News archive for April 2010
More debt worries as Spain jobless rate hits 20%
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), Spain’s jobless rate has now topped 20% in the first quarter of the year and further fuels fears the country’s public finances which have unsettled global financial markets. The number of unemployed jumped by 280,200 to 4.61 million. This is a higher unemployment figure than Germany which has […]
Annual fair begins in Fuengirola
This evening sees the start of the annual Feria Internacional de los Pueblos in Fuengirola, one of the most important of this type of annual fairs in Spain. More than 33 countries will take part in the fair which attracted more than 900,000 visitors last year and created jobs for over 500 people and boosted […]
IATA – Airlines lose 1.7 billion dollars from ash chaos
Airlines have lost around 1.7 billion dollars after it´s week without revenue due to the chaos caused by volcanic ash, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday. Giovanni Bisignani told reporters in Berlin that at the height of the upheaval on Saturday and Sunday, carriers were losing 400 million dollars per […]
Volcanic ash jokes – the best and worst
Here´s a round-up of some of the best and the worst of what Facebook, Twitter and various blog sites have to offer. It’s a bit early for Iceland volcano jokes. We should wait awhile for the dust to settle. I see that America has declared war on Iceland. Apparently they are accusing them of harbouring […]
Volcanic ash costs Spanish tourism 200m euros per week
Cancellation of hotel bookings because of the volcanic ash disruption affecting airlines will continue until the end of April, at a weekly loss to Spanish tourism of 450 million euros, an industry association said on Wednesday. “We have noticed cancellations as far ahead as end of April from both individuals and tour operators said Spain’s […]
Traffic fines and how to deal with them
One of the most important aspects to consider when changing your residency to a new country, whether temporarily or permanently, is to be familiar wtih the traffic regulations. There are significant differences between EU countries, what for expatriates may not be an offence in their home country may be just that in Spain and may […]
Water shortage by 2025 – UN warning
According to UN sources, some 290 million people in Mediterranean countries will have limited access to water by 2025, a situation that could generate social and territorial conflicts and one that the Union for the Mediterranean hopes to avoid by embarking on a global strategy to ensure the supply of this resource. Representatives from 43 […]
Cigarette sales up in spite of ban
The sales of cigarettes have gone up in Spain since the so-called ‘anti-smoking law’ became effective at the beginning of 2006. According to the ministry of the economy, last year saw tobacconists netting sales of 12,536 million euros, a growth of 1.38 per cent on the previous year’s 12,365 million. Only in the Comunidad Valenciana […]
EU assesses economic fallout from travel chaos
On Sunday, the EU ordered an assessment of the billions of euros potentially lost since an Icelandic volcano erupted, prompting the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II. The head of the European Union’s executive branch Jose Manuel Barroso has given the task of assessing the impact on the troubled airline industry to three of […]
Britain working with Spain to get people back home
London and Madrid are working on ideas to fly Britons stranded by the volcanic ash cloud to a Spanish hub and then sailing them back home, officials said. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero held telephone talks after top British ministers and scientists met to discuss the crisis at […]