Saturday 3 October 2015

Doggie honours: Black Lab graduates from University of Cádiz

A blind student at the University of Cádiz used to take his guide dog, Idena, with him to lectures. Now they've both graduated.


As students were studying social work and were accustomed to seeing the dog in the halls while studying for their degree, so they decided to include him in the class graduation photos, right alongside his owner, Arturo Diaz Benitez.

In another photograph, included top, the black Labrador can be seen, sporting a mortarboard just like the other graduating students.

According to The Local, the idea went down well on Twitter, with one person commenting, "I bet this dog attended more lectures than most students!"

Another tweeted: "Magnificent. Ten out of ten for the University of Cádiz."



According to The Local this is not the first time a canine has appeared in a graduation photo in Spain. Apparently history graduates from the University of Santiago de Compostela, who studied there from 2007 to 2012, also posed alongside a dog friend in their graduation photograph.

Source: The Local

Wednesday 30 September 2015

3 Syrian refugees discovered in refrigerated truck in the Basque region

Three Syrian men were found locked in a refrigerated food truck Tuesday, near the Basque town of Hernani. They were suffering from hypothermia and a lack of oxygen. 

 


The discovery was made at a gas station near the town of Hernani, where a driver pulled up next to the truck and heard banging and shouting coming from the back of the vehicle.

Reportedly the truck had originated in Poland but its last stop was in Belgium, where the truck was reloading fruit produce, bound for MercaMadrid in Spain's capital city.

The three refugees are all in their thirties and believed by Basque police to be Syrian nationals. On taking them out of the truck, the men were immediately hospitalized with hypothermia, but are believed to be doing well and are recovering.

The Basque regional police force have opened an investigation in an effort to determine whether the driver was aware that the Syrian refugees were in the back of his truck, where the temperature was reportedly only around 10 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile Spain has agreed to take on 14,900 Syrian refugees under an EU agreement, where the migrants will be relocated from Greece, Hungary and Italy. The first refugees are due to arrive early in October this year.

This quota was originally rejected by the Spanish government, but after citizens lobbied in protest, it was agreed to take them on. According to The Local, despite the economic crisis in the country, over 100 local councils across Spain have now declared themselves "refugee friendly" with thousands of people signing up to welcome them into their homes.

Source:  The Local / Telecinco

Photo: Basque police car CC BY 2.5 Javierme