Live News From Spain As It Happens

I suspect that most people are now familiar with the village of Juzcar in Spain which was painted in blue as part of the promotion of the new Smurfs film.

This video by the BBC takes a look at it and also the fact that perhaps some residents prefer the village to return to its original colour.

Watch the BBC video

And you can also see some great images of the village here.

Very interesting article today from The Independent on the frightening financial state of the town halls in Spain.

One was so desperate that they even bet the town hall's finances on the lottery...and they lost!

It's worth a read

Spain's town hall meltdown

Spain's jobless rate soared to a 15-year high of 21.52 percent in the third quarter of 2011, data showed on Friday, a stinging blow for the government just three weeks ahead of elections.

The towering unemployment rate, up from 20.89 percent in the previous quarter, is the highest since the end of 1996 and the highest among major industrialised nations.

Among 16-24 year olds, the rate was a staggering 45.8 percent, barely down from 46.1 percent three months earlier.

The overall unemployment queue grew to 4.978 million people at the end of September from 4.834 million at the end of June, National Statistics Institute figures showed.

Read more at Google.com

Jon Henley is travelling through Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece to hear the human stories behind the European debt crisis. On the sunny Iberian peninsula there is a feeling that as bad as things are, they're not yet as awful as they will become...

The the story at Guardian.co.uk

Another good article from the BBC with a video covering the Spanish government's continued roadshow trying to lure buyers back to Spain:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15293808

Oh dear, as if Spain wasn't in enough trouble already, this surely is not going to help the situation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15301826