December 2023

SPAIN’S state rail operator Renfe launched a cut-price ticket campaign on Wednesday offering bargain travel from early January after the Three Kings holiday. Low cost fares are available for journeys from January 8 on AVE, Avlo, Alvia, Euromed, Intercity and AVE International trains. They can be bought until Sunday, January 14, 2024. The campaign covers […]

RICE growers in Valencia’s La Albufera natural park are fuming about the increasing numbers of flamingos that’s threatening their crops. Farming associations have called on measures to be adopted including controlling the bird population. The Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA), says that that flocks of flamingos have caused serious damage in recent years, in addition

GOVERNOR of Gibraltar Sir David Steel reflected on ‘the huge privilege’ it had been to represent the ruling monarchs on the Rock in his last Christmas message. As the governor who bade farewell to Queen Elizabeth II and welcomed the incoming King Charles III, Steel remarked that ‘there is so much good about life in

GIBRALTAR residents getting to work after the three-day long Christmas weekend were forced to rely on candles and natural light on Tuesday morning. ‘A total blackout’ that lasted over an hour in Gibraltar on Tuesday morning was blamed on a voltage drop at a distribution centre. Electricity supply collapsed as from 7.24am on December 27

A YOUNG gang member and hitman escaped from jail on Christmas Eve after brazenly walking out of the prison gates hidden among his visiting family. Ceuta-born Yussef ML, 20, also known as ‘El Pastilla’ (the Pill), managed to escape from Alcala Meco prison in Madrid in a Christmas miracle that seems more suited to a

TWO of the most senior officials in Andalucia’s regional healthcare system have quit their roles, in the midst of a waiting-list crisis in the southern Spanish region.  The deputy minister for health in the region, Miguel Angel Guzman, and the general director of the Andalusian Health Service (SAS), Diego Vargas, have both stepped down for

A MAN who allegedly attacked a woman in Gibraltar was charged with attemped murder, assaulting police, threats to kill and Actual Bodily Harm during the festive period. Jacob McWilliam, 22, of Witham’s Road, was arrested by response team officers who were called to Moorish Castle Estate at 12.40am on Christmas Eve. It followed reports of

THE art world is once again grappling with the mysterious disappearance of a painting by a Spanish master, the Times report.  Velasquez’s ‘Portrait of Isabel de Borbon’ vanished during Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in the early 1800s, only to miraculously reappear at the Louvre not long after. Now the full-length portrait of Queen Isabel, who

VAT rates on domestic electricity bills in Spain will double in the New Year from 5% to 10%. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the move following a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. The main item on the agenda was deciding which measures to renew or change by royal decree which were introduced

THE BILLIONAIRE founder of the Inditex fashion group, Amancio Ortega, has purchased two boutique hotels on Spain’s Balearic island of Mallorca for €35 million. The properties were bought via his investment company Pontegadea from a Swedish group, according to a report from Spanish news agency Europa Press.  The purchase was made public in July, according