Here is The Leader daily briefing with the news from around Spain, things to do locally, the forecast for the day, and other notable events Today in Spain.
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News Around Spain
The week will end with the publication of the current account balance in the Eurozone and the trade balance of Spain. Likewise, the production price index (PPI) will be known in Germany and the week in Europe will close with the publication of retail sales in the United Kingdom.
On Saturday, 30,066 candidates will sit an exam in 28 locations throughout Spain in the hope of obtaining one of the 11,607 places offered for Specialised Health Training in Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and the degrees from the field of Psychology, Chemistry, Biology and Physics. In general terms, two thirds of the applicants will be unsuccessful, although there are 436 more places on offer in this latest recruitment drive, an increase of 5% compared to last year.
A media company has been fined 30,000 euro in a final agreed settlement by the Spanish Data Protection monitor, AEPD for failing to comply with Data Protection regulations, after they published a video on Facebook in which a group of three men and a woman were seen attacking another man who was lying on the ground. In this recording, several of the participants were recognised as their faces were visible.
In a year marked by the renewal of two of its key models, the Corsa and Astra, Opel concluded 2023 with a growth in its sales to almost 35,0000 registered units of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in Spain, which translates into a 3.6% market share. With 14,955 registrations, the new Opel Corsa, manufactured exclusively in Spain, has been the brand’s best-selling model in 2023, remaining one of the great references in the B segment in Spain. Also produced in Spain, the Opel Crossland classified in the B-SUV category added a total of 3,390 registrations. Together, both models represent two out of every three Opel passenger car registrations in the country.
The German grocery chain, Aldi, has announced plans to open almost 50 new stores in 2024, with Madrid, the Valencia region, Andalucia and Catalonia being their primary targets, obtaining almost half of the total expansion. In the last 3 years, the company has opened the doors to more than 100 new stores, 46 of which were last year alone. In 2023 they closed the year with a total of 435 stores in Spain offering a combined total of 480,000 square metres of retail space, an increase of 11% over 2022.
According to the latest weekly Hydrological Bulletin, the Spanish hydraulic reserve stands at 45.2% of its total capacity (56,039 hm³), compared to 48.5% the previous year and 55.4% of the average for the last decade. The reservoirs currently store 25,356 hm³ of water, increasing in the last week by 342 hm³ (0.6% of the current total capacity of the reservoirs).
To read these articles in full, visit SpainToday.news
Things to Do Today
In La Mata on Sunday, the pet blessings take place as part of the San Anton de Abad religious festivities, blessings stating at 10:15, so Sunday in La Mata is definitely a day for the pets, unless your pet is a pig, in which case probably don´t mention anything!
On the subject of San Anton, if you venture a little way north to Alicante, a horse show is taking place in the bull ring on Sunday, starting at 10:30 and then the horses will be blessed at noon, but if you’re into horses, that is certainly something to consider doing.
Back in Torrevieja, on Sunday, the XXIV Torrevieja Sports Gala will be held at the International Auditorium, at 6:00 p.m. In the event that should have taken place at the end of last year, but was postponed, a total of 15 categories will reward athletes, entities and recognise the work and involvement in sport of different people from the great Torrevieja sports family. In total, there have been 167 athletes nominated in this edition and 4 honourable mentions and 5 special mentions will be awarded.
The Pascual Flores pilot boat is open for visitors in Torrevieja on Wednesdays through to Sundays until 29 January.
In the Casa de Cultura in Guardamar del Segura a collective exhibition of the works of young creators in different fields of plastic arts, photography, fashion design, and drawing ends on Saturday. A second collection, featuring “new perspectives” is also on in the same venue until February 4.
On Sunday in Guardamar, a beach cleaning event has been organised, with volunteers asked to congregate near the Alannia camp site before 10:30.
Slightly further north, Santa Pola will see their half marathon taking place on Sunday morning, with up to 6,000 runners taking to the streets of the town, 91 runners are from the UK.
For more local events, pick up The Leader newspaper every Monday, and This is Torrevieja for Torrevieja events.
Local Markets
On Friday there’s are weekly market in Dolores, Jacarilla, Los Montesinos, Pilar de la Horadada, Torrellano (Elche), and Torrevieja.
On Saturday, you can get your bargains at the markets in Alicante, Almoradi, Catral, Elche, Moncayo (Guardamar), Orihuela, Playa Flamenca (Orihuela Costa), San Anton (Elche), San Fulgencio (La Marina), and Santa Pola.
And on Sunday, Algorfa (Zoco), Campoverde (Pilar de la Horadada), Corvera (Murcia), Guardamar El Limonero (Lemon Tree Road), Guardamar (N-332), Elche Mercadillo del Martínez Valero, La Aparecida (Orihuela), La Murada (Orihuela), and Pilar de la Horadada (El Toro).
The roads will of course be busy around those locations.
Traffic and Travel
On the roads of Spain, coinciding with the weekends of the winter months, an increase in traffic is expected on the main routes, national roads, and motorways towards rest areas, second homes and mountain areas for practicing winter sports.
FRIDAY
Movements out of large urban centres and increased circulation on the main communication routes towards rest areas, second homes and mountain areas, the least favourable time being between 7 and 9 p.m.
SATURDAY
Travel out of large urban centres, many of which will be short trips to recreation and leisure areas close to large towns, as well as increased circulation on the main communication routes to rest areas, second homes and mountain areas, the busiest times being between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
SUNDAY
Movements in the entrance direction to the large urban centres along the main communication road axes that channel the entire return movement, in particular on motorways, as well as along the access roads to areas of mountain with winter sports practice, at an unfavourable time between 6 and 10 p.m.
If you are going to the mountains, remember to take snow chains (click this link to browse snow chains on Amazon). Winter tyres are okay too. If you come across a blue circular sign showing snow chains, it is obligatory to have them fitted on your wheels before passing the sign. You are not permitted further without having them installed. It is both dangerous, and illegal.
For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit N332.es
In the air there´s quite an important notice which might affect flights between the UK and Spain, in that restrictions could be implemented at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez airport due to anticipated capacity issues.
Industrial action in Lanzarote continues, with moderate delays expected, and windy conditions over the west of Spain could also cause diversions.
Ongoing staffing issues in some UK Air Traffic Control towers are expected to cause some issues today, although contingency plans are in place for various scenarios.
We still have the equipment testing in Paris, but as of this evening they are switching back to the old system again, so hopefully it won´t have an impact.
The World Economic Forum in Davos is ongoing. Mainly the Zurich area is affected by a range of military restrictions in force.
Weather related restrictions could affect Scandinavian, Swiss & Austrian Aerodromes due to the Snow and freezing rain conditions.
As always, although not directly impacting flights between the UK and Spain, the knock-on effect could result in delays later in the day in some cases.
Weekend Weather
At the time of publishing, there are a number of weather warnings in place across Spain, including the Costa Blanca, and depending where you are they are both of a different category and severity, snow in inland areas and wind and coastal phenomena on the coast, and there´s even a chance of thunderstorms on Friday night. As always, it´s therefore a good idea to keep a close eye on the official sources, which in Spain is AEMET, click here for the link which will take you straight there.
Notable Events
928 In Muslim-dominated Spain, the Emir of Córdoba, Abderramán III conquers Bobastro, in present-day Málaga, dissolving the rebellion that Hafsún had started a few decades earlier. Abd al-Rahman III has a letter sent and read in all the mosques of the emirate boasting of having destroyed the centre of the rebellion.
1493 Kings Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles VIII of France sign the Treaty of Barcelona by which France returns the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya to Spain.
1880 the Congress of Deputies of Spain votes to abolish slavery in Cuba.
2015 the judicial process begins against the person accused of the theft of the Codex Calixtino stolen from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in 2011.
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