Headlines - More than Meets the Eye

The Spanishe are seling their countryside villages to foreigners for  even under 100 000 euros.People who buy these villages are mostly British, French and Belgian but the number of Spanish buyers has gone up lately.   The villages are sold because people are moving to big cities, which erodes the services in the countrysides even further. The low birth rate makes things  even worse , the Spanish fertility rate in 2017 was 1.7, the second lowest in Europe. https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000006053763.html  

   The former  Spanish dictator Francisco’s l remains will be moved away from  their current grave in June the Spanish government has announced.  Franco’s remains will be reburied with a simple ceremony near Madrid . There won’t be a big audience or any media present. : Francisco Franco lived in 1892-1975. He was a Spanish general who was Commander-in-Chief of nationalist armies. His current grave is a grandiose memorial Franco’s family  are strongly against  the move and will take legal action to prevent it. The general opinion in Spain is divided on the matter. The decision about whether to go ahead with the reburial will be taken by the new Spanish government. https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000006036908.html

Zinedine Zidane will come back to coach the football team Real Madrid. The contract is made for three years. Real Madrid's season has been weak. Zidane  trained the team between  2016-2018 and lead them to a Spain championship  and three Champions league first places. The former head coach Santiago Solar has been offered a chance to continue with  other assignments in the team. https://www.hs.fi/urheilu/art-2000006031584.html

Las Fallas is one of the biggest festivals in Spain, it takes place in mid-March in Valencia.  At this festival there are different rituals. The most important part are the Fallas which are huge, colorful and peculiar statues all around the city. With these statues people want to make fun of the rulers and authorities. At the end of the festival all the statues are  burned and the whole city is full of fire and ash. Another ritual is a pyroshow (mascleta). It happens every day at the same time in the same place. It takes about 10 minutes and during it people shoot loud fireworks and bangers into the air. The noise is ear-splitting. https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000006028247.html