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The
OLIVE PRESS
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& HAPPINESS
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VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR FREE Vol. 1 Issue 30 www.theolivepress.es January 27th - February 9th 2022
INSPIRATIONAL: And award-winning, (from left) Aponiente, Noor and Asador Etxebarri
FIND HIM!
American tourist sought over killing and dumping his wife in woods on Costa Blanca THE body of an American woman missing since Christmas has been discovered in a shallow grave on the Costa Blanca. Police suspect that Yana Rose, 40, was beaten to death by her husband during a festive row on the Costa del Sol. Detectives worked closely with Cadiz and Italian police located her body buried in woods, just outside Alzira, near Gandia. An international arrest warrant has been issued for husband, Michael Martin H, who is believed to have returned to the US, where the FBI has launched a manhunt. The couple’s rental car was located at Milan airport on January 11, when he is understood to have flown back to
By Elena Goçmen Rueda
Denver. Police have revealed that the 55-yearold appears to have driven his wife’s body six hours across Spain from their rented holiday home in Sotogrande just after Christmas. They managed to locate the body in woodland, near Alzira hospital, at the weekend. The couple had flown from America for a festive break touring around Europe, visiting Italy, France and Spain. It is not known exactly where they stayed, but they certainly made it to a luxury apartment in Sotogrande for Christmas when Yana’s mother Nata-
HUNT: FBI is on trail of Michael Martin H, pictured with Yana lia spoke to her from America. ly woman called her son-in-law he But subsequent attempts to reach her claimed the couple had rowed and daughter failed and when the elder- Yana had gone off to visit a friend in Valencia. He added that her phone was broken. Open every day “My daughter, Yana, hasn’t been in touch with me or Closed Monday anyone we know since December 27,” Natalia wrote in an online appeal. “She left after an argument with husband and has not come back since.” The friend, who she had allegedly gone to visit near Valencia, reported her missing at Abastos police station, on January 9. She told police that her friend, who is Russian, but has American citizenship, had never arrived to stay. When police began to probe her whereabouts they found CCTV footage from the urbanization in Sotogrande showing Martin carrying something ‘very large and reservas@palaciodelabellota.com lumpy’ to his car, at 10pm, www.palaciodelabellota.com
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Shadier and shadier CORRUPTION in Spain has got worse, according to a new international transparency poll. The country has dropped one place in the annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI), seeing its rating go down from 62 to 61. Spain is now 34th in the table of 180 countries, coming far behind joint leaders Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, who score a rating of 88. The global table, compiled by Transparency International, is a highly-regarded measure of anti-corruption efforts. Each country’s score is a combination of at least 13 different corruption surveys and assessments, from bodies including the World Bank. Spain scored badly on the now accepted ‘illegal’ lockdowns during the Covid pandemic, as well as the availability of public information in regional and municipal bodies. South Sudan comes bottom with 11, followed by Syria and Somalia on 13. A spokesman insisted that a country like Spain in the world’s top 15 economies should not be scoring below 70 if it ‘wants to maintain its image and competitiveness’. The Olive Press revealed last issue that of the 50 least transparent town halls in Spain, the majority were in Andalucia, Valencia and Extremadura. Sanlucar de Barrameda came bottom scoring a disgraceful 2.47% in the transparency ranking, while Rojales had 4% and Coin 6.1%. Well over half of the 500 councils surveyed offered up less than 50% of the information expected to be available to its citizens. Opinion Page 6