackier the better! The Brexit Party has surged into the lead in the race for the European Elections after a top pollster predicted Nigel Farage's new party could win its first election. Commuters and businesses are raging at the major disruption to at least 500,000 people as a boat continues to block Oxford Circus, activists dance on Waterloo Bridge and rows of tents cover key routes through the capital. Jeremy Corbyn vowed to axe Sats tests insisting children should be prepared for 'life not just for exams'. In a promise that has delighted left-wing teachers' unions, the Labour leader insisted if elected he would scrap the 'regime of extreme pressure testing'.

Did a group of high-ranking police officials working for the Spanish Interior Ministry carry out special jobs to damage the reputation of political rivals of the Popular Party during the administration of former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy? ONE-SIXTH of Spanish citizens were born to either a foreign mother or father, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics ......The INE’s Continuous Household Survey showed around 16.9 per cent of Spanish citizens had at least one parent born outside of Spain, or more than 7.8 million people. The amount has risen from almost 7.3 million in 2013......around 15.7 per cent. ......THERE are almost 241,000 British citizens living in Spain, down from a peak of almost 400,000 in 2011 according to new figures of British nationals living in Spain.......... The number of property purchases in Alicante Province fell by 4.7 per cent in January this year from the month before, with a total of 3,685 transactions registered............Whatever the reason or reasons, statistics show that the number of property purchases registered with the Property Registry office fell in January in almost every part of the country. In the UK Critics today warn the government's new plan to clean up the internet could be the st draconian crackdown on online free speech in the Western democratic world, The broadcasting watchdog has received 2,644 complaints about Jon Snow's comment, which referred to pro-Brexit protesters who brought Westminster to a standstill 'It's been the most extraordinary day,' he said. 'A day which has seen ... I have never seen so many white people in one place, A British tourist has been arrested after allegedly cutting tiles from a mosaic in Pompeii and trying to take them as a souvenir. The 20-year-old woman -climbed over a rail around the mosaic, according to police. A 68-year-old who was jailed for abusing his granddaughter has been told he must complete his 12-year sentence despite the teenager saying she made it up. The grandfather's conviction will not be quashed despite the 17-year-old girl saying she lied while offering evidence as the main witness at his trial.

Did a group of high-ranking police officials working for the Spanish Interior Ministry carry out special jobs to damage the reputation of political rivals of the Popular Party during the administration of former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy? ONE-SIXTH of Spanish citizens were born to either a foreign mother or father, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics ......The INE’s Continuous Household Survey showed around 16.9 per cent of Spanish citizens had at least one parent born outside of Spain, or more than 7.8 million people. The amount has risen from almost 7.3 million in 2013......around 15.7 per cent. ......THERE are almost 241,000 British citizens living in Spain, down from a peak of almost 400,000 in 2011 according to new figures of British nationals living in Spain.......... The number of property purchases in Alicante Province fell by 4.7 per cent in January this year from the month before, with a total of 3,685 transactions registered............Whatever the reason or reasons, statistics show that the number of property purchases registered with the Property Registry office fell in January in almost every part of the country. In the UK Critics today warn the government's new plan to clean up the internet could be the most draconian crackdown on online free speech in the Western democratic world, The broadcasting watchdog has received 2,644 complaints about Jon Snow's comment, which referred to pro-Brexit protesters who brought Westminster to a standstill 'It's been the most extraordinary day,' he said. 'A day which has seen ... I have never seen so many white people in one place, A British tourist has been arrested after allegedly cutting tiles from a mosaic in Pompeii and trying to take them as a souvenir. The 20-year-old woman -climbed over a rail around the mosaic, according to police. A 68-year-old who was jailed for abusing his granddaughter has been told he must complete his 12-year sentence despite the teenager saying she made it up. The grandfather's conviction will not be quashed despite the 17-year-old girl saying she lied while offering evidence as the main witness at his trial.

The regional premier of Catalonia, Quim Torra, is facing a criminal prosecution that could see him barred from office over his refusal to remove pro-independence symbols from public buildings ahead of the upcoming national, regional and local elections in Spain. Spanish police have arrested five members of a criminal organization accused of illegally selling access to pay-TV over the internet. Police were alerted to the organization in 2015 after Premier League, . Last week, a video went viral of a young man sharpening a large carving knife on a Metro train in Madrid. The video alarmed social media users, with many concerned the young man was dangerous and worried about his reasons for bringing a large knife onto public transport. But the mystery has now been resolved. The young man is in fact a 27-year-old professional ham cutter who was on his way to work. Fashion retailer Zara has sparked a heated debate over the representation of children within the fashion industry, after their latest campaign was labelled 'inappropriate' by many social media users. The Home Office secretly channelled £30,000 in grant money to a controversial organisation campaigning to legalise paedophilia in the late 1970s, a former civil servant has claimed. A woman in her 60s narrowly avoided being run over by a bus after being shoved into the path of the vehicle by a 'mother with child' (right) in Pimlico, British Airways passengers have spoken of their shock after boarding a plane to Dusseldorf - that ended up in Edinburgh. The flight, BA3271, set off from London City airport at 7.47am and was supposed to head east to Germany. John McDonnell will order Treasury officials to be retrained in Left-wing ‘economic theories and approaches’ if Labour wins power, it emerged ......

SPAIN needs to double the resources it puts into tourism if it wants to keep the sector growing in the face of a slowdown from the major travel markets like the UK and Germany. IRISH budget airline Ryanair has announced extra summer flights to Alicante on Spain’s Costa Blanca during the peak holiday season. ”During the run-up to the last general election in Spain, political parties used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to spread their messages. This year,with a snap general election called for April 28 and local, regional and. European elections set for May 26, it appears they are turning to WhatsApp, the most popular social network in Spain. ….. The Spanish city of Barcelona is preparing to implement restrictions that would, from 2020 onward, prohibit the most-polluting vehicles from entering into its so-called “ZBE” low-emissions zone. More than 60,700 people turned out to see a soccer game between Atlético Madrid and Barcelona at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on Sunday – John Bercow was accused of sabotaging Theresa May's Brexit deal after telling MPs she cannot force them to vote on it again without changing it 'substantially'. …..which seems fair enough. A devout Catholic mother who said sex education for five-year-olds is 'abuse' has been questioned under caution by police for incorrectly labelling someone's daughter with the wrong gender. A vegan mother-to-be has vented her fury over suggestions from her husband that she should eat meat during pregnancy. The woman, who has followed a vegan lifestyle since birth, took to British parenting site Mumsnet to ask others how they would respond if a partner suggested they suddenly change their diet.

Former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont twice disregarded requests by the regional police force to call off the unauthorized referendum of October 1, 2017 despite the “climate of tension” in Catalonia..........The pro-independence movement sees the trial as politically motivated and defines the defendants as “political prisoners.” Fifteen years after the 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks that killed 193 people andleft around 1,700 injured, eight of the 18 men sentenced by the Spanish Supreme Court for the massacre remain in prison. In the last six months, the Civil Guard and National Police have broken up two networks that were operating inside Spanish prisons, where their job was to radicalize Muslim prisoners in jail for ordinary crimes. With four elections coming up in April and May, the Spanish government has set up a special unit to fight “hybrid threats” including cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. SPAIN has become one of the world’s largest fashion exporters, according to new figures. The country outperformed both France and the United Kingdom to take tenth position. In the uk.......Last night's hammering of the Brexit deal will unlock a wave of unpredictable consequences that could delay or even cancel Brexit, trigger a new referendum or election, and even lead to Mrs May's resignation. Paul Mitchell, 27, admitted assaulting Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish, 23,at Birmingham Magistrates' Court today after invading the pitch during the Birmingham derby yesterday . Despite an earlier report the lessons had been scrapped the school has insisted the 470-pupils at Parkfield Community School learn about same-sex relationships in classrooms after Easter. They just need to learn their letters and numbers and be taught to be nice to everyone no matter who they are. Michael Jackson impersonators are 'busier than ever' since an investigative documentary aimed to expose the 'King of Pop' as a paedophile was released.

....The European Commission (EC) has forecast a 1.3 per cent growth for this year, followed by 1.6 per cent in 2020. The Spanish government will work to make things easier for British residents in Spain, even those without permanent residency status, in the event of a no-deal Brexit. SPAIN spends 23.7 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on its state school system, the 10th highest level in the world according to a new ranking. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s report showed Spain came ahead of Britain, the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand. NEW figures show Spain invested 0.25 per cent of GDP on public aid in 2017, making it the third lowest-spending country in the European Union. SPAIN has the highest proportion of people employed for six months or less compared with 18 European countries, according to the UN’s work agency which said such contracts harm workers. The tourism boom continues unabated in Spain. The month of January set a new historical record for both tourist arrivals and spending: nearly 4.2 million visitors came to Spain, a 2.2% rise from the same month last year, and they spent a total €4.7 billion, 3.6% more than in January 2018. A 17-year-old girl scout stabbed to death on Friday was killed in cold blood astwo men walked straight up to her and one of them knifed her in the back, police have revealed. Muslim children have been withdrawn from a school in protest against lessons about homosexuality and gender equality. ......... Ten sailors are facing serious disciplinary action after carrying out sickening sexacts in a country pub in full view of members of the public........... Radio 2 hasn't played a solo Jackson track since last Saturday, when they broadcasthis 1979 hit Rock With You.

With an unemployment rate of 3.5%, the Netherlands has become a European laboratory for the creation of flexible jobs for young workers. But the shadow of exploitation looms over its ability to attract temporary foreign workers, especially the unskilled ones. Spain is the healthiest country in the world, according to a study of 169 nations by Bloomberg. After climbing six rungs from 2017 and pushing Italy from first spot, Spain now ranks at the top of the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, which considers several factors that contribute to overall health, such as life expectancy at birth, sanitation and health services Voz agreed to support the Popular Party (PP)’s Juan Manuel Moreno as the new regional premier in exchange for concessions on education, family and cultural issues. ”The number of people who fell ill after eating at the Michelin-starred restaurant RiFF in Valencia has risen to 29, according to the regional health department. This figure includes the 46-year-old woman who died on Sunday morning after dining at the gourmet restaurant the previous night. Her husband and 12-year-old son also suffered from food poisoning. ….. .... ...... can hear termites scuttling around her home in Tacoronte, a municipality on Spain’s largest Canary Island Tenerife. She keeps a box of sedatives in her kitchen to help her cope with the stress. The evil killer worried there was a 'price on his head' and that publishing his name could make the situation worse in prison........But the judge said it would be 'naive' to think that inmates in prison would not already be aware of his conviction after his name had already appeared on Facebook, Twitter andGoogle searches. A student who claimed the NHS should not be free to immigrants and lamented about the 'Islamisation' of Britain has been kicked out of his university. ..... expressed his controversial opinions during class seminars and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) decided to suspend him after they received several complaints about his behaviour. 'The wife of ......s who killed a motorcyclist when she failed to stop her Land Rover at a dangerous junction has been spared jail. Acourt heard d dropped her children off at school and was heading back to the family's £1million home when she pulled across a dual carriageway in her £47,000 Land Rover Discovery. Hair follicles could in the future be 'banked', cloned and used later in life to treat balding by a British company. Millions of adults will be able to have follicles taken from their scalp and put into storage, with procedures starting within the next year, the experts hope.

Terry Whitehead joins Vince for today's podcast... Officials at Spain’s conservative Popular Party (PP) are criticizing the prime minister’s choice of date for the snap general election, saying it shows little sensitivity for religious observance. The European Union, just like the markets, is ruling out a financial or budget meltdown as a result of the snap election announced in Spain for April 28. The risk of seeing Spain follow in Italy’s footsteps is creating apprehension among EU institutions, which view Spain as one of the few member states that supports European integration and remains free of extremist parties. The EU remained relatively calm, and was even relieved to a certain extent, when the previous government of Mariano Rajoy, of the conservative Popular Party (PP), was brought down by a no-confidence vote led by Sánchez. Rajoy’s administration had been marked by an unprecedented territorial crisis in Catalonia Of all the foreigners who live in Spain, the British community is one of the most closed off. Britons tend to recreate on Spain’s Mediterranean coast the life they had in the United Kingdom before they retired – complete with the same traditions, language, restaurants and pubs, and little relationship with the Spanish community. Barcelona has entered the New Year without resolving one of its most pressing issues: rising crime rates. According to the Spanish Interior Ministry, criminal infractions increased by 17.2% in 2018, making the Catalan capital Spain’s leader in rising crime rates. The European Parliament's 'grand coalition' of centre left and centre right parties could lose its majority for the first time in 40 years, it has been reported. The UK Parliament has seen resignations from both Labour and Conservative ranks. Is this the start of a new centre party? Home Secretary Sajid Javid has revoked the British citizenship of 19-year-old ISIS bride Shamima Begum, according to a letter from the Home Office to her family today. The UK Business Secretary warned the car industry needs MPs to vote for the Brexitdeal today as he scrambled to respond to Honda planning to close its Swindon plant.

The leaders of three of Spain’s right-wing parties managed to bring out tens of thousands of people on Sunday to Madrid’s central Colón square, to protest against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and demand that the Socialist Party (PSOE) politician call elections as soon as possible. The latest plan to control immigration comes from Berlin and Paris involves a temporary solution, based on a mechanism for sharing out the migrants arriving from Libya. AN EMERGENCY plan to deal with accidents involving the transport of dangerous goods has swung into action in Andalucia on Monday after a tanker carrying around 30,000 litres of butane gas overturned. Accident and Incident Investigation Commission has published its final report after an incident involving a Ryanair aircraft over the Canary Islands last year left two people injured. TWO groups in Almeria and Axarquia have joined forces to push the Junta de Andalucia for changes to laws affecting homeowners. Both AUAN in Almeria and SOHA (Save Our Homes Axarquia) are working to resolve the issue of ‘irregular’ homes, often bought in good faith in and which face legal uncertainty. A nationwide school strike over climate change has been 'applauded' by the head teachers' union, leaving many furious. The mass walkout called UK Youth Strike 4 Climate currently has students in 38 cities and towns across the country planning to join them on Friday's protest. xceptional circumstances, and where this has been authorised by the headteacher. A young mother is calling for tougher sentences after learning her baby's killer could be released from prison after less than two years...........Harris, from Plymouth, Devon, has now launched a campaign to set a minimum 15 year tariff in cases where the offender kills a child through shaking. A businessman has been jailed after he tried and failed to trick a speed camera by attaching a jamming device to the front of his BMW. ...tried to outsmart a police safety camera van parked on the side of the A658 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire with his laser jamming device last February. London Zoo has insisted keepers could not have foreseen or stopped a fatal attack by a male tiger on its potential mate which unfolded 'in a split second'.

Parents to be Sued......

European member states have been trying to hammer out a temporary solution that will prevent critical situations like the ones produced by Italy and Malta’s reiterated refusals to take in humanitarian ships. Interior ministers are scheduled to meet in Romania in early February to discuss the matter further, but there is little hope that an agreement will be reached that makes everyone happy. SPAIN will on January 29 officially lower the speed limit on secondary roads from 100kph to 90kph. The Council of Ministers had approved the measure, which is designed to cut the death toll from road accidents, earlier this month. At the moment 66 per cent of road fatalities occur on secondary roads, about half of which are due to cars leaving the highway usually due to excessive speed. A 24-year-old man from Liverpool has been jailed for stealing £4,500 from his grandad to pay for a holiday in Ibiza. Brett Bridgen reportedly used online banking to send money into his personal account the day before travelling to the Spanish island. BBC viewers have blasted 'smug' David Cameron as the 'worst diplomat ever' after watching a documentary about his failed attempts to negotiate with the EU before calling the 2016 referendum. Violence could erupt on the streets of Britain in the wake of Brexit according to a secret report by European officials for national leaders including Theresa May . Senior intelligence officials warned that civil unrest and rioting is almost inevitable and the UK will be left 'unstable' for decades. The NHS is hiring hundreds of 'social prescribers' to refer patients to art classes and ballroom dancing lessons. Up to 1,000 advisers are being recruited across England to carry out almost a million appointments a year. The mother of James Bulger has penned a heartfelt letter calling on the director of a controversial film about her son's murder to withdraw the picture from the Oscars, as a petition to pull it hits 220,000 signatures. The film, called Detainment, which re-enacts scenes after the murder of James Bulger, has been shortlisted for an Oscar. Criminal gangs are exploiting children as young as 11 to run lucrative 'county lines' drug networks each worth up to £1million a year, a new report warns. The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes there are now more than 2,000 individual deal line numbers in operation in the UK - more than double the number previously identified.