News, June 2010

News from the Churches

Jimmy Carter to open new church building. Ferede's secretary general speaks on new Religious Freedom law. Services start at Madrid airport. Pentecost silenced in Alcalá. Spring sees Open Air evangelism seminars - September brings Madrid a European preachers' conference. Balearics Churches' Council presented to authorities. New Bible presented. This and more... Read on! more >>

June 30th, recent news round-up

Constitutional Court accepts for examination the new abortion law at request of opposition Partido Popular; 29th: Madrid metro on all-out strike - no 'minimum service' - city chaos - BBC, Basque Country sees general strike, some rail services around Barcelona also on strike; Advance HCPI down to 1.5% due to lower fuel prices; 'gay marriage' celebrates 5 years - 2% of marriages are homosexual; 33,000 got divorced in first quarter; 2009 was first year that more were married in registry offices than in church; PWC report shows Spanish bad loans half those of German banks; explosion at Civil Guard academy near Madrid - cause unknown; 28th: Constitutional Court declares several clauses in Catalan Statue of Autonomy to be unconstitutional - mass demonstrations expected, although region recognised as 'Nation' - Telegraph, The Economist; heavy rain affects north; Madrid 'Metro' on strike - traffic jams stall city; another big builder suspends payments; spending at Sales expected to fall again, by 27% - to average €65 per person - 2/3 won't buy anything, according to the survey; April mortgages show no growth over last year, after 2% rises in Q1; Rafa Nadal among notorious signatures on letter welcoming Pope to Spain in November. more >>

Sport headlines

Spain to last 8. Lorenzo consolidates MotoGP championship lead at Assen. Gasol's Lakers win NBA. Nadal wins Paris to regain Nº1 position. Pedrosa wins in Italy. Spain beat Poland 6-0 in pre-World Cup game. Seville win Copa. Barcelona win Primera. Alonso 6th in Monaco. Atlético beat Fulham in Europa League final. Barcelona win Basketball EuroLeague championship. Joan Antonio Samaranch dies. 1/3 of riders in 3 MotoGP categories are Spaniards, Lorenzo leads MotoGP. more >>

Spain celebrates 25 years' membership of the EU

12th June. Spain celebrates today 25 years since the signing of the treaty of Rome, on 12th June 1985. Felipe González, at that time president, has reminded us that joining the EU not only marked the end of the 'transition' from dictatorship to democracy, but was also the major step to reverse the isolationsim in which Spain had existed since Charles V split up his European empire in 1555. For evangelicals, the process of opening up Spain had begun earlier, but the will of Charles V effectively closed Spain to the pure gospel for 315 years. more >>

Government makes swathing cuts

8th June. The cabinet agreed on 20th May to a hefty U-turn in its strategy to deal with the recession. Under pressure of the markets and other EU governments to cut the immense 11% deficit, the cabinet took the unpleasant decision not only to slam the brakes on public works, but also to cut public employees' pay by an average of 5%. In answer, a 'general strike' of public employees took place on 8th June. more >>

New abortion law passes Congress

June 29th. On July 5th the new abortion law should begin its life. Girls over 16 will get abortions without parental permission free on the Social Security, even though many abortions will still be undertaken in private clinics on the government's behalf. This is due to the fact that many Social Security gynaecologists are 'conscientious objectors'. Lobby groups are still hoping that the Constitutional Court will take their complaints into consideration and stall the introduction of the law. more >>

News Theme, Summer in Spain and the Weather

Schools are out soon! Summer is on its way! On approximately 20th June each year, schools close for the summer. By that time it is too hot in most areas to hold classes without expensive air conditioning, so schools have traditionally closed for almost 3 months. Indeed, what remains of school in both June and September is mornings only - although nowadays more and more schools extending morning class year-round and the kids don't return after a late lunch. more >>

Summer is here, happy fiestas!

Fiesta time is round again. Through the spring, fiestas, or city/village celebration weeks, have already been a big part of life. After Easter, the cities of Andalusia begin a round of Ferias, starting with the greatest of them all in Seville. By June, most towns and villages want to join in, with festivities traditionally centred on a saint's or 'virgin's' day. 23rd April is St. George's day. At Pentecost, the village of Almonte, Huelva, draws thousands as it celebrates the Rocío Romería, a week of travelling to the sanctuary of 'the virgin' on horseback, in gypsy carts and in full Andalusian dress, all to celebrate their statue who at once represents the virgin and the Holy Spirit, also naming their virgin 'the white dove'. 24th June, for example, is St. John's night, big all over the place; 7th July San Fermin, patron saint of Pamplona and so it goes on. more >>

News Theme: The Economy

Unemployment in Spain (The Economist)

During the decade until 2007 Spain was seen as enjoying an economic miracle. Now Spain is among the worst hit nations in Europe, with economist all over the world, not least in Spain itself, hitting hard at the government for its policies. World economic woes are certainly affecting Spain, but it is suffering more due to local matters. Several billion Euros have now been thrown by the government at the problem, but unemployment reached over 4 million, or virtually 20% by the end of 2009. Experts believe the government is not adopting the best policies to get Spain back to work. We offer our view. more >>

News theme: Basque politics and ETA - 50 years on

31st July 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of ETA's terror campaign. To mark it, ETA planted a bomb outside a Civil Guard barracks in Burgos on 29th and under a patrol car in Mallorca on 30th, the latter causing two deaths. ETA is still alive and killing, but has achieved nothing useful for the Basques they claim to represent. On 19th June '09 ETA killed again. Here we offer some background thoughts to the problem. more >>

News Theme, The immigration crisis

Desperation (AFP)

Reports, almost daily, of open boats known variously as pateras (coming from Marrocco or Algeria) or larger 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 Romanians, 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, now doubly significant as the jobs they are hoping for have dried up. more >>