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...