Spanish elections.
According to a Guardian article published today, support for Spain's ruling Popular Party is starting to ebb away and its lead over the opposition Socialists has fallen to 5-7 points. It will be very difficult for the Socialist Party to win the elections, not least because the government controls almost all the Spanish media - tv and radio stations and most newspapers - and they use this control to manipulate news items as much as possible. And while it is true that the polls do show that PP support seems to have reached its peak, and the socialists are gaining ground, it would be a surprise for everyone if the elections this month produce a change in the national Government in Spain.

Clandestine immigrant detention room in Madrid's main airport may be illegal.
Since last Summer, the detention room at Barajas, known as Room 4, has held 1000 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation, often for one or two days, but sometimes for up to two weeks. An investigation led by Spain's Ombudsman will investigate claims (denied by the Spanish government) that some immigrants are denied basic rights during their detention, such as access to a lawyer, family and friends or medical attention. More information here.

Spanish medics hit the headlines today, after transplanting an arm they had managed to "keep it alive" for nine days by attaching it to the patient's leg. Amazing but true. You can read the news item here if you're interested. The article is in Spanish, but if you use the Google translator you can get the gist of it. And the photo accompanying the article needs no explanation at all.....

Spanien: Wochenchronik

Spanish economy. One of the main worries in Spain at the moment is the price of property. According to a study released today, young Spanish adults spend over 55 percent of their wage on a 25-year mortgage. See this article in El Mundo

The main debates in the radio and tv news programmes this morning center around a news item which was published by Spain's leading paper, El Pais, yesterday. This paper and leading radio station, Cadena Ser, claim they have evidence which shows that Spanish Defence Ministry doctors may not have identified correctly all the bodies of the soldiers killed in a plane crash last year when they were returning from Afghanistan. Families of the soldiers want to return to Turkey to check and compare ADN tests carried out by the Turkish authorities. See the Cadena Ser report here: http://www.cadenaser.com/articulo.html?d_date=&xref=20040302csrcsrnac_3&type=Tes&anchor=csrcsrpor

This is a new Euroresidentes blog, to give news in English, French and German (depending on the source) about Spain. We will include all the important news items from the major Spanish news sources, and provide a link to the original source. Send us any comments to: euroresi@euroresidentes.com