"The three Leicester City footballers accused of sexually assaulting three women in a Spanish hotel room returned to jail last night after lawyers for the club failed in a renewed bid to have them freed on bail.
Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair spent a fifth night in the Sangonera Jail in Murcia on the order of a senior judge who was handed the case yesterday and was expected to make a decision on bail by the end of the week. Hopes of an imminent release for the players, jailed for the alleged attack at a luxury hotel in La Manga last Monday, were dashed when the lawyer for the three women said she would continue to oppose bail unless new evidence emerged to challenge the allegations made by her clients".

Personally I'm tired of British football dragging itself into the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Why can't a British side win an international competition and hit the news because of that, instead of making headlines as a result of hooliganism or of the bad behaviour of professional players. If you want to read the rest of this story you can read it here, in the Independent.

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

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