Olive Press Mallorca - Issue 144

TOO POOR FOR US

THE head of the Mallorca tour ism board has been slammed for telling Brits they are not wel come on the island this summer.

Lucia Escribano, the Director of Tourism, indicated that Mallorca is keen to limit ‘low quality’ Brit tourism this summer and would prefer to welcome visitors from Germany and Scandinavia.

“We are not interested in hav ing the budget tourists from the UK, we don’t care if they go else where to Greece and Turkey,” she told The Sun at the World Travel Market in London.

Red line

“We are also interested in hav ing less people from the UK and more from other parts of Europe where there is better airline con nectivity,” Escribano added.

A spokesperson for the PP hit back, saying that the Consell de Mallorca had ‘crossed a red line’ with the comments.

“It is very serious that Escribano

Twist in search for Levi

AN X-Factor star who was hol idaying in Ibiza and then went missing in strange circumstances in Barcelona three weeks ago may have been spotted.

Rugby player Levi Davis’ mother told the Olive Press he may have been seen as recently as Mon day, this week, in the Catalan capital.

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 con fused’.

The woman claimed she had also seen Levi at another near by square identified as Placa del Canonge Colom, behind La Bo queria and near to the La Rambla

boule vard. Both squares are a short 10-min ute walk from

By Anthony Piovesan

where he was last officially pho tographed leaving The Old Irish Pub, at 10pm, on October 29. The information has now been passed on to officers from Barce lona’s Mossos d’Esquadra force investigating the high-profile case.

Mother on trail of missing X-factor and rugby star reports new sightings

Police confirmed they had re ceived the fresh details and the ‘investigation was ongoing’.

It has become a real mystery as Levi, who played for Bath, van ished after taking an unscheduled boat trip to Barcelona while he was holidaying with his friend, Richard Squire, in Ibiza. He had flown to the party island to spend time with the British ex pat, who lives there.

International marketing consul tant Squire revealed Levi had traveled to Barcelona to ‘visit someone, but he didn’t tell me who’. He added he had left his suitcase in Ibiza.

Photoshoot

The day before Levi left Ibiza he had participated in a photoshoot, with the photographer posting pictures of the shoot on Insta gram

A dozen pictures of the Rug by star were posted, where Levi can be seen posing topless in the

The

are captioned with a series of quotes from American civil rights activist Maya Angelou. In 2020, Levi made history when

he 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 af fected Levi, who confessed in an interview that he suffered from ‘depression, anxiety and alcoholism’ af ter the show.

A few months ago Levi told his mother he was being blackmailed over compro mising photos.

Nude

The day before he disap peared, his Only Fans ac count posted its first fully nude pictures.

A GoFundMe page, set up by his friend Squire, has so far raised €1,635 towards a target of €3,000.

shallow waters of various beaches dotted around Ibiza.

photos

MISSING: Levi disappeared from this pub

ANXIOUS: Mum Julie asks for info on ITV

CELEB: Levi on The X Factor

Bijou

let

AN advert has been placed advertising a tent to let for €240 a month. It is set up in the backyard of a house in Palma’s Plaza de Es paña and includes wifi and all bills.

Grim stat

MORE than 3,300 victims of gender violence are under police protection in the Balearics, 16.6% more than a year ago, with almost half of the women having children in their care.

Sky spy

A DRONE now being used by the Department of Fisheries to spot ille gal fishing in Mallor can waters has been fi nanced with funds from the Sustainable Tour ism Tax.

Picked up

A TOTAL of 37 migrants from Africa have been rescued from two boats off Cabrera by Guardia Civil, with them all be ing in good health.

End of the line

SHE was the Rolls Royce of cocaine 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 iden tity as Maria Teresa Jaimes Caicedo, a glamorous Marbella expat, who lived a life of luxu ry in a giant mansion with two swimming pools, a tennis court and ‘a garden that resembles the rainforest’.

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 revealed how she had managed to ‘live the high life’ for nearly three decades, while quietly

pulling the strings behind one of Spain’s biggest drug smug gling operations.

Describing her as ‘a real black widow’ - who has already seen two previous husbands put be hind bars for smuggling - the undercover officer 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 criminals, but this was some thing else. Some 3,000-metres squared in size and with a gar den like the selva with a tennis court and two pools.”

He added: “If she needed a plane ticket, 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

By Jon Clarke & Anthony Piovesan

nothing too flash. Think BMW or Audi.”

He continued that the €3m villa 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, like a Hollywood movie, opened to a staircase up to Maria Tere sa’s suite.

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 regularly travelled between Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Colombia, 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.

Opinion Page 6

PURE EVIL

A MAN convicted of murder ing his eight-year-old step daughter in 2011 has been arrested for brutally robbing and assaulting a pensioner in Palma.

Miguel Angel Guillen, 40, tar geted the elderly woman in broad daylight as she was with drawing money from an ATM at 1 pm.

The convicted murderer is al leged to have snuck up behind his unsuspecting victim and at tempted to choke her until she lost consciousness.

The elderly woman suffered se rious injuries in the assault and had to be rushed to hospital.

The convicted murder, had only just been released from a 10-year jail sentence a few months ago.

His former partner Antonia Martínez, 39, mother of the child, remains in jail serving a 12 year sentence.

Real dope

AN inept drug dealer was ar rested when he tried to sell cocaine to police.

The bumbling pusher, 39, from Senegal, approached two plain clothes cops and at tempted to befriend them. He then offered to sell them cocaine and marijuana, show ing them the merchandise in wrappers.

The officers then identified themselves to the crestfallen man and arrested him.

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

BRANDED: Cocaine brick

RING OF FURY

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’.

EXPLOSIVE 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.

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

PALMA’s Christmas lights will be switched on tomorrow (Sat urday) at 8pm.

There will be a countdown to the event in Plaza de Cort and Plaza de la Reina simultae neously.

From then on they will be illu minated between 5.30pm/6pm until 10pm on weekdays, and until midnight at weekends.

On Christmas holidays (De cember 24, 25 and 31 and Jan uary 5 and 6 ) they will stay on until 6am.

This year, the lighting will in clude 282 km of garlands.

Big switch on

MARKETS OPEN

PALMA’S Christmas markets will kick off today (Friday) and will last until January 6. They will feature 194 stalls - 62 more than last year, thanks to the lifting of COVID restrictions.

In Plaza Mayor the number of booths has increased from 14 in 2021 to 50.

This year there will be five locations, one less than last

year: Plaza del Mercat has been eliminated, but the markets in Plaza España, Plaza Major, Plaza de la Porta Pintada, La Rambla and Via Roma will remain. They will be open between 10am to 9pm.

FREE RIDE

Public transport to

PUBLIC transport throughout the Balearics will be free next year, it has been announced, in a massive boon to the islands. Whether taking the train, the metro or buses, the only thing that will be restricting people from unlimited free public transport will be whether they have the Balearic transport Travel Card.

In order to keep the hordes of sunburnt tourists from freerid ing and overloading the gen erous subsidy, those who are occasional users will still have to pay for an individual ticket. “Today we announced that

By Walter Finch

public transport will be com pletely free on ALL #IllesBale ars throughout 2023,” Josep Marí Ribas, local councillor for Mobility and Housing for the Balearic Islands Government, wrote on Twitter “Great news for the citizens of

Back to the future

TRAMS look like making a comeback to the streets of Palma 60 years after the last line closed.

President Balearic Islands Francina Armengol and Spain’s Minister of Transport Raquel Sanchez have agreed on the construction of the first line of a new tram system in a €185 million project.

The 10.2km line is to run from the central Placa d’Es panya via El Molinar to Can Pastilla and further on to the airport.

It is planned for construction to start in 2023, with trams running by 2028.

Medium-term plans include the construction of lines on the Can Pastilla – l’Arenal de Llucmajor and Plaza de España – Hospital de Son Espases sections – which will require a further €65 million in funding.

this land.”

The deal, which will also cover the Canary Islands, was agreed between the Canari an Coalition and PSOE, and will be financed to the tune of €43 million by the central government. For the Canary Islands the scheme will cost €81 million.

The Balearic Ministry of Mobility and Housing ap plauded the constant be hind-the-scenes negotiations between the Balearic Islands Government and the Span ish government in Madrid to agree the deal and the budget amendment.

Wild

The deal has been met with wild enthusiasm by islanders, with one Twitter user writ ing: “Now the Council needs to improve once and for all the public transport service to be the best alternative to the private car.”

HUNDREDS of Palma resi dents are facing accumulated fines of up to €10,000 after the company in charge of delivering penalty notices didn’t do so.

More than 500 people affected by the issue have come together in groups on messaging service Telegram in a bid to bring legal action against the local council.

CI Postal is to blame for the sit uation, they claim.

Traffic fines are reduced when paid on receipt. But the longer they go without being settled, the higher the final cost for the infraction.

Raul Lodeiro, for example, has 18 speeding fines of €330 pend ing, as well as one for €900. They were all from the same camera, on Pompeu Fabra street in Palma. He only found out when six notices arrived at once.

One woman has found out that she owes €10,000.

The city council is refusing to reissue the fines for their initial amounts and there are no plans to terminate the postal contract.

The postman never knocks Faith in the law

A WOMAN described as ‘ob sessed with priests’ is standing trial for verbal outbursts made in 2020 at a church.

Melinda M. burst into mass in San Nicolas church in Palma five times in March and May of that year before hurling insults and threats at the congregation. A worker at the church was also reportedly threatened by Mer linda, who said to him: “F****, drug dealer, if you call the police you will see, I’ll hurt you, I’ll kill you.”

In August, the woman once again returned to the church, seeking out the same worker, apparently shouting: “You are going to regret having crossed my path. I am going to hurt you.”

Her final trip to the church took place in September, when she told the victim she was going to kill him and that he would ‘die like Peter, crucified upside down’.

The prosecutor has dropped initial requests for her to be jailed for two years and fined €3,000, saying she should re ceive psychiatric care.

cost NOTHING for all residents of the Balearics next year

Stay away

has gone to the WTM to promote anti-tourism,” said Llorenç Galmes, the presi dent of PP in Mallorca.

“She is playing with the bread of millions of tourist workers in our land.”

The Consell de Mallor ca defended Escribiano, claiming that she had been ‘maliciously misrepresent ed’ by the British tabloid press.

Mallorca is already taking steps to price out rowdy tourists from coming to the island.

Plans are afoot to reduce the 300,000 hotel beds available, and draft legis lation will see two-star ho tels and lower quality bars and clubs purchased com pulsorily.

FLYING FORWARD

Spain sees first test flight of the three-metre high aerotaxi

TAXI travel has taken to the skies in Spain with an initial trial described as ‘a success’.

A 640-kilo flying aerotaxi, designed for two people, com pleted its first flight in Jaen.

The three metre-high aircraft was sent out in Villacarillo as part of European initiative USPACE 4AM to make aero taxis a viable alternative by 2028.

The ATLAS Experimental

By Anthony Piovesan

Flight

The

GRANDPA NEANDERTHAL

SCIENTISTS have discovered that Neanderthals - or their ancestors - were trampling around southern Spain 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.

The incredible discovery, which junks common scientific belief, was made by a team at Sevilla University.

GRS Radioisotopes technician Jorge Rivera applied a new technique to human-like footprints found at Matalas cañas beach in Huelva.

It shows Neanderthals (or a similar race) would have lived in the Doñana area during the Middle Pleistocene, 295,800 years ago, three times older than previously thought.

and is remotely controlled and has four arms with multiple propellers.

The aerotaxi’s first Spanish flight was a ten-metre journey and travelled about 15 km/h. But it is designed to eventual ly travel at speeds of 80km/h and could reach 120 km/h, ac cording to technicians.

The aerotaxi will have a range of about 15 minutes, in which it can travel 15 km.

“It is a sufficient distance to travel from one side of a city to the other,” explained a spokesman.

Economical

The aerotaxi will next be flown over Lugo, in Galicia.

The air taxi is completely electric, making it a more eco nomical transport option for cities in the future.

Centre said the aero taxi, dubbed Concept Integri ty, comes with a built-in GPS navigation system.

aircraft takes off vertically

EXCITING: A new aerotaxi has been piloted

From front

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 20marks the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

While rightly surrounded in con troversy 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 favourite, but look out for Argentina, Bel gium, France (the 2018 winners), England and Spain to field strong, competitive teams.

Of course, there are always unpredict able surprises. But few have been more vivid than Spain’s ex perience during the tournament 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 individu al egos but rather one unit with a sin gle-minded destinythat of bringing the cup to Spain for the first time.

Although Spanish teams had always had a strong re cord in international compe tition (including the European 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, re garded Santiago as ‘the finest goal keeper in world football’.

Strong praise indeed. However, on the last day of training while show ering Cañizares slipped, dropped a bottle of aftershave and severed a tendon in his foot with the glass shards. Spain would enter the 2002 World Cup without the best goal

KICKSTARTER

keeper 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 multiple controversies in the Round of 16 clash between host nation South Ko rea 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

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

Francesco 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!

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 contro versies, FIFA has decided to launch an investigation.” 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 ref eree Gamal Al-Gandhour wrongly disal lowed two goals and had a litany of in correct offside calls - some called from just 15 metres away.

Bizarrely, when Javi De Pe dro floated a free kick off a South Korean defender into the net it was mysteri ously disallowed.

A second disallowed goal, a decision even more shock ing 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 beyond indig nant. ‘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”.

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 officials has never been a good strategy. As the say ing goes: “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”

Thankfully, the 2002 de bacle was the exception rather than the rule. It is anticipated that this year’s World Cup will draw over one million spectators in attendance 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 oc casion for fans everywhere to gather and celebrate community, culture and com petition. My only advice to players and fans might be to avoid showering with a glass bottle of aftershave 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’, bash ing out stories via ancient typewriters (below) 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 produc tion 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, 20plus a day, with over 30,000 of you already registered to receive them.

And we are not stopping there.

We are con stantly embrac ing change, al ways 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 thou sands of follow ers 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 infor mative, they take on board the good old fashioned news values we learned back in the day.

Hence, his maps of recent snow falls around Spain at the week end, have had 70,000 views, while his post on nationwide en ergy 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 inter esting topics and news each week.

It also shows the Olive Press is continually looking to the future with new technology - 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

David

umph.

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.

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

He went on to rail against FIFA’s deci sion to select refer ees from minor foot balling nations un accustomed to the highest level of com petition, labelling it ‘anti-meritocratic’.

The Argentinian dai ly La Nation called the tournament the ‘biggest scandal in World Cup history’

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

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

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

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

Apocalyptic warning

FILTH:

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.

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 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

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

Green Matters By Martin Tye

City will be engulfed in smog

Think

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Electric dreams

Huge boost as SEAT plans battery plant for Valencia

CAR maker SEAT has con firmed that it will site Spain’s first electric car battery plant in the Valencia area.

SEAT President, Wayne Grif fiths reaffirmed the new Sa gunto plant will be part of the company’s €10 billion electric car investment in Spain.

A provisional deal for the Sagunto site was announced in March, but confirmation was required over taking

By Alex Trelinski

€339 million of EU subsidies via the Spanish government.

Existing SEAT car plants in the Pamplona and Barcelona areas will be turned over to making electric vehicles.

Griffiths said the compa ny would produce electric cars for both the

Shoppers be warned

Spanish market and for export across Europe.

“This project will democratise access to sustainable mobility in Europe with electric cars made in Spain,” Griffiths pro claimed.

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 pro duction, with the near-by Ford plant at Almussafes set to manufacture a new line up of electric vehicles from 2025. Earlier this year SEAT opened a new €7 million battery re search and development cen tre for electric and plug-in hy brid cars in Martorell.

Electrify

He

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 18th - December 1st 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 Currencies Direct you’ll have a dedicated account manager there to provide guidance and support whenever you need them.

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

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It is part of the Volkswagen Group’s global R&D network and is the group’s first such centre in Europe outside Ger many, alongside those already running in China and the United States. Both moves are part of the VW group’s drive to electrify Spanish car pro duction as well as its factories.

CLOTHING retailer association 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, transportation and raw materials mean that businesses don’t have the margin to offer big reductions.”

added that some discounting will happen on Novem ber 25 for Black Friday because customers expect them, but he described them as ‘light’.

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

The excavations by the Teruel Dinopolis United Paleontological Foundation at the El Carrillejo site in Riodeva unearthed the remains of a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur. They are from Upper Jurassic deposits and have characteristics very different from those of other sauropods of the same geological age found in Teruel, such

Jurassic find

as the European giant Turiasaurus or the first dinosaur described in Spain, Arago saurus.

These dinosaurs are characterised by hav ing a small head relative to body size and longer necks than other saurischians. Scientists estimate the dinosaur just discov ered would have been about 25 metres long.

TWO climate activists glued their hands to the frames of Goya’s Las Majas paintings in Madrid’s Prado Museum, in the latest of a series of pro tests in art galleries around the world.

The female protesters also daubed ‘1.5ºC’ in black paint on the wall between the two works of art. Via a Twitter account called

Art attack

Police confiscate three forged paintings worth €45 million

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 in cluded a self-portrait of Diego Velazquez, which was sold for €30 million and another Velazquez

By Alex Trelinski

work for €3 million.

Ecce Homo, supposed ly painted by Titian, had gone onto the market for €12 million.

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 some body living outside Spain. The paintings were re

HORRORS OF WAR

A LEADING film director is developing a movie exploring the theme of atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil 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 Man uel Chaves Nogales’ short story collec tion A sangre y fuego (Blood and Fire) which is regarded as one of the best fic tion 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 fuego 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.

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.

The three forgeries are being held at the Pont de Fusta police station in Valencia. No details have been disclosed about pos sible legal action against their owner.

Investigation

Last year the Olive Press reported how police broke up a gang trying to sell forgeries 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 be ing sold for a total of €1.7 million.

Experts deduced that 18 of the collection were fakes.

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FORGERIES: Three fake artworks held in Valencia

EXPOSE: Bayona is on a mission

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

The village, which November 18th - December 1st 2022s 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,

Divine Intervention

By Jon Clarke

meaning ‘Bridge of God’ from this natural formation.

The settlement, an hour from Burgos city, has a population of just 48, and is known for its nearly intact Romantic archi tecture.

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) November 18th - De cember 1st 2022s 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 population and have perfectly preserved

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,

historic cores, as well as an ‘ar chitectural 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 pro motion they get globally from being members and the huge growth in tourism it brings. Some of the Olive Press favou rites include Setenil de las Bo degas, in Cadiz, El Castell de Guadalest, on the Costa Blan ca and Alcudia in Mallorca.

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

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.

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Que Syrah, Syrah

Thieves walk out of Michelinstarred restaurant in Madrid with 132 bottles of priceless wine valued at over €200,000

THIEVES have managed to pull off another wine heist, this time targeting Miche lin-starred restaurant Coque. 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 Madrid restaurant, Rafael Sandoval, explained that the thieves tried to enter the restaurant via a hole they made in the neighbouring property. But when they were unable to gain access that way, they en

By Simon Hunter

tered a courtyard shared with a pharmacy next door, and broke in via a window.

“More than anything it’s an emotional thing,” revealed Sandoval, whose brother Ma rio is the chef at the two-Mi chelin starred restaurant.

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

SPAIN will ask the European Union to change its 90-day rule which is restricting 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 every 180 days in Schengen Zone countries like Spain.

That's cut down British winter vis itor 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 season takings at expat bars and

“It was a high-precision rob bery, these people could have robbed the bank of Spain,” he added.

90-DAY PLEA

restaurants.

Tourism Secretary, Fernando Val des 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 resi dents.

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

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 in Caceres.

Custody

In 2021, a couple managed to walk out of the hotel and restaurant Atrio with 45 bot tles 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.

New regulations for English

expat

residents in Spain governing the mandatory issue of a Spanish driving license

like to speak to our Legal Assistance team, please call 919 180 022 and we’ll be happy to assist and advise you.

AUTOMATIC LICENSE EXPIRY AFTER APRIL 30, 2022

As of December 31, 2020, the UK ceased to belong to the European Union, and regulations that allowed driving in Spain, with a British driving license, ceased to be applicable. UK issued driving licenses were only authorized

to drive in Spain until April 3O, 2022, and are now not valid. All existing agreements on high way regulations that protect the Member States of the European Union have ceased to be valid and applicable. However, those British drivers who do not have their main residence in Spain and travel for periods of less than six months (tourist type), may continue to drive in Spain, during that period, with their original permit.

ENGLISH FOR SPANISH LICENCE SWAP

Residents with a British driving licence, had until December 31, 2020 to swap and redeem theirs for a Spanish licence. Consequently, they must now obtain a new Spanish driving licence from scratch, submitting to the require ments and tests established in Spain for ob taining said.

SOMMELIER: Rafael Sandoval at work

Home of diabetes

OUT of five million people in Spain who have diabetes, 1.5 million of them are un aware they have the condi tion, according to alarming new data.

Research from the IDF Di abetes Atlas 2021 showed Spain was the second coun try in Europe with the high est prevalence of diabetes.

About 14.8% of the popu lation between 20 and 79 years old suffered from the pathology, according to the figures, compared to a Euro pean average of 9.2%.

Some 9.6% of the popula tion between 20 to 79 in It aly and Greece had diabetes, and France registered 8.6%.

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

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

DRESSED TO KILL

clothes for children.

The range is impregnated with an insect re pellant, which is effective against mosquitoes as well as lice, bed ticks, fleas, and mites.

The repellent effect lasts for more than 100 washes.

variant

THE new Covid variant that is taking over in Spain has unoffi cially been given the delightful moniker of ‘hellhound’ by social media users.

It is certainly easier to remem ber than its official designation - technically referring to two separate Omicron subvariants - as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.

Spanish health minister Caroli na Darias said that while ‘Hell hound’ currently only accounts for 2.7% of Covid cases in Spain, it is expected to become the dominant strain in the coming

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

Drag me to hell

By Walter Finch

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 that the two sub variants will account for more than 50% of cases in Europe at the onset of 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 con tagious than previous incarna tions of the virus, but no more severe.

Bonet – University of Barcelona

Dr. Yasmina Adebibe – B.D.S London

Susan Taylor-Vickers – BSc, EDH Mercadona Centre, Son Caliu, Palma Nova

‘Hellhound’: The ‘delightfullynamed’ new Covid

WELL HUNG

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 rights party PACMA 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.

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

MALAGA: Slams giant penis costumes