Costa Blanca/Murcia Olive Press - Issue 66 by Olive Press Newspaper Spain

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COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA

Vol. 3 Issue 66 www.theolivepress.es June 2nd - June 15th 2022

Sex crimes

The 32-year-old had in 2016 been convicted of sex crimes against children while running a summer camp in the UK when he used the name he was born with Ben David Lewis. In an investigation carried out by the Olive Press last year, it emerged that within days of being handed a suspended sentence and placed on the sex offenders list he changed his name by deed poll from Ben Lewis to Ben David, applied for a new passport and fled to Spain. With a new name and passport he was able to pass criminal record checks which he Estepona used alongOLIVE side docPRESS tored edSCHOOLS ucation diplomas PAEDO to gain emCA LL ployment, first at a well known English academy, followed by a teaching role at FLASHBACK: Our a bilingual exclusive concertado and finally at an expensive British syllabus private school in Madrid’s upmarket Arturo Soria, where he was arrested in June, 2020. Police were tipped off to the presence of a ‘dangerous sexual predator’ working in Madrid schools after an investigation by police in Australia into the online sexual exploitation of children identified that someone in Madrid was making and distributing images. The

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THE UK’s leading child tion group is calling for protectighten the recruitmentSpain to process of English teachers. The plea by The Safeguarding Alliance aims to protect country against a British the legal 25 EGAP RATS GNINIHS - ’RATS NILEHCIM TSRIF YM HTIW DEYOJREVO‘ egaugnal-hsilgnE ylno dna lanigiro ehT aículadnA ni repapswen evitagitsevni

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Vol. 15 Issue 365 www.theolivepress.es March 24th - April 6th 2021

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THE START: The first edition of the Olive Press in 2006

15 YEARS OF FUN

As the Olive Press reaches its 15th birthday, we recall a few of our favourite interviews and remember a couple of our top readers, such as ex-prime minister Rajoy (above) and prime joker Paul Gascoigne...

EXCLUSIVE: Private school warning after a convicted British paedophile moved to Spain, dodged criminal record checks and found work as an English teacher

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INTERNATIONAL schools around Spain have been put on high alert after a British man began teaching at one of Madrid’s most exclusive colleges months after being convicted in the UK. Questions have been raised after Ben Lewis, 31, was able to work at the school despite being on the UK’s sex offenders register. The Olive Press has discovered that Lewis, who is now awaiting trial for child sex offences at Centro Penitenciario Madrid V, managed to hoodwink TWO schools and a

NAMES: two different passports

Fiona Govan in Madrid

language academy after creating a new identity, using forged documents. Former colleagues of the sex offender revealed that he created a new name to dodge criminal record checks in order to run summer camps and teach private classes to young children. He had changed his name to Ben David after being convicted in June 2016 of taking and possessing indecent images of children in England. As well as being placed on the sex offender list and being handed a two-year suspended sentence, he was barred from leaving the country or working with children. Yet within weeks he had moved to Spain and found work in Zaragoza as a livein au pair to a family with three young children. The following year he relocated to Madrid and began teaching children at a well-known language academy after getting a criminal record check from Zaragoza police to show he had no convictions in Spain over the previous 12 months. Then in December

DANGER: Lewis got teaching post

2017 he accepted a job as an English teacher at a leading semi-private (concertado) secondary school that receives subsidies from the state. “He was going by the name Ben David by then and was offered the job after another teacher dropped out mid-term,” a former colleague Natasha Fitzsimons told the Olive Press. “I think they were desperate to fill the position so maybe they weren’t as thorough as they should have been.

Horrified

“We worked together at the school for 18 months, took on private classes together going to the homes of some of the children for extracurricular teaching and ran a summer camp at the school during 2018,” said the Irish colleague, who is filled with horror at the access he had to children. The Olive Press has discovered that the day after sentencing in the UK he changed his name by deed poll from Ben David Lewis to Ben David, in a process that takes just 15 minutes. He then applied for and received a British passport in his new name, while he also presented a doctored photocopy of his Israeli passport stamped and verified by a non-existent law firm that showed his name as Ben David Rose. The Olive Press has seen photocopies of these, plus a teaching degree and Qualified Teaching Status (QTS) certificates presented in the name of Ben David Rose as well as certificates in his original name. What is amazing is that by April 2019 he had applied for a teaching job at a leading private school in the upmarket Arturo Soria district that teaches the British curriculum to the children of Madrid’s elite. By now he also had a DBS certificate

...meanwhile, we spend time at the home of the world’s most famous plumber as he announces he’s becoming a Spanish citizen, after 15 years here and losing €15m to his ex-wives...

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On behalf of all at the British Embassy and Consulates, I want to wish huge congratulations at the to all Olive Press on your 15th anniversary. The English language press plays a vital role in keeping nationals in Spain informed. UK we very much appreciate And your help in getting key messages out to UK nationals here. After an incredibly difficult year for so many of us, including many businesses, it is great to see the Olive Press thriving. We look forward to seeing what the next 15 years bring. BRITISH CONSUL CHARMAINE ARBOUIN

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ROM its very first issue in 2006 the Olive Press has been paigning for its community. camWhether fighting for the environment or digging into crooks, we have taken some big scalps. Starting from Issue One (see top right) we highlighted the ridiculous plans to build 2000 houses, two golf courses and two hotels on UNESCO-protected A decade and a half of campaigning land near Ronda, as well the madness of building as exposed has a 350-room scored some big wins for monstrosity on a virgin the Olive Press beach in Almeria’s Cabo de Gata. Both schemes - Los Merinos, in Ron- maverick Jeremy Griffiths, and Nigel When it da, and the Algarrobico comes to corruption hotel, in Alme- Goldman, a degenerate gold-dealing ria - went into reverse after the first English newspaper we were legends Ferran dirt-bag, Adria to write made the UK AND Spanishour stories in a localwho had a restaurant column about the ERE scandal newspaper, which he used at the Junta and Gordon Ramsey. national newspapers and green to de Andalucia that cost an estimated And it was nice to chat groups includ- cover his tracks. ing Greenpeace and Ecologistas billion euros en Ac- We also tackled timeshare crook Toni also tackled to the taxpayers, while we to Ciudadanos leader cion joined our protests. town hall theft on a local Albert Rivera, as well Muldoon, who certainly deserves And then there were the scale as the only newspaper crooks, like mention for conning thousands of peo-a Animalon dozens of occasions. Crimestoppers’ Most cruelty has been a to be able to pose a Wanted Daniel ple and eventually went to prison Johnston, a bank robber, for bugbear and we have exposedcontinual couple of questions setting up so many to Sammon, a dangerous and Matthew Meanwhile,fake escort websites. evil abusers, as well as the scoundrels Michelle Obama on her our crime reporting who we single-handedly paedophile, missing teen Amy Fitzpatrick ‘blew on who allowed hunters to kill innocent visit to Marbella a few to a village near Sevilla tracked down the case’, open circus lions and tigers at years ago. and a car park to use the words of her grandin Fuengirola. tremadura (see below). a finca in Ex- Indeed, the mother, while our continuing positives investiga- On a more positive front, And fraudsters like David far outweigh the neg‘the dogman’ tion into missing Maddie McCann it Klein, pet transport has to interview everyone from was great atives and yielded exclusive after exclusive, with its ana’s ex-lover James HewettPrincess Di- prefer to bewe would frequent links to Spain. judged to cooking over 50 rather than the 15 years. As far as we are concerned we have only just begun.

Opinion Page 6

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OLIVE PRESS EXCLUSIV investigation leads E to child protection plea from United Kingdom charity

By Fiona Govan

he photographed and filmed. in Madrid there is an He then disseminated the sick Spain to lead opportunity for material on paedo the way in tackloophole that has allowed po- the dark web aroundforums on ling it at a global level,” she said. tentially hundreds of the world. Her charity British Emily Konstantas, wants Spain to inpaedophiles to find work in The Safeguarding CEO of troduce the need to present an Spanish schools. Alliance, original birth applauded the Olive Press certificate alongThe campaign follows for side vestigation by the Olivean in- highlighting the issue: “The recorda passport and criminal checks that would allow that revealed how easy Press Ben Lewis case as revealed by potential it was the Olive Press employers to unearth for a convicted UK sex offender highlights loophole and as shockingthis a change of identity. to change his identity and as “It’s a simple way find this is, it is nothing to provide work as a teacher in new and that Madrid schools where several unfortunately represents just “The extra check,” she insisted. severity and danger this arrested for abusing at he was the tip of the iceberg as to the loophole least 36 magnitude of presents to the whole children. this problem.” world cannot be underestimatDANGER: Lewis got She warned: “Whilst the teaching post, with quo remains in situ this status ed.” help signifAn extensive report Criminal of ‘fake’ papers icant and very dangerous by The We reported how Ben Lewis, guarding loophole will safe- Safeguarding Alliance is being contin- used to lobby very serious crimes,” states 31, ue to had changed his name the UK parliapose a threat, not the report, seen by the Olive poll, applied for a newby deed UK Nationals, but to the just to ment for a legal change in the Press. rest of management Through extensive research passport, and dodged British the world putting children of sex offenders. criminal and It explains case law The Safeguarding and record checks despite being those most vulnerable Alliat risk,” system relies how the current ance has identified on she warned. the UK’s sex offenders register. on the registered that offenders are sex offender to notify Police in Spain issued “There are potentially the po- and arenot notifying as required a statehunlice continuing to abuse with details ment last week describing dreds - if not thousands - of change, alongsideof any name dren by changing their chilis - or Ben David Rose, Lew- known sex offenders any change and names slipping of address and as he is under obfuscating their identities now known - as ‘a dangerous passport inforthe radar in the as seen through the case child sexual predator’. seek work abroad whereUK to mation. of Ben they Lewis/Rose “Currently absconding the onus lies solely The National Police said can continue to abuse chil- with the offender seas to continue to abuse. overhad used his position as that he dren,” she continued. and although it is an offence to er at private schools in a teach- “This loophole is arguably the one could argue fail to notify, to gain access to childrenMadrid biggest safeguarding Undermined scandal terrent as the this is not a dewhom the offender world has ever seen and has the propensity to already “As a result, the effectiveness commit of important legislation, Sex Offenders Register, the the Child Sex Offender Disclosure IN the United Kingdom a Scheme, the Domestic person does not need to follow an official process failure to so is a criminal Disclosure Scheme, the Violence offence which could DBS are name, but they require a to start using a new result in a term not exceeding undermined and effectively ‘deed poll’ to apply for five years imprisor to change official documents onment. dered redundant,” it states. rensuch as a new However, passport. “The case of Ben Lewis/Rose evidence demonstrates that not every This can be done simply registered sex offender will highlights why Spain should act with honesty and little or no cost in a processand easily online for report a change of name aware of this very serious be that takes no longer The as required. than 15 minutes to process Safeguarding Alliance discovered guarding loophole and safeand can even be Freedom through completed from a prison pioneer an international should of Information Under section 84 of the cell. UK’s 46 police forces requests to 16 of the ment to protect its childrenmove2003, an offender must Sexual Offences Act of offence convictions that 913 people with sex those abusers who slip from report a name change had gone missing after within three working days changing their names the radar using the name under without informing the to the police, and police. change loophole,” Konstantas added. Puede verificar este documento en https://sede.mjusticia.gob.es Código Seguro de Verificación SD:Lzou-Jz3F-aZYs-CcBb Juego de caracteres del Código Seguro de Verificación: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-$:

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THE Olive Press is launching a campaign to demand a U-turn in draconian new rules stopping thousands of British expats from driving in Spain. We have been sparked into action after hearing dozens of horror stories involving long-term residents around the country. Most were shunted into the hard shoulder after receiving poor advice from lawyers and gestors. They include pensioners, who have lived here for decades, employees of blue chip companies and even British lawyers, who were unable to get clear advice. The Olive Press’ very own salesperson Tina Brace has also become a victim, despite living here for 24 years. “A combination of Spain’s infamous bureaucracy and impenetrable laws has left far too many people prejudiced,” said Olive Press editor Jon Clarke. “We intend to put pressure on the powers that be in both the UK and Spain to try and get this rule changed.” The problem came about after years of discussions regarding the right for British expats to swap their licences over to Spanish ones. It started after a Brexit transition period begun in January 2020. The apparently straightforward exchange was made more complicated however, due to the confusing rules, which varied by region… and of course the pandemic. While some expats were able to simply turn up and swap their licence others were bogged down by paperwork issues. A series of three extensions to give expats more time came to an end on

A BRITISH paedophile who the Olive Press revealed had changed his name by deed poll to forge legal documents to find work as a teacher in Spain has been sentenced to 138 years in prison by a court in Madrid. Ben David Rose was handed the jail term after being found guilty of producing child pornography involving 36 children after lying his way into one of Madrid’s most prestigious private schools. The case raised serious safeguarding concerns after it emerged he had been convicted for similar crimes in the UK and placed on the sex offenders register before moving to Spain where he found work as an au pair and then as an English teacher in several schools in the capital.

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MINISTERIO DE JUSTICIA

REGISTRO CENTRAL DE DELINCUENTES SEXUALES

Gerente Territorial en ZARAGOZA

CERTIFICA:

Que, en el día de la fecha, consultada la Base de Datos del Registro Central de Delincuentes Sexuales, NO CONSTA información penal relativa a: D./Dª BEN DAVID ROSE con Pasaporte nº 22807454

Conforme a lo dispuesto en la Decisión Marco 2009/315/JAI del Consejo de 26 de febrero, relativa a la organización y al contenido del intercambio de información de los registros de antecedentes penales entre los Estados miembros, tratándose de ciudadanos españoles, el presente certificado incluye, en su caso, las condenas impuestas por otros Estados miembros de la Unión Europea, en los mismos términos en que tales condenas hayan sido notificadas, sin que exista necesariamente una equiparación entre los tipos delictivos del Estado de condena y los tipos delictivos nacionales.

El presente certificado refleja la situación del titular interesado/a en la fecha

de su expedición.

Zaragoza a 29 de agosto de 2017

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By George Mathias

April 30. Marbella lawyer Mark Wilkins, from ROS Abogados, came unstuck after believing that common sense would prevail, as it has in many other EU countries. While he was able to transfer his licence in the nick of time, his wife was left out in the cold and can no longer legally drive here. So angry was the lawyer, who

moved here from Surrey a few years ago, that he has had direct contact with UK transport secretary Grant Shapps over the debacle. He told the Olive Press: “It’s excellent you are doing this campaign which I fully support.

Campaigning

“I have great respect for your paper and its campaigning, but you will need the help of your friends at the embassy to push this through. Go on and kick ‘em!”

He does however, remain fairly optimistic and during his conversations with Shapps he was told the problem would be ‘resolved shortly’ and that talks were ‘reasonably advanced’. “They seem to have their legs under the table,” he said, but insisted that no deal was ‘imminent’. “I feel a bit impotent and not sure what else I can do,” he added. The British Embassy meanwhile remained upbeat. “We are hopeful that an agreement will be reached in the coming weeks and remain fully committed to making this happen,” said a spokesperson. She insisted it was untrue that the Spanish authorities had dynamited a deal because the UK refused to give access to its vehicle database to chase up holidaymakers with unpaid fines. The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, which is responsible for the gaffe, refused to comment. See Page 5 Opinion Page 6

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Naked

In a trial that began in early May the court heard how the defendant who used the name ‘Ben David’ and ‘Ben David Rose’ first gained employment as an au pair caring for three young children in Zaragoza. He photographed the children naked, photoshopped images of his own genitals into the shot, and posted them on the dark web. He also took sexual photographs of some 30 students under his care at a private school in Madrid, often by ‘upskirting’ – secretly filming up their skirts – and uploading them onto child porn sites.

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CRIME

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NEWS IN BRIEF Brass neck POLICE have detained a man, 35, who walked round Alicante streets waving €50 notes at underage girls as an inducement for them to have sex with him. He’s been charged with corrupting minors.

Fresh sand EMERGENCY work has been carried out at Torrevieja’s Los Locos beach to repair sand damage caused during the spring storms, with 2,500 tons of sand being used.

Pet insult FOUR people who got into a fight with baseball bats and clubs because of insults made against a family dog at San Juan beach in Alicante have been charged with affray.

Child taken A BELGIAN man has been arrested after kidnapping his son, 2, and bringing him to Alicante following a bitter custody battle.

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

Live stash

Cold comfort

A PASSENGER planned to fly out of Alicante-Elche airport to Denmark with 46 live turtles, protected tortoises and crabs in his carry-on luggage. Guardia Civil officers ordered the 64-year-old man open his case and found the creatures wrapped in cling-film so that they would not move around. The tortoises fell under Spain’s endangered species classification. All of the animals were taken to the Santa Faz wildlife recovery centre.

A MAN nearly died of the cold after plunging into the sea to hide from police in Alicante. He and an accomplice have been arrested over robbing and sexually assaulting a woman, 25, in the Old Town. Police later spotted the suspects on the El Postiguet walkway one of whom ran into the sea. Officers boarded a firefighting vessel to find the man, who was clinging to a buoy with symptoms of severe hypothermia. He was arrested and taken to hospital.

On the run By Fiona Govan

nals on the run in Spain. One of those on the list is Scotsman, Derek McGraw Ferguson (pictured) who is wanted over the murder of a waiter who was shot in the pub

A BRITISH drugs gang that used UK citizens as drugs mules to take suitcases of narcotics out of the country has been smashed. In a coordinated swoop, over 250 officersraided 30 addresses in Alicante Almeria and Murcia. Police arrested 43 people, including British, Irish, Spanish and South American nationals. A court ordered 14 of them to be remanded in custody. A police spokesman said the ringlead-

car park where he worked in Glasgow in June 2007. The 58-year-old is described as 5ft 1in tall (1.55 metres) with fair skin and several distinguishing features including alopecia and a piece of his left ear missing, although police warned that he may wear a

Brit drug runners er was a British man operating out of a Torrevieja villa and that a ‘very active international group had been dismantled’. Police prevented two shipments of 30 kilos of marijuana from being flown to the UK. Over €500,000, split between cash and bank accounts, was seized in the raids.

A DRUG dealer on the run from German justice on decade-old drug trafficking charges has been arrested. The 47-year-old Turkish national has been handed over to Madrid’s National Court for extradition to Germany.

Trafficking

Police appeal for help to find top ten most wanted fugitives in Spain, including Brit suspected murderer A BRITISH alleged murderer and a Belgian drug dealer are included in a list of the top 10 most wanted fugitives in Spain. Spanish police launched a campaign this week appealing for the public to help track down the most wanted crimi-

Fugitive found

wig or have had a hair transplant to disguise the hair loss and plastic surgery to fix his ear. He also has several tattoos including a heart, arrow and a dagger on his left arm. Also wanted is a Belgian fugitive who goes by a long list of known aliases including Tom Michielsen, Tom Richard, Diane Michielsen. He has also been known to use the names Vermeiren and Heinrich Schmidt. The blue-eyed 46 year old is wanted for drug trafficking, weapons dealing and money laundering crimes. He is described as a dangerous fugitive who could be armed. Information can be emailed to losmasbuscados@policia.es or call 091.

Police in Benidorm formed a cordon around a hotel and moved in to detain him. He was wanted for trafficking 70 kilos of hashish and marijuana worth €100,00 in three separate offences dating back to 2012 and faces 15 years in jail.

Bad parents A PINOSO couple told Guardia Civil their 36-yearold son had stolen their car in order to get an insurance pay-out. The man, 54, and woman, 53, had in fact sold it to a scrap yard. It was a ruse to get a crime report to hand over to their insurers. The couple has been charged with fraud and reporting a fake crime and face up to 12 months jail.

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Smoking!

THE Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing the first gig of their new tour in Sevilla. They will take to La Cartuja stage on Saturday, the first venue of a new tour that will see them visit 32 cities. Their second stop will be at Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona on June 7. The group is expected to perform classic hits like ‘Under the Bridge’ and ‘Californication’ as well as new tracks from their forthcoming album. All Spain gigs will feature warm up shows from US rapper A$ap Rocky and funk-rocker Thundercat.

Obama to visit

FORMER US President Barack Obama will be visiting Spain - but if you want to take part in a Q&A session with him it will cost you a cool €1,990. He will participate in the Digital Enterprise Show 2022 (DES 2022) in Malaga from June 14-16. The 44th US President will hold a question and answer session, but the only way to take part is to buy a three day ‘Honour Pass’ for just under €2,000. Obama is no stranger to Spain. He toured the country as a young man and has since visited several times, with wife Michelle and his daughters staying in Marbella and Mallorca.

YOU WHAT?: Pricey!

EXCLUSIVE By Dilip Kuner

STARS: Jack Grealish (left) and Kyle Walker with (inset left) Jordan Pockford and HarryMaguire happy to see them, saying: “They’re coming thick and fast now. Harry and Kyle and Jordan is out for a couple of weeks with his family. I hope to get a round of golf in with them too.” Meanwhile, fellow England star - and team mate of Kyle Walker at champions Manchester City - Jack Grealish arrived in Ibiza.

Shak tax date

and has paid tax here ever since. The prosecutor’s office could ask for a prison sentence as well as a substantial fine but no court date has yet been set. Shakira has been in a relationship with FC Barcelona player Gerard Pique since 2011 and the pair have two children.

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The England international was in a jovial mood during the celebrations, with instagram footage from his teammates showing him in a somewhat inebriated state and speaking with a hoarse voice. He was photographed alongside Gary Lineker’s younger brother Wayne at O Beach Ibiza, which the 58-year-old owns and is known to be a celeb hotspot. The England stars are not the only ones expected to arrive in Spain on the back of a post-pandemic surge in tourism. Radford said: “We’re trading 25 to 30% up in sales over the winter months. It’s been the best start to a year ever for us - and it beats 2019. “Business is really, really good. La Sala Beach is so far 40% up on our best year. We had over 10,000 pre-reservations before we even opened at the beach.”

Chilling to cool

THE Rolling Stones arrived in true rock n roll style in Madrid, touching down in their very own branded plane ahead of the start of their European tour. Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood stepped out of their private jet emblazoned with the iconic tongue sticking out of a pair of lips logo. The trio waved and laughed as they made their way down the staircase of the jet and onto a red carpet. This will be the first European tour since the death of the band’s legendary drummer Charlie Watts, who died last August at the age of 80.

England stars herald a bumper summer

SPAIN scores with the sporty set and it looks like it’s gameon for another outbreak of footy fever this summer. Barely had the season ended then English football stars had hopped on a plane and headed for the Costa del Sol and the Baleares. England stars Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Jordan Pickford arrived at favourite watering hole La Sala in Puerto Banus to finally let their hair down after a long season of kicking a ball around. La Sala boss Ian Radford was

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

HOLA MADRID!

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SHAKIRA has lost her appeal to dismiss charges that she defrauded Spain’s tax office of €14 million and will face trial, a court has ruled. The 45-year-old singer is alleged to have failed to pay taxes on income earned between 2012 and 2014 when the tax office claims she was living in Spain. But the Colombian pop star‘s legal team claims she only moved permanently to Spain in 2015

If you suffer from... • Mobility problems • Pain / Breathlessness • Falls / Stumbles

HE has long been an acting icon but now at the age of 84 Sir Anthony Hopkins is set to become a fashion icon. The double Oscar and four-time BAFTA winner has been unveiled as the ‘face’ of Spanish brand Loewe in a new campaign. The Welsh superstar, who played cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Lambs, modelled for celebrity photographer Juergen Teller. Actors, artists, singers, athletes, and models have been portrayed in different locations, both indoors and outdoors. But the one that stands out the most is Hopkins. Here, he poses in a long black coat, gold appliques, an eye-catching T-shirt printed with multicoloured donuts, and is pointing at a brown leather XL bag. It's all a far cry from the prison garb he wore as Lecter - from chilling to cool!

Off again SPAIN’S former King Juan Carlos returned to exile in Abu Dhabi after meeting with son King Felipe VI in Madrid. He came expecting ‘hugs’ but what happened behind closed doors at Zarzuela Palace between him and his son King Felipe VI remains private. It was the first time father and son - the old monarch and the King he abdicated for - have met face to face since he went into self-imposed exile in 2020.

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Newborn rescue GUARDIA Civil officers have saved an abandoned newborn baby in San Isidro. The boy’s mother, a 39-yearold Swiss national, has been charged with child abandonment and remanded in custody by an Orihuela court. The baby is doing well in hospital and nurses have named him Noa. A lorry driver notified the Guardia that he saw a woman with blood-covered legs carrying a bundle of blankets in her arms.

Limb

He said that he was convinced that he spotted the tiny limb of a baby. A Guardia patrol found the woman, who denied everything the lorry driver said. Officers carried out a search of the surrounding area and discovered the baby bundled in blankets and hidden behind barrels, with its umbilical cord still attached.

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

Rude awakening A MAN surprised police by grabbing 40 winks on a mattress that he placed in the middle of a Jumilla street. Officers found him fast asleep, head on pillow. When he was raised from his slumber he told officers that he was ‘having a rest’. He required no medical assistance and appeared to be perfectly fine. Police issued a ticket and gave him a strong warning about the dangers of sleeping in the street. The man then picked up the mattress and pillow and headed off.

NO HELP

Expat pensioner sat in agony for 20 hours waiting for treatment at troubled hospital AN EXPAT octogenarian discharged himself from a costa hospital TWICE after sitting a total of 20 hours waiting for attention. Brain Snell, 84, had suffered a fall on his way back home from the UK and then collapsed while with friends the following day. The widower, from London,

Burkini backing BURKINI swimsuits have been officially recognised as legal bathing attire for Elche’s public swimming pools. New rules over using municipal sports facilities and the right clothing will mention burkinis for the first time, but its use was always legal. But Bermudas that come below the knees are banned at municipal pools. A burkini covers the whole body except the face, the hands and the feet, while being light enough for swimming.

By Simon Wade

was rushed to Torrevieja hospital on the Costa Blanca with his residencia documents and his SIP card. But despite suffering from agonising pain in his back and right arm the former signwriter was ‘abandoned’ for 13 hours, sitA MAN drowned after trying to swim across Crevillente reservoir just a fortnight after arriving in Spain from his native Columbia to visit his girlfriend. Manuel Andres, 26, was on a day out with his partner and some friends when he and another man decided to swim 25 metres across to a bank.

ting in a wheelchair. “I was in agony, they knew that, but they did nothing - I was so let down by them,” he told the Olive Press. Finally, after waiting until midnight he was taken back home in San Fulgencio by a friend. The following day his local GP in La Marina insisted he needed to go back for x-rays.

Fatal swim His acquaintance managed it but Manuel disappeared in a five-metre deep stretch of water. Manuel’s friends raised the alarm and emergency services were scrambled to search for him but his body was not found until the next day.

After typing out a letter headed ‘urgent’ he was sent back to A&E. But it made no difference and after sitting in another wheelchair for seven hours, he decided to go home in a taxi. “Despite having everything I needed, why did they leave me for so long?” he asked After a week of self-medication, the pain has only just subsided. It is far from the first time we have reported on poor treatment at Torrevieja hospital. Shocking care routines and huge queues have already resulted in one death and an unnecessary leg amputation, according to readers. The hospital refused to comment.

Passport plonker POLICE at Alicante airport say they have been ‘overwhelmed’ by stricter passport controls on Brit tourists after Brexit. Now they are calling for more staffing after a drunk Briton attacked three officers at passport control. When it was his turn to have his passport stamped he realised he did not have it on him. He then behaved extremely aggressively and injured three police officers. The man was arrested and carted off to the cells. A police source said it was not the first-such incident involving British arrivals recently. He stated officers have been ‘overwhelmed’ by extra passport checks.

MAY DAY MAY DAY IT is official. May 21 was the hottest day in May since records began. The mercury soared to above 40ºC in many parts of inland Spain as a mass of hot air drifted in from the Sahara. The temperature was up to 15ºC above the seasonal average.

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ony and Mandy Heaton both left well-paid jobs in the East Midlands to buy a house in Quesada, Alicante, in August 2020 during the transition period. They were approved for residency in the second week of November, but the post Brexit backlog meant they could not get an appointment to apply for permanent residency until February with their cards only arriving in April.

IN REVERSE

Margaret and Eric Wilkinson, who spend six months a year in Oliva on the Costa Blanca, wanted to make sure they were doing everything by the book. The pensioners, from Leeds, hired a lawyer to help them swap their licence and submitted their applications in September 2020, during the Brexit Transition period. They were told they had to register their intention to swap their licences by December 31 2020. However their lawyer incorrectly insisted they could not register their intention to swap their licences as the system would not accept NIE numbers, only TIE numbers. “Obviously we accepted this as fact so as a result did not register by the deadline,” said Margaret, who retired in 2011. This is the crux of the issue - advice given varied widely depending on the region and in many cases different rules were arbitrarily applied.

They then obtained a medical certificate to demonstrate they were fit to drive from a clinic in Guardamar, which assured them everything was in place. “We were told everything would be fine, but we could not get an appointment with the DGT.’ They were then told the only way to solve it was to drive to Elche DGT, but when they got there they were refused entry as they did not have an appointment. “We are being held to ransom by those at the top,” Tony, a former engineer, said.

To make matters worse, Mandy, who had just secured a job as a chef 10 kilometres away, could not take up her position as she was unable to commute. She even purchased an electric bike and planned on cycling 30 minutes, but by the time it arrived, they had given the job to someone else. “We are running down our savings and we now cannot afford the money it would cost for us to learn to drive and pass our test. We might have to abandon our plans and move back to the UK”, the upset couple explained.

Thousands make demands Brits in Spain launch petition to call for driving licence recognition

THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition calling for the Spanish government to recognise British driving licences. The recently-launched document has so far got 2,500 people demanding action.

It comes after the Spanish government refused to extend a transition deal to swap licences for a fourth time. It meant that from May 1, Brits who have been in Spain for longer than six months are no lon-

DEAD END STREET

OLIVE PRESS sales rep Tina Brace has been driven to distraction by the new ‘draconian’ rules that have stopped her from driving in Spain. Brace, who has lived in Malaga for 24 years, had been hearing ‘continually conflicting news’ about what she needed to do to get a new Spanish licence. As well as talking to a lawyer and a gestor, she sought advice from the British embassy. “I was continually being told that an agreement

ger allowed to legally drive here on a British licence. Instead they must pass the Spanish driving test, an ordeal that has left thousands of expats without a means to drive a car. The petition, titled ‘Seek to ne-

was in place like the other European countries. It made perfect sense and so I stayed optimistic,” she explains. “Then out of the blue as the third deadline approached I was told by friends I had to pay for a medical certificate in order to swap my licence over. Then a month later I was told it wasn’t necessary, but when I scrambled to get things done on time it was too late.” She adds: “As a field saleswoman, I can now only speak to clients over the phone. I’m down to shanks’s pony!”

gotiate mutual recognition of UK and Spanish driving licences’ was launched by a group of anonymous expats.“There are many factors which affected expats' ability to register their intent to exchange their UK licence prior to the December 2020 deadline imposed as a result of Brexit,” explains the petition. “Please help expats who are stuck in Spain and need to be able to drive to access shops, doctors, and hospitals.” The petition can be signed at petition.parliament.uk. Online petitions require 10,000 signatures for an official response from the UK government while 100,000 signatures guarantees it is considered for debate in Parliament.

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MOST European countries are happy to allow Brits to swap their driving licences for domestic ones. And curiously, France - which normally takes a hardline against ‘le rosbif’ - has one of the most lenient rules in place. Here, the Olive Press takes a look at the map: In France if your UK licence was issued before January 1, 2021 then it is recognised in France for as long as it is valid. In Greece if you hold a valid UK licence you can drive around without ANY restrictions. In Germany, Austria and Cyprus you can swap for the local counterpart without taking a test within six months. In Iceland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Belgium, and Switzerland you can drive with your licence, but are advised to swap ‘as soon as possible’. Negotiations between Italy and the UK have been less smooth. Currently residents can drive using their UK licence until the end of the year, however they must take an Italian driving test within that time to swap it. Similar to Spain, both the UK and Italian governments continue to negotiate long-term arrangements for exchanging driving licences without needing to take a test.

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A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION Horsepower to the people IT’S time to kick the mandarins into gear! The grey-shirted ghosts of Whitehall (and Madrid) need to pay heed to the shameless way they have again sold thousands of expats down the river! As if dealing with the shambles of Brexit was not enough. We are now, yet again, in the front line of the problems being caused by Boris and co’s disastrous withdrawal agreement. But when the man in charge is Grant Shapps, is it any wonder that talks have stalled this badly? The tricky Transport Minister once ran businesses under the pseudonyms ‘Michael Green’ and ‘Corinne Stockheath’ to avoid declaring income outside of his job as an MP. He was also exposed as having spent significant time editing his very own Wikipedia page. But this is not just Shapps’ failure. Spain must also take the blame. The very fact that it’s the only country, apart from Italy, forcing expats into the hard shoulder, says everything. When even the French are being more favourable to us Brits, you know something, somewhere, has gone badly wrong. The Olive Press is taking a stand and saluting the 95% of European countries who are letting common sense prevail. We hope you will join our campaign and support it. And just like previous campaigns to act on drink spiking, protecting our coasts or the mountains from golf developers, we will not give up. With the backing of you, our readers, who pour tens of millions into the Spanish economy every year, we believe this is a fight we can win. Send us your thoughts at newsdesk@theolivepress.es and, of course, sign the petition at petition.parliament.uk PUBLISHER / EDITOR

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AGE OF THE SUPERFIRE W As temperatures rise and we enter fire season, Sorrel Downer looks back at the 10 most dramatic blazes

ITH a drought and unseasonal high temperatures, no wonder AEMET (the Met Office) has been issuing extreme fire risk warnings. Spain has an average of 11,700 forest fires a year. Small ones are nature’s way of clearing out dead vegetation and making way for the new, but a lot of these are big. In fact, the number of large blazes (anything spreading

Riotinto Mines (Huelva) July 27, 2004 The worst fire in Andalucia in 20 years, started with two bins set alight on the hottest day of the year, and raged through 30,000 hectares of pine, oak and cork forest. A married couple from Sevilla died trying to escape when their car got stuck in a ditch. A man was arrested on suspicion of arson but released.

over 500 hectares) has increased 20% in the last decade. Nearly half the municipalities in Spain are within High Risk Zones for fires, though most fires aren’t where you’d expect them to be, in the hot, dry south, but in the northwest: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the provinces of Leon and Zamora account for nearly 60% of fires and 86% of the area affected.

Nine hikers from Madrid had a barbecue in the picnic area near the prehistoric Cueva de Casares then left to swim in the river. The wind reignited the embers and fire spread through the surrounding dry scrubland at speeds up to 121/km

Tejeda (Las Palmas) - July, 2007 To persuade his boss that fires were always a risk therefore his summer season contract should be extended, a forest ranger stopped his car en route to work, took out his matches and started an inferno that destroyed 19,200 hectares. Judged stupid rather than mentally ill, the arsonist was sentenced to eight months in prison. "I didn’t want to cause this catastrophe,” he said, “it just got out of hand".

Sometimes the cause is natural, for example, the molten lava spewed by the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma, or lightning, responsible for three in 100 fires. But 95% of the time wildfires are caused by humans making a mistake as they go about their business in extreme weather and a tinder-dry landscape, and occasionally, on purpose. Here are 10 of the worst fires in Spain this century.

Riba de Saelices (Guadalajara) - July 16, 2005 hour, destroying 12,800 hectares. Eleven firefighters – the youngest just 22 – died, just metres away from safety, trapped behind a wall of flames when the wind switched direction.

Horta de Sant Joan, Tarragona - July 21 2009 The fire destroyed over 1000 hectares of the Els Ports Natural Park but it was also one of Spain’s worst this century in terms of human cost: Five firefighters from the Grupo de Actuaciones Forestales died fighting the blaze. A sixth, Josep Pallas, suffered serious burns, but, incredibly, later returned to work for the fire service. The cause wasn’t lightning, as first supposed, but two men who had lit a bonfire.

EXTREME SURVIVOR Earth’s oldest living species gets a helping hand

ITH three eyes, hundreds of legs, and elongated antennae, these critters are not going to win any beauty contests. Yet they are fascinating organisms. In fact, they are the oldest living species on planet earth – 300 million years old (you read that correctly) – out-surviving dinosaurs, mammoths, and mastodons by a long chalk. Known in everyday vernacular as Tadpole Shrimp and scientifically as ‘Triops cancriformis’, these are extreme survivors. Throughout their 300-million-year history, the Triops’ skeletal structure has remained unchanged. Today’s tadpoles are virtually indistinguishable from their distant ancestors. They can survive floods and droughts, boiling water and ice and are found in

the Arctic as well as geothermal waters. They can survive Hiroshima-type radiation because their eggs are able to go dormant for centuries until more favourable conditions resume. Uniquely, triops build ‘egg banks’ enabling their population to persist through bad times. And experiments have shown that the tadpoles can even survive in space!

Poison

They can self-fertilize as they possess both testes and ovaries. First described by Charles Darwin, this reproductive mode has the advantage of allowing a single individual to perpetuate the population. But all is not well with these crustaceans. In spite of the remarkable survivability of the species, there has been a progressive disappearance of the tadpole shrimp. Declining habitat, landscape changes, poisons and pesticides, and climate change have all drastically modified their populations. However, recent research by Valencian scientists dedicated to saving the tadpole shows there is hope. Valencian bodies, in concert with universities, have taken an active role in protecting and preserving the population of

Triops. The Valencian Ministry of Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition has begun breeding them in laboratories and rebuilding new populations in local protected areas. They have achieved success in the Natural Park of the Sierra de Espadan (Castellon) and in Albufera National Park near El Palmar, Valencia. In parallel, local university students have received international recognition for their research. Student scientists at the Santa Maria Vila-Real School won national acclaim for their study entitled Triops Cancriformis: How to survive Climate Change. Their project received a medal at the prestigious Science Genius Olympiad in New York. Meanwhile, student scientists at the University of Valencia, working with the Valencian

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

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BEHIND THE COSTA DEL CRIME

Tejeda (Las Palmas) - September 20, 2017

Corte de Pallás & Andilla (Valencia) - June 28, 2012

Two men chose a 40-degree day to install solar panels at a casa de campo. A welding spark

plus strong wind combined to whip up an inferno that destroyed 30,000 hectares, affected a dozen communities, and resulted in the death of a fire services helicopter pilot. In this one incident, half a million tons of CO2 was released into the atmosphere – the amount produced by 380,000 cars in a year. The next day, in Andilla, 100km to the north, a farmer who had allegedly been burning stubble, started a fire that devastated a further 22,500 hectares. .

Wildlife Service, have developed a ‘thermal insulator’ and provided further evidence that the species has survived due to the incredible resistance of its eggs. Collectively, as a result of these efforts, Triops – the bizarre-looking tadpole – will soon be a protected species, incorporated into the official Valencian Catalogue of Threatened Fauna Species. Given the threat to today’s habitat and climate, the need to pursue and understand the attributes of an extreme survivor is paramount. Carl Sagan once famously said, ‘extinction is the rule, survival is the exception’. Given the work done by the Valencian scientific community, let’s hope that the tadpole shrimp, can challenge Sagan’s theory – at least for the next 300 million years.

Started by a shepherd burning brush to clear a grazing area in the old, traditional – but illegal in summer – way. Rain helped bring the blaze under control after four days, but not before thousands had been evacuated and a Swedish woman, Carin Brigitta Ostman had died.

Galicia and Portugal - October 5, 2017 Not a single fire, but an apocalyptic cluster of fires that jumped and reignited and covered a total of 300,000 hectares on either side of the border in the space of a week. Experts say dry, hurricane force winds pushed in by tropical front Ophelia made a bad situation a disaster. In total, 49 people died.

EURO MONTHLY NEW S

Valleseco (Gran Canaria) August 10, 2019

Navalacruz (Avila) August 14, 2021

A badly maintained power line rubbing against a pine tree at the bottom of a forested ravine caused a fire that lasted 40 days, destroyed 10,000 hectares and resulted in 10,000 people being evacuated. Though not categorised as a sixth generation fire, this inferno created its own weather system, with swirling winds and a column of cloud visible from space.

A motorcyclist saw smoke coming from a vehicle on the Avila-Cordoba road, and flagged the driver down. But the engine was on fire, the grass on the verge caught and, propelled by 70km gusts, a wall of flames rushed across 22,000 hectares of farmland and forest, all dried out after a heatwave of 38-degree days, to become the worst fire in the history of Castilla y Leon.

SIERRA BERMEJA (MALAGA) - SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 This was the first sixth generation fire to be registered in Spain. Linked to climate change, superfires – as they’re known – are extremely explosive, high speed and erratic. It burned through 10,000 hectares in the mountains above the Costa del Sol, caused 3000 people

to be evacuated, and cost the life of firefighter Carlos Martinez Haro. Investiga-

tors suspect it was started with a flammable liquid in three places.

S skilled and courage firefighters are, the ous as Spain’s creasingly dangero y face an inwith the advent of us challenge the superfire. Even more effort is be tion, into making Spaining put into prevenpersuading people no more fireproof, and t to be idiots. Do you part, and keep vigilant. r FOR FIRE EMERGENC

IES CALL 11 2.

RESSED up like spokesmen for ETA - or a pair of armed robbers - the Olive Press has been getting behind the scenes of Spain’s crack National Police detectives this week. At an unknown, unmarked HQ on the Costa del Sol the team of 30 investigators go about their business in secret and with stealth. Getting new orders from Madrid every month and with the group constantly changing means they are among the hardest to corrupt in Europe. Their success rate is staggering and there are only four such teams in all of Spain, we discovered. The Olive Press has been helping to tell their story in a new crime series on Amazon due out this Autumn. Our team of journalists, including Jorge Hinojosa (pictured), are also interviewing their counterparts at the Guardia Civil, as well as grilling a series of politicians this month. All thanks to our knowledge and contacts on the infamous Costa del Crime, where we have been based for nearly two decades. The exciting commission from one of the world’s biggest TV streaming companies comes hot on the heels of various jobs for Sky TV, the BBC and Times Radio over recent weeks. And that’s not to mention a key role for editor Jon Clarke in a recent Sat1 German TV documentary on the Madeleine McCann case.

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The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: summer flights threat as unions in 1- RyanairSpain and Europe plan strikes linked to outbreak in gay 2- Monkeypox cases sauna killed in cliff jump on Mallorca named 3- Man as dutch footballer Mourad Lambarette weather forecast temperatures 4-inBlistering Spain to reach historic highs this weekend holidays in Spain 2021- full list of 5- Bank dates for every autonomous community

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Crying wolf A BID to overturn Spain’s wolf hunting ban by Spain’s conservative opposition party has been rejected by parliament. The Popular Party (PP), supported by several farming organisations, were seeking to repeal a law that came into force last September designating wolves as a protected species.

Welfare

The issue has become the latest battleground in Spain’s continuing animal welfare debate with farmers claiming wolves are a menace that cause immeasurable damage to farmers’ livelihoods while naturalists say they are a vital part of the ecosystem. Thanks in a large part to restrictions on hunting Spain and Portugal are now thought to be home to about 3,000 wolves, the largest lupine population in Europe, according to data from Ecologists in Action, a conservation group.

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

MEATY DEMO By Alex Trelinski

GREENPEACE protestors dressed staged a protest at the headquarters of Murcia-based meat company El Pozo. Around 20 environmentalists struck at different areas of the firm’s Alhama de Murcia complex. Protestors blocked off access to the main building and displayed banners opposing macro-farming and demanding a five-year moratorium on such farming. Group members changed one of the company slogans from ‘El Pozo for the environment’ to ‘El Pozo kills the environment’. A Greenpeace statement said

Greenpeace target El Pozo over nitrate pollution

the protest was about ‘exposing a company which benefits the most in Spain from the destructive business of macro-farms’. The lobby group has called for a meeting with El Pozo bosses. They want them to ‘develop a plan to reduce the number of exploited animals’ as the only ‘effective way to reduce the brand’s brutal environmental impact’. Greenpeace claims nitrates from El Pozo’s macro-farms are contaminating drinking water supplies in surround-

ing towns and villages. An investigation last year suggested that slurry from pig farms was a key factor in polluting the Mar Menor lagoon with excess nitrates. Consumer Affairs minister, Alberto Garzon, angered farmers and meat produc-

ers at the start of the year by saying meat production from large farms is ‘causing the end of Spain’. El Pozo in 2018 was among the top 40 richest companies in Spain and one of the 25 main meat producers in the world, according to Greenpeace.

Hot and cold SPAIN will impose limits on air-conditioning in public buildings this summer in a bid to slash its energy bill as prices soar. Civil servants will have to endure a minimum temperature of 27ºC during the hottest months under measures published in a government decree. In winter, offices will not be heated above a maximum of 19ºC. The plan is part of an EU-wide effort to reduce dependence on Russian energy designed to reduce Spain’s central administration’s energy usage by 25%.

Cigarettes don’t just poison smokers - they poison the environment too I’VE never understood smoking. My father died when I was 14 of throat cancer caused by smoking. I could not see what was big, clever, or attractive about poisoning yourself. I accept the freedom of choice argument. If you want to adversely affect your health, all well and good. However, polluting the environment is not acceptable. Some 4.5 trillion cigarettes are discarded every year worldwide. That’s 4,500,000,000,000. That’s a lot of noughts! They are the most littered item on Earth. According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco waste contains up to 7,000 toxic chemicals. The plastic in the filters takes up to 10

A BUTT TIME

Green

years to biodegrade. Commonly found in the bodies of dead fish and seabirds, they can also be lethal to freshwater and marine species. A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR CATALUNYA In a bid to reduce pollution, smoking will be banned on all of Barcelona’s beaches from next month. The Spanish government is also planning to make it illegal to smoke on the outside terraces of bars and restaurants, and at open-air sports venues. Their next initiative is pure genius. Catalunya will introduce cigarette butt recycling as a source of income. The Catalan government is planning to pay €4 to people who hand over a pack’s worth of cigarette butts at nominated recycling points. WIN WIN This initiative could become a source of income for homeless people. Sreets and beaches will become cleaner. The stroke of genius is that all of this will be funded by raising the tax on every cigarette sold by 20 cents. The environment wins, and people

SAY NO: For the sake of the environment are deterred from smoking as the cost of a packet of cigarettes will almost double. This isn’t about revenue generation. It’s to reduce the environmental impact of these filthy fag ends. The Spanish government is introducing a law that will prohibit the sale of plastic cotton buds, cutlery, and plastic straws. Cigarette butts are not yet covered by law, so this is a great initiative. Why should the minority pollute the majority? (19.7% of Spaniards smoke on a daily basis).

Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. +34 638145664 ( Spain Phone ) Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es

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OLIVE PRESS ALL EDITIONS - PROMO 2 - FP 342 X 256 - JUNE 1, 2 & 3, 2022

LETTERS

Dear Olive Press, le I was one of the lucky (I think!) peop that to witness the rip roaring fireball. The travelled over Jaen on Saturday ever spectacle was nothing like I haveing in seen before, part of me was bask wonits beauty while another part was logdering whether this was a meteoros tell ical close call. Can the Olive Pres me what on earth it was?

Marnie Ludlow, Name and address supplied getEditor’s note: Thank you for de, boli The nie. Mar h touc ting in at spotted over Spain on May 28, d by 3:19 am local time was observe can several of our readers, and we that confirm that it was a meteor d entered the atmosphere at a spee and of 56,000 kilometres an hour,sudhad come from a comet. The th’s den friction as it met the Ear us atmosphere at this enormo seem speed made the meteoroid of incandescent, creating a ball infire which is what you saw. Begres ning at an altitude of 93 kilomet ed over the province of Jaen, it mov ht of southeast, and ended at a heig e of vinc pro the r ove km 59 around comAlmeria. Though scary, the 0 by et was discovered in May 193Arno Arnold Schwassmann and long Arthur Wachmann and has s the been predicted to safely pas stial earth’s orbit - even if, in cele ve. terms, it was a pretty close sha

ll about

Moraira MARVELLOUS

June 2nd - June 15th 2022 www.theolivepre

ss.es

May 2022

HOT TOPICS While our inbox is brimming with people making their voice heard about UK driving licences in Spain, that is not to say it is the only thing on our readers’ lips…

Close to Benidorm

yet a world apart

- discover the Spani sh charmer with

UST half an hour up Benidorm, you’llfrom builtBy Kimberley Mannion of the most relaxed find one seaside towns in Spain. Oozing with charm, Moraira is one fishing villages, and it remains full of the Costa Blanca’s of history classic old unspoiled and tradition, and largely today.

When will it end?

You won’t find signs for English breakfasts or lager pint here, this is an at one euro a as popular with upmarket resort refined Spaniard as it is with upmarke s t foreign tourists-in-the-know.

expat appeal

This is not to say

vered by holidaymaMoraira is undiscoThe demographics kers – far from it. confirm its status as a popular tourist destination . Continues on next

With your newspaper seemingly reporting drunken Brits falling off of balconies while on holiday here in Spain, there surely has to be some kind of inquest into what it is about the British psyche when aboard that leads to such dangerous behaviour. While some have pinned blame on package holiday hosts, is it really reasonable that they should be made to cordon off all their balconies just because Brits under 30 cannot be trusted not to throw themselves off? Worse still such actions are so common that the term ‘balconing’ has been coined to describe the dimwitted act of jumping into a swimming pool directly from a balcony. The UK is surely the first and only country whose foreign office has been forced to actively warn people not to jump off balconies. Alex Brundle, name and address supplied Editor’s note: We are also shocked about the numbers of Brits we hear about who do serious or even fatal damage after falling off hotel balconies in Spain. Indeed, in the Baleares many hotels are taking preventative measures, such as closing terraces or raising the height of walls while Magaluf has been forced to regulate drinking in an attempt to control reckless behaviour. But until Brits learn to pace themselves when abroad, we are sure we have not published the last story on a terrible accident of this kind.

Rot at the top There must be something in the aristocratic water. I have been following Alejandro Cao’s, of gentry stock, and his listing on the government’s most wanted list for his work for the North Korean dictatorship. From Juan Carlos to Prince Andrew, it seems that the most privileged of society are often the most corruptible and abusive. But to work for Kim Jong Un himself is surely a new low for those with old money. His involvement in a number of Spanish TV programmes also requires an inquest. There needs to be a more rigorous approach from the media giving a platform to such a bizarre man. Charly Spencer, name and address supplied

Editor’s note: You are right to point out the many times he has been on television and radio, but most of the time he has been rightly criticised by decent journalists, as is vital to a healthy democracy.

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Why, why, why Moraira After reading your article on Moraira we decided to have a run up there to check the place out. As you said it is a lovely place and relatively untouched by the tourist sprawl. However, we must have picked a day when everyone decided to visit because it took over 45 minutes to find anywhere to park in the town. Now 30 minutes or so back towards Benidorm is Albir - now that is an unspoilt gem with its wide tree-lined streets making for the perfect evening stroll.

Jean Barker, name and address supplied Editor’s note: Thank you Jean for your letter, but we love Moraira and cannot be convinced otherwise! We can only assume that many of our readers felt compelled to visit at the same time after reading our supplement.

OP QUICK CROSSWORD 1

10 11

18 19

OP SUDOKU

What on earth?

Across 7 Operatic lyrics (8) 8 Torn clothing (4) 9 Seal round a ship’s propeller shaft (5) 10 Restaurant practice desired by waiters (7) 12 Heroes matter when allocated a saint (6,6) 14 Coordinated sequences of chess moves (12) 16 Use up (7) 18 Gold, silver or bronze award (5) 20 Comes together (4) 21 Brought about (8) Down 1 Venetian bridge (6) 2 Margaret Thatcher’s birthplace (8) 3 Label of incorporation (3) 4 Bluebottle (9) 5 Support (4) 6 Items for a meeting (6) 11 Essex town between Bishop’s Stortford and Colchester (9) 13 Lofty place (8) 14 Masticated (6) 15 Approached (6) 17 “--- we forget” (Kipling, “Recessional”) (4) 19 Company’s top money manager (1,1,1)

All solutions are on page 13

LA CULTURA Bullish market

June 2nd June 15th 2022

ALICANTE has seen huge demand for tickets to see a famous bullfighter in action. Tickets to watch Jose Tomas take on the toros sold out within 30 minutes. Platforms selling resale tickets are reaching prices of up to €1580 on Viagogo. The cheapest remaining tickets are more than €200, but most tickets are now approaching the €1000 mark. Famed bullfighter Tomas, age 46 from Galapagar, a municipality in the north west of the prov-

ince of Madrid will be in Alicante on August 7. The spectacle will see Tomas take on four bulls of different breeds in Alicante bullring, which has a capacity of 15,235 spectators. It will be the right hander´s second gig of the year. The first, due to take place in Jaen, Andalucia on June 12, has seen resale ticket prices reach €5961. Jose Tomas rose to prominence in bullfighting in the 90s before retiring in 2002, only to make a shock comeback in 2007. His appearances in the ring nowadays are rare.

Faking it

Threat

It is the latter that researchers believe is at threat from rising temperatures making too warm to grow the bean variety in that part of Spain. Lead researcher on the project, Mario X. Ruiz, explained: “Our research identifies the most fragile varieties (of bean) in the face of the effects of climate change, so conserving them is a priority.”

Old time crafts BUÑOL hosts its annual medieval market this weekend on the Paseo de San Luis with a chance to see artisan craftsmen demonstrating their wares. There’ll be a lively atmosphere between June 3 and 5 recreating the days of old with an array of live entertainment including fire jugglers and concerts. One of the main attractions will be the chance to buy genuine artisan goods from pottery and handbags through to hand-crafted toys and jewellery. The artisans will have all the necessary equipment on site to make a special design or etch a name on a specific piece. Visitors will also be able to watch their skills and patience in crafting items. Children can also take part in a series of special craft workshops.

ENJOY YOUR TRIP! Make sure you have peace of mind when you make travel plans

OW wonderful that people can travel again. Let’s hope this carries on and we don’t have a return to the restrictions and paperwork. Hopefully there will be a lot more appreciation and realisation of what we had before Covid. I am delighted to inform you that we are working with a very successful travel insurance provider and we at Jennifer Cunningham Insurance can give you a no obligation quotation if you are a resident in Spain, with single trip and annual cover to meet your needs. Single Trip Travel Insurance is for up to 180 Days, (31 days maximum for over 65’s), available up to age 79 and there are discounts for Couples & Families. Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance has a choice of 17, 32, 45, 90 Days, with three levels of Cover up to age 79, and discounts for Couples & Families With three levels of cover to choose from – Silver, Gold and Platinum, with varying levels of sums insured depending upon your travel needs, you have the choice to fit the insurance to your travel requirements Our standard travel insurance also includes cancellation, medical and repatriation, Personal Accident, baggage and personal effects, money, cards and documents. There are additional cover options, the most popular of which are: • Covid-19 – This optional extension is useful if you wish to be covered for Covid-19 before and whilst on a trip. • Winter Sports – if you are participating in winter sports whilst on holiday. • Pre-Existing medical Conditions - Europesure does not cover all pre-existing medical conditions, however, there are many conditions that are covered. It is not necessary to complete a medical questionnaire. Contact us and we can provide more information. My advice to you is to go nowhere without insurance and to find out more, and have everything explained to you fully, contact one of the offices.

Has-bean TRADITIONAL Valencian paella is under threat from global warming, warn researchers, who fear one of the key ingredients is nearing extinction as temperatures rise. The essential elements of a paella are rice, water,olive oil, saffron, tomato, flat green beans, chicken, rabbit and a variety of lima bean known as garrafon in Spanish.

Dear Jennifer:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A QUOTE, PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF MY OFFICES, CALL 966 461 690, EMAIL INFO@JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET OR VISIT THE WEBSITE WWW.JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET WITH the coming of the internet came an explosion of ‘fake news’ but a new exhibition shows that there is nothing new about it. The exhibition at the National Library of Spain (BNE) in Madrid shows that fake news was a thing hundreds of years before former US President Donald Trump popularised the phrase during his 2016 election campaign. And the fake news even pre-dated newspapers, with crazy tales of mermaids and children with horns, printed on single

Dodgy tales on show in new exhibition By Kimberly Mannion

sheets of paper. The BNE holds a valuable collection of old documents littered with propaganda from the 16th and 17th centuries encompassing around 4,000 documents from Spain as well as other European cities and Spanish colonial cities. Many of the stories fall into the same categories cov-

Goya’s return SPAIN'S Goya Awards for film will return to Sevilla next year, it has been announced. Considered by many in Spain as their country's equivalent of the American Academy Awards, the 38th Goya Awards will be held in Sevilla at the start of 2023. It will be the second time the ceremony has been held in the Andalucian capital, the first being in 2019. The last time the awards were held in the city was only the second time in their history that they had been held outside Madrid, after having been held in Barcelona in the year 2000. Andalucia also got another turn when Malaga hosted in 2020, while this year's awards were held in Valencia. President of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, which runs the Goya Awards, Mariano Barroso commended “the Andalusian city's commitment to Spanish and European cinema and culture".

ered by modern journalism: politics, war, religious events and sporting events like bull fights, the latter of course being in 16th century Spanish fashion.

Propaganda

The types of propaganda found in this early journalism is perhaps more obviously false than the fake news of today. Popular stories during the ‘Golden Age’ included appearances of monsters, mermaids, giants and talking fish. Institutions like the Church were among the first in society to recognise the power of the printed word with military tales or cases of non-believers printed under the words ‘enemies of the church’. Elsewhere in Spanish printed media at the time, popular falsehoods included military victories which did not actually happen.

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BUSINESS FOOD GLOOM

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

Getting chippy

SPAIN'S government will spend €12.25 billion over five years to develop the country's micro chip and semiconductor sector. The investment has gone up by over €1 billion from what Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, first proposed in early April. A lot of the money is coming from EU Covid-19 funding to develop new projects and revitalise industries following the pandemic. Economy Minister, Nadia Calviño, revealed that €9.3 billion will be used to build new component factories. The five-year investment will subsidise domestic semiconductor production capacity in leading-edge and mid-range semiconductor manufacturing. Over €1.1 billion will go to research and development with chip design getting €1.3 billion.

Pockets hit by €200 a year and more price hikes to come ANNUAL food costs are expected to rise by an average €200 per family in Spain this year according to an Allianz Food Inflation survey. The yearly food spend is projected to go up to €2,300 due to rising prices but the study says further hikes are likely. Food costs in Spain are lower than the EU average, which comes in €200 higher per annum at €2,500. Increases in fuel, electricity, and fertiliser costs caused firstly by the

By Alex Trelinski

Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine, are seen as the main contributory factors to the price hikes. Events in the Ukraine have affected the supply of basic foods such as wheat and sunflower oil, with prices going up for alternative sources. The Allianz report warns the situation could get much worse as current food prices are not rising at the same proportion as

increases in raw material costs over the past 18 months. It warns that food and beverage producers in the EU have already increased

IN THE POOR HOUSE SPAIN has received yet another warning from the European Commission over its high debt and unemployment risk It has called on the country to exercise restraint in public spending, warning that Spain could see public indebtedness reach a higher level in 2026 than in 2021. Spain’s public deficit soared in 2020 from 3% to 10% fuelled by mass public spending during the pandemic, although it was reduced to 6.9% in 2021 as the economy bounced back.

But to avoid rising debt as the government tackles issues caused by the war in Ukraine, such as energy price hikes, the EU called on the Spanish government to ‘ensure prudent fiscal policy’ in 2023. Debt jumped from 95.5% to 120% of GDP in 2020. Since then, a fall in health costs post-pandemic and the rebound in GDP have helped to bring the debt down to 118.4%. The target is to lower the figure to 110% in 2025, but the EC fears Spain could actually see an increase in debt by 2026.

Hikes

WARNING: Pedro Sanchez

STILL VOLATILE Exchange rates fluctuate on recession fears and ECB rate hike bets, writes Peter Loveday

THE Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate continued to trade in a wide range through the second half of May as fears of a UK recession were stoked following a dramatic surge in UK inflation. Elsewhere a hawkish shift by the European Central Bank (ECB) has also infused volatility into the pairing. This has seen the pairing trade in a range of between €1.16 and €1.18. WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING? The past couple of weeks have seen the GBP/EUR exchange rate continue to trade unevenly, with the pairing fluctuating in response to mixed UK data and signals from the ECB that it will soon begin tightening its monetary policy. In terms of UK data, the pound found itself coming under considerable pressure after the UK’s consumer price index revealed domestic inflation soared to 9% in April. The surge exacerbated concerns over the UK’s cost of living crisis and revived recession fears. A surprisingly upbeat retail sales reading and Bank of England (BoE) rate hike bets helped the pound to quickly bounce back, before a worrying drop in the latest UK services PMI then erased a good portion of these gains. Meanwhile, a more hawkish tilt from the ECB has helped to underpin the euro through the second half of May, with ECB President Christine Lagarde signalling the bank is likely to start raising interest rates in July. This has helped to offset heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, with Russia’s threats against Finland for applying to join NATO stoking fears the conflict could spread to other parts of Europe. Looking ahead, it seems safe to assume that the pound will remain highly sensitive to negative UK data as this would likely feed into recession fears. Any more signals that consumer spending is faltering could leave GBP exchange rates vulnerable to significant pressure.

their prices by an average of 14% since the beginning of 2021. In supermarkets, the most significant price increases have been for oils (+53 %), flour (+28%) and pasta (+19%). The average of a full food shopping trip though has only gone up by 6% as retailers have absorbed around 50% of price hikes to consumers. Allianz warns that high inflation coupled with reduced sales will add pressure to the profitability of businesses, which will probably work its way into a further 'increase in consumer prices'.

Pipe dream PRIME Minister Pedro Sanchez has said he believes the EU should front cash to pay for any new gas connections between Spain and its European allies who are trying to source alternative supplies to Russia. Spain, which has a relatively low dependence on Russian gas supplies, wants a new pipeline to be built between it and France. Sanchez told a news conference in Brussels after a meeting of EU heads of state and government it was the bloc's turn to pay for the infrastructure after Spain has heavily invested over the past decades into capacity to unload and regasify LNG. “We are talking about capacities that were financed by the efforts of the Spanish tax payer and that we will make available to the European Union,” he said.

Open the gates SPAIN has opened the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, allowing workers from Morocco back in after two years. What started as a Covid restriction morphed into a diplomatic row over migration and the sovereignty of the disputed Western Sahara. Prior to the border closure, it was thought some 5,000 Moroccans regularly made the crossing without a visa for business purposes.

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For EUR investors the focus is likely to be on the ECB. Markets will be looking for additional hints as to how aggressively the bank will look to tighten its monetary policy. Expect to see the euro strengthen if ECB policymakers grow increasingly hawkish. Meanwhile the war in Ukraine will no doubt continue to impact the GBP/EUR exchange rate. While the euro is likely to be more sensitive to any developments, any risk-off flows could weigh on Sterling sentiment. PROTECTING AGAINST VOLATILITY This kind of volatility can cause some nasty surprises if you need to transfer money overseas. On a £200,000 transfer, that twocent gap between €1.18 and €1.20 translates to a €4000 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy. Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against volatility. Specialist currency brokers, such as Currencies Direct, offer different tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of the currency market. For instance, you can use a forward contract to secure an exchange rate for up to a year. This way, you won’t lose out if the market moves against you. Services like rate alerts and daily updates make it easy to keep track of what’s going on in the forex world so that you can make informed decisions. And with Currencies Direct you’ll have a dedicated account manager there to provide guidance and support whenever you need them. At Currencies Direct we’re here to talk currency whenever you need us, so get in touch if you want to know more about the latest news or how it could impact your currency transfers. Since 1996 we’ve helped more than 325,000 customers with their currency transfers, just pop into your local Currencies Direct branch or give us a call to find out more.

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

SPAIN has eased entry restrictions for unvaccinated tourists from outside the European Union. Until now, third country nationals including Americans and Brits, were only allowed to enter Spain for non-essential reasons if they had a valid Covid vaccination certificate or proof of recovery. But in a move lobbied for by Spain’s tourism industry to boost visitor numbers ahead of the summer holidays, entry will now be allowed with just a negative test.

Antigen

It means travellers over the age of 12 can enter if they present a PCR test that must be carried out in the 72 hours prior to departure to Spain or an antigen test 24 hours prior to departure. “This is excellent news, much awaited by the tourism sector, which will make it easier for tourists outside of Europe to visit us during the high season,” said tourism minister Maria Reyes Maroto. Children under 12 and those travelling to Spain with an EU COVID passport or equivalent (including NHS COVID travel pass) no longer need to complete the Health Control Form. Those without an EU COVID pass or equivalent must complete the Health Control Form to show evidence of vaccinations or certificate of recovery.

SAN FULGENCIO Town Council has launched a smart phone app to promote the town to not only visitors, but its own residents. The app features information on the history of the town and places of interest, as well as a directory of bars, restaurants, shops and local businesses, which even allows direct bookings to be made. Darren Parmenter, responsible for tourism in

Beach bum

Appy to help

the town said: “The app will not only be aimed at tourists and visitors to San Fulgencio, it is also for the considerable number of year-round residents. “There are many people who don’t follow social networks or local news, but almost everyone has a mobile phone.”

FLIGHT THREAT

Travel chaos in store after strike call by Ryanair staff RYANAIR flights across Europe could be disrupted by strikes this summer over cabin crew working conditions. Spain’s USO and SITCPLA unions have joined forces with counterparts in Belgium, France, Italy, and Portugal to

DEMANDS: Ryanair staff want Michael O’Leary to agree

By Alex Trelinski

coordinate protest action. They argue the budget Irish airline has not listened to demands first made four years ago to improve work contracts

OP Puzzle solutions Quick Crossword Across: 7 Libretto, 8 Rags, 9 Gland, 10 Tipping, 12 Mother Teresa, 14 Combinations, 16 Deplete, 18 Medal, 20 Gels, 21 Effected. Down: 1 Rialto, 2 Grantham, 3 Ltd, 4 Policeman, 5 Prop, 6 Agenda, 11 Braintree, 13 Eminence, 14 Chewed, 15 Neared, 17 Lest, 19 C F O.

SUDOKU

Getting easier

June 2nd - June 15th 2022

for cabin crews. One-day walkouts in September 2018 led to some concessions, but unions now want more substantial changes. They say European strikes will be called this summer if no prog-

ress is made. Union demands include the application of basic non-negotiable worker rights and to recognise the right of staff to organise as union members to participate in collective bargaining. The unions say Ryanair has lost court cases over the way it employs people but governments have been slow to take action. Criticisms range from cabin crew having to work without access to water on planes, poorly prepared payrolls and a lack of transparency over job transfers and promotions, which unions claim is used as a form of pressure on staff to accept worse employment conditions. Ryanair employs 6,000 people in Spain.

PLANS have been unveiled for the largest artificial beach in Europe. Permission has been given to create a giant water park with 25,000 square metres of pools surrounded by 15,000 square metres of sandy beach in Alovera in Guadalajara province. The beach will include water slides, zip lines, as well as a sailing school, watersports, beach volleyball courts and chiringuitos. The project has been drawn up by Grupo Rayet with a budget of €15.6million and if it all goes ahead as planned, it should be open in time for summer 2023. While the local town hall is poised to approve the project which has met environmental regulations, there is much local opposition. Ecologistas en Accion has criticised the project over what it said was ‘unsustainable water management’, saying it will use treated drinking water and need emptying every five years. One of the most frequent complaints by those who live in Madrid is its distance from the coast.

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HEALTH

Vaping change

SPAIN’S government has approved a new draft law to regulate the sales of electronic cigarettes. It means that e-cigarette shops will disappear within five years with tobacconists becoming the only outlet for the product. The law aims to bring e-cigarette standards in line with conventional tobacco products. Quality control, advertising and the prevention of online sales and availability to children all come under the measure. The government says the move will bring Spain into line with European regulations. The draft law now needs to be approved by Congress before hitting the statute book.

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June 2nd - June 15th 2022

EXTREMADURA and Murcia have the highest percentage of daily smokers in Spain’s regions according to figures released to coincide with last Tuesday’s World No Tobacco Day. The AECC cancer charity says 25% of people in Extremadura smoke every day, closely followed by Murcia on 24%. Andalucia, the Balearic Islands, Cata-

Monkeypox worries grow as more cases found GLOBAL health officials have sounded the alarm over rising cases in Europe and elsewhere of monkeypox, a type of viral infection more common to west and central Africa. The first cases in Europe were

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lunya, the Canary Islands and Castilla la Mancha come equal third on 21%. The number of daily smokers in the Valencian Community is 20%. The fewest smokers are found in the North African enclaves of Ceuta and

Melilla(15%) and in the Basque Country(16%). A 2005 Smoking Law backed up by EU measures in 2010 to stop smoking inside bars and restaurants has produced a substantial lowering in people consuming tobacco. Some 28.1% of people in 2003 were smokers but that fell to 19.8% by 2020.

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THE Junta has announced a military hospital will be transferred into the public healthcare system. Speaking at a forum about challenges faced by the Junta, President Juanma Moreno confirmed the old Doctor Pascual military hospital will be appropriated and incorporated into the Andalucina health service early next year.

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detected in the UK with Spain now accounting for more cases than anywhere else, although cases have now been identified across Europe, the US, Canada, Israel, and Australia. The number of monkeypox cases in Spain rose over the weekend by 22 confirmed cases to 120. Spain now has the most cases in Europe followed by the United Kingdom with 106 and neighbouring Portugal where 74 cases have been confirmed. The majority of cases within Spain have been detected in Madrid and are linked to an outbreak traced to a gay sauna in the capital. One woman has tested positive but all other cases confirmed in Spain are among men. Another spike in cases is be-

Doctor’s orders

lieved to stem from a Pride festival on Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands. Protocol issue by health authorities require that those diagnosed with monkeypox self-isolate and wear face masks to stem the spread. Although most of the known cases in Europe have been among men who have sex with men, experts are emphasising that it can be spread by any close bodily contact. Spain’s LGBTQ community

has expressed fears that the recent outbreaks of monkeypox could lead to an increase in homophobic sentiment based on misunderstandings of the disease.

Sexual

Although the recent outbreak has affected men mostly involved in sexual relations with other men, it is not defined as a ‘sexually transmitted virus’ and is in no way limited to gay men.

The hospital, which is currently unused, has space for 200 beds, four operating theatres, consulting rooms and a diagnostic test facility. Moreno said: “This hospital, which has been closed for years, will significantly improve healthcare for the people of Malaga, especially patients with chronic illnesses and those suffering from several conditions. People who accuse us of wanting to privatise healthcare should note that we are turning what was a private hospital into a public one.” It will mark the fourth health service hospital in Malaga city.

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MALAGA’S maternity hospital has begun using virtual reality technology to help distract kids in their own virtual world while they are being administered drugs intravenously.

Worth a try SPAIN has lodged a formal appeal against being thrown out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup for fielding an ineligible player in two qualifying matches.

Spaced out A TEAM of Basque engineers has received funding from the European Space Agency to develop a concept that will attempt to convert the CO2 on Mars into methane for rocket fuel.

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Vol. 3 Issue 66 www.theolivepress.es June 2nd - June 15th 2022

POETIC JUSTICE

Eurovision comeuppance for Spain 54 years after rigged vote THE UK has been accused of robbing Spain of second place at Eurovision thanks to a dodgy algorithm. After six countries voted for each other in the semi-finals of the contest in a pact, the organisers opted to scrap their votes and instead use an algorithm. Had this algorithm not been used, a report by the BBC says, Spain would have pipped the UK to second. Some may see this as a long awaited reckoning for Spain as

in 1968 Massiel famously beat English crooner Cliff Richard and his classic Congratulations with her somewhat repetitive La, La, La. It was later revealed the singer had a helping hand by none other than Spanish dictator Francisco Franco who had rigged the competition. He reportedly had the competition fixed to improve Spain’s image abroad, buying television programmes from European neighbours in exchange

54 YEARS LATER: Cliff’s revenge on Chanel for ‘douze points’ on the night Charlotte McDonald a Euroof the contest which was held vision reporter, told BBC Rain London’s Royal Albert Hall dio 4’s More or Less: “If I was Spanish, I would certainly be claiming that Spain beat the UK. I think it would have been a really big scandal if Ukraine hadn’t blown everyone away HAMSTERS which have been in contact with suspected caswith an extraordinary audies of monkeypox will have to quarantine in Andalucia ence vote.” The Junta has confirmed that the furry creatures will have to The contest, normally a disstay behind bars in isolation to stop the spread of the virus. mal failure for the British, was The region’s health advisor Jesus Aguirre explained that deturned on its head as Sam Ryspite being named monkeypox, other animals such as squirder’s Space Man outstripped rels - and hamsters - can also transmit this virus. And their is Chanel’s ‘SloMo’ by seven a high chance of humans passing the disease on to their pets. points to come in second.

Hamsters jailed

A HUMPBACK whale who made international headlines after being freed from illegal netting off Mallorca has died off the Valencia coast. The 12-metre long whale was spotted in difficulty in shallow waters off Tavernes de la Valldigna beach. It eventually washed up on Friday, with Valencia's Fundacion Oceanografic planning an autopsy to determine what caused it to die. The whale was originally saved by divers after getting entangled in illegal fishnets two kilometres off Cala Millor in Mallorca. Experts said it swam to the Valencia coast with several cuts on its dorsal fin and was 'extremely weak' before it eventually died.

Too slow F1 driver Sebastian Vettel was in a race of a different kind when he unsuccesfully tried to chase down thieves who had snatched his bag. The four-time world champion hopped on an electric scooter and weaved through the streets of Barcelona after his possessions were grabbed.

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