Bitterly cold weather across the UK is causing travel disruption, as some of the biggest
airports are forced to close their runways.
Public transport is being affected, and many roads are impassable.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for the UK for snow and ice with freezing-cold
weather.
The severe weather warnings are due to continue throughout the week.
Many airlines that have flights between the UK and Spain have warned that some of their
routes may be affected due to the extreme weather conditions.
UK airports recommend passengers check the status of their flights with their airlines and
allow plenty of time for journeys to the airport.
Manchester Airport was closed this morning as workers tried to clear the runway of snow,
with passengers complaining of ‘mayhem’ as people were stuck on planes and flights
redirected to other airports.
Liverpool Airport also temporarily halted flights.
King Felipe VI earlier visited special forces helping Iraq fight jihadists, during the first trip
by a Spanish monarch to the war-ravaged country in four decades.
The king also met President Barham Saleh.
Spain, which took part in the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq that overthrew dictator Saddam
Hussein, went on to support Iraqi troops as they battled to roll back IS, which seized a third
of the country including second city Mosul in 2014.
Hundreds of Spanish military instructors remain in the country.
King Felipe is one of a series of leaders to visit Baghdad since the start of the year,
including US President Donald Trump, who drew criticism for failing to meet a single Iraqi
official.
A planned digital tax may not raise as much as Spain estimates so the European
Commission warned yesterday fueling doubts over Madrid’s ability to meet its deficit targets
this year.
Spain’s own fiscal watchdog has already raised concerns about the tax, one of the measures
Madrid wants to deploy to raise revenues and bring its deficit down to 1.3 percent of gross
domestic product from 2.7 percent last year.
The government approved a draft law that would tax large firms 3 percent of their digital
turnover, adding an estimated 1.2 billion euros to state coffers each year.
Spain brought in the tax this month after the failure of talks on an EU-wide levy on firms
like Google and Facebook which are accused of paying too little by routing their profits to
low-tax states in the bloc.
But the European Commission, which is responsible for keeping the budgets of EU countries
in check, said the Spanish tax may not be as lucrative as predicted.
And Washington yesterday hit back at an EU challenge to tariffs on Spanish olives, saying
the economic bloc was trying protect unfair trade.
The European Union on Monday announced it would file a complaint in the World Trade
Organization against the steep US import duties, saying American officials refused to
reconsider their decision.
Two California olive producers in 2017 complained to the US Commerce Department that
Spain was unfairly subsidizing olive production and dumping the product on the US market
at below fair market value.
The department slapped tariffs on the olive imports as a result, after finding that US
producers were injured as a result of unfair trade.