Tmo dec14 by Tomás Rubio

DUCHESS OF ALBA DIES AT 88

NURSE LEAVES HOSPITAL

QUEEN LETIZIA IN ROMA

One of Spainʼs wealthiest and most colorful aristocrats

After her EBOLA treatment

She coincided with a visit by Pope Francis to FAO

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SEE ON PAGE 15

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MONTHLY MADRID NEWSPAPER . THEMADRIDOBSERVER.COM

TheMadridObserver YEAR I . Nº 1 . DECEMBER 2014

GREENPEACE ACTIVIST INJURED IN CONFRONTATION WITH SPANISH NAVY

Catalans vote in unofficial independence poll on 9-N

SEE ON PAGE 8

Hundreds of thousands of peoples seeking independence from Spain voted in a symbolic poll praised by regional leaders but dismissed by the Spanish government as invalid

Isco keeping feet on the ground

Isco woke up on morning to newspaper headlines declaring him “the messiah Spain has been waiting for to revive past glories” but the gifted midfielder appears to have his feet firmly on the ground MORE IN PAGE 27

NATIONAL 2

Isco woke up on morning to newspaper headlines declaring him “the messiah Spain has been waiting for to revive past glories” but the gifted midfielder appears to have his feet firmly on the ground The 22-year-old was widely feted after netting a brilliant goal in 3-0 win at home to Belarus in Euro 2016 qualification Group C, following up on an excellent run of form with his club Real Madrid. Receiving the ball in a central position around five metres outside the opposition penalty area, he steadied himself before curling a superb shot into the top corner. Such was the quality of the strike it left Belarus goalkeeper Yuri Zhevnov rooted to the spot and he could only watch the ball sail past him into the net. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque

punched the air with uncharacteristic enthusiasm but later included Isco in criticism of the team for what he called being “excessively elaborate”.

MADRID AT CHRISTMAS - GUIDE -

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SPANISH SEPARATIST CHALLENGE

Regional Parliament of Catalonia

1.6 million Catalans vote for split from Spain in mock poll

The so-called “consultation of citizens” in the northeastern region was held despite a ban on the polling from the Madrid government > BY TMO REDACTION/AGENCIES

Pro-secession leaders had voiced hope that a high turnout would nudge authorities in Madrid toward talks on more political autonomy. But late Sunday 9N, Justice Minister Rafael Catalá called the non-binding poll “political propaganda... devoid of any democratic validity.” A short while later, regional government leader Artur Mas, who placed Sunday’s turnout at more than two million, told

supporters the vote was a “historic success” and said Catalans had earned the right to a binding referendum. “Catalonia has once again, the people of Catalonia, has made it very clear that we want to govern ourselves. It is an old aspiration, which dates back centuries and remains perfectly alive,” he added in Barcelona after polls closed. “No one should forget, especially the Spanish government, that Catalonia has once against demonstrated that it wants

to govern itself and we are sufﬁciently big and adult to do so,” he said. “I regret that the ﬁrst reactions from Madrid have once again been of much political myopia and much indifference, even intolerance. And it bothers me because they had a golden opportunity to understand the message of Catalan will and signal that they want to resolve these challenges though mutual accord.” Mas was speaking shortly after Spain’s Justice Minister Rafael Catala dismissed

the vote, which was staged by volunteers despite having been suspended by Spain’s Constitutional Court, as “fruitless and useless”. “The government considers this to be a day of political propaganda organised by pro-independence forces and devoid of any kind of democratic validity,” he added in a statement. Catalonia formally adopted the status of a “nation” in 2006 but Spain’s Constitutional Court later overruled that claim.

The independence plan The head of the regional Catalan government, Artur Mas, said he wants to hold early elections in the wealthy region centred in independence from the rest of Spain. The election, which would involve a joint lists of candidates from all parties that favour independence, is the “only” way to allow Catalans to voice their opinion after a symbolic independence referendum held on November 9 that was opposed by the central government, he added. The elections would be part of a six-step process which would be completed before the end of 2016 aimed at creating an independent state which Mas unveiled during a speech in Barcelona on Catalonia’s future after the referendum. “The moment has come to use the only tool that we have left to be able to hold the consultation,” he said before an audience of 3,000 people who frequently applauded. “Having gotten so far it would

not be understandable that we now stopped on the path we have begun. We need to know with precision if there is a clear majority in Catalonia to have a state or not.” The Catalan leader did not set a date for the early

elections in the northeastern region. Elections are not due in Catalonia before 2016. If the joint list wins an absolute majority, the regional Artur Mas and Oriol Junqueras

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SPANISH SEPARATIST CHALLENGE government that emerges would then inform Spain and the international community of “the intent to form a state in Catalonia,” Mas said. The government would then open talk on the terms of separation, prepare the structures of a new state and a “future Catalan constitution,” he added. Once this process is concluded, fresh elections would be called in Catalonia as well as a referendum to ratify the desire for independence on the part of Catalans, Mas added. “The final decision belongs to the Catalan people, it has to be a direct decision and it can’t be (decided) in offices,” he said. - Majority want constitutional reform Spanish public prosecutors on Friday filed suits against Mas and two other senior members of the Catalan government for going ahead with the symbolic independence referendum despite it being ordered suspended by Spain’s constitutional court. The Catalan government says 2.3 million people took part in the ballot, which was organised by vol-

unteers. That was more than a third of all eligible voters in the region. Roughly 80 percent of those who took part in the

“Then we inform Spain and the international community of “the intent to form a state in Catalonia,” Mas said. symbolic vote said they wanted Catalonia to be an independent state. However the majority of anti-independence voters stayed at home. Catalonia held the poll after plans to stage an official non-binding referendum were also suspended when

the Spanish government challenged its legality. Mas has hailed the ballot as a “total success”. But Spain’s conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed it as a “deep failure” since “two out of three Catalans paid no attention”. Rajoy argues that holding an official referendum would be “impossible” because under Spain’s constitution only the central government can call such votes. Demands for independence in Catalonia, which accounts for about a fifth of Spain’s population and economic output, have grown over recent years, fanned by the country’s economic crisis. Catalans complain that their region does not receive investments in proportion to the taxes it pays and that the central government meddles in its linguistic and education policy. A majority of Catalans, 60.3 percent, want a reform of Spain’s constitution to create a federal state to resolve the conflict, a poll published in daily newspaper El Mundo showed.

And spanish goberments said ....

“I am going to talk with the Regional Government of Catalonia about the issues of interest to the people”, says Mariano Rajoy > BY TMO REDACTION/AGENCIES

In response to a question from Pedro Sánchez of the socialist party, the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, stressed that he will “talk with the Regional Government of Catalonia, as I will with any other regional government, about the issues that are of interest to the people” and added that he is “willing to talk” with Artur Mas about the document he submitted recently. The President of the Government also listed the other “lines of political action” relating to Catalonia aimed at, first and foremost, “trying to maintain political stability” as a fundamental condition for “consolidating our recovery from the crisis, returning to job creation and recovering a certain degree of

well-being for the people of this country”. Secondly, he added that such mechanisms as the Regional Liquidity Fund (Spanish acronym: FLA) and the Supplier Payment Plan will be maintained, “as they have enabled debt maturities to be tackled and public

“trying to maintain political stability” as a fundamental condition for consolidating our recovery from the crisis (...)”

services and suppliers to the Regional Government of Catalonia to be paid”. Thirdly, he expressed a desire to defend his political po-

sition by “reaffirming national sovereignty and the validity of the Spanish Constitution”. Finally, Mariano Rajoy expressed his willingness to “listen to all proposals” from the groups in the Lower House of Parliament, provided they do not relate to “something that may dissolve national sovereignty or that aims to establish a right to selfdetermination or affects the equality of all Spanish citizens”. Furthermore, Mariano Rajoy urged the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) [Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party] to present clear proposals and not just “slogans” on a reform of the Spanish Constitution as “such action is incapable of resolving Spain’s problems or any problem anywhere in Spain”.

Mariano Rajoy

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‘Podemos’ most popular party in Spain: poll > AGENCIES

With a year to go until the next general election in Spain, a newspaper opinion poll shows the country’s recently created political party Po-

demos (“We Can”) would be the winner if the election was to be held now. According to the poll published on the “El Podemos party leaders

A few of history ... As with the rest of Hispania, the area that is now Catalonia was part of the Roman Empire, it then came under Visigothic rule after collapse of the western part of the empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Moors and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered the area from the Muslims, beginning with the conquest of Roussillon in 760 and ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties known as the Marca Hispanica. In time, the counties of the region gave up their allegiance to the rulers of the Franks and their successors and became attached, as a self-governing principality under the Count of Barcelona, to the Crown of Aragon. Catalonia became the main base for the Crown of Aragon’s naval power and expansionism, that spread into Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and later into Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and, briefly, Athens. An identifiably Catalan culture developed in the later Middle Ages under the hegemony of the counts of Barcelona. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 laid the foundations for a unified Crown of Spain. In 1492, the Emirate of Granada, the last political entity of al-Andalus in the peninsula, was conquered and the Spanish discovery and conquest of the Americas began. Political power began to shift away from the Crown of Aragon towards Castile. For a considerable time, Catalonia retained its own laws as a principality of the Crown of Aragon but this came to an end when the new

Bourbon dynasty secured the throne of Spain in the War of Spanish Succession and made the former Crown of Aragon territories into provinces of the Crown of Castile following the war. During the war, Catalonia had supported the claim of a member of the Austrian branch of the Habsburg dynasty (after breaking an oath of loyalty to the French Bourbon prince Philip of Anjou, Philip V of Spain, from 1702). Following the surrender of Catalan troops on September 11, 1714. Philip V’s enacted the Nueva Planta decrees banning all the main traditional Catalan political institutions and rights and merged its administration into that of the Crown of Castile as a province. However, the Bourbon monarchy allowed for Catalonia’s civil law code to be maintained. With the exception of the loyal Basque Country, the new Bourbon king, Philip V of Spain, abolished the ancient privileges of all of Spain’s medieval kingdoms, including the Crown of Aragon and with it, those of the Principality of Catalonia. Following the model of France, he imposed a unifying legislation and administration across Spain, as well as introducing the French Sallic Law and founding Spain’s own Royal Academy in 1714. This led to the eclipse of Catalan as a language of government and literature. Economically, Catalonia experienced commercial growth in the late 18th century when the Bourbons ended Castile’s trade monopoly with Spain’s American colonies. The Napoleonic occupation and war in Spain in the early 19th century began a period of political and economic turmoil. In the latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became a center of industrialization.

Mundo” newspaper, which was taken by the percent votes it obtained three years ago. consultancy group Sigma Dos, Podemos would The PSOE have lost votes to Podemos, while now win 28.3 percent of the votes, beating the other parties such as the United Left (Izquierda ruling Peoples’ Party (PP) of Mariano Rajoy. Unida) and the center-right Union Progress The PP came second with 26.3 percent of the and Democracy (UPyD) have also seen voters votes, almost 18 percent less than their votes switch to the new party. Podemos has beneﬁted in the November 11 general elecfrom recent corruption scanPodemos, a tion. dals affecting the PP, PSOE and Podemos, a populist left wing IU. IU would now poll just 4.2 populist left party led by lawyer Pablo Iglepercent of the vote while UPyD wing party sias, was founded in February. It led by lawyer 4.5 percent. stunned observers when it took poll published simultanePablo Iglesias, A ﬁve seats in the Elections for the ously by the Catalan newspaEuropean Parliament in May af- was founded in per “El Periodico de Cataluna,’ February ter polling 1.2 million votes with shows Podemos is also the ma7.9 percent of the votes cast. jor force in that region of Spain, Despite Pedro Sanchez, the new polling 22.8 percent of the leader of the Socialist (PSOE) Parvotes. It came ahead of the Catty, being one of the most popular alan nationalist parties Repubpolitician, votes going to the PSOE continue to lican Left and Convergence and Union, which decline. According to El Mundo, the Party wins respectively would take 15.3 percent and 17.2 20.1 percent of the vote, compared with the 29 percent of the votes in a general election.

Pedro Sánchez (PSOE)

Rosa Díez (UPyD)

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(ANTI) CORRUPTION

Spanish court upholds tax fraud claim against princess > BY TMO REDACTION/AGENCIES

Princess Cristina de Borbón

Court said it would uphold charges of tax fraud against Cristina de Borbon (49), sister of King Felipe VI, in a graft inquiry

The judges decided to “partially uphold the appeals (...) dismissing the proceedings with regard to money-laundering and maintaining the charges of cooperating in tax fraud” against Cristina. Judicial sources said the lesser tax fraud charges may yet be overturned by a separate investigating judge, who has the final say on whether Cristina goes on trial. Investigating judge Jose Castro accused Cristina of knowingly benefiting from suspect business dealings by her husband, former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin, the 46-year-old Duke of Palma. Urdangarin is himself accused of embezzlement. The judges upheld a further charge of moneylaundering against him. Cristina’s lawyers have insisted she is innocent and vowed to continue fighting the remaining charges. “We are going to continue with the defence because we believe that there are not sufficient grounds to bring any kind of accusation,” her lawyer Miquel Roca told reporters after

ruling. ‘Embezzlement, money-laundering’ The investigating judge is at odds not only with Cristina’s defence team but also public prosecutor Pedro Horrach, who has branded the charges “sly” and “inquisitorial”. Urdangarin is accused along with a former business partner of creaming off €6 million

front for laundering the embezzled money. Summoned by Castro in February, Cristina turned up smiling at the court and told the judge she had simply trusted her husband and had no knowledge of his business affairs. Castro grilled Cristina in a sixhour hearing over accounts that indicated Aizoon money was used for personal expenses, including work on the couple’s Barcelona mansion, dance lessons and Harry Potter books. A mother of four with a master’s degree from New York University, Cristina was once considered untouchable as a member of the royal family. Urdangarin and Cristina have been excluded from royal activities since 2011 when the ﬁrst allegations against him emerged. The princess works for a charitable foundation run by La Caixa bank. She was based in Barcelona until the foundation posted her to Geneva last year. The couple’s Barcelona mansion, which reportedly cost around €6 million, has been impounded by the courts.

Castro grilled Cristina in a sixhour hearing over accounts that indicated Aizoon money was used for personal expenses in public funds from contracts awarded to Noos, a charitable foundation. Cristina sat on the board of Noos and Urdangarin was its chairman. Investigators suspect that a separate company jointly owned by the couple, Aizoon, served as a

Dukes of Palma

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(ANTI) CORRUPTION

Police arrest 26 in anticorruption operation Agents of the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) arrested a total of 26 people in various regions of Spain in a further anti-corruption operation The operation, known as “Enredadera”, which can be translated as “creeper” in English, is directed against civil servants in local authorities who have taken possible illegal payments in exchange for the granting of public concessions to certain companies. The arrests took place in different provinces of the regions of Andalusia and Extremadura in the south and southwest of Spain, as well as in the Canary Islands and also in Madrid and Barcelona, with police searching the offices of the Deputation of Seville and the Deputation of Jaen, as well as the offices of the Public Works department in Extremadura. The majority of those arrested are civil servants, but the police have not ruled out detaining some low-level local politicians. Those arrested can expect to be charged with a variety of offences such as money laundering, tax fraud, altering the price of a public contract auction, falsification of mercantile documents and criminal organization. This is the third major anti-corruption operation carried out in Spain in a matter of days. Saturday Nov. 9th saw Members of the Spanish National Police Force arrested or change over 600 people on Saturday in a wide-ranging operation against fraud in the social security and public employment sector. Meanwhile on Oct. 27, Operation Punic saw over 50 arrests, including those of Francisco Granados, the former General Secretary of the ruling People’s Party (PP) in Madrid and the President of the Deputation of Leon, Carlos Martinez, (PP), in a further operation against the acceptance of brides in exchange for the award of public contracts.

Spain’s Health Minister steps down over corruption case Ana Mato resigned as Spain’s minister of Health, Social Services and Equality after a judge suggested she may have benefitted indirectly from alleged wrongdoing by her ex-husband

Ex-Minister Ana Mato

Judge Pablo Ruz proposes to charge 43 people with corruption, including Mato’s former spouse, Jesus Sepulveda, who faces accusations over his conduct while serving as mayor of Pozuelo, near Madrid. While he did not name Mato as a potential criminal defendant, Ruz said she could face civil liability if it turns out that she derived financial gain from the illicit activities of Sepulveda, who was still her husband at the time of the events in question. Stressing that the judge did not accuse her of any of-

fense, Mato said in a statement that she decided to resign rather than see her potential civil liability be used as a political weapon against the conservative Popular Party government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The outgoing minister thanked Rajoy and the other Cabinet members for their confidence in her. Mato’s resignation came after several opposition leaders urged her to leave following the release of Judge Ruz’s findings.

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Greenpeace activist injured in confrontation with Spanish Navy

Activists of Greenpeace

Italian activist Matilde Brunetti suffered serious injuries when she was cut by a propeller following an assault by several boats from the Spanish navy. Brunetti and a group of Greenpeace activists were in a small boat attempting to ward off the beginning of a controversial oil exploration initiative in an area about 60 km off the Canary islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, which has been ofﬁcially recognized by UNESCO for its ecological value. Two other activists, Paco del Toro and Francesco Diplomatico, were also injured in the scuf> AGENCIES

ﬂe. The Spanish Government has authorized Spanish oil company Repsol to conduct explorations in three areas near the Canary Islands: Sandía, Chirimoya, and Zanahoria. The oil company’s activities have met with opposition from environmentalists, citizens, and the regional government of the Canary Island, which sees them as a serious threat to tourism, the main source of income in the islands. In fact, the local government has waged a ﬁerce legal battle to try and stop the prospecting. In addi-

Spain arrests 10 for ‘terrorist’ Twitter, Facebook posts Spanish police arrested 10 people accused of glorifying terrorism and inciting attacks by the terrorist group ETA in Twitter and Facebook messages, authorities said. The suspects are accused of “using social networks to commit suspected crimes of glorifying terrorism by ETA and of humiliating the victims of terrorism”, the interior ministry said in a statement. Police detained them in various regions of central and northern Spain, seizing their mobile phones to check them for mes> AGENCIES

sages, it said. Two of those detained are minors while the others are aged between 19 and 62. They posted messages “calling for ETA to resume its attacks, praising attacks already carried out and glorifying convicted ETA terrorists”, with some urging attacks on particular individuals, the ministry said. ETA in 2011 declared an end to its armed activity after four decades of bombings and shootings that left 829 people dead. Police arrested 20 suspects in similar raids in April after vowing to crack down on incitement to violence online.

tion to concerns about protecting the pristine landscapes, there is also the issue of access to fresh water. A signiﬁcant percentage of the water consumed by island inhabitants is desalinated seawater, so any scenario involving a potential oil spill would have serious consequences. Although on its website Repsol afﬁrms that “our environmental protection standards are among the highest in the industry: on par with Norway, which is the country with the most exacting requirements,” environmental groups are not so sure.

Spanish Civil War martyr beatified Father Pedro de Asúa, who was martyred during the Spanish Civil War, was beatiﬁed in the Basque city of VitoriaGasteiz on November 1. Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the beatiﬁcation, which took place in the city’s cathedral. Born in 1890, Father de Asúa studied architecture before entering the seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1924 and, in addition to his priestly ministry, served as diocesan architect. He suffered martyrdom in 1936. “A humble and austere priest, he preached the Gospel with the sanctity of his life, catechesis and devotion to the poor and needy,” Pope Francis said following his November 1 Angelus address. “Arrested, tortured and killed for having expressed his desire to remain faithful to the Lord and to the Church, he is a wonderful example of strength in the faith and witness of charity for us.” > AGENCIES

THEMADRIDOBSERVER

ECONOMY

Spanish companies have por�olio of interna�onal projects worth over 74 billion euros

The Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor, stressed that the interna�onal infrastructure tenders awarded between January and October 2014 in which Spanish companies have par�cipated amount to over 41 billion euros

Minister Ana Pastor

In her speech at the round table on construction, engineering and infrastructure organised by Ernst&Young, the Spanish Minister for Public Works referred to some of the most important projects on which Spanish companies are currently working. They include the high-speed rail link between Mecca and Medina; the Marmaray Project; construction of the Riyadh metro system; the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway line; the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Line 2 of the Lima Metro; Line 1 of the Panama Metro; the Panama Canal expansion project; the “Pacific Connection I” concession in Colombia; the second stage of the works to build Line 4 of the São Paulo Metro; and the East West Link project in Australia. In her speech, the Spanish minister said that her ministerial department is also working hard to ensure Spain is an international benchmark in terms of infrastructure and, in this

regard, highlighted the active support being given to those infrastructure companies that venture overseas. To that end, the Ministry of Public Works has an extensive international agenda with which to facilitate business development in various markets. In the last three years, important partnership agreements have been signed on infrastructure and transport. The most significant of these international agreements include: the agreement to eliminate double taxation with the United States; the partnership agreements on infrastructure and transport with Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico; the partnership agreements on railways and roads with India; the partnership agreement on maritime transport with Angola; and the memorandum of understanding with Algeria under which Spanish companies will be able to build at least 50,000 homes on Algerian soil.

Judges rule EU regulators failed to prove that the aid gave recipients an unfair advantage

Spain wins EU backing for tax breaks for foreign acquisi�ons

Spain has won backing from a European Union court for tax breaks intended to help its companies acquire foreign stakes after judges said EU regulators failed to prove that the aid gave recipients an unfair advantage. The ruling by the Luxembourg-based General Court came as the European Commission ramped up its fight against tax breaks which help companies save millions of euros but seen by regulators as a form of subsidy at ordinary taxpayers’ expense. The Commission in its 2009 and 2011 decisions on Banco Santander, Autogrill Espana and Santusa Holding said the Spanish tax breaks for share purchases

within the 28-country European Union and outside the bloc breached EU state aid rules. The tax break applied to companies which hold a foreign stake of at least 5 per cent for a minimum of one year. The three companies subsequently challenged the EU rulings at the General Court, Europe’s second highest. Judges agreed with their arguments by annulling the Commission’s decisions. “The Commission failed to establish the selective nature of that regime,” the court said. The Commission, which can appeal the verdict at the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe’s highest, on

points of law, did not immediately reply to an email for comment. Santander declined to comment. The EU executive last month ordered Spain to recover corporate tax breaks from companies which acquired indirect stakes in firms abroad. The tax measures were related to a 2012 scheme. The Commission is now investigating sweetheart tax deals offered by Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Malta, Belgium, Cyprus and Gibraltar to see if they give companies such as online retailer Amazon, coffeehouse chain Starbucks , Italian car maker Fiat and iPhone maker Apple an unfair advantage.

Minister Luis de Guindos

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Goods exports grow by 1.9% to September In the ﬁrst nine months of 2014, Spanish exports of goods increased by 1.9% year-on-year to 178.39 billion euros, the highest ﬁgure since records began in 1971. In real terms, the increase was even higher, at 2.6%, since export prices measured using Unit Value Indices (UVIs) decreased by 0.7%

The pace of growth in Spanish exports contrasts with the declines seen in France (-1.2%) and the United Kingdom (-14.7%) but is lower than the growth seen in Germany (+3.5%). Outside the European Union, US exports were up by 3.4% while Japan posted growth of 3.2%. Meanwhile, imports amounted to 197.25 billion euros, up by 6% on the same period of 2013, enhanced by the steady improvement in domestic demand. In real terms, imports grew by 8.7% due to the downward trend in prices measured using UVIs (by 2.5%). In the period January-September 2014, the trade deficit stood at 18.85 billion euros (a deficit of 11.01 billion in January-September 2013). The non-energy surplus stood at 10.7 billion euros while the energy deficit fell by 6.6% to 29.56 billion euros. The coverage rate stood at 90.4%, 3.7 points lower than for the same period last year (94.1%). Geographic areas In the first nine months of 2014, the European Union was the main destination for Spanish exports. This was especially affected by the upward trend in the Euro over the first few months of the year, especially against the non-EU currencies and the downturn experienced by emerging economies. Hence, exports to the Eurozone in this period grew by 4.5% (+4% in 2013) to account for 49.9% of the total (48.6% in January-September 2013). Especially noteworthy is the increase in exports to Germany, (+6.1%), Portugal (+6.8%) and the Netherlands (+11.9%). Exports to the remaining EU countries also grew in this period by 3.7% (+10.2% in 2013) and accounted for 13.8% of the total (13.5% in 2013). Demand from non-EU countries fell between January and September 2014. Specifically, exports to non-EU countries fell by 2.1% year-on-year (+9.4% in 2013) and accounted for 36.3% of the total (37.8% in 2013). Among others, exports shrank to the BRICS countries (barring China) and to Latin America, falling by 10.6%. However, the period saw notable growth in exports to South Korea (+118.3% year-on-year), Taiwan (+62.6%), Japan (+20.4%) and the United States (+16.4%). In terms of contribution to the rate of change in total exports, the main export destinations at a worldwide level were the United States (which accounted for 0.6 percentage points of the increase in total exports in January-September 2014, mainly due to the increased export of oil and oil derivatives, motor vehicles and motorcycles and medicines), Germany (0.6 points, mainly due to growing exports of motor vehicles and motorcycles), Portugal (0.5 points, particularly associated with all subsectors of oil and oil derivatives, and motor vehicles and motorcycles) and South Korea (0.5 points, mainly due to increased exports of oil and oil derivatives, gas

and motor vehicles and motorcycles). Economic sectors The most important sectors in Spain’s export make-up during the period January-September 2014 were the automotive sector, where exports were up by 6.1% and accounted for 14.6% of the total; manufactured consumer goods, with exports up by 7.5%, representing

Meanwhile, imports amounted to 197.25 billion euros, up by 6% on the same period of 2013, enhanced by the steady improvement in domes�c demand

9.3% of the total; food, drink and tobacco, exports of which rose by 4.3% in the period and accounted for 15.3% of the total; and energy products, where exports rose by 7.4% and accounted for 7.4% of the total. Hence, in terms of contribution to export growth, the automotive sector contributed 0.9 percentage points; the manufactured consumer goods sector contributed 0.7 points; while the food, beverage and tobacco sector contributed 0.6 points and energy products contributed 0.5 points. By subsector, the main positive contributions were from motor vehicles and motorcycles (0.8 points, largely due to higher exports to Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and France), road haulage equipment (0.6 points, mainly due to increased exports to France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria), other foodstuffs (0.5 points, mainly due to rising exports to Italy and the United States), gas (0.4 points, with strong exports to Japan, South Korea, and Argentina) and clothing (also contributing 0.4 points). As regards imports, the steady strengthening of corporate investment and the ongoing recovery in consumption are boosting overseas purchases. Hence, imports in the capital goods sector rose by 9.6%. Specifically, imports of industrial machinery (+13.2%) and transport equipment (+12.6%) have increased. Imports in the durable consumer goods sector rose by 12.5% and imports in the manufactured consumer goods sector rose by 14%. Meanwhile, in JanuarySeptember 2014, the automotive sector significantly stepped up its import

activity (a 22% increase). In terms of contribution to import growth, it is worth highlighting the automotive sector, with a contribution of 2.2 points divided between motor vehicles and motorcycles (1.3 points) and automotive components (0.9 points). The contribution from the capital goods sector was also noteworthy (1.6 points), in particular its subsectors of general use machinery (0.4 points) and electrical appliances (0.3 points). Other noteworthy subsectors were clothing (0.7 points) and medicines (0.4 points). The autonomous region with the largest year-on-year contribution to total exports in the period January-September was Catalonia, which contributed a 0.6 point year-on-year increase to total exports; its exports accounted for 25.1% of the total and grew by 2.3% year-on-year. Catalonia was followed by the Region of Valencia, also with 0.6 points. Exports from Valencia accounted for 10.2% of the total and increased by 6%. The Basque Country made a contribution of 0.5 points (9.2% of the total, and export growth of 5.1%). CastileLeon made a contribution of 0.4 points (5.4% of the total, and export growth of 7.3%), as did Murcia (4.3% of the total, and export growth of 9.3%). September 2014 In September, Spanish exports of goods grew by 9.6% year-on-year and amounted to 21.2 billion euros, the highest amount of exports posted in a month of September since records began in 1971. In real terms, exports increased by 8.1% since export prices measured using Unit Value Indices (UVIs) rose by 1.4%. This significant growth in Spanish exports has meant that Spain outperformed the export trend of the country’s main trade partners. Specifically, German exports rose by 8.5% in September and French exports rose by 5.9%, while UK exports fell by 4.5% for the ninth consecutive month of negative performance under this heading. Outside of the European Union, Japan returned to positive figures following the negative results in May, June and August (its exports rose by 6.9% yearon-year) and the United States maintained its significant export pace in September with export growth of 3.9% (the US has only posted negative yearon-year figures twice since 2010). In turn, Spanish imports amounted to 23.57 billion euros, up 7.5% on September 2013. The increase is higher in real terms, at 11.5%, since prices measured using UVIs fell by 3.6%. The trade balance showed a deficit of 2.37 billion euros (a deficit of 2.59 billion euros in September 2013). The coverage rate stood at 89.9%, 1.7 points higher than in September 2013 (88.2%). The non-energy balance showed a surplus of 322.6 million euros (954.2 million euros in the same month last year) while the energy deficit shrank by 23.9%.

China important market for auto industry

Jose Luis Lopez-Schummer, president of the Spanish Associa�on of Car Manufacturers (ANFAC) has said China is an important market for the Spanish automo�ve sector

Lopez-Schummer, who has a long career in the automo�ve industry, par�cipated this week in the 29th Automo�ve Industry Mee�ng that was held in the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona. Lopez-Schummer told Xinhua that the Chinese market was very important, adding that Spain could offer “premium-class vehicles of all types, gas vehicles, electric vehicles, four-wheel vehicles, vans, etc..” A large part of the Spanish vehicle produc�on is shipped to other countries, mainly European countries like France and Germany. In 2012, exports represented 87.4 percent of the produc�on and in 2013, 86.9 percent. “I think we s�ll have to boost more exports,” Lopez-Schummer said, adding “especially, in order to build an image of premium product.” Spain’s automo�ve industry was hit by the economic crisis and is now slowly recovering thanks to the Plan PIVE, which gives prospec�ve buyers 2,000 euros (2,500 U.S. dollars) to buy a more efficient car in exchange of a 10-year-old car. This plan helped boost sales within the sector and renew the Spanish fleet, whose vehicles have an average of 11.3 years being the oldest car’s fleet in Europe, a fact that increases the risk of accidents. “We hope Plan PIVE will exist un�l about 1.2 million cars are manufactured in Spain,” LopezSchummer said. “The automo�ve sector is one of the most competi�ve,” he said, so when there is confidence within Spanish consumers, public financial support will not be necessary. However, he did not rule incen�ves provided by the industry, “we will con�nue to offer incen�ves,” he said. ANFAC expects Spain to manufacture about 2.4 million vehicles this year and 2.6 million in 2015. The automo�ve sector accounts for about 10 percent of Spanish GDP.

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Repsol starts search for oil in Canary Islands

Spanish energy ﬁrm Repsol began searching for oil in the waters oﬀ the Canary Islands, a top holiday des�na�on, despite objec�ons from environmentalists and the local government

Spanish energy firm Repsol began searching for oil in the waters off the Canary Islands, a top holiday des�na�on, despite objec�ons from environmentalists and the local government. Oil explora�on vessel Rowan Renaissance started drilling at dawn some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, off the west coast of Africa, a Repsol spokesman said. The prospec�ng is expected to last about 60 days, he added. Spain’s Industry Ministry in August authorised Repsol to search for oil in the region at three loca�ons at depths ranging from three to seven kilometres. The company es�mates its chances of finding oil in the region are of 17-19

Cruz de Tenerife on November 14, 2014 against oil prospec�ng off the shores of Spain’s Canary Islands. Rivero has accused the central government of showing preferen�al treatment to the Balearic Islands, a region run by the ruling Popular Party and which is also the target of an oil explora�on project. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said his government would not allow oil explora�on off the Balearic Islands if it presented the sligh�st environmental risk. Spain imports nearly 80 percent of its energy and the central government argues it can no longer afford the luxury of holding back business or was�ng natural resources.

percent and plans to invest 350 million euros ($438 million) in the oil explora�on. But locals and green groups oppose the oil explora�on. They fear Repsol’s prospec�ng will harm local ﬂora and fauna such as dolphins and disrupt the tourism industry that is vital to the area’s economy. “The government is protec�ng a private company, Repsol, to a�ack resources that are ours,” said the head of the na�onalist regional government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero. Fearing a loss to the tourism industry, his government called a referendum to ask residents if the archipelago should change its environmental and tourism policies for the sake of oil and gas explora�on, but the na�onal government blocked that in the courts. The archipelago is proud of its green creden�als. El Hierro, the smallest of the seven islands that make up the archipelago, claims to be the ﬁrst 100 percent renewable island in the world thanks to wind a large wind farm. A demonstrator gestures as they wait for the arrival of the survey ship Rowan Reinaissance during a rally in Santa

Greenpeace ac�vist hurt Repsol has promised to take steps to protect the environment and says the project will create jobs in the islands, where unemployment is over 30 percent. Under the terms of the licence, Repsol must provide a deposit of 20 million euros ($25 million) “to cover its environmental responsibili�es”. It must stop its explora�ons if an earthquake stronger than magnitude 4.5 strikes the region. A Greenpeace ac�vist was hurt when the Spanish navy intervened during fresh protests against the explora�on project. The propellor of a boat cut and broke a 23-year-old Italian woman’s leg after she fell overboard during the dawn clash, according to Spanish authori�es. The Spanish defence ministry said the navy believed the ac�vists were trying to board the Rowan Renaissance, and had moved in to halt three Greenpeace boats. However, the ac�vists say they intended to carry out a “peaceful protest”. The clash with the Spanish navy vessels on Saturday came just one day

a�er rallies against the oil explora�on were held across the Atlan�c archipelago, whose beaches are a popular draw for foreign tourists from Britain, France and elsewhere. Protests against the search for oil are scheduled to take place again on November 30. A coali�on of groups gathered under a “Rave Canaries” collec�ve are planning to send a ﬂo�lla of boats that day to the area where Repsol is searching for oil. The Canary Islands are Spain’s third most popular des�na�on a�er the Catalonia region including Barcelona, and the Balearic Islands. The archipelago received 10.6 million foreign visitors last year, 17.5 percent of the total number of visitors to Spain.

Paulino Rivero

Spanish consumer prices remained in nega�ve territory in November for the ﬁ�h consecu�ve month, according to a preliminary es�mate by Spain’s Na�onal Ins�tute of Sta�s�cs, or INE

Spanish consumer prices con�nue to fall

INE said that the European Union-harmonized consumer-price index fell 0.5% in November from the same month a year ago, a�er a 0.2% annual drop in October. Under Spain’s own calcula�on, the CPI was down 0.4% on the year in November, compared with a 0.1% drop in the previous month. The eurozone as a whole reported a 0.4% annual CPI increase last month, which was the 13th straight month in which inﬂa�on came at less than half the rate targeted by the European Central

Bank, of just below 2%. The persistence of very low infla�on and outright price decreases in some countries, combined with and weak economic growth, has led to calls on the ECB to engage in large-scale purchases of eurozone government bonds to minimize the risk of a slide into defla�on. Defla�on, usually described as a sustained period of falling consumer prices, makes it costlier for debtors to pay back loans.

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DECEMBER 2014 05-07 GamerGy E-sports competitions (online gaming) 05-08 DABADUM 10-14 ALMONEDA Antiques, Art Galleries and Collectors Fair

JANUARY 2015 14-16 PROMOGIFT Promotional Gitf Trade Fair 14-18 BISUTEX International Fashion Jewellery and Accessories Trade Fair

Banco Santander proﬁt jumps 52% Amid recovery in Spain

Banco Santander of Spain reported that its third-quarter proﬁt rose 52 percent, pos�ng its strongest earnings in more than two years as the Spanish economy con�nued to recover

14-18 INTERGIFT International Gift & Decoration Fair 14-18 MADRIDJOYA International Urban and Trendy Jewellery and Watch Exhibition Fair 28-30 HOREQ Global Solutions for Hotels, Restaurants and Caterings 28-Feb01 FITUR International Tourism Trade Fair

FEBRUARY 2015 06-11 MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK MADRID 08-10 MOMAD METRÓPOLIS International Fashion Trade Show 17-19 SEMANA DEL SEGURO The Insurance Annual Meeting Point 24-27 CLIMATIZACIÓN International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Ventilation and Refrigeration Exhibition 24-27 GENERA Energy and Environment International Trade Fair 25-Mar01 ARCOmadrid International Contemporary Art Fair IFEMA - Feria de Madrid Recinto Ferial Juan Carlos I Tel. 902 22 15 15 | ifema.es

Ana Patricia botín

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Santander said proﬁt rose to 1.61 billion euros, or about $2 billion, from €1.06 billion in the period a year earlier. That was above analysts’ expecta�ons. Santander, one of Europe’s largest banks, wrote down billions of euros in mortgages last year amid a weak economy in Spain, its home market. In the third quarter, provisions for delinquent and defaulted loans fell 8 percent, to €2.78 billion, from the period a year earlier. Emilio Bo�n, who ran the bank for three decades, died of a heart a�ack in September at the age of 79. His daughter, the long�me Santander execu�ve Ana Patricia Bo�n, was appointed execu�ve chairwoman a�er his death. Net interest income – what a bank earns on its lending a�er deduc�ng what it pays out on deposits and other liabili�es – rose 8 percent, to €7.47 billion, from €6.94 billion in the period a year earlier. Santander’s nonper-

forming loan rate was 5.28 percent, almost 0.17 of a percentage point lower than in the second quarter. Opera�ng expenses rose 2.5 percent, to €5.07 billion. Santander’s third-quarter earnings in Spain more than tripled, to €309 million, as economic condi�ons improved and provisions for bad loans con�nued to decline. In Britain, the bank’s profit rose 34 percent, to €411 million. In Santander’s opera�ons in La�n America, profit rose 9 percent, to €786 million, despite a weaker economic environment in that region. The bank’s core Tier 1 capital ra�o, a measure of its ability to weather financial disturbances, rose to 11.4 percent at the end of September from 10.9 percent at the end of the second quarter. Its total capital ra�o was 12.5 percent, well above the 8 percent figure the bank says it is required to maintain.

Spain’s Telefonica sees stronger turnaround Spain’s Telefonica posted falling revenue and proﬁt in the ﬁrst nine months of the year, although a rise in customers signing up for its broadband and pay-TV deals showed a turnaround from a three-year slump was gathering pace

While encouraging, the trend may not feed into the bo�om line of the balance sheet for another few months as bundled packages that combine mobile and ﬁxed-line phones, high-speed Internet and TV push down margins in the key Spanish market. They were down 2.7 basis points to 45.9 percent in the nine months to Sept. 30. Net proﬁt fell 9.4 percent during the period to 2.85 billion euros ($3.56 billion), Europe’s biggest telecoms group by revenue, but beat analysts’

forecasts. Opera�ng income before deprecia�on and amor�za�on (OIBDA) dropped 12.6 percent, to 12.33 billion euros and revenue shrank 10.9 percent to 37.98 billion euros. Both revenue and opera�ng income were hit by lower La�n American currencies, especially in Venezuela and Argen�na, but that eﬀect eased in the quarter between July and September, helping the group to beat forecasts for the two metrics. Telefonica, which has shed non-core assets to focus on its

European and La�n American markets, sold on Nov. 10 half of its stake in China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd (0762.HK) for $854 million. The capital gains will help the ﬁrm hit its year-end debt target of 43 billion euros. Net debt stood at 41.2 billion euros at the end of September but it was 44.9 billion euros when taking into account opera�ons related to the acquisi�on of German compe�tor E-Plus last year as well as other corporate moves that will be reﬂected in earnings later this year.

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MADRID

Massive pro-life march in Madrid demands Spanish government rescind permissive abortion law Madrid was mobbed with pro-life activists this weekend, demanding that the government live up to its promise to enact legislation protecting the unborn

Thousands of protesters in Madrid

A huge pro-life demonstration, attended by 1,400,000 according to the organizers and 60,000 according to police sources, took place in Madrid on Saturday to demand that the government live up to its election promise to reverse the previous Zapatero government’s law allowing abortion-on-demand. Thousands of families and individuals converged on La Plaza de Colón carrying banners that read, “Every life matters,” and “For life, women and motherhood.” Benigno Blanco, president of the Spanish Family Forum, delivered a Pro-Life Manifesto demanding repeal of the abortion law and a commitment by the government “to always protect the unborn child like any other human being and to protect in every case women in pregnancy so that they are not forced to choose abortion as the only option.” In a direct appeal to Prime Minister Rajoy in front of the huge gathering on La Plaza de Colón, Benigno Blanco said that if Rajoy and his government don’t fulﬁll their promise to respect motherhood and the right to life, he can expect to lose the next election. “He should know that we will not vote for his party again and we will do our utmost to ensure that many others follow our example,” the manifesto said. “The electorate will have the last word.” “I speciﬁcally address the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy,” Blanco said. “Mr. President, it’s in your hands. Push the absolute

majority that your party has in parliament to replace the existing law by supporting life and protecting motherhood.” “You promised us you would take an important step in this direction and we want to remind you of this commitment and

reverse the law. However, in September Rajoy suddenly scrapped the bill drafted by Minister of Justice Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, citing division in his party over the legislation. Gallardon resigned upon hearing of Ra-

In his 2011 election platform, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party promised voters that he would work to reverse the law that you still have time to fulﬁll this promise,” he said. “Pro-lifers are not captives of anyone,” Blanco told Rajoy. “Our loyalty is to the ideal that moves us and we will be mobilized so that our ideal becomes reality. Hear our voice, which is also the voice of hundreds of thousands of children each year who can not be born, and the voice of their mothers.” The Zapatero law, enacted in 2010, allowed abortion without restrictions up to 14 weeks and gave 16- and 17-year-old girls the right to procure abortions without parental consent. In his 2011 election platform, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party promised voters that he would work to

joy’s reversal, saying, “I believe it is my duty to resign with humility, recognizing that I have not been able to turn the reversal law into law.” The pro-life manifesto delivered this weekend states that by refusing to repeal the present law, the government and the governing party is not only betraying its electoral promise, but by maintaining the status quo will be endorsing the present law and its consequences. “Women will be deprived of their right to maternity, nothing will be done to reduce the number of abortions, and there will be a quantitative increase in the immense failure which abortion always means,” he said. “This step,” the manifesto says, “will con-

solidate even further the state of total lack of protection of the two victims of abortion: the unborn child, who will have no legal protection at all, and the mother, who will be faced with no other alternative to abortion.” The manifesto also condemns the present law’s homosexual agenda to “coercively impose gender ideology, with its own particular vision of sexuality and the human person, in all health centers and services.” The manifesto concludes with both a promise “to all women that they will never be alone and that they can count on our help to overcome any obstacle to their right to maternity.” Addressing the thousands who ﬁlled the streets of Madrid, Blanco said, “This event is for the whole of society and especially our leaders and lawmakers to rethink the reality of abortion and raise awareness on the need to eradicate it. “Abortion is the drama of our time that would shock and horrify future generations, when this tragedy is just one more memory in the history of the horrors of humanity. Our responsibility is to accelerate change, the drama of abortion is something to be overcome,” Blanco said. While pro-life marches are usually held in October or November in Spain, HazteOir (Make Yourself Heard) and Derecho a Vivir (Right to Live), organizers of Saturday’s pro-life demonstration, are planning another demonstration on March 14, 2015, in Madrid.

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Teresa Romero leaves hospital after Ebola treatment A nurse who was the first person to catch Ebola outside Africa has left a Madrid hospital after recovering from the deadly virus

Nurse Teresa Romero

Ms Romero, 44, was part of a team at the Carlos III hospital who volunteered to treat two elderly Spanish missionaries who caught the disease in Africa. Both missionaries died in Madrid in August and September. Ms Romero was diagnosed with Ebola on 6 October, becoming the first person to catch the disease outside Africa in the current outbreak, which has killed nearly 5,000 people, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. She told reporters that she thought she was going to die when she was first diagnosed and she paid tribute to the doctors and nurses who cared for her. “When I saw myself dying I recalled my memories, my family, my husband who I love,” said Ms Romero. “I was isolated and my only contact with the outside world was through the phone in my room with Javier and through the love of these professionals, who showed me how Spanish society was fighting against Ebola and supported me to keep going.” Ms Romero was treated with hu-

man serum containing antibodies from Ebola survivors and anti-virals. She was declared Ebola-free on 21 October, although she remained in hospital until she became stronger. “If my sickness boosted studies on this disease and will help to ﬁnd a vaccine or my blood is useful to cure other people - here I am,” she said. “Now I think it is time to rest. Please respect this time so I can recover and tell you about my experience.” Doctors said they could not be sure if the medication which they gave Ms Romero had been responsible for her recovery. “In the absence of a control group, it is difﬁcult to know what worked for our patient,” said Marta Arsuaga, one of the doctors who have been working round the clock treating Ms Romero. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said it continues to see a slowdown in weekly Ebola cases in Liberia. However, it said incidence of the disease was still rising in Sierra Leone and stable in Guinea.

Thousands protest over Western Sahara Several thousand people demonstrated in Madrid on Sunday 16 november in support of independence for the disputed territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in northwestern Africa

About 3,000 protesters marched from Atocha railway station to the central Plaza de la Provincia behind a banner declaring “Sahara Free now!”. Banners from many parts of Spain could be seen at the demonstration which also included live music and street performers dressed in the red, green, black and white of the traditional Saharawi flag. “We believe the Saharawi people have to right to self-determination,” said Jose Taboada, president of the Coordination of Spanish Associations of Solidarity with Western Sahara, which organised the protest and wants the territory to vote on in-

dependence. “This is a scream to demand that the Spanish government intervene to help the Saharawis to be able to vote to decide what they would like to be,” he said. Western Sahara, larger than Britain but with a population under one million people, has lucrative phosphate reserves, rich fishing grounds and potentially oil. Morocco took control of most of the territory in November 1975 when colonial power Spain withdrew, prompting a guerrilla war for independence that lasted until 1991 when the United Nations brokered a ceasefire and sent in a peacekeeping mission.

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Microsoft inks Real Madrid deal

The technology alliance will accelerate the digital transformation of the club

The day of the deal

Microsoft has signed a landmark agreement with Spanish football giant, Real Madrid, to accelerate the digital transformation of the Club. The collaboration agreement will aim to the business with Microsoft services and devices, such Surface Pro 3 being used by players and coaching staff as key work tools. The announcement follows a long list of Microsoft partnerships in the global sporting arena with some of the world’s biggest sporting brands – Italy’s AC Milan, the Lotus Formula 1 team and America’s National Football League. Microsoft corporate vice president and chairman, emerging market, Orlando Ayala, said the digital platform the company was designing with Real Madrid was “maniacally” focused on putting fans at the centre, and opening access and control of rich content and experiences that bring them closer to their passion for the game and the team. “Powered by Microsoft’s Cloud solutions, we will offer fans exclusive, personalised and customised content and digital services, available at Santiago Bernabéu stadium and from any location through virtual access to the stadium before, during and after each match,” he said. “So fans will be able to choose not only what content they want to access – but also create their own customised versions of an experience whenever, however, and from wherever. And because sport

is intrinsically community oriented, we’re setting up social and other digital ways for fans to share these experiences with friends and family in real time.

The aim of this technological initiative is to make fans the real stars of their own experience by allowing them to view and consume the content they want and also create and share it with their friends on social media and other digital channels.

“This is a four-year vision that will truly change the game for Real Madrid, and enable their fans to enjoy their passion in a unique way.” A host of online services will also provide an enriched experience for watching matches. For instance, supporters of the club will be able to access the stadium virtually, before, during and

after each game, selecting the content they want to see when they want to and where they want to see it. The aim of this technological initiative is to make fans the real stars of their own experience by allowing them to view and consume the content they want and also create and share it with their friends on social media and other digital channels. Ayala said the partnership would also harness Microsoft’s Big Data products. “Alongside the movement of content digitisation, one of the most remarkable trends I’ve seen to date is the power of data visualisation to illustrate data in more meaningful ways than ever before,” “Graphics often do a better job communicating a message than numbers or words. “These days, we are all used to seeing in newspapers, magazines and the Web, infographics that do a great job of telling a compelling story. “But from the moment it is published, the data is out of date, and maybe you wanted to know more or go deeper, but can’t with that image. “This is the real revolution with what we are doing with Real Madrid”. He said the vision was to really enable a dynamic platform that would provide incredible capability in reaching insights and uncovering new ideas, giving fans the opportunity to be the drivers of this discovery and the authors of their own stories.

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IFEMA exports its MATELEC and GENERA brands to Chile

This edition of MATELEC Latin America is going to be held together with the edition of GENERA Latin America with energy efficiency as leitmotiv, they are going to offer a context of synergies backed up by two international IFEMA brands in a market full of big opportunities for the power and energy sectors.

This edition of MATELEC Latin America is going to be held together with the edition of GENERA Latin America with energy efficiency as leitmotiv, they are going to offer a context of synergies backed up by two international IFEMA brands in a market full of big opportunities for the power and energy sectors. The new investment plans for public infrastructures and the electricity reform, recently announced by Chilean government, together with the macroeconomic and political stability in the country, legal certainty, trade openness and economic freedom, make Chile a very attractive country to invest in. Both will be co-organized with FISA and held from 7 to 9 October 2015, in the Espacio Riesco, of Santiago de Chile. It is the first edition of MATALEC Latin America, International Conference of Solutions for the Electrical and Electronic Industry, and the second edition of GENERA Latin America, International Fair of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which will be held from 7 to 9 October 2015, in the Espacio Riesco, of Santiago de Chile. The joint organization of both events, outcome of the strategic alliance with FISA, one of the main fair operators in the continent, offer a context of synergies in a market full of big opportunities for the power and energy sectors. In this respect, the new investment plans for public infrastructures and the electricity reform, recently announced by the President of Chile in Madrid, together with the macroeconomic and political stability in the country, legal certainty, trade openness and economic freedom, make Chile a very attractive country to invest in, also, adding that is the way to access the American Southern Cone trade. Chile imports electrical material Chile represents an interesting opportunity in the market for those manufacturers and exporters in the sector due to the continued economic growth and that it is expected that the demand for electricity in Chile has increased considerably and it is expected that it will double in the next fifteen years. It has an annual growth of 6-7% to reach an energy demand of 100,000 GWh by 2020, that implies an increase the Chilean electric system by more than 8,000 MW through new power generation projects. In general, the imports of electrical material have experienced a significant increase in the last five years and from the end of

2010, the total amount has skyrocketed. With minor companies in the sector, Chile imports electrical material mainly to Europe, United States and China, even though the ofﬁces of such international and well-known brands in Latin America are located there and, often, operating from Chile as a platform for the rest of American Southern Cone. The energy reform will encourage investments and the need of generating clean energy Regarding the energy sector, the reform aim of the Andean Government is to achieve a balanced and sustainable development for the next 15-20 years. To that end, the 2014-2018 Strategic Plan commissioning specially focus on renewable energies and on the need of generating clean energy by a higher number of companies that represents a reduction in the costs in comparison with the current electricity and gas prices. A plan, that will encourage the national and international investments and also boost the introduction of new approaches, actors and technologies, specially, regarding electricity generation and transmission. Currently, electricity generation in Chile is almost controlled by three companies that generate 90% of the energy in the SIC Central Interconnected System. Matelec Madrid’14 Furthermore, the renewable energies and energy efﬁciency are becoming more and more important in the two activity sectors in the country, considered priorities from a strategic point of view and the strength of large scale consumers and construction and mining. IFEMA experience servicing companies with international vocation Therefore, Chile represents an opportunity for those manufacturers and exporters in the sector and MATALEC Latin America and GENERA Latin America offer a very important platform and access this market. All of this lead by IFEMA, Spain’s leading trade fair organizer and one of the main European operators. Its experience in this sector, over three decades, and the collaboration with other leading operators are the best credentials for the project. For this, according to AFIDA, association of International Fairs of America, IFEMA is considered as one of the main European operators with presence in the Iberoamerican continent, introduced by leading fair operators such as FISA.

Minister Wert opens “Goya in Madrid” The Minister for Education, Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert, officially opened the “Goya in Madrid” exhibition, which is open to the public until 3 May at the Prado Museum. Sponsored by the AXA Foundation, this collection offers an opportunity to see the sketches which Goya prepared for his tapestries, a commission which announced the arrival of Goya to the Spanish Court and confirmed his definitive residence in Madrid

This collection, selected by Manuela Mena, Chief Curator of 18th Century Art and Goya at the Prado Museum, and by Gudrun Maurer, featuring the extraordinary group of sketches prepared for Goya’s tapestries, reveals the artist’s connection with the past and his own modern day. At the same time, this explains just how the richness of his compositions, ﬁgures and expressions shown on these canvasses provided the inspiration for his later works, such as his miniatures, drawings and etchings. In contrast to the more common presentation of this series of works, which are normally organised strictly according to the ﬁelds to which they were destined, the selection inaugurated on Thursday compares and contrasts the sketches by theme, while at the same time considering the work of his contemporaries (Mengs, Tiépolo, Bayeu, Maella, Paret and Meléndez) and earlier painters (Titian, Rubens, Teniers and Velázquez) that Goya was able to study in the Royal Collection and which served as models for his own works. Through these 142 works in this exhibition, we can see how these sketches for tapestries form fundamental nuclei from which to enhance our understanding of this great master.

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MADRID AT CHRISTMAS

Magic and excitement fill the streets of Madrid throughout December. Lights in an array of designs, fir trees, nativity scenes and festive markets liven up the city, which has a range of cultural and entertainment options particularly designed for the little ones.

Christmas is definitely the holiday best and most enthusiastically celebrated by our city, a fact that is vividly clear to all those who visit us. The capital takes on a special glow, with beautiful lights and Christmas trees set up in its most famous squares. Traditional markets are bustling with shoppers, like that of Plaza Mayor, one of the city’s longest running and which specialises in figurines for nativity scenes and home decoration. Madrid City Council has come up with an activity-packed programme, including the traditional Nativity Scene Tour. This is the perfect opportunity to visit the sites that hold one of our greatest artistic treasures: one of the biggest assortments of nativity scenes found in any of the countries that share this tradition. For the little ones, Conde Duque cultural centre becomes a beautiful venue where learning and fun go hand-in-hand at Ciudad de los Niños (Kids’ City), a firm favourite on the festive calendar. There will be tents, workshops, Teatro de Autómatas (Mechanical Theatre), and a very special programme of music and theatre for the entire family. Cultural venues from across the capital will have something to offer everyone. Under the slogan Al teatro con la familia (To the theatre with the family), the Teatro Español presents an entertaining children’s production. From 23 December to 4 January, audiences can enjoy Burbujas de Navidad, a show where reality and imagination merge in a world full of soap bubbles. On the same dates, Naves del Español at Matadero Madrid will be hosting two more shows: La crónica del Lobo, which blends live music, shadow theatre and sound effects to heighten the tension and power of the narrative, plus MuMu-Músicas del Mundo, an educational concert by acclaimed saxophonist José Luis Gutiérrez, featuring some of the most influential 20th-century music produced from the encounter between Africa, America and Europe. A highlight of the season is Suena en Navidad (Christmas Sounds). This special series dedicated to music fills churches and auditoriums with the most universal of languages. Audiences can also enjoy the VIII Ciclo de Música de Órgano (8th Organ Music Season) at San Ginés; the Concierto Extraordinario de Navidad de la Banda Sinfónica (Madrid’s Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert); Coros de Madrid (Madrid Choirs) around the CentroCentro tree at Cibeles Palace; Zambomba Flamenca and Marimorena 2014, among other concerts. This leads us to the main event, the Three Kings Parade, which winds through Madrid on 5 January. The city’s main thoroughfare, Paseo de la Castellana, is where children from Madrid and further afield come to deliver the kings their letters.

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CIBELES PALACE, A Neapolitan Nativity Scene

Once again this year Cibeles Palace is the venue for a host of activities for all audiences over the festive season. The palace, one of Madrid’s most iconic buildings, will offer a range of different options. Two of these, however, are sure to attract a lot of interest. Until 1 February the Neapolitan nativity scene of the Duke and Duchess of Cardona (formerly known as the nativity scene of the Ducal House of Medinaceli) will be on display at CentroCentro Cibeles. This is an 18th-century treasure, commissioned by the Consort Duke of Santisteban, Luis María Fernández de Córdoba y Gonzaga, who ordered two nativity scenes of the highest quality from Naples in 1784, one for the Prince of Asturias, the future Charles IV, and the other for his own family. The latter arrived in Spain in 1785, and in 1790 more pieces were ordered. It features everything from the scene of Jesus’ birth and the journey of the Three Wise Men to other more folksy scenes showing shepherds and craftsmen.

CIBELES PALACE, Abelló Collection

Juan Abelló and Ana Gamazo are two of the world’s most inﬂuential collectors. As part of the Patronage at the Service of Art cycle of exhibitions, CentroCentro Cibeles has unveiled the Abelló Collection this autumn. In addition to exhibiting an extensive selection of Spanish paintings from the 16th to 20th century, it also boasts other great works by Francis Bacon, Rothko and many other modern artists.

ART, CULTURE AND RELIGION

Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa (Pza. Colón, 4) The exhibition A Su imagen consists of more than 100 items connected with the history of the Jewish people, from 22 dioceses from all over Spain in public and private collections. The exhibition covers a broad period ranging from the 10th to the 20th century and features work by the grand masters of Spanish painting and sculpture. They include Rubens, El Greco, Zurbarán, Murillo, Velázquez and Goya.

OFFICIAL GUIDED TOURS

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS IN MADRID 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 29 & 30 Dec 16:00 h. In Spanish and English. This tour gives visitors a chance to soak up the festive atmosphere created by the different customs and traditions evident throughout the city at this time of year. As an extra treat, pure temptation: participants can feast on churros con chocolate (hot chocolate with strips of fried dough). DISCOVER MADRID’S TREASURES AT CHRISTMAS 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 & 28 Dec & 3 & 4 Jan 12:00 h. 5, 12, 19, 26, 29 & 30 Dec & 2 Jan 16:00 h. Only in Spanish. This gymkhana-style tour is an opportunity to get to know Madrid’s historic city centre. It is for people of all ages, but particularly children. To give participants a picture of the city, the guide will draw on historical events as well as ancient legends. BARRIO DE SALAMANCA SHOPPING TOUR 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 & 28 Dec 12:00 h. In Spanish. 13, 14, 20 & 21 Dec 12:00 h. In English. The Salamanca district began to form between Paseo de Recoletos and El Retiro Park in the mid-19th century. Its main thoroughfare is Calle de Serrano which together with surrounding streets is home to top national and international fashion designers, as well as fantastic gourmet shops, markets and bakeries that are sure to delight foodies. The festive season is well and truly underway and Madrid’s Ofﬁcial Guided Tours offer a wide range of routes designed to immerse participants in the most traditional holiday customs. For more information: www.esmadrid.com/en/ofﬁcial-guidedtours

Don’t miss: Plaza Mayor The Plaza Mayor market is more than 100 years old, and draws crowds of locals and tourists who come to browse its tantalizing wares. Shop for handmade Christmas gifts and seasonal trinkets, and then gaze in awe at the intricately designed Nativity scenes. Stop at the city’s oldest Spanish nougat shop to sample sweet local liquor and the turron, a festive nougat that locals eat as a Christmas treat.

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Sorolla and the United States Sorolla is one of the great names of 20th-century Spanish painting and a key reference point in that ﬁeld. He created some of the most convincing and life-enhancing images of a luminous and Mediterranean Spain, both optimistic and modern. This exhibition focuses on the cosmopolitan artist who conquered American society; a painter who was able to promote Spanish art in the United States, where the leading museums and private collectors acquired many of the most outstanding and celebrated works from his mature period. In 1909, by which date Sorolla was the recipient all the major prizes and honours to which a painter of his day could aspire, he held his ﬁrst exhibition in New York, at The Hispanic Society of America. The event enjoyed unprecedented success. On the initiative of that institution the artist subsequently presented his works in Boston and Buffalo. Two years later he would enjoy similar triumphs in Chicago and St. Louis. Americans fell in love with his beach scenes bathed in Mediterranean sunlight, his Spanish gardens and his sophisticated and elegant portraits. The exhibition enjoyed unprecedented success: in New York alone it received more than 160,000 visitors in a month, with 20,000 copies of the catalogue sold. The present exhibition includes exceptional loans from The Hispanic Society of America, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum and The Morgan Library & Museum, all in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, San Luis, The San Diego Museum of Art, and The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, among other leading institutions. It shows

the artistically mature Sorolla at his ﬁnest and as a painter who had achieved the maximum level of reﬁnement, while also focusing on his remarkable international reputation. A passionate admirer of Spain, in 1904 the cultivated American millionaire Archer Milton Huntington (1870-1955) founded his own museum and study centre in New York, The Hispanic Society of America, devoted to the promotion of Spanish art and literature in the United States. In 1908, after visiting Sorolla’s exhibition at the Grafton Galleries in London, Huntington suggested to the artist that he organise a retrospective of his works at his recently opened institution. The exhibition, which opened on 4 February 1909, saw 160,000 visitors in a month with 20,000 catalogues sold. It also received an outstanding reception from the press. It was shown in a slightly smaller version at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and at the Copley Society in Boston. Two years later, in 1911, Huntington sponsored two more large and highly successful exhibitions of Sorolla’s work at the Art Institute of Chicago and

the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri. From the outset, Huntington and Sorolla formed an indissoluble bond. This section focuses on their relationship, which was crucial to Sorolla’s future success, through a series of works that represent key stages in the artist’s introduction to the United States via his patron: Leonese Peasants or Study for Evening Sun were among Huntington’s earliest purchases of works by the artist, while a series of gouaches summarises the project on the regions of Spain for the library of The Hispanic Society, which would occupy a signiﬁcant part of Sorolla’s life over the following ten years. In addition, the pair of portraits of Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia brings to mind the patronage by the Spanish monarchs of these international exhibitions, which became vehicles for symbolically concluding the political problems that had led to Spain’s war with the United States and the loss of Cuba and the Philippines just few years before. Huntington recalled how he had heard the opinion that: “Spain sank low in our defeat of her, she has replied with the lightnings of art.”

Self-Portrait, 1909

The Carob Tree, 1898

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A throng of runners will be taking to the streets to participate in this prestigious, 10-kilometre event. There are two races: one for amateurs and another for professionals bringing together some of the world’s top athletes. The event sets off on Calle Concha

Espina, passing by such symbolic landmarks as Puerta de Alcalá Gate and Plaza de Cibeles. The ﬁnishing line for the professional race is in Vallecas Stadium (for the amateur race, it will be outside the stadium).

EXHIBITIONS AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM Until 1 Feb Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Paseo del Prado, 8 Following the exhibition of Impressionist painting organised by art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in New York in 1886, American artists began to make use of the new brush strokes, bright colours and shifting effects used by the French masters.

MADRID AT CHRISTMAS

San Silvestre Vallecana

BERNINI’S SOULS Until 8 Feb Museo del Prado Paseo del Prado, s/n The life of the Italian architect, painter and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini was practically a succession of triumphs. This is the ﬁrst exhibition in Spain devoted to the man who is widely considered one of the great masters in the history of art.

THE PORTRAIT IN ROYAL COLLECTIONS 4 Dec-19 Apr Palacio Real de Madrid Bailén, s/n The exhibition offers an overview of portraits in the Spanish Court during both the Hapsburg and the Borbón periods, from the 15th to the 21st century, with works by artists ranging from Juan de Flandes to Antonio López.

MEDITERRANEAN. FROM MYTH TO REASON Until 5 Jan CaixaForum Madrid Paseo del Prado, 36 On the eastern Mediterranean coast, about ﬁve hundred years before Christ, new ideas of the world emerged which were essential for the creation of European culture.

HUBERT DE GIVENCHY Until 28 Jan Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Paseo del Prado, 8 The ﬁrst major retrospective dedicated to the French designer will feature a selection of his ﬁnest creations, among them the dresses he designed for some of the most famous icons of the 20th century, including Jacqueline Kennedy.

THE RETURN OF THE SERPENT Until 13 Apr Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Santa Isabel, 52 Creative freedom and the recovery of the social function of design are the most prominent aspects of Mathias Goeritz’s career. The exhibition comprises more than two hundred works, including drawings, scale models, photographs, sculptures and panel paintings.

SOROLLA AND THE UNITED STATES Until 4 Jan Fundación MAPFRE. Sala Recoletos Paseo de Recoletos, 23 The exhibition aims to provide an account of Joaquín Sorolla’s huge success in America through some one hundred works that are almost unknown in Europe. They include his beach scenes and gardens and the large-scale portraits he painted of notable American personalities.

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SOCIETY

Duchess of Alba, Spain’s wealthy, multititled aristocrat, dies at age 88 The Duchess of Alba, one of Spain’s wealthiest and most colorful aristocrats and recognized as the world’s most titled noble

Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva was related to Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill and shared toys with the future Queen Elizabeth II — they were born less than a month apart — while living in England as a girl. Twice widowed, the fabulously wealthy noble had an outspoken nature and a predilection for extravagantly colorful, almost hippy-style clothing even late in life. Known simply as Cayetana, she was for decades a mainstay of the gossip press. She died at her Duenas Palace residence in Seville on Wednesday 19 november from pneumonia, a palace spokesman said. He declined to be identified, in line with palace policy. “Cayetana always had Seville in her heart and for this reason she will always remain in Seville’s heart. May she rest in peace,” Seville Mayor Juan Ignacio Zoido said in a message on his official Twitter account. The duchess, known for her frizzy white hair and squeaky voice, raised eyebrows nationwide and outraged her six children in 2011 when at the age of 85 she wed for a third time, marrying civil servant Alfonso Diez who was 25 years her junior. At the wedding, she thrilled a crowd of several hundred attendees when she hiked up her dress and did some flamenco dance steps on a red carpet at the palace, a 15th-century residence in the cobblestoned old quarter of Seville. Her children feared a potential gold-digger, although Diez renounced any claim to the family fortune. The duchess moved to appease her heirs by dividing up most of her vast estate among them a few months before the nuptials, handing out palaces and mansions to all. With estates dotted across mainland Spain and on some of its islands, she was known for being able to crisscross the country without having to spend the night in a property that wasn’t hers. She also had one of Spain’s most daz-

zling art collections, including works by grand masters Goya, Rembrandt and Velazquez. Forbes recently estimated her wealth to be in the region of €2.8 billion ($3.5 billion). Fitz-James Stuart y Silva was born March 28, 1926, in the sumptuous Liria Palace in the center of Madrid. A grandee of Spain and the holder of six dukedoms, she could trace her noble lineage back 17 generations. She inherited her titles from her father, with whom she lived in London — where he was named Spanish ambassador — while hostilities raged in Spain’s 1936-39 civil war. She took over the house of Alba, becoming its 18th leader as well as the 11th Duchess of Berwick, to mention just two titles, upon her father’s death in 1953. The future duchess married Luis Martinez de Irujo y Artacoz in 1947 in what was described as one of the costliest weddings ever seen in Spain. The El Pais newspaper later wrote that the wedding had cost 20 million pesetas — a fortune in a country still recovering from the ruinous civil war. After her ﬁrst husband died in 1972, the duchess married former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate in 1978. He died after a long illness in 2001. She spent much of her time in the southern city of Seville and was named a Favorite Daughter of the Andalusia region in 2006. In late October 2011, weeks after her wedding to Diez, the duchess slipped on a rug at her Seville palace and cracked her pelvis. She suffered a fall while visiting Rome with her husband in mid-April 2013, and was operated on there for a broken femur. Guinness World Records said the duchess’s more than 40 titles made her the world’s most titled noble. She is succeeded by her son, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martinez de Irujo, and also survived by sons Alfonso, Jacobo, Fernando and Cayetano, and daughter Eugenia.

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Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the ﬁrst or paternal family name is Fitz-James Stuart and the second or maternal family name is de Silva. María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes and a Grandee of Spain (28 March 1926 – 20 November 2014), was head of the House of Alba and the third lady to hold the title in her own right.

expensive wedding of the world.” It was reported that 20 million pesetas were spent at that time. Six children were born of this marriage, who were all

Born at Liria Palace on 28 March 1926, she was the only child of the 17th Duke of Alba (a prominent Spanish politician and diplomat during the 1930s and 1940s) by his wife, María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco. Her godmother was the Queen Consort of Spain, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, wife of Alfonso XIII de Borbón, King of Spain. As head of the dynasty, she was styled by her most senior title of Duchess of Alba, whilst holding over 40 other hereditary titles. According to Guinness World Records, she was the most titled aristocrat in the world. Via her descent from James FitzJames by primogeniture, she was also the heir general and senior claimant to the English dukedom of Berwick. The Duchess was King James II of England’s senior direct descendant, through his illegitimate son James, whom he created 1st Duke of Berwick, and his mistress Arabella Churchill. Life and family On 12 October 1947, the Duchess married Don Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz (1919–1972), son of the Duke of Sotomayor. The wedding in Spain, just after the Second World War, is considered to be one of the last great weddings of European nobility and attracted the attention of the international media. The New York Times called it “the most

conferred noble titles by their mother, in accordance with Spanish Royal protocol, including the rank of Grandee of Spain. After becoming a widow, the Duchess remarried on

16 March 1978 to Jesús Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate (1934–2001), a Doctor of Theology and a former Jesuit priest. The wedding caused shock; Aguirre was illegitimate, which was scandalous in 1970s Spain. Eight years younger than the Duchess, he maintained a good relationship with her children. During their marriage he administered, with his stepson Carlos, the Alba estates. Aguirre died in 2001. Details emerged in 2008 regarding the Duchess’s intention to marry Alfonso Díez Carabantes, a civil servant who also runs a public relations business, 24 years her junior. It was reported that there were objections from her children and from King Juan Carlos, and the House of Alba that year issued a statement saying that the relationship “was based on a long friendship and there are no plans to marry”. The duchess decided to proceed with the marriage, overcoming her children’s opposition by giving them their inheritance in advance. The duchess’s fortune included ancient palaces throughout Spain, paintings by old and modern masters (from Fra Angelico, Titian and Goya to Renoir and Marc Chagall), a first-edition copy of Cervantes’s Don Quixote, letters written by Christopher Columbus, and huge tracts of land; her wealth was estimated at between €600 million and €3.5 billion. Díez formally renounced any claim to her wealth. They married on 5 October 2011 at the Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville. The Duchess, whose passions included flamenco, performed a quick few steps of the dance in front of the crowds that had gathered outside the palace on the day of the wedding. As a socialite, the duchess met famous VIPs from Spain and abroad. Jackie Kennedy visited her Seville palace, as did Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco. In 1959 the duchess hosted one Dior show for charitable purposes in her Liria Palace in Madrid, together with designer Yves Saint Laurent. Movie stars such as Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren and Raf Vallone visited Liria Palace and even Audrey Hepburn took a breakfast in the dining room. In her youth the duchess posed for Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton and she appeared on the cover of Time and Harper’s Bazaar. The Duchess’s titles included that of Duchess of Berwick and she was a direct descendant of King James II and a distant relative of Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. The mother of the first duke of Berwick was Arabella Churchill, sister of the first duke of Marlborough, John Churchill. In 1802 after the death of the 13th duchess, who was childless, the dukedom passed to her relative, the duke of Berwick, a Spanish nobleman.

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Spanish singer goes to jail for money laundering Popular Spanish folk singer Isabel Pantoja has begun serving a two-year sentence for money laundering after her court appeals were rejected. Pantoja, 58, entered the Alcala de Guadaira jail in the southern province of Seville early Friday 21 november. The singer, who was also fined 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million) following the 2012 trial, was found guilty of laundering money for Julian Munoz, a former boyfriend and one-time mayor of the resort city of Marbella. Pantoja is a fixture in Spain’s gossip magazines and TV shows. She was married to the famous bullfighter Francisco “Paquirri” Rivera, who died in the bullring in 1984. Munoz, who was sentenced to seven years, ran a scheme of providing building permits in Marbella in return for bribes.

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Spanish Queen invokes in Rome women’s role against malnutrition and obesity Queen Letizia of Spain delivered a speech at the United Nations International Conference on Nutrition in Rome in which she highlighted the special role of women in combating unacceptable levels of hunger in the world. During the international forum organized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), the Spanish queen suggested that more educational opportunities to women would contribute to improved nutrition. She called on the food industry to reconcile commercial interests and political responsibility and join the campaign to eradicate obesity, an epidemic that no country in the world has managed to conquer. The wife of King Felipe VI added that combating malnutrition requires raising the funds needed to support scientiﬁc research to make an independent and effective breakthrough. Queen Letizia’s arrival in Rome coincided with a visit by Pope Francis to FAO headquarters in the Italian capital where he was set to deliver a speech later in the day in the presence of the Spanish monarch. The queen stressed that malnutrition is the leading cause of disease in the world, and deemed it unacceptable to allow 850 million people around the world go hungry while 1.4 billion others suffer from obesity, not to mention a rise in childhood death rates. The Spanish queen conﬁrmed that the current situation poses a challenge that must be addressed by all countries and

not only through the efforts of their politicians. She also pointed out the special value of strengthening women’s role, as she is still responsible for family diet in many parts of the world, making it important for them to be knowledgeable on matters of nutrition. Queen Letizia stressed that a woman with access to education is of beneﬁt to the whole community, in her remarks to the congress that is being attended by 170 experts and political leaders from all over the world. She urged multinational companies specializing in food and agricultural products to support efforts by international agencies and governments to promote public health by following WHO recommendations to reduce and limit intakes of saturated fat, sugar and salt, in addition to elimination of hydrogenated fats. The Queen stressed the role of these organizations in promoting scientiﬁc research, while noting that Spain remains committed to public health and seeks to promote the Mediterranean diet as a guarantee of a healthy lifestyle. Before Queen Letizia of Spain joined the plenary session, she held a brief meeting with FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva at the headquarters of the international organization.

The wife of King Felipe VI added that combating malnutrition requires raising the funds needed to support scientific research to make an independent and effective breakthrough.

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Enrique Iglesias gets fans in Madrid on their feet

Enrique Iglesias says he is always “nervous” when he performs in Madrid, the city of his birth, but he overcame his nerves this weekend and got his fans on their feet and dancing during a concert at the Palacio de los Deportes in the Spanish capital. The 39-year-old Iglesias had not performed in Madrid in two years, but he selected the capital as one of the two Spanish stops on the European leg of his “Sex and Love Tour.” Iglesias, whose concert was sold out Saturday night, has had a tremendous year, releasing his “Sex and Love” album on March 14, scoring a huge hit with “Bailando” and earning ﬁve Latin Grammy nominations. The singer has enjoyed a nearly two-decade career, but he told Efe in January that he still got a case of the nerves when he performed in special

places like Madrid. “These are places where you feel a little more tingling and butterﬂies in the stomach. And the audience feels your excitement. Just like, if one day you are not in a good mood, they sense it,” Iglesias said. The artist’s mother, Isabel Preysler, was among the more than 15,000 people who packed the Madrid concert, organizers said. Fans were in a festive mood, starting to dance well before Iglesias appeared on stage and most of those in the audience were on their feet throughout the performance. Iglesias apologized for taking the stage 30 minutes late and then opened with “I’m a Freak” and “I Like How it Feels.” The singer performed “Bailando” in the ﬁnal stretch of his concert, pumping up his fans.

Gareth Bale reveals only thing he misses in Madrid is Nando’s chicken World’s most expensive footballer Gareth Bale, who has his own personal chef and dines at the ﬁnest restaurants in Spain, has revealed that the only thing he is missing in Madrid is chicken restaurant ‘Nando’s’. The Welsh wizard, who plays for European champions Real Madrid, is just 300 miles from the food chain’s home of Portugal, but his weakness for chicken can’t be nulliﬁed. Even his own personal chef reportedly can’t conjure up the same piri-piri taste. And the father-of-one longs for nothing more than a visit to the chain, which is a favourite of footballers and other sports stars, The Daily Express reported. Bale said that he does miss a bit of Nando’s, adding that it’s funny, it’s those tiny things one misses, adding that they would bring English teabags over with them and chocolate. Bale said that he unfortunately can’t really move Nando’s over.

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Shakira to press: Leave my son alone

Colombian pop star Shakira wants the press to leave her nearly twoyear-old son with Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué She shared the first public photograph of her first son Milan sleeping in Pique’s arms on the website of Unicef just days after he was born on January 22, 2013 along with a request that people donate to the UN children’s agency. The multi-Grammy-winning singer, who is expecting her second child with Pique, has shared other pictures of Milan on social media sites but in recent weeks she has declined to be photographed with her son. “I liked being able to share with fans and the people who have always supported us the experience of being parents and the first months of my son’s life,” she told daily Spanish newspa-

per ABC. “But now that Milan is growing and has stopped being a baby, I would prefer it if the press did not focus so much on him. I would like him to enjoy a normal childhood, as much as that is possible.” Shakira, 37, and Pique, 27, met at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and went public with their relationship in early 2011. “Milan still does not realise that Gerard and I are famous, because that is all he knows. He recognises us on television and in ads, he points and says “Mama! Papa!”, but does not know that other kids do not ﬁnd the image of their parents on a toy box,” she said.

Report and information about tourism and travels

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SPORTS

WHAT IS IT WITH SPAIN AND FOUR-LETTERED WORLD CLASS MIDFIELDERS? Isco and Koke leading Spain’s new era As one era ends following the post-World Cup international retirements of Xavi and Xabi, another era is beginning as La Roja seek to re-establish their identity based upon the talents of two new sparking talents in the centre of the field: Koke and Isco. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to see them in action again tonight as Spain take on world champions Germany in a friendly in Vigo, but that prospect may be denied by both players being rested — a sign of just how important they have already become at international level. Both are already reasonably well-known for their exploits in club football, with Koke playing a crucial role in Atletico Madrid’s magnificent title triumph last season, while Isco is starting to become a key member of Carlo Ancelotti’s starting line-up at Real Madrid. Neither of them are particularly young (they are both 22) or inexperienced, with Koke already having made nearly 200 appearances for Atletico while Isco is into his fourth season as a La Liga regular after first bursting onto the scene with Malaga following a move from his first club, Valencia. But they are new entrants into the Spanish national team, which until this summer had been blessed with an implacably settled midfield for many years, with Xavi (Hernandez) and Xabi (Alonso) both winning well in excess of 100 caps. Replacing those two magical midfielders was never going to be an easy task because together they formed the heartbeat of the team, setting the foundations for their favoured and famous passing style of play: Xabi sitting in

front of the back four, conducting the orchestra and giving the team its structure, while Xavi shuttled back and forth to provide the link between defence and attack. With hindsight, however, manager Vicente Del Bosque may privately concede (although probably not, because he is fiercely loyal) that he retained faith with his tried and trusted midfield duo for one summer too long. Both men headed into the World Cup Finals at the end of a gruelling domestic season and far from peak physical condition. Well into their thirties, heading into the heat and humidity of Brazil to face intense, physical group stage opponents the Netherlands and Chile, it was always probably asking too much to expect Xavi and Xabi to enjoy one last glorious fling. In the event, both players had bad World Cups, with Xavi being dropped for the second game against Chile and Xabi starting but being substituted at the interval (for Koke, appropriately enough) following a shockingly bad first half performance. That night in Rio de Janeiro, it was painfully apparent that Spain’s old midfield combination could no longer succeed, and that Del Bosque would have to build again. The identity of Xavi and Xabi’s heirs was never in doubt. Koke and Isco had been on the fringes of the national team for the past couple of years, and they were both clearly ready to make the step into the limelight and assume the lead roles rather than remaining as secondary characters. They are not, of course, direct replicas of the men they have replaced. Koke is perhaps somewhere in the mid-

dle of Xavi and Xabi, possessing the former’s dynamic energy and the latter’s cool toughness, while Isco’s dribbling abilities make him more similar to Andres Iniesta, another player whose powers sadly appear to be on the wane. But they can play together extremely effectively, complementing each other’s skills and allowing their individual talents to fit into a coherent team structure. Indeed, Koke and Isco have already proven they work well alongside each other, having starred when Spain won the European Under 21 Championships in the summer of 2013. Even then, it was obvious that before too long they would move up to the senior squad. The two other stars of that team’s midfield were Thiago Alcantara, whose bad luck with injuries hasn’t abated since moving from Barcelona to Bayern Munich, and Asier Illarramendi, who has been struggling to find regular playing time at Real Madrid after leaving Real Sociedad. Although Sergio Busquets stands in the way of Illarramendi’s hopes of playing more for his country, Alcantara, if he can ever stay fit, should have plenty of opportunities to add to his current haul of five caps. But the most important pieces are already in place. With Koke and Isco, Spain boast two players capable of spearheading serious challenge for major honours for the next decade. Spain’s unprecedented run of success between 2008 and 2012, which saw them win three consecutive major honours, came crashing to an end in Brazil last summer. But they’ll be back — Koke and Isco will make sure of that.

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MAN DIES, 11 INJURED AS FOOTBALL FANS CLASH BEFORE MATCH IN MADRID

One man died and 11 others suffered minor injuries after a fight broke outside Atletico Madrid’s soccer stadium between its fans and those of visiting team Deportivo La Coruña Madrid’s Clinico San Carlos hospital said a man died of injuries sustained in the clash between rival fans that broke out hours before the game near the Vicente Calderon stadium. Police made several arrests. The man, identified only as a 43-yearold Deportivo fan, had to be removed from Madrid’s Manzanares River and attended to by emergency services, which initially resuscitated him before transferring him to hospital where he died hours later. The presidents of both clubs appeared together on television to lament the incident. “This has nothing to do with football,” said Atletico president Enrique Cerezo. “Neither Atletico nor Deportivo have anything to do with these incidents, they are organized by radical groups who have their histories and accounts to settle.” Sports minister Jose Ignacio Wert also said the clash was not linked to sport,

but it nevertheless tarnished its image and “had to be eradicated.” Two people who were at a bar linked

“We are very sad, and we condemn this completely,” said Atletico coach Diego Simeone. “We hope these types of situations don’t happen again.” to Atletico’s fan club in the northwestern city of A Coruna were slightly injured in a separate incident at noon when they were involved in a barroom brawl with six hooded men, Europa Press news agency reported.

Police said on its Twitter account they had made 24 arrests among four radical groups linked to football clubs, and named them as: “Riazor Blues, Atletico Front, Buccaneers, and Alkor Hooligans.” The 11 injured included a police officer who suffered a broken finger. “We are very sad, and we condemn this completely,” said Atletico coach Diego Simeone. “We hope these types of situations don’t happen again.” The Spanish league said in a statement that it had tried to suspend the match before it began. “The Spanish football league was firm in its conviction to suspend the match, but that wasn’t possible,” the league said in a statement without explaining why the match started as scheduled at 1100 GMT. In December 1998 a Deportivo fan was killed outside Atletico’s stadium and a man was sentenced to a 17-year jail term for his murder.

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ZINEDINE ZIDANE SAYS REAL MADRID TEAM-MATE RONALDO WAS BEST HE EVER PLAYED WITH HIM

Zinedine Zidane, praised by many as the best player of his generation, says the greatest player he ever played alongside was Real Madrid team-mate Ronaldo Nazario

The duo formed part of Real’s famed Galacticos line-up at the turn of the century, alongside the likes of Luis Figo, David Beckham and Raul. None, says Zidane, could quite compare to Ronaldo. The Frenchman told: I’ve always seen Ronaldo as the best because I played and trained with him. He’s probably the best I ever played with. He did what he wanted with the ball and didn’t have any weaknesses. When he decided to express himself with the ball, he did whatever he wanted. Technically, no player has impressed me more than Ronaldo. There was no system or tactics that

could stop him. It’s like that with a few players and he was one of them—he was fast and skilled. When Ronaldo had the ball, he ran at 2000 miles per hour. In most cases, you’re’ fast without the ball. He was fast with it. The two played together between 2002 and 2006, and they were famously on opposing sides during the 1998 World Cup ﬁnal, where Zidane starred and Ronaldo—the star of the tournament until the ﬁnal— struggled after suffering a reported seizure hours before. Ronaldo also won the World Cup in 2002, and he enjoyed a stellar career until retiring in 2011.

The German midfielder fought a court case against his dad, whom he blames for move

UNHAPPY ARSENAL STAR MESUT OZIL PINES FOR OLD SIDE REAL MADRID

Arsenal star Mesut Ozil is furious with his dad Mustafa for forcing him to move to the club from Real Madrid last season. The player was taken to court by his dad after he sacked him as managing director of Ozil marketing GmbH, a

marketing company belonging to the 26-year-old star. According to Marca (spanish sport daily newspaper), Ozil is said to be missing Real Madrid every day, and wishes he could still be part of Carlo Ancelotti’s side, which ﬁnally achieved La Decima in his ab-

sence. His father tried to sue Ozil for around €630,000 but the pair eventually settled out of court. Ozil has been injured for several weeks and that will remain the case, with the player not due back until January.

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DAVID MOYES TURNED DOWN ENGLISH CLUBS TO MANAGE REAL SOCIEDAD IN LA LIGA BARCELONA’S MESSI BREAKS SPANISH LEAGUE’S ALL-TIME SCORING RECORD Lionel Messi has broken the Spanish league’s all-time scoring record, surpassing the previous 251-goal mark in Barcelona’s match against Sevilla Lionel Messi has broken the Spanish league’s all-time scoring record, surpassing the previous 251-goal mark in Barcelona’s match against Sevilla on Saturday. Athletic Bilbao’s Telmo Zarra set the milestone of 251 goals in 271 La Liga games from 1940-55. Playing in his 289th league game, the 27-year-old Messi ﬁrst equaled Zarra’s record in the 21st minute and then beat it in the 72nd at Camp Nou Stadium. The Argentine went on to get his hat trick in the 78th with his 253rd league goal giving Barcelona a 5-1 lead. Messi’s latest scoring feat comes after he equaled Raul Gonzalez as the Champions League all-time scorer with 71 goals earlier this month. Messi is Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer with 365 goals.

Former Manchester United manager David Moyes says he turned down offers from several English clubs when he opted for the challenge of leading Spanish league stragglers Real Sociedad At his ofﬁcial presentation by the Basque club on Friday morning, the 51-year-old Scot said he now hoped to turn around the Basque team’s fortunes as he did with Everton in the Premier League before his ill-fated nine months at United. Moyes said he had “never had any doubt” about joining Sociedad, which he saw as the biggest challenge of his career. “I’d had several offers to manage back in the Premier League, I’ve spoken to several clubs in different countries,” he said, declining to name the clubs concerned. “But the only place that has really tugged at the heartstrings and made me think this is the right club, has been Sociedad.” Now he will face the mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona in what he said was arguably “the best league in the world”. “La Liga has some of the best players and best coaches. I want to test myself against the best.” Sociedad sacked its last coach Jagoba Arrasate this month after just one win in their opening 10 league games. It then bounced back to beat current Spanish champions Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Sunday, which took it out of the relegation zone. Moyes said he was impressed with what he had seen of Sociedad’s players since arriving in its home city of San Sebastian on Wednesday, and

aimed to lead the club to be “better that what they are showing.” “I’m tough with them. I like to work hard... I like the challenge of getting the club to the top of the league. I don’t see any reason why I can’t do that,” he said. “I care more about winning than anything else. No matter what we do on the training ground, it is up the table we have to go.” Moyes was sacked by Manchester United in April after less than a season in charge as the side failed to qualify for the Champions League for the ﬁrst time since 1995. He enjoyed a broadly successful 11-year spell at Everton before taking over at United, but he has yet to win a major trophy as a coach. Real Sociedad has already had three British managers: Henry Lowe in the 1930s, John Toshack three times between 1985 and 2002, and Chris Coleman in 2007-08. Elsewhere British managers at top foreign clubs are relatively rare. “If I can come here and succeed then maybe it will make it easier for other managers to come and do the same,” Moyes said.

But the only place that has really tugged at the heartstrings and made me think this is the right club, has been Sociedad. David Moyes

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NADAL LEAVES HOSPITAL IN SPAIN AFTER SUCCESSFUL APPENDECTOMY OPERATION Rafael Nadal has been released from a Barcelona hospital, two days after undergoing surgery to remove his appendix. Nadal brieﬂy spoke to waiting media as he walked out of the Quiron Teknon hospital.

The tennis star attempted to play through suspected appendicitis last month. He tried to treat the condition with antibiotics before opting for surgery. Nadal’s appendix was removed on Monday using laparoscopy or key-hole surgery, a hospital statement

said. Doctors said Nadal could return to full training after about a month of post-operation recovery. Because of the surgery, Nadal missed the ATP Finals in London.

ROGER MAYWEATHER SAYS MANNY PACQUIAO HAS EARNED In an interview with Hustle Boss, Roger Mayweather was asked about his thoughts on Pacquiao’s last fight and the much talked about Mayweather vs Pacquiao match. Roger said he didn’t watch the Algieri fight but he heard about it, and Pacquiao deserves the fight because he had some good wins. Stating himself that “That’s one of the biggest fights that people talk about and that’s what its gonna be, so I think that fight should happen” He seemed to have said it with a different demeanor than I expected. Seem very calm and said everything with conviction. Seems like he really does want the fight to happen between Manny Pacquiao and his nephew Floyd Mayweather Jr. I’m not sure what this means yet, but it looks like the Mayweather camp is really changing their stance on this fight and it quite possibly can happen. Maybe its just wishful thinking, but either way it’s worth reporting. You heard it here first!

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