COMING SOON TO A DEVICE NEAR YOU!

See Cádiz with your mobile

CÁDIZ -- One of the loveliest cities in Spain, and not one that is overcrowded with visitors, is the capital of the province of the same name. A new app is available as a 'tour guide' that will show you places off the usual routes. Called Geoexperiencias, it is based on the GPS system and you get the information as you are living them, right on the street. Available for Android as well IOS, it is aimed at local inhabitants as well as to tourists. Created as a joint project by Seis6 and Isoluciona, with the cooperation of Natures and Enreda, as well as the availability of vast photographic data from Diario de Cádiz, it was co-financed by an EU social fund for young developers, Intercooperación Empresarial en la Economía Social. For the moment, it is available only in Spanish, but translations into other languages, including English, are in process.

Islamic State (IS) prepare for attacks in Spain

(dailysignal.com)

MADRID -- The Guardia Civil and the National Police report that IS cells (what the heck IS its name??) have been preparing for a number of kidnappings in the country, in order to finance themselves and obtain big headlines -- a common objective throughout the world for this lot. The report comes about as the result of a number of important arrests made in Melilla (one of two Spanish enclaves on the Nort African coast, the other being Ceuta), where several Yihadists (as is the preferred usage in Spanish) were taken into custody. Until recently, these cells had been involved mainly in proselytising, indoctrinating and recruitment among the Islamic community in Morocco and Algeria. They also carried out financing operations, transferring money throughout the Islamic world, included among which are operations for the March 11, 2004 attacks in Madrid and those of London a year later.//The cell that was dismantled in Melilla last week was being watched since May. It was a group of six men under instructions from Syria and Iraq by one Zakaria Said Mohammed, a former professional soldier trained in explosives. The Melilla group had a mountain of information on its computers, which were taken away and thoroughly examined.

Your questions: Do I need an Energy Certificate when buying from a bank?

Q: I am about to buy an apartment from a bank. Should I ask for an Energy Certificate? And do I need one to sell or rent it?

A: An Energy Certificate (Certificado Energético) is obligatory to all proprietors and therefore, also to financial entities, including Sareb ('The bad bank') and all official agencies wanting to sell or rent a property. The Certificate must be presented when completion at the Notary is signed or at the time of signatures for a rental contract. Also, the property must have its current Energy Certificate when it is advertised for sale or rental, including//on estate agents’ website and other advertising.

Drug shortage uncovers large fraud in over 100 pharmacies

MADRID -- A sudden shortage of medication for treating cancer or against rejection in transplants, and treatments against leukaemia and epilepsy, has uncovered an illegal sales scheme by pharmacists all over the country. The police have been investigating over one hundred pharmacies in 14 autonomous regions for a year, centering it on the fact that several expensive medicines, provided by the government and among the most expensive, were being removed from the official, legal circuit, and prescribed in the normal way by doctors. The medicines were being bought by distribution companies at prices well below the norm and then sold on to companies or individuals abroad, where they obtained up to three times the cost in Spain. The illegality lies simply in the fact that pharmacies are not allowed to sell any medication to anyone other than patients, and most of it under prescription. The Spanish pharmacists' organization says the case is 'mostly residual' and it had to "defend the other 99% of our members," according to the President of the College of Pharmacists of Zaragoza, where the scam was first detected. There are some 22,000 chemists (farmacias) in Spain, and by no means are they all implicated in this fraudulent practice. Chemists and/or companies abroad involved include several in Germany, Holland and the UK, among others.

The shame of Spain: Thalidomide victims get no compensation

Patients hearing the bad news

MADRID --The Provincial Court of Madrid has decided to annul the indemnization to victims of the Thalidomide scandal of the 1950s, who had been claiming between €155 and €204 million (depending on which source you choose) from the manufacturers, the German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal and UCB Laboratories. All over the world, Thalidomide was well proven to be the cause of serious malformation in the womb, although for a number of years it was prescribed as a 'safe' medicine for pregnant women. Also all over the world, victims have been compensated with varying amounts, but this Madrid court's sentence says that the matter had prescribed. It added that the association of Thalidomide victims, called Avite (Asociación de Víctimas de la Talidomida en España), which presented their case to

There are 2,826,000 children living below the poverty line in Spain

Alberto Di Lolli / Ana del Barrio

MADRID (EFE) -- Strange though it may seem, a lot of expats don't know that Save the Children has a branch in Andalucía. The NGO works in 120 countries, so it isn't very surprising that there's a need for them in one of the poorest areas of this country, Andalucía. With recent news about Malala Yousafzai winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize, which she shares with Kaylash Satyarthi, also a defender of the poorest children, below are some of the facts for Spain and Andalucía, according to various sources, but especially a recent report by UNICEF:

Spain loses billions on tax evasion and errors

MADRID -- According to Brussels in a study published last week by the European Commission, Spain lost €12,400 million (that's over 12 billion!) in IVA (VAT) income -- a full 18% of what the national coffers should have received. This is caused mainly by tax evasion, but also by company bankruptcies, statistical errors and tax avoidance. Nevertheless, the difference is nearly 4% lower than last year. The EU in total, did not ingress some €177 billion through fraud or simply unrecovered. This is 16% of the income it had forecast.//Since 2012, the countries registering lower VAT loss levels were The Netherlands (at 5%), Finland (5%) and Luxembourg (6%). The biggest gaps between projected income and the reality were registered in Romania (44%), Slovakia (39%) and Lithuania (36%). Among the EU's largest members, the VAT gap: Germany (10%), France (15%) Italy (33%) and the UK (10%). The European Commission is presently working on a 'basic reform' of the VAT system to give it "more solidity and efficiency and to reduce its vulnerability against fraud," according to Algirdas Semeta, the Commissioner for Fiscal matters.

New store for British products opens in Pueblo Nuevo

(europasur.es)

PUEBLO NUEVO (San Roque, Cádiz) -- British expats will be delighted to know (if they don't already) that the much-awaited Overseas shop opened its doors to the public last week. Behind the official name, is a Spanish chain that has 15 establishments throughout the country. Overseas, is a franchise belonging to a locally resident British couple that will be employing some 15 people. The opening ceremony last week was presided by the Mayor of San Roque, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, and the Councillor for the Guadiaro Valley, Juan Roca. Located on Avenida Sierra Bermeja, the main street in Pueblo Nuevo, it is aimed at catering to the 10,000 foreigners living in the area. The shop will be offering products from the Iceland and Waitrose stores available in Britain. We are told that they are looking for a large storage facility in the area.

Competition authorities to fine car dealers for price fixing

MADRID -- The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC, Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) has recently advised car dealers (Audi, Seat, Volkswagen, Skoda, Nissan, Toyota, Land Rover, Hyundai and Opel, so far) that it intends to fine them for alleged anti-competition practices in the retail market. An investigation that began in June 2013 revealed that they had all agreed not to discount their vehicles for more than 4%, in what the report says was a 'sort of non-aggression pact' that is against competition legislation. The organization considers it proven that the manufacturers' distribution network took part in an organised system whereby concurrent prices were avoided within

Good news about 'Cláusula Suelo' or Ground Clauses in Mortgages

MADRID -- The Supreme Court has dismissed eight mortgage contracts that included Ground Clauses -- the controversial Cláusula Suelo that caused much unease last year among property owners on a mortgage loan (See Defining Cláusula Suelo) -- thus rejecting the bank's argument that the contracts were read at the Notary's office on signing the contract. However, the Court decided that the entity (Caja Segovia, now part of Bankia) breached its duty of transparency by not explaining the clauses properly to its customers taking out a mortgage. There are several other legal matters that have yet to be resolved in this case, about which we will be reporting as soon as they are. If you have a cláusula suelo in your mortgage contract, you would be well advised to contact the bank that holds it, or better still, contact your lawyer, who will explain things clearly and tell you what you can do to get it invalidated.

Pope Francis: "Corruption is worse than sin"

ROME -- At a meeting of the International Association of Criminal Law, the new Argentine Pope, Francis, in the course of a speech centering on how crime impacts the Church's mission of evangelicalism and promotion of humanity,  He told his audience, "The scandalous concentration of global riches is possibly caused by the connivance between political power and other strong powers, especially that afforded by money. Corruption itself is a process of death and worse than a sin. It is an ill that, more than forgive it, it must be cured." At the same time, the Pope also reminded his audience of the need to adopt legal and political instruments that don't fall prey to the 'mythological logic of the scapegoat', by which he means, according to several interpreters, that individuals are accused unjustly of the ills that befall a community and are therefore sacrificed with jail terms, say, or even death.

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

MADRID -- Negotiations between unions and the employers have not recovered their rhythm since the controversial new labour laws introduced 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, the worst since the crisis began. One of the principal inducements aimed at renewing the contracts was the so-called 'ultraactivity' clause in the law that kept going contracts that had run out, until a new one had been agreed. Nevertheless, experts agree point out are the daily working hours that have been agreed so far. These rose by 30 annual hours for 2014, or 1,756 hours, compared to the same peiod last year, and the longest since 2002. Negotiations with salaried personnel unions, with new contracts starting on January 1, 2015, have fixed the annual working hours at 1,825, according to Ministry of Employment. The Autonomous Communities with the longest work day are:

They use a naked woman to promote fruit

Tweet emitted by Cinco al Día

MADRID -- A non-profit organization, Cinco al Día (Five a Day), sent out a Tweet showing how they were painting a naked woman at the international Fruit Attraction exhibition last week. The painted model paraded around the 26,000 m2 exhibition hall, Ifema, to the astonishment (delight?) of visitors and most of the representatives of over 800 international exhibitors. Cinco al Día, which has received considerable support from the government and the EU in the past, was soon under fire from several women's organizations, understandably. There have been plenty of comments on the social media, even a petition to the Ministry of Agriculture. This Ministry claimed to know nothing about the intention of Cinco al Día, and called it 'abhorrent'.

Updated official Spanish dictionary now accepts tuit, hacker, chat, SMS, 'bloguero', 'USB' and more

MADRID -- Not everyone is ecstatic at the invasion of new words, particularly from the English, worming their way into Spain's official dictionary. But that always happens at the Real Academia Española de la Lengua, defender to the death of the Spanish language ('to the death' because you're honoured with membership until you die). It's taken thirteen years for the new version to appear with almost 5,000 new entries and over 22,000 modifications to existing ones. This, the 23rd edition, appeared in its paper version on Thursday, October 16, and was presented to King Felipe VI on the following day.//The Academy's greatest challenge was to get up to date with the language of computers, IT and the Internet -- most of which are originally English, of course. This after all, is the only Spanish-speaking country that uses the word ordenador instead of computadora for 'computer'. Computadora was first used for 'calculator'. But then, there are very many Spanish words used almost exclusively in Latin America (some 19,000). Here are some of the new words accepted by the RAE (with a daring bit of translation or interpretation):

All 15 Spanish banks pass ECB stress tests

MADRID -- With one minor exception, the Spanish banks passed the regular stress tests set by the European Central Bank, and they will not be needing an injection of capital. Good news for all, except for one of the smallest in the country, Liberbank, which came just below the mark with a deficit that has already been covered (See chart, click to enlarge). At the top of the list is another small entity, Kutxabank, followed by Bankinter and Bankia, the latter having received multi-millions in help not that long ago, and being in the midst of a row about directors' 'do-as-you-like' credit cards. Among other things resulting from the tests, the ECB has requested all of Spain's banks to get ready for a third recession -- just in case, of course. The Governor of the Bank of Spain, Luis María Linde said at the press conference preceding the presentation of the tests results, "The results allow us to think that, even though the Spanish banking sector is facing many challenges in the short and medium term [including convergence towards a new regulatory and supervisory framework, and complex economic environment that could affect their profitability], our country's financial entities face a future in good condition."  (See chart below)

Pig slaughter coming up

SPAIN -- From November to February, thousands of fattened pigs are slaughtered in Spain on family farms, sometimes even in village homes. With a knife, as always, and with the animal squealing and struggling until it bleeds to death. It is a rural tradition that goes back a long way, but has nothing to do with Christmas, as some misinformed people believe. It appears St. Martin is honoured like that, as on this day is when most of the killing goes on.  An old saying goes: A cada cerdo le llega su San Martín  (Every pig gets its St. Martin's Day -- November 11 -- or, cutting the saint out of it, Everyone gets their comeuppance.)

Tarifa is awaiting its Duke, with a German accent

Marcos de Hohenlohe-Langenburg,
one of the heirs

TARIFA (Cádiz) -- Following the death on August 18 of the Duchess of Medinaceli, Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Henestrosa, Grandee of Spain and Duchess of Tarifa (plus a host of other titles), there is now a vacancy at the head of the Duchy, according to the official State Bulletin (Boletín Oficial del Estado, better known as BOE). The title, which was created in 1882 by King Alfonso XII, has been requested, as required by constitutional law, by her grandsons, Pablo and Marco de Hohenlohe y Medina. The official announcement gives thirty days for them, and anyone else, to apply for the title and show why it should be granted to one or the other. Doña Victoria Eugenia (named after her godmother Queen Victoria Eugenia, wife of King Alfonso XIII, who was her godfather) at various times inherited 9 titles of Duchess, she was 19 times a Marquise, 19 times a Countess and 4 times a Viscountess, all in her own right as women can, and do, inherit titles directly. She was also 14 times a Grandee of Spain, thanks to many of her titles.

There are 2,826,000 children living below the poverty line in Spain

MADRID (EFE) -- Strange though it may seem, a lot of expats don't know that Save the Children has a branch in Andalucía. The NGO works in 120 countries, so it isn't very surprising that there's a need for them in one of the poorest areas of this country, Andalucía. With recent news about Malala Yousafzai winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize, which she shares with Kaylash Satyarthi, also a defender of the poorest children, the facts for Spain and Andalucía are as follows, according to various sources, but especially a recent report by UNICEF:

Did you put your clock back an hour last night?

A REMINDER: If you haven't done that yet, now's a good time to do it... Just set it/them back an hour. Oh, don't forget the one in the car, and make sure to check computers and smart phones, etc...