Spain Today – Thursday 30 May 2024

There are lots of local holidays on Thursday in Spain (Corpus Christi), too many to mention, or 18 according to the Social Security calendar, but notable places include Toledo, and Albacete, as well as quite a few places around Seville.

It is the Day of the Canary Islands, and Corpus Christi is celebrated in areas such as Castile la Mancha where they have a weekend of celebrations, and a special traffic operation as a result.

Benidorm bound sex offender facing 4 years in prison, water reserves improving slightly, and restaurant fined for copyright infringement for playing music.

Contents (click to jump ahead)

Spanish News Headlines

A man is facing four years in prison when his trial starts in Alicante today, where he stands accused of sexually abusing a friend who was in an “unconscious state” in the back of a vehicle.

The Prosecutor’s Office maintains in its indictment that the victim, who was traveling in a car with the defendant from Alicante to Benidorm, could not “speak or make any movement.”

As Spain is about to experience a long, hot, and dry summer, according to the latest weekly Hydrological Bulletin, the country´s hydraulic reserve stands at 66.3% of its total capacity (56,039 hm³), compared to 47.5% the previous year and 64.6% of the average for the last decade.

The reservoirs store 37,134 hm³ of water, increasing by 24 hm³ in the last week.

The average level of reserves on the Atlantic slope is 67.9%, where the situation in the Guadalete-Barbate basin stands out, with 29.6%.

The Court in Ciudad Real has fined a restaurant for playing music, not for violation of licencing of the premises, which is often the case, but for violation of intellectual property rights and condemns the owner of a restaurant in Campo de Criptana to pay 1,079.98 euro for playing music in his premises.

The ruling states that the defendant reproduced copyright-protected repertoire on the establishment’s various televisions without authorisation between December 12, 2019 and June 2022.

To read these articles in full, visit SpainToday.news

Business, Markets and Statistics

In Spain, we will have advance data on the consumer price index for May, along with import and export data.

The NHS will be in the spotlight on Wednesday, which will no doubt add fuel to the fire of election promises, as monthly stats on GP appointments are released, along with the NHS workforce, sickness absence and vacancy stats.

Everyday funds will also be highlighted in part by the release of the quarterly ONS stats on household inflation, and energy trends and prices.

In America on Thursday, the second GDP reading will be published in Q1 2024. The first reading showed a slowdown in the dynamism of economic activity compared to Q4 2023, weighed down by the moderation of exports, the slowdown in public spending and the lower household consumption. At the same time, we will know the preliminary reading of wholesale inventories in April.

eDreams will publish their results, as will Aedas homes and Costco Wholesale.

Traffic and Travel

The weather could cause some problems to flights this Thursday, with the UK being affected, the south of the country (including London) mostly by wind.

There is also the possibility of fog in northern Spain, which could also cause delays in the morning to flights taking off and landing in that area.

The Corpus Christi celebrations mean parades in various towns and cities, which will result in street closures. The main road network may also be busier as people head towards those towns celebrating.

In the Spanish region of Castilla la Mancha, a special traffic operation commences running through the weekend in connection with the Corpus Christi celebrations on Thursday, and the regional holiday on Friday.

On the roads of Spain, during spring weekends, an increase in traffic is expected on the main routes, and motorways, as well as national roads, towards coastal areas, second homes, as well as leisure and recreation areas near urban centres.

For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit N332.es

Official Websites for Travel Information

• For live traffic reports, visit the DGT traffic map
• For weather warnings, consult AEMET
• DGT Twitter account
• AEMET weather related road information
• Aemet Twitter account
• For flight information, check the AENA airport operator’s website

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