A question in the Spanish parliament last week about pensions bonuses for police officers has revealed that 115 of them are still receiving the top-ups for service during the Franco era regime. At least one of these are linked to atrocities and all of them have ties to a brutal regime that was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and other outrages. In Spain pensions are boosted by around 15% for...
THE Spanish Costas are largely dependent on tourism, not just from outside of Spain but also domestic travellers, in particular from places such as Madrid. However, there are concerns that many Madrileños are taking advantage of some unexpected free time to have an unplanned holiday on the coast – and possibly bringing the coronavirus with them. Coming up to the weekend Gandia, Denia, Torrevieja and...
VALENCIAN based supermarket giant Mercadona, now Spain’s largest in the sector, has announced plans to hire 2,000 new staff after posting strong profits in 2019. Sales hit 25.5 billion euros last year, an increase of 5%, while profits also rose by 5% to 623 million euros. Founder and President Juan Roig announced the figures on Tuesday and said that in 2020 he hopes to increase sales further to 26.5...
THREE people have been arrested in Pazos de Borben (Galicia), accused of selling weapons illegally on the black market. The authorities had been monitoring their place of work, a weapons repair shop, for a while after they became aware of a number of weapons coming into circulation illegally. The raid on the factory found a number of vacuum packed firearms hidden in a fake wall, detected by a sniffer dog....
THE Valencian Communities main fiesta, the Fallas festival, has been cancelled amid growing fears about the spread of the coronavirus. As non-essential large gatherings such as parties and sporting events are increasingly being cancelled or postponed it seemed inevitable that the Fallas, which involves millions of people, many of them travelling to the region, would be in danger. On Tuesday evening...
IN the period between 2014 and 2018 fifty people died in Spain as a direct result of taking “selfies”, according to a global report by digital marketing agency eStudio 34. Across the planet just under a third of the deaths were after falls from scenic but dangerous places such as cliffs, rivers, rocks and waterfalls. 16% died by climbing onto train tracks or touching electric cables when clambering to...
THERE are reports that three people, all males, have been arrested in the Canary Islands for the sexual assault and abuse of a child. The alleged events occurred on Monday morning in San Andres y Sauces, a small town in the northeast of the island of Las Palmas. The Guardia Civil are leading the investigation and no further details have been released at this...
A 58-yar-old man has been arrested after his mother, aged 87, died of severe head injuries in Madrid on Monday night (9 March). The incident happened in the largely affluent San Blas neighbourhood, home of the Atletico Madrid football team. The emergency services were informed at about 1.30am after local residents heard screaming from the apartment. They performed CPR on the victim but were unable to...
A factory worker has died in the Palencia province of Castile y Leon after being crushed by a dough kneading machine in the biscuit factory where he worked. The accident happened on Saturday at the Cerealto Siro company in Venta de Baños, the emergency coordination centre has confirmed. A co-worker phoned in the incident, saying his colleague was unconscious and badly injured. Ambulance crews attended the...
A football coach from Zaragoza (Aragon) has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for eight separate crimes of child abuse. The 41-year-old had appealed against the sentence, but the original conviction was upheld by the Aragon Supreme Court on Friday. The defendant coached children aged between 11 and 12 and also falsely claimed to be trained as a physical therapist. He used this pretence to spend time...