Category: News

Illegal Passengers
Two men have been detained after they landed at a British airport without passports this morning.
The men, who claimed to be Iranian nationals, were onboard a Flybe flight from Alicante which landed at Exeter Airport in Devon.
When they landed the two men were said to have ‘pretended to faint’ as they went through Border Control and admitted not having passports.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘Two passengers presented themselves to Border Force officers.
‘Their cases will be dealt with in line with the UK’s immigration rules.’… Read all the news

Brexit Victims
EU judges have dismissed a case brought by a 97-year-old war veteran and 12 other ex Pats objecting to the UK’s Brexit negotiations.
Harry Shindler and the others argued that it was wrong for the EU to open the Brexit talks because they and many other British expats had been deprived of a vote in the June 2016 referendum.
The 13 plaintiffs have been living outside the UK for more than 15 years.
The opening of Brexit talks did not infringe their rights, the ruling said.… Read all the news

Rape Case
A court’s decision to clear two men of rape despite the victim begging them to stop has prompted outrage across Spain.
The court in Lleida jailed the uncle and nephew for four-and-a-half years for sexual abuse, rather than the graver offence.
A similar verdict in a gang rape case this year prompted large demonstrations against “patriarchal” justice.
Five men were cleared of raping a teenage woman during the San Fermín bull-running festival in Pamplona.
In the latest verdict, the court ruled that the two men had not committed a sexual assault, the equivalent to rape in Spain, because they were deemed not to have used intimidation or violence.… Read all the news

Gibraltar
Spain will seek talks on joint sovereignty of Gibraltar once Britain has left the European Union, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday adding he had told his British counterpart he wanted to resolve the 300-year-old dispute.
Speaking after an EU leaders’ summit, Sanchez said Spain’s position over Gibraltar was stronger after the agreement of a Brexit deal because a Spanish policy effectively became EU policy.
Asked if he would seek a discussion over joint sovereignty once Britain leaves the bloc in March he said: “We will discuss all issues.”… Read all the news

Brexit
European Union diplomats are meeting to finalize the draft divorce agreement between Britain and the bloc, amid a warning from Spain that it will oppose the deal if it isn’t guaranteed a say over the future of Gibraltar.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted that Britain and Spain “remain far away” on the issue and “if there are no changes, we will veto Brexit.”
Spain wants the future of the tiny British territory to be a bilateral issue between Madrid and London.… Read all the news

Brexit Vote
The European Commission yesterday agreed on the draft Political Declaration on the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom that is due to be signed off on Sunday at a European summit.
The text that has been sent to the other 27 member states of the EU excludes any reference to the issue of Gibraltar.
This week both the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the foreign minister, Josep Borrell, made clear they would not sign off on the UK’s draft withdrawal agreement on Sunday if the text was not modified to make clear that negotiations on the future of the EU-UK relationship would not include Gibraltar.… Read all the news

Brexit
The EU and UK have agreed a draft agreement on their future relationship, paving the way for a Brexit deal to be finalised this weekend.
The political declaration – outlining how trade, security and other issues will work – has been “agreed in principle”, the European Council says.
London and Brussels have already agreed the draft terms of the UK’s exit from the EU on 29 March.
Theresa May will make a statement to MP’s later today,

Public Phones
The Spanish government is set to give the go ahead to remove the country’s public payphones from universal service obligations starting on 01 January.… Read all the news

Gang Killing
THE latest victim of gangland warfare who was shot and killed outside his home on Tuesday night was French and middle aged.
The man was shot several times as he entered the garage of his home near Malaga.
The killer, believed to be hired by a criminal gang, sped away on a motorbike.
No further details were available as an investigation is on going.

Parliament Trouble
A pro-Catalan independence MP was ejected from the Spanish parliament Yesterday for causing a scene and breaching parliamentary norms during a heated debate with the foreign minister who complained of having been spat at.… Read all the news

Budget
The Governments 2019 budget blueprint that has ben sent to Brussels has failed to convince the EU executive.
The plan runs the risk of missing EU budgetary targets and could force Madrid to make big adjustments in 2020 . .so the European Commission said in a draft document.
The EU executive is warning about the risk of a significant deviation from the medium-term objectives .. a set of rules to coordinate sound fiscal policies across member states. The document also expects Spain to fail to meet its public debt-reduction goals.… Read all the news

Brexit
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said Spain will reject the draft Brexit withdrawal deal without a clarification of the text on future talks on the status of Gibraltar.
He wants to ensure that future EU talks with the UK do not cover Gibraltar.
Throughout the Brexit negotiations, Spain – along with Ireland and Cyprus – has conducted separate talks with the UK about specific border issues.
On Monday Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said that the draft Brexit deal had failed to make clear that talks on Gibraltar were “separate negotiations” and not part of future talks between the UK and EU.… Read all the news