VinceTracy Podcasts

Bankia and CaixaBank are considering a merger that would create the biggest lender in Spain, the banks said in a Thursday statement to the securities market watchdog CNMV. The new bank would hold €650 billion in assets, although it would lack the international presence of other Spanish lenders such as Santander and BBVA.

Prime minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that any of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities can call their own state of alarm to contain localised coronavirus outbreaks. The Spanish government plans to build 32-foot cylindrical walls around its North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla to stop raids by migrants and individual attempts to enter the country. The government is taking the ongoing harassment that is being suffered by Unidas Podemos politician s Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero very seriously, considering it not to be an isolated incident but rather the result of a political climate that is being fanned by the far right. .......................Over the past week a number of politicians, including Defense Minister Margarita Robles, have recalled the words of Pablo Iglesias in 2013, when he described noisy protests – known in Spanish as escraches – being staged at the time outside the homes of some members of the then-Popular Party government as being “democratic medicine.”

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa announced on Friday that the government is closing nightclubs and nighttime bars across Spain in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He also explained that all establishments, such as restaurants, would have to close at 1am, with no new patrons allowed to enter from midnight onward. Illa also announced that new residents entering senior care homes would be subject to PCR tests to detect coronavirus infections, as would staff from such residences returning from their vacations. Visits to homes will also be limited to one person per resident with a maximum of one hour. This measure will be relaxed, Illa explained, in the case of patients “who are nearing the end of their lives.”

In the end, it took a personal meeting between father and son to get the stalled talks back on track. As one source familiar with the matter described it: “There were no good solutions, just less bad ones.” For Juan Carlos I, his red line was preserving his honorary title of emeritus king, which was bestowed upon him in June 2014, a few days before abdicating the throne. For Felipe VI, the goal was to get his father to voluntarily accept a solution, instead of having to impose one on him. As for the best way to break the news to Spanish public opinion, it was agreed that Juan Carlos I would write a letter to his son and that this letter would be shared by the royal household.

The number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise in Spain, with 1,525 new infections detected in 24 hours on Friday – the highest figure since the end of the lockdown period. The surge in cases has sparked concern in Europe, leading several countries, including France and Germany, to recommend against travel to the Spanish regions most affected by the outbreaks. In other news, Gibraltarian authorities have been seeking a formula that will allow the British Overseas Territory to retain ties to the European Union, The Rock could possibly join the customs union or the Schengen Area.

Ministers decided to reimpose quarantine travel restrictions on Spain after it emerged 10 Britons had returned from the country with coronavirus and Professor Chris Whitty said 'doing nothing isn't an option'. In the UK...... As a nation, we have lost any sense of personal responsibility for our health. People are affronted at the mere suggestion that they might be to blame for their bulk. They castigate ministers for mismangement and underfunding of the NHS, yet political meddling is nothing compared with the ruination the health system faces because of the overweight.

A beach in Barcelona, a wedding in Tudela and a Red Cross centre in Malaga are among the places where new clusters of cases have been found in recent weeks.Dinner parties, sports events and a summer language school have also been affected by virus outbreaks in a setback to Spain's efforts to resume normal life after one of the world's strictest lockdowns.

Portugal has registered a surge in newCovid-19cases today, with more than 328 more infections diagnosed on Sunday, according to the Portuguese health authority. Nearly 30 Costa del Sol beaches had to turn visitors away at the busiest times of the day on Sunday in resorts including Benalmadena Beaches in Malaga were also forced to reduce the number of visitors in order to ensure social distancing.. Britons returned to pubs and bars across parts of the UK, including London's Soho, Liverpool and Manchester, today to enjoy a pint in the sunshine after new regulations allowing pubs in England to reopen came into force yesterday.

in other news, a new study published in Nature has found that the coronavirus lockdown measures may have saved 450,000 lives in Spain. Spain’s Ministry of Health has confirmed that around 60% of Spain’s current Covid-19 cases have been imported.

In the UK The BBC Breakfast presenter said her role is not to sit and ‘blankly’ read the ¡news but instead inform viewers ‘neutrally’ and give insight where possible. Last year the 45-year-old was embroiled in a race row after she condemned President Donald Trump for telling some female politicians to ‘go back’ to where they came from. She was found to have breached editorial guidelines by the corporation’s complaints unit, but the ruling was reversed after an outcry.