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Passports please! COVID passports will come into use from Saturday in the Balearics after the High Court gave them the green light. Most hospitality and nightlife businesses will have to ask customers to produce a QR identification code that proves they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, or tested negative in a PCR test. A phone or paper certificate will be needed to enter gyms, restaurants or bars, while a special app will be used by traders. Hospitality businesses with a capacity of under 50 people will be exempt. The COVID certificate has been required at nightclubs and nursing homes for some time, but will now be extended to a slew of other hospitality businesses and gyms. The news comes after COVID cases in the Balearics tripled in just a month.
Cases
The cumulative 14-day incidence now stands at 266.4 cases per 100,000 compared to 92.8 on October 30. As a result, the islands are officially at medium risk of infection and will be at high risk if the rate reaches 300 cases. Menorca has already reached the high risk level, as its cumulative incidence is 428.7. In the next few days, it could reach a 14-day cumulative incidence of more than 500 and become at extreme risk. Mallorca (with an incidence of 264.4) and Ibiza (191.7) remain at medium risk, while Formentera (67.2) is at low risk. Health chiefs have been urging the unvaccinated to get their jabs in a bid to ‘save Christmas’, the Olive Press reported some 90,000 expats on the islands had still not been vaccinated - an alarming half of the total numbers of people still unvaccinated.
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www.theolivepress.es December 3rd - December 16th 2021
Vol. 5 Issue 120
PUTTING ON THE RITZ EXCLUSIVE: The Olive Press grills Valencia’s hottest chef Quique Dacosta at his brand new restaurant in Madrid
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ABOUT TIME!
Brits step in to carry out safety checks at Mallorca hotels in wake of balcony fall deaths A NEW system of safety checks will be carried out by British consular staff at resorts across the Balearic Islands following a spate of deaths of holidaymakers who fell from hotel balconies. The new protocol has been established following the high-profile death of 18-year-old Brit, Tom Channon, who plummeted 50ft over a knee-high wall at the notorious Eden Roc complex in Magaluf in July 2018. The teenager was celebrating the end of his A-levels with a holiday with friends on the island, when he became disoriented after a night out drinking and fell to his death. An inquest revealed no safety measures were installed at the hotel, despite a similar tragedy
By Fiona Govan
occurring just weeks earlier. It emerged that his death came just a month after another British holidaymaker, Thomas Hughes, 20, died in a fall at the same hotel, while a third Briton, Natalie Cormack, had fallen to her death at the same complex two months earlier in April, 2018.
Campaign
Tom’s family successfully campaigned since his death to make the wall safer, something they believe could have been achieved sooner if only communications between the authorities and the island were clearer. Now a new training programme named ‘Tom’s Check’ has been de-
NOTORIOUS: The Eden Roc complex and (below) Tom Channon
signed for British consulate staff aimed at improving the safety of holidaymakers and helping to support bereaved families. One part of the training will focus on ensuring that British consulate staff meet with local authorities and request they address safety concerns and visit the site.
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Tom's Check also teaches staff to request meetings with the police to help understand safety concerns and to identify where the consulate will look to take action. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will test the new measures in the Balearic Islands in the summer of 2022. If successful, it will be introduced TRAGIC: Hughes and Cormack in other resorts across Spain. Tom's parents said that their son would have wanted the measures and feel proud that they bear his name. The Foreign, CommonSee page 5 wealth and Development Office said: “We continue to work with Tom's parents to ensure families have access
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to the information they need, and build on our work in preventing tragic accidents from happening in the future.” Opinion Page 6
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CRIME
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NEWS IN BRIEF Serious Condition AN elderly woman and a 13-year-old girl have been taken to hospital in a serious condition after they suffered smoke inhalation when a fire broke out on the first floor of their apartment block in Sa Pobla (Mallorca).
Good news! THE Balearic Islands led the Spanish unemployment fall last month with a decrease of 32.2%, meaning 27,620 fewer unemployed in the islands.
Locked out A MAN aged 75 who was locked out of his own home in Palma by his dementia-suffering wife suffered a fall when he tried to climb into his property from a neighbour’s terrace. His condition is unknown.
Not nice! TWO ‘very drunk’ men in Palma, aged 43 and 45, have been arrested after twice threatening to kill their neighbour and then assaulting two police officers called to the scene.
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
Marihuana menagerie
Champagne Charlie
POLICE have arrested seven people after they found horses, dogs, roosters and even exotic fish living in filthy conditions when they raided two marihuana farms. Three people have been charged with animal abuse after shocked officers found the creatures surrounded by urine and excrement. Investigators believe they were being sold illegally.
A FORMER Palma lawyer has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for burglary after he stole 64 bottles of Champagne. In one burglary he broke a fridge lock at a beach club in Illetas and made off with 51 bottles of champagne in June 2018. Then a few months later - possibly to replenish his stocks - he went to the same club and stole a further 13 bottles of champagne along with three bottles of wine and computers. Hours later, he broke into a partially closed hotel and made himself comfortable for a nap. Video cameras caught him in the act of the burglaries and led police to the disgraced lawyer, where they found the stolen computers.
The other four detainees have been charged on drugs offences after police raided five homes in the Son Malferit area. They discovered two marihuana plantations and seized narcotic substances including marihuana and hashish. The animals have been transferred to an animal sanctuary where they are being cared for.
High-life low life A SCAMMER, who lived a life of luxury in Ibiza while allegedly fleecing his victims of at least €500,000, has been arrested in Latvia. He and his cronies rented
Latvian fraudster who used social media to target gullible is arrested villas at €1,000 a night, wore designer clothing, drove high-end cars and
Coke haul IN one of Mallorcas biggest drug busts two men have been arrested and 140 kilos of cocaine seized. Police had tracked two pallets of the drugs from Algeciras and watched as it was delivered to an address in Palma. National Police then raided the address and made the arrests. Police say the investigation is still open, and do not rule out making further arrests.
dined in some of the island’s most exclusive restaurants, all the time using money that wasn’t theirs. They found their targets via aggressive social media campaigns, going to the length of hiring an actor to shoot promotional videos purporting him to be the ‘inventor’ of a new cryptocurrency to rival Bitcoin. The real ‘inventor’ of the ‘Hodlife’ token was in fact, according to police, simply setting investors up for a fall. His targets were persuaded to send cryptocurrencies to a digital wallet for ‘investment’ in the new token. But once enough online currency was col-
lected, it was transferred to other digital wallets and disappeared from the accounts of the victims. They believe he may be involved in a series of online scams in Spain that have netted another €600,000, with investigations continuing.
Luxury
The 30-year-old ringleader had also been spotted in Marbella and Tenerife where he lived a similar luxury lifestyle. His stays in high-end villas were mixed with stopovers in luxury hotels, where he used the free wi-fi to run the scam in an attempt to cover his tracks. Police say that the suspect has been on the run from an international arrest warrant issued in the US in 2015 for a series of frauds.
Expat arsonists TWO Swedes who robbed and set fire to a brothel in Palma are facing five years in jail. The events took place in 2019, when the duo went to the nightclub in s'Aigo Dolça for several hours before being ordered to leave at closing time. Armed with a large stone, they gained access to the interior by breaking a window. Once inside they stole a telephone, a music system, a tablet PC and several bottles of alcohol. Before leaving the brothel, they set fire to the place. The blaze caused extensive damage to the club and the adjoining premises. After investigating the incident and identifying the expats, police made two arrests. In addition to a five-year prison sentence, the prosecution is demanding that they jointly pay more than €27,000 compensation.
Killed after sex A BRITISH expat has been caged for 20 years after being convicted of having sex with his wife before killing her in a frenzied knife attack at their €450,000 mansion. Wealthy businessman Geoffrey Elton, 57, claimed he suffered a mental disorder when he attempted to HAPPIER TIMES: Elton smother Gloria Tor- with wife Gloria nay and then tried to strangle her before she broke free after the bedroom romp. But a Spanish jury ruled Elton was sane when he chased Gloria, 58, through their Estepona villa with a 5.7 inch long kitchen knife, stabbing her 11 times. Father-of-two Elton then shut off the power and told his 15-year-old son to leave and threw away mobile phones to slow the emergency response. Elton was found drenched in blood beside his wife of 30 years after trying to take his own life but was saved by medics and later charged with murder.
Murder
But the computer programmer claimed he had no recollection of the attack. On his 58-year-old Spanish-born wife. The judge has now jailed the expat from Nottingham, for 20 years and one day for murder. He was also ordered to pay a total of €276,000 compensation - €84,000 to each of his two sons and the rest to Gloria’s five siblings. The 57-year-old told a court in Malaga he lashed out after being humiliated in front of neighbours by his headteacher wife of 33 years. The episode took place following a 'mutual' decision to divorce and a day of packing cases, the court heard. Elton moved to Estepona seven years ago after retiring from his successful satellite dish installation company.
GUTTED: The club
Clan war MORE arrests have been made over a bloody feud between two gypsy families that led to an infamous shooting in Mallorca. Police have detained two members of the Los Manzano clan that has been blamed for chasing down and pumping three bullets into a member of the rival Los Peluos family. Bleeding profusely he was chased for several metres by six attackers until he managed to take refuge in his home in the Son Gotleu district of Palma. His attackers continued to shoot at the house, which had six people inside, including the wife of the wounded 29-yearold man who was carrying his young son in her arms. Witnesses reported that the bullets grazed the little boy. Seven members of the Los Peluos clan later left Mallorca to ‘reduce the tension’, including the wounded man. Six people allegedly responsible for the shooting handed themselves over to police. Both parties claim that the confrontation was triggered by a squatting issue and the sale of a car.
NEWS
www.theolivepress.es SPAIN’S richest man Amancio Ortega is selling his biggest yacht for a cool €76million. The Spanish fashion mogul, 85 purchased the 67 metre superyacht, Drizzle, in 2012 for €95million but now wants to upgrade his fleet and purchase a new boat worth a whopping €172million. The Inditex found-
Right royal mess A RAPPER who fled Spain in 2018 after insulting the monarchy has another extradition hearing to fight off. In May 2018, performer Valtonyc, real name Josep Miquel Arenas, fled to Belgium after being given three-and-a-half years in jail. The Supreme Court upheld the 2017 verdict and sentence over a year later, prompting Valtonyc to flee Spain. Mallorca police set up a surveillance team to ensure he did not leave the island, yet he still managed to escape. Belgian courts have rejected previous extradition requests but a new hearing has now been set for December 28 in the Ghent Court of Appeal. The Sa Pobla artist was convicted of glorifying terrorism, threatening rightwing politician Jorge Campos and making defamatory comments against the Spanish royal family.
PUSH THE BOAT OUT
er, who has a net worth of €70 billion, wants to upsize his boat to make his Mediterranean coastline cruises even more luxurious. Lavish yacht Drizzle is now for sale on the website of the Mallor-
can company, Hamilton Marine in Puigpunyent, which specialises in luxury yachts. The interior of the boat offers accommodation for up to 12 people, boasting seven double cabins for its occupants to sleep in.
SEX PEST GRANNY
A BESOTTED 72-year-old woman has been fined a mere €60 for sending sexually explicit and threatening letters to hunky Il Divo singer Carlos Marin. Besides the small fine, a Madrid judge gave the Barcelona woman, named as Rosa, a sixmonth 500 metre distancing order barring her from approaching Marin and banned her from getting in touch with him.
Obscene
The problems started in February when Rosa started phoning Il Divo’s producer, telling him that she had developed ‘a platonic love’ for Madrid-based Marin. The judge said the calls became ‘annoying, obscene and offensive’. She then started sending obscene letters directly to 53-year-old Marin, which generated a ‘certain uneasiness
THEY are one of the most influential bands in the electronic music genre, and now Spanish fans will be able to see Kraftwerk life. The German group has been around for decades, although it now has a much changed lineup, although the band is as innovative as ever. Formed in Dusseldorf in 1969 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, they have influenced a diverse range of artists and many genres of modern music, including synthpop, hip hop, post-punk, techno, ambient and club music. Now they are one of the main acts at the new International Festival La
Il Divo singer subjected to campaign of sexually explicit letters By Alex Trelinski
and fear’ in him. The letters initially made explicit sexual offers and how she would ‘satisfy’ him. The lack of a reply saw the tone of the messages abruptly change as Rosa’s written advances came to nothing. Further dispatches referred to Marin as an ‘imbecile, fool, idiot, and a child prodigy’. The messages were also sent to his family and his Il Divo colleagues, as the language ramped up further to accuse the singer of being a ‘liar’ and being ‘married to a prostitute’. The last straw
was Rosa resorting to sending death threats. Marin’s lawyer, Alberto Martin, said the singer had to stop meeting fans after concerts as he feared the woman might appear and attack him. Announcing an appeal against the Cala de Mijas, near Malaga. sentence and the Headliners are British group the Arctic Monkeys who €60 fine, Martin will be playing their first Spanish commented that date for four years at the event, the judge ‘felt which will run from September 1 more sorry for the to 3, 2022. aggressor than for Also playing will be Australian Chet the victim’. Faker, British bands Blossoms and Il Divo is an inHot Chip plus a lineup of Spanish ternational hit artists. classical crossover Tickets are on sale at calamijas. singing group crecom. ated in 2003.
Good Werkers
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
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Top score BARCELONA captain Alexia Putellas has become the first Spain international to win the Ballon d'Or since 1960 . She was crowned the best female footballer in the world as she received the Ballon d'Or Feminin. Putellas, who was born in Mollet del Valles, is the first Spanish winner since Luis Suarez in 1960. The 27-year-old was also named Uefa's Women's Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year and ended the 2020-21 season as the highest-scoring midfielder in Europe with 26 goals to her name. Paris San Germain superstar Lionel Messi picked up a record seventh Ballon d’Or award at the event. Putellas was one of five Barca players nominated for the award, with team-mate Jennifer Hermoso coming in second. "Honestly, it is a bit emotional. Very special. It is great to be here with all my teammates. We've lived and experienced so much together, especially last season," she said. !I would like to thank all my teammates, all my teammates throughout my career and the ones I have right now. This is an individual prize but football is a team sport.”
The eagles have landed NINE White-tailed Eagles have been donated by Norway in an effort to re-introduce the species to Spain. They are being kept in a special enclosure in Asturias as they acclimatize to their new home. As one of eight bird species on the official List of Extinct Species, they qualify for the reintroduction project, which is being managed by conservation group GREFA. Young wild birds were taken from their nests in Norway earlier this year and sent to Spain. They have been fitted with GPS trackers to monitor their movements once they are finally set free. This first phase of the scheme is set to last two years, with it being used as a test to try different reintroduction techniques. If this test phase is successful, it is planned to release 20 eagles a year for five years in a bid to build a breeding population. Norway has previously provided birds for reintroduction schemes in Scotland, as well as current projects in Ireland and the Isle of Wight.
NEWS
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Gigi in town
All lit up
year. This includes 4,300 ornaments 415 kilometres of garlands, plus the huge tree in Parc de la Mar and the two ten-metre trees in Parc de les Estacions and Jaume III.
ONE WAY BACK
Expat pensioner forced to ‘sofasurf’ in the UK after falling victim to alleged fake padron scam LILY Higgins had bought her dream home in southern Spain and applied for the necessary TIE card to allow her to retire here. The 72-year-old former hospital administrator had sold her home in London and started a new life on Orihuela Costa, setting up a new home and network of trusted friends. That was until she unwittingly found herself dragged into a fake padron scandal that ended in her arrest, with a criminal record now looming over her head. Worse than that, with her TIE card not arriving in time, she has been forced to go back to the UK to live on a friend’s sofa. She flew back last week after being told she had ‘outstayed her welcome’ by the British Consul-
EXCLUSIVE By Simon Wade
ate’s Immigration Department. “I was simply too terrified to stay and face a knock at the door one night to get hauled off to the cells again,” the grandmother-of-six told the Olive Press this week.
Limbo
Higgins, who had lived in Orijuela for nearly four years, is one of up to 40 other British victims caught up in the same situation, the Olive Press understands. The group have been forced into a legal limbo until the pending court case takes place in Torrevieja. Since the alleged scam was first
OLIVE PRESS
The
AMERICAN supermodel Jelena Hadid, better known as Gigi Hadid, has arrived in Mallorca. The daughter of property developer Mohammed Hadid and former Dutch model Yolanda Hadid, arrived on the island by private jet on Wednesday.. On leaving the terminal at Palma airport, the 26-yearold didn’t give onlookers much time to take photos as she got into a car that was waiting for her at the gates. At the moment, the reason for her visit is unknown, although she may be after some peace and quiet after the mother of a one-year-old daughter has a very public split from ex-partner, British singer Zayn Malik. The former One Direction singer, 28, was charged with four counts of harassment following a row at his home in Pennsylvania with Gigi’s mum. He pleaded no contest.
THE city council of Palma has invested nearly one million euros on Christmas lights - and it has put on quite a display. Visitors have been flocking to see the €983,000 Christmas decorations in the squares and streets of the city, €161,000 more than last
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
Mijas SAN JAVIER Costa FREE
Vol. 2 Issue 41
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ONE WAY OUT www.theolivepress.es
June 3rd - June 16th
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Expats must stay in for two years while Spain in limbo alleged residency scam is probed by police
FURIOUS: Lily and pal Jay were both arrested
EXCLUSIVE By Simon Wade
How one organised community of expats is putting El Raso on the map
See page 12
EXPATS caught up OLIVE ulent residency scamin a fraudPRESS run by a gestor on the Costa Blanca have been told by police can’t leave the country that they case is investigated. while the Dozens of people are life in legal limbo for facing a years while police up to two investigate the alleged fraud before it is decided if they face deportation or can legally stay. It comes after the Olive Press reported on a group of expats who had been detained Tel: 952 147 834 952 147 834 by police over padron that appear to have certificates SCOOP: How the Olive Press been doc- broke the story last tored by one particular edition gestor they hired to process their TIE One Way Services, about applications. why a doctored certificate had been submitted on their behalf. “Smith said he was Grilled to help people,” she only trying They included 71-year-old told the Olwid- ive Press. ow Lily Higgins and STUCK: Jane Long friend Jay “He (above) has been said he’d Elliott, who were grilled over his guilt to already admitted Elliott were ‘treated like criminals’ told by police that she can’t travel their town hall registration while Lily Higgins the police, before after using One Way and Jay Williams, 63, told us Services shredding my fake forms, which were he also had padron One Way Services. handled by front of my eyes” she added. in to give a statement at Alicante police station last week. He added that she Several more have should forward to complainsince come pect a phone call from the ‘ex- It involved the property owner, police about the merely British gestor, in Ciudad to answer a few ques- who has lived in Spain for seven years, having his fingerprints da, which is at the centreQuesa- tions’. of the However, investigation. after being taken taken, as well as getting photographed. away in a police car, These include Jane Long held for of Tor- two hours, “It was astonishing,” revieja who was taken fingerprinted he told the te Police Station and to Alican- photographed, she was toldand Olive Press. “I’m now told the questioned detectives by over her part in ‘an at the Policia Nacio- court case could take 18 months alleged to two nal that she will be years, possibly more.” fraud’. ‘guilty, until proven considered He continued: “I started The 53-year-old said innocent’. all this on September 1, but her husband Nigel she and Mrs Long despaired: “I was it became fronted Matt Smith, had con- I couldn’t even travel back told apparent as time went on there to the was something owner of UK because amiss. I’m a criminal!” “I feel this T h e found guiltycan go two ways: I'm K e n t ter possibly and deported or aftwo years I'm grantw o m a n ed residencia. revealed “I put all that the Services my faith into One Way p o l i c e down, a and have been so let had in- me and very stressful time for working alongside the Guardia ents f o r m e d added. countless others,” he Civil to now investigate that all res- criminallythey would not be held her, ‘anidencia applications responsible. in Alicante “So it o t h e r made in 2021. is totally clear now that Cleared 40-plus the criminal investigation The lawyer later confirmed is bep e o p l e When the Olive Press called to the Olive Press that Smith ing focused only against my cliwill also Matt Smith for an explanation ent so for sure the fiscal had made a statement will not 35 years experience • Interior be ar- he refused to answer questions. lice clearing his clients to po- start criminal actions and exterior against of any “Speak to my lawyer,” rested.’ he said knowledge of the alleged fraud. his clients sadly affected,” he Best quality products used F e l l o w before hanging up. said. “My client explained [to the If it emerges B r i t , National Police confirmed Special effects, stencilling police] that none of that any to the the clients & feature walls etc B r i a n Olive Press that detectives One Way clients were other of are had produced the applications tained to be Fully legal/registered • Full themselves [but] only over the matter, the deliability insurance lawpaid my client to apply for yer said: “Mr Smith will proceed All works guaranteed immediately to clarify in front the TIE on their behalf,” David Gui- of police or/and the court that Contact Michael for a FREE jarro Mayor from these clients have no relation at quote michaelwillis5@sky.com ABC solicitors told all with any criminal activity.” See page 23 the Olive Press in response to written Have you been affected? Please contact us questions. on newsHe sought to reas- desk@theolivepress.es sure One Way cliOpinion Page Your
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Prime suspect
Bear in the frame for series of grizzly livestock killings in the Pyrenees
Tragic mystery
The Olive Press TV investigation helps into the death of Kirsty Maxwell
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Girl power
The female warriors who took on Drake’s army - and won!
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exposed by this paper in May, the admin company involved, One Way Services, of Quesada, has continually denied the situation. Now, incredibly, its owner Matt Smith has been made a mayor of a local village and come out fighting, claiming the Olive Press has a vendetta against him. Accusing us of ‘scaremongering’ he described us as a ‘costa tabloid’ and threatened that we would be folding soon. His social media attack has backfired badly, though, leaving the victims furious about his claims and demanding he lose his new position. “It’s incredible,” said Higgins. “How dare he attack you after ruining my life? “I’m worried sick about future travel and my legal status since he altered our padron certificates. They were not his to alter!” Her friend Jay Elliott, 66, who is in a similar situation, is also angry that Smith sent a sinister message to a friend saying ‘tell Jay and Lily thanks very much for speaking to the press’. Mother-of-three Elliot, who is attempting to stay in Spain until the court case, has not been able to reapply for her TIE card via other gestors because of her possible criminal record. Both Lily and Jay had been ar-
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‘Hellish and humiliating’ as British expats over ‘fraudulent’ arrested residency applications
A GROUP of HUMILIATED: British expats have been detained Lily and Jay were questioned EXCLUSIVE after their padron by police even deportation. certificates By Simon Wade proving they “I’ve never been lived in Spain appear to have in trouble before but been doc- derly expats described tored. situation as ‘humiliating’ the treated like here I am, being At least eight a common crimpeople have ‘hellish’, after they were and inal,” said Higgins. been grilled held miliating.” “It’s huover the town for questioning hall registration under cau- They tion. added that were all handledforms, which They the same gestor is being gestor company by the same they told the Olive Press how investigated for changing were carted on the Costa Blanca. the date te police station to Alican- least 22 more British on at National Police about falsifying and grilled cants. applithe Olive Pressconfirmed to submitted documents Another with couple, tives are workingthat detec- card applications. their TIE not to be named, who asked alongside the Guardia told the Ol“We were wrongly Civil to now ive Press how vestigate all residencia in- for submitting they had been arrested questioned applifake padrons, cations in Alicante when they went to collect that his is anything made in even though we put the 2021. cor- “We weretheir TIE cards. rect ones in but the only gestor with our papertaken work for residencia,” read our rights into a room, dragged into business to be the investigasaid Jay explain and Elliott, 66, of tion Fraud why our 2021 told to who has livedOrihuela Costa, had been padron “Nobody has It comes after been arrested, ‘widespread over five years. in Spain for 2020 datedoctored to show a that is a fact,” fraud’ was allegedly - it was hell.” All those detained adding: “Other he insisted, in over 22 Britons detected She and her friend Lily gestors are also being brought to become residentattempting gins, 71, had planned Hig- One Way Services, had used in as part for a based a gestor peaceful retirement here. of an ongoing This week a investigation in the revieja,in Quesada, near Tornumber of el- sun but are into TIE applications.” to process their the threat of now living with plications A police spokesman a court case - including aptold the or padron. Olive Press: the “All residencia Owner Matt Smith insisted Continues on Page 5
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Welcome ma’am! BRITISH aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth stopped off in Mallorca for a spot of rest and relaxation. The Royal Navy vessel is on the return leg of her maiden Carrier Strike Group (CSG21) deployment. She moored in Palma to give her crew a mini-break before she steamed away on Tuesday heading for the Spanish naval base of Rota in Cadiz. Last month there was drama when a British Lightning jet based on the ship crashed into the Mediterranean. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the €100 million F-35B fighter jet ‘ditched in the sea shortly after takeoff from HMS Queen Elizabeth’. The pilot was unharmed and plane recovered. In July the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship HMS Prince of Wales made its first port outside of the UK in Gibraltar. The 65,000 tonne carrier is 70 metres wide, 280 metres long and has enough space for three football pitches and has a crew of 700
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rested and detained at Alicante Police Station, for their perceived part in the alleged fraud. Now the pair are planning to join up with dozens of others to plan a joint legal action against Smith and One Way Services. Smith, who was made the ‘Pedania mayor’ of Entre Naranjos last month - an appointment by Orihuela Town Hall that requires no election - told the Olive Press that there was no planned court case against him. He insisted his clients had been dealt with ‘in a satisfactory way’ and continued: “The police did not bring charges against them, nor do they have a criminal record relating to your allegations. “If you are aware of anyone else that is having problems obtaining their residencia please ask them to get in touch with us, and we will happily help them.” If you have also been affected, please contact us via newsdesk@theolivepress.es
Flocking heck! A FLOCK of more than 200 dead starlings fell like rain on pedestrians and cars in Ferrol (A Coruña), with investigators left clueless as to why the birds died. The matter has been handed over to the environmental department, who collected two dead birds for analysis and autopsies to determine the causes of the mass death. The starlings were also scattered across the flowerbeds at the back of a nearby hospital The president of the local residents’ association, Mapi Rodiguez, said she cannot explain what could have happened. “They came out of the trees in the emergency area of the hospital, flew a few metres and fell plummeting to the pavement,” she said.
Move over Brits A trend that started in the third quarter of this year saw Germans outnumbering citizens from the United Kingdom for the first time when it came to purchasing a home in Spain- and it looks likely to continue. German buyers represented 10.4% of the real estate market between June and September 2021, compared to 9.9% of Brits. “It has been noticed that as a result of Brexit, the British are not buying as much. Before they spent longer periods in Spain and that boosted demand, but now their stays are limited to a month at most and it shows in the market”, explained José Costa, spokesperson for the National Federation of Real Estate Associations (FAI) in the Valencian Community. The number of Germans and Dutch buying property in Spain has risen. “Especially after the confinements”, added José Costa,
“since they come looking for the climate and more spacious and sunny places to live for long periods”. The Valencian coast remains one of the preferred destinations for the British to buy a house in Spain, together with the Costa del Sol and the Canary Islands. However, real estate offices in those areas have noticed a drop in demand from UK buyers over the past year-and-a-half.
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Skull found at alternative community near Granada is ‘not’ missing Dutch expat, but man in his 40s IT was during a short walk with her dog before taking the kids to school that an expat got the most incredible shock of her life. Wrapped up warmly against the winter morning in the Alpujarras, near Granada, she had no idea why Dragon started scratching madly at the earth. Walking over she was horrified to discover that the German Shepherd cross had dug up a skull that she immediately knew was human. Initially thinking it was a victim of the Spanish Civil War, she later realised on returning to retrieve it that it was much more recently deceased.
Horrified
“It was definitely fresher and smelled quite a lot,” the Romanian expat, who asked not to be named, told the Olive Press. “My initial thoughts were that it probably belonged to a victim from the Civil War, as there were many people executed in this region and buried in unmarked graves. “But when I picked it up later and put it into a plastic bag to stop Dragon from chewing it, I knew it was much more recent.” The mother-of-two, who has
NEWS
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December 3rd December 16th 2021
Gruesome discovery EXCLUSIVE By Elena Goçmen Rueda
lived in Spain for 11 years, had soon got the father of her children to contact the Guardia Civil, in nearby Orgiva. A patrol car was quickly on the scene, by the new age settlement of Beneficio, near Canar, where the expats live. After taking the bag for safe storage, they went with her to visit the macabre site, which sits just below the main car park of the alternative community. They looked around and, oddly, found no further bones or remains. There was no sign of clothes or any other personal items, nor any signs of a struggle. Expats told the Olive Press they had initially believed the head was that of a Dutch woman named Linda, who had an abusive partner and a teenage son. “She had very distinctive teeth and we immediately suspected it was Linda,” said one. “She left in strange circumstances and we were worried about her.” A spokesman for the Guardia
DRAGON: Found the skull by the tree (below) Civil confirmed the discovery to the Olive Press and announced an investigation had been launched. However, he denied that it belonged to the ‘missing’ Dutch woman and was ‘most likely’ a man in his 40s. “The Judicial Police have taken over the investigation and it has now been taken to a laboratory in Sevilla for its study,” he said. “DNA will be extracted and released to the Missing Persons database within the next two months.”
He added: “We can assure you that it is not Linda, who is safe and sound and living in a commune elsewhere in Europe.”
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NEWS FEATURE
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OPINION Welcome news THE British authorities are to be congratulated for taking action over the seemingly endless string of tragedies that have seen many young Brits fall to their deaths from balconies. There is no doubt that simple safety measures could have saved many of these lives. The Eden Roc complex was one notorious example where a knee high barrier was all that there was between a walkway and a seven floor plunge - with fatal consequences for three young tourists. Now consulate staff will listen to warnings and complaints and take the matters raised up with Spanish authorities to try and tackle dangerous situations before they turn fatal. Although it is too late for many, hopefully future lives will now be saved.
Salt in the wound BREXIT has complicated the life of tens of thousands of Britons who live in Spain. There are those who had to scramble to get themselves legalised. Many turned to ‘experts’ in the form of gestors to help smooth the application process, paying large fees to navigate a system that seemed baffling, especially without a good command of Spanish. It is particularly appalling when we have to report on the strife faced by those who sought the help of these experts only to be spectacularly let down over their residency status. The situation that Lily Higgins finds herself in is even worse. Not only was she arrested over forged documents presented by the gestor she paid to represent her, but she has now been forced to return to the UK with nothing. Now she learns that the gestor she holds responsible for her fate, far from facing justice for his malpractice, has instead been rewarded with a position of power by the local council. Brexit is to blame for a lot of things, but this has added salt to the wound.
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Cross to bear
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PAIN’S Catholic Church has refused to launch an independent inquiry into the shocking sexual abuse carried out within its ranks over the past 70 years. Unbelievably it maintains ‘there’s only a few cases,’ amounting to ‘0.8%’ of the priesthood. At the end of a week-long gathering of bishops in Madrid, it stated: “We are not prepared to undertake sociological or statistical investigations. Why is all the focus on the Catholic Church? There are cases in sports federations. Has FIFA or the Spanish Olympic Committee been asked for a general investigation?”
Claim
The Church also made the surprising claim that it was frontrunners on tackling the issue. “We are the first Episcopal Conference in the world to approve a collection of norms with which to deal with cases of sexual abuse against minors,” Church spokesman, Luis Argüello, declared after the convention, although he admitted that none of the victims had been given the space to air their grievances during the gathering. Spain is the only country in Europe, apart from Italy, to be downplaying the abuse. Portugal has just given the
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ARLOS Ruiz Zafon needs no introduction. Arguably the most recognised contemporary writer in Spain, he has an equally successful international reputation. Translated into over 50 languages, literary critics have often compared Zafon to none other than Miguel de Cervantes in style, popularity and literary impact. Carlos’s trilogy The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, combined with his most recent book The Labyrinth of the Spirits (El Laberinte de los Esperitos), are perennial best-sellers around the world. Zafon’s series arrived on the publishing scene with contemporaries Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling. Their popular genre shared countless tomes: tormented characters, often seeking knowledge centered around secrets to be found in books and archives. ‘Tales
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green light for a national investigative commission, and France recently presented the 2,500-page Suavé report, car-
ried out externally but funded by the Church, on murky practises taking place in its inner sanctum, citing at least
216,000 victims of between 2,900 and 3,200 paedophile priests since 1950. Other countries to have taken
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While the Catholic Church in France and Spain seek to investigate wrongdoings, Spain’s clergy hides and wriggles over child sex abuse claims, writes Heather Galloway
REFUSED: Carlos Zafon
Spain’s once-leading Author Carlos Ruiz Zafon, who died last year, refused to have his books turned into films, Jack Gaioni explains why within tales’, giving way to ‘books within books’, with multiple subplots became a flourishing subgenre with the reading public. Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Rowling’s Harry Potter would go on to become record-breaking hits at the cinema box-office. Curiously, Zafon rejected the many lucrative offers to turn his books into movies and he had some very strong opinions as to why.
Pondered Carlos had been consistent with his personal mission to encourage people to recover the pleasure of reading. In our flashy, crazed world of the internet, smart phones, video games and digital streaming, Zafon believed the joy of reading was being forgotten. “Reading”, said Zafon, “is a primal force in which we, the readers, collaborate with the authors to create adventures, empathy and memories not unlike those of our real lives.” He believed ‘books are mirrors to the soul’ and by reading we develop stronger analytical skills by taking note of detail. It is perhaps ironic
that before Carlos Ruiz Zafon became an international best seller, he began his career as a screenplay writer in the movie capital of the world - Los Angeles, California. He was an avid fan of the film noir genre and had notable success as a Hollywood screenwriter. He would be the first to admit this genre, marked by moods of pessimism, fatalism and menace was a major influence on his later written work. But Carlos saw a disconnect between storytelling as novel verses adapting that same story to a movie. Movies, he believed, are experienced by the audience in one 90 to 120 minute block of time but books may be picked up and put down, pondered and digested, multiple times before completion. Carlos believed that, by reading, content could be taken in at intervals dictated by the reader’s ‘rhythm of consumption’. He once famously said that unlike movies, ‘books have no beginnings or endings - only points of entry’. Since something is lost from the transition from books to movies, Carlos was emphatic in not wanting to spend the time remaking his stories into another media. He claimed that developing characters and interlocking plots so precariously, he feared his stories would ‘explode’ if he tinkered with them by adapting
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December 3rd - December 16th 2021
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FIGHT: Juan Cautrecosas (right) has been battling church abuse for years the plunge include Belgium, Ireland and Germany, with the US blazing the trail in 2002. But after the Episcopal Confer-
them to the big screen. Zsofon believed that by reading, one can better picture his books ‘shot by shot’, the way he designed them because that is central to the reading experience. Tragically, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, that prolific Spanish novelist who has been compared to Cervantes, succumbed to cancer last year and died in his prime at age 55. He will forever be remembered as an outlier in the world of storytelling. It is rumored that Zafon took the time to declare in his last will and testament that his books ‘never, never, never’ (his words) be made into movies. Rest in Peace Carlos….
ence’s jamboree, hopes were dashed for more transparency from Spain’s clergy, which hitched its wagon to the dictatorship during the Franco years and appears to still be clinging to a sense of impunity. “The ecclesiastical hierarchy of Spain should stop committing g o n e the sin of arrogance and asone step further, producing a sume the institution’s responreport admitting to the abuse sibilities. of 81 minors by 65 Jesuit “It should treat the victims and priests between 1927 and survivors of paedophilia with 2020. respect and empathy, providBut the Spanish Church’s ading compensation and reparamissions have only served to tion for the sake of truth and infuriate the victims and the justice. associations representing “These are values that they them. intend to con“It is shameful tinue to shun,” and intolerable the director of The church that they conthe Foundation tinue to deny should stop of Stolen Childthe truth,” says hood (ANIR) Juan committing Cautrecosas, Cautrecosas told whose own son the Olive Press the sin of suffered sexushortly after Ararrogance al abuse in an güello delivered Opus Dei school the verdict. in Bilbao in The facts and 2010 at the age of 12. figures within Spain remain The priest finally got sentenced conveniently vague, though to 11 years in 2018, which was Cautrecosas is convinced that incredibly reduced to two years in reality they mirror those of by the Supreme Court, while France. “They are the same if the family paid dearly for seeknot higher,” he says. “The figure ing justice, with threats that of 0.8% is absolutely false.” drove them out of their home. So far, the Church in Spain has But calls for more accountabilrevealed that 220 cases have ity have fallen on deaf ears, come under internal investigawith the Church insisting that tion between 2001 and April victims should approach its 2021 while the Jesuit Orown Offices for the Protection der has of Minors that were set up in March 2020 on the orders of Pope Francis. According to Argüello, the Church will attend to anyone who comes to these offices, which can be found in each of Spain’s 70 dioceses. But, as ANIR’s CautrecoNO PROBLEM: sas has been quick to claims point out: “It is vital to look Luis Argüello for neutral organisations to investigate rather than those in which the damage was done,” adding that, to date, the Church’s Offices for
the Protection of Minors have ‘had very little effect and lack rigour.’ Tellingly, Argüello insists that the offices have received few complaints since they opened a year and a half ago. In fact, according to the ANIR president, victims have found the press to be a more effective vehicle for getting their stories heard, with El País compiling a database of 945 victims and 363 cases to date. “Without the media, many victims wouldn’t have been able to come forward,” says Cautrecosas. “My son was 12 when he was abused. He still suffers from the after-effects of the abuse. It’s not like flu that you can take a paracetamol for. “When we spoke out, our lives were made impossible, as has been the case for many of the victims in our association.” Perhaps it’s not surprising the Spanish Church is dragging its feet on an independent investigation, given the damning indictment delivered to representatives of France’s Catholic hierarchy in Lourdes during the presentation of the Suavé report at the start of October. “You are an embarrassment to our humanity,” François Devaux, director of the victim’s association La Parol Libérée told them. What is clear is that the Spanish Church’s victims feel abused, first physically by a member of the priesthood, then emotionally by the apparent indifference of an institution that looks loathed to come out from behind its veil of silence.
UBLISHERS the world over, from the New York Times, to The Telegraph decided the way forward was to charge for their content a few years back. Here in Spain it is also seen as the way forward, with all the big media groups adopting paywalls, from giants like El Mundo and El Pais to local publications such as Diario Sur and Ideal. The Olive Press joined them a year ago. And now with more than 30,000 subscribers we are definitely on the right track. With hundreds more signing up each month, it is gratifying to know that readers share our obsession with quality. After all, for less than 14 cents a day - or €1.50 a week - readers can join our online revolution. And with our current HALF PRICE SPECIAL OFFER UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR readers can help us keep real journalism alive and flourishing in a world of fake news.
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Water solution
New technique tested to replenish underground water supplies A NEW method of replenishing underground water supplies is to be trialed in Spain. Researchers hope that the plan will increase underground reserves by 15% with a 99% saving in power needed and carbon emissions. The Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system will use recycled water from Marbella’s La Vibora sewage works. Some 50,000 cubic metres of the cleaned water will be added to the underground supplies using ‘surface infiltration’ rather than existing pumping technologies. The pilot project is being run by the EU funded Life Matrix environmental organisation alongside the Acosol water company. If successful it could be rolled out to other parts of Spain such as Valencia, Alicante and Almeria, which suffer from drought and water shortages. Marbella was chosen for the pilot as it is in an area that suffers from high
‘water stress’, especially with the influx of summer tourists. Researchers see it as an area which needs better management of its water resources and the perfect test bed for ‘non-conventional’ techniques and technologies. The managed aquifer recharge system proposed MARBELLA: Site of the pilot project by Life Matrix will bring together different solutions to make Andalucian Water Research Centre sure the quality of the water is high and Foundation, with the participation of soil structure is not destroyed. Cetaqua Barcelona, Water Technology Life Matrix, co-financed by the Euro- Centre; the Hydrogeology Centre of pean Commission’s LIFE programme, the University of Malaga (Cehiuma) coordinated by Cetaqua Andalucia, and Acosol.
Poo power BOSSES of Barcelona’s transport system are looking at ways of running the city’s buses on sewage. They want to turn sewage sludge left over from waste water treatment into biomethane in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. EU funding through the Nimbus Project is being used to try and create greener public transport. According to TMB public transport operator, 70% of its fleet ran on diesel fuel in 2010. By 2020 75% of its buses were hybrid or running on less polluting energy. But the 1,100 strong fleet is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels with their associated CO2 emissions, and air pollution problems. The process will work by gathering sewage sludge at water treatment plants and tunning it into fuel. The biogas created is made up of methane and CO2 which is at present stored in large silos to be burned to power the plant.
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
Grim and dry future SOUTH-EAST Spain faces a 40% fall in water resources by 2050 if remedial action is not taken, according to Ecological Transition Minister, Teresa Ribera. Speaking at an Alicante water conference, the Minister said that areas like Alicante Province, Murcia, and Malaga Province would suffer more than an average water loss of 24% for the rest of Spain. Teresa Ribera said: “There has been a review of all of our infrastructure to produce the right response to what lies ahead. “If no measures are taken, droughts will
affect 70% of Spain in 30 years time,” she added. Ribera’s grim scenario also suggested up to 75% of the Iberian Peninsula could be at risk of desertification if nothing was done. She called for better connectivity between water confederation companies in the south-east as well as increasing desalination capacity and upping recycling rates. “Intelligent management is needed, together with digitalisation; adaptive crops; flood prevention and improved efficiency,” said Ribera.
Martin Tye explains why not enough being done to save us from climate change
TWISTED LOGIC
Green Matters
By Martin Tye
A
S the dust settles after the COP26 conference held recently in Glasgow, what outcome can we expect ? Some strong commitments were made. Are they sufficient to save our planet ? I think not. India highlighted the main reason we will fail – GREED. Just as COP26 closed, authorities in the Indian capital, Delhi, shut all schools and colleges indefinitely because of the level of air pollution. India and China insisted on modifying the final agreement on fossil fuels. Instead of ‘phasing out’ the use of coal, they jointly insisted on the words ‘phasing down’ being used.
How mad is this?!?
Delhi is submerged in a pungent toxic haze. Citizens are subjected to levels of PM2 far higher than the World Health Organisation’s safety guidelines. A figure below 50 is acceptable. Delhi recorded a level of more than 400, causing long term damage to people’s health. As hospitals start to fill up with patients complaining of wheezing and breathing difficulties, the Indian government continues to
SMOG: Lethal haze is covering Delhi
push on with its use of coal. This form of twisted logic will be the reason the world will fail with its mission to control climate change. Powerful nations will continue to put financial and economic gain above the planet’s needs. Bad air kills more than one million people in India. SO WHAT WAS AGREED IN GLASGOW ?
Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. Call +34 638145664 or Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es
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LA CULTURA
Valencia-bound for Bardem bounty
A FILM starring Javier Bardem has broken a Spanish film awards record, landing a giant 20 nominations. The Good Boss (El Buen Patron) is expected to be the big winner at the annual Goya Film Academy gala taking place in Valencia in February. The comedy-drama, directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa, tells the story of a factory boss who bends over backwards to help his workforce. Besides nominations for Best Director and Best Movie, Bardem (left) has also picked up a Best Actor Goya nod. The film is also in the ‘Best International Film’ category for the Oscars in March. The Goyas, now in their 36th year, will see Penelope Cruz attending the gala at Valencia’s Palau de Les Arts on February 12. The Spanish star is up for a Best Actress nomination for her role in the Almodovar film Parallel Mothers.
AN Iberian sword considered to be of great historical value was discovered among looted archaeological treasures offered for sale online. The sword, which has a bird’s head hilt, is thought to date from between the third and second century BC and was likely plundered from an ancient grave where it was buried with the warrior who owned it more than two thousand years ago.
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
POISON ART
THEY may be stunning examples of art from our ancestors, but Spain’s famous cave paintings could have poisoned early artists. Analysis of 5,000 year-old bones found in 23 sites across Spain and Portugal has found evidence of mercury poisoning. Scientists from the University of North Carolina Wilmington analysed the remains of 370 people who lived during the Late Neolithic and Copper Age.
Ancient people found to have high levels of mercury
Toxic
It was found that the highest levels of mercury were found among those living at the beginning of the Copper Age – between 2900 and 2600 BC. Researchers said the unusually excessive amount of mercury is attributable to cinnabar, a toxic mercury sulfide mineral with a shiny purple colour. It was traditionally used as a paint pigment, with ancient tombs in Andalucia found
Loot for sale Spain’s Policia Nacional tracked down the seller who had a stash of more than 200 artifacts pilfered from archaeological sites in Spain. They arrested the seller, a man from a town in Jaen province in Andalucia, who is now facing charges for theft and offences against national heritage.
ART: But it could have been deadly to our ancestors Age and early Bronze Age, the use of cinnabar has gradually declined. Researchers hypothesise that people from Portugal and Andalucia could have accidentally inhaled or consumed large amounts of mercury from cinnabar during various rituals and painting sessions. Levels of up to 400 parts per million (ppm) were recorded in the bones of some of these individuals. “Taking into account that the WHO currently considers that the normal level of mercury in hair should not be higher than 1 or 2 ppm, the data obtained reveal a high level of intoxication that must have severely affected the health of many of those people,” researchers said.
By Kirsty McKenzie
covered in cinnabar powder. Ancient people used it to paint chambers, decorate figurines and even daub on the dead. Since the end of the Copper
Described as an ‘Iberian falcata’, police said it had ‘possible remains of silver on the blade, and is in a very good state of preservation’ “The fact that the piece has not been used since the owner’s death - the weapon is buried with the warrior when he dies so that no one can use it - increases its value due to the rarity of finding pieces in this state,” police said in a statement.
Want an escape from the busy costas? A weekend in romantic Ronda will revive your senses. Ronda Romantic Apartments is the answer
run to the hills
Potters find A STORM that hit the coast of Malaga has uncovered two ovens dating from the Roman era on the beach of San Pedro in Marbella—a mere five metres from the shore. The archaeological remains are believed to be part of a big Roman industrial zone that once produced a fish paste called garum and even bricks for export around the Med. It is all connected to another settlement of Cilniania, of which a number of remains are currently protected and open to the public. The remains are currently fenced off and being monitored around the clock to prevent looting. Thieves in the past stole a valuable Roman mosaic from a villa at nearby Puerto Banus. The image of Medusa is believed to have been stolen to order and has been replaced by a replica.
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All solutions are on page 15
BUSINESS
Hourly rate
THE Spanish government has raked in more than €1.5 billion in fines on companies who failed to properly record their employees’ working hours. Since a new law was enacted in 2019, employment inspectors have detected 1,274 infringements. This means each guilty company has been fined an average €1.2 million. So far this year, 401 businesses have been penalised for not noting the correct hours their employees work. The Labour Inspectorate has also ordered 300,000 temporary contracts to be made permanent this year. The government is warning businesses to get their houses in order, saying inspections have increased by 355% over the past two years in a crackdown for employees’ rights. And companies that abused the pandemic ERTE scheme have also been targeted. Some 44,393 cases have been initiated, with 35,190 finalised, resulting in 5,832 penalties.
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
PEACE DEAL
Metalworkers call off strike in Cadiz after union reaches pay deal with bosses METALWORKERS unions have called off a strike that had led to angry protests and violent clashes with police in Cadiz after reaching
By Fiona Govan
a pay deal with company bosses. The strike involving some 20,000 workers lasted nine days before a preliminary deal was struck.
Access
“I am pleased that companies and metalworkers have reached an agreement,” confirmed Andalucia’s regional leader Juanma Moreno. Strikers had cut off access to industrial zones during
Telefonica windfall SPANISH telecoms giant Telefonica could be in line for a €1 billion tax refund thanks to a National Court ruling. Judges have ordered the Ministry of Finance to pay back the sum due to overcharging over a decade ago. The period covers 2009 and 2010 with the court stating that Telefonica paid too much Corporation Tax. The money would be returned in the form
of tax credits for the telecoms company. The Ministry of Finance is studying the National Court verdict before deciding whether it should appeal to the Supreme Court. Though having its roots in Spain, Telefonica is present in 11 other countries including the UK where it operates the O2 brand and provides services to other mobile operators. The company reported a record global profit of €9.3 billion in the first nine months of 2021.
VIOLENT: Protestors set cars ablaze
nine days of largely peaceful protests which occasionally flared up into violent clashes. At one stage riot police dispersed picket lines formed by burning containers using tear gas and rubber bullets. Unions called the strike amid demands for wage increases to be linked to the consumer-price index as inflation soars with rising power costs. They want rising inflation, recorded at 5% in October, to be reflected in their salaries, while industry leaders were instead offering 2% salary hikes over the next
three years. Both sides accused the other of inflexibility during five rounds of abortive talks before finally striking a deal in Sevilla.
Deal
However, the terms of the deal have not yet been made public. Cadiz, with a population of 116,000, is one of Spain’s poorest cities, where the main industry is shipbuilding and unemployment is over 23% - far above the national average of 15%.
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Permission to buy, sir! BUYING a home will become easier for British purchasers in parts of Spain after the scrapping of an old Francoist law. Non-EU home buyers in areas like the Costa Blanca and Murcia as well as some parts of Andalucia and Mallorca have been frustrated with delays over the need to get ‘military authorisation’ before they could complete their purchases. News of the change was sent in a notification from the Defence Ministry to the General Council of Notaries. It said that it ‘did not want to hinder the revitalisation of the economy after the pandemic’.
Strategic
The law goes back to the 1970’s and required official permission to buy property in areas deemed as being of ‘strategic interest’ for the defence of Spain. The obligation to get clearance was tagged onto the new Spanish Constitution created after the death of dictator General Franco’s death in 1975. On the Costa Blanca alone, around 800 sales annually involving British buyers faced delays of up to eight months. The log-jam involved obtaining original documents that should have been filled in up to 40 years ago.
A BIG THANKS!
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What we have learned from the year just passed
AN you believe that we are nearly at the end of 2021?! Whether it’s been a good, or not so good year for you, there’s no denying that it has absolutely flown by! So we thought that we would take the time to look back on the last year, and the changes that came along with penalties for late filing of tax, in line with the new Mait! king Tax Digital for Income Tax system - with the aim The beginning of the year was very much still oversha- to be more supportive of those with genuine reasons dowed by the COVID-19 pandemic - whebehind mistakes or late filing, whilst still ther you were in the UK or sunny Spain, penalising those who are consistently late. unfortunately there was no escaping the But it wasn't just the treasury changing The much disruption and sadness brought on by cothings in the first half of the year! The beanticipated ronavirus, and the impact that it had on ginning of June saw the much anticipated the world’s economy. release of the brand new and improved release of And in line with the changes brought to the 2.0! APARI 2.0 has been built by APARI 2.0 was APARI economy, the March Budget was announlandlords & self-employed taxpayers, with in June ced, offering support packages for those the aim to simplify tax and empower its affected. Furlough and the Self Employed users with their own tax data - we, pretty Income Support Scheme were extensimply, want to Make Tax Doable for YOU! ded, offering financial support to those in By allowing users to seamlessly upload and allocate need. The Stamp Duty holiday their banking transactions, and choose their submiswas extended, offering sion route of either SA100 or MTD, we are giving UK a welcome reduc- taxpayers the ability to be in control of their own tax t i o n journey! t o And that’s not the end of the APARI story - we have also t h o s e released two other brand new products - so keep your t r y i n g eyes peeled for our Ten Minute Tax, and Simplified Tax to get products! Both offer quick, easy, and reasonably prionto the ced options for taxpayers with different tax needs, a UK proper- jargon-free way to submit their tax return directly to ty ladder, or HMRC! p u r c h a s i n g Unfortunately the latter part of the year brought some another buy- slightly disappointing news - that Making Tax Digital to-let property, for Income Tax would be pushed back for a year, from and the personal 2023, to 2024. APARI, as the frontrunner for MTD for allowance was in- income tax, has been raring to go for quite some time, creased to £12,570 but HMRC (with some pressure from various external (but fixed until 2026). stakeholders) felt that more time was needed to bring HMRC also used this such a big change into play. The good thing is that the time to announce new pilot scheme will be extended, giving taxpayers more
of an opportunity to get to grips with MTD before it becomes a legal requirement! Looking back on the year, the APARI team would like to thank Olive Press readers for their support and interaction with APARI over the last year! We hope you’ve learned lots about tax, and that it has been of some benefit to you! Have a happy and healthy festive season, and here's to a great 2022!
For all the latest information and advise, visit www.apari-digital.com
MORTGAGE THINK TANK
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by mortgage broker Tancrede de Pola
A safe haven
BUSINESS
SPAIN will continue to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix race until at least 2026 following a contract renewal with the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. A condition of the extension is that the picturesque circuit at Montmelo makes
As inflation rises and interest rates stay low, investors turning to new builds
H
IGH inflation and low interest rates are pushing investors towards the real estate sector, which is once again becoming a safe haven asset. (2020 Q3) and 8.2% (2020 Q4) compared to This is the main conclusion of a new study used housing, which showed increases of just carried out by EAE Business School, which 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively. shows that the real estate sector is recover"This data shows that the price of new housing rapidly and has already reached pre-paning has recovered and exceeded historical demic levels. levels," Higueras said. This news was confirmed by the fact that the New home sales have increased at a faster granting of mortgage loans continued to in- rate than used homes, rising by more than crease during the first half of 2021, with an 40% in the first quarter of 2021 in year-onincrease in operations of more than 13% year terms. "This situation shows that the compared to the same period of pre-pandem- housing market is growing solidly despite the ic 2019, although the average pandemic and the sharp downamount loaned on each mortturn in the Spanish economy, gage fell. possibly due to improved conThis situation The Finance Bureau has cerfidence and expectations in the tainly noticed this effect, with explained Higueras. shows that the economy," us experiencing an increased Home sales and purchases level of interest in property housing market have been growing at a good loans from both investors and pace, reaching pre-pandemic is growing private individuals throughout levels in March 2021. the year. With data from June 2021, solidly The report, prepared by EAE the study concludes that the Business School professor number of property sales and Juan Carlos Higueras, shows purchases has increased by that the new house market has benefited the 82.5% compared to the same month in 2020. most from the surge in sales post-pandem- Four regions accounted for 64.3% of the total ic, with the price gap between new and sec- number of sales between January and July ond-hand properties widening. 2021. Andalucia was first with 76,422 homes During the third and fourth quarters of 2020, sold (20%), followed by Catalonia with 60,807 after the end of the state of alarm, ‘a sig- homes (15.9%), Valencia with 55,488 units nificant gap’ arose between new and sec- (14.5%) and Madrid with 53,480 transacond-hand housing, with growth levels of 7.5% tions (14.0%). To contact Tancrede for all your mortgaging needs call: 666 709 743 or for insurance queries call: 951 203 540 Email: tdp@thefinanacebureau.com The Finance Bureau Centro Commercial Guadalmina, 2nOffice No. 7 Guadalmina, 29670
VIEW: F1 overlooked by mountains
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tourists who stay in the Balearic Islands, introduced in the Law 2/2016 of 30 March, varying from €1 to €4 in an attempt to promote sustainable tourism. Currently, Brits have seen how Brexit limits stays to 90 days out of 180 days spent in the EU Schengen area. This rule even applies to those who own property in Spain but do not have Spanish residency. Spain’s economy relies heavily on British tourism – it is not in the country’s interest to put up roadblocks for Brits wanting to enjoy their second homes in Spain.
Visa
British people are making a stand, asking for the EU’s reciprocity with the UK to allow their citizens to spend six months in Spain for touristic reasons, the same that the UK allows EU visitors. Those who wish to spend half of their time between the two countries should not be penalised and nobody should be deprived of the ‘peaceful enjoyment’ of their home in accordance with the European Human Rights Convention (EHRC). While some British citizens are considering
improvements to its track and facilities ahead of next year's race on May 22. Barcelona circuit president, Roger Torrent, said: “The renewal will make the circuit a world benchmark for sustainability in a green transformation that meets the demands of the climate emergency.” MotoGP has also renewed its agreement with the circuit until 2026. The sport’s governing body said that a new contract guarantees the Catalan GP race a place on the 2022 calendar and ‘confirms a minimum of two more events to be held between 2023 and 2026’.
Car factory insists its unvaccinated workers eat separately in staff canteen
SPANISH car manufacturer SEAT has asked workers at its factory outside Barcelona to sit in a separate section if they have not been vaccinated, in the first move of its kind within Spain. The company, which is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, said the canteen was divided into sections for the vaccinated and unvaccinated in a bid to protect
workers and avoid outbreaks at the car plant. “A few weeks ago, it was decided with the agreement of union representatives, to set up areas within the company canteens to protect unvaccinated workers,” said a SEAT spokesman. “The areas for those who are unvaccinated have the strictest COVID measures to protect their health.”
Masks
Spain still needs British tourism to continue growing Julio Prieto is a Barrister and Abogado at Del Canto Chambers.
Vroom with a view
SET APART
SAY NO TO TAX! T was recently announced that the Valencia region has begun talks which may lead to the introduction of a new tourist tax, generating significant controversy. Many consider this to be a rather inappropriate moment to bring in new costs to a sector which needs to recover to pre-pandemic levels to boost the economy. In stark contrast, in a move to attract tourism to the isles of Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca, Formentera and Cabrera, the regional government of the Balearic Islands reduced the tourist taxes in April 2021 to the establishments, i.e. tourist accommodation such as hotels, aparthotels and campsites, which experienced a fall in 2020 of 18.5%. This means the Balearics were the most visited destinations in Spain with around 3.3 million tourists. Some 11.8 million people visited Spain last summer, of which only 1.5 million were British. This was primarily due to COVID restrictions in the first two quarters of 2021. The Spanish economy is distinctly dependent on international tourism, specifically on British tourists and investment. The concept of the tourist tax is certainly not new as many other European countries, Italy, for example, require a contribution from tourists staying in various types of accommodation that are paid directly in the tourist establishment. In the Balearic Islands, the regional government introduced measures to bring a ‘sustainable tourism’ at a time when the level of tourism in the Balearics was overwhelming. The so-called ECOTASA is a tax imposed on
December 3rd December 16th 2021
legal action to tackle the restrictions newly imposed on them, others are choosing to re-assess where they call a second home and are obliged to look for other residency options such as the Golden Visa or the Non-Lucrative Visa that may create further tax obligations depending on the number of days staying in Spain. Gaining residency in Spain needs to align with your reasons for spending time there so that the right visa is obtained. For example, those looking to conduct business operations from Spain might want to consider the Entrepreneur Visa, while those looking to make investments in the area (e.g., via property or other large assets such as boats) might find the Golden Visa best suited to their needs. The third option is the Non-Lucrative visa, which applies to those wanting to live in Spain and have the financial means of being self-sufficient. Tourist taxes are just one in a number of tax liabilities that apply to Spain. Thus, it is worthwhile seeking the right legal and tax advice for your residency options in Spain, which will allow you to remain in Spain for a longer period than is permitted under the Schengen rules, whether you own a property in Spain, conduct business out of the country or you simply want to retire to a sunnier climate. As the authorities begin clamping down on those who are considered to be overstaying their welcome in Spain, we at Del Canto Chambers are advising an increasing number of clients wanting to apply for Spanish residency.
To make a no-obligation enquiry, please either call Del Canto Chambers now on: +44 2070 430648 or complete our online form on www.delcantochambers.com contact page, which after receipt we will come back to you within 24 hours. Our office in Ibiza is located on: Calle Illa Plana 7, 07800 Ibiza, Islas Baleares. Contact us directly on 971 761 171
The canteen area is the only place within the factory where masks do not have to be worn, according to company guidelines. The initiative emerged as authorities across Spain weigh up
whether to introduce COVID passports for access to certain areas such as hospitals, restaurants, bars and sporting events. Since early October, the region of Catalunya has insisted that the European COVID pass be required to access large scale musical events and nightclubs and extended its use for celebrations such as weddings at hotels and restaurants so that dancing would be allowed. Vaccination is not compulsory in Spain but the country has one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe with 89.1% of the population aged 12 and above now fully vaxxed. Spain is now offering booster jabs to those aged over 60 and over.
Desirable destinations DUBIOUS research has revealed the Top 25 coastal destinations in the world for permanent relocation - with only two in Spain. Surprisingly the top five are all located in the Middle East, but Valencia and Barcelona still managed healthy places in the league table. A number of key factors were taken into consideration, when money.co.uk commissioned the research.
Life
The important aspects of life in a particular destination were average air and sea temperatures, annual rainfall, property prices, annual salaries, cost of living, number of restaurants and life expectancy. Doha in Qatar is highest with a Coastal Relocation score of 7.53/10 With average sea temperatures of almost 25°C, only 62mm of rainfall every year and a decent average salary of €37,765, the 2022 World Cup venue city leads the way. Abu Dhabi and Dubai, both in the United Arab Emirates, are in second and third. Fourth and fifth places belong to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Manama (Bahrain). Valencia comes a respectable 10th in the listing with Barcelona 24th, ahead of Australia’s Melbourne, France’s Marseilles and Italy’s Naples.
FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
Bounced out
LOW cost carriers Ryanair, Vueling and EasyJet are among the world’s lowest-rated airlines according to figures compiled by luggage storage firm, Bounce. The study however makes no reference to fare prices or what the priorities are for passengers. The Bounce 2021 Airline Index survey combines passenger experience reports for the first six months of this year along with punctuality assessments and luggage allowance limits to produce the rating. Bounce also used reviews for services like in-flight entertainment, seat comfort and meal quality to produce its index with a top score of 10. Ryanair is the fourth-worst, with Spanish carrier Vueling sixth, and EasyJet seventh. VivaAir Columbia was rated the world’s worst.
INCREASED numbers of police officers will be patrolling shopping areas across Spain in the run up to Christmas. The Policia Nacional have ramped up their presence in places that attract a large number of people. Besides commercial and leisure areas, officers will be at seasonal markets as well
Santa patrol
as pounding the beat on busy streets in towns and cities. The aim is to cut crime in shops as well as thefts from people doing their shopping. Under the auspices of the ‘Safe Commerce
December 3rd - December 16th 2021 Plan’ created in 2013, each province will have a dedicated strategy to cutting crime at a busy time of the year. The boosted visible police presence is once again expected to act as a deterrent for potential offenders. Leaflets will be distributed to traders warning them about some of the tricks .
No vac no entry Brits entering Spain must have vaccination certificate
BRITS visiting Spain now have to be fully vaccinated before they are let in. Spain has changed its entry requirements for UK citizens due to a surge in COVID cases. Up until this week, people with a negative test or who could prove they had already had COVID could also enter.
But this is no longer acceptable, and from now British citizens will have to show their certificate of vaccination. The new regulations were issued in the Official State Gazette (BOE) under measures taken on travellers from non EU and associated Schengen countries.
These regulations will remain in force until Midnight on New Year’s Eve. The news comes after Portugal decided to set up mobile random COVID patrols on its border with Spain. SOME six million international tourists visited the Balearic Islands in the The controls will first 10 months of the year. make sure people This was an increase of 261% compared to the same period in 2020. crossing the land Nationally the islands were the most popular destination, followed by border are either Cataluña with 4.6 million (up 23,5%) and Andalucia with 3.4 million vaccinated or have (32,3%). a negative COVID In total, more than 24.8 international tourists visited Spain in the period. test, with the aim This is 39.3% more than the same period last year, and spending by forof bringing land eign tourists shot up by 47.9% - reaching €27,526 million. crossings into line In October alone, Spain was visited by more than 5.1 million internationwith airports and al tourists, 402.7% more than October 2020. ports. They spent €5,587 million, an increase of 546.3% compared to 2020. But they stop short of full bor-
Bouncing back
Much more than four stars.
Friends.
der checks, relying on traffic police and border agencies to ensure regulations are met. Meanwhile, Spain has said it will introduce restrictions on flights from South Africa and Botswana in the wake of a new COVID strain discovered in those countries. The announcement came shortly after the European Commision recommended an EU-wide travel ban to and from southern Africa due to the rapid rise of the B.1.1.529 variant.
Cheer up! COVID may have taken a toll on traditional events on Mallorca last year, but this time round, it is not all gloom. As the festive period begins, you can celebrate the season with Christmas markets and activities happening around the island. Puerto Portals festive market, December 16 to January 6, will offer the chance to shop at dozens of festive stalls and include children’s activities such as storytelling, craft workshops and face painting, as well as an ice skating rink. The Plaza Mayor Market, open from November 19 until January 5, has many stalls selling churros, artisan products and Christmas decorations.
Crepes
Food trucks selling hot chocolate and Crepes as well as stalls selling handmade Mallorcan products and local food can be found in Alaró’s two-day Christmas Market on December 11 and 12. From today the streets and squares of Pueblo Español in Palma become filled with festive stalls and food and drink stands. A little further away in the Santa Maria de Robines Church is a Christmas concert also on December 3.
Good life.
Reset.
Comfort.
At Ocean Drive Port Portals we have our own star rating. Because, we like the stars of the Majorcan sky, the stars that form the lights of the harbour or the star service provided by each member of our team.
Music.
A hotel that maximises the destination to it's full potential, thanks to it's excellent location. It offers great local experiences at any moment. With art, design, relaxation and comfort. A hotel full of life.
Sunset.
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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
PUTTING ON THE RITZ ‘
December 3rd - December 16th 2021
Meet the Michelin starred chef who is bringing his exquisite dishes to Madrid from Valencia, writes Fiona Govan
tions almost as much as the issue of sovereignty over Gibraltar after the British chef posted a recipe for paella that included chorizo. The inclusion of the Spanish sausage in the traditional rice dish deeply wounded Spaniards and led to an almighty spat with one commentator declaring that ‘wars had been declared for less’. “My point is that Jamie has had such a huge influence on promoting world cuisine, even if he made a big mistake with that recipe,” explains Quique with a wink.
CHIC: Breathtaking beauty of the new Ritz bar
THE RITZ: has reopened with Valencia’s Quique Dacosta at the helm. Our Fiona grilled him.
“The paella incident was an opportunity for us to really talk about one of our emblematic dishes, and that can only be a good thing.” The stylishly bespectacled chef has since opened an arroceria restaurant in London’s Fitzrovia where he serves 10 different paella dishes – none of them with chorizo but all made using 48-hour stock and premium-grade bomba rice, cooked over vines and citrus-infused orange tree wood for that signature Valencia flavour. The 49-year-old is the culinary genius behind the Valencian region’s only three Michelin starred restaurant, his eponymous Quique Dacosta in Denia as well as El Poblet in Valencia’s old town which has won two Michelin stars. Not bad from someone who started out as a pot washer in a trattoria at the age of 14 and is entirely self-taught. “I trained myself from classic French recipe books and then combined those techniques with the simplicity of Spanish dishes. “I cooked instead with local produce, substituting the expensive ingredients required for French haute-cuisine with what was available.” He showcases simple flavours such
CORKING: The champagne bar offers bite size tapas like (right) caviar and Denia red prawns
as Denia’s famous red prawn – paired with a saki rice wine in an inspired stroke of genius - in the dishes included in a tasting menu at Deessa that includes an entire course dedicated to caviar and fish roe. His alchemy is epitomised in a dish named simply ‘hard boil egg’. The outer white shell made from INSPIRED: Sweetbreads with mountain leaves a delicate skin of white asparagus bursts at the press of In the Palm Court, Quique has desiga fork to reveal an oozing rich interior ned a classic menu including traditioof yolk enriched with the flavour of a nal favourites such as sirloin beef wellington while a champagne bar offers caldo. bite size tapas of oysters and elvers. Oysters are served on a The luxurious cocktail bar, verdant green gel of celery aspic topped with a Pintura, is dedicated to delicate foam and exquiwhat Quique describes as site frozen spheres zin‘liquid cuisine’ while the Not bad for ging with the flavour of Jardin restaurant offers someone who more casual al fresco fresh apple and seaweed. While his Melba peach dining with a menu that started as a and gold leaf dessert has includes amuse bouche pot washer in been created especially tapas and paella. a trattoria at for the restaurant at the “I was given complete Ritz in homage to its lefreedom to create what the age of 14 gendary chef, Auguste I wanted here in Maand is entirely drid. It was an incrediEscoffier. ble opportunity to bring And like Escoffier himself self taught the same ambiance who turned the Paris Ritz and dining experience kitchens into standards of the Denia restaurant for excellence, Quique is but place it in a hotel set to do the same at the environment and with Madrid Ritz where he is gastronomic director across all the dining ‘universes’ the vibe offered by the capital city,” he said. as he calls the different restaurants. “It is something entirely different, but I hope with the same soul”.
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THE first thing I’ll do if I meet Jamie Oliver is to give him a big hug for what he has done to paella.’ This is the surprising confession spoken by three Michelin-starred chef Quique Dacosta as we sit at the top table in Deessa, his newly opened fine dining restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Ritz in Madrid, where I have just enjoyed one of the most memorable meals of my life. There is no paella on the menu here, but Quique is referring to an incident that threatened Anglo-Spanish rela-
HEALTH
December 3rd December 16th 2021
A DOCTOR suffering from a terminal disease has opened a free cancer centre in just three months after attracting more than 5,000 donations. Jesus Candel was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year and is about to undergo another round of chemotherapy, but despite his illness he is determined to live a healthy life to the fullest - and wants to help others do the same. Most of the equipment inside the Granada centre, such as exercise machines, were donated by kind do-gooders and the spot even runs on solar energy panels that were gifted to them by a solar energy company. Jesus said: “The centre allows a 180-degree attack on the disease.
Jabs rejected SPAIN has one of the highest vaccination rates for over 12s in Europe at close to 90% but most of the rest have no intention of getting the jab. According to the latest study by Spain’s CIS, the profile of the unvaccinated in Spain is male, aged between 25 and 44 yearsold, who are in the low income bracket and are likely to vote for Vox.
Trust
The figures reveal that almost four million people have yet to receive a jab against the coronavirus and 57.8% of them have no intention of doing so. Some 28.3% revealed that they did not trust the current vaccines. A further 17.1% admitted that they were scared of the side-effects while just 1.9% said they would wait until the longer term effects of the vaccines could be studied. The age group that is least likely to turn down a vaccine is those aged over 65 while those who are most convinced of its benefits are those aged between 18 and 24.
Kids’ jab ALL youngsters aged five to 11 could soon be vaccinated against COVID. Following approval by the European Medicines Agency, it is expected that the green light will be given in Spain to jab the age group. It is now estimated that the vaccine could be rolled out to youngsters by the end of the year, although February is thought to be a more realistic target. This follows the news that the US has been vaccinating the age group for over a month, with no significant side effects noted. At present, since inoculation is only authorised from the age of 12, children under this age are not immunised and can therefore become infected and spread the disease.
Miracle worker
“You can live with cancer and you can even overcome it. But you have to take care of yourself. I am an example. But it is
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essential to change your lifestyle, because a pill is not going to solve anything. He added: “The best pill we have to treat diseases is physical exercise, but unfortunately the ignorance of medical professionals means that these treatments are not applied. You have to be on top of cancer patients so that they strengthen their immune system. They need to eat well and exercise to avoid neurotoxicity or cardiotoxicity while they are undergoing very harsh treatments. “I train two and a half hours a day. “Either you train your body and your mind or you can’t stand it. This is called taking responsibility for your health.”
OVER 250,000 PROPERTIES FROM 2,000+ AGENTS
MOVING GOALPOSTS
High risk threshold doubled for COVID restrictions
RAISED: Darias announced the change
www.thinkSPAIN.com
By Fiona Govan
SPAIN has decided to raise the thresholds to determine low, medium and high risk infection rates in an overhaul of the nation’s COVID traffic light system. Health Minister Carolina Darias announced that a new scale had been agreed to reflect the fact that close to 90% of Spain’s adult population is now fully vaccinated.
Reduced
She said the current scale – which is used to determine the risk of an area based on infection rates so that restrictions could be imposed - was drawn up before Spain launched its vaccination programme and should now reflect the fact that ‘COVID hospitaliations, ICU admissions and deaths have been drastically reduced’. The measure has been introduced amid debate over the
reintroduction of restrictions as infection rates rise in the run up to Christmas. The new traffic light system will raise the bar on the low risk category from a cumulative incidence rate of 50 cases per 100,000 people over 14 days up to 100 cases. This means any zone under 100 cases per 100,000 will be categorised as ‘under control’. When the infection rate is registered between 100 to 300 cases per 100,000 population it will be considered in the category of ‘medium risk’. The ‘high risk’ category is declared when infection rates reach between 300 and 500 cases per 100,000 people and anything over 500 will now be classified as ‘extreme risk’. The traffic light system to determine risk zones is in place
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SUDOKU
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to justify the need to impose restrictions such as licensing hours and curfews.
We use recycled paper
Wrong man
FINAL WORDS
KFC has taken the internet by storm after casting Messi double Brazilian Alexandro Pereira to be the face of a campaign for new product ‘La Chingona’, with many believing it is the real Barcelona star.
New leaf REFORMED Spanish thieves have used the Reddit social media platform to give tips on how not to get robbed this Christmas: number one being keeping the spare house keys near the front door.
Pricy cafe JOURNALIST Paz Alvarez shared on Twitter her bill for a coffee, a pincho de tortilla and a caña for €14.10 at Madrid bar La Primera. Despite not asking for bread, they charged her on the grounds that ‘bread is compulsory’.
OLIVE PRESS
The
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FREE
MALLORCA
Vol. 5 Issue 120
Your expat
Waffly naughty nativity
voice in Spain
www.theolivepress.es December 3rd - December 16th 2021
DOG’S BEST FRIEND
Local hero catches dog that fell from fourth floor balcony A DOG that plunged from a fourth-floor balcony was saved by a passerby who caught the terrified pooch. Now the 26-year-old Alicante man has been branded a hero and promised a gong by the city council. The drama unfolded when police were called after hearing a dog was precariously perched on a balcony. The animal had half of its body
By Alex Trelinski
under the terrace railing and was in serious danger of falling to the ground. As police rushed to the scene, the dog fell into the street, but straight into the arms of the passerby. Onlookers burst into a spontaneous round of applause and congratulated the hero.
SPAIN’S Black Rat population is booming - and the coronavirus lockdown is being blamed. So far this year in Madrid alone 35 outbreaks have been dealt with, almost three times the number that were recorded in 2019. Serious outbreaks have also been detected in Valladolid, Valencia and Barcelona. The lockdown is seen as a likely explanation of the relatively shy rat - which can harbour disease - moving further into urban centres seeking out food while the streets emptied
AN erotic waffle store in Sevilla called ‘La Vergeria’ has been denounced after setting up a nativity scene with male and female reproductive organs as characters. This innovative christmas crib uses waffles in the shape of male sexual organs to represent Joseph and Jesus, and a waffle in the shape of a female sexual organ to represent Mary. The far-right Vox party, the complainant, says that ‘not everything goes in the field of advertising and marketing’.
Complaint
The Dalmatian-Staffordshire Terrier mix suffered just a small scratch on one leg and
OH RATS!
during the early weeks of the pandemic. Unlike the Brown Rat, which moves across the city through the sewer system, black rats move overground and tend to live in parks or abandoned plots. The rodents often live in trees in nests like birds.
was taken into care by the fire department’s canine unit. The unnamed rescuer was less fortunate and was taken to hospital with a fractured wrist and two broken fingers. Alicante’s Security Councillor, Jose Ramon Gonzalez, said: “We plan to recognise the rescuer who proved to be a great citizen not by just rescuing the dog, but doing something that put his life at risk resulting in injuries.”
Its spokesperson in Sevilla, Cristina Pelaez, filed the complaint as a crime against religious feelings. “We have reached a point where many entrepreneurs with less scruples than imagination seek notoriety for their products, by offending, the Catholic religion. “We are facing a turn of the screw against Catholicism that we are not prepared to tolerate. “We are not going to allow a company to offend the majority of Sevilla’s citizens by displaying in its shop windows an obscene montage of the birth of the Son of God”, she said. See Cross to bear, P6