God help the world...

(BBC online)

USA (Opinion) ... if yet another Bush gets into the White House.

Mediterranean diet keeps people 'genetically young'

Spain's obesity index above European average, below UK and Ireland

SPAIN -- According to a report on research in the US, on BBC News Online by Health Editor Michelle Roberts, following a Mediterranean diet might be a recipe for a long life because it appears to keep people genetically younger. Several years ago, this diet was preponderant in Spain and, of course, other Mediterranean countries, including Southern France, Italy to a certain extent and in Greece. Since then the intrusion of fast food, mainly in the shape of US franchises (McDonalds, Burger King, etc. etc.) has caused an alarming increase in obesity in this country. The latest reliable figures (May 2014) show that over 24% of the population is considered obese, or just under the indicators, that is, well above the average levels for Western Europe (18.5%), or with France (15.6%), Italy (17.2%), Greece (17.5%), Germany (21.3%) or Portugal (21,6%). However, both the UK and Ireland, are above the European average at 24.9 and 24.5% respectively.

Junta to invest €1.1 million in Algeciras court services

The new buildings should be ready for use in three years

Main courthouse, Algeciras

ALGECIRAS -- The Junta's Councillor for Justice anmd the Interior, Emilio de Llera, announced recently that the Junta will be investing €1.1 million is updating the court services in the city. He confirmed that his department is studying the possibility of rehabilitating and expanding the building on Avenida Virgen del Carmen, which houses the Algeciras section of the Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial), with the idea of adding the Criminal Youth Courts, as well as the Youth Prosecution services and the Prison Vigilance service.The money would be found because rent would no longer have to be paid on the premises used for the above services on Calle Muñoz Cobos. The whole thing should be gradually completed in three years, added the Councillor, and would reduce to two the court services that are now spread out in four different locations.

Google News in Spain to close on December 16

Measure taken before a new intellectual property law is introduced on January 1

SPAIN -- Google will shut the service on 16 December before the law comes into effect in January, the firm said. The law allows Spanish publications to charge services like Google News if their content is shown on the site. But Google has argued against the ruling, saying that it makes no money from its search-based service"It's with real sadness that on 16 December we'll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain," said Richard Gingras, head of Google News in a blog post on Wednesday.

Made me cry ...

You may have seen this already, I only saw it yesterday.
Quizás ya lo hayas visto, yo lo vi ayer y se me saltaron las lágrimas
(Abajo hay una traducción al español.)

Dear Mom and Dad:

I died today. You got tired of me and took me to the shelter. They were overcrowded and I drew an unlucky number.

I am in a black plastic bag in a landfill now. Some other puppy will get the barely used leash you left. My collar was too dirty and too small, and the lady took it off before she sent me to the Rainbow Bridge.

Would I still be at home if I hadn’t chewed your shoe? I didn’t know what it was, but it was leather and it was on the floor. I was just playing. You forgot to get puppy toys.

Would I still be at home if I had been housebroken? Rubbing my nose in what I did only made me ashamed I had to go at all. There are books on obedience teachers that would have taught you how to teach me to go to the door.

Would I still be at home if I hadn’t brought fleas into the house? Without anti-flea medicine I couldn’t get them off me after you left me in the yard for days.

Would I still be at home if I hadn’t barked? I was only saying, “I’m scared, I’m lonely, I’m here, I want to be your best friend”.

Would I still be at home if I had made you happy? Hitting me didn’t make me learn how.

Would I still be at home if you had taken the time to care for me and to teach me manners? You didn’t pay attention to me after the first week or so, but I spent my time waiting for you to love me.

I died today.

Your loving puppy 

EN ESPAÑOL:

PA: San Roque has the highest Council taxes but gets no services

Council car tax, one of the lowest in the province

San Roque

SAN ROQUE -- On studying the Report on Local Taxes issued annually by the Confederation of Cádiz Businesses (CEC, Confederación de Empresarios de Cádiz), the Partido Andalucista (PA) says it once more reveals the deficiencies in the government of Mayor Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix regarding one the heaviest taxes paid by the town's citizens: the IBI (Impuesto de Bienes Inmuebles), or Council Tax. San Roque pays the second highest taxes in the province. "Not only do we pay more, but there are sections with high taxes that get no or very few municipal services," says a spokesperson. The answer from the town hall is that the luxury of Sotogrande and Alcaidesa makes them demand the second highest taxes in Cádiz.

Violence in Spanish football: a substitute for war?

Few incidents at Jimmy's funeral
Among the mourners, former Depor President

Former Depor President at funeral (c.)

MADRID (OPINION) -- As you are probably aware, a radical football fan (such a minimal word for this article) was beaten and killed last Sunday before the Atlético de Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña match at the Vicente Calderón stadium in Madrid. The fight that led to 46-year-old Francisco Javier Romero Taboada's death was between two groups of extremists: the Frente Atlético and Riazor Blues, both of which arrived at around 8.40 in the morning, having planned the 'event' well ahead via Twitter, What's App, Twenty and Facebook, among others. There were also some 10 hurt, and at least 20 people arrested at the time, and 30 more identified. So how, or why, did this happen?

Gibraltar Government plans 1500 flats

895 flats already allocated

Watergardens, Gibraltar

GIBRALTAR  -- With all flats at Mons Calpe Mews and Beach View Terraces now allocated, the government has said it is planning two further housing projects; the first opposite Watergardens and the second on the Eastside reclamation. In late 2011, the GSLP-Liberals promised the electorate they would provide hundreds of new homes at affordable prices if elected. Construction for their first two housing schemes is well underway and a total of 895 flats have already been allocated, including 477 three bedroom flats and 312 two bedroom flats. The housing waiting list guided allocation, with priority given to those on the list at the time of the last general election.

A year ago today, Madiba

Google 'loses' Córdoba Mosque

Church quietly takes over historical sites throughout the country

Breathtaking columned hall
of the Mosque

CÓRDOBA -- One of Spain's, and the world's, most visited sites, the Cathedral-Mosque in Córdoba, suffered the indignity of not being properly named by the world's most-used websites. Google Maps, who had called it the Cathedral-Mosque for years, 'downgraded' the fabulous building to a mere cathedral. The official title given it by Córdoba Council in the mid-1990s was changed. Uproar. A temple built by the Omeya Califate that became a Roman Catholic bishop's headquarters in 1239 went back to normal by Tuesday. Behind all this, though, is a much more important issue: for years the Church in Córdoba has been trying to have the word Mosque removed from its official title. In more recent documents, including posters and even access tickets (see photo below), the word has been eliminated, according to reports. This would simply erase an absolutely unique piece of universal architecture that brings together not only the art of Al-Andalus but also that of the Gothic period, the Rennaisance and of the Baroque. The Cathedral-Mosque was granted the title of World Heritage Site by UNESCO as far back as 1984.

Economy of Andalucía to grow by 1.8% in 2015

Domestic demand grows thanks to fiscal encouragement

Tourism numbers also in expansion

SEVILLE -- The analysis service of BBVA bank reported recently that the economy of the Andalucía Region will show growth of 1.3% by the end of this year and increase by 1.8% in 2015. This, according to Rafael Doménech, head economist of the Developed Economies department of BBVA Research, is within the context of general growth of the Spanish economy, which "is growing despite stagnation in the EuroZone." And according to a previous report, Situación Andalucía, issued during the first half of 2014, "the economy of Andalucía is expanding well ... and it is evident that it is in full recovery."

Duchess of Alba's inheritance valued at €3,000 million

• Main title is inherited by eldest son, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart
• Most of her riches are owned by the Casa de Alba Foundation and non-taxable

Duchess and Alfonso Díez
(hellomagazine.com)

SEVILLE -- Doña María del Rosario Cayetana Paloma Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Fernanda Teresa Francisca de Paula Lourdes Antonia Josefa Fausta Rita Castor Dorotea Santa Esperanza Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva Falcó y Gurtubay, better known as the Duchess of Alba, died just a few days ago (November 20). A few days before that she had been declared the third richest woman in Spain by Forbes Magazine, which calculated her fortune at the €3 billion, including property, farms, jewelry, art works, financial investments and unique items such as castles, palaces and fifty-one nobility titles. Her funeral was 'very intimate', according to reports. So now comes the matter of her heirs and their inheritance.

As we all know, inheritances are subject to inheritance taxes (in Spain: Impuesto de Sucesiones), which are direct, personal, subjective, payable immediately and on a progressive scale, according to one translation of the law. Transferring property in cases of mortis causa is not taxable.

Annual nationwide Food Bank campaign collects 140 million kilos

• Second annual Food Bank collection gets over 135 tons of donations in the Campo area
• 1700 Campo de Gibraltar volunteers helped exceed expectations

ALGECIRAS (Cádiz) The second edition of a national annual foodstuffs campaign was a resounding success this year. Held throughout the country over three days last weekend and organized at local levels by several different groups coordinated by the Banco De Alimentos Foundation, the total collected came to over 140 million kilos to be distributed among the needy. In the Campo de Gibraltar area alone there were some 30 collection points, principally at supermarkets where you were handed an empty plastic bag as you went in and asked to do the best you could.

Trauma unit at Algeciras hospital to be closed over holidays

Unions criticize the 'imposition'
Aimed at avoiding overtime and holiday pay

Punta de Europa Hospital

ALGECIRAS -- The Andalucía Health Service (SAS, Servicio Andaluz de Salud) has decided yet again to close the Trauma Unit at the Punta de Europa Hospital over the holidays -- from December 20 to January 9 -- ostensibly because there is usually little activity during this period. On enquiry, the district authorities (Área de Gestión Sanitaria del Campo de Gibraltar) pointed out that other units will be reinforced and beds will be reserved for use if necessary.

The CSIF union raised the alarm over the temporary closure, declaring that it rejected the measure that will lose 27 of the available beds. It pointed out that patients and staff will be transferred to the Surgery Department. This was rejected out of hand two years ago as the result of adverse reports from the Preventative Medicine that pointed out the 'potential risks' possible when two separate services were brought together on the same floor. Now, says the union, the decision is 'imposed' on them.

Spain is officially free of Ebola

WHO makes declaration 42 days after the second Spanish victim is released

Teresa Romero on release

MADRID -- Teresa Romero, who survived a critical bout of Ebola, left her hospital confinement 42 days ago this week, while the repatriated Medicins Sans Frontieres volunteer doctor who had pricked herself accidentally with a possibly contagious needle has tested negative. She is still in hospital but not quarantined. These and other factors have allowed the World Health Organization to officially declare Spain as free from the deadly virus.

New Health Minister for 'political strength'

• Former PP Parliamentary Spokesperson is a party man, close to Soraya
• No further changes in Cabinet planned, says PP

New Minister (r.) and predecessor
at hand-over

MADRID -- Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made the decision last Monday to include a party loyalist in his cabinet in substitution of Ana Mato, whose husband is under investigation in the Gürtel case and who resigned last week as a result. The new minister, Alfonso Alonso, was sworn in as Minister of Health, Social Policy and Equality  on Wednesday last. Alonso, 47, hails from Vitoria, Galicia, and is known to be politically close to Vice-President Soraya Sáenz de Santa María, whose power in the cabinet is thus increased. She was also instrumental in choosing the new Minister of Justice, Rafael Catalá when Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón resigned last month. The new man at Health

Alcaidesa Playa to get water supply at last

Problem has been around for a long time, takes denouncing to the media to get results

ALCAIDESA (Cádiz) The local newspaper of reference, Europa Sur, was told about a month ago that the problem of water supply to the Alcaidesa Playa area had not yet been sorted, after several years of contradictions between town halls, residents and the like. Apparently, the town hall had said that the urbanisation had not been officially 'received' in its enntirety at the time of handing it over to be provided with services. One of the problems with Alcaidesa is that the whole urbanization sits on the border of the municipalities of La Línea and San Roque, an opportunity for both to toss the ball into the other's court at the slightest provocation. This is presumably why Mancomunidad had to takle part in the matter. It may also do so, therefore, in other similar disputes that arise in the future.

Two dead, 36 arrested in anti-drugs operation on Chiclana beach

Storm capsizes launch as crew was unloading hash bales

(www.levante-emv.com)

CHICLANA (Cádiz) -- The first body beached last Sunday, The second turned up on Monday, but the dealers' schedule had planned to unload on Friday, which is when a big storm boiled up in the Straits and most of the province of Cádiz. In a lengthy press release, the Guardia Civil had the bodies as those of Moroccan nationality, who crewed one of four launches trying to drop their merchandise at the Sancti Petri beach in Chiclana. News of the accident had numerous people combing the beach searching for a part of the haul, resulting in the arrest of 36 people, most of whom are now released on bail. The GC did manage to grab a couple of tons of hash and arrest 3 people off the launches. The case is not yet closed.

Bilingual teaching improves Spanish

Study followed 244 students from four bilingual schools in Andalucía

ANDALUCÍA -- The headline is not a mistake. System Magazine, the International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, recently published an article in which it reported that it had followed written and spoken work by 244 13- to 17-year-old students for three years. The report concluded that being taught in English not only doesn't harm their usage of Spanish but does improve the development of their academic expressiveness. The study followed the development of the students' linguistic structure in one language (complex syntaxes and textual cohesion mechanisms) through three academic years, using the textual analysis system called Synlex. The data collected reflect the harmonious development of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) that appear in English texts. which are then put to use in Spanish. These conclusions contradict the extended opinion that developing profficiency in language hurts the development of others.

Topsy is safe now

Despite the fact that she has a changing but substantial number of dogs, Paula misses Topsy very much. After a frantic couple of days of searching and calling, she posted this on Facebook just a few minutes ago: "Topsy is in heaven! A friend was out cycling and found her body at the side of the lane about a half a kilometer away facing in the direction of home! We will never know what has happened but she looks very peaceful and I think it was quick!" She had a very happy life among all her friends down at the house...

Bhopal: Thirty years on -- and still seeking justice

(The Atlantic - Focus)

BHOPAL (India) -- History's worst industrial disaster happened on the night of December 2, 1984. That night, toxic gas had leaked from a factory run by Union Carbide India Ltd spreading fumes over a large residential area in Bhopal. The media in Spain and many other countries have reflected on the fact that justice has never been served for the people of Bhopal who suffered so very badly from the disaster. The Secretary General of Amnesty International, Salil Shetty, yesterday published a personal article on the subject. Pictures of the results are numerous, but a very good selection appears in The Atlantic. The fact that Union Carbide was taken over by another US company, Dow Chemical, largely, it was intimated, as a shield against multi-million dollar legal claims, makes no difference to the victims, mainly a relatively uneducated, non-powerful, almost-invisible population. It is also true that at the time, the Indian government held a non-controlling 49% interest in Union Carbide. Yet it has never lifted a financial finger to help its own countrymen, women and children.

Tech problems, clothes, laziness and apologies

We have been offline for about a week and only now, on Saturday evening of Jimena's Mushroom Days  (more on that tomorrow...) has out Internet connection been re-established. Also, had to attend yesterday's Black Friday sales at the Primark store in Algeciras - a whole afternoon's shopping  that nearly killed me, but am delighted and grateful to have been able to buy some new clothing for the first time in eight years (!).  And we've been lazy -- okay, I've been lazy. So apologies to all my readers on all counts. We'll be back in form by next Friday, trying to catch up with everything.

Fabian Picardo: Gibraltar vindicated over border queues

"Gibraltar’s cause in Europe was a marathon, not a sprint"

(gbc.gi)

GIBRALTAR -- In an interview on GBC, the Chief Minister said that the Gibraltar and UK Governments are absolutely vindicated in their approach to dealing with Spain’s border harassment. Reacting to the European Commission’s letter to Spain, which was sent last July but came to light on Monday, Fabian Picardo says he always maintained that fighting Gibraltar’s cause in Europe was a marathon, not a sprint, and believes they are now seeing results. Speaking to GBC, Mr Picardo said he now realises why Spain didn't want to publish the letter sent to it. He said the Commission hasn't let Gibraltar down, nor has it let Spain off the hook. Mr Picardo says it’s obvious that following that letter, sent to Spain last July, Spain is now clearly acting in a way designed to comply with the Commission’s recommendations, and we are now seeing works at the frontier to that effect. He also believes that, barring one or two incidents, we haven’t seen huge queues forming at the frontier compared to pre-July queues. (Source: GBC)

New York Times publishes article on La Almoraima sale

• "The government has learned nothing from the property bubble"
• La Almoraima stands in contrast to Marbella and the Costa del Sol

CASTELLAR -- The New York Times has been running a Sunday series on public lands all over the world. Last Sunday, the 16th, it published a whole page on the sale of La Almoraima titled 'In Public Land Sale, Not All of Spain Is Buying', the first couple of paragraphs say, "La Almoraima, a farming estate at the edge of a nature reserve, is prized by environmentalists. Home to one of Europe’s largest cork forests, it is a rare place where deer and boar roam wild within sight of the Rock of Gibraltar. The Spanish government, which owns the land, wants to sell it for as much as 300 million euros, or about $376 million, pitching it as a perfect spot for a luxury resort, including a five-star hotel, a small airport, two golf courses and a polo grounds." It's a very interesting article with a few factual errors (to be expected, alas), all of which you can read HERE. It's always a good idea to hear other opinions ... I might change mine, though probably not about this. 

Banks prepare 'Euribor Plus', the new reference rate for mortgages

• Estimated rates to be substituted by real ones
• Problems with setting rates into the future

EUROPE -- The scandals involving manipulation of several monetary rate indexes, in which some of the continent's largest banks were implicated, such as Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and RBS, who were fined some of the largest sums imposed by Brussels, have forced the European Commission to create a new standard rate for mortgages. Thus, the Euribor (Euro Interbank Offered Rate) will be substituted for what is for the time being is called Euribor Plus, which may well end up being the name used in future. Work continues on the new rating system, though it is still at an advanced planning stage. The four Spanish banks that are on the panel that contributes to set the Euribor interbank rate (BBVA, Santander, CaixaBank and CecaBank) have already been informed of how the new rate will be working, as have all the other banks making up the panel. The Euribor is the index that shows the interest rates at which banks lend to one another and is therefore used as the base for other loans, including mortgages.

In Spain, over 80% of the banks use the Euribor indicator, which is calculated at the estimated rates used daily among the 25 entities on the panel. In other words, the rate does not depend on the actual loans the bank makes, but rather on its estimates of what it will be charging that day, and is therefore subject to manipulation, as has been the case.

The Euribor Plus, however, will be based on the real lending rates used by the banks on the panel. It is supposed that this will make them less subject to manipulation. However, sources at financial entities say that one of the problems in calculating the new Euribor Plus is that operations are rarely set at any more than three months ahead, in the present inter-bank market, whereas mortgage rates are established for at least a year.

European Commission rebukes Spain over border queues

Deadline for finishing work by summer of 2015 'at the latest'

(www.telegraph.co.uk)

GIBRALTAR (from The Gibraltar Chronicle by Dominique Searle) In a stinging letter the European Commission has criticised Spain and given it the deadline of summer 2015 for the completion of its works at the frontier that are supposed to respond to the “unjustified” delays witnessed by a team of EU experts in September 2013. The move comes in a letter recently sent to the Madrid Government which also sets out new steps its expects to be taken to ease flow. It states that checks by the Spanish authorities on travellers should be “significantly reduced” and that Spain should work with the Gibraltar border authorities in relation to frontier reforms. The letter also details that the Commission last July offered to act as a conduit for two way information exchanges between Spain and Gibraltar on the basis of each side approving what information can be passed on.

OECD approves of Gibraltar's fiscal policy

• Madrid Stock Exchanges warns of 'financial beach huts'
• Minister of the Economy says a 'major step' has been taken on this 'vital subject

GIBRALTAR -- The Rock was busy congratulating itself recently about the approval given by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) for its new fiscal policies contained in a multilateral agreement on the automatic exchange of information about financial accounts held there. As might be expected, these policies are aimed at smoothing the image of Gibraltar as an offshore tax haven (or 'financial paradise', as the Spanish media call it) that is very difficult to shake off. While Chief Minister Fabian Picardo was slapping backs in Berlin, the Madrid Stock Exchange (CNMV in its Spanish acronym) was warning about the activities being carried out by what the media called a 'financial beach hut' (chiringuito has other connotations, too) operating on Gibraltar: Nova Nordic Limited, which is supposedly not permitted to offer any services on the Rock.

IUCN Red List: Global appetite for resources pushing new species to the brink

Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Chinese Pufferfish, American Eel, Chinese Cobra and an Australian butterfly are threatened with extinction

WORLD -- Fishing, logging, mining, agriculture and other activities to satisfy our growing appetite for resources are threatening the survival of numerous species, while the destruction of habitat has caused the extinction of a Malaysian mollusc and the world’s largest known earwig. The Red List of Threatened Species™ was released on Monday at the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Parks Congress taking place in Sydney, Australia. The IUCN Red List, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, now includes 76,199 assessed species, of which 22,413 are threatened with extinction. As nearly half of the newly assessed species occur within protected areas, IUCN calls for better management of these places to stop further biodiversity decline. “Each update of the IUCN Red List makes us realize that our planet is constantly losing its incredible diversity of life, largely due to our destructive actions to satisfy our growing appetite for resources,” says IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre. “But we have scientific evidence that protected areas can play a central role in reversing this trend. Experts warn that threatened species poorly represented in protected areas are declining twice as fast as those which are well represented. Our responsibility is to increase the number of protected areas and ensure that they are effectively managed so that they can contribute to saving our planet’s biodiversity.” (Photos below)

What will Spain be like in fifty years' time?

Fewer and older inhabitants, less births, more deaths

Population growth
(Huffington Post, España)
CLICK TO ENLARGE

MADRID -- The population of Spain has been falling steadily since 2012 and the future does not look rosy, according to a recent article in El País. Recent forecasts by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE in its Spanish acronym) show that the country will lose up to 1 million inhabitants over the next 15 years (total population on January 1, 2014: 46,507,760). If the demographic tendencies continue as they are, some 5,6 million people will have been lost over the next 50 years. That would take us back to the population of 2000, approximately. There are several consequences to that loss.

Fewer inhabitants

This would be the result of fewer births and more deaths. The economic consequences would be close to catastrophic: less tax money collected, so less money to take care of the older population (pensions, hospitalization, medical facilities, etc). This would bring about a significant downturn in purchasing power, which in turn would impact the country's entire economy.

Spaniards work 277 hours longer than Germans

• Number of working hours is not equal to work quality
• Spaniards 'sit around' doing very little

EUROPE -- The myth exists that Germans work harder than their equivalents in the Mediterranean but the numbers don't agree. Spaniards who are still lucky enough to still have a job in the first place, or those who have managed to reinvent themselves by becoming self-employed, work an average of 1,665 hours a year -- compared to the German average, about 300 hours below that. This is according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation) in its Better Life Index/Work-Life Balance latest report. However, Spain is not at the head of the world ranking for the longest hours. That is headed by such countries as Mexico, Korea and Chile. On the other hand, Germany and Holland have the lowest average annual working hours of all the OECD countries: between 1,350 and 1,450 hours.

Supreme Court to investigate Andalucía ex-Presidents Chaves and Griñán on ERE case

Other former top Junta councillors and many business people also involved

Manuel Chaves (l)
José Antonio Griñán (r)

SEVILLE -- Judge Mercedes Alaya sent documents about the ERE case in Andalucía to the Supreme Court in the belief that there may be a case to answer regarding bribery and malfeasance. Now the Court confirms that it needs to look into the case, that it sees the same indications of irregularities as the judge. Several politicians, former councillors and diverse business people are allegedly involved. While the case has been around for at least a year, the two top men of the PSOE and most of the rest of the impugned have managed to keep under the radar, mainly because they are aforados (with parliamentary protection). Manuel Chaves and others have asked to appear in court voluntarily. Griñán had not yet done so at time of writing. This case is likely to become a cause celèbre for the opposition PP party in Andalucía, as it is being accosted from all sides in large and significant corruption cases all over the country (Click on CORRUPTION in the sidebar cloud of labels to get the idea.). The PSOE party has refused to pay litigation costs for the pair or any of the others involved because 'they are innocent'. 

Children of the Recession: The impact of the economic crisis on child well-being in rich countries

Spain has lost a decade of advances in child protection

UNICEF -- In keeping with UNICEF's mandate to advocate for children in every country, the Centre's Report Card series focuses on the well-being of children in industrialized countries. Each Report Card includes a league table ranking the countries of the OECD according to their record on the subject under discussion. The Report Cards are designed to appeal to a wide audience while maintaining academic rigour. This report, the Innocenti Report Card 12, offers multiple and detailed perspectives on how the recession has affected children in the developed world. Official data have been used to rank the impact on children for countries in the European Union (EU) and/or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For each country, the extent and character of the crisis’s impact on children has been shaped by the depth of the recession, pre-existing economic conditions, the strength of the social safety net and, most importantly, policy responses.

Tax v Wages, comparatives world wide

Are the 'blue' countries real tax havens?

WORLD -- Just before you decide to pack your bags and head for another country -- maybe those in light blue on the maps -- perhaps thinking that these are real tax havens (nicely put in Spanish: 'fiscal paradises'), you should know that the minimum wages in many of those countries are well below the line when taxes must be paid. One example is Brazil, where the average salary is €6,969.91 per annum, just below the €7,046.85 when you start paying. This phenomenon is especially prevalent in countries where large parts of the population have very low incomes. If you want to know how the data was collected and used to create the maps, go to Movehub. In the meantime, we have more of their maps below (in all cases, you can click to enlarge).

Forty charged in Tráfico false documentation case

Two notaries, several 'gestorías' involved

(voxpopuli.com)

SEVILLE -- In a press release, the Guardia Civil's Tráfico unit has announced that they charged forty people on false public documentation issues. Among them are buyers and sellers of vehicles, notaries, gestores, and others. Investigations began ten months ago when the GC GIAT unit noticed certain irregularities in the information received in various documents presented online and at the Tráfico centres of the province. For example, vehicle transference documents carried the names of people who had died some six months before the documents' dates. Bills didn't look right either in many cases, as did documents regarding representation rights. Two notaries were charged because it was proved that people on the documents had never been seen by them, therefore the signatures had to be false. All those imputed in these cases have appeared before magistrates and we will be reporting on the outcome as soon as information is available.

New collective bargaining negotiations set the longest official daily working hours in 12 years

Salary increases stay the same as last year: 0.56%

MADRID -- Negotiations between unions and the employers' collectives have not recovered since the introduction of controversial new labour laws by the PP government. Official statistics show that there were 1,319 agreements signed over the first nine months of the year, only 100 more than last year and the worst since the crisis began. One of the principal inducements aimed at renewing the contracts was the so-called 'ultra-activity' clause in the law that kept current existing but outdated contracts, until a new one had been negotiated. Experts point out that the daily working hours rose by 30 annual hours for 2014, or 1,756 hours, compared to the same period last year, and the longest since 2002. Negotiations centred on new contracts starting on January 1, 2015, have fixed the annual working hours at 1,825, according to the Ministry of Employment. The Autonomous Communities with the longest work day:

Parents charged with son's absenteeism

• Couple faces 'family abandonment' charges for son's continuous non-schooling
• Local Police duties include combating truancy

LA LÍNEA (Cádiz) -- Local Police recently made the first charges for school absenteeism of the current school year. The parents of a boy who was not attending school on a regular basis were charged with 'family abandonment' (translatable to 'neglect of parental duty' in UK terms) and are due to appear in court when the Children Protection Prosecutor in Cádiz studies the case. The Law of Legal Protection of Minors establishes that any person or authority is aware that a minor is not being scholarised, or is continually absent during class time in a school period, and is between during the obligatory school ages of 6 to 16, is obliged to report it to the competent authority (Local Police, School, Council). One of the Local Police's duties is to try to locate and identify a child who is on the streets without the knowledge or consent of its parents or school.

Forty charged in Tráfico false documentation case

Two are notaries, several gestorías involved

Jefatura de Tráfico, Sevilla

SEVILLE -- In a press release, the Guardia Civil's Tráfico unit has charged forty people on false public documentation issues. Among them are buyers and sellers of vehicles, notaries, gestores, and others. Investigations began ten months ago when the GC GIAT unit noticed certain irregularities in the information received in various documents presented online and at the Tráfico centres of the province. For example, vehicle transference documents carried the names of people who had died some six months before the documents' dates. Bills didn't look right either in many cases, as did documents regarding representation rights. Two notaries were charged because it was proved that people on the documents had never been seen by them, therefore the signatures had to be false. All those imputed in these cases have appeared before magistrates and we will be reporting on the outcome as soon as information is available.

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, Duchess of Alba, dies at 88

• Descended from King James II of Britain
• 14 times Grandee of Spain

(www.abc.es)

SEVILLE -- The family of the Duchess of Alba announced her passing this morning. She had been under medical care for a respiratory infection believed to be pneumonia. The most-titled person in the world, known as the representative of Spanish aristocracy, died at 88 at her home in Seville, the Dueñas Palace, where she had asked to be taken from the intensive care unit last Tuesday. This was the second time Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, as she was known to the media not wishing to repeat her main title, had been admitted to hospital in the last couple of months. A descendant of King James II of Britain through his bastard son James Fitz-James, who was born to his lover Arabella Churchill, the 18th Duchess of Alba held 7 Dukedoms, 1 Count-Dukedom, 19 Merquessates, 22 Countcies, 1 Viscountcy, and 1 Manorial title, according to Wikipedia. She was recently named the third richest woman in Spain on the Forbes Rich List. 

The sexiest man alive

HOLLYWOOD (USA) People magazine today named their choice for Sexiest Man Alive 2014. Anyone who knows anything about these things will immediately recognise Chris Hemsworth, of whom there are more pictures below the 'fold line'. The magazine says that he continues to smite bad guys as a hammer-wielding Norse god in The Avengers, will fight off a terrorist hacker in Michael Mann's upcoming cyber thriller, Blackhat, and battle a whale in Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea, but there was no contest when it came to naming Aussie Chris Hemsworth this year's Sexiest Man Alive. The actor, 31, thought it was "pretty funny" when he first heard the news – as did his wife, Spanish model Elsa Pataky, 38, whom he wed in 2010 and with whom he has a young daughter and twin sons.

Jimena Mushroom Days coming up very soon

JIMENA (Cádiz) What I've called Mushroom Days for a few years now (and more formally known as Mycology Workshops, approximately) are scheduled to take place on the weekend of November 28, 29 and 30 in their 17th year (!). People come from all over Spain -- and these days from other places in Europe: I met five Hungarians looking for wild mushrooms the other day -- to take part in a full programme of mushroom-related activities (no, don't ask about anything hallucinogenic, they're not in on this deal) including field trips, sorting, lectures, etc. Most of the bars and restaurants will be offering mushroom-based tapas and dishes. This year's crop promises greatness, according to the experts, so if you're a wild mushroom fan, this is your time of year. (See the whole programme HERE)

Wonderful work from former Jimena resident

Edy with one of her paintings

JIMENA (Cádiz) Edy Gosselin used to live in Jimena quite some time ago. She has a grandchild living here. Aside from the fact that she was a lovely person, she was an extraordinary painter. If you go to the page I probably invited you to Like (https://www.facebook.com/edygosselin?fref=ts) and go to the Pictures section, you will see the vast range of her talent -- from fabulous portraits to delicious abstracts. (I am very lucky: she has given us permission to use her paintings as illustrations here and on SpainInformer when it goes live.)

Leaders of the world: you MUST do better against Ebola

"Let's not allow the world leaders to
turn their backs on it"

BRISBANE (Australia) -- The G20 summit meeting  is taking place right now. This is why Save The Children, Oxfam, Plan España and Amnesty International Spain, among others, are urging the world leaders of the 20 richest countries put aside the resources necessary to battle Ebola with greater speed and efficiency. Some 166,000 signatures have already been gathered.
You can get full information and sign the petition here: http://www.savethechildren.net/ebola. It will take you just a few seconds, please do it.

Princess is charged in corruption case and asked to resign dynastic rights

Husband Iñaki Urdangarín is main suspect in the Noòs case

Duke and Duchess of
Palma de Mallorca

MADRID -- When King Felipe IV gave his address when he was proclaimed King, he asked his subjects for transparency and exemplarity. At the time, his sister, the Infanta Cristina, and her husband Iñaki Urdangarín were immersed in a case of corruption. The princess had not yet been impugned in the Noòs case, but the investigative judge decided to do so last month on the grounds that she knew her husband, the Duke of Palma de Mallorca, had been hiding money offshore, and other such charges. Now, King Felipe IV has asked his sister to give up her dynastic rights (she is sixth in line to the throne), which would not affect the couple's four children, who will take one step in the royal hierarchy. Princess Cristina had been asked to take this step by her father, King Juan Carlos I, when the case first came to light, but she refused.

Spanish winds for British energy

Takes up twice the surface of the city of Bilbao

(ecofriend.com)

WEST OF DUDDON SANDS (UK) -- Spanish energy giant Iberdrola put the company's offshore wind farm at West of Duddon Sands into operation on October 30. Iberdrola Renovables bought control of ScottishPower Renewables back in 2011 in the largest purchase in the company's history. According to the Iberdrola Renovables website, "Located approximately 20km off the Barrow-in-Furness coastline in North West England, the wind farm covers a total area of 67km², has 108 Siemens turbines with 3.6MW unit capacity and has also seen more than 200 km of undersea cables installed. With an investment of €2 billion, this offshore wind facility developed by Iberdrola, through its subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, in a joint-venture with Dong Energy was commissioned more than two months ahead of schedule."

Interpol issues arrest orders for former Franco ministers

20 people wanted for crimes committed during dictatorship

Martín Villa in times gone by

MADRID -- Interpol has issued 'very urgent' preventative arrest petitions for 20 people wanted by Argentine judge María Servini de Cubría for crimes committed during the Franco regime. The request is for their extradition to Argentina, under the Universal Law principle of international legislation. The order includes two former ministers in the 1970s: José Utrera Molina and Rodolfo Martín Villa, who said on Wednesday that he wants to appear in court to defend himself. It also includes other ex-ministers as well as retired policemen, judges and others.

However, it is unlikely that they will actually be extradited, although the Audiencia Nacional (National High Court) can have them arrested until extradition proceedings are completed. More likely, though, is that they might be put under a lenient house arrest, for instance, with periodic face-showing visits to the court and their passports removed.

Nice piece of property, only $65,000,000

More lovely properties on Christie's Great Estates for Sale, which features this
one at Dar Olfa, Morocco's most exclusive enclave.
(This is not an ad --wish it were-- just a fascination.)

The most pet friendly airlines

Guide and rescue dogs can travel free in the cabin regardless of size

MADRID -- There are some 16.1 million pets in Spanish homes, about 50% of them all but less than other countries. Nevertheless, pet ownership is on the increase (you wouldn't believe it with the amount of stray cats and dogs about), so the tourism industry has had to adapt to the circumstances. So the flight-booking website eDreams.es has rated the pet-friendliest among the top ten airlines. The top three happen to be Spanish, while EasyJet and RyanAir do not allow pets at all, except for guide and rescue dogs. See for yourself:

Is buy-to-let a good investment in Spain?

Financial crisis increases renting over buying

SPAIN -- (by Fuster & Associates) Buy-to-let is an incredibly popular investment method in the UK but it has still not fully caught on in Spain. This has been due largely to the Spanish rental laws which have historically been extremely rigid as well as the propensity for the Spanish to purchase their homes rather than rent which has held back demand. However, this could be set to change with the Spanish press revealing that the government is considering further changes to rental laws in order to provide flexibility. There are also currently very attractive rental yields with residential property offering 5.3% annual yields, well above returns available on government bonds and savings accounts. On top of this the current economic situation in Spain with low wages and a relatively high earnings to property price ratio mean that more Spaniards are being forced to consider the rental option. This rise in demand coupled with further changes in the law which would provide security against defaulting tenants could be the catalysts for a buy-to-let boom.

Famous architect Santiago Calatrava in trouble (again)

Castellón Convention Centre contract irregularities under judicial investigation

Never got off the drawing board

CASTELLÓN -- Castellón, home to the largest unused airport in the world (probably -- see Who's who in PP's largest corruption cases), does not have a convention centre designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava. He was the sweetheart architect at the time that people like Francisco Camps were in government, but Camps and plenty of others got into trouble for corruption. Now a judge is charging Calatrava with irregularities in the contracts pertaining to the convention centre that never got built, for which the architect received €2.7 million. Not that he hasn't been in trouble before.Santiago Calatrava has a long list of litigation behind him.

How many women are on the Forbes Rich List?

The richest Spanish women's wealth amounts to €24,125 million

L to R: Sandra Ortega, Emilia Botín,
Duchess of Alba

SPAIN -- The annual Forbes Rich List, in its Spanish variant and in the worldwide version, is predominantly male. There are only eight women on the worldwide list of the 50 richest people, mostly heiresses and their families (Christy Walton & family, Alice Walton, Liliane Bettencourt & family, Jacqueline Mars, Laurene Powell Jobs & family, Anne Cox Chambers, Gina Reinhart and Christy Walton & family, Alice Walton, Liliane Bettencourt & family, Jacqueline Mars, Laurene Powell Jobs & family, Anne Cox Chambers, Gina Reinhart and Suzanne Klatten. In order to create the Spanish Rich List, the magazine studies two basic sources: the Companies Registry through its Informa private data bank and the Stock Exchange Commission, both in Madrid. It does not count fortunes in jewelry or personal properties, nor bank accounts. The ten richest women in Spain are (in order of wealth):

Forbes Rich List 2014: Amancio Ortega is 4th richest man in the world

Follows closely behind Bill Gates ($82.5B), Carlos Slim ($78.9B) and Warren Buffett ($71.1), with €47.6 billion

(www.libremercado.com)

SPAIN -- The world's richest retailer, Galician Amancio Ortega, 78, came down one place since 2013 Forbes Rich List. Never mind, he just added €5.6B to his fortune since last year, slightly less than the rest of the list. According Forbes - there are several calculations around - he is some €21.31B ahead of himself since 2012. Ortega is best known for Inditex's Zara brand (and Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, Tempe, and Uterqüe, among others) but he also owns 26 buildings around the world, including the iconic Torre Picasso in Madrid (where Google is a tenant). The son of a railway worker in his adopted A Coruña, Galicia, home, he and his deceased wife Rosalia Mera, with whom he had two children, Sandra and Marcos, began by making dressing gowns and lingerie in their living room. As a teenager he worked as a gofer for a shirt store. He is now married to Flora Pérez Marcote, with whom he has another daughter, Marta. Amancio Ortega also owns some 26 buildings, many of which he bought at rock bottom prices as a result of the crisis. He stepped down from the top job at Inditex in 2011 but still owns almost 60% of the stock.