Receive our weekly Newsletterand set tailored daily news alerts Clothing/​Footwear, Sustainable CETIA is a new centre dedicated to textile recycling which has just been inaugurated in Hendaye in the south of France as a subsidiary of research organisations CETI and ESTIA its aim is to build efficient systems to make recycling operations competitive Its work will involve prototyping concepts with the aim of removing technological barriers and establishing their technical feasibility on an industrial scale developing pilot lines and launching pre-production runs It will further transfer core competence and skills for the implementation of solutions at customer sites The 1,200-square-metre CETIA site at Hendaye is equipped with a Valvan Fibersort machine for sorting waste textiles by both composition and colour into ten separate bins with a throughput of a garment each second Two Dell’Orco and Villani openers and a cleaning willow with a capacity of 600kg per hour are further in place for the separation of fibres and trims from waste garments A proprietary system for the separation and sorting of shoes is also being developed as part of the Re-Shoes project injected or vulcanised soles at a rate of 120 shoes per hour to date and has received €900,000 from eco-organisation Refashion to fund projects along with almost €1m million from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region www.cetia.tech ITMAconnect spotlight on nonwovens recycling Revibat’s patented process for glass wool waste By 2023-05-31T05:00:00+01:00 EUROPE: Plans for frequent local passenger services between San Sebastián in Spain and Bayonne in France are being developed by local authorities on each side of the border The 50 km long coastal strip has over 350 000 residents but only 1% of the 3·5 million annual journeys between San Sebastián Euskotren provides frequent metre gauge services to Hendaye while RENFE’s broad gauge line carries a Cercanías local service a far east as Irún The RENFE line is currently being dual-gauged with work to provide a 1 435 mm gauge route through to San Sebastián currently expected to be completed in 2024 On French side of the border SNCF offers a mix of local and long-distance services with just 11 departures from Hendaye on a typical weekday and gaps of up to 2 h between trains A study commissioned by the local authorities estimates that the provision of a frequent and integrated 1 435 mm through gauge service between San Sebastián and Bayonne could generate up to 3·5 million new passengers per year Journey times would be reduced to 54 min from the current best time of 79 min using Euskotren and SNCF services The cost of a fleet of EMUs equipped for 1·5 kV and 3 kV DC operation is put at €83m The annual operating costs of a half-hourly service between 06.00 and midnight is put at €9·4m more than the current services SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has enlarged the 558 m Gaintxurizketa tunnel between Errenteria and Irun as part of a project to provide a dual gauge link between the French border and the start of the future ‘Basque Y’ 1 435 mm gauge high speed .. SPAIN: On March 11 the Spanish government announced that management of all suburban services in the Basque region would be transferred from national operator RENFE to the Euzkadi autonomous community The national government will set up a €400m fund to launch the project SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF has awarded OHLA and Construcciones Adolfo Sobrino a €55m contract to build a replacement station building at Irún on the French border This will support an expected increase in traffic when the station ceases to be a break-of-gauge with 1 435 mm .. Site powered by Webvision Cloud but you can get there by two short train rides of roughly 30 minutes each the bus is the cheapest and fastest mode of travel between the two The two cities are separated by roughly 30 miles (about 48 kilometers) across the French–Spanish border Is "NORTH" The Best Surf Photography Book Ever Made? From Tubes To Turns, Jai Glindeman's Surfing is a Treat to Behold Gerry Lopez Goes Deep With Justin Jay On The Plug Podcast NewsAll NewsEventsBig Wave NewsWorld Surf LeagueEnvironmentalIndustryWave PoolsPosts List ‘He Was Such a Legend’: A Decade After His Death, Shawn “Barney” Barron’s Spirit Shines in Colorful Air Show Hawaiian Big Wave Icon Clyde Aikau Passes Away at 75 pioneer with POV camera angles in the heavy and passionate free-surfer – Hugues Oyarzabal – has passed away According to a report from the New York Times Oyarzabal’s parents confirmed the death was a suicide They added: “His physical and psychological suffering took its toll to rediscover the peace and serenity he has been unable to find over the last few years.” the French Surfing Association posted this remembrance: We’re unable to load this content right now View directly on Instagram “Our great friend Hugues Oyarzabal has left us “We have learned with sadness of the death of one of the most talented French surfers A pioneer of slabs reputed to be unsurfable and on-board camera videos the surfer from Hendaye was as comfortable in a huge Parlementia as on the first beach break that came along; As technical in the air as in the tubes he the goofy inevitably in love with the left “Honored many times, including by Kelly Slater himself his greatest achievement was passing on his love of the ocean to his daughter Kailani It is to her and her family that we send our most sincere condolences How fondly we think of our friends at the Hendaye Bidassoa Surf Club “Today there is a new light in the sky and probably shines even brighter than the others.” check out this clip of him doing what he did best: please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society Europe's water is under increasing pressure floods are taking their toll on our drinking water Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters and to discover some of the best water solutions an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt Thousands of anti-globalization and environmental activists joined Gilet Jaunes and Basque separatists on Saturday on a march near Biarritz to demand action from G7 leaders from the French border town of Hendaye to Irun in Spain was the climax of an ‘Alternative G7’ summit promoting anti-capitalist values The ‘Alternative G7’ and G7-Ez — ‘No to G7’ in Basque — brought together more than a hundred civil society groups feminist groups and groups supporting refugees and began on Wednesday at the Ficoba trade fair in Irun spokesman for Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak (Welcome Refugees in Basque) said: “This counter-summit has been organised because we have no other choice They are going to address the neoliberal policies we already know “We are going to try to create alternatives to those policies that cut off continents like Africa or Latin America More than 40 lectures and 50 workshops were held on topics including migration we are not going to achieve an egalitarian society,” a spokesman for the organisers said said: "These talks are useful for empowerment They serve to create networks between people all over the world Also participating was a group that fights evictions in Spain activist and spokeswoman for the group in the Basque Country said she expected nothing from the G7 summit more destruction of the planet and more evictions,” she said those who have allowed the financial swindle of mortgage loans.” likened the vast logistical and security operation tied to the G7 in Biarritz to “a military occupation.” She said: "The G7 represents the exploitation of resources without taking into account humanitarian crises They only dedicate themselves to making the rich richer,” said the Alternative G-7 was attended by a diverse group of campaigners from all ages and backgrounds "It is emotional to see so many young people mixed with older people sharing lives and sharing experiences in order to make a structural change in our society,” he said He said Saturday’s protest march aimed to be “a joyful colorful demonstration in which people participate in a calm way.” Organisers estimated that 15,000 people took part in the march and it passed off peacefully and with a festive atmosphere Counter-G7 summit: Meet some of the people leading the way for an 'alternative system' What is the G7? A look at the economic summit coming to France this month 'Our house is burning': Macron urges G7 leaders to discuss Amazon fire From the sublime viewpoints above San Sebastián in the Basque Country, a hiker can see one of the world's oldest, most romantic, most biblical of paths. The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage passes this way and the Homerian traverse to Saint James' tomb in the far western corner of northern Spain is well-trodden proselytising many and capturing minds for centuries long-distance hikers and pilgrims come here in their hundreds of thousands Instead of the cracked valleys winding towards churches my destination was somewhere else entirely on the Bidasoa river flowing to the Bay of Biscay the perplexing island is presided over by each nation for six months in turn and is a historical record of the rivalry between the countries Border irregularities are found throughout Europe – and the world – but a 200m-long island that swaps countries biannually is unfathomably odd I learnt this much before I arrived to see the mysterious island for myself this spring. I was in the company of Pía Alkain Sorondo, an archaeologist who now leads walking tours of the region she feels a duty to keep the histories of the Basque Country alive "I love telling the story of our heritage," Sorondo told me as we strolled along the French-Spanish border east of San Sebastián Behind us was a collection of industrial lots but in front of us were archaeological Roman remains of an ancient bridge and the bygone island itself "There is medieval history hidden all along this riverbank but most people walk by here without knowing any of it That's what I'm trying to change." "To learn the backstory here is like a discovery," Sorondo told me there has been a succession of different monikers for Pheasant Island today's name – Isla de los Faisanes in Spanish "There are no pheasants on Pheasant Island," complained French novelist Victor Hugo when he visited in 1843 there are only green crested mallards and migratory birds the island was known as "Pausoa" Then the French translated this as "Paysans" before transposing it as "Faisans" The humble island finally came into prominence in 1648, following a ceasefire at the end of the Thirty Years' War between France and Spain when it was chosen as a neutral space to demarcate the new borderlands with military escorts on standby should talks breakdown the Treaty of the Pyrenees peace accord was struck So symbolic was Pheasant Island as a metaphor of peace that it was decided both countries would have joint custody of the territory Spain would hold stewardship from 1 February to 31 July each year while Pheasant Island would become an official part of France for the other six months the world's smallest condominium was born condominiums are places determined by the presence of at least more than one sovereign state with "com" implying "together" and "dominium" meaning "right of ownership" numerous countries have become embroiled in geographic tug o' wars over condominiums with governments spending decades happily arguing the finer points of who owns what and why At least for now, there are eight in the world, including Lake Constance, the tridominium between Austria, Germany and Switzerland; the Brčko District shared by Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the disputed territory of the Republika Srpska a shared maritime zone between Colombia and Jamaica; and the Abyei Area contested by South Sudan and Sudan Another is the Moselle river and its tributaries the Sauer and the Our – a riverine condominium shared between Germany and Luxembourg; while the Gulf of Fonseca is a tripartite condominium portioned up by Honduras Antarctica is the last but also the largest and most momentous governed by the 29 signatories of the Antarctic Treaty that have consulting status the territory was in the hands of the Spanish A group of kayakers was exploring its nooks from the water only one passer-by stopped to take photographs discussing fishing rights and monitoring the water quality there isn't much for the Spanish to do on a month-to-month basis Visitors  are only allowed onto the island on rare occasions: either on one of the bi-annual handover days when the island is abuzz with activity during the official ceremony diplomats and plenty of formal pomp; or as part of ad-hoc One alarming development reverberating around the border communities is the number of immigrants trying to illegally cross the river from Spain into France a foreign national had drowned while attempting to swim across and as Sorondo and I talked history and Basque politics a police boat sifted through the waters looking for the body Current figures from Irungo Harrera Sarea estimates that up to 30 migrants arrive every day seeking safe passage north into France the Bidasoa has an abrupt 3-4m height differential with the river flowing up and downstream from the official border on the National Road bridge like a full-frontal attack "This is still a place of new hope for so many," Sorondo said With such sorrowful words lingering in the air just one clinching thought played around in my head before I left unpredictable world of border disagreements and land grabs it is a symbol of peace and one that we should never forget Places That Don’t Belong is a BBC Travel series that delves into the playful side of geography taking you through the history and identity of geo-political anomalies and places along the way Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "The Essential List". 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Why you might be younger than you think you areThere is a difference between our chronological and biological age, which we have the power to control. additional trains and the improvement of its offer To conquer 30% of SNCF Voyageurs' high-speed market by 2030 our low-cost offer is continuing to expand in France and Europe with the aim of doubling the number of passengers carried by 2030 and representing 30% of the high-speed market within SNCF Voyageurs trains through renovation operations or the deployment of new trains Thanks to a programme to renovate old INOUI TGV trains with a different design and level of comfort from the current Ouigo trains The arrival of these trains will enable us to reach 33 million customers a year by 2027 renovated train meets the needs of a much broader customer base thanks to: Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz will provide a daily round trip all year round thereby offering an additional round trip to Bordeaux the Paris-Rennes line will be enhanced by a 3rd Ouigo high-speed round trip supplementing the two existing high-speed round trips and the classic Ouigo Train round trip for example to and from the Languedoc region between Paris and Lille and between Paris and Strasbourg Connections between major regional cities without passing through Paris are also being considered Ouigo will thus increase the number of stations served from around sixty today to almost 75 in 2027 the Ouigoland price map enables customers to consult a map of destinations filtered by price The destinations displayed are tailored to passengers' choices Discover our offer This site is in partial compliance 98,53% (with RGAA 4.1 standards) By A.O. ScottApril 11 Having a Coke With Youby Frank O’Harais even more fun than going to San Sebastian Bayonneor being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelonapartly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St Sebastianpartly because of my love for you Song of Myselfby Walt Whitman1I celebrate myself and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.I loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.My tongue this air,Born here of parents born here from parents the same now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,Hoping to cease not till death.Creeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are but never forgotten,I harbor for good or bad I permit to speak at every hazard,Nature without check with original energy Song of Myselfby Walt Whitman2Houses and rooms are full of perfumes the shelves are crowded with perfumes,I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,The distillation would intoxicate me also but I shall not let it.The atmosphere is not a perfume I am in love with it,I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,I am mad for it to be in contact with me.The smoke of my own breath,Echoes crotch and vine,My respiration and inspiration the passing of blood and air through my lungs,The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves and of the shore and dark-color’d sea-rocks and of hay in the barn,The sound of the belch’d words of my voice loos’d to the eddies of the wind,A few light kisses a reaching around of arms,The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,The delight alone or in the rush of the streets or along the fields and hill-sides,The feeling of health the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun.Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much have you reckon’d the earth much?Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,You shall possess the good of the earth and sun (there are millions of suns left,)You shall no longer take things at second or third hand nor feed on the spectres in books,You shall not look through my eyes either nor take things from me,You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.… A Poem (and a Painting) About the Suffering That Hides in Plain Sight Auden stood in a museum and was inspired to write “Musée des Beaux Arts,” is one of the most famous ever written about art Elizabeth Bishop was a master at containing and concealing emotion but her extraordinary poem “One Art” is a moving testament to loss The Impressionist Art of Seeing and Being Seen It looks like a gentle scene of a seaside vacation is a layered vision of a dawning modern age The greatest breakthrough of 20th-century art was something you probably did in elementary school A Picture of Change for a World in Constant Motion What a masterpiece of Japanese printmaking teaches us about the way images circulate A Madonna Who Shows the Beauty in Going Overboard This austere work by Jasper Johns doesn’t seem to invite much of a close read But its cool surface belies a depth of feeling which shows us all the power of artistic restraint Searching for Lost Time in the World’s Most Beautiful Calendar religion and art coalesce in an invaluable 15th-century book of hours Close Read is a series produced by Alicia DeSantis Tala Safie and Josephine Sedgwick.Images: Frank O’Hara exiting MoMA: Fred W McDarrah/MUUS Collection via Getty Images; O’Hara in a crowd: Fred W McDarrah/MUUS Collection via Getty Images; O’Hara seated: Fred W McDarrah/MUUS Collection via Getty Images; Vincent Warren dancing: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images; Warren and O’Hara: George Montgomery via Bibliothèque de la danse Vincent-Warren; “The Polish Rider” at a distance: Michael Bodycomb via The Frick Collection; “Double Portrait of Frank O’Hara”: Estate of Larry Rivers/VAGA Museum of Modern Art; “Nude Descending a Staircase (No The Philadelphia Museum of Art; “The Parc Monceau”: Claude Monet/The Metropolitan Museum of Art NY; O’Hara on the telephone: Mario Schifan/2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS) Rome; “The Polish Rider” up close: The Frick Collection Poems: “Having a Coke With You,” from “The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara,” by Frank O’Hara copyright © 1971 by Maureen Granville-Smith Administratrix of the Estate of Frank O’Hara copyright renewed 1999 by Maureen O’Hara Granville-Smith and Donald Allen an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Typescript via Bibliothèque de la danse Vincent-Warren.Special thanks to Josh Schneiderman By 2016-04-06T05:00:00 SPAIN: Infrastructure Manager ADIF has awarded a €20·4m contract to install mixed-gauge track between Astigarraga and Irún the Ministry of Development announced on April 1 Together with earlier contracts for upgrading the signalling and overhead line this will complete a 1 435 mm gauge corridor between the French border and .. 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LOG IN You’ve reached your limit of content for the month Register for free now Special service for the TOP 14 rugby semi-finals a publicly-owned company under the Basque Government's Ministry of Territorial Planning will put on extra trains on 9 and 10 June during the TOP 14 rugby semi-finals in Donostia-San Sebastián The extra trains will run on the E1 Zumaia / Amara (San Sebastián) / Zumaia & E2 Hendaye / Amara (San Sebastián) / Hendaye lines to make travel easier to and from the matches - to be held in the Real Arena - and to get to the different activities organised in the city PLEASE NOTE: The planning of this special service - which will run every 10 minutes along the Topo Line during the afternoon/evening on Friday the 9th and during most of Saturday  the 10th -  has meant changes to the standard timetable users should take into account that the trains will not be running at the usual times The exact timetables are available using the timetable search engine on this website or on the Euskotren APP There are three SPECIAL TRAVEL CARDS for the event and which can be purchased  at all the stations between Hendaye and Zumaia They can be purchased beforehand at the ticket office at Hendaye Station and at the Garbera shopping centre Passengers needing further information should call Euskotren on 944 333 333 Information is also available from Euskotren staff and on Twitter: @euskotren friendly surf and a walk in Napoleon’s footsteps are among our readers’ favourite French connections Surf and the Paris sleeper, Bay of BiscaySun, sea, surf, sand and a sleeper train to Paris: Hendaye has it all. Nestled in this less-discovered corner of the Bay of Biscay, bordering Spain, Hendaye has a quaint old centre with cobbles and cute little cafes. Head to Le Palmier for great pizza Over the road a lovely little artisan market sells local crafts and tasty treats Hendaye’s sheltered bay offers the perfect playground for beginner surfers Sleeper trains between Paris and Hendaye mean sustainable travel is possible watch the world pass by and wake up in Paris for breakfast.Hannah Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their travels. A selection of tips will be featured online and may appear in print. To enter the latest competition visit the readers' tips homepage This understated village has more than enough a sheltered harbour beach and a wider peninsula ringed by a wonderful 25-mile coastal cycle route a vegetarian restaurant tucked away near the cathedral where you can eat under a canopy of vines.Lynne Robertson if you wish to tour the inhabited part of the abbey you will need to do the tour in French (although English handouts are provided) The ticket price of €15.90 includes the hour-long tour and a day’s access to the gardens featured trips and local tips for your next break as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays but such a great setting and just beautiful food Though investigators could take a while to establish that figure the initial reports don’t look good for one of the bedrock principles of the European Union But depending on his route to Paris from Greece the gunman would have needed to cross at least a few borders inside the E.U So would the weapons they reportedly planned to use in their killing spree. According to German police explosives and hand grenades was intercepted on its way to Paris on Nov leaving the German authorities with “reasonable grounds to assume” that the arsenal was meant for the Paris attackers The arrest of the man smuggling these weapons—a 51-year-old from Montenegro—came down to a lucky spot check on the border between Germany and Austria that frontier would be wide open under the E.U.’s travel regulations much like all the borders between the 26 European countries that make up the so-called Schengen zone Within this area of more than four million square kilometers travelers are usually allowed to pass without so much as slowing down at national borders not adapted so well to the insidious security threats that characterize the age of terrorism the first reaction of the French government to the unfolding carnage was to seal off the country Open borders might have helped the terrorists and their accomplices escape just as it seems to have helped them bring weapons and explosives into France But the decision to close the borders—which was not done in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January—still felt like another blow to architecture of the Schengen zone which was already starting to crack well before the latest attacks in Paris Following that incident, which saw a well-armed gunman cross two Schengen borders by train before his attempted attack, the top police official in France, Bernard Cazeneuve, “invited” the European Union to tighten its internal borders—or as he put it “to examine a targeted amendment to the Schengen frontier code allowing controls where necessary and when necessary.” said that the Schengen principle of open borders was “non-negotiable.” Any participating country that feels the need for increased security measures could impose them “if they do not have an effect equivalent to border checks.” That means spot checks in or around the border but no permanent border posts or checkpoints where travelers or cars pass control and are searched at random The E.U.’s insistence on freedom of movement isn’t hard to understand. At a time when Eurosceptic parties are increasingly challenging the wisdom of the grand European project, free travel remains one of the main arguments for political integration. In an E.U.-wide survey conducted this spring more than half of respondents (57%) said the free movement of people and goods across borders is the most positive outcome of the E.U.’s creation; even the benefits of peace among member states received less praise (55%) from Europeans which was conducted before the summer’s tide of refugees also found a spike in public fears over security the greatest number of respondents (38%) cited immigration while the threat of terrorism troubled 17% of Europeans a jump of six percentage points in the course of a year In the wake of the worst attack France has faced in decades and French politicians have already begun using the tragedy to call for tighter border restrictions “the country has to take appropriate decisions.” One of these decisions was France’s indefinite suspension of the Schengen rules on open borders would have to come at the cost of openness Contact us at letters@time.com You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Operator SNCF apologises after five-hour trip takes nearly an entire day Hundreds of travellers spent the night stranded and hungry on a French TGV train after an electrical failure saw it reach its destination almost a day late The train left Hendaye on the Spanish border bound for Paris, carrying nearly 1,000 passengers despite a spike of Covid-19 infections in France, and had been due to arrive on Sunday afternoon after a five-hour journey. But it halted in the south-west Landes region due to a succession of electrical problems on the line, national operator SNCF said. Read morePassengers were then transferred to another train to take them on towards Bordeaux just before dawn The exhausted passengers eventually pulled into Paris at around midday on Monday An AFP correspondent on the train said the on-board cafe announced to passengers on Sunday evening that it had run out of food and they should not come looking Train managers also issued a call for any medics on board after at least one passenger fainted Food was provided only just before the train change in the early morning although bottles of water were offered Additional face masks – which are obligatory on trains in France during the pandemic – were handed out later in the morning “It’s like we’re in a comedy sketch,” said one father trying to occupy his young son Passengers on two other trains heading out of Hendaye on Sunday bound for Paris were also affected Those services returned to Hendaye where the passengers spent the night and were eventually driven by bus to Bordeaux to connect to Paris Normal operations were expected to resume on Tuesday SNCF promised to refund triple the cost of the original ticket and pledged a full investigation into the cause of the problem “This is an exceptional event which created a chain of incidents which resulted .. SNCF network director in south-west France “Events repeated themselves and are undoubtedly linked to the same cause What we do not know at this time is what caused what.” you can get from Paris to Lisbon in about two hours and 35 minutes You can pay as little as $60 for train tickets Tickets for the first leg of the journey (Lisbon to Hendaye) start at $32 through Renfe while SNCF offers tickets starting at $28 for the second leg (Hendaye to Paris) talks with Spain's Generalissimo Francisco Franco Franco moved Spain's clocks ahead an hour to be aligned with Nazi Germany Fascist Italy had already joined with Adolf Hitler Hitler took a train to the Spanish border to woo Spain's Fascist dictator But Spain was in ruins from its own Civil War in the late 1930s but switched Spain's clocks ahead one hour even though Spain is geographically in line with Britain Portugal and Morocco — its clocks are on the same time zone as countries as far east as Poland and Hungary the Spanish government is weighing whether to change them back Spain's clocks have been set to Central European time since World War II which means the sun rises and sets later compared to countries in its region Spaniards are notoriously late-night creatures the sun rises and sets much later than in the rest of the time zone it's in Spaniards sleep 53 minutes less They also work longer hours — but at lower productivity In an office park on the outskirts of Madrid mills around waiting for his bosses to finish their afternoon siesta but you need to stop at midday for two or three hours Sainz is a freelance camera technician who just moved back to his native Spain from Britain but if you have time you can do it," Sainz says it's sometimes more useful to keep English time you can't get a cup of coffee before 9 a.m you'll have to wait even later than that for restaurants to start serving dinner Economists say Spain's time zone feeds that schedule — and costs the country dearly "We have no time for personal life or family life," says economist Nuria Chinchilla who studies work and family life at Spain's IESE Business School "Therefore we are committing suicide here in Spain Chinchilla is lobbying for Spain to go back to Greenwich Mean Time or GMT — the time zone it was on before Franco changed it in the early 1940s we are not sustainable!" Chinchilla exclaims we have seen that the companies that are flexible then they are more productive too — and they are able to be more flexible in the way they are going out of the crisis." Spain has already shortened its long holiday weekends to try to align work schedules with the rest of Europe. And this fall, a parliamentary committee approved a proposal by the Association for the Rationalization of Spanish Schedules to change back to GMT The full legislature is expected to vote soon But some doubt that Spanish culture — with its late-to-rise late-to-bed habits — could be transformed by a simple change of the clocks it's difficult to think that it'll be different — really different — from now," says Angels Valls a human resources expert at Spain's ESADE Business School there are cultural roots that explain why we have this long day The siesta was a fixture in Spanish life for centuries and Spaniards had to work two jobs — hence the long hours "So you used to work in the morning at one job And then there was another job in the late afternoon and evening — in order to earn enough money to survive," she says "It's said to be the origin of our way of life now." It's a way of life that could prove stubborn to change — especially in this economy The 26 percent jobless rate has working Spaniards working more the Spanish cameraman who's just moved home from Britain Spain's time zone is the late dictator's final insult He made a lot of mistakes," Sainz says with a shrug carrying on with a lot of these outdated things." Become an NPR sponsor the SNCF boss is counting on his proximity to the base to prepare the railway group for competition But the strike and the health crisis made him more of a firefighter than a strategist This is the tile feared by any boss of the SNCF: on Sunday August 30 a power failure between Hendaye and Bordeaux paralyzes the TGV to Paris forcing a thousand of travelers spending the night in crowded oars nothing to eat or drink: criticism is raining on social networks and the incident is looping in the media At the company’s headquarters in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) everyone is agitated to organize the evacuation of stranded customers and restore traffic as quickly as possible general manager of the new SNCF Voyageurs subsidiary (overseeing TGV jumps on a train for Bordeaux while the civil security and the Red Cross offer breakfasts in the morning at the train station Faithful to his will to “Not to get involved in everything” and leave “Senior executives facing their responsibilities” A change of style that still surprises: “It is certain that a Guillaume Pepy would have gone there and disembarked the next day at Bourdin’s CƠ QUAN CỦA ĐẢNG BỘ ĐẢNG CỘNG SẢN VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ ĐÀ NẴNG Giấy phép Báo Điện tử số: 47/GP-BTTTT do Bộ Thông tin và Truyền thông cấp ngày 30-01-2019 Tổng Biên tập: NGUYỄN ĐỨC NAM - Tòa soạn: 33 Lê Lợi Chỉ được phát hành lại thông tin từ website này khi có sự đồng ý bằng văn bản của Báo Đà Nẵng Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. 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