WEEKLY DIGEST – 26 JANUARY 2015

JOB PROSPECTS

President of the Spanish Government, Mariano Rajoy, has said this week that thanks to the efforts of his government since the last election, after six years in power the future of the country now looks brighter than ever, and that in 2014 the country’s GDP grew by 1.3 to 1.4%, which will result in the creation of about one million jobs in 2014 and 2015.

ON THE RADAR

Spanish technology group Indra, who form part of the Eurofigher program, has signed a 90 million euro contract to develop the Captor-E radar system for the European fighter aircraft. The company is the third biggest overall supplier, and the top Spanish supplier, of avionics equipment and systems for Eurofighter, the company said in a statement.

OILY THREAT

Spain´s title of the world´s largest producer of olive oil may soon be under threat, after production in Tunisia is expected to quadruple this year, thus placing them in second place already. Expected domestic production of olive oil this year is estimated at 280,000 tons, nearly four times the 70 thousand tons harvested last season. Oddly, Spain, whose own production is estimated at 600,000 tons, is one of the largest importers of Tunisian olive oil, along with Italy.

A EURO VISION

Ukrainian 2004 Eurovision winner Ruslana has been on a mini musical tour of Spain. Ruslana Stepanivna Lyžyčko, who also holds the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine, has been performing in Málaga, Barcelona and Madrid, before travelling to Germany for a May concert in Munich. As well as her singing credential, Ruslana has become a symbol of the struggles in Ukraine, and during the winter of 2013/2014 she spent almost every night from midnight until dawn on Kiev’s Independence Square, serving as an inspiration for the nightly protesters. Because of her extraordinary dedication and courage she was honoured with numerous prizes and awards including the Woman of Courage Award presented by American First Lady Michele Obama.

ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES

Professor and Rector of the Kazakh University of Arts and founder of Eurasian Symphony Orchestra Aiman Mussakhodzhayeva, a prominent violinist and holder of the title of the People’s Artist of Kazakhstan, has announced this week that the Eurasian Symphonic Orchestra have set off to tour Spain, Germany, South Korea, “Sixty members of the Eurasian Symphony Orchestra have already left for Spain to give 10 concerts. They are starting from Barcelona and will then tour Spain’s other regions. This tour is part of a campaign to promote Kazakhstan abroad this year,” she said.

DRONING ON

Spanish construction firm Ferrovial has become a pioneer in the use of new technology in the construction sector, by being the first company to operate a drone to carry out surveys and monitoring of major building projects. So far, the drone has been used on the construction of a road in Texas, another in Ireland and a hospital in Granada.

PLANE DEAL

Spanish airline Air Europa has confirmed that it has placed a 6 billion dollar order with aircraft manufacturer Boeing for fourteen of their B787-9s Dreamliner passenger jets. Boeing had already confirmed the order previously, although the buyer was unidentified until now. The first 787-8 Dreamliners will start to arrive in 2016, allowing the company to grow both the number of flights and destinations they operate to by around 50%, a statement confirmed.

TRAIN UP

High-speed and long-distance rail travel has increased in 2014, with the Spanish AVE network now carrying 29.6 million passengers. The government announced in a statement that passenger numbers had been growing consistently since February 2013, and last year the AVE services experienced a 21.6% increase in passengers, with long-distance services receiving a 7.5% increase, with revenue generated up by 6.1% on the previous year.

RACE FIT

The Azerbaijan national cycling team, the Synergy Baku Cycling Project, are spending almost two weeks in Calpe for a training camp, prior to the 2015 cycle race season which will begin in Croatia in February. With 14 riders in the team, they will split to attend the GP Laguna 1.2 in Croatia on the 15th of February, and then on to the GP Izola on the 1st of March, whilst another group will head to Asia to start in the Tour de Langkawi from the 8th of March, before continuing to the Tour de Taiwan from the 22nd of March.

GOING MOBILE

The organisers of the Mobile World Congress are confident that Barcelona will continue to be the home for the annual event, even after the current contract expires in 2018. Agustí Cordón, Vice President of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, says that “if the congress goes well”, as before, and MWCB “do what you have to do”, this contract should be extended with “no problem” and Barcelona would remain the headquarters the world’s largest gathering of mobile technology. The next event takes place from the 2nd of March at the Gran Via de Fira Barcelona, located in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona.

GIFT OF LIFE

A Welsh teenager’s search for a life saving transplant has come to an end after an anonymous Spanish hero came forward. Emily Clark, 17, received the good news that a match has been found for her in Spain after a tense waiting period. The Cwmbran teenager, who became a viral sensation online for her inspiring blog about fighting cancer. Tweeting from hospital, Emily wrote: “My donor is confirmed! On 26th Jan an anonymous Spanish lady will donate her stem cells for me.”

BRIGHT SPARK

The former electrician for Spain’s famed cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is on trial for the alleged theft of a priceless 12th-century Codex Calixtinus, considered the first guide for Christians making the pilgrimage to venerate St. James. Jose Manuel Fernandez Castineiras appeared in court Monday with his wife and son. Authorities say they found the Codex in his garage in 2012 and recovered 1.2 million euros.

FISHY BUSINESS

Environmental groups have welcomed a new Spanish law which will fight pirate fishing through imposing stronger penalties on Spanish citizens involved in pirate fishing anywhere in the world. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF applaud Spain’s new fisheries law and call on the rest of Member States to approve similar laws in order to effectively fight illegal fishing globally.

LICENSE GAMBLE

The Spanish Gambling Authority (Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego-DGOJ) has published notice that the application renewal of the singular gambling licenses that were granted in 2012 with an initial validity of three years (specifically singular licenses for the development and operation of fixed-odds horse racing betting, roulette, baccarat, and blackjack), must be filed before the 1 February. Operators failing to submit the renewal request on time shall have to stop operating by 1 June 2015.

SOCCER TUBE

Spain’s top football league, La Liga, is breaking records with its YouTube channel which has seen more than 100 million video views since its launch two years ago. The La Liga channel, operated by Mediapro, owner of the football TV rights, currently has 560,000 subscribers and has distributed 250 million minutes of video since 2012. Video clips from La Liga are made available via the @LaLiga account using Twitter’s Amplify tool that enables users to attach videos to tweets in real time with La Liga making highlights of every game for users around the world as they occur.

NUMBERS DOWN

Passenger traffic using San Javier Airport has declined by over 80% in the last seven years. Just over 18,000 passengers used the facility in December 2014 compared with 96,000 in December 2007. Only five destinations used the airport during the month, Madrid and Brussels on the European mainland together with the three UK airports at Bristol, Gatwick and Stansted.

WHO’S THE DADDY

The Spanish Supreme Court has accepted a Paternity claim filed by Ingrid Sartiau, a Belgian woman, against the former King Juan Carlos, the father of King Felipe VI although it rejected a similar suit brought by a Spanish man, Albert Solà Jiménez. The suits were originally filed in lower courts in Madrid around two years ago, but they were thrown out at the time because Juan Carlos, as head of state, enjoyed legal immunity. When he passed the throne on to his son in June of last year, the former king lost that immunity and instead became an “aforado,” a person who can only be tried by the Supreme Court.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/46194/

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