Processed foods contain an increasing amount of salt

MADRID – OCU, the principal Spanish consumer organization, recently carried out a study that revealed the presence of salt in 209 processed food items, and that the amount increases considerably since the previous such study in 2010: 6% on average. In only four years.  An excess in salt intake on a daily basis can lead to serious health problems, as we are told constantly. Among other things, and quite likely, according to the medical profession, is high blood pressure, which in turn can lead to  number of other complications. The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN in its Spanish acronym), points out that Spaniards consume double the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended amount, which is 5 grams for the general population. The study also reveals that 75% of the amount of salt we eat comes from processed foods.

Rescued Spanish potholer joked while down a 400m fall

(El Mundo)

LIMA (Perú) Cecilio López-Tercero, who was rescued last Tuesday, September 30, after 12 days down a hole he had been exploring not far from the capital of the country, now lies in the Clínica Angloamericana de San Isidro, in Lima, kept his sense of humour during the enormous effort carried out in order to get him out of there after a 400 metre fall. He is expected to return to Madrid as soon as the doctors say he can travel -- his family and the 60 rescuers and fellow potholers who travelled to Perú to help are eagerly awaiting him. He broke a vertebra during the fall, but other injuries are only minor. Among the things he said was, "See? I told you I could go down further!" Members of his potholing club, called Geoda, said that he had also written a letter 'to the world' about his rescue, thanking them and many others for the effort. Now the club is trying to sort out travel arrangements for them all. (Original source: El Mundo)

Paco de Lucía, the next Madrid Metro station

MADRID – Spain’s most revered flamenco guitarist of the last 60 years, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack last year, playing with his grandchildren on the beach at his home in Mexico, will be remembered in the nation’s capital. A new Metro (Underground ) station will be named after him. Aside from travellers hearing the musician’s name when the station is announced, they will see a giant mural. The work, titled Entre Dos Aguas, Paco’s most popular piece, by two urban artists, will dominate a great hall with a mixture of the abstract style of Rosh33 with the geometric of Okuda. It is some 300 square metres in size, of which the artists say, “We have tried to evoke a universe of truth with stars and spheres representing the planets. Paco’s eyes are universes that tend toward the infinite.”

Abusive practices by some car rental companies

MADRID – In cooperation with the British consumer organization Which?, one of Spain’s several similar organizations, Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios (better known by the acronym OCU), put together a campaign to denounce practices by part of the car rental business that are not in line with current legislation. The campaign was launched in mid-June, in time for the tourist season, these business peak time in Spain. One of these, according to OCU, is that some Rent-a-Cars oblige the customer to buy a full tank of petrol, without giving any details as to its price in the original offer, neither from the company nor in the final rental contract itself. Some of them who do show this detail charge for petrol at well over the market price.

Qatar finances Islamic terrorism as well as Barcelona F.C.

BARCELONA – The Emirate of Qatar is a very small country, but extremely rich. It finances Islamist extremism in Libya, Syria and Iraq (as far as we know) yet maintains close relationships with some of the world’s largest enterprise. Earlier this year, Germany’s Minister for the Economy and Development, Gerd Müler, accused Qatar of financing and arming Islamic State (or whatever anyone settles on calling these appalling terrorists). In the presence of Angela Merkel, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, stated “I have never and will never support terrorist organisations.” We don’t really know what the Emir considers a terrorist organisation, of course, but it is well known that he finances the groups that are fighting against Al Assad in Syria, that he harbours and finances the top echelon of Hamas, which the UN considers a terrorist organisation. Merkel said she ‘no reason to doubt’ the Emir’s words. As might be expected, in public the two talked about their mutual interest in strengthening the financial relationships between their countries.

Paedophile arrested, Madrid breathes easy

Antonio Ángel Ortiz Martínez

CIUDAD LINEAL (MADRID) – This section (barrio) of Madrid had been living the nightmare that is all too common these days: fear for the safety of their children. A paedophile had kept parents worried for months. But their worries were over when on Thursday, September 25^th in the evening, ‘public enemy number one’ was arrested at his home in Santander and accused of the kidnapping and rape of five girls, and attempted rape of another three. All of the victims are under the age of 11, and the assaults had been happening since July 2013. The police say there could be more, as during their investigation; several unreported cases were uncovered as well.

Minister admits failure of new VAT system

(www.periodistadigital.com)

MADRID – The Minister for the Treasury, Cristóbal Montoro, admitted in Congress this week to the failure of what had been one of the PP’s star planks in its electoral programme and had predicted the new caja system would allow 2.3 million small businesses and individuals to pay their VAT tax when they have been paid themselves. Only 22,090 have subscribed to it. At present VAT is collected when a bill is issued, or via a monthly or tri-monthly estimate procedure. Montoro promised to reform the law to make the new system more attractive, but now admits the expected flood of businesses applying for the change – he had predicted that 2.3 million small businesses (pymes, from pequeña y mediana empresa) and/or self-employed (autónomos) -- simply haven't subscribed to the idea. (Source: El País online)

Only one third of Ibex companies sets age limit on directors

MADRID – IBEX, the Spanish stock exchange, consists of 35 of the country’s biggest companies, including the likes of Telefónica, Abengoa, Banco Popular Español, Banco de Sabadell, Banco Santander, CaixaBank, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), Ferrovial, International Airlines Group (incl.. Iberia and BA), Iberdrola, Jazztel, MAPFRE and Repsol, among others, yet only 11 of them sripulate age limits on their directors in their statutes. This according to the annual report on Corporate Governance for 2013, prepared and presented by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores) the Stock Exchange’s governing body. The 11 entities that have regulations to this effect, set the average age limit of their boards at 70, and at which the maximum age they can sit on a board is 80.

Health Ministry to finance Hepatitis C medication

MADRID –The Ministry of Health announced recently that it will at last finance a medication that cures Hepatitis C in 90% of cases, but which remained unfinanced because it costs some €60,000 per treatment. Therefore, only 400 of thousands of sufferers have received the medication. El Pais last Tuesday said that at least nine Spaniards had paid for the treatment from their own pockets. However, the Ministry has agreed to pay the manufacturer of the brand Sovaldi, the Gilead laboratory, ‘only’ €25,000 per treatment. It will supposedly be available from November, after nine months of hard negotiation to reduce the cost. (Coming soon: What is 'Hep C '? and more on this important subject.)

Google Spain makes profits after three years of losses

MADRID – The Spanish branch of Google is finally in the black, after three years of red numbers. The USA company has set aside €1.75 million for corporate taxes, so net profits are €4mm. It’s not that the Spanish market is unprofitable – quite the contrary, as we report below – but their accounting practices, in common with other national branches by billing in Europe through Ireland, where the taxes are considerably lower than elsewhere on the continent. Those losses, then, were covered by the profits of other branches, so no great headache for one of the world’s largest businesses (and getting bigger). The practice is recognised as perfectly legal by the Spanish tax authorities, after an inspection Google re-billed its costs in 2013, giving itself a larger margin – something that was done in many other countries after widespread complaints that it wasn’t paying its way. So Google Spain is now in profit and paying something pretty modest in taxes.

Former Minister Gallardón gets a ‘job for the boys’ at €5.500 net per month

Ruiz Gallardón by Kikelin
(http://yolandacasaus.blogspot.com.es/

MADRID – The place is full of exes. On the website Consejo Consultivo de la Comunidad de Madrid (Madrid Consultation Council), the newest name is that of former Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, who resigned his Ministry when his boss, Mariano Rajoy, decided to give up on a controversial law on abortion that he had been trying to put through, and is also a former President of the country’s capital region, called Comunidad de Madrid.  From last Thursday the ex-Minister is a member of the Council earning €5,500 net per month, for life and for which he must attend every one of the Council’s meetings – about 67 a year or approximately one a week and usually on Wednesdays. The law that allows this was passed in December 2007 and set the salary as the same as that of active regional Councillors (Consejeros). The organisation costs the public purse some €4.3mm per year. I wonder what the millions of unemployed think of that – not to mention heads of families who have to live on salaries of well under €1,000 a month.

Can farts be measured?

WHEREVER HUMANS ARE -- We had no way of avoiding the F word in the headline – besides, we wanted to attract your attention. If you've ever lost sleep wondering whether a fart’s smell can be measured, you’re in luck. For their doctoral thesis, two IT engineers at Cornell University recently constructed a machine that does exactly that. Robert Clain and Miguel Salas constructed a detector of flatulence using a monitor able to detect sulphuric acid, a thermometer and a microphone. They also designed the software that could measure the emission. A ‘light disruption of the air’ near the detector starts it off measuring the three pillars of the quality of the fart: smell, temperature and sound. Temperature, says Clain is a critical factor. The warmer it is, the faster it disperses. “Sound is at a higher level on the scale,” he says. “It gets points from zero to ten. If it reaches nine, a fan will disperse it.” After a few months putting the machine together, field work began. “Well, samples were not taken throughout the school, but we got quite a few.”

(Ed. note: Extracted, translated and adapted from Las 200 mejores preguntas de Quo) Quo is a general science magazine published monthly in Spain and other countries by Hearst Magazines. It is full of interesting, well-researched data, much of which flies straight over my head, but it is fun. They have excellent photography and occasionally publish a supplement, one of which is titled above and we used it to offer you a weekly extract. Just for fun.)

Cristiano Ronaldo, La Liga’s top goal scorer in 60 years

MADRID – The Real Madrid player has scored ten goals so far this season, thus equaling Pahiño’s record of 1954-55. CR7, as he is often referred to, is ahead of Neymar by 4 and of Messi by 5. The same number of goals in the same period of time was also obtained by Kubala in 1953. He seems to have got over his several physical problems, doing so by scoring goals. It is the best start to any of his seasons at Real Madrid, his personal best being the seven he achieved in 2011-12. Let’s see what the rest of the season brings …

If you’re being charged for using a credit card, you’re being robbed

CLICK TO ENLARGE

MADRID – Royal Decree 8/2014 became law on September 1: it expressly banns being charged for using a credit card. However, several consumer organizations have discovered that many companies, including some airlines, are still doing so. Indeed, it’s the airlines who are mainly defying the law. According to OCU (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios), "this is a completely illegal charge that has nothing to do with management expenses.” From its Twitter account (#NoConMiTarjeta – NotWithMyCard), the organization asks consumers to take a screen shot or a photo showing a bill that includes the charge. They are inviting anyone who have been charged to join others in a class action suit they are preparing right now, the idea being to stop the practice, punish the perpetrators and recover the customers’ money. (Enlarge the image and check right at the bottom ...)

Citibank also leaves Spain

MADRID – In a similar move to that of Barclays, Citibank has also decided to sell off its retail business by selling it to Banco Popular, who will be integrating it into its online division, citibank.es  In Spain the US bank, once one of the largest in the world, operated mainly in the credit card business, Citi Oro and Visa Cepsa (both free even without an account at the bank), of which they emitted over a million.//Banco Popular has stated that it will maintain the same conditions for the cards and customers will not notice any difference, as they will continue to operate in the same way as Citibank. However, it remains to be seen whether this will continue into the future, given that the contracts for the cards are of indefinite duration (See our article on Barclays. Also, the Cepsa Visa, obtainable at Cepsa petrol stations and being a shared brand, we shall see if the agreements with the oil company remain the same -- watch this space (and please tell us if you have any news on the subject!)

By 2050, Spain’s coastline will recede some 40 metres

SPAIN -- Water levels will impact tourism and port activity, as well as intensifying the effect of storms. Costs will amount to up to 3% of GNP in 2050. The worst impact will be felt at the deltas of the Guadalquivir, Ebro and Guadiana rivers. This, according to research on climate change and its effect on the Spanish coastline. It concludes that by 2050, the average retreat of the coastline of the Iberian Peninsula will be between 2 and 4 metres. This would reflect a rise in sea level of between 60 and 72 centimetres above the average levels that existed between 1986 and 2005. This worst case scenario would happen if nothing at all is done now, and there is no change in the ever more rapid advance of climate change, or global warming – but don’t hold your breath. The main threat is the rise in sea level, warmer water temperature and its acidity.

What is the catastro?

MADRID (+Opinion) – If you own a property in Spain it must be registered at the Catastro that belongs to the province where the property is located. The word itself (aside from the fact that it is the beginning of another one: catastrophe or catastrofe in Spanish, which describes it pretty well for most of the country) is translated as cadastre in English, but it is not something you hear about much in the UK, I’m told. So what is a cadastre?

Cáritas helps 2.513.563 people in Spain in 2013, a 32% increase

MADRID – Cáritas, the church charity that operates all over the world, served 2,513,563 people in Spain last year. This represents a 32% increase of the number of people needing help, according to their annual report for 2013; and an alarming 578% more than in 2007. The 70 diocesan branches invested some €291,346,117, of which 75% comes from private donations and the rest from public funding. The report points out (and thanks) the 78,017 volunteers throughout the country, as well as the 4,171 remunerated staff, all of whom work through the 7,194 Cáritas service centres. The charity also refers to last year’s increase in resources used for strategic programmes aimed at the precarious situation of people on the margins of society, such as the homeless or the long-term unemployed.

Barclays customers move to Caixabank

MADRID – With Barclays having sold off their Spanish retail business (270 branches) to one of Europe’s largest banks, its customers’ accounts will automatically be transferred to Caixabank, unless they have decided to move their custom elsewhere. By this time, Barclays clientele will probably have received notification of much of the following. However, we have often been asked to translate this kind of thing because the entity has neglected to put it into English or another European language. So, how will this affect you?