Spain

MADRID, July 3 (Xinhua) -- On July 4, Spain will reopen its borders to visitors from 12 non-EU countries, according to the country's Official State Bulletin on Friday.

The 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, South Korea, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, New Zealand, Rwanda, Thailand, Tunisia, Serbia and Uruguay, have been selected from an initial list of 15 agreed by the European Union (EU).

BARCELONA, Spain, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at the University of Barcelona, one of Spain's most prestigious universities, had detected the presence of the novel coronavirus in waste water samples collected here on March 12, 2019, the university said in a statement on Friday.

"These results, sent to a high impact journal and published in the archive medRxiv, suggest the infection was present before knowing about any case of COVID-19 in any part of the world," the statement said.

MADRID, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the country in a televised speech on Saturday on the eve of lifting its State of Alarm that "Now it's time for recovery."

Spain will enter on Sunday what Sanchez calls the "new normality", with visitor arrivals from the European Union countries and Schengen regions no longer required to undergo two-week quarantine, while travel between Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities is resumed.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will open its borders to countries in the European Union’s Schengen area on June 21, except for Portugal where the border will open on July 1 as previously announced, Spanish media including El Pais newspaper and Ser radio station reported.

The Spanish government had previously said it would allow foreign tourists to enter Spain on July 1 without self-quarantining, apart from the Balearic Islands which could start receiving tourists on Monday as part of a test program.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s supreme court prosecutor has opened an investigation into former King Juan Carlos in connection with a high-speed train contract in Saudi Arabia, piling pressure on a once-popular monarch who abdicated six years ago.

The supreme court prosecutor will investigate whether the former king can be included in the case in respect of any action that took place after he lost his immunity when he abdicated in June 2014 in favour of his son Felipe, the general prosecutor said on Monday.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s government has requested an investigation into several airlines for allegedly breaching European Union regulations on compensation for cancelled flights, Consumer Protection Minister Alberto Garzon said on Thursday.

As the coronavirus pandemic grounded planes around the world, airlines routinely offered vouchers for cancelled flights without informing customers of their right to a full cash refund, in contravention of EU rules, Garzon said on state broadcaster TVE.

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s government says that Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co. has decided to close its manufacturing plants in the northeastern Catalonia region, resulting in the loss of some 3,000 direct jobs.

Spain’s Industry Ministry says in a statement on Thursday that it regrets the company’s decision despite proposals to keep the plant running, and urges the car manufacturer’s executives to consider alternatives.

MADRID, May 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Foreign visitors to Spain will no longer have to undergo a two-week quarantine from July 1, the government has announced.

It said the measure had been finalised in a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya had previously said the requirement would be lifted in July, without giving a date.

The news comes as the UK government prepares to bring in its own 14-day quarantine policy from June 8.

(AP) --- Several thousand followers of Spain’s far-right Vox party gathered Saturday in their cars and on motorbikes in the center of Madrid and other Spanish cities to protest the Spanish government’s handling of the nation’s coronavirus crisis.

The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of lying about the impact of the health crisis and of violating Spaniards’ rights by confining people to their homes and closing businesses during the lockdown.

MADRID, May 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain’s coast guard rescued 49 African migrants from a dinghy drifting a few miles off the coast of Gran Canaria on Sunday, a spokesman for the organisation said, the latest arrivals in a months-long surge of migration to the Canary Islands.

A fisherman spotted the dinghy and alerted the coast guard, which brought it and its occupants to the port of Arguineguin, he added.