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Olive press wins key journalism award See page 7
Vol. 4 Issue 84 www.theolivepress.es July 10th - July 23rd 2020
Muzzle up!
MASKED: Obey the new rules or risk €100 fine
Everyone MUST wear face masks in public in the Balearics next week - or face a heavy fine
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EXPATS have criticised a new ruling making the wearing of masks obligatory in the Balearics from Monday. They have questioned the decree insisting everyone must don the personal protective gear in all public spaces, apart from beaches and swimming pools. Those caught not wearing a mask will face fines of €100, regardless of whether they are social distancing or not, although masks will not be needed during sports. Regional president Francina Armengol explained that the ruling is for the protection of residents and tourists as ‘the virus con-
By Laurence Dollimore and Isha Sesay
tinues to coexist in our society.’ But British expat Marta Allan, 37, who teaches ballet in Palma, believes the new rules are ‘ridiculous’. “I think it is just a way for the government to raise money in fines,” she told the Olive Press. “They just want to reclaim money lost for this year’s poor tourism season. And why are the Balearics about the only region to make this decision?” Her views were backed up by Sylvia Er-
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nesti, 32, originally from London who was furious with the decision. She said: “I am actually shocked. Absolutely not looking forward to wearing this mask in the 35 degree heat and it is just a way to make money from tourists I bet. Police must have more important things to do surely” In even more draconian plans, the island’s health minister Patricia Gomez admitted the government is also considering reducing the number of people who can meet. It could be as few as 70 people in open spaces and 30 people in closed spaces, while up to 250 people will be allowed to gather for an outdoor wedding. Gomez said the decision to potentially reduce gathering numbers comes after several private parties were busted after breaking several social distancing guidelines. There are currently 10 fresh active outbreaks of COVID-19 on the Balearics. Some nine of these are in Mallorca, with three new ones in the past week alone. One new outbreak was also announced in Menorca on Thursday. The total number of positive people across the islands stands at 139, with 57 of them coming from the fresh outbreaks. “They are very limited outbreaks affecting very few people, and most of them have mild symptoms,” said regional health adviser Javier Arranz.
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Knifepoint A MANHUNT has been launched to find the perpetrators of a violent home robbery in Llombards in which a man was intimidated into handing over €80 by two knife wielding assailants.
Holy ground A PARISH priest has been accused of sexually abusing an altar boy, with police alleging that he showed the victim porn on his office computer.
Flasher
Manacor killing A WOMAN has been arrested for allegedly stabbing her partner to death in Mallorca. According to initial reports by the Policia Nacional, the detainee, 30, was taken into custody at her home in Manacor. Several neighbours had alerted the emergency services
after hearing the couple having a heated argument inside their flat. This dispute then moved to the communal stairs of the apartment block located on Calle Sant Joan Baptista de la Salle. Officers arrived at the complex a short time later and once entering inside they found the man, 32, lying in a pool of blood on the stairs. He was moved to a landing floor where CPR was performed by agents.
Stab horror
FUMING: Neil Hathaway
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CRIME SCENE: Police found man stabbed
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AN OFF-DUTY policeman has stopped a man from kidnapping a prostitute in Palma. According to the Policia Nacional, the detective witnessed the shocking events unfold while he was sitting at a terrace in Port de Sant Antoni drinking coffee. A car had driven full speed down the road, pulling to a dramatic stop next to a woman who was standing on the corner of the street. The man then proceeded to get out of his vehicle to beat the woman before attempting to drag her into the back seat of his ANGER: Over article (above) car. and car used in drive Hearing her screams for help, the police officer ran over to the car, holding the suspect down as he called for immediate 4 www.theolivepress.es backup from his headquarters. NEWS March 5th - March 18th 2020 EXCLUSIVE According to the Latvian By Jon Clarke Hdetainee, oliday 43, he had met with the prostitute aphe ll official court documents. proximately 30 minutes Defendants in ‘lan ark’ case When the Olive Press against fraudulentdm before the incident took financial firm Reporters claim they did not tracked Hathaway down pen Simon Wad place. sions were put know clients’ e and at risk Joshua Parfitt to his multi-million euro He alleged that she had mansion Your in the hills above agreed to exchange sexOLIVE Javearephe couldn’t deny orters, PRESS ual services for money, the theft, here to with his SUV Profits however her friends had and helpinonthe drive. parked interrupted them, steallo ss es “Butthe it Cowas sta a lot less ing his wallet and phone. Blanca papers than the police Once aware of the theft claimed,” he insisted. he admitted to becoming Contact them with ‘extremely upset,’ with stories or news any on 951 273 575 or emai l news desk the intention of finding @the olive Angry press.es the woman to reclaim his (Personal contacts “I was angry, just very on page 6) possessions. She angry, as you printed docOLIVE was told by CWM staff that uments from the court,” he PRESS transferring the money was Shame added. the only way to protect it for “My wife was approached at her two young children if she work. I was just protecting passed away. my name along with everyIn declarations made in thing else,” he added. February, Hathaway, along As for the CWM situation he with two other former colinsisted he ‘didn’t go out to leagues Anthoscam anybody’ A SERIAL masturbater ny Downs and and added he has been arrested in PalDean Stogsdill, had lost ‘a lot ma. claimed their of money’ as “I was angry, The detainee, 35, had alformer boss well, but delegedly chased several just very angry, Kirby was reclined to say girls down the street, insponsible for how much. as you printed cluding young children. convincing Denia court is Once catching up with to set to contin- documents from claimants his targets, he proceeded move investue its probe to masturbate in front of the court” ments from into how 750 them. low to high victims lost Multiple calls had been risk. millions, with made to the emergenPensions investigator Angela at least 17 losing their entire cy services by concerned Brooks told the Olive Press pension pots. residents about the man the case would set a major These include former Blackstating that he had been ‘precedent’ across Europe. pool bus driver Les Hutchrunning after girls and “It’s a disgrace that it’s takings, 67, who lost nearly was now standing in the en a Spanish lawyer in Spain his entire €117,000 private middle of the road with and a Spanish criminal judge pension when it ended up in his pants to his ankles to recognise the wickedness high-risk portfolios without masturbating. of actions taken by all parties his knowledge. The Policia Nacional concerned. Another is widow Karen quickly located the sus“The scale of this case has O’Hagan, who lost €72,000 pect who initially denied made the courts sit up and of her RBS pension in similar any wrongdoing. take notice.” circumstances.
GOTCHA: Financier banged to rights stealing Olive Press newspaper to cover up his links to fraud trial THE former chairman of a crooked wealth management company has been accused of stealing hundreds of copies of the Olive Press newspaper, court documents have confirmed. Police have grilled the wealthy moneyman over the theft of up to 20 bundles of the paper on the Costa Blanca. It comes after witnesses spotted Neil Hathaway jumping out of a black SUV and lifting entire bundles from our stands along with an accomplice. Hathaway, who had been grilled over his involvement in the Continental Wealth Management scandal, took umbrage to his name appearing in an article in our March 5 edition. He insisted he had taken the papers as he ‘was angry’ with the story headed ‘In Denial’, about how he and his colleagues scammed hundreds of investors out of an estimated €35 million. Tee company is accused of fraud and falsifying commercial documents among other crimes. The Olive Press is now taking legal action against the British financial advisor, who worked alongside the CWM team at Javea’s upmarket Marriott Hotel. While many victims lost everything and, at least one killed themselves, its owners lived lives of luxury with sports cars, exotic foreign holidays and designer clothes. Director Jodie Smart launched a fashion label and twice flew to New York fashion week, it was claimed in
In denial EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfi tt
DEFENDANTS in a ‘landmark’ case again ish-run financial st a Britdenied all know firm have scam that lost ledge of a €35 million of its clients pensi on investment. Instead they blamed the boss of Continenta l Wealth Management (CWM ) Darren Kirby (abov e) for destroying the hopes and dreams of 750 expats around Spain. In a tense heari ng at Denia Court three forme ees denied they r employput their client knowingly ‘high risk’ invess funds into The trio, Anthotments. Neil Hathaway ny Downs, Stogsdill, are and Dean fraud, disloyal accused of administration and falsifying commercial documents.
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me they doing.” knew what they were He added: “I believe the investments some of without rying’. were that is themy knowledge. I made “This negates case because think recall signing of the service the very essence I do not investments sheets for all offer,” said they are meant the Flores. “It to An email, I had.” cheque is a blank Press, showsseen by the whenever.to invest wherever, has gone down by ent to sign CWM asking Olive “If standard need compensation half and a cliand return dealing instruction. very worrying. practice, this back on track. a blank to get itI “Signing is Another “But some blank is tryingBritish expat, 55, documents have lost people who would be €200,000, to recover around thing and everyas irregular seen ers ‘have said some pensionhave enoughdon’t lost everything’. in a court of “My paper to live on. work that One reproblem law. The has been tired victim I sent altered, my these firms with was changed has €50,000 only risk level is that PENSION they from ‘medium’ ‘high’ and left from €480,000.” all into OUTRAGE vestingwere tions have my dealing instrucAndalucia-based in highly risky investments repeatedly been photocopied lawyer without ing assets for buying and Flores, Antonio the clisellI didn’t ents knowing.” whose he said. authorise,” firm Lawbird He claimed “I still have are that representsome losses sustained and I am ing some still youngmoney left by CWM get compensation, victims, enough to would investors but my fund vestmentsaid signing blank hopefully sheets was be inas the investments recoverable ‘very worto perform, that failed or went bust, linked to were Pension life insurance policies. trustees and Trafalgar Momentum SPECIALIZING ing to recoupare now attemptIN: CMW clients’ losses. CRIMINAL LAW The Olive CIVIL LAW unable to Press has so far registered discover if CWMbeen BANKING (FLOOR was ment adviceto provide investCLAUSE) cial financial with Spain’s FAMILY LAW offiregulator CNMV. Opinion Page 6
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What do Fatboy Slim, Paul Haggis, director Dean Norris John Travolta, and Pilou have in common? Asbaek They’ve all had links Balearics to the this week
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PENSION OUTRAGE
SPAIN’S accused prime Catalan minister Puigdemont has leader sion’ after of causing Carles signing of independence. ‘confua declaration Mariano Rajoy clarify if he had demanded independence really he day’s nail bitingfollowingdeclared Catalan address TuesIf so, parliament. to the trigger Rajoy insisted Article constitution 155 he could take direct to allow of Spain’s Madrid control “There of Catalunya. to put an is an urgent end to Catalunya need the to is going situation that through Continues - to
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Expats millionslose
CONFUSION in life savings should reigns hotels foot the bill over who through hit by for Mallorca line Monarch. the collapse failed investment Balearic of air€10millionhotels scheme are lapse bill over facing that saw repatriation the col-a the emergency back EXCLUSIVE of Palma.to the UK,over 110,000 By Joe many Duggan Administrator from Olive HUNDREDS KPMG Press Monarch ish expats ‘the debt told the of Britto hoteliers as an owed to retrieve are battling unsecured by will rank the defunct sions claim’ after their pen“They airline. against £20 million losing will have the joint pension up to to file in a failed a claim the moneyadministrators scheme. to investment a spokesman. they are for owed,” all Spanish-based OFF “It has TO OZ: said cial (yet) hownot been advisory finan- and (above) Boss Kirby tinental determined available much money firm Con- March team agement Wealth to creditors.” will charity at be last (CWM) Manbash
folded ing month Untitled-1.pdf obliteratBrits’many heartbroken life savings. 1
whose by hasboss Darren now moved Kir- It is allegedly to Australia. One 300 believed at least based Costa-del-Sol- clientsof CWM’s Olive expat pension have had 900 £59,000Press told the mated, their pots he sunk CWM, shocked with decithrough cover only realising had victims to later the value his lost £39,000 he investments dis- to of their ain end up sent apension when meted back had plumtrustees However, statement. on dramatically. “I couldn’t “I havebenefits.”in Brithave close believe praise nothing a source lost thousands pounds,” for Tony it. I sisted: to the [Trafalgar but victim, revealed of many ‘There case in- Stewart Barnett MD] are still mentum Davies asking main customers the are happy and “The anonymous.to re- pension [Mowith who tive]. Theychef adviser ing me, portfolio.’ A their magnificent haveexecu‘This kept tell- taxn d a l u c teed, Many ing to been ia-b it can’t is guaranspecialist of them certain transferred a s e d money.” Brooks, recoup in trygo below level’.” people’s had His money, a pert on a leadingAngie The Olive UK their pri- others through15:36 eration pension ex- derstands pensions France,acrossand that Press the company, schemes lib- possible of the unit is high-risk was Spain and Life,founder and may be legal highly put into of investor ‘professional a fighthas now Pension parties action taken has been only’ tims’ to helplaunched againstby some assets, money get claimed. CWM, it She is back. vicworking side pension alongTrafalgar trustees and International sions.Momentum “People Pen- based distressed,” are ters in out of headquarterribly executives. Alicante, based Olive Brooks Granada- Both and its told the office lost Press. “They the and the in Javea their large amountshave recently website ings.” retirement shut. have of When She sav- spoke the Olive to boss these added: “Some ‘definitively’ Press people of responsibility Kirby he are going denied crash. world,” “I have over the A closehe said. lost my Kirby’s associate told Press XX 20 of formerthe Olive staff set’. were all CWM Ave de Gabriel ‘very “It is upRoca 4, Palma still for them, working andquite raw they out what next,” are he said. to do
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Wickedness In what is Spain VENDORS GUIDE legal scrutiny of ’s largest Want to sell ABSENT: Kirb financial scam British-run your property y (above) was ? s to date, Jodie (right) and a no-show at cour the trio were grille 96 649 1883 a previous Olive t, falsifying docum d about Press front page miss-selling toxicents and Another is widow Karen invest- O’Hagan, ments. who lost €72,000 ” Smart has previously denied ever dealin of her RBS pensi A total of 17 claim on. ents or havin g with clibrought the privaants have It came after she g anyth cution as Denia te prose - by CWM staff that was told to do with the runni ing to bring forme court seeks ring the money wastransfer- CWM other than promng of r boss Kir- way otion the only online and by and sole direc to protect it in the media. Smart to justice. tor Jody young children if for her two she passed away. Kirby failed to attend the hearing on Febru and could now face ary 24, Meanwhile, Smar arrest. to delay attendingt was able Angela Brooks, who is leading until next montthe hear- ing the private prosecutio n, damage to a restau h due to told the Olive Press the case owns during Storm rant she will set a major ‘precedent’ across Europe. Court transcripts Gloria. the Olive Press passed to “It’s a disgrace that the ex-employe reveal how taken a Spanish lawyer it’s es in denie Spain d all and a Spanish accusations put crimto them. inal judge to The defendants claimed wickedness of recognise the that former boss actions taken responsible for Kirby was by all parties concerned. moving “There is no the funds from precedent for low-r this. isk to It is going to sham high-risk. e all the other jurisd One of the victim ictions s, former throughout Blackpool bus Europe and Hutchings, 67, driver Les yond into acknowledg being his entire €117, lost nearly what many offshore advipension when it 000 private sors have been doing for toxic portfolios ended up in years. “The scale of this case without his has made knowledge. the courts sit up and take notice. TRAVEL INSURANCE
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CATALUNYA’S leader has beleaguered vowed to from abroad. fight on It came after Carles mont handed Puigdehimself Belgian police when in to pean arrest warrant a Eurosued. was isHe and four other are accused politicians on charges bellion, of republic sedition, misuse funds, of and breach disobedience of trust. A judge up to twoin Belgium now they will weeks to decidehas to Spain. extradite the groupif
BRITISH expats who to €20 million Fight lost sion advisory in a failed up Given the firm believe pensignatures whole extradition process tocopied may have been their days, it can take up ments. onto investment phodocuto run means he mayto 60 Around have campaignhis entire election in Spain, 300 Brits, most living are battling European for the Catalan their funds to retrieve Democratic after Alicante-based from Belgium. firm Continental Party His party agement Wealth wants him for continued tember, (CWM) folded Manto the regional leadershipfight Olive as first reportedin Septhe December parliament of Boss Press a month ago. in the Puigdemont 21 elections. in tralia Darren Kirby left following for Ausdenied fled to Brussels the company’s the closure he had tice but main Javea of fices. that he to avoid jusofthe Spanish left because Victims, who are preparing government Spain, as spread across was well as in sion and a ‘wave of oppreslorca, Portugal, Ibiza, Malseparatists. violence’ against Turkey, France fear illegal and “I’m absolutely after being asked to practices that the convinced dealing instructions. sign blank a harsh state was preparing Their pension for whichwave of repression pots were invested then in high-risk been held we would have which promised responsible,” all said yesterday. commissions. to pay outassets he large “The Spanish One 69-year-old state is mitting told the a brutal compensioner if we don’t repression… €210,000 Olive Press he lost together, battle repression €470,000 after transferring may win the Spanish had a ‘low despite stating state this to medium he In a show fight.” to risk’ attitude aversion BOSS: of support deposed “I was asked, to investment. Kirby now president, to the 200 Catalan Australia in blank form. ‘Can you sign around this We will dence mayors pro-independetails.’ I Untitled-1.pdf he said. fill Brussels travelled would act did that trustingin1the “They to in my best they 16/06/2017should have a rally. on Tuesday to been looking interests,” out for me stage 15:36 feathering but they were just their own nests. To
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2019 See Property SPAIN’S PP party cious plans Magazine has set for back inside out control a power grab audafrom to take and theValencia a u t o n other regions.o m o u s Leader Casado Pablo announced commitment his strengthen to the central government’s to the national role in the He insisted elections run up that such in a fortnight. prevent in taxes. corruption and a move would lead to It comes a drop off the as the party threat Party, whose from anattempts to see EXCLUSIVE insurgent By Joshua autonomous leader has described Vox Parfitt cer of Spain’. parliaments as the the THE Under the Voted REuse ‘canbeleaguered plan, the REduce se resources wealth expat REcycle PP wants paper managementboss of in Spain delegations for regional allegedly to increaa failed Govt in exile and government transfer million lost expats company which of power paralyse any court. has ignored more than €20 Voted to the regions.further a summons expat Darren paper in Spain to REuse Kirby, Continental REduce Supremacy of REcycle Casado Confusion (CWM), Wealth Alicante-based reigns insisted Spain being court on failed to turn Management the move up at Denia administered tively’. would AccordingMarch 26. see was ‘more effecThe election due to Olive Press party would hopeful sources business to turn up, alongside Who’s he partners, carry out stated that view of paying The former us? a sweeping his who case involves who did turn operate how the regional a trio of up. looking re- moneylost substantial ty.’ investors, at ‘efficiencyauthorities amounts Spain’s 2017. when the company and equiShould quasi-federal of ‘autonomous have Kirby folded of legged it Three Lions in the constitution states’political system pub llowingallegedly fled ter Pedro ning to the collapse,to Australia in 1978. was added to HOW foSanchez, WE TOLD Prime Ministhe constitution, “DarrenAlicante last finally returThree Lion whose year. pub s IT: Our has plan, insisting strongly party drafted which England.” 2017 reports he didn’tbeen sent a opposed ‘tooth and the will now The the ways,” have sign for, so Burofax how Olive Press nail’ thePSOE would defend nal self-government. exclusively principal CWM a sourceto pursue himthe court abruptly “A judge losing of regioformer in other said. revealed it’s under is dealing vings inhundreds of folded in 2017, “It was member of staff. with this a prestigious legal review,” “We understand The firm,the process. expats’ life day and sa- said, they just he added. Marriott which was shut place but he is currently asking based out to ten’ Hotel, in Denia, not to be the door,” one Victims of telesales in ttered she named. had the asked had raised fears about to sign around staff and clients‘eight tions blank dealing Europe, being revealedsca- vestedand their pensions instruca large in high-risk commissions.assets being inNO SHOW: which paid One pensioner Darren ta Blanca res. “It based Kirby is a blank on the told the lost €210,000 wherever, CosOlive Press whenever.cheque to €470,000 “It is invest he investing very worrying despiteafter transferring low to as they clients’ “I wasmedium risk stating he had risky attitude. asked, a funds investments money in were blank form. ‘Can just becauseas well as highly We will you sign ls.’ I did gher commissions.” fill in the this they paiddubious that trusting in my best He added detaithe hiinterests,” they would “They investors that losses act he said. sustained for me should have been verable should however, and they by looking their own led to as the investments be recowere out what they nests. To just feathering linked perform, or that faiwent bust, Lawyer were doing.”me they knew See pages When to life insurance were 26-29 Lawbird Antonio Flores, hold of the Olive Presspolicies. of victims,is representing whose firm denied Kirby in Octoberfinally all responsibility. got ment sheetssaid signing a number my world,” 2017, blank investwas “This he said. “I have he Tel. (+34) negates ‘very worrying’. lost financial Are you 96 649 18 the info@hispaniahomes.es advisory very essence 29 member? a victim services,”said of www.hispaniahomes.co.uk or former the case? Do you know FloContact more staff newsdesk@theolivepress.es the Olive about HOW TO Press at SELL YOUR
NOTORIOUS signer has expat fashion businesswom: Disgraced been accused to €1million of receiving dean Jody accused from an unlicensed up EXCLUSIVE Smart Blanca financial in financial GUIDE By Joshua Costa scandal advisory company. Companies three British Parfitt in Jody Smart’s given the money huge sums inal charges claimants are seeking ‘without falling by defunct name were Worse, Wealth Management accounting for aggravated fraud,crim- after CWM’s Continental into it comes years’ before fake (CWM) in September ens of victims as it emerges losses’. organisation.and belonging to a 2017 collapse criminal left him with just €22,000 left destitute that doz- The left hundreds its high-profile the two less by investments complaints the and collapse from initial €20million of investors an estimated of more concern bungled Smart and Denia-based firm arepenni- transactions, (approx out of pocket, her former suing pension house Davison €900,000). than ₤800,000 unpaid vealed. Kirby. partner Darren it can be reinvestments loans and A total of In the first ants over €1million that lost the failed sion just was diagnosed with €999,435 case to reach claim- turning weeks after the depresto her fashion was paid the courts, One of the victims, between them. collapse, to alcohol SL and propertylabel Jody Bell Mark ically died, abuse and before aged 59, in Davison, trag- ing type-2 diabetes, pany Mercurio holding comaccording developshot July this Conpro SL to a video tween 2015 year His just before his death. bebody, ing to bank and 2017, accordsores, had covered with lesions to the Olive statements shown a week in lain undiscovered for and In documents the mid-summer Brit Jody, Press. up to home in Sanet. heat at his Press, CWM seen by a €144,00043, was also paid “Mark died the Olive commission was paid €3,391,873 as a result telling a court salary - despite done to him,” of what had bonds and for selling of know what that she ‘did not been low claimant, Timothy Benjamin, prus-based investments insurance sole director it meant to be a by two Cy“By the end told the Olive Press. a felfinancial of company’ October was only involved firms, between and 2015 and to appear.” he didn’t want the A January in ‘marketdaylight September ing and PR’. Benjamin, 2019 statement 2017. Spain’s financial In a series after he lost67, likewise felt ‘ashamed’ of shocking from insurance regulator larations his €250,000 decsion, reinvested given to private penbreach of bonds were revealed Court of Instruction Denia’s by CWM investments, sold in into ‘risky’ What is the law. has emerged No.3 it In his officialvia QROPS. funded a certain is that ny could ill that the compatestimony court how ‘lavish lifestyle’this money afford to pay he told the players Kirby these (€375,000he had transferred ₤325,000 and Smart, for its key in a relationship sale to CWMapprox) from a to March together who were investing it on the basis the property 2017, according from 2011 staff members. firm was But court in a villa in Monte Pego. to former papers revealed went directly to the bank ₤200,000 account of Continues on Page 2 Tel. (+34) 96 UK BASED 649 info@hispaniahom18 29 www.hispaniahom es.es es.co.uk
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Carles Confusion reigns
SPAIN’S accused prime minister Catalan has Puigdemont leader sion’ after of causing Carles ‘confusigning of independence. a declaration Mariano clarify if Rajoy demanded he had he independence really followingdeclared day’s nail Catalan biting address Tuesparliament. to the If so, Rajoy insisted trigger he Article constitution 155 of could Spain’s take direct to allow Madrid control of to “There Catalunya. is an urgent put an end need to Catalunya to the situation is going through that - to Continues
Who’s paying us?
in CONFUSION life savings reigns over should foot through who hotels hit the bill for Mallorca by the collapse failed line Monarch. investment of airBalearic scheme €10millionhotels are facing a lapse that bill over the colrepatriationsaw the emergency EXCLUSIVE of over back to By Joe 110,000 Duggan Palma. the UK, many from Administrator HUNDREDS KPMG Olive Press ish expats of Brit‘the debt told the Monarch to retrieve are battling to hoteliers owed by as an unsecured sions after their will rank the defunct claim’ against losing pen£20 million “They will airline. up to pension in a failed the joint have to file a scheme. investment the moneyadministratorsclaim to OFF TO for all Spanish-based they are OZ: a spokesman. owed,” said and (above) Boss Kirby cial advisory “It has finanteam at tinental firm Con- March charity (yet) hownot been determined agement Wealth Manbash available much money to creditors.” will be last (CWM) folded Many month
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He was however pronounced dead at the scene with several stab wounds to his back, one of which punctured his heart. It is understood that the detainee has admitted to stabbing her partner but has claimed that it was done as an act of self defence. Police say the woman, of Honduran origin, had denounced her partner, of Ecuadorian origin, for abuse on several occasions and had recently taken a restraining order out against him.
Paper trail
A MAN has been arrested for allegedly taking pictures of tourists’ children on Playa Camp de Mar, with an off duty police officer who witnessed the man behaving suspiciously notifying the Guardia Civil.
A MAN, 20, has been charged with attempted murder for stabbing a man in the chest with a knife, with arresting officers finding two hidden blades when they searched him.
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
The
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A BRITISH touris stabbed, robbed t has been talised by three and hospiminors who recorded the attack on their phones. The trio were cuffed by police in Sant Vicen peig, near Alicant de Rastheir victim suffer te, after lapsed lung and ed a colhad to undergo emergency A statement said surgery. the group stabbed the victim in the back with a pen-k nife, whilst recording on their mobile the attack phones. The unnamed holid was taking a morn aymaker when he sensed ing stroll ing followed, sohe was bereturned home as a preca ution. The gang caugh him and a strug t up with gle ensued, where he was attack ed and robbed of his wallet and mobile. A passerby help, calling anstopped to ambulance straight away. The man suffer lapsed lung and ed a colly went into surgeimmediateCCTV quickly ry. the identity of theestablished two of which wereattackers, already known to police Matching clothi. weapon used inng and the were found in the attack subse quent house searches. The 16 and 17-ye ar-olds arrested were charg the crimes of robbeed with violence and woun ry with ding with intent.
Hard time
NEWS
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STEPPING IN: Villanelle’s Barcelona flat
Bite of the Big Apple DANI Garcia has announced his return to New York with a fine dining restaurant and a ‘fast food’ venture. The controversial Spanish chef is descending on the Big Apple six years after his dream opening there, Manzanilla, closed with debts of €600,000. The 44-year-old is famous for shutting down his eponymous Costa del Sol eatery, just a month after it garnered a third Michelin star. Garcia, who also launched a McDonalds burger, aims to open 15 ‘full service’ Casa Dani restaurants and up to 100 ‘quick service’ Minük joints in the US and worldwide.
THE Spanish base for an infamous TV assassin is up for rent in Barcelona. Liverpudlian actress Jodie Comer has won rave reviews for playing contract killer Villanelle in the big international hit, Killing Eve, and now visitors can book the property online via Airbnb. The Art Nouveau flat that featured in the series was
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
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Making a killing designed in 1906 and will cost at least €300 a night to hire. Fans of the show will be able to see where Villanelle hung out and plotted some of her latest adventures.
Chequebook love Ex-lover of former king claims she was given €65 million out of ‘gratitude’ By Scarlet Jenkins
GERMAN aristocrat Corinna Larsen says her former lover, King Juan Carlos gave her €64.8 million ‘out of gratitude and love.’ She believes the ‘gift’ might have been an attempt to ‘win her back.’
THE King and Queen of Spain have embarked on a royal tour in order to promote the new normality and encourage tourists to visit. Felipe VI along with his wife Letizia spent a few days in Andalucia as part of their tour, visiting both Sevilla and Cordoba. The glamorous duo started their tour in the Canary Islands, before moving to the Balearics, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia and most recently Murcia. The official objective of this tour of the country is ‘to promote the most characteristic activities of each region in all sectors, economic, social and cultural.’ In addition, the Royal couple want to thank and recognise in person the effort that everyone made to overcome the pandemic. "We promote the message that now travel throughout the country," said the King.
LOVEBIRDS: Corinna Larsen and King Juan Carlos She made the statement to the Geneva Prosecutor's Office in 2018, but it was only released recently due to Larsen claiming her right within Swiss law to appeal sending her statement to another country.
Going walkabout
It is now seen as crucial in an ongoing investigation into the retired king for money laundering and tax fraud. The business woman, whose full name is Corinna Zu Saynn-Wittgenstein, claims ‘it was a gift,’ and not an attempt ‘to get rid of the money’. Larsen stated she was called up by Juan Carlos’s lawyer, Dante Canonical, who told her the retired king wanted to give her the cash to ensure a ‘good future for my children and me.’
Donations
Larsen was also questioned about €1.5 million given to her by her royal lover in 2011, but she claimed it was a ‘donation’ so she could buy a house in central London. The four people involved, including Larsen, Juan Carlos, Canonical, and the king's manager, Arturo Fasana, are being tried for money laundering, which would result in a five year prison sentence.
HOLLYWOOD HUNK: Hugh Jackman’s global goal
Wolverine a fan of PM Sanchez
HOLLYWOOD actor Hugh Jackman has shared an Instagram story of Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, along with the Spanish flag. The Australian actor posted these stories as part of the worldwide campaign Global Goal: Unite For Our Future. On June 27, world leaders from around the world took part in the campaign, along with music stars, such as Justin Bieber and Shakira, who performed in order to raise money. Many famous figures from numerous industries have been involved with this campaign, including Bill Gates, who donated millions. The social initiative calls on world leaders to commit the financial resources necessary to deliver tests, treatments and vaccines to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the world's most vulnerable people. In the video, Sanchez said: “We must mobilise so that the health crisis does not provoke a human rights crisis.” Jackman's post, which also features a waving flag of Spain, has caused quite a stir among his followers, who have commented hundreds of times.
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Buzzing in MOSQUITOS have boomed in numbers due to a ‘perfect storm’ of wet weather in the spring, a nationwide lockdown and searing summer temperatures. Experts have warned of three types of blood-suckers along the Costa del Sol this year; the common Culex, the tiger and the marsh mosquito. “The Culex is the one that bothers you as you try to sleep and bites in the night,” said expert Raimundo Leal. Their numbers have been aided by the wetter than usual spring which created much more areas of accumulated water.
Suckers
“Any container left with water in it allowed for the mosquitos to multiply,” he added. The more harmful tiger mosquito has also experienced a boom this year, and this is the one governments need to tackle. They usually attack more in urban settings and are attracted to any small container carrying water, such as a flower pot. They attack during the day and on the street, rarely making it into the home, and they normally go for the legs and transmit serious tropical diseases such as Zike or Dengue.
SPAIN has closed seven out a total 15 coal-fuelled power plants after EU restrictions have cut profitability in the sector drastically. On June 30, the plants in A Coruña, Asturias, Leon, Teruel, Cordoba and Palen-
cia closed their doors for the last time. Increases in penalties for the production of CO2 emissions to punitive levels have caused traditional fossil fuel factories to fall behind natural and renewable energy sources.
END OF COAL? A large drop in the price of natural gas due to European surpluses have also encouraged energy companies to replace outdated coal production with gas.
Flagged up
Mallorca beaches shamed
A BEACH and port in Mallorca have been handed a black flag for being among the most polluted in Spain. The Port of Palma and Cala Egos in Santanyi have this week been classified as an ‘environmental disaster’ by Ecologists in Action. Awarding 48 black flags to Spain this year, the activist group aims to highlight polluted or poorly-managed areas that pose a risk to health and the environment. In Mallorca, Cala Egos won a black flag due to the poor quality of its water for bathing. Meanwhile, the expansion of the Port of Palma was deemed an ‘example of environmental mismanagement.’ Poor water quality, due to spillages, is behind some 40% of this year’s black flags, with two handed out to each province. This year marks the 15th an-
ACTIVISTS: Highlighting blighted beaches By Alex Trelinski
niversary of the first Black Flags report and includes an extra section reporting on the situation in the last six years, during which some 284 black flags have been awarded. “Despite the fact that only two examples are used for each province, unfortunately the list should include more
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beaches,” an Ecologistas en Accion spokesperson said. Alongside sewage leaks, other common problems for beaches included invasive species, erosion on sandy beaches, or ‘unjustified’ port expansion projects. However, as Mallorca gears up for the scorching summer season ahead, it is worth pointing out that 25 beaches on the island gained a Blue Flag this year.
Q for quality CALVIA beaches in Mallorca have been awarded the most Q Flags throughout the whole of Spain. Famous beaches on the resort include Magaluf, Palma Nova and Santa Ponsa. Alfonso Rodriguez Badal, Mayor of Calvia said: “The fact the ICTE has recognised Calvia as the municipality with the most Q Flags for quality reflects what quality means for Calvia in general as a destination and what it means for its beaches. “We will continue working to maintain this quality,” he added.
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
Expats destroyed vital DNA clues as Maddie suspect linked to more child sex crimes EXCLUSIVE By Jon Clarke in the Algarve
MADDIE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner was twice extradited from Portugal to Germany for child sex abuse. The sick German expat - who spent a lot of time in the Granada region, as the Olive Press revealed last issue - was also probed over the sexual abuse of four children in Portugal as recently as 2016. He has also been linked to a series of rapes, a number of which were filmed. Now expats in Andalucia are wondering if he was linked to crimes in Spain during his many trips between Germany and Portugal between 1995 and 2017. In particular, one user of popular Facebook page, Orgiva Massive, questioned whether he could have been involved in a child rape during the Dragon Festival in Granada in 2007. It comes as it has emerged police in Portugal failed to put him on a list of 600 suspects in the disappearance of Maddie. This was despite living for many years in the resort of Praia da Luz, where she vanished in May, 2007. Shockingly, a British expat has also now admitted unwittingly destroying all DNA evidence at the home Brueckner rented in the resort. Next door neighbour Ruth Maclean did this despite the unease she felt about living next door to ‘monster’ Brueckner. She revealed she had cleaned the house on the order of its owners, after Christian, 43, ‘vanished’ a few months before Maddie went missing. She didn’t know he was actually in prison at the time with his friend Michael Tatschl, long-time expat of Orgiva, who told the Olive Press last issue he had made a series of sickening videos including one of him raping an elderly woman. The British neighbours had finally gone into the property in May 2006 after an apparent
UNSUSPECTING: Maclean scrubbed Brueckner villa clean
burglary, and on the request of the owner had cleaned out most potential DNA matches with Brueckner. “It was in a really terrible state with food in the fridges, rats, it was not pleasant, not pleasant at all. We just emptied the house,” said Ruth. “There was a massive mess, several computers all turned over, on the floor, dirty clothing, blankets, everything just had to be ditched.” Despite the evidence of what happened at the house police have yet to search it or the nearby area. They have also failed to search another house, located by the Olive Press, in Foral, 45 minutes inland, where it has now emerged Brueckner lived for up to five years. Bizarrely, his next door neighbour at Villa Bianca was a retired Scotland Yard detective Roy Whitehouse. Brueckner became the partner of a German woman Nicole Feringer, who alarmingly was running a rehabilitation programme for troubled teenagers from Germany. This week German prosecutor Wolters continued to insist he had evidence Maddie was dead and would like to ‘investigate more in Portugal’.
Slayed for her meat! A PREGNANT horse, worth €20,000, has been killed and dismembered in a shocking night time attack - allegedly for meat! Police in Campanillas are investigating the gruesome crime after the body of thoroughbred Lola was found next to a dead foal that had been cut out of her stomach. “She had two stab wounds to the neck, all the meat from the loin was taken out and the spine cleaned, as well as one of her thighs and a raw hind quarter.” Police have backed the owners’ claims that due to the precision of the cuts, the meat will be used in the illegal horse meat trade. Witnesses claim to have seen a man pulling the horse into a grey van. Lola was registered as a ‘purebred ‘pura raza española’ and had a potential value of up to €20,000.
SAD DEMISE: Lola was butchered
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OPINION
H
E has been at it for two decades… but now the world has changed, is it time for Leapy Lee to stop his racist
rants? Those who have been unfortunate enough to read his rants in the Euro Weekly News have long known of his hatred of Muslims. He has stirred up resentment against Britain’s Islamic community on a regular basis for years. Without a shred of evidence he makes statements like: “These fanatics will one day find themselves sitting cross-legged on the carpets of Westminster, issuing out the rulings of Sharia, sending out legions of men with sledge-hammers and drills to our precious museums and chopping off heads in Trafalgar Square.” Formerly known for his one hit single, Little Arrows in 1968, Lee, who is based in Santa Ponsa, was jailed in the UK for a knife attack against a pub landlord, which might give an insight into his mindset.
Loopy Lee As the Black Lives Matter movement sweeps the world, is it time for Mallorca’s most notorious expat racist to stop his xenophobic hate speeches?
“...tribal, drug-infested killing field... This is a black community problem.”
Holocaust
But it has to be said that Lee does not just single out the Muslim world which he lumps together as one, tarring all followers of the religion with the same extremist brush. He has also recently waded in on the Black Lives Matter movement. His recent column on the BLM protests in the UK, actually blames THEM for creating racism. “BLM demonstrations have managed to create more racial divisions in society than any other movement in living memory,” he wrote last month.
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July 10th - July 23rd 2020
Then, forgetting to present any evidence more than his own prejudiced views he said: “As far as stop and search is concerned, the problem there is that the percentage of criminality, particularly among young black men, is so high it stands to reason they are going to be targeted.” In his latest rant Lee - in the worst possible taste - raises the spectre of the holocaust ‘forecast by a politcian ‘far more intelligent and visionary than I’ in reference to BLM demos
DIVISIVE: EWN asylum seekers poll
“The only reason there are more people dying from the ethnic communities is because the majority consider themselves totally alien from the rules”
“If we don’t toughen up and stop denying the existence of the ever-increasing amount of pure evil and hatred in our midst, these fanatics will one day find themselves sitting cross-legged on the carpets of Westminster, issuing out the rulings of Sharia, sending out legions of men with sledgehammers and drills to our precious museums and chopping off heads in Trafalgar Square” RACE RANTS: Loopy Lee’s ravings (left to right) on violence in London (2018), terrorism and British Muslims (2015) and why ethnic minorities are to blame for high coronavirus death rates in the UK (2020) and ludicrously says the streets of Britain’s cities will soon resemble Beirut as he himself forecast
30 years ago. giving Lee the platform to spout his repugnant views, now the
newspaper itself seems to have been infected with the same malaise. Its Facebook page (above) last week carried a poll that identified asylum seekers as ‘modern day savages.’ This provoked such a backlash, it was thankfully soon taken down - but for some reason the owners feel it appropriate to keep giving Loopy Lee the oxygen of publicity. It really is time that his ‘articles’ were taken down too.
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NEWS FEATURE
www.theolivepress.es Voted top expat paper in Spain
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
The truth always outs THE Continental Wealth Management scandal is set to rumble on. Despite the three month COVID-19 lockdown the cast of characters will continue to be summoned to answer questions at Denia Court. And whether they like it or not, justice WILL be done. When we wrote that a trio of the key CWM team - Neil Hathaway, Dean Stogsdill and Anthony Downs - had given evidence in the €35 million fraud case in February we put it on page 4. So, deciding to steal hundreds of our papers from the streets of Javea was probably not Hathaway’s smartest move. But then again, nor was advising hundreds of pensioners to swap their hard earned nest eggs from low to high risk funds. In doing so he found himself the subject of a police investigation and now a lawsuit, which is reported this week on the FRONT page. While the courts will hopefully make the CWM team pay for ending the dreams of hundreds of innocent investors, the Olive Press vows to ensure Hathaway pays the price of stealing our papers. Did he really think the truth wouldn’t somehow come out anyway?
Enough is enough! THE entire country has suffered during the COVID-19 crisis. Money is tight and people are desperate to return to normality and get the economy up to full steam. But this should not be used as an excuse to allow the wholesale destruction of what remains of the Costa Blanca’s beautiful countryside. All along the hundreds of kilometres of the region’s coastline massive developments have sprung up over the past 50 years – many to the benefit of locals and newcomers alike. But when the last few virgin beaches and undeveloped rural valleys – many supposedly protected in ‘natural parks’ - are put under threat of development there is only one driving force. Greed. This land is relatively cheap as it is not classified for development. So it is often snapped up by ‘businessmen’ looking to make a fortune by using legal loopholes or lax regulations to push through construction projects. Andalucia’s new LISTA planning laws are a prime example of permissive legislation and we must keep our eyes peeled on the Levante. The Olive Press has a long and proud history of opposing the worst excesses, including campaigning against the Los Merinos project that would have devastated the countryside near Ronda, as well as the barbaric Algarrobico Hotel just down the road in Carboneras. We will continue to do so. We say it once more, loud and clear: Enough is enough!
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The clock is ticking in the battle to save the last natural jewel on the Nerja coastline from the clutches of developers who want ANOTHER golf resort. James Warren reports
T
HE battle lines have been drawn between green groups and wealthy developers over one of Andalucia’s last undeveloped stretches of coastline. At stake is the future of what is claimed to be the last unspoilt stretch of Malaga’s eastern Costa del Sol. Soon it could be riddled with bunkers and fairways. Sociedad Azucarera Larios SA plans to develop a 250-hectare strip of coastal land a stone’s throw from the tranquil village of Maro, near Nerja, into an 18hole PGA-standard golf course, luxury hotel and around 700 luxury homes. The project has been touted by the company as a complete transformation of the area - as seen in a glitzy promotional vid-
BEFORE AND AFTER: The near-virgin coastline and fertile farmland of Nerja to be ripped up for huge Maro Golf resort (right) eo doing the rounds on websites like Conde Nast Traveler - ridding the hillsides of ‘unsightly ‘farmland’ and ‘hippies’ who currently call the district their home. It also features renowned American golf course designer Cabell Robinson, who is responsible for some of the region’s finest courses. Nerja town hall, led by controversial mayor Jose Alberto Armijo (PP), has given the plan his full backing. Echoing the sentiments of the developers, he is eager to ‘clean up the area’ and bring in
some much needed income and jobs. But the project, while popular with some locals, has met with ferocious opposition, not only from Armijo’s political rivals but also from expat residents and environmental groups. They accuse the developers and town hall of using ‘underhand tactics’ to make the so-called Maro Golf project happen by sowing the seeds for the project over the last 25 years. “For years, the landowners have been paying off people to give
Glad to be here BRITS jetting into Mallorca have told the Olive Press how much they are enjoying the island after months of lockdown and how the prices for food and drinks are more than reasonable this year. Recently Spain opened its international borders, welcoming British holidaymakers for the first time since March. And those who have landed so far have said how much they are relishing their holidays. Helen Jenson, 28, who works as a secretary in a law firm in Manchester, arrived to embark on her fourth visit to the island. She told the Olive Press: “I booked my flight almost 10 months ago and for weeks have been fretting at home about if I would be allowed to fly or not.” “I always come to Mallorca on my own because it is very easy to make friends here and this year my experience has been better than ever.” “The beaches are cleaner, the locals are nicer and it is not difficult to get a table at
any restaurant I want.” “Nothing has changed with the prices of food or drinks either, and the staff at my hotel in Magaluf were really happy to see me again.” Albert Fox, 35, from Aberdeen, arrived with four of his friends for their annual visit to their go-to hotel on the Playa de Palma. He said: “We have all been a bit down the last few months not being able to travel, so as soon as we heard Spain would open on July 1 we booked our flights.” “Its been amazing so far, we have been to a couple of beach clubs in Cala Major and the price of cocktails were actually better than we thought.” “Normally we pay €17 a pop, but we have been getting them for between €12 and €15 – it’s pretty unbelievable actually.” Desi Nikolova, 36, who works for a charity in London, jetted into Mallorca with her boyfriend on their first ever trip to the island and are staying in the capital. She said: “I always do all inclusive holidays
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THEY’RE BACK: Clockwise from left to right: Damian Gil, Desi Niklova, Helen Janson, Zara Adams
Fair hell up their land, causing great rifts in families as some people want to sell and others, with long lines
FAITH: Susie Smyth kept her six month old ticket and found a fantastic last minute deal on Monday in a posh hotel near the Paseo Maritimo.” “The island is beautiful and I have been surprised by how many people there are here considering lockdown has just finished.” “Although I am not paying for any of the food I eat, I am going out at night for drinks and the prices are pretty damn good compared to London.” “I will definitely come back again next year.” Meanwhile, Susie Smyth, 57, from Devon, decided to keep her and her husband’s booking to the island despite their family and friends warning them against flying. “I just think you have to live each day to your last – we love Mallorca and have had this booked since February.” “We popped down to our favourite café yesterday afternoon for a cheeky sangria and the owner Marcos remembered us and gave us some free tapas.” “It was the best decision we made and we don’t feel like we are being targeted by hikes just because we are tourists.” This was echoed by Damian Gil, 34, who manages his father’s bar in Santa Catalina. He said “I would never take advantage of tourists being here by raising our prices.” “To be honest, after having no income for nearly three months I am just happy to see people.” “I love how faithful the Brits are to Mallorca and have given out quite a few free shots this evening.”
BRAINCHILD: Of Maro Golf designer Robinson
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C O ST
READERS in Mallorca and the Balearics can be forgiven for looking over to Andalucia with a shudder. Swathes of the region are in danger of being concreted over after a new planning law was brought in by the regional government. Green groups including Ecologistas en Accion, and hundreds of local associations are up in arms over the so-called LISTA law - passed during the lockdown - that is set to allow dozens of previously outlawed projects to go ahead. They are furious about not one, but TWO new hotels on virgin beaches in the supposedly protected natural park of Cabo de Gata. And over in Nerja many locals are fighting plans for a golf course project – as related on these pages. The Balearics have had more than their fair share of planning scandals and controversies in the past. So we at the Olive Press promise to keep a watchful eye on new projects and have launched our ‘Hands Off the Costas’ campaign to fight to save what’s left of some of Spain’s most beautiful spots.
a completely negative influence 50-plus golf courses along the on Maro.” Costa del Sol, with some even Meanwhile, the Otro Maro closing including Monte Mayor groups insist the job claims are in Marbella. inflated, with the average golf Baviera went into receivership course only employing 16 peo- last year, threatening jobs, and ple. only an 11th hour buyout saved “And do you really think they will it from closure. use local builders?” said Deb- But despite this, manager Auroorah, “They will ra del Rio Garcbring in whoever es remains upcomes cheapest.” Project that could beat about the Her sentiments new Maro projtear this last are echoed by felect. “It would low Maro resident create another remaining oasis expat Graham, a golf destination retired financier east of Malaga,” of tranquillity from Dublin who she said. apart has owned a plot Among other loof land in the area cals in favour of for five years. the course, Ana “I came here for the scenery, Guierro, who works at the Puthe ruggedness and tranquillity ente Aguila bar near the Cuevas but if they go ahead with the golf de Nerja, said: “It’s a good idea, course, I’m sure many people it will bring many opportunities will want to relocate,” he said. to the area.” The row is underscored by the Meanwhile, there are rumblings recent struggles of neighbour- of discontent behind the scenes ing Baviera Golf, 15 minutes at Larios Azucares SL, with one along the coast in Caleta de of the four main shareholders Velez, which has fallen on hard expressing concern over the times, as have many of the other financial investment in the project, raising questions over the management of the company. Barbara Gutierrez-Maturana-Larios, along with her mother and sister, insist that the company does not have the assets to invest €300 million into the project. They are also concerned over internal differences in the running of the company and are calling for it to be disbanded, putting the whole project in doubt unless a truce can be worked out. And with the new law coming into force in Sevilla, it means they could potentially put pen to paper this summer on a project that could tear this last remaining oasis of tranquillity apart. The Olive Press has approached Sociedad Azucarera ANGRY: Nerja residents Deborah Fountain and her husband Paco Galvez are against the Maro Golf Larios SA and Nerja Town Counplans, which could see the old Maro sugar factory (right) turned into a swanky new hotel cil for comment.
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casting its shines bright like a diamond, writes Iona Napier Polished Mijas pueblo of the Costa del Sol, brilliance the length town known police. €4.7 million renovation
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hilltop is flaunting a square HE classic Spanish for its choco- Mijas which saw the main recognifrom Chelsea to China the transformed beyond direct late box charm nailsvibe tion, with 70% coming quaint-small-town from kitty. Mijas is flaunting from the European throw around at just a stone’s And the ways to getthe two a €4 million the coast. are myriad, from(€10 on a globe’s Discovered by the and dozen burro-taxis makeover which to more bohemian artists saddle, €15 in a carriage) and 60s, writers in the 1950s in Ron- saw its main square the white stallions bearing it was immortalised Cinderella-style carriages. transformed book, The square, ald Fraser’s 1973 Set just up above the to cast coming to Pueblo, and continues Tuk-Tuk Spain is been a maa spell on visitors today. on third year and has go the end of its anyone lackAnd it’s still improving up attractions that for thrill-seekers and perfection, ramping donkey taxis, colourful jor draw 20 Continues on Page beyond the famous zippy Segway-mounted tourist tuk-tuks and
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PREDATOR WARNING EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore and Aleesha Hansel
A CONVICTED British paedophile has been offering one-on-one home tuition for children on the Costa del Sol, the Olive Press can reveal. Mark Jales (left), who was part of an evil paedophile ring in the UK throughout the 1970s and 80s, has posted several teaching adverts online after moving to Torrox
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last year. The 55-year-old, who now goes by the name ‘Mark Grayson’ or ‘Mark Kneel-Thornton’, offers to teach English to anyone ‘aged between 14 and 70’, and is willing to do it in person ‘or on Skype’. He claims he is able to help any children of ESO level, which is in fact 12 to 16 in age. Jales was jailed for his part in the London gang, which sexually abused at least four young choir boys - although police believe there could be more victims who have not come forward. Each were ‘groomed’ with alcohol, pornography and takeaway dinners. During the trial, one victim recalled how Jales laid out pornography on a bed before undressing and abusing him. “It was furtive and it was squalid,” the victim told the
COSTA BLANCA
Vol. 2 Issue 33 www.theolivepress.es
Exclusive interviews See Page 8
Christian Brueckner’s Spanish hideaway
A DANGEROUS paedophile believed to have snatched English tot Maddie McCann visited southern Spain on many occasions. German pervert Christian Brueckner hid out in the Alpujarras region of Granada often Press can sensationally reveal. dealing drugs, the Olive According to his best friend, an Austrian who lived in the area for many years, he even visited just two or three weeks after Maddie went missing. Michael Tatshl, who spent eight Brueckner, now believes he is guiltymonths in prison with of the murder of Madeleine. Having spent 14 hours being grilled by police over the crime, he spoke to the Olive Press for the first time to explain why. “He was a real pervert and talked about selling Morocco, I am pretty sure he did children to it,” he said this week. Micha, 46, who lived in Orgiva for over a decade, revealed that Brueckner had visited the town many occasions in his jaguar on and various vans.
One concerned expat who first tipped us off to Jales’ whereabouts by finding his Facebook account, told the Olive Press: “The register is extremely strict about attempting to contact or even making yourself available to be connected to kids. “His Facebook profile alone is a breach of such conditions, nevermind advertising to teach children.” It comes after he was exposed by the UK press for launching a legal firm to help families get their children back in the UK after he was released from prison. Parents in family court cases paid £300 (340 euros) for his support as a ‘McKenzie Friend’ – an aide who does not need formal legal qualifications.
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com. In one advert he says: “I am a warm and kind teacher who believes that learning should also be fun so that you can practice and improve your English without feeling stressed or under pressure. “I am a native English teacher and have two years of experience teaching online. “I teach students from 14 to 70 years of age, conversation or business English with individual classes by Skype. “I also have classes for up to 6 students at a local café in BUSTED: Jales’ advert Torrox.” Jales, who was convicted of court in 2014. Croydon But since being released the indecent assault at half Olive Press can reveal Jales Crown Court and served bemoved to Spain, where he has of a 12 months sentence hind bars, must stay on the family and friends. register While here he has been seek- UK’s sex offenders’ ing students as an English until 2024. he must teacher on websites including The conditions state children findmyfavouriteteacher.com have no contact with tuclasesparticulares. under that age of 18. and
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tures and counting for their Change.org petition. Ecologistas en Accion has also been extremely vocal in its opposition to the project and the new government bill that would allow it to come to fruition (see Freefor-all, inset). During its annual ‘Atila’ awards, the group singled out Andalucia President Juanma Moreno Armijo for gongs for their ‘eagerness to destroy’ the coastline. The bill in question (LISTA, the ‘Law for the Promotion of Sustainability of the Territory of Andalucia), aims to simplify the categorisation of undeveloped land. But it means that, potentially, even protected land could be opened up to developers, as seen in two places of the fragile and endangered Cabo de Gata Natural park, in Almeria. In response to the massive backlash, Nieves Atencia, Nerja councillor for urban planning, has quashed any claims of a secret agreement between Larios and the PP. “I urge the opposition to this to be more responsible and to change their approach to a more constructive one, instead of seeking media prominence,” she said. However local Podemos spokesperson Juan Jose Aido Haro, told the Olive Press that his party strongly opposes the plans. “We are against developing this project. It has been farmland for many generations,” he said. “The golf course is just an excuse to build a luxury hotel and hundreds of homes for tourists. Its implementation would have
OU
rway to ll of farming heritage, do not,” explained expat Deborah Fountain, 53, a retired hairdresser from London. “Families who have worked this land for over four generations have been torn apart,” she continued. The Adelante political coalition in Nerja has also explained that for years, Larios has allowed settlers to live on the land for next to no rent, yet now is using them as a political tool to develop the area. “This situation of neglect has been encouraged by renting out the land to people, many of whom are not in agriculture at all. This way they already have an excuse to say that you have to end this situation of abandonment of the land when it is them themselves that have caused it.” explained Andres Jimenez Perez, a member of Izquierda Unida in Nerja. Fountain, along with her husband Paco Galvez, are members of the official opposition platform, Otro Maro y Nerja es Posible. She has lived in the area for 35 years and the couple have an idyllic life on a smallholding. “We have been fighting this for years but it is forever a losing battle,” explained Galvez. And now they have garnered strong support for their cause with the likes of Ecologistas en Accion and Greenpeace Spain on board, as well as Royal Holloway, University of London, whose students visit the site every year as part of their geology syllabus. There are also 19,000 signa-
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HE Olive Press stands for strong, independent, investigative local journalism. And you don’t have to take our word for it – just ask Google. The internet giant has recognised us through its Google News Initiative and dipped into its coffers to give the Olive Press a substantial grant. Its Journalism Emergency Relief Fund was set up to help small and medium sized news organisations weather the COVID-19 storm. But applicants had to meet stringent conditions to qualify. First and foremost they had to produce ‘original news for local communities’, with the emphasis on news, and have a digital presence, among other criteria. Google set high standards for the awards and not many applicants achieved them. The Olive Press was chosen as one of a handful in Spain - and just 1,550 newsrooms around the three continents of Europe, Africa and the Middle East to get the grant. We have already invested some of the money in taking on new journalists, not buying Bentleys or i-Macs, and we continue to break dozens of big stories in Spain every month. We pride ourselves on producing relevant investigative news that connects with the expat community – and we are glad to see Google agrees. NEW UltraClear SuperClean treatment. Stays cleaner for longer.
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Jet setters...
(far BIG FANS: Obama, Cameron and it right) Saudi royalty know how to spend
J.Lo-ving it!
she JENNIFER Lopez has confirmed will play on the Costa del Sol to celebrate her 50th birthday. 49, The forever-young Latina legend, will take to the stage at Marenostrum Castle Park in Fuengirola. will The unmissable gig on August 8 mark over seven years since the Jenny from the Block singer’s last Spain appearance. J. Lo takes part in the Marenostrum Festival, which has also seen the likes Rod and Cox Carl Yankee, of Daddy Stewart. Having sold in excess of 80 million records worldwide, Lopez, who was the in born to Puerto Rican parents the Bronx, New York, is regarded as US. most influential Latin artist in the
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and property Giant €750m multi-sports final furlong development enters EXCLUSIVE By Laurence
Dollimore
and will be massive for Mijas sporting “This will sports tourism and multibe the largest A RAFT of international in Europe,” the back an exciting stars are lining up to and residential sports events venue the project, Anbusinessman behindthe West Midlands, €750 million sportsdel Sol. project on the Costa Ferdinand and thony Arnold, from this week. Maria Sharapova, Rioexpressed a keen told the Olive PressSharapova has been ace left) Ian Woosnam have all of the proj- Russian tennis and Ferdinand (below in the interior design Sharapova, Woosnam interest in the huge British-funded long-neglect- involved called ‘Mijas City of Sport,’ TRIO OF BACKERS: project, ect to revolutionise Mijas’ site. captain Ferdiwhile former England sports ed hippodrome racecourse of the big names the site to his Football style resort for the professional The trio are just some Mirage develop- nand is set to add community’. and sports business looking to back the a golf course, a Escapes company. premier football It will include a five-star hotel, spa, casino The firm provides ment, which includes a trio of hotels and coaching courses at some of the most and luxury apartments. multi-sports venue, and university the Olive the world. An entertainment venue exclusive resorts around over 1,000 luxury apartments, Woosnam, mean- campus are also being considered for the reveal. Welsh golfing legend Press can exclusively detailed 17-page the signature site, according to the while, has helped design and will be heading overview of the project, seen by the Olive 18-hole golf course the up the gold academy. - which sits over Press. planned to begin by The proposed projectdivided into three Construction is if Mijas town hall 250 hectares - will be the brand name middle of next year a working govwhich has still not formed different areas under elections following recent localArquitects Mirage. HCP a large sport- ernment gives it the green light. unveiling the Mirage Sport will feature training facility officially ing events venue, elitealongside a com- of Malaga will benext few weeks. and a 400-room hotel business centre. masterplan in the on this for eight years “I’ve been working the mercial, conference and Golf will also have now and we are so close to getting “It Meanwhile Mirage Arnold. apartments, hotel, casino and apartments backing we need,” continued a hotel and 1,200 luxury designs include five-star for not only MiMIRAGE: Development’s alongside its course. will be an exclu- will be hugely important Costa del Sol.” Finally Mirage Club‘designed as a life- jas but the whole sive sporting club
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Innocent Brit wrongly fingered for drug
CAMPAIGNER: Cristina
olive Press medical campaign finally draws blood with Nolotil regulation close
See page 6
haul finally released from year in violent
HE’S OUT!
prison
EXclUSiVE By Elisa menendez
Olive Press for Robert Mansfield-Hewitt thanks year-long campaign for his release engineer wrongly accused of storing BRITISH A tonnes of hashish in the wrongly imprisoned for a 1.5 of a property where year for drug smuggling garage he was renting a room in has finally been released. Roque. Robert Mansfield-Hewitt, San innocent Brit - who has 51, was let go without The for the MOD for 20 charge after being locked workedmuch of it in Gibralup for more than a year years, - was taken to infamous alongside terrorists and tar prison in Almurderers in a Spanish jail. Botafuegos on June 27 last year The Ministry of Defence geciras a dramatic night (MOD) worker had been following
EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore
raid. He quickly became the Guardia Civil’s main suspect despite having no previous convictions and the actual owner of the property having a previous drug conviction in Gibraltar. Despite, a lack of evidence and three front page stories
of our front pages THRILLED: Hewitt with two a shocking seven months to by this paper - he was held at formally charge him - after the notorious jail, home to denying him bail three times. ETA terrorists and Irish maDespite a serious long-term fia members, until last week. liver condition, which saw “It is amazing to be finally him moved in and out of hosout,” Hampshire-based Manpital, he did not get his day in sfield-Hewitt told the Olive court until May 27. Press from a restaurant in La Incredibly, he has still been Linea this week. ordered to pay a €1,500 fine “I’m still getting used to being for ‘renting unlicensed tourout, it has been a crazy ride.” accommodation’. ist paper the He also thanked He revealed he is now set to for all the support and legal take legal action against the pressure we have put on the state but for now is focusing authorities since his arrest. on getting home. “It is great to have had a local He is flying back from Malaga media group keeping this in the public eye. Without your Continues on Page 4 help, I’m sure it would have taken longer,” he said. Opinion Page 6 In draconian circumstances, it took Spanish authorities
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AN Olive Press health campaign has led to ‘the biggest’ drug probes in Spanish history. Our investigation into the mysterious deaths of expats from the painkiller Nolotil last year, is finally being acted on. In a landmark breakthrough, a national probe is expected to lead to new regulation of the drug, which is banned in the UK and most of Europe. “It has been a long time in coming and by raising so much awareness, I am sure lives have already been saved,” medical and legal translator Cristina Garcia del Campo told the Olive Press. The medical professional found our 1000-strong petition online and took it forward after one of her patients died from the drug. “Spain wants to help,
NoloTil VicTory
loomS that’s for sure. I have had support from every healthcare professional I have spoken to. “If I hadn’t come across your article I wouldn’t have realised what was happening to the English community,” she
TRAGIC: Graeme Ward with wife Mary (left) and Billy Smyth, who both died from Nolotil
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added. We launched our ‘Kill the Drug’ campaign against the painkiller last August, after learning that dozens of British and Irish expats had died after their immune systems were allegedly destroyed by the commonly prescribed drug. A trio of families told us how their relatives had died unnecessarily in excruciating pain. Yet, authorities refused to take our claims seriously, despite the evidence being backed up by local doctors. Fortunately, Ali-
KILL THE DRUG
cante-based Garcia del Campo spotted our campaign, while working with an Irish expat who suddenly became critically ill with sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis after taking the drug. He died later in November. Voted BEST
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Save our home!
Vol. 11 Issue 271
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EXCluSiVE By laurence dollimore
A BRITISH expat couple are fighting to save their Malaga home from demolition over a technicality. Gill and Bob Ward, both 74, have been locked in a battle with their town hall, which claims their house in Almayate is illegal. Just yesterday the retired couple from Cornwall were given
Continues on Page 8
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THE Olive Press is giving away three pairs of tickets for two of the best concerts on the Costa del Sol this summer... And all you have to do is answer two simple questions! Michael Bolton takes to the stage for an emotive end of season night at Marbella’s Puente Romano on August 10, while Estepona is set for its biggest rock concert in years with mammoth
Doctors and dentists join Olive Press appeal for ban on dangerous painkiller Nolotil EXCluSiVE By laurence dollimore
one month to knock down their only property (pictured above). In a court order seen by the Olive Press, the Wards are warned they will be held criminally responsible if they refuse. “I don’t know what to do anymore, I’m at the end of my tether” Gill told the Olive Press, “I’m totally exhausted from the whole ordeal.” The retired pair, who have now spent thousands of euros on legal costs, bought the old farmhouse ‘in ruins’ in 2004, and were given permission from Velez-Malaga town hall to rebuild it. But when the original wall collapsed of its own accord during construction, the Wards’ architect told them it would be fine and that he would let the town hall know. Unfortunately for
tribute bands Think Floyd, Deeper Purple and Whole Lotta Led rocking out the greatest hits of Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin at the Plaza del Toros on August 26. For a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Bolton, just answer the question; what year was Michael Bolton born in? For the Pink Purple Zep Fest in Estepona, just tell us; Where was Jimmy Page born? Email answers to the newsdesk@theolivepress.es.
WIN WIN WIN: Bolton and Pink Purple Zep Fest tickets
Kill ThE drug
THE Olive Press is calling on Spain to ban a lethal painkiller that is killing countless of unsuspecting expats. British dentists and doctors are supporting the ban after Briton Graham Ward, 75, complained to the Olive Press of how he was prescribed the deadly Nolotil drug by a dentist last week. It’s the very same drug that was blamed for killing his wife in 2006. The Marbella-based expat was furious when he was told to take the painkiller by his Spanish dentist, after suffering from a difficult abscess. His wife Mary, 59, had died after being prescribed the same drug following a double vasectomy at Costa del Sol Hospital. “Within 24 hours she was in intensive care, her white blood cell count plummeted to zero within days,” explains Graham, a former computer HAPPIER TIMES: Graham with wife, and Billy Smyth technician, from London. She never regained conscious- again. Metamizole, Nolotil is banned ness and was on a life support “He said she would be alive if in the US, the UK, Ireland and machine for FOUR months, she hadn’t taken it, but I have most of Europe, but it is prebefore spending three years heard from dozens of Brits scribed widely in Spain. fighting the impact of the and Irish who have been given Irishman William ‘Billy’ drug, which led to organ fail- it,” added Graeme. Smyth was given a five-day It is the third victim of the course of the drug in Februure. “The chief surgeon at the hos- drug the Olive Press has re- ary. pital promised me he would ported on in under a year. But when the 66-year-old renever prescribe that drug Sometimes known also as turned to a different Spanish
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Dr Nina King, of Oasis Dental Care in Marbella, fully supports the campaign, telling the Olive Press the drug is not something she prescribes. “It’s not a drug I use, I stick to safe and standard medication,” she said, “And after seeing what damage it can do, it’s a drug I won’t be using in the future.” Marbella-based private doctor Dra. Victoria María Chacón Almeda also agrees the drug is dangerous. “I don’t prescribe the drug,” she told the Olive Press, “I have lots of British patients and I am aware of what it is capable of doing. “There needs to be a lot more research on its impact.” doctor to get a renewal in April, tests showed the drug had caused a toxic poisoning in his bone marrow and his white blood cell was dangerously low. Billy, a keen sportsman, developed sepsis and necrotising fasciitis as a result and required ‘radical surgery’ to remove the affected tissue in an attempt to save his life.
The dad-of-two later died from septic shock – believed to be linked to taking the Nolotil. Another British expat Hugh Wilcox was prescribed the same medication for mild shoulder pain on the Costa del Sol. He developed severe head Continues on Page 2
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As the summer hordes descend, the Olive Press looks at the entourages and bloated budgets of the rich and famous who regularly holiday in Spain
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Nolotil, or Metamizol, is still one of the most popular painkillers in Spain, yet the most feared side effect is agranulocy-
tosis, a severe and rapid drop in white blood cells, which leaves patients unable to fight infections. Garcia del Campo noticed that a large number of other English
Call Nick 647 072 861 www.mosquitonick.ws nick@mosquitonick.ws
and Irish patients had been suffering with sepsis at hospitals along the Costa Blanca. “I thought, this can’t be normal,” explained the translator, from Madrid. And after looking at patients’ notes, she found that each had one thing in common - they were all taking Nolotil. Although manufacturers list side effects such as agranulocytosis, necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis, they are considered ‘very rare’ affecting one in every 10,000. The figures did not seem to add up to Garcia del Campo so she set about doing her own research. However, no information existed in Spanish media. The only articles she could find on the drug and its lethal side effects was in the Olive Press. “I was in disbelief,” continued the Javea-based translator, who lived in the UK for 18 years. “I thought this was surely wellknown and someone was doing something about it. Except it wasn’t. “I felt I had to inform Spain Continues on Page 2
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Police shooting in La Cala de 2- BREAKING: Mijas on Spain's Costa del Sol (27,998) of British retirees on Spain's Costa del 3- Gang Sol arrested for selling fake drugs meant to help with erectile dysfunction (25,714)
- Multi-millionaire rocks art world with 4gallery removal of Mata Mua painting from Madrid as talks with Spanish Government crumble (22,898)
- British couple stuck in UK 'devastated' after 5partying seeing pics online of yobs vandalising and in their home on Spain's Costa del Sol (19,928)
Get in touch today at sales@theolivepress.es or call us at 00 34 951273575 for a special quote
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NEWS
July 10th July 23rd 2020
Kickstart the summer
HOLIDAY bookings to Mallorca have soared by almost 100% since it was announced that the two week quarantine would be lifted in the United Kingdom. According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ATBA), reservations have increased by 96% since the announcement was made by the UK government. A traffic light system will however be introduced, with countries being classed as green, amber or red, taking into account their number of active COVID-19 cases. Key business associations in Mallorca have praised the move, including the President of the Balearic Hotel Chain Association (ACH) Gabriel Llobera. Describing the quarantine removal as ‘excellent news,’ Llobera said that it would ‘progressively lead to an increase in bookings which have been paralysed to date’.
Expensive sesh
AN expat is facing a massive fine for organising an illegal party in a field near Sa Pobla.
If found guilty, the party planner will have to cough up between €30,000 and
Hot ticket
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Plan happy, choose
summer after demand boomed. According to Sebastian Ebel, the Head of Holiday Experiences at the German tour operator, holiday reservations have increased considerably since a pilot ‘tourism test’ was launched. The revolutionary plan put the Balearics back on the international radar as the region became the first in Spain to welcome tourists since the state of alarm was enforced. Ebel said the thousands of German citizens who joined the pilot plan gave ‘extremely positive feedback’ in regards to their experience upon their return home. Specifically, an average score of 8.4 out of 10 was given for overall satisfaction and 8.7 for security and hygiene measures. He said: “We were able to demonstrate to our clients together with the Balearic authorities and our hotel partners that safe vacations are possible in the era of COVID-19.” TUI now has 1,500 flights scheduled to Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca in July.
By Isha Sesay
€300,000. It comes after police arrived to find over 100 party-goers, mostly British and Germans, who had paid between €35 and €100 to attend. The group, who mostly worked in the Magaluf and Arenal club scene, were ordered home. The organisers will also have to cover the cost of extensive vandalism to surrounding buildings, according to Diario de Mallorca. Those who paid €100 were promised unlimited alcohol and a seat in the DJ booth. The party was one of many that were shut down by police across Mallorca in the last week. This is despite large gatherings at private residences being strictly prohibited under Spain’s ‘new normality.’ The most brazen bash was
Illegal rave organiser faces 300,000 fine
held at a property in the Costa de la Calma area in Calvia. Attended by almost 200 party-goers, not only were they all in close proximity to one another but every person failed to wear a face mask. The bash was quickly shut down by Policia Local with the homeowner now facing a hefty penalty. It comes after a popular beach club in Playa de Portals was shut down over the weekend after having approximately 80 clients on its terrace. The owner of the Roxy Beach Club now faces a fine of up to €300,000 for breaching their set capacity limit of 60 people. Maria Soledad Cuello, denied that there was any overcrowding insisting it was ‘extremely unfair’ and would lead to jobs being lost.
Dangerous catch TWO explosive devices have been found in the sea surrounding the Balearic Islands. The first was found off the Bay of Palma de Mallorca by a man practicing spearfishing in his usual target area. Specialised divers from the Guardia Civil’s Special Group for Underwater Activities (GEAS) confirmed that the object was a K-113 explosive of Italian origin, measuring approximately one metre in length. Together with the Navy’s Army Explosives Deactivation Unit stationed in Cartagena, the team proceeded to move the device to a deeper area in the sea for a controlled explosion. The second device was located by a fisherman off the coast of Menorca. Divers floated and removed the device.
LA CULTURA What’s the Mata Do you have a what’s on? Send your informa tion to newsdesk@theolivepr ess.es
Art world up in arms over Spanish socialite’s shady dealings during crisis
CERVERA: And Mata Mua KNOWN as ‘La Misteriosa’, she has shadily presided over an art collection worth €390 million that counts Matisse, Picasso and Rodin among its 429 pieces. But now Baroness Carmen Cervera has once again stepped back into the spot-
waves after announcing that Mata Mua (1892) by French impressionist Paul Gaugin light, after the removal of a would no longer hang on the €40 million painting from gallery’s walls. the Thyssen Museum in Ma- At 7am on June 9, the oil candrid. vas, which features a scene The 77-year-old Barcelo- of Maori women in Tahiti, na-born socialite made finally left the Madrid museum, where it has been since 1999. Art experts wrapped the painting in acid-free tissue paper before packing it into an 82-kilo climate-controlled capsule, with the insurance and shipping costs totalling €82,000. Cervera even travelled in the truck carrying the painting, PALMA’S Ministry of Culture has requested €300,000 in aid, in a bid to which was achelp save the arts amid the crisis. companied by Half the money, namely €150,000 will be allocated for cultural spaces, private security €100,000 for projects of the city’s cultural revitalisation and €50,000 guards armed for the creation of visual arts projects. with machine Former Palma Mayor and current City Council member, Antoni Noguguns. era said: “The culture sector is one of the most damaged due to the Since 2011 the health crisis we are experiencing.” ‘Thyssen colBy Charlie Smith
Save the arts!
lection’ – named after Cervera’s late husband Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, who died in 2002 – has been loaned to the museum, with a contract renewed annually. But on December 13 last year she secured a ‘definitive export license’ for Mata Mua, granting her the right to transport the work unopposed. Government ministers salvaged a partial deal for the treasure trove of art, meaning that 425 of its pieces can still be displayed in the Capital. But this left uncertainty over four of the greatest works, which have now been removed from the museum, including Mata Mua. The trio of other 19th and 20th century classics are Degas’ Racehorses in a Landscape (1894), Monet’s Charing Cross Bridge (1899) and Hopper’s Martha Mckeen of Wellfleet (1944). Cervera has pledged in the past that she will not sell Mata Mua and recently said she is open to further negotiations with the Government.
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
9
Psycho thriller
The Gilded Cage by Camilla Lackberg
T
he gripping new psychological thriller from internationally bestselling author Camilla Lackberg, is a story of love, betrayal, friendship, and revenge. Faye is married to super wealthy Jack Adelheim. They have a beautiful daughter and Faye is happy with her life despite the constant dieting, Botox and degrading way her husband sometimes treats her. However, when Faye is betrayed by Jack, her true colours emerge. Faye has not been entirely honest about her past and Jack’s treatment of her pushes to inflict terrifyingly brutal revenge. Dark, sexy, and gripping, this page-turner is the perfect beach read.
€16.90 The Bookshop San Pedro, www.thebookshop.es
LA CULTURA
10
what’s on
O
ranges lemons
and
THE Valley of the Oranges, home of Soller and Fornalutx, honours its two most important products – orange and lemons – with events and dishes from restaurants of this region, on until July 19.
T
he classics
DON’T miss the Formentor Sunset Classics Music Festival on July 24, located in Cap de Formentor, one of the island’s most breathtaking natural spots.
S
ummer fiesta
SANTA Maria del Cami village holds its summer party until July 24, including live music, dancing, sports events and children’s entertainment.
M
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
100 Spanish Icons
In our continuing occasional series we look at the famous names you may have heard of, but probably don’t know the fascinating history behind. As the shops open up again, we continue with one of Spain’s top designers
F
ANS of TV show Sex and the City will remember the scene when Carrie Bradshaw got mugged in New York. The mugger wanted her shoes. Carrie was outraged, they were her prized Manolo Blahniks. But did you know the iconic shoe designer hails from Spain? Who is he? Probably the most famous shoe designer of our times. Born in 1942 in Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands, to a Spanish mother and Czech father who fled Prague to escape rising fascism in the 1930s. His mother’s family owned a banana plantation. He recalls having an early fix-
usic to the ears
IF you’re a fan of classical music, head down to the Deia International Music Festival, on every Thursday from July 23 until October 1.
2. Manolo Blahnik ation with feet – specifically those of the lizards that invaded the gardens of his home. Manolo would shape sweet wrappers into shoes for the unsuspecting reptiles. Destined to be a designer? Well yes, except his parents had other ideas and wanted him to be a diplomat and sent him to university to study politics and law. But he rebelled, changed his course to literature and architecture and then moved to Paris to study art and set design. His friend Paloma Picasso no less introduced him to the legendary Diana Vreeland. Seeing Manolo’s sketches Vreeland took one look at high-heeled sandals decorated with ivy and cherries and told him, “Young man, stick to the extremities and make shoes!” His big break? British designer Ossie Clark asked Manolo to design shoes for his catwalk show in 1971. There was no stopping him. He made shoes for other London fashion designers, such as Jean Muir and Zandra Rhodes. With a loan of £2,000, Blahnik bought
the Zapata Shoe Company from its owner and opened his own boutique. Manolo hated bulky platforms and preferred elegant, sexy shoes with skyscraper heels. It’s not just the stilettos that are eye-watering, a pair of Manolos – as they are known – start at around €800! And although they are the most gorgeous shoes on the planet, they are bloody hard to walk in. And now? He is still passionate about shoes, still designs, and has boutiques all over the world. His office is in London, but he lives in Bath in what he calls a shoe museum. He has a prototype of every pair he has designed, currently around 30,000! In 2007 he was awarded a CBE by the Queen for his contribution to British fashion. Best quote: “Men tell me that I’ve saved their marriages. It costs them a fortune in shoes, but it’s cheaper than a divorce. So I am useful!”
ICON: Carrie Bradshaw’s ‘Manolos’
OP QUICK Crossword Across 7 Language (5) 8 Refrigerator compartment (6) 10 Wife of your son (82-3) 11 Flowering shrubs (6) 12 State positively (6) 14 Squirts (6) 16 Very handsome young man (6) 20 Supreme commander (13) 22 Velvet-like fabric (6) 23 Upright (5)
Wa k e s u r f Wa k e b o a rd Wa te rs k i Amazing place for everything from a day trip to a week’s holiday Perfect for everyone from absolute beginners to pros
OP Sudoku
Down 1 Solemn promise (6) 2 Followed (6) 3 In a maternal manner (8) 4 Small roofing slabs (5) 5 Abominable snowman (4) 6 Scottish sheep dog (6) 9 Study hard (4) 13 Evade (8) 14 Droops (4) 15 Leased (6) 17 Sounds (6) 18 Condescending (6) 19 Extreme (5) 21 Public disturbance (4)
All solutions are on page 15
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LA CULTURA T Back to the beach Do you have a what’s on? Send your informa tion to newsdesk@theolivepr ess.es
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
11
HE sight of chiringuito beach restaurants putting out their parasols is the annual signal that summer has arrived. A little late this year, perhaps, but COVID-19 has not altered the allure of wining and dining on the Mediterranean shoreline with your toes in the sand. And where else can you enjoy the freshest fish, caught the same morning from the very ocean lapping at your feet. Sardinas! The daily catch is threaded onto wooden espeto skewers and gently grilled over hot embers, often from traditional blue fishing boats. Along with an ice cold beer or a chilled white wine and uninterrupted Med views, it’s the perfect treat on a hot summer’s day. Often ‘temporary’ establishments boarded up in winter or dismantled and reassembled from scratch, chiringuitos blossom into thriving locations come summer to become an indispensable aspect of beachgoing in Spain. Yet for such an iconic Spanish summer tradition, their history is not well known, maybe because it is hotly disputed.
Treat
In the 1930s, ‘chiringuito’ was used to describe open air food and drink stalls in Catalunya and the Balearic Islands, and the term spread throughout the country. However, a chiringuito in Barcelona claims to be the original and first of its kind in Spain. Taking pride of place on Ribera de Sitges beach, ‘El Chiringuito’ first opened its doors in 1913. The name was bestowed by one of their most regular customers, a journalist called Cesar Gonzales-Ruano who nicknamed his favourite writing spot after the Cuban name for coffee, ‘chiringo’. Ruano is said to have chosen the name in homage to his time in Cuba, where ‘chiringo’ was the name given to the coffee 19th century sugar cane workers drank
Scarlet Jenkins explores the history of Spain’s iconic chiringuitos ESPETOS: These skewers are the taste of summer, while (top) world’s first chiringuito
during their break time. It is believed that small kiosks made of cane and leaves were built so that the workers would have somewhere to sit and sip their chiringos. However, Diario de León recently published an article claiming an alternative origin. Their theory is based on an 1899 report in La Publicidad detailing an arrest on Barcelona’s Paseo de Colón,
right next to a drinks kiosk called ‘El Chiringuito.’ The article also theorised that the word chiringuito originates from rum, not coffee, as it was the name for cane brandy in 18th century Spain. The Real Academia Española, however, considers the Sitges ‘El Chiringuito’ as the first and original in Spain, and the first to coin the word
RED HOT
THE Red Hot Chili Peppers have been announced for the rescheduled Madrid Mad Cool festival in 2021. The LA legends will jet into the capital for the huge music event, which was postponed amid the pandemic. Taylor Swift is among the notable absences from the updated list of acts, while Billie Eilish and Kings of Leon also appear to have been axed.
Next year’s edition will take place from July 7-10 and will feature several acts from the 2020 lineup. London folk group Mumford & Sons will be joined by Twenty One Pilots, Pixies, Deftones and the Killers. The lineup so far represents some 70% of all the acts set to play, with many more still to be announced. Tickets went on sale at 12:00pm on July 8, with prices starting from €75.
with that meaning. A letter sent to the owners in 1983, still displayed on the wall to this day, confirms that the word ‘chiringuito’ and its new meaning would be added to the official Spanish dictionary. Traditionally, chiringuitos
open in June for midsummer’s San Juan beach bonfires (cancelled this year) and close in mid-October. Between those dates, you’ll be most unlucky to find a beach in Spain without one. With their reputation for fresh fish, a repertoire that
extends to cod, swordfish, prawns, squid, octopus, and sea bass, garnished with crisp and colourful salads harvested from the local huertas, you can’t miss this quintessential beach dining experience. It’s the very taste of summer in Spain.
Date with destiny THE oldest city in Spain was built 5,200 years ago near Almeria, researchers have discovered. Scientists in Granada have certified the dating of Los Millares, located in Santa Fe de Mondujar, 22 kilometres north of Almeria. It has been confirmed by a team of archaeologists from the University of Granada as the oldest city in the country. The population, which settled 5,200 years ago and reached 1,500 inhabitants at its peak, occupied six hectares of land. The city was formed around a sacred megalithic necropolis composed of 80 monumental tombs, with a hundred individuals buried in each one of them, along with a trousseau of exotic objects, including amber, ivory and ostrich egg shells. The study’s surprising conclusions have been made
possible by radiocarbon dating of several human remains located inside the monumental tombs. It is believed the city was in use for almost a millennium until 4,300 years ago.
Around 2,500 B.C., a part of the city was abandoned, and the population retreated into the interior of the town near the Rio Andarax. By 2,200 B.C. the city was uninhabited.
12
BUSINESS
Shop now pay later
SWEDISH banking giant Klarna is set to launch its ‘shop now, pay later’ service in Spain. The payment provider has introduced a ‘Pay in 3’ option, which allows shoppers to split their purchases into three interest-free equal payments that will be charged every 30 days. Klarna, whose current partnerships include Asos, Nike and H&M, is set to go live in Spain with fashion house Michael Kors, with other brands to follow shortly after. Klarna’s manager for Spain Daniel Espejo said: “A common problem merchants are facing is to offer a seamless online shopping process. “Consumers find something they’d like to purchase online but end up abandoning it due to long or complex checkout processes, extra fees or the lack of willingness to pay online for something that may not end up being delivered or not look as expected. “This is why we’re so excited to bring our shopping solutions to Spain and open an office in Madrid.” According to research by Statista, revenue from e-commerce in Spain is expected to grow at an annual rate of 7.6%, with a projected market volume of €22.9 billion by 2024. PRIMARK has opened its second largest store in Spain. The Irish clothing giant unveiled its new store in the heart of Barcelona, at number 23 Placa Catalunya. It has over 4,800 square metres of commercial space and will be the chain’s second largest in Spain, only behind the one on Madrid’s Gran Via, that has 12,400 square metres of surface.
Safe
For Primark, the opening of this store will mean a leap forward in the Catalan cap-
12
Fashionably late ital, where it’s already present in the L’illa Diagonal shopping centre. The store was due to open a few months ago, but the opening had to be delayed due to the coronavirus crisis. Carlos Inacio, the company’s CEO in Spain thanked the 300 workers for their ‘hard’ work in recent weeks to open and welcome customers into a ‘shop with a safe environment for everyone.’
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
In the slow lane
Spain may never recover from pandemic, top bank warns
SPAIN’S central bank has suggested the economy will not recover from the COVID-19 pandemic until late 2022. In its annual report, the bank predicted that recovery would take years and that women, low-income workers and young people will bear the brunt of the crisis. “Spain’s economy faces the COVID-19 crisis with inequality signific a n t l y
By Andy McInnes
higher than before the financial crisis of 2008. The COVID-19 crisis is having the biggest impact on vulnerable groups, which suggests further deterioration of equality,” says the report. The report details how Spain’s economy suffered its steepest losses ever in the first quarter of the year (5.2%), but that the drop is expected to be much
sharper in the second quarter. The bank predicts that unemployment in Spain will shoot up to 18.4% in the most optimistic scenario but could reach as high as 24.7% if there is a second wave of the pandemic.
Damage
“We need a growth strategy that’s integral, ambitious and based in consensus. And we have to put it into ac-
Lovisa lost
GONE: Jewellery giant won’t reopen
AGONY Property ANT
JEWELLERY group Lovisa has quit Spain due to the coronavirus lockdown. It has abandoned plans for a rapid expansion through the country and will not reopen its nine Spanish stores. The group has put the blame on a ‘disappointing’ response from landlords when it sought help on its rent bills. The company has set aside €2.03 million as an ‘impairment charge’ to cover the cost of the closure.
tion urgently,” said Spanish central bank Director Pablo Hernandez de Cos in a video message. “But once the crisis comes to an end, we will find ourselves with the highest level of public debt in decades. We’ll then have to undergo deep budgetary reform that reduces debt and gives us room to face future challenges.” Spain has been operating in a post-lockdown new normal since June 21. The country has also been warned that future economic growth will be sluggish unless major reforms are enacted. Medium-term growth potential - only around 1% before the pandemic - is at risk of falling further with businesses near collapse and some sectors facing weak demand for years to come. “In this context, it’s absolutely imperative to put in place measures that compensate for the damage triggered by the crisis, to increase growth potential,” Bank of Spain chief economist Oscar Arce said.
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YOUR LEGAL PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY ANTONIO FLORES
Clock’s ticking Thousands of British expats to receive new residency status
FROM Monday July 6, 2020, the Directorate General of Migration and the Policia Nacional will issue - upon application - a new residency card and, with it, a new residency status specifically created pursuant to the Withdrawal Agreement (Part Two), published jointly by the EU and the UK on November 14 2018. This new residency status sits in between the standard EU citizens status and the nonEU citizens status and will have its own terms and conditions, in particular in respect to duration of the residency cards (and notably the introduction of a photo on the card). These are the most important points to consider: UK national residents in Spain prior to December 31, 2020 will have the rights to residency, freedom of movement and Social Security as recognised in the Withdrawal Agreement. Applicants for residency after this end date may have differing rights, either those recognised in a future agreement between the EU and the UK or, by default, those recognised by existing Spanish laws and those that may be approved. UK nationals (and their family members) will not have to apply for a new status but will be entitled to receive a card that confirms their status as beneficiaries of the rights contained in the Withdrawal Agreement.
The Instruction refers to various ‘statuses’ and procedures: Applicants who have been residents for a period above five years and do have a permanent residency certificate, will submit their applications at the police station, receiving a permanent 10-year residency card. Applicants who have been residents for a period above five years but do not have a permanent residency certificate, will submit their applications at the police station, receiving a permanent 10-year residency card. Applicants who have been residents for a period under five years but do have a residency certificate, will alsosubmit their applications at the police station, receiving a ‘temporary’ five-year residency card. Applicants who do not have a residency certificate will submit their applications initially at the Foreigners Office and once approved, they will need to request the issuance of their five-year validity cards at the police station. UK nationals arriving in Spain after the end date of the transition period (December 31, 2020), will have three months to apply for residency. Where not, the authorities reserve their right to grant extra time to submit the application. Temporary or extended absences from Spain will not affect the rights under the residency cards.
Email Antonio at aflores@lawbird.com
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PROPERTY Big spenders Balearic boom
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
JUST three transactions accounted for nearly half of all real estate investments in the second quarter of the year. Only €1.06 billion worth of sales were made in the period, 65% less than a year ago, according to figures from BNP Paribas Real Estate. The three major operations in the quarter included the purchase of a portfolio of 36 supermarkets from Mercadona by LCN Capital. The other two were the sale of 919 homes to AXA IM by developer Tectum, and the acquisition of an office complex by DWS in Barcelona.
Disastrous
Lockdown has been disastrous for the real estate sector, but this was mitigated by a good start to 2020. During the first six months of the year, investment stood at €4.187 billion, 23% less than a year ago. The residential sector is emerging as one of the drivers of the recovery. Investment in the second quarter amounted to €255 million, accounting for 24% of the total. The build to rent market is gaining ground as it is seen as a relatively safe sector with great potential.
Rent by the hour
Islands see 15% rise in rental prices, making region one of Spain’s most expensive
THE Balearic Islands have seen the third steepest rise in rental prices across Spain, making it one of the most expensive places to live. Along with Barcelona, the island region saw a huge 15% surge, new Government figures have revealed. Data released by urban and transport minister Jose Luis Abalos shows that the region saw the cost of renting a home soar between
PRICEY: Beachside properties in Mallorca command an even higher premium
2015 and 2018. The information was gathered from the tax declarations relating to more than 11.2 million lease contracts nationwide. A 20% rise in rental prices in
By Laurence Dollimore
Malaga was Spain’s steepest spike, making the province the country’s sixth priciest place to rent a property.
Slash tax for new-builds THE Spanish Government is being urged to reduce the IVA (VAT) rate on new-build properties from an average of 10% to 4%. The APCE (Association of Promoters and Constructors in Spain) says this move would be a central pillar in a package of measures to boost the sector and stop it falling into a long-term
crisis. Despite the call to action, promoters are generally optimistic about the new-build property market. The APCE does not foresee significant reductions in price but says there may be significant delays in launching new projects unless help is given, with a knock-on effect of lower employment and a lower tax take.
It follows Madrid, Ceuta, Barcelona, Melilla and the Balearic Islands. Malaga is even now outpacing Andalucia’s regional capital of Sevilla, where average rents from 2015 to 2018 increased from €508 to €561. Within Malaga province, the most expensive town to live in is Benahavis, with average rental costs reaching €899, growing by 28% between 2015 and 2018. Next is Marbella on €700, seeing a 17% increase, then Malaga and Fuengirola both on €600, with rent growing by 15% and 20% respectively.
MERLIN Properties is offering customers the chance to rent office space by the hour as the post-pandemic economy kicks in. Spain’s biggest property firm will also make meeting rooms available at hourly rates. Merlin expects clients will continue to rent about fourfifths of their space through fixed, long-term contracts and the rest through flexible arrangements. The pandemic has raised speculation that landlords will suffer as more companies become accustomed to their employees working from home. But Merlin believes that companies will also need more space to ensure compliance with social distancing requirements. “There are going to be less square metres because of working from home but on the other hand more square metres because of social distancing,” said Fernando Ramirez, head of investor relations at Merlin. Under Merlin’s new product, known as Loom Passport, tenants will purchase credits, which can be used in any of its nine co-working offices in Madrid and Barcelona. “Companies want to offer their staff a workspace option that combines the facilities of an office with the convenience of working closer to home,” added Ramirez.
Friends.
Reset.
Music.
At OD Port Portals we have our own star rating. In fact, we have all the stars of the Mallorca sky and we will enjoy them all together every summer night at OD Sky Bar, on our spacious terrace and at our restaurant On Top. A hotel full of local experiences, music, art, gastronomy, yoga, pre-parties, flea markets, brunches, concerts, Pilates, tardeo, sea, sun and all the stars. A hotel full of life.
Horizon.
Sunset.
13
Memories.
COLUMNISTS At last a lifeline
14
July 10th - July 23rd 2020
Terenia Taras Telling it like it is
Are the tourists too little, too late, for Mallorca’s hospitality industry? asks Terenia Taras
O
K so Spain has navigated Storm Corona pretty well, but what will the ravaged business landscape look like afterwards? We’ve probably all heard the same expressions, it’s unprecedented times and being furloughed, far too many times now! And what was wrong with using ‘temporarily redundant’ anyway, which we didn’t have to look up in the dictionary to understand what this unknown ‘furlough’ or ‘ERTE’ had inflicted on us. But what really grinds my gears is when people say we’re all in the same boat. No, we’re really not! Some of us are bobbing along on a luxury liner just waiting to catch a glimpse of total freedom again, while others are clinging on to the life raft for their lives! Many business owners will be bailing out of their failing businesses, after clinging on to said life raft for as Reinhold Klinglmar, long as possible, owner of Café Mozart and while it’s been in Santa Ponsa
so positive to see the bars, beaches and restaurants alive with people again, is it a case of too little, too late? Mallorca finally welcomed the first UK tourists on July 1 and their arrival couldn’t have come sooner, as most hospitality business owners desperately need to start filling their premises if they’re to survive. Despite there still being a lot of uncertainty and fear around travel, Spain, along with many European countries desperately needs tourists to help them get back on their feet. And while I appreciate the need to ensure that nasty little virus doesn’t creep back up on us, we do need to get moving literally, otherwise the long-term damage will be even more detrimental for many years to come. Now that I’m free to roam the island again I spoke with several restaurant and cafe owners and they explained that the main problem was that no one seems to know how many people will travel? Some restaurants opened in anticipation of tourists arriving, but found there were few customers, so now only open at the weekend. What would help them is if the summer season was extended. With hotels normally closing in October it doesn’t give them long to recoup their losses. And since air bridges were announced, Palma airport
ARRIVALS: First UK tourists arriving in Mallorca
has seen a steep increase in travellers from all over Europe, in particular Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. But we need more tourists, and fast, to help prevent more people having to aban-
don their businesses. Another suggestion might be to extend the season to allow the travel and tourism industry a bit more time to salvage what is left of 2020. Just a thought!
@tereniataras
Covidentially-speaking First it laid waste to our lifestyles, now it’s invading our language, writes Belinda Beckett
H
OW’S your New Normal working out? If, like me, you don a visor over your face mask like a medieval knight of old every time you step out of the front door, probably not that normally. Even with these extreme precautions, the world is full of ‘covidiotas’ no matter how socially distanced you try to be. Last week on my dawn hike through the campo I was forced off the bridle path into a thicket of thistles by five walkers and two big dogs marching abreast minus masks or muzzles. I refrained from faking a hacking cough as they passed… The Spanish have another word – coronaburros – to describe those demonstrat- CHEERS: The perfect medicine ing asinine stupidity under the present circumstances (although it’s a bit racist to donkeys). Carvideo of a signer interpreting a government minister’s allovirus (Galician for f.ckvirus) and cuarenpena (the pain warning not to hoard food with a twitching nose and clawof quarantine) are other neat neologisms here. Globally ing rodent paws went viral. Coronaspeck (lockdown flab) there has been a viral explosion of new words. The Oxford describes the curve that needs flattening above hamsterEnglish Dictionary has already printed an extra edition to kaufer belts and the Germans also gave us geisterspiel – include them. ghost game – coined when their Bundesliga premiered the Covidivorce may not have made the cut but there’s been beautiful game in stadia without fans. an explosion of those too. In Saudi Arabia marital breakI can’t see it catching on even if it solves soccer hooliganups shot up by 30% during lockdown when Muslim women ism at a stroke. Out East, everyone’s talking about chao got to find out about their husband’s secret ‘other wives’. zuo ye, a trending hashtag on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) They’re allowed up to four under Sharia law. Being zumped since Donald Trump called Covid-19 ‘The Chinese Virus’ (dumped by your partner on Zoom), possibly after you gave and then followed that up with ‘Kung Flu’. Literally, it them a dose of Miley Cyrus (Cockney rhyming slang) are means to copy someone’s homework. In Chinese Covidunlikely to make the OED but I’d like to see Blursday respeak, it means that the West is copying their pioneering corded for posterity – that fuzzy don’t-know-what-day-it-is pandemic tactics without giving them credit. Personally feeling you have all week instead of just on Sunday mornI wish we’d done a bit more copying and we might have ings. Coronials (babies conceived in the time of coronaviemerged from ‘hibernation’, as Boris Johnson so quaintly rus), is also kind of cute. put it, a lot sooner. Me, I’m diving back into my burrow and The Germans have a great word for the panic buying that reverting to Covidmodo (keeping my head down to avoid laid siege to supermarket shelves at the outbreak of the the covidiotas) with a quart of quarantinis to ease the crisis: hamsterkauf (a merger of ‘hamster’ and ‘buy’). A cuarenpena. Namaste!
SPORT Return of a legend
Finally
BASKONIA have won the Spanish basketball league title for the first time in 10 years. The Basque side defeated reigning champions Barcelona, 69-67, to win their fourth title and first since 2010. In a repeat of history, Dusko Ivanovic’s side beat the same team they defeated a decade ago, during the Montenegrin coach’s second spell at the club. The Catalans were looking to retain the ACB championship for the sixth straight season but fell just short.
VALENCIA manager, Albert Celades has been sacked, and the club’s sporting director has resigned immediately. Celades was only in charge of the Bats for nine months, and was named manager in September following the sacking of Marcelino. He is the sixth manager to lose his job since Singaporean billionaire, Peter Lim bought the club in 2014. Voro Gonzalez will now step in as temporary boss until the end of the season for his sixth spell at the Mestalla. He first took over in 2008,
Baskonia end decade long drought without a league title, by defeating Barcelona in Championship game with last second shot By Dimitris Kouimtsidis
The game was neck and neck for the entire 40 minutes, with neither side getting a comfortable lead. With 3.4 seconds of time left to play, Achille Polonara made an incredible assist to Luca Vildoza, who scored the
You’re fired following former Southampton and Everton boss, Ronald Koeman’s sacking and helped the La Liga side avoid relegation. Cesar Sanchez, the club’s sporting director was only appointed in January, but also followed Celades out the door. He is the sixth sporting director to leave his position in the six years that Lim has owned the club.
Welcome back
SPANISH motorsport legend, Fernando Alonso has announced he will return to Formula 1 next season. The two-time world champion has signed a two-year deal with his former team Renault. This will be his third stint at the Enstone team, after a two year spell away from the tracks. The 38-year-old will partner
Esteban Ocon for the 2021 season, following Ricciardo’s move to McLaren. “It’s a great source of pride and with an immense emotion I’m returning to the team that gave me my chance at the start of my career and which now gives me the opportunity to return to the highest level,” said Alonso. “The team wants and has the
OP Puzzle solutions Across: 7 Lingo, 8 Icebox, 10 Daughter-in-law, 11 Elders, 12 Assert, 14 Sprays, 16 Adonis, 20 Generalissimo, 22 Velour, 23 Erect. Down: 1 Pledge, 2 Ensued, 3 Motherly, 4 Tiles, 5 Yeti, 6 Collie, 9 Swot, 13 Sidestep, 14 Sags, 15 Rented, 17 Noises, 18 Snooty, 19 Ultra, 21 Riot.
SUDOKU
Quick Crossword
means to get back on the podium, as do I.” “The signing of Fernando Alonso is part of Renault’s plan to continue its commitment to F1 and to return to the top of the field,” said team boss Cyril Abiteboul. “The strength of the bond between him, the team and the fans make him a natural choice.”
game winning lay-up. Cory Higgins had the chance to win it for Barca but his off-balance 3-point attempt from the corner was off the mark. Vildoza finished with a teamhigh 17 points plus four assists and was named Final MVP, becoming the second consecutive Argentinian player to win the award, following in the footsteps of Real Madrid guard, Facundo Campazzo. The coronavirus pandemic had forced the ACB to temporarily suspend all games. When basketball was allowed to restart, the league held a shortened version where the top 12 teams were split across two groups, playing five games each. The best two teams from each group advanced to the semi-finals, with the winners then moving onto the grand final. All matches were a one-off knockout game held at Valencia’s Pavello Municipal Font de San Lluis.
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BARCELONA basketball legend Sarunas Jasikevicius has been appointed as the Catalans’ new head coach. The Lithuanian manager was announced last night as Barca’s new boss, following the departure of Svetislav Pesic. Pesic was sacked following Barcelona’s surprise defeat at the hands of Baskonia in the Spanish Championship final. The new Blaugrana coach put pen to paper and signed a three-year contract. The 44-year-old was head of Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas since 2016 and had guided them to the EuroLeague Final Four in 2018, along with winning the Lithuanian championship five times and the cup three times.
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Hardened criminals THE elderly members of a British gang face stiff sentences after being caught selling fake Viagra-style drugs. The organisation was allegedly led by a 72-year-old
It doesn’t fit THREE women have ended up in the hospital after a fight broke out in a Zara fitting room in Galicia.
Stolen cock SIX men will be going on trial for the murder of a man in Malaga province who had supposedly stolen their rooster used for cock fights.
Pensioner expat gang busted for selling fake Viagra-style drugs British man who lived in Marbella with his 65-yearold wife.
Size does matter A DEFLATED Romeo put in an official complaint when he bought condoms that turned out to be too small for him. He had purchased what turned out to be counterfeit Durex from a grocery store in the Barcelona district of Les Corts. But when it came time to use them, he found himself in a tight spot. On unwrapping the offending articles, he discovered they were far too short for him - not something he was used to with the genuine brand. So he decided to stand up and be counted and headed off to put in an official complaint with the Ministry of Health’s Spanish Medical Agency (AEMPS). They in turn called in the Mossos d’Esquadra Catalan regional police who have reported two men to the courts for allegedly distributing the dodgy condoms.
He had previously been arrested in 2012 for selling the drugs in person, which were tagged as for curing erectile dysfunction. Now, he and his entire organisation have been detained for selling the pills from an online pharmacy. All members of the gang were British, apart from one American and they were all in their sixties or seventies. The drugs were sourced from a factory in India and imported via the UK. They had not been through required health and quality controls and were not approved for sale in Spain. A parallel police operation has closed down a similar online site based in Valencia, with 33 arrests being made across both raids. All members have been detained for crimes against
public health, with the police investigating if any of the buyers suffered health problems. Both gangs had set up websites that were meant to look like legitimate pharmacies and offered miraculous pills that would eradicate erectile dysfunction. In Spain it is illegal to sell pharmaceuticals online, unless your business is a registered online pharmacy. It is thought that across the two gangs, they had made over €3 million in profit from the fake drugs. Both gangs then proceeded to launder that money in order to buy luxury items and invest in cryptocurrencies.
A YOUNG lad who jetted out to Mallorca without giving his mum the heads up only revealed his plans when he was sat on the runway. Keiran Lindsay, 18, had come up with a crafty way to join his eight mates for a week of Magaluf fun after his mum turned down his pleas to go. His plans were almost foiled when his mum asked where he was while in a taxi enroute to Glasgow Airport. However, the quick thinking electrician responded with a cheeky selfie pretending that he was tucked up safely in bed. And once on the plane he decided to bite the bullet, sending a group photo reading - ‘Do you really think I’d miss Maga with the boys?’. He soon faced the music after touching down in Palma receiving over 500 messages and 30 missed calls from his irate mum who branded him an ‘immature f***g idiot’ and ‘that he better not come back riddled with an STD.’ Although having the best week of his life, he did have to take several FaceTime calls with his mum every day.
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