Businessman Tomas Delgado knocked 17-year-old Enaitz Iriondo off his bike and killed him in 2004. He is now suing the dead teenager's family for €20,000 for damage suffered by his Audi A8 and the inconvenience of having to rent a car, El País reports. Delgado was speeding and almost certainly over the alcohol limit at the time of the accident, which occurred outside a campsite in La Rioja. More of this story.

Posted by : John Ross on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 11:01 AM 692 reads

The family of missing 4-year-old English girl Madeleine McCann is circulating by e-mail a photo of her right eye (that's the one on your left as you look at her, more people get that confused than you might expect, including my wife). They believe that the distinctive mark below her pupil could help people recognise her, even if her hair has been cut or dyed. Most of you will know by now, but Madeleine disappeared in May from her room in an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while her parents were dining out nearby. She is believed to have been kidnapped. Read more and see the photo in higher resolution.

Posted by : John Ross on Thursday, July 26, 2007 - 11:06 AM 890 reads

I wasn't able to attend to Spain and Portugal for Visitors over Christmas, and it has been undeniably sloppy as a result (it was even offline for a couple of days), so I beg your forgiveness. The only really big relevant story I missed, though, was ETA's bombing of a car park at Madrid Barajas Airport on December 30th, 2006, and you will find more information about that on the next page. Related stories were Spanish premier Zapatero's announcement that the bombing marked the end of peace negotiations with the Basque terrorists, and the subsequent resurgence of ETA-fuelled street violence in the Basque Country. Other Spain-related news of note was the preview release of the report of the International Panel on Climate Change, which should really deter anyone daft enough to be still thinking about buying a property in, say, La Manga (sea levels are set to rise anything up to half a metre in the next century). And it was announced that Spanish house prices rose by less than 10% in 2006, probably indicating the end of the housing "boom."

Posted by : John Ross on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 12:34 PM 1226 reads

ETA has announced a "permanent ceasefire," beginning on March 24, 2006. In a video communiqué members of the Basque separatist organization said that the intention of the ceasefire was to encourage a "democratic process" in the Basque Country, by means of “dialogue, negotiation and agreement." The text of the communiqué and a second, longer message have been published by the Basque newspaper Gara. Read on or visit the Basque Country.

Posted by : John Ross on Thursday, March 23, 2006 - 01:32 PM 1415 reads