Migrant Rescue
The Spanish rescue boat Open Arms arrived this morning in a port near Algeciras. Aboard the vessel were 310 migrants who were rescued by the organization off the coast of Libya.
the Charity’s Founder Oscar Camps confirmed the vessel entered the Bay of Algeciras about 7am. It was “the only safe port available in the Mediterranean,” he wrote on Twitter. Italy and Malta had both refused to let the group dock in their ports.
Red Cross workers met the ship at Crinavis, to provide food, clothes and medical assistance, while police will seek to identify the migrants before transferring them to shelters.
Catalan Separatists
The Supreme Court confirmed yesterday its competence to judge the cases of Catalan leaders who were involved in their region’s failed bid to secede from the Spain but also instructed a high court in Catalonia to take the case against six separatists who were awaiting trial on lesser charges.
The ruling means that 12 secessionist leaders who are currently in pre-trial detention will face trial in Madrid’s supreme court on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds while the others will stand trial for lesser transgressions in Barcelona.
Brexit
THE Spanish government will publish a raft of no-deal Brexit plans amid growing uncertainty across the Continent that Theresa May will be unable to complete her European Union divorce deal.
prime minister Pedro Sanchez has taken personal control of contingency planning and will officially launch it in January after the vote by MPs on Mrs May’s withdrawal terms. Plans come after the European Commission warned remaining member states to ramp up their own personal protections for Britain crashing out of the bloc without a deal. Madrid’s contingency planning will mainly cover aviation, citizens’ rights, banking and the controversial issue of Gibraltar.
a Spanish government source said “In the worst of all cases, there would be internal measures to protect the interests of affected citizens,” .
Trade will also be covered as the UK represents Spain’s fourth largest export market.
Madrid is hoping to agree a reciprocal deal with Britain that will agree to maintain the current rights of both UK and Spanish citizens living in both countries.
Politics
center-right Ciudadanos closed a deal on Wednesday with the support of the conservative PP to take control of the speaker’s committee in the Andalusian parliament, paving the way for the regional PP leader, Juan Manuel Moreno, to stand as the candidate for premier of the region. The move would see the Socialist PSOE lose power in regional government for the first time in 36 years.
Lorries
Two people have been arrested in Orihuela for stealing lorries and then putting them up for sale on the Internet.
The National Police recovered the vehicles.
Two Spaniards aged 47 and 52 have been arrested and charged with aggravated robbery and falsifying documents .. they are now on bail and awaiting trial.
The vehicles were up for sale on various pages of the Internet, after identification elements had been altered.
officers also discovered various objects that came from a lorry that had been stolen in Cullera, near Valencia.
After the suspects were arrested, the lorry owners were contacted and assured that their vehicles would be returned to them as soon as the investigation was closed.