Olive Press Costa Blanca South & Murcia- Issue 78

Twist in Levi hunt

By Anthony Piovesan

AN X-Factor star who went missing in strange circumstances in Spain three weeks ago may have been spotted.

Rugby player Levi Davis’ mother told the Olive Press he may have been seen as recently as Monday, this week, in Barcelona.

Julie Davis revealed she received information from an alleged eye witness that her son, 24, had ‘been sighted’ at Placa de Sant Agusti looking ‘lost and confused’.

The woman claimed she had also seen Levi the previous weekend in the same area.

The square is just off Barcelona’s La Rambla, where he was last officially photographed leaving The Old Irish Pub, at 10pm, on October 29. The information has now been passed on to officers investigating the high-profile case.

Suitcase

It has become a real mystery as Levi, who played for Bath, vanished after taking an unscheduled boat trip to Barcelona from a holiday with a pal in Ibiza.

He had flown to Ibiza to spend time with expat Richard Squire, who lives on the party island.

Marketing boss Squire revealed he had traveled to the Catalan capital to ‘visit someone, but he didn’t tell me who’. He added he had left his suitcase in Ibiza.

In 2020, Levi made history when he Continues on Page 4

RESS

End of the line for Coca Queen

SHE was the Rolls Royce of co caine smuggling since the 1990s and looked every inch the part in her €700 blouses and €1,000 high heels.

But finally the Queen of Co caine’s 25-year reign has hit a bump in the road, which police expect will write off her crime career for good.

Dubbed the ‘ Reina de Cocaine ’, we can today reveal her identity as Maria Teresa Jaimes Caice do, a glamorous Marbella expat, who lived a life of luxury in a giant mansion with two swim ming pools, a tennis court and ‘a garden that resembles the rain forest’.

Now under arrest and await ing trial, she has been fingered as the ringleader of a gang of 16, behind a European-wide cocaine smuggling operation. Arrests have been made across Spain, including Alicante and Murcia.

Speaking exclusively to the Ol ive Press , a lead investigator re vealed how she had managed to ‘live the high life’ for nearly three decades, while quietly pulling

the strings behind one of Spain’s big gest drug smuggling operations.

Describing her as ‘a real black widow’ - who has already seen two previous

EXCLUSIVE: Expat’s 25-year ‘Rolls Royce drug ring’ has finally flatlined

By Jon Clarke & Anthony Piovesan

husbands put behind bars for smuggling - the undercover of ficer added it was ‘remarkable’ she had somehow flown under the radar.

The policeman from Greco, part of the National Police’s Udyco organised crime and drug unit, revealed how his colleagues were ‘amazed’ when they started investigating her opulent life.

City

“From the street her house didn’t look anything special, but when we entered it was like a city, with interlinking paths and numerous outbuildings where all her family lived,” he said.

“I’ve seen many homes of crimi nals, but this was something else. Some 3,000-metres squared in size and with a garden like

someone got it. A hotel, it was always five stars, a restaurant, always the best.

“A boat, her friends had them. The cars, always changing, but nothing too flash. Think BMW or Audi.”

He continued that the €3m vil la in central Marbella was ‘like a fortress’ with numerous CCTV cameras, high walls and incred ible security.

“She actually slept in her own panic room bedroom, which was only reached via a false door from a library.”

He added it could only be ac cessed by pushing a button that,

Life of the Black Widow

like

movie,

The suite itself featured an ele vated marble jacuzzi, support ed by marble columns, while a giant mirror was placed on the ceiling above the bed.

Inside a giant walk-in ward robe amid racks of Prada shoes, Dsquared2 jackets and Gucci bags was a packet of cocaine. Adorned with, appropriately, a Rolls Royce logo - the kilo of cocaine had clearly been used to show off the quality her family in Colombia could supply.

“A corner was missing that had clearly been syphoned off for potential clients and friends to try,” explained the Greco oper ative. “It was a big mistake for her.”

While she claimed to work as a ‘commercial mediator’ and reg ularly travelled between Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Co lombia, police began to probe her after a tip off two years ago.

Tied

Called Operation Dryad (after the nymphs in Greek mythol ogy, who lived supernaturally long lives and were tied to their homes) the probe found her to be the ‘brains’ behind a big Pol ish/Danish gang, which smug gled drugs around Europe.

BRANDED: Block of cocaine

Maria Teresa (above) was born in Bucaraman ga, in Colombia, in 1973, and has no criminal record.

She first came on to the police radar in 2005 after her then-husband, notorious French narco Michel Curtet, was arrested in Portugal on a boat with 6,100 kilos of cocaine, worth €214 million.

While the former armed robber was handed a 12-year sentence and later another four in France, Maria Teresa was not even probed. She has two other ex-husbands, one a Ger man convicted of smuggling 200 kilos of co caine into Denmark in 2015, while the other is from Belgium, who police are currently investigating.

a Hollywood

opened to a staircase up to Maria Tere sa’s suite.

the sel va with a tennis court and two pools.”

He add ed: “If she needed a plane ticket,

MIRRORED CEILING: Queen of cocaine’s secret bedroom

KICKING

Mozzie move

TORREVIEJA has started extensive spray ing to stop the hatching of mosquitoes in salt marsh areas close to ur banisations- especially after recent heavy rain.

Xmas cheer

ALICANTE switch es on its large array of Christmas lights this Friday, reach ing more city areas than ever before but cutting illumination by 10 hours a week to save on energy.

Life savers

FIVE defibrillators have been installed in Santa Pola municipal buildings-doubling the number put in back in May. Two mobile units will be carried in Poli cia Local cars.

Jab time

PEOPLE of all ages can get a flu vaccination in the Murcia region from Monday, with over 60% of those aged 80 years and over already jabbed.

Unfair cop DEAD EYES

POLICE are investigating accusations of excess force by a plain clothes Elche of ficer who was videoed by a passerby kicking a man’s head three times as he lay on the ground.

DNA evidence has revealed a Russian man - formerly based in Torrevieja and Quesadaas the only suspect in two lo cal killings in 2020.

He is also alleged to have tried to murder a woman en tering her apartment block in the same year.

The 26-year-old fugitive named as Nikolay T, and dubbed as ‘Dead Eyes’ kill er, fled Spain and is now in a Russian psychiatric hospital in Smolensk after stabbing a woman to death outside a to bacconist.

By Alex Trelinski

Spanish police confirmed the unnamed man as their target following the analysis of ge netic samples, with Russian authorities supplying Nikolay T’s DNA for comparison.

He moved to Torrevieja as a six-year-old and there ap peared to be no problems un til he returned to the area in 2019 after doing two years of military service in Russia.

Friends said he’d changed and drank a lot of alcohol and

took drugs. They added he behaved ‘strangely and vio lently’ with a split-personality speaking in ‘two voices’.

A Cuatro TV probe looked at what happened in 2020 and his failed attempt to kill a 58-year-old Torrevieja woman.

CCTV footage of the man run ning away was released two years later in a fresh appeal to identify and catch him, with acquaintances calling police to confirm who he was.

On August 11, 2020, Nikolay T allegedly murdered Los

Paedophile jailed Cruel exploiters

A 76-year-old man has been jailed for six years for sexually abusing a 13-year-old child in a secluded area of an Alicante beach.

The August 2020 assault at Cabo de las Huertas was observed by two shocked women who called the police. The elderly man was lying naked on the beach and propositioned a boy, 13, to have sex with him in exchange for money.

The youngster agreed and they went to a secluded cove area to engage in sex. When the boy asked for the cash afterwards, the man told him he had nothing and the youngster left the area.

FIVE members of a Romanian family have been arrested for forcing a disabled man to beg for 12 hours a day in the centre of Ali cante.

The victim’s mother had died in his native Romania and, despite having no relation ship with the Alicante-based family, he was bussed to Spain for the sole purpose of ex ploitation.

Under threat of violence, the man had to beg during the summer heatwave and, due to his disability, he could not move to any shade and was not provided with food or drink.

Police moved in and took him to social ser vices to provide him with a wheelchair and accommodation. The family has been ar rested for human trafficking.

Montesinos farmer, Antonio Joaquin Huertas, on his farm by stab bing him 11 times.

He then struck again on No vember 6, when he strangled a woman, 45, when she was walking her dog in the La Hoya area of Elche.

The victim, named as Alicia, worked as a court official for Elche’s legal department, and autopsy reports showed she had been surprised from be hind.

Extradition

The assaults were all random with no connection between the victims.

With his latest killing and psychiatric imprisonment, it appears unlikely he will be extradited, despite Elche and Torrevieja courts issuing in ternational arrest and extra dition warrants.

The man had outstanding warrants against him for gender violence and rob bery with violence.

Police sources said the images don’t tell the full story and no footage was taken of the victim pep per-spraying one of the officers before the arrest.

His brother also appeared on the scene and assaulted the police.

Plane crazy

A DRUNK British man, 66, sexually assaulted a Jet2 stewardess, forcing an Ali cante-bound flight into an emergency landing in France.

The pensioner, clocked at nearly three times the UK drink-drive alcohol limit, had thrust his hand up the stew ardess’ skirt to touch her in appropriately.

The captain immediately di verted the 7am flight from Leeds-Bradford to Nantes, with the victim filing a com plaint to French police.

The man - who admitted his guilt to a French court - was bailed.

‘Double murderer’ who terrorised Torrevieja tracked to Russian mental institution

NIKOLAY: Identified from CCTV footage as he ran from the scene of an assault

RING OF FURY

Half a million engagement ring and the corruption levels that lie behind UK trial of ex Spanish king

SPAIN’S former king gave his ex-mistress a giant engage ment ring worth more than half a million euros as an an niversary gift.

Corinna Larsen, 57, has revealed the emerald ring was inscribed ‘22-1-10’, repre senting the five years the German businesswoman and Juan Carlos I had been together.

“He was very proud of it and showed it to all his friends,” she explained.

“It's an emerald, diamonds on the side, the classic en gagement ring.”

The revelation comes in the third episode of a sensational

eight-part podcast detailing her decade-long affair with the ex-monarch, 84, who abdicated in 2014 after a series of scandals.

Larsen - who visit ed the king at Ma drid’s palace and took many busi ness trips with him - provides shock ing details about his dodgy business deal

These include a kickback of €65 million he had received after a trip to Saudi Arabia, as well as other times he came home with ‘bags of cash’.

CLAIMS: Ex-King and lover Corinna

Other revelations concern his promiscuity and how she was confronted by his long-suffer ing wife during a private tour of Zarzuela palace.

“Suddenly, Queen Sofia burst into the room with a face like thunder,” she told the epi sode, produced by US jour nalists Tom Wright and Brad ley Hope.

The podcast comes at a sensi tive time for the royals, as the ex-king is facing a trial at the High Court in London over the relationship in 2024.

Larsen alleges the king caused her ‘great mental pain’ after he got the Spanish secret ser vice (CNI) to spy on her and harass her after their split.

Unfaithful

He denies any wrongdoing and his lawyers argue he is ‘entitled to immunity’ being from the Spanish royal fam ily, although this has been denied so far given his abdi cation.

Corinna met the ex-king at a dinner party at the Duke of Westminster's giant La Gar ganta estate, in Cordoba. From that moment, the moth er-of-two started receiving flowers and love letters, while he phoned her ‘10 times a day’ at work under the name ‘Mr Sumer’, an acronym of ‘Su Majestad el Rey’, meaning His Majesty the King.

The most shocking claims however, are linked to the huge sums he had been paid in cash on foreign business trips.

When she asked him about the ‘bags of cash’, he replied:

“Oh this is from my friend so and so, and this is from so and so’.

It seemed like a very habitual situation.”

She added the king, now liv ing in exile in Abu Dhabi, would brush off further ques tions telling her she ‘didn't understand Spain’.

In March, all investigations into Juan Carlos were shelved by the Supreme Court, on the basis that any tax fraud or money laundering offences were either committed when he enjoyed immunity as head of state, or had exceeded the statute of limitations.

Investigations by a Swiss prosecutor into his business dealings were also shelved for similar reasons.

But a different case in London involves Larsen’s claims the harassment she was subject ed to was aimed at getting her to return a €65 million ‘gift’ that Juan Carlos had trans ferred into her bank accounts in 2012.

The money is alleged to have come from a Saudi kickback he received due to his media tion in the awarding of a giant contract to build a high-speed rail link to Mecca to a Spanish business consortium.

Embroiled

But she ended up closely linked to it when he trans ferred money to her bank accounts to hide it during a string of money-laundering investigations in Switzerland and Spain.

World stage

SPAIN will host the Davis Cup finals later this month, where eight countries will face-off in the famous knock-out format.

After playing the group stages at four different cities around Europe in September, the losers were weeded out and the top two teams in each group progressed: Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Croatia, Cana da, Australia and the United States.

Spain is looking to capture its seventh Davis Cup vic tory at the tournament which starts on November 22 in Malaga, but they’ll be without World number one Carlos Alcaraz (pictured).

The 19-year-old, the youngest ever men’s world number one player, suffered a stomach muscle injury in his last match against Holger Rune in the quarter finals of the Paris Masters.

Rafael Nadal, current world number two, was also not named in the side.

BAD WEEK

IT was a bad week for former Barcelona play er Gerard Pique and pop-star ex Shakira.

While the famous duo managed to hammer out a custody deal over their children, Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7, after a mammoth 12-hour negotiation session, other things did not go according to plan.

A court committed Colombian singer Shakira for trial in a tax evasion case after she refused to take a deal.

Prosecu tors are

calling for an eightyear jail sentence and a €23.8 million fine if she is found guilty.

And days later Pique was sent off against Osasuna in his final ever match without even making it onto the field. He was on the bench when he launched an expletive-laden rant at the referee following a teammate’s red card, and was promptly shown one him self.

EXPLOSIVE

GLAMOUR: The looks that turned the King’s head

About floody time

OVER a quarter of the region al budget for the Vega Baja region will be spent on stop ping a repeat of the disastrous floods over three years ago.

Some €42.9 million has been allocated for work within the Vega Renhace plan in 2023. The funds will make the Vega Baja area a ‘better-prepared area for future floods’.

Ten specific areas have been outlined for money to be spent on flood prevention.

Key budget lines include €16 million for infrastructure, €15.9 million to cut flood risks in urban centres and €10 million for ecological re covery.

Since the September 2019 floods, projects and invest ments totalling €97.1 million have been executed - of which €70.5 million was allocated to emergency and repair work.

MOTORISTS are having speeding fines can celled after complaining about inaccurate speed limit signs on the N-332 on the Orihuela Costa.

The DGT traffic authority has relented after a string of penalties in recent months on the Cam poamor stretch of the highway.

The €100 fines had been clocked up by a fixed point radar camera which has been withdrawn from service. It was automatically fining people

Radar refunds

for exceeding 80 kph when the limit is 100 kph. The lower figure was negated by a sign saying restrictions had ended - but this was not programmed into the camera. Anybody that has already paid a penalty they feel was incorrectly generated can apply for a refund.

POWER PLAY

CAMPAIGNERS want chang es to the suggested route of a 23-kilometre high-voltage line that will scythe through the Vega Baja area.

The group is worried about the impact on over 100 hectares of valuable farmland and natural

Lest we forget

ARMISTICE Day and Remem brance Day were commemorated in services and ceremonies across the region.

Torrevieja’s Royal British Legion held their Ar mistice Day service at the Iglesia de la Concep tion in the city centre on Friday. A large wreath was laid by RBL chairwoman, Pame la Wilding, and Torrevieja mayor, Eduardo Dolon. There were commemorations in Gran Alacant, San Fulgencio, and a large attendance for the tra ditional Remembrance Day service organised by the Orihuela Costa RBL at Mil Palmeras church.

By Alex Trelinski

Locals up in arms over 23 km of electricity pylons plan

Star search

became the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual.

He went on to take part in the UK talent show The X Factor: Celebrity.

Being in the public eye affect ed Levi, who confessed in an interview that he suffered from ‘depression, anxiety and alco holism’ after the show.

A few months ago Levi told his mother he was being black mailed over compromising photos.

The day before he disappeared, his Only Fans account posted its first fully nude pictures.

A GoFundMe page, set up by pal Squire, has so far raised €1,620 towards a target of €3,000.

moradi, Benejuzar, Jacarilla, Los Montesinos, and Orihuela, before finishing at the Rojales

No Spidey sense

A WOMAN who had locked herself out of her fourth-floor apartment had to be rescued when she tried to climb the facade of her building, slipped and was left clinging to a balcony.

The 30-year-old had left her keys behind after going out and decided the easiest solution was to emulate Spiderman. Firefighters in Novelda arrived to find her hanging onto a balcony ledge 10 me tres above ground level.

The fire crew smashed through her front door and lifted her up to safety.

sub-station.

In total, some 94 new pylons are set to go in across the seven mu nicipalities.

The Ministry for Eco logical Transition is now set to study the project, as well as is sue an environmental impact report.

The Friends of Sierra Escalona (ASE) and the Friends of the South Alicante Wet lands (AHSA) claim around 115 hectares of ‘high value’ farmland is threatened along

with cattle trails in Almoradi and San Miguel de Salinas.

Meanwhile another group, the Friends of the Sierra de Bene juzar say the lines would have a ‘negative impact on the envi ronment, fauna, and landscape by ‘invading’ forest lands inhab ited by birds of prey and migra tory birds’.

Fight

“The power route will cause a serious eyesore and will run through an area popular with visitors learning about its fauna and geology,” said a spokes man.

Councils in affected areas are also lining up to voice their concerns.

Grandpa Neanderthal

SCIENTISTS have discov ered that Neanderthals - or their ancestors - were tram pling around southern Spain 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.

The incredible discovery, which junks common sci entific belief, was made by a team at Sevilla University. They found Neanderthals (or a similar race) would have lived in the Doñana area during the Middle Pleisto cene, 295,800 years ago, three times older than previ ously thought.

From front

areas.

The proposed line is set to take electricity from a proposed €38 million solar plant at Rojalinda in Murcia across Algorfa, Al

Help for ‘hotspot’ migrants

THE SPANISH government is planning to assign €20 mil lion to the regions to support the reception of unaccompa nied migrant minors.

The youngsters will be trans ferred from hotspots, includ ing the Canary Islands and the enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta to new homes spread around the country.

The plan by the Social Rights Ministry is set to be taken to the Cabinet in the coming days.

The Canary Islands and Ceuta have been calling on Madrid for more support to take care of unaccompanied migrant minors for many years.

In July, the central govern ment agreed to transfer 400 unaccompanied minors to the peninsula.

According to El Diario, a fur ther 374 youngsters will be sent to the mainland in 2023 given the saturation of mi grant centres in the hotspots.

‘FAKE

Help us find him

THE family of an Irishman who has been missing for more than a month on the Costa Blanca has put out a plea for any sightings.

Ken Moore was last known to be in Alicante on holiday on the weekend of October 7 to 9.

The 54-year-old from Cork was due home on October 7, but he never returned.

Moore’s sister, Tanya Fo ley, told the Olive Press she had contacted him when he hadn’t arrived at the airport and he had told her that he ‘wanted to stay a few extra days’.

Repeated attempts to contact him have since gone unan swered. But a crucial witness be

By

asked me how far away Mal aga was.

“I said it was quite a long way away and he’d need to get there by train or plane and then he left.”

Mystery

“I was cleaning the bar about 7.30am three weeks ago and he asked a couple of times if he could have a pint,” she said. “I told him I couldn’t serve him and that it was quite early in the morning, then he

NEWS’ RACIST CONVICTED

A POLICEMAN has become the first person in Spain convicted of spreading 'fake news'.

The Guardia Civil officer used social media to falsely claim a group of Moroccan mi grants had attacked a Barcelona woman. The unnamed cop posted a video of the al leged ‘brutal attack’ claiming it had been

perpetrated by a gang of migrant children based in Canet de Mar.

The post, seen by 22,000 people, was in fact an unrelated assault in China.

He received a 15-month suspended sen tence by a Barcelona court and must attend a 're-education' course.

Malaga is at least 450 km away from Villamartin - and nearly five hours by car. Davies, from Stoke-OnTrent, said Moore appeared ‘unkempt’.

She then said she saw him later that morning about 9.30am having a beer out side The Winchester pub, at Villamartin Plaza.

He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and was carrying a black backpack at the time.

Moore, who works in con struction, arrived in Valencia on September 17, and then spent some time in Alicante before planning to travel fur ther down the Costa Blanca. His worried sister filed a

missing person’s report with the local guards in Cork, who then passed on the informa tion to Spanish police.

“We’re worried - he would never be out of touch for this long,” Foley told the Olive Press

“He’s a grown man and can do whatever he wants but his phone is always with him. If anyone sees him please help him contact home, we just want to know he’s okay.”

Fears

Foley said Spanish investiga tors had been searching Ali cante hospitals and looking at Moore’s finances, with the last bank transaction made on October 10.

Moore is about 1.78m tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. He also wears a black earring on his left ear.

Doubling up

IT’S been revealed that Tor revieja mayor, Eduardo Dolon, gets paid more than Prime Minister Pedro San chez.

The Partido Popular (PP) mayor has access to two pub lic salaries according to Min istry of Finance statistics.

Dolon earned over €38,000 for his mayoral position in 2021, but also got a big topup of €74,705 for being an Alicante Provincial Council vice-president.

In contrast, Pedro Sanchez last year earned just over €84,000 and Valencian President, Ximo Puig, was not far behind on just under €75,000.

Almoradi’s PP mayor, Maria Gomez, as a Provincial Coun cil member earned €69,187 last year, but did not charge for her mayoral role.

Open arms

MADRID is the second most LGBTQ+ friendly city in Europe, according to a new study.

The Spanish capital comes sixth in the world for ‘how accepting’ it is, while Barce lona came in 13th.

Only Brighton beats Madrid in Europe, according to the research conducted by Big 7 Travel ranked ‘how ac cepting’ each city was of the LGBTQ+ community.

EXCLUSIVE: A man last known to be in Alicante has instead been sighted at a pub 70km away asking bar staff a question that could be key to the investigation

lieved Moore’s last known lo cation was at The Tavern, in Villamartin, 70 km south of Alicante, about October 16. The Olive Press spoke to this witness, Sharon Davies, who believes she saw Moore and spoke with him when he en tered the bar.

SEARCH: Ken Moore has been missing for more than a month

Anthony Piovesan

Behind the curtains

ANOTHER week another massive drugs bust.

The tales of traffickers being brought to book by Spanish police are seemingly endless, but dig a little deeper and some surprising in sights can be made.

Too often it seems that, despite the massive hauls of narcotics and cash, luxury cars and property, the people arrested are not the shadowy figures running the show. Or, all too often not so shadowy. Many lead the high life in the full glare of publicity for years, even decades, without ever being brought to account for their criminal actions.

Usually huge amounts of cash are all you need to stay out of jail in Spain, with corrupt police and judicial authorities always on the payroll of most leading mafia gangs. But hopefully the days are numbered.

The Olive Press has had exclusive access to a highly secret police unit that hunts down some of the biggest criminals in Spain. Greco, part of the National Police’s Udyco organised crime and drug unit, operates from nondescript offices and brings in elite officers unknown to the costa crime syndicates from their Madrid HQ. They are rotated regularly to preserve the officers’ anonymity and to avoid them getting corrupted.

Working quietly in the background and out of the public eye, they have been relentlessly bringing the crime lords to book since 2005. Our front page story offers a fascinating glimpse behind the curtains of the work of Greco. It is a team of highly motivated, highly skilled and highly principled officers. And they get results. We are sure our readers will join the Olive Press in thanking them.

King of sleaze

WHILE Greco is working tirelessly to catch criminal Kingpins, more embarrassing revelations about former King Juan Carlos are emerging.

A new podcast series shows how the tentacles of corruption in Spain reached the very highest levels of society - you can’t get high er than the king!

The outcome of a British High Court case brought by his former lover Corinna Larsen is still undecided, but the allegations of corruption and sleaze will now follow him until the day he dies. Fortunately for the Spanish Royal family, his son King Felipe seems to be cut from a different cloth. Let us hope that, like the officers of Greco, he remains incorruptible too.

Better luck this time!

THIS Sunday - November 20 - marks the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

While rightly surrounded in contro versy for many reasons, Spain will make their debut against Costa Rica in Group E next Wednesday, while England play on Monday.

The betting odds are in and the experts have given football fans a list of clear favourites to win the trophy. Brazil is a strong favour ite, but look out for Argentina, Belgium, France (the 2018 winners), England and Spain to field strong, com petitive teams.

Of course, there are al ways unpredictable sur prises. But few have been more vivid than Spain’s experience during the tourna ment co-hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002.

Here is how it unfolded…

The 2002 Spanish team was a favourite to go deep into the World Cup competition and the players were determined to rectify their disappointing early elimination from the previous 1998 competition.

The Spanish team was not made of many big individual

egos but rather one unit with a single-minded destiny - that of bringing the cup to Spain for the first time.

Although Spanish teams had always had a strong record in international competi tion (including the Europe an Championships and the Olympics) the ultimate prize had continually eluded them.

The 2002 team was led by a 33-year-old goalie named Santiago Cañizares (left). He was no stranger to international competition having represented Spain in two previous World Cups and three European Championships.

Peter Schmeichel, the legendary Manchester United goalie and part of the BBC TV team that year, regarded Santiago as ‘the finest goalkeeper in world football’.

Strong praise indeed. However, on the last day of training while shower ing Cañizares slipped, dropped a bot tle of aftershave and severed a ten don in his foot with the glass shards.

Spain would enter the 2002 World Cup without the best goalkeeper on the plane.

This proved to be a prelude to a string of bad luck - or perhaps something else, as we shall see - that would follow this Spanish team over the next few weeks. The strange events really began with

KICKSTARTER

multiple controversies in the Round of 16 clash between host nation South Korea and Italy.

The European press described it as ‘a steady flow of unpunished fouls’ by the Koreans coupled with ‘an unbelievable litany of refereeing errors’.

Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno (more about him later) somehow tolerated the over-aggressive pressing game by Korea, while sending Italian superstar Frances co Totti off for a questionable ‘diving’ call.

Later, Moreno wrongly disallowed the po tential winning goal for offside and the Koreans’ eventual 2-1 victory did not sit well and the Italian team and press went rightly apoplectic!

TODAY the Spanish and Scots may appear to be operating in different footballing spheres. But did you know that it was a Scotsman who got the ball rolling, literally, for football in Spain?

Dr William Alexander Mackay, born the youngest of nine children in Lybster, near Ab erdeen, in 1860, has long been credited as the man who introduced football to Spain. Mackay’s contribution to Spanish football is little-known in the UK, but in a tiny corner of Andalucia, he remains a much venerated figure.

A year after graduating from Edinburgh Uni versity with a degree in medicine, Mackay was sent to Huelva to work as a doctor for the Rio Tinto mining company, in Minas de Riotinto.

He was clearly cut from different cloth to

most: While Sangria and a siesta were the favoured afternoon pastimes for his friends and colleagues, Mackay, who had played for Edinburgh University when they won the East of Scotland Shield in 1883, set about converting them to the beautiful game.

Aside from his official duties, Mackay would work for free on Thursdays treating all the sick and injured who arrived at the nearby port city.

In order to keep the Rio Tinto workforce physically fit, as well as provide quality lei sure time, Mackay organised football and cricket events.

The sports club was originally for Rio Tinto workers only, but by 1889, it had grown to become Spain’s very first amateur football club. Today’s team lineup is filled with suit

In 1909, King Alfonso XIII awarded him the so-called Great White Cross for his services to medicine.

Some six years later, Mackay returned the honour by offering the king the title of hon orary president of the club.

HOME: The Velodrome stadium where Rio Tinto played

ably hispanic surnames but in 1890, when the club played their first away game in Sevilla, the XI was largely a British affair: Al cock, Yates, Wakelin, Du clos, Coto, Kirk, Daniels, Curtis, Gibbon and Smith. Mackay, who was also helping to build a new hos pital for the city, was laud ed as the founder of foot ball in Spain, and locals praised him for helping to put the small port city, with its population of just 150,000, on the map.

Today the club is known as RC Recreativo de Huelva and for the last 130 years has nurtured the talents of many major players, including Antonio Valencia, Santi Cazorla, Antonio Núñez, Daniel Guiza and Florent Sinama Pongolle.

Mackay was an idealist who believed in the pure amateur form of sport. Unfortunately for his club, other teams in Spain were be coming professional outfits and Recreativo could not keep up with the big spenders.

But in a surprising twist of fate, Recreati vo de Huelva rose far above the amateur ranks of its past to achieve one of the great est – and most surprising – moments of football history.

In December 2006, the team crushed Real Madrid with a 3-0 win at the Bernabeu.

How a Scottish doctor, some miners and a kickabout in a field ignited Spain’s passion for the beautiful game in 1880

As the World Cup looms, Jack Gaioni recalls the misfortunes of the 2002 Spanish team - and how a crooked ref later went to prison for heroin smuggling!

AFTERSHAVE: Knocked goalie Cañizares out, while Totti (above) was sent off

The headlines were brutal. “Italy thrown out of a dirty World Cup where referees and linesmen are used as hitmen,” report ed The Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Eventually FIFA agreed to a probe admit ting: “As a result of a number of controver sies, FIFA has decided to launch an inves tigation.” Four days later that plot would only thicken…

The record shows that South Korea would go on to knock out Spain, 5-3, during a penalty shootout in the quarter finals. If only it was that simple. Egyptian refer

ee

Bizarrely, when Javi De Pedro floated a free kick off a South Korean defender into the net it was mysteriously disallowed.

A second disallowed goal, a decision even more shocking than the first, came two minutes into extra time.

The linesmen flagged that the ball had gone out of bounds though the replays clearly proved otherwise.

Spain’s Ivan Helguera, who had to be physically pulled away from the referee, claimed: “What happened was robbery…everyone saw two perfectly good goals. If Spain didn’t win it is because they didn’t want us to win.”

The Spanish press was be yond indignant. ‘ROBBED’ was the Marca headline. ‘The officials are the thieves of dreams’.

Meanwhile Diario AS , claimed: “We did not deserve this - not the Spanish - nor any lovers of football”.

The European press once again was liv id. Respected pundit Paul Hayward at the Telegraph wrote: “This tournament has descended into a farce.”

He went on to rail against FIFA’s decision to select referees from minor footballing na tions unaccustomed to the highest level of competition, labelling it ‘anti-meritocratic’.

The Argentinian daily La Nation called the tournament the ‘biggest scandal in World Cup history’ and wanted the tournament declared ‘null and void’.

In both Italy and Spain, the prevailing opinion was that the match was ‘rigged or fixed’ in order to keep the host nation in the tournament.

Favouritism would justify FIFA’s grand ambition of expanding the sport into Asia (China being the biggest prize).

But that was 20 years ago. Going into this year’s Cup, we must remember that some of this year’s 2022 squad were just infants (or were not even born).

Blaming the refereeing offi cials has never been a good strategy. As the saying goes: “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”

Thankfully, the 2002 deba cle was the exception rather than the rule. It is anticipated that this year’s World Cup will draw over one million spectators in at tendance to the 64 matches.

The competition will reach a global inhome television audience of over three billion (yes billion!) people.

The World Cup is a much-anticipated occa sion for fans everywhere to gather and cel ebrate community, culture and competition. My only advice to players and fans might be to avoid showering with a glass bottle of af tershave next to you!

Back to the future

THE Olive Press team has decades of news experi ence under their belts.

Some even started in the days of ‘hot metal’, bashing out stories via ancient typewriters (be low) on flimsy paper with a carbon sheet to get a copy for the sub editors (ED: note to youngsters: that’s what a ‘carbon copy’ means!)

It is fair to say the world of news has moved on since then!

First came computers, which helped speed up the pro duction process, then came the internet revolution.

Now we can offer our readers many more stories on our website than we ever could in our printed papers.

Yes, 20-plus a day, with over 30,000 of you already regis tered to receive them.

And we are not stopping there. We are con stantly embrac ing change, always looking to the latest forms of media to get our stories out to new readers.

Be it Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, we have tens of thousands of followers on social media - and - like it or not - these platforms are a big part of our future.

One young man, teenager Alfie Clarke, is helping us make a name for ourselves in the ‘kids’ world’ of TikTok videos.

For us old hacks it seems remarkable that in just a couple of months his TikTok posts have got well over a quarter of a million views.

But his videos are not just informative, they take on board the good old fashioned news values we learned back in the day.

Hence, his maps of recent snowfalls around Spain at the weekend, have had 70,000 views, while his post on nationwide energy use, has had 16,000 so far.

It is a stunning achievement and doesn’t just help our global reach, but also gets youngsters engaged with a range of interesting topics and news each week.

It also shows the Olive Press is continually looking to the future with new tech nology - and with the young blood we have on board, that future looks good.

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Please get in touch at sales@theolivepress.es

As for Mackay, he moved back to the UK just three years after Huelva city council appointed him as an Adopted Son of the City in July 1923.

In poor health at the time, Mackay chose to retire to Heathmount Farm, near Tain, in Scotland where he lived until his death in 1927.

It’s not the most exciting of Andalucian cities, but if you are ever kicking about in Huelva, you can actually stay at the Ho tel Colon in the centre of the city, where Mackay once lived.

Make sure to rummage in the minibar and make a toast to Señor Mackay, the British Don of Spanish football.

● Ultimately, Brazil would win the 2002 World Cup making them the first and only country to have won the World Cup five times.

● Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno (right) was arrested in 2010 in New York for trying to smuggle six kilograms of heroin hidden in his underwear. He would serve two-and-a-half years in prison.

David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo were part of a Madrid line-up humbled by Recreativo in the shock tri umph.

WINNERS: The early Huelva teams where multiple cup holders including the Seamen’s trophy

Gamal Al-Gandhour wrongly disallowed two goals and had a litany of incorrect off side calls - some called from just 15 me tres away.

FURY: At two Spanish disallowed goals, leading to corruption claims of match fixing

● Santiago Cañizares would recover from his severed tendon enough to play a few more years with Valencia CF.By 2010 Cañizares, the great competitor, suc cessfully changed sports. He competed for the first time in a scoring event for the Spanish Rally Championship driving a Suzuki. In 2017, he earned his first victory winning The Rally de Ceramica driving a Porsche 997.

DID YOU KNOW?

Pundit Hayward wrote: “This tournament has descended into a farce.”

BARCELONA, the glittering jewel of the western Mediter ranean, could be enshrouded in clouds of thick toxic smog, have its green spaces wither away and lose some of its most beau tiful beaches by the year 2100.

A new AI-powered model of future climate change shows a computer generated image of the city’s iconic Eixample neighbourhood and its grid layout ringed by a thick and oppressive cloud of smog as the skyline is lost in the pollution.

The home of FC Barca is fa mous for its seafront setting and mountain views, but these could all be lost to the pollution that would also clog the spires of the Sagrada Familia and the upper floors of the distinctive ly-shaped Torre Glories.

In addition, over the coming century the city could face pro longed periods of heatwaves that result in desertification of the coastal area.

Other threats include rising sea levels and flooding, which would wipe out beaces, wild fires in the surrounding hills, and degradation of the infra structure, health and living standards of the city’s predicted

Power on

ENERGY giant Iberdrola will invest €17 billion in renewable energy over the next two years as it aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Nearly half of the amount will be spent on offshore projects in Europe and the US.

Iberdrola is pushing to remain one of the leaders in global renewable pow er at a time when utilities are facing a challenging transition away from fos sil fuels.

By Walter Finch

six million inhabitants by 2100. While AI suggests extreme smog due to air pollution, floods and desertification,

Uswitch, which sponsored the report, also tasked the tool to envision a best-case scenario for the future should the goals

DANGEROUSLY close to the point of no return were the words used by UN Secretary Gen eral Antonio Guterres last week at the COP 27 conference in Egypt. AND HE’S RIGHT.

Seven years ago at the Paris Summit all nations agreed to a target of re stricting global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of this century.

He then went on to say: “The 1.5 degree goal is on life support and the machines are rattling.”

Why? It’s very simple.

Developed countries around the world are not putting money where their mouths are.

It’s not rocket science. We all know the solution. Yet still inaction is the order of the day.

In the 22 years that have elapsed this century, we have seen temperatures rise by 1·1 degrees al ready. This century we have already witnessed new levels of climate induced disasters.

The United Nations Environment Programme an nounced last week that we are heading for an in crease of 2.8 degrees by the end of the century.

If actions verbally committed to do in fact materi alise, then this would result in an increase of 2·4 degrees.

Do the maths……we are nowhere near.

An increase of 2 degrees globally results in:

● 90% of all coral dying

● A rise in sea levels of 10 centimetres

Difficult decisions have to be made. The public at large understands that we will leave a shameful leg acy if we allow politicians to prioritise popularity at the voting booths over saving the planet for future generations.

of Net Zero be achieved.

The more positive results show cased clear skies and the return of wildlife to populated cities.

Big green deal

DANISH shipping com pany Maersk will build two major wind and solar powered hydrogen pro duction centres in Spain as it looks to decarbonise its fleet.

The freight transporter has signed a deal with the Spanish government for large-scale green fuel produc tion in the country.

The company will invest €10 billion in Andalucia and Galicia to develop two of the ‘five or six’ production centres it needs to produce carbon-neutral fuel to serve its international energy needs.

NO RETURN

Richer nations became rich off decades of using fossil fuels.

Now is the time to pay the climate bill. Developing nations are trapped in a crisis of public financing fuelled by debt, and yet have to fund climate disas ters on their own.

This is simply unfair and unjust.

ARE THERE SIGNS OF HOPE ?

The signs are mixed. On the negative side, look at the share of electricity from coal in these coun tries:

● INDIA 79%

● CHINA 69%

● AUSTRALIA 51%

● US 20%

● EU 15%

While these figures remain high little progress can be made.

On the positive side:

● The US has passed sweeping laws to confront climate change

● The war in Ukraine has accelerated European focus on renewable solutions

● India has declared it will get to 50% of its ener gy requirements from renewables. (An obstacle to that could be India’s plan to reopen 100 coal mines)

● Brazil has a new President, Luis Inacio da Silva, who has stated his wish to fight the climate cri sis. (Unlike the nutcase Bolsonaro who champi oned more mining in the Amazon)

● Australia also has a new Prime Minister, Anthony

●

LOBBYING CONCERNS

We all know that smoking causes death. Tobacco is still on sale because of the millions spent on political lobbying and the immoral governmen tal dilemma of losing tax revenue versus saving lives.

And so it is with the environment.

The COP 27 conference has fossil fuel lobbyists from more than 30 countries attending. The cam paign group Global Witness has found more than 600 people at the talks in Egypt linked to fossil fuels.

To me, COP 27 looks more like a fossil fuel industry trade show.

Surprise surprise….the biggest single delegation is from the United Arab Emirates, who will host COP 28 next year.

SHAMEFUL.

Barcelona forecast to become a beachless, smog-enshrouded hell hole by 2100 under worstcase climate predictions

Albanese, who is accelerating climate positive plans

China, not responsible for historical greenhouse gas emissions, but still an enormous polluter, has become the biggest investor in renewable energy

Green Matters By Martin Tye

FILTH: City will be engulfed in smog

Shoppers be warned

CLOTHING retailer associa tion Acotex has warned cus tomers to expect few major Black Friday bargains as their members feel the economic pinch.

Acotex president, Eduardo Zamacola said: “We don’t expect any aggressive Black Friday discounts as rising costs like electricity, trans portation and raw materials mean that businesses don’t have the margin to offer big reductions.”

He added that some discount ing will happen on November 25 for Black Friday because customers expect them, but he described them as ‘light’.

Wayne’s electric world

Huge boost as SEAT plans battery plant for Valencia

CAR maker SEAT has confirmed that it will site Spain’s first electric car bat tery plant in the Valencia area.

SEAT President, Wayne Griffiths reaffirmed the new Sagunto plant will be part of the compa ny’s €10 billion electric car invest ment in Spain. A pro visional

STATE rail company Renfe is going to take fur ther action to crack down on so-called ‘phan tom reservations’.

This is where passengers make multiple book ings thanks to the government’s free-tickets scheme and then only take the journey that is most convenient for them.

The result of the practice has been fully booked trains that end up with dozens of empty seats, leaving other passengers stranded despite the carriages not running at capacity. Renfe implemented a limit on the number of

By Alex Trelinski

deal for the Sagunto site was announced in March, but confirmation was re quired over taking €339 million of EU subsidies via the Spanish govern ment.

Existing SEAT car

Phantom menace

plants in the Pamplona and Barcelona areas will be turned over to making elec tric vehicles.

Griffiths said the company would produce electric cars for both the Spanish market and for export across Eu rope.

“This project will democ ratise access to sustainable mobility in Europe with electric cars made in Spain,” Griffiths proclaimed.

The Sagunto battery site will cost €7 billion to set up and will employ 3,000 staff. It puts the Valencia area in the forefront of electric car production, with the nearby Ford plant at Almussafes

Focus on inflation

GBP/EUR

exchange rate slumps as BoE forecasts a two-year UK recession

THE pound euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate fell sharply through the first two weeks of November as it became increasingly apparent that the UK economy has entered a recession. Over the last fortnight, GBP/EUR traded between highs of €1.166 and lows of €1.131. The pair ended up wavering below €1.14, posting significant losses.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?

The pound euro exchange rate took a tumble as we moved into November as the afterglow of Rishi Sunak’s appointment as Prime Minister faded away.

Instead, GBP investors became increasingly focused on the UK’s dire economic outlook. On Halloween, declines in both mortgage approvals and credit card borrowing added to fears of a downturn in the UK.

The euro’s gains against the pound were capped, however, amid similar concerns about the Eurozone economy. The bloc’s final man ufacturing PMI revealed a larger-than-expected contraction.

Sterling then nosedived on Thursday after the Bank of England (BoE) delivered a grim analysis of the UK economy. According to the British central bank, the UK has already entered a recession which could last two years – the longest period of negative growth on record. Meanwhile, the euro enjoyed its negative correlation to a weaken ing US dollar and hawkish comments from European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde.

The following week, the pound euro exchange rate initially bounced back. GBP attracted some dip-buying while Russia-Ukraine worries weighed on EUR.

Alas, Sterling’s recovery was short-lived. Downbeat news from large UK business – falling profits, asset sales, and insolvencies – once again raised fears for the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, the ECB’s downbeat assessment of the Eurozone econ omy in its latest Economic Bulletin weighed on EUR.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR?

Looking ahead, some high-impact data for both the Eurozone and the UK could cause significant movement in the pound euro pair. In mid-November we have the latest UK labour market report. Although Britain is likely now

in recession, the jobs market remains strong. If the unemployment rate remains close to a near 50-year low, Sterling could catch a tail wind.

UK and Eurozone inflation will also be in focus. If price pressures continue to rise, expectations of more interest rate hikes could boost their respective currencies.

The UK government’s fiscal statement also promises to be a huge event on the economic calendar. With PM Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt set to impose more austerity measures on the country to fill a fiscal hole blown into the budget by Liz Truss, worries about a worsening recession outlook could hurt Sterling.

That said, if the PM and Chancellor are able to restore the UK’s fi nancial stability and deliver a plan for growth, GBP could rally. Either way, we could witness some volatility.

The next day, an expected decline in UK retail sales could see Ster ling fall further.

The following week brings the flash PMI surveys for November, both for the Eurozone and the UK. GBP and EUR investors will be watch ing the results closely. Any evidence of recession could infuse more volatility into the pairing.

PROTECTING AGAINST VOLATILITY

This kind of volatility can cause some nasty surprises if you need to transfer money overseas. On a £200,000 transfer, that three-cent gap between €1.16 and €1.13 translates to a €6,000 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy.

Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against volatility.

Specialist currency brokers, such as Currencies Direct, offer differ ent tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of the currency market.

For instance, you can use a forward contract to secure an exchange rate for up to a year. This way, you won’t lose out if the market moves against you.

Services like rate alerts and daily upNovember 17th - November 30th 2022s make it easy to keep track of what’s going on in the forex world so that you can make informed decisions. And with Cur rencies Direct you’ll have a dedicated account manager there to pro vide guidance and support whenever you need them.

At Currencies Direct we’re here to talk currency whenever you need us, so get in touch if you want to know more about the latest news or how it could impact your currency transfers.

Since 1996 we’ve helped more than 325,000 customers with their currency transfers, just pop into your local Currencies Direct branch or give us a call to find out more.

set to manufacture a new line up of electric vehicles from 2025.

Earlier this year SEAT opened a new €7 million battery research and devel opment centre for electric and plug-in hybrid cars in Martorell.

It is part of the Volkswa gen Group’s global R&D network and is the group’s first such centre in Europe outside Germany, along side those already running in China and the United States.

Both moves are part of the VW group’s drive to electri fy Spanish car production as well as its factories.

Big phone heists

POLICE are searching for a gang that stole iPhones worth €2 million from Tele fonica’s main logistics cen tre in the Madrid area.

Just days later, a second phone heist - valued at €700,000 - also occurred in the same region.

The first robbery happened at the headquarters of Zel eris, which is the telecom giant’s warehouse and lo gistics centre located on a Torrejon de Ardoz industri al estate.

Police said several men wearing balaclavas struck at the centre at around 2am. They made a hole to access the building and helped themselves to iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 units which on average retail at around €1,500 each.

A few days later, a new phone heist also happened in the Madrid area on a Fuenlabra da industrial estate.

MAZARRÓN

MOJÁCAR

PLANS: SEAT President Wayne Griffiths

Jurassic find

RESEARCHERS have dug up the fossilised bones of a large dinosaur about 150 million years old.

The excavations by the Teruel Dinopolis United Paleonto logical Foundation at the El Carrillejo site in Riodeva un earthed the remains of a di plodocid sauropod dinosaur.

They are from Upper Juras sic deposits and have charac teristics very different from those of other sauropods of the same geological age found in Teruel, such as the Europe an giant Turiasaurus or the first dinosaur described in Spain, Aragosaurus.

Scientists estimate the dino saur just discovered would have been about 25 metres long.

FAKES SEIZED

SPANISH police have seized two fake paintings that had been sold for €33 million as well as a third item which was on the market for €12 million.

They were all originally owned by a Santander man who said the works came from a family inheritance and were always regarded as genuine.

The recovered fakes includ ed a self-portrait of Diego Velazquez, which was sold for €30 million and another Velazquez work for €3 mil lion.

Ecce Homo, supposedly

By Alex Trelinski

painted by Titian, had gone onto the market for €12 mil lion.

Officers from the Histor ical Heritage division of the Valencia region po lice were alerted in March about the paintings being sold online.

The initial concern was that paintings considered to have National Heritage value should not be sold to somebody living outside Spain.

The paintings were re

moved by Cantabria police and taken to Valencia where experts at the city’s Muse um of Fine Arts confirmed that the works were fakes.

HORRORS OF WAR

J.A. Bayona, who directed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and helmed two episodes of the Lord of the Rings TV series for Amazon , will shoot Manuel Chaves Nogales’ short story collection A sangre y fuego (Blood and Fire) which is regarded as one of the best fiction books about the Civil War.

He’s working with writer-director Agustin Diaz Yanes to develop a script.

Speaking at the Sevilla European Film Festival, Bayona said he had been devel oping the project for several years and is ‘especially interested in the humanist vision’ that Chaves Nogales showed in his novel.

A sangre y fueg o is a work of fiction featuring nine stories ranging from an account of Republican executions in a Madrid bombarded by Franco’s forc es through to an Andalucian marquess who sets out to hunt communists with his personal death squad.

The three forgeries are be ing held at the Pont de Fus ta police station in Valencia. No details have been dis closed about possible legal action against their owner.

Investigation

Last year the Olive Press re ported how police broke up a gang trying to sell forger ies of paintings by Spanish masters like Goya via the internet.

The Valencian Historical Heritage police seized the works of art in the Castel lon area, with 27 paintings removed, which were being sold for a total of €1.7 mil lion.

Experts deduced that 18 of the collection were fakes.

Little Spain?

A UK TV and film production company co-founded by com edy performer and children’s book writer David Walliams is looking into using Alicante’s recently reopened Ciudad de la Luz studios.

The studios are regarded as one of the best in Europe both for their facilities and for their geo graphical location and trans port connections.

They were closed by the EU in 2012 over illegal public funding but allowed to reopen this sum mer after an operating ban run ning until 2027 was revoked.

Visit

On a visit to London for the World Travel Market, Valen cian president Ximo Puig met with Adam Browne from King Bert productions.

The company was set up in 2014 and specialises in making family and children's entertain ment for both the big and small screens. Clients have included the BBC, Channel 4, Sky, and Disney.

Adam Browne said a King Bert delegation would pay a fact-finding visit to the Ciu dad de la Luz studios short ly - adding that they needed new locations and to explore possibilities.

Police confiscate three forged paintings worth €45 million

FORGERIES: Three fake artworks held in Valencia

EXPOSE: Bayona is on a mission

A LEADING film director is developing a movie exploring the theme of atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil War.

Get out your fur coats

THE coldest village in Spain is in sunny Andalucia. While the icy waters around Gali cia’s Cies Islands make Pon tevedra decidedly chilly and the so-called ‘cold triangle’ in Teruel brings the tempera tures right down in Calamo cha, the iciest place in Spain is Dilar, in Granada.

While the province becomes a veritable frying pan in sum mer, when the winter sets in, sub-zero temperatures be come the norm around Dilar just south of Granada.

Shivers

Sitting on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of 878 metres above sea level, it positively shivers come Christmas.

But no worries for its 2,000 res idents who always have warm coasts at the ready, for when the mercury regularly drops to between -9ºC and -12ºC.

And they don’t mind with their direct access to the nearby Natural Park and lo cation next to the Rio Dilar, making it an ideal place for rural tourism.

Other chilly locations in Andalucia, include nearby Viznar, just north of Granada, Aroche, in Huelva and Velez Blanco, in Almeria.

Around Spain Molina de Ara gon (in Guadalajara), Reino sa (in Cantabria) and Cerler (in Huesca) all see regular sub-zero temperatures.

ONLY one village made it into Spain’s Most Beautiful list this year.

Puentedey, in Burgos, was the only place selected for the prestigious network, which counts 105 villages around Spain and its is lands.

While 22 applied, only Pu entedey met the strict cri teria to join the association, Los Pueblos Mas Bonitos de España , which was set up in 2011.

The village, which dates back to the 14th century, is built on a natural 15-metre high stone bridge, formed over millions of years and with the river Nela running through it.

It got its name, Puentedey,

Bright idea Divine Intervention

By Jon Clarke

meaning ‘Bridge of God’ from this natural formation.

The settlement, an hour from Burgos city, has a pop ulation of just 48, and is known for its nearly intact Romantic architecture.

Its San Pelayo church (on top of the bridge, above) is a charming mix of Romantic and Gothic styles, while the nearby Palacio de Brizuela (left) dates back to the 14th century with two towers added in the 15th century.

The 105 villages in the Los Pueblos Bonitos group, all are under 15,000 in pop ulation and have perfectly preserved historic cores, as

THREE potential buyers have emerged for a deserted Castilla y Leon village priced at just €260,000.

That’s after attempts to sell it for €6 million failed.

Salto de Castro is in Zamora Province close to the Portuguese border. Located in the Aribes del Duero natural park, it was built to house workers at a nearby dam but was abandoned in 1989 after the dam site was automated.

The sale includes 44 homes, a bar, a church,

well as an ‘architectural or natural heritage’. While only one village made

Rock bottom

a school, a small hotel the old Guardia Civil barracks, a swimming pool, and sports areas.

The owners tried to sell the village for €1.7 million in 2017, and then two years later, hiked the asking price massively to over €6 million.

Unsurprisingly there was no interest, but the new €260,000 asking price has attracted the interest of a university and two NGO’s.

it in 2022, a record 11 plac es, including Genalguacil, in Malaga and Banos de la En cina, in Jaen, made the list in 2021.

Tourism

The potential rewards for the villages are huge, with the promotion they get glob ally from being members and the huge growth in tour ism it brings.

Some of the Olive Press fa vourites include Setenil de las Bodegas, in Cadiz, El Castell de Guadalest, on the Costa Blanca and Alcudia in Mallorca.

A JIGSAW of solar panels are set to create a giant sustain able dome in Sevilla.

The ingenious project, de signed by Bjarke Ingels, will become the permanent home for the European Commis sion’s Joint Research Centre when built in 2024.

Described as a ‘cloud of pergo las’, it is inspired by the shad ed plazas and streets of the city and will shelter the entire centre site from the sun.

The main buildings, plus a plaza and garden, will all sit underneath the dome, created by a series of columns covered with photovoltaics.

Based at the original Expo 92 site at Isla de la Cartuja, the canopies themselves will be made out of lightweight so lar panels, which will then be used to power the complex.

In addition to the energy har vested from the panels, the canopies will also incorporate integrated rainwater collec tion technology.

The area’s design will allow natural cross ventilation and light that will cut energy con sumption.

Only Puentedey - ‘Bridge of God’ - made it into this year’s list of Spain’s Most Beautiful villages

NATURAL SELECTION: The village is built over the River Nela arch

Discover our top five most unusual - and incredible - homes in Spain, with Dilip Kuner

BUILT into cliff faces, perched on pla teaus and hidden in woods, each of these properties posed its own challenges to the architects involved in their creation.

After the BBC included two homes in Spain in a series on extraordinary proper ties, the Olive Press takes a look at some other unusual homes found in Spain, and the solutions their desig ners came up with to meet the needs of their clients.

HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

1. HOUSE ON THE CLIFF

2. HOUSE HEMERCOSCOPIUM

Location:

Project

Featured on the BBC’s World’s Most Extraordinary homes, the House on the Cliff is built into a cliff face with a 42 degree slope. Every room has superb sea views with the architects making the most of the location for this family home over looking the Mediterranean.

3. THE SOLO HOUSE

Location: Matarranya, Teruel

Project architects: KGDVS

It could also be called the Round House, as it offers 360-degree panoramic views from a plateau setting that overlooks wooded wilder ness. It is designed in a modular fashion with units accessed from the 1,000m2 interior pa tio complete with a pool carved into the rock. Modules can be shifted to alter living space. It is intended to make residents feel alone in the woods as part of a small project of unique ho mes set in 100 hectares.

Project

Another property featured on the show is this stunning creation of concrete and glass. The architects made full use of a U-shaped beam to ‘hang’ the house from, with its interior filled with water to create an unusual first-floor swimming pool. The weight of the beam and are somehow coun terbalanced by a massive rock.

It may be (interestingly) brutal from the outside, but the great feature of this house is the inspired use of colours. These bring warmth and light into the interior in a unique and highly imaginative way.

5. THE HOUSE OF THREE SISTERS

Location: Bullas, Murcia

Project architects: Blancafort-Reus Arquitectura

Set in a desert-like landscape, the House of Three Sisters (named after the siblings who had it built as a holi day home) is designed to change over time. The architects say: “Sun and pre cipitation will change the colour of the wood, and on the facades there are signs of life growing on this building.”

Salobreña, Granada

architects: Bartolome Gil Arquitectos

Location: Madrid

architects: Ensamble Studio

EXTRAORDINARY: The whole home is counterbalanced by this rock

Location: Mar Menor, Murcia

Architect: Javier Peña of Xpiral Arquitectura

4. SATELLITE SUBURBIA, HOUSE WITH COLOUR MOOD

PIC CREDIT Gil Bartolome Arquitectos

PIC CREDIT Xpiral

PIC CREDIT Ensamble Studio

BE SECURE

AS a company, Liberty Seguros, one of Spain’s largest in surance companies, offers two excellent types of policies, National and Expat, for two very different markets

Jennifer Cunningham Insurances is an Expat agent and I am very proud to work with Liberty with policies that have been designed specifically for the expat living in Spain – so the policies provided are more in line with what we are used to and give us a wider range of benefits than provided on the national policies. Yes, of course they can be a little more expensive, as there are so many add-on options and additional benefits. These policies are available in various languages, including En glish and Liberty provide English speaking services, wherever possible. This stops you struggling to understand and purchase an insurance policy in Spanish. My company provides further support for you with a Claims Administrator to assist you with the claims process and I also have a Renewals Department, unlike many other companies who just do automatic renewals.

My Renewals ladies will contact you each year with details and costs of your policy and should you need any amendments or updates to the policy, Renewals will be able to assist.

Liberty provides a comprehensive range of insurance products including, car, house, pet, commercial, community, life, accident and marine.

The house policy in particular is extremely special and can be tailor-made for your particular requirements, with a selection of add-ons, one of which is accidental damage covering both your home and your garden, with a certain amount allocated for your garden and much more.

My company policy, with regards to vehicles, is to ensure all the seats have adequate cover. Should the worst happen, this gives more help and support to everyone in the vehicle and protects the driver/owner against claims from the passengers, which could go on for years if a passenger is badly injured.

The life policies are available and can be adapted for your own needs, from small policies to cover funeral costs, to full life poli cies and mortgage protection policies.

And don’t forget Jennifer Cunningham Insurances can also offer health insurance, travel insurance, and both funeral insurance and prepaid funeral plans.

FOOD, DRINK & TRAVEL

SPAIN will ask the European Union to change its 90-day rule which is restrict ing stays by UK residents with property in the country.

Post-Brexit, the UK had to fall in line with other non-EU countries where Brits can only stay for up to 90 days ev ery 180 days in Schengen Zone countries like Spain.

That's cut down British winter visitor numbers as homeowners opt to use their stay allowance during warmer times of the year.

It’s also reduced the potential for UK ‘digital nomads’ and has reduced off

90-day plea

season takings at expat bars and restau rants.

Tourism Secretary, Fernando Valdes said: “It is in Spain’s interest to get rid of the rule but we cannot do so unilaterally.” He added that Spain will now ask the EU to make changes, including a possible exemption for UK residents.

“It is in our interest to convince the EU that we can try to work out something but the solution must come from them,” said Valdes.

Que Syrah, Syrah

THIEVES have managed to pull off another wine heist, this time targeting Miche lin-starred restaurant Co que.

The exclusive eatery was re lieved of 132 bottles by the criminals, with a total value of more than €200,000. The sommelier at the Ma drid restaurant, Rafael San doval, explained that the thieves tried to enter the restaurant via a hole they made in the neighbouring property.

By Simon Hunter

But when they were unable to gain access that way, they entered a courtyard shared with a pharmacy next door, and broke in via a window.

“More than anything it’s an emotional thing,” re vealed Sandoval, whose brother Mario is the chef at the two-Michelin starred restaurant.

“We’ve been working for 40 years to get some of those bottles, they are vintage bottles that even some of the wineries themselves don’t have.

“It was a high-precision

robbery, these people could have robbed the bank of Spain,” he added.

Sandoval also raised the alarm among his colleagues, ‘because this is happening in a lot of restaurants in Eu rope’.

The robbery comes in the wake of a high-profile case

Lying labels

A BORDEAUX court will rule in the New Year over a massive scam where 4.6 million bottles of cheap Spanish plonk was falsely labelled as French-pro duced table wine.

A group of wine merchants face fines as well as prison time.

Authorities have identified 34,587 hectolitres of imported wine that was used in the deception. The scam started in 2013 when adverse weather condi tions affected French vineyards which were forced to scale down wine production.

Prosecutors say that between 2013 and 2016,

over 130 tanker trucks shipped in Spanish wine to France. It was then bottled with bogus labels claiming to be French table wine, with some bottles claiming to con tain wine made in Bordeaux.

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 7 Inertia, 8 Opera, 9 Nun, 10 Chin-wag, 11 Tired, 12 Renew, 14 Rancher, 16 Volcano, 17 Error, 19 Yearn, 21 Opposed, 23 Emu, 24 Grabs, 25 Reunite

Down: 1 Regional, 2 Stew, 3 Kangaroo court, 4 Continue, 5 Peer, 6 Gander, 7 Incur, 13 Weakness, 15 Hardship, 16 Voyage, 18 Ridge, 20 Adam, 22 Plum

in Caceres.

In 2021, a couple managed to walk out of the hotel and restaurant Atrio with 45 bottles of wine stolen from the cellar, with a value of €1.6 million.

The alleged culprits were eventually tracked down by police and are being held in custody until their trial. The wine has never been re covered.

Crew case

THE High Court has ruled that Iberia will have to take action to ensure that its cabin crew don’t injure themselves when closing overhead lockers. The case was brought by the company’s works committee due to the in corporation of the Airbus A350 into its fleet. The aeroplane has high-ca pacity overhead lockers, the doors of which sup port the weight of the cas es contained inside. As such, they require greater effort to close compared to other designs with a hinged door.

Tailor-made insurance policies ensure you have the right cover

SOMMELIER: Rafael Sandoval at work

FRAUD: Wine not French

Dressed to kill

THE scourge of mosquito bites could become a thing of the past thanks to the creation of a new clothing range by a Barcelona busi nesswoman.

Silvia Oviedo’s StingBye products include an adult t-shirt at €25 plus trousers and leggings as well as clothes for children. The range is impregnated with an insect repellant, which is effective against mosquitoes as well as lice, bed ticks, fleas, and mites.

Clever

The repellent effect lasts for more than 100 wash es. StingBye has also pro duced an additive that can be put into a washing ma chine to offer protection for existing cloth ing and will stay effective for at least 20 wash es.

Despite 20% of busi ness com ing from Spain, the main de mand for the clothes and ad ditives is coming from South America.

THE new Covid variant that is taking over in Spain has unofficially been given the delightful moniker of ‘hell hound’ by social media users. It is certainly easier to re member than its official des ignation - technically refer ring to two separate Omicron subvariants - as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.

Spanish health minister Car olina Darias said that while ‘Hellhound’ currently only ac counts for 2.7% of Covid cases in Spain, it is expected to be come the dominant strain in the coming weeks.

Hellhound’ already accounts for 25% of cases in France, 10% of new infections in Bel gium and has ticked up to 5% in Italy.

The European Centre of Dis ease Control (ECDC) issued a report on October 20 claiming

Drag me to hell

Lactosefree victory

A MADRID nursing home resi dent has won a court case which forces centre managers to give her lactose-free food.

Beatriz Cano, 72, has been in the home in the Usera district home since 2010 but was diagnosed with lactose intolerance the following year, “There was no way they gave me a menu that my condition demanded,” said Beatrix. She had several meetings with the centre’s bosses but, as the court said, she ‘was given a completely inadequate diet’.

Hives

Her only concession, after a long battle, was to have her own fridge containing lactose-free products. Beatrix recounted that staff assured her that some meals would be fine for her but that wasn't the case as she broke out in hives and other ailments.

By Walter Finch

that the two sub variants will account for more than 50% of cases in Europe at the onset of

HOME OF DIABETES

OUT of five million people in Spain who have diabe tes, 1.5 million of them are unaware they have the con dition, according to alarming new data.

Research from the IDF Diabetes Atlas 2021 showed Spain was the second country in Europe with the high est prevalence of diabetes.

About 14.8% of the population between 20 and 79 years old suffered from the pathology, according to the figures, compared to a European average of 9.2%.

Turkey was the only country with more concerning data than Spain, recording 15.9% of the population with diabetes.

winter due to its resistance to the existing vaccines.

The subvariants garnered their terrifying name from German Twitter users who named it ‘Cerberus’, based on expert forecasts of how it would spread across the continent. They likened it to the ma ny-headed guard dog of hell who stops the denizens of the underworld from escaping.

Warning

Symptoms include a sore throat, a cough, general mal aise, voice loss, diarrhoea, and a runny nose. Preliminary data suggests that ‘Hellhound’ is 10% more contagious than previous in carnations of the virus, but no more severe.

A Madrid government spokesman said they would ‘abide by the court’s decision’.

‘Hellhound’: The ‘delightfullynamed’ new Covid variant

Cops and geckos

A NEIGHBOUR called police on a man in Elda (Alicante) because a gecko had taken up res idence on his balcony. He has complained of a waste of police resourc es after cops sent in ani mal protection.

Wrong trip

A TRAVEL agency got Spain’s capital and a Turkish city mixed up, leading to a group of Russian tourists ending up in Mardin as opposed to Madrid when the wrong flight was booked.

Kick starter

MAYOR of Madrid Jose Luis Martínez-Almeida managed to boot a ball into the face of a pho tographer - the third time he has hit people at an honorary kick off.

Schlong arm of the law

THE days of dressing up like a giant penis and walking down the streets of a Spanish city could be doomed under new proposals put forward by the local council.

Other public activities to be banned in Malaga’s draft legis lation include walking around in just underwear, going com pletely naked, and wielding giant inflatable sex dolls.

It is part of a drive to tame un ruly stag and hen parties that have come to dominate the city’s nightlife scene.

By Walter Finch

The proposals will comple ment already-existing laws that prohibit anti-social be haviour, such as peeing in public, impromptu boozy street gatherings and shouting or using megaphones at night. The moves are part of a drive to encourage a ‘high quality’ form of tourism to Malaga, which saw over three million visitors to its airport in the third quarter of 2022 alone.

A MAN who hid an illegal gun from the po lice by stuffing it down his boxer shorts end ed up in hospital after he shot his penis.

The wounded Alicante man, 22, had a crim inal record for various crimes and spotted police officers waving down cars in the town. In his haste to hide his gun, he inadvertent ly blasted a point-blank shot into his penis.

Rather than seeking immediate medical at tention, he eluded a patrol car and headed

As the gateway to much of the south of Spain for internation al travellers, the convenience

DICK MOVE

home.

As he continued to bleed out and suffer in tense pain, his family took him to Elda Hos pital. A four-hour reconstructive surgery was performed on what was left of his penis. As soon as he was wheeled out of the operat ing room, police arrested him.

of accessibility tends to attract the stag party crowd.

This is especially so since fel low Andalucian cities such as Granada and Sevilla are far less friendly to this form of tourism and already have sim ilar statutes on the books.

Those who violate the pro posed legislation would first be warned that they are break ing the law by being dressed as a penis.

And if they carry on regard less, they are liable to be slapped with a €750 fine.

ANIMAL

has shared a bizarre video of a naked hunter with a dead partridge dangling from his privates.

The man is shown wearing just boots, socks and gloves, and brandishing a shotgun. From the weapon are hung a number of dead partridges, as well as one hanging from his err, other weapon.

The man goes on a rant shout ing: “Don’t ever stop this, let the system continue, so we can catch partridges!”

What’s in a name

A COURT has banned a couple from naming their child Hazia, which in Basque means ‘seed’ but has the double meaning of ‘semen’.

The family has pledged to ‘fight to the last’ to see their daugh ter’s name on official docu ments as Hazia rather than the court ordered name of Zia.

Some 96 citizens in Spain have the first name Semen. They are Ukrainians and the name is a phonetic translation.

rights party PACMA

Dressing up as a giant member could lead to a €750 fine

MALAGA: Slams giant penis costumes