WEEKLY DIGEST – 12 JANUARY 2015

SHOPPED OUT

Spain hopes to mark 2015 as being the leading destination for shopping tourists, thanks to a 2.82 million euro investment from the government in the launch of their Shopping Tourism Plan 2015. The aim is to “help to diversify the offer and attract tourists with a higher than average purchasing power”. Spanish fashion and retailers have welcomed the move which is the first step to seeing the country join others as a destination for shopping, in addition to the more traditional sun and beach, mountains and nature, history, cuisine, culture and folklore holiday packages.

ALL ABOARD

Spanish train manufacturer Talgo has sent its first completed trainset to run on the Saudi Arabian high speed network, with 13 coaches and two power cars forming the first part of a multi-billion dollar project linking the holy cities of Makkah and Medina via the King Abdullah Economic City and Jeddah. Originally due to open in 2012, increased costs are amongst the reasons for the delays in launching the Haramain High Speed Rail Project which runs on over 450 kilometres of track. Talgo’s contract is for the provision of 36 high-speed trains, as well as a guarantee on the rolling stock operation and maintenance for the next 12 years.

FEEL THREE

UK based mobile phone operator Three has announced that its customers will be able to enjoy free data whilst roaming in Spain from April of this year. A number of companies already offer the service in various countries, but despite already offering free data in 16 countries, including the USA, Three customers were unable to enjoy the freedom whilst holidaying in Spain. This week, Three announced that it will be extending the free calls, texts and internet service to include Spain, as well as New Zealand, from the spring.

POKER FACED

Spanish Online gamblers faced disappointment over the Christmas period after leading online network PokerStars were forced to take their blackjack and roulette games off their Spanish website due to accessibility issues caused by Spanish gambling regulations. The site operators assured players that their games were saved during the downtime and there was no risk to either their security or chances of winning once the matter was resolved.

REDUCED UNEMPLOYMENT

In a further sign the economy is managing to get a hold on its joblessness problem, unemployment in Spain has recorded the sharpest drop since introducing the euro back in 1999. There was a fall of more than 253,000 in registered unemployment from December 2013 to December 2014, an annual decrease of 5.39pc and the biggest since the country joined the eurozone, according to government figures. Meanwhile monthly jobless claims also fell by 64,405 for the last month of the year, representing the second largest December decrease on record.

BOOST FOR CAR SALES

According to figures by the association of car manufacturers (ANFAC), Spain’s car and four-wheel drive vehicle sales surged 18.4 percent in 2014 over a year earlier, Xinhua reported. The surge was mainly driven by positive sales data for the last three months of the year with 73,400 vehicles sold in December, an increase of 21.4 percent over 2013, marking the 16th straight months of rise.

SKY FORCE

A squadron of Spanish jet-fighters assumed the Baltic air policing mission over Estonia’s airspace Amari this week. In a formal ceremony they took over from a German unit which had been stationed in Estonia for the past four months. The four Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets landed in Amari airbase on Monday, some 60 kilometres southwest of Tallinn, for the four-month mission. Since September this year, the German planes have scrambled 19 times to intercept unidentified aircraft, Estonian Air Force public affairs officer Alar Laats said.

GAINING POPULARITY

Spain’s ruling Partido Popular came first in an opinion poll this week, with one of its strongest results in recent surveys, while the Socialists and left-wing newcomer Podemos were in close second and third place respectively. Of those surveyed, 28.6% said they would vote for the centre-right PP, although that is still a huge drop from the 44.6% absolute majority with which it won the 2011 elections.

COURTING CORRUPTION

Spanish judges are dealing with a backlog of 150 corruption cases left unresolved from last year. Several of these cases involve high profile people and groups of defendants with the fates of more than 2,000 individuals facing corruption charges in their hands. Among these cases is the infamous ‘Gurtel’ case against Spanish businessman Francisco Correa which allegedly implicates Spain’s ruling Partido Popular (PP) in bribery, tax evasion and money laundering. The total amount of public funds allegedly lost is estimated at over 120 million euro.

CAMEL NO

More than a dozen dromedary camels crammed into containers have been rescued in Spain’s Canary Islands while the animals were being transported for use in Epiphany parades. Police said Saturday they stopped two trucks carrying the dromedaries, released them into the care of an unspecified group and fined the transporters. Police in Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife were alerted to the arrival of two trucks carrying dromedaries from neighbouring Lanzarote by telephone calls, including some from appalled ferry passengers. A truck with 13 dromedaries and another with two were stopped by officers as they left the ferry port.

RESULT!

Twenty of the twenty-one most watched television programmes on Spanish TV last year were football matches, either from the World Cup or involving Barcelona or Real Madrid. El Principe, a police drama, is the most popular show not involving football, coming in at number 21. In first place was the World Cup match between Spain and Chile, watched by 13,229,000 people, 67.6% of the audience.

OH NURSE

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the latest hospital in the UK to admit to targeting European nurses, especially those from Spain, after they admit to struggling to sign up trained staff locally. The trust says that it is finding it increasingly difficult to find staff for specialisms such as A&E and care for the elderly as all hospitals are attempting to recruit from the same pool of trained nurses. Nationally many hospital trusts have confirmed they are recruiting nurses from within the EU and last year it was estimated ten per cent of the nurses and midwives working for the NHS had trained overseas. The Royal College of Nursing has suggested that recruiting from Europe is nothing more than a “sticking plaster” for the worrying lack of trained nurses in the UK.

BANKING OFF

Barclays has completed the sale of its Spanish arm, at a loss of around 500 million pound. The high street giant revealed in August that it would be offloading the subsidiary to Barcelona-based CaixaBank as part of plans to shrink its sprawling business and bolster its finances.

IN VOLVO WE TRUST

The competition authority has announced an investigation into a number of independent Volvo motor dealers in Spain, on suspicion of them engaging in anti-competitive practices. The proceedings have been initiated following an initial inspection in June, 2013.

HIGH FLYER

The 47 year old pilot of a private jet was jailed for mime months by Norwich Crown Court this week, after being found to have flown his aircraft carrying two adult and two teenage passengers from Spain whilst three times over the limit in October. Although there was no evidence that the pilot had consumed alcohol immediately before taking control of the plane, he had been on a “three-day drinking binge” and was still affected by the alcohol consumed.

FROZEN ASSET

The multi-national Swiss food group Nestle has sold its popular Spanish frozen food brand La Cocinera to Findus Spain, as part of its ongoing portfolio review. The deal is for their frozen products, which are currently produced in their factory in Valladolid, but Nestle will retain the chilled dough products.

OH DEAR!

A Spanish pop rock group known previously as the Deers have been forced to change their name in order to avoid confusion with a Canadian group, the Dears. The Deers revealed this week that they received a legal threat from the representatives of the Dears asking them to stop calling themselves the Deers or the Dears would take legal action. From here on in, the Deers will be known as the Hinds.

IN VOLVO WE TRUST

The competition authority has announced an investigation into a number of independent Volvo motor dealers in Spain, on suspicion of them engaging in anti-competitive practices. The proceedings have been initiated following an initial inspection in June, 2013.

HIGH FLYER

The 47 year old pilot of a private jet was jailed for mime months by Norwich Crown Court this week, after being found to have flown his aircraft carrying two adult and two teenage passengers from Spain whilst three times over the limit in October. Although there was no evidence that the pilot had consumed alcohol immediately before taking control of the plane, he had been on a “three-day drinking binge” and was still affected by the alcohol consumed.

FROZEN ASSET

The multi-national Swiss food group Nestle has sold its popular Spanish frozen food brand La Cocinera to Findus Spain, as part of its ongoing portfolio review. The deal is for their frozen products, which are currently produced in their factory in Valladolid, but Nestle will retain the chilled dough products.

OH DEAR!

A Spanish pop rock group known previously as the Deers have been forced to change their name in order to avoid confusion with a Canadian group, the Dears. The Deers revealed this week that they received a legal threat from the representatives of the Dears asking them to stop calling themselves the Deers or the Dears would take legal action. From here on in, the Deers will be known as the Hinds.

SMUGGLERS RUN

A former IRA terrorist previously dubbed as “the most dangerous woman in Europe” has been arrested for smuggling in Spain. Donna Maguire, aged 57, was arrested along with her husband Leonard Hardy, aged 54. Their latest arrests came as part of a large-scale investigation into money laundering and smuggling, but Maguire was later released without charge.

TROOPS UP

The US Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, has reportedly asked Spain to grant permanent status for the deployment of US troops at the Morón Air Base in Andalucía, asking that the 1988 agreement on defence cooperation be amended to allow an increase from the 1,100 troops currently allowed to be stationed at the base, although only around 850 are currently there, to 3,000 troops after the agreement expires in April of this year. The US says that the reason for the increase is for “responding on crises in Africa”.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/46063/

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