In Thursday’s Spanish national news, new law to restore 20% of EU land and sea, extortion case set to conclude, and teacher attackers on trial.
Spanish News Headlines
The EU has set the goal of
restoring at least 20% of its terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need by 2050.
Member States must restore at least 30% of deteriorated habitats by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 90% by 2050.
To achieve these general objectives, Member States must restore at least 30% of the habitats covered by the new law – from forests, grasslands and wetlands to rivers, lakes and coral beds – from poor to good status in 2030, a percentage that will increase to 60% in 2040 and 90% in 2050. In accordance with Parliament’s position, EU countries must give priority to Natura 2000 Network areas until 2030. When an area is in good condition, EU countries will ensure that it does not deteriorate significantly. Member States will also have to adopt national restoration plans detailing how they intend to achieve these objectives.
The Provincial Court of Castellón is set to conclude hearing evidence today against seven people accused of various crimes after having
extorted a man who contacted several women through a website and whom they threatened to attack to force him to pay them, open bank accounts and rent a high-end vehicle.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office brief, the events began in May 2022, when four of the defendants contacted a man, who lived in a municipality of Lugo, after he communicated with several women on a website. The defendants called the victim on the phone, imitating an Eastern European accent, and told him that if he did not do what they demanded they would go look for him at his work and home, beat him, “break his ribs, cut his neck”, and they even sent him a video in which a person was beaten.
The trial for
attacks and threats suffered by five teachers from the Vicente Cano Secondary Education Institute (IES) in Argamasilla de Alba (Ciudad Real) in May 2022 is being held this Thursday in the Criminal Court No. 1 of Ciudad Real.
The Prosecutor’s Office requests one year and nine months in prison for attacking authority and other crimes, while the Union of Teaching Workers of Castilla-La Mancha (STE-CLM), which represents two teachers, requests four years and a half in prison for each of the alleged aggressors.
To read these articles in full, visit
SpainToday.news
Business, Markets and Statistics
On Thursday, the advance of the inflation data that will be known in Spain, Germany and France, in the US, the PCE index for January will be published. In the business field, this Thursday there will be an avalanche of results presentations. Grifols, Cellnex, International Airlines Group (IAG), Air France-KLM, ACS, Merlin Properties, Acerinox and Meliá will stand out.
In Spain, the Institute of National Statistics (INE) publishes the advance of the CPI and harmonised CPI for February. The Bank of Spain brings to light the progress of the balance of payments for December.
Acciona will also publish results, which could be of interest to areas like Torrevieja where the company operates an eye wateringly expensive waste disposal contract.
In the Eurozone, the ECB publishes quarterly statistics on insurance companies, and the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council ends.
In the UK, the NHS will be under the spotlight again as sickness absence and vacancy statistics are published, along with the monthly figures on GP appointments. We will also have a different angle on the cosy of living in the UK with the quarterly statutory homelessness figures, and energy trends and prices.
We will also have results for Ocado, Serco, Man Group, Atos, Schroders, London Stock Exchange, Best Buy, Veolia, and Weir Group.
Things to Do Today
International Flamenco Day is celebrated in
Torrevieja with a concert on 2 March. You can then take a Trip to Oz, with the kids, on 15 March, assuming you survive Peter and the Wolf on 10 March. There is also the Magical world of Disney concert on 16.
For runners, on 10 March, Elche has both as 7.2k and half marathon, Crevillente on 6 April has a 6 k race, and the Dama de Guardamar half marathon, which takes the form of both a 10k and 21k variant (10.5 and 21.1 kilometres, respectively, to be pedantic), and will take place in Guardamar del Segura on 14 April 2024.
Aircraft fans can look forward to RACEFEST, Madrid, taking place on 16 March, where the Patrulla Aguila aerobatic team from San Javier will be taking part, before showcasing their skills locally in the San Javier Airshow, taking place from 3rd-5th May – Festival Aéreo San Javier – over the playas de Santiago de la Ribera, San Javier, Murcia. They are also at the DIFAS 2024, taking place in Oviedo on 1 June, and on 15th June, the 50º Aniversario del ALA 14, in Albacete, where a competition is open to design a Eurofighter livery.
If your love of the sky means watching people jumping out of planes, then there´s good news for you too, as on 19th March – Fiestas Patronales de Puerto de Mazarrón 2024, in Murcia, sees the Patrulla Acrobática de Paracaidismo del Ejército del Aire (PAPEA) parachutists perform, and on 31st March they are at the Conmemoración de “El Encuentro” de Alcantarilla, also in Murcia, before the team head overseas in April to attend the 5th FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championship, in Macau, China.
Musically, James Blunt is back in Alicante on 19 July, as is Tom Jones on 25. Other popular groups coming to Spain in the near future include AC/DC, Depeche Mode, and Simple Minds.
A Black Music Festival is taking place in Salt until 9 March, and the Jerez Festival of Flamenco and art is on in Jerez de la Frontera also until 9 March.
Down south, the Malaga Film Festival takes place from 1 to 10 March, followed by the Granada Tango Festival from 12 to 17 March.
Fallas season is about to start, culminating in the celebrations around the middle of March, not forgetting of course we have San Jose, Spanish Father’s Day, a big event in the Spanish cultural calendar. The main fallas event is around Valencia, where this year the calendar is from 25 February to 19 March.
We must also remember that Easter is earlier this year, and one of the big draws is Elche, and in particular Palm Sunday, on account of the history of the city in relation to palm trees. A huge Palm Sunday procession takes place in the city each year.
One of the most unusual festivals takes place in the town of Mula, with the Night of the Drums, or Noche de los Tambores, where drumming begins at midnight on Holy Tuesday until 4 in the afternoon on Wednesday. Similar drum festivals take place in a few other towns too, but Mula is known as one of the best.
Another unusual celebration takes place in Jerte, usually at the end of March and beginning of April, but it depends on the weather, and therefore could be earlier this year, but it is the Cherry Trees in Blossom festival, which beholds a beauty of colour and aroma that is definitely a feast for the senses.
For more local events, pick up
The Leader newspaper every Monday, and
This is Torrevieja for Torrevieja events.
Local Markets
Thursday markets are held in Alicante, Bigastro,
Campoamor (Orihuela Costa), El Altet (Elche),
Gran Alacant, Lo Pagan (San Pedro del Pinatar),
Rojales, and
San Fulgencio (La Marina).
The roads will of course be busy around those locations.
Traffic and Travel
There is still the ongoing protest with farmers blocking roads around the country, and so you should check the DGT traffic map (below) before you travel.
The same applies if you are heading towards higher ground, as snow continues to fall in places and if you are venturing into the mountain areas, which in some cases might be less than an hour from the sunny coast, snow chains should be a consideration to avoid getting stranded.
The same as last week, the weekend is going to be busy on the roads particularly around winter leisure areas, which includes second homes, but mostly the mountainous regions for winter sports. We will have the full details of the busiest times in tomorrow’s bulletin.
For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit
N332.es
Military Exercise BVR 2024-1 will take place in Hungary from 26 to 29 February and 04 to 07 March 2024.
Military exercise Joint Warrior (JW 24-1) will take place mainly within Scottish airspace, but also impacting areas in England. This exercise is part of the Steadfast Defender campaign, which will continue with the Nordic Response exercise in the first half of March. The exercise schedule is 24 Feb – 04 Mar, but the activities on the weekends will be very low.
The exercise is not expected to have much of an impact on commercial traffic, but intensive military movements are expected, especially in Scottish airspace.
Official Websites for Travel Information
On This Day
2008, first European Rare Diseases Day.
1972, born on this day, Pedro Sánchez, Spanish politician, and President of the Government of Spain.
1960, in Morocco, an earthquake devastates the city of Agadir.
