News, December 2006

Pray4Spain wishes all our readers a very Happy New Year

We are at home for a change this year, but may not be so active in the festive period... more >>

December 30th, general news roundup

For annual roundup scroll down! ETA peace broken as bomb explodes in Barajas Airport, Madrid after warning to Basque sources -2 missing, presumed dead; 29th: 2/3 Basques expect ETA to kill again - peace hopes in tatters; 14 arrested for child web porn; 16 members of villa robbery gang arrested in Malaga - all foreigners; Bishop of Cordoba refuses permission for muslims to pray in 'Mosque' Cathedral; annual inflation 2.7%; domestic electricity to rise 2.8%, firms to pay more; Ferrovial, stuck with event-prone BAA, sells property division; 27th: Transport minister stands by decision to close down air Madrid; 130 immigrants reach Canaries; migrants attempt to cross Melilla fenca on Christmas night; 34 dead on roads in run-up to Christmas holiday; Double hand transplant woman leaves hospital 23rd:ETA weopons hide uncovered - about 2 days old, with 60kg of explosive- demonstrates no end to ETA plans for violence. more >>

Sport roundup, 20th December

Beckham's contract with Madrid runs out on 31st; Barcelona's Ronaldinho applies for Spanish citizenship, Madrid's Cannavaro gets FIFA title, Barcelona fails to win Clubs World Cup, Seville leads league with Barça on heels, Uefa: all 4 clubs doing well; Champions: Barça, Madrid and Valencia through to last 16, Madrid unbeaten in Basketball ACB, Dakar rally preparations under way: read on! more >>

José Cardona recovering at home from illness

José Cardona

News from the Churches

TVE broadcast a Christmas service for the 2nd time. The ship, Logos 2 is visiting the Canaries, Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar. Evangelical organisations celebrate anniversaries. Rockfall hits Bible School. Read on! more >>

Annual Resumé, 2006

As we move into 2007, we look back on a year which has been highlighted by numerous evants and tendencies. Sadly, terrorism has once again topped the news headlines, although this year the hopes were high. In sport, numerous Spanish personalities were world class players, with a number of trophies between them. As to the evangelical churches, this year marked a number of key anniversaries, but may -although we will probably never know- have marked the year when the membership of Spanish evangelical churches became over 50% foreign born. more >>

4th anniversary of Prestige tanker disaster

12th November. It is just 4 years since the Mayday signal was received from the Prestige a small tanker carrying fuel oil off the 'coast of death', Galicia. The coast and major shell fisheries were badly affected. 4 years on, superficially things are back to normal, but under the sand and behind the scenes too little has changed. Thousands demonstrated today warning that a repetition is all too possible. more >>

Catalan Election undecisive

28th November. The Nov 1st regional election in Spain's most independent region, Catalonia, brought a phyric victory for the centre-right nationalist party Convergència i Unió. The party gained 2 more seats, but still failed to prevent the left wing parties from reviving the previous governing 'Tripartite', now named 'understanding'. Socialist José Montilla has now been elected and installed as 128th president of the Generalitat, which claims roots back in the Middle Ages. more >>

Sub-Saharan invasion alarms Canaries

11th September. Reports daily in the press bring news of yet more illegal 'paperless' immigrants washed up on the shores of the Canary Islands and, this year to a much smaller extent the Spanish mainland. August was the worst month yet, bringing the year's total to 20,000 by 5th September. Meanwhile, at least 700 have died, this being the number of known cases. The European dream of a better life is causing desperate africans to risk all... and the governmet is less and less sure of how to cope. more >>

ETA peace process stalled

24th October. The past month has seen the ETA peace process, initiated after an announcement in March by ETA of a 'permanent ceasefire', has ground to a halt. Street violence began again in the Basque Country, politicians attempting to bring the process to a 'successful conclusion', being stymied by others demanding nothing but 'total victory'. Now we hear of the robbery of a large amount of weoponry in the south of France, while judges have police raid 'people's taverns' in search of indications that they were used to finance ETA and Batasuna politicians are charged with membership of ETA. As the government today asks the European parliament to lend total support to the process, it seems almost a lost hope. more >>

News theme: Basque politics and ETA

On 22nd March ('06), ETA, the Basque separatist terrorist group, announced a permanent ceasefire. One would have expected that after many years of living with terrorism in the Basque Country and across Spain, all Spaniards would have welcomed the announcement. However, a brief glance at newspaper headlines since that date would suggest that the announcement had been the spark for an all-out fight between the major parties. Several very different reactions have come to light and hopes of true 'peace' are as far as ever. Indeed, six months on, ETA has almost gone as far as to cancel the ceasefire, saying it will not hand in arms until its political aims are achieved. more >>

News Theme, The immigration crisis

[Image 43???]Reports, almost daily, of open boats known variously as pateras (coming from Marocco or Algeria) or cayucos (reaching the Canary islands from further south), combine with stories of illegal 'paperless' immigrants attempting to cross the fences at Ceuta and Melilla. Add to these high profile stories the situation of hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans and Romanias, not to mention Asians and you have the appearance of a significant immigration crisis. Throw in the confusion and disagreement of politicians as to how to deal with the phenomenon and you have a real crisis. more >>

News theme: weather and winter travel

Spain is not, contrary to its image, permanent summer! The tourist season is limited, even at coastal areas, except in the Canary Islands, to half the year. Winter, especially inland, is far harsher than it is in (mostly) mild Britain, so far further north. more >>

More News

A few more news items and where to find more news about Spain: