Der Spiegel calls Madrid mayor 'a real disgrace'

(Image: público.es)

MADRID The Mayor of Madrid happens to be the wife of former Prime Minister José María Aznar, which is 'the only reason she got the job', according to the German weekly Der Spiegel. This is among the politest things it says, most of which are reflected in the Spanish media. Some more gems: Madrid's town hall cost €500 million to renovate; Her office is larger than the President of the USA; She has a butler whose only function is to make coffee; She has 260 personal advisors, whose average salary is €60,000/year; The council has 267 vehicles for personal use. This in the a city where the Catholic charity Cáritas attends to over a million people and 26% of its children live under the poverty line. 'How does she dare go to Mass and show her face in public?' asks Der Spiegel.

Plácido Domingo, in hospital for a pulmonary embolism

MADRID Tenor Plácido Domingo, 72, was admitted to hospital on Monday for treatment of a pulmonary embolism , or blood clot on the lungs, according to management at the Teatro Real yesterday. Domingo is being treated 'successfully' but will have to take 3 or 4 weeks' rest for a full recovery. This will preclude him from performing in the opera Il Postino, by Daniel Catán, in which Plácido Domingo takes the part of renown Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. He had planned to call a press conference to announce his return to the Teatro Real with this opera, in which he had performed before at other venues. He will not be able to take part, either, in a free concert on Sunday 21 at which he was to direct the Comunidad Valenciana Orchestra.

Widespread cultural support for campaign against abandoning pets in summer

MADRID A household pet is abandoned every three minutes in Spain. That adds up to some 300,000 every year, 10,000 of them in Madrid alone (don't know/can't find figures or Andalucía - any help?). So the Federation of Animal Protection Societies of the Community of Madrid, FAMAP, has come up with a campaign this year aimed at, at least, stopping those figures from getting any bigger. The title: 'Would you abandon him just for a holiday?' The campaign is being supported by numerous celebrities, particularly from the theatre, cinema, music, arts and letters. These include such well-known names as>>>

Last rehearsal for 2020 Olympics bid

LAUSANNE (Swtizerland) Prince Felipe, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos and Madrid Mayor Ana Botella are among those who are in Lausanne to make the final presentation of Madrid's candidature to host the 2020 Olympics. The presentation is to the 104 members of the IOC (International Olympics Committee), whose decision will be announced in Buenos Aires on September 7. Madrid's presentation, the last on the list, is scheduled for 14.15 and lasts 45 minutes that include five audiovisuals. The main rival candidature is Tokyo.

EU Court backs Spain in demand of information from Jyske Bank

GIBRALTAR/MADRID/BRUSSELS The Court of Justice of the European Union yesterday declared its approval of the demand made by the Spanish tax authorities regarding information from Jyske Bank, which also operated in Spain, information which is needed to prevent money laundering and funding of terrorism. The Court's sentence declares that Spain's request is a 'proportionate measure' because there is as yet no mechanism that can be used among EU member states against these crimes. The case goes back to 2007, when>>>

Madrid 'will not allow' an official UEFA match with Gibraltar

MADRID According to The Gibraltar Chronicle, the Spanish Government has declared that it will back legal action by the Spanish Football Federation to block Gibraltar’s membership of UEFA. In answer to questions from an ERC representative in the Madrid Cortes, a Spanish Government spokesman said it is not envisaged that Spain would ever play “against the selection from the British colony” and will do everything in its power so that this “hypothesis never materializes.” The ERC is a separatist party in Catalonia with a small presence in the Madrid parliament. The Spanish government's response to the ERC question:  “We are currently opposed to the membership of the British colony of Gibraltar of any international sporting federation. We will take the necessary measures in our power to avoid a situation which is contrary to the sporting strategy of the Spanish state.”

IOC inspect Madrid's 2020 Olympics candidacy

Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid

Strikes and protests during visit
MADRID Inspectors from the International Olympics Committee are spending four days evaluating Madrid's candidacy for the 2010 Olympics. Probably to be called the Austerity Olympics, the city's candidacy has an ace up its sleeve: about 80% of the infrastructure needed is already in place. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy addressed the group yesterday, emphasizing the financial aspect at a time of drawbacks and unemployment. One media commentator calculated that the Olympics would generate some 83,000 jobs, not insignificant in a country with a 26% unemployment rate. Madrid is competing against Istanbul and Tokyo as host cities. Rajoy pointed out that Madrid is quite used to organizing and hosting major events, and that Spain is one of the world's top tourist destinations. This is Madrid's third bid for the world's major sports event, having lost to London for the 2012s and to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016s.>>>

Duchess of Alba sells her furniture to 'maintain' her palaces

Interior, Liria Palace, Madrid

Christie's is due to auction a 1921 Art Deco bathroom suite that the family says is so it can 'maintain' its heritage

MADRID The Duchess of Alba (María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain), has commissioned Christie's to sell in Paris a bathroom furniture suite that was created specially for the then-Duchess's Liria Palace in 1921 by French designer Armand Albert Rateau. The 17th Duke of Alba, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, father of the present Duchess (this title, and over 40 more, could and did pass down to female heirs; the prtesent Duchess, though, is only the third woman to hold it), commissioned the suite as a bridal gift to his fiancee  María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, according to the Christie's catalogue for the sale.>>>

'Spanish Armada acts in Spanish waters'

The Vencedora near Gibraltar

Ministry denies existence of incidents with the Vencedora, which is only on 'routine operations'

MADRID (Agencies) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has once more defended its naval activity in the 'Spanish waters' surrounding Gibraltar, against accusations by the Picardo Government on the Rock, which has denounced 'incursions' of armed shipping and Customs vessels, which it considers a 'frontal challenge' and an 'intolerable affront on British sovereignty', according to Spanish media. The Spanish ministry says in a communiqué that it has no news of any incident and that the Armada (the name for the Spanish navy) is only carrying out routine manouvres in 'Spanish waters'. These so-called 'incursions' have increased in the past couple of weeks and the respective ambassadors of Spain and Britain have been called in to hear formal diplomatic complaints about the matter. In the meantime, the group calling itself Defenders of Gibraltar has raised some 8,000 signatures to demand that the Governor, Sir Adrian Jones, act against these 'incursions' by Spain into what it, and Gibraltar and Britain, say are its territorial waters.

Gibraltar girl was fourth death in Madrid Arena tragedy

Funeral held on Monday
(Nicky Langdon, centre)

Parents were called back from a trip to Brazil

MADRID A stampede in an arena where thousands of people were attending a Halloween dance party killed three women and critically injured two others early last Thursday, officials said. However, the fourth person to die was Belén Langdon, of Gibraltar, who died on Saturday morning. She was the daughter of Nicky Langdon, the well-known architect. Nicky and his wife were in Brazil when they were told of their daughter being in serious condition in hospital. They returned immediately and went straight to the hospital from Barajas airport.  Belén, the youngest of seven siblings, died on Sunday. Her funeral was held on Monday. The other three girls, all aged 18, were Katia Esteban Casielles, Rocío Oña Pineda and Cristina Arce de la Fuente. The other girl, who is still in intensive care, is María Teresa Alonso, aged 20.>>>

KKR posed to buy Sotogrande owner in private equity deal

MADRID (Investment Europe) NH Hoteles, Europe's third largest business hotel operator by rooms count and owner of Sotogrande S.A., has long been tipped as a private equity target given its large debt and that of its savings bank shareholders, which together own nearly a third of the firm. According to Spanish media, KKR could invest in NH Hoteles by first acquiring a 15.7% stake held by the parent of nationalised lender Bankia, worth about €100m or through a capital. NH Hoteles has nearly €1bn of debt and €193m of operating cash flow in 2011, and has been trying to sell its assets to COMING SOON:

Spanish embassy in Egypt is warned to expect trouble

After humour magazine asks 'What does Mohammed look like?'

MADRID The embassy in Cairo asked Spanish citizens in Egypt to take 'extreme precautions' because El Jueves, a satyrical magazine in Spain,published illustrations and text on Mohammed. The request comes in the wake of violent unrest throughout the Islamic world after a film from the US and a French magazine of the same vein as Spain's. The embassy confirmed yesterday that it had asked the Egyptian authorities for more safeguards at the embassy, consulate and Instituto Cervantes buildings in Cairo and elsewhere. The complete front cover of El Jueves reads: "But ... does anybody know what Mohammed looks like?"

'Spain scare roils Europe markets': new media 'attack' on Spain

MADRID Just as the emergency budget for 2013 is getting approved in parliament, both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times headline the recent demos, still going on last night and a good part of today. The budget is expected to be one of the most austere ever, with swingeing cutbacks and reductions and pay freezes. Among other things Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is blamed for his government's indecision in asking for a bailout. The BBC's Today programme this morning also dealt with the subject, as do many British and other European newspapers. In the meantime, some of the Spanish media are wallowing in 'poor mes'. Watch this space for a view on the new budget and other economic news.

It's official: Eurovegas chooses Madrid for European expansion

No details have emerged about tax, labour or environment concessions

MADRID (Agencies) As we reported recently, the company owned by billionaire magnate Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands, has chosen Madrid as its site for expansion into Europe. The battle between Spain's two major cities, was won by the nation's capital instead of Barcelona, which announced recently that it planned its own 'theme park'. Both cities vied for the gambling centre on the assumption that it would employ some 200,000 people, directly and indirectly, particularly during the construction stages. Las Vegas Sands says it means an investment of some €17,000 million. SOON YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO READ THE REST OF ITEMS SUCH AS THIS WITHOUT A SUBSCRIPTION>>>

Is EuroVegas decision made?

Sheldon Adelson

MADRID There are persistent reports (rumours, really) that say that billionaire financier Sheldon Adelson's company, Las Vegas Sands, has made its decision on where to install a Las Vegas 'copy' in Spain. The two rival cities were Barcelona and Madrid. The company is making no comment, but Esperanza Aguirre, Mayor of Madrid, said in a radio interview yesterday that she had a 'positive intuition' that the choice had fallen on Madrid. In Barcelona several politicians have remarked about how an opportunity 'has been' lost. According to Adelson, EuroVegas would mean>>>

Madrid's public squares

Plaza Mayor, one of many in Madrid

MADRID (BBC Travel) There are few grander public squares in Europe than Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, watched over on three sides by uniformly ochre-hued apartments with wrought-iron balconies, slate spires that dominated the city skyline in the 17th Century, and frescoes that turn golden at night on the square’s northern façade. First laid out in 1619, the plaza’s inauguration was auspicious. Its first public ceremony was the beatification of San Isidro, the patron saint of the city. But then in the 17th Century, supposed heretics were tried and executed here during the Spanish Inquisition -- burnings at the stake and deaths by garrotte took place on the north side of the square, hangings to the south. Later, the plaza hosted bullfights with 50,000 attendees, and royalty watched from their privileged balconies. Those same balconies became a negative focal point in 1673, when King Carlos II decreed that shopkeepers could raise tarpaulins above their stalls to fend off the raw sewage that the residents habitually tossed from the windows above. (Read the whole story, and more, on Madrid's Public Squares.

Bogus dwarf shaman snared on sex charges

(This image is called
'dwarf shaman, so don't
argue. Thanks to
d20machine.blogspot.com )

MADRID (El País) Police are appealing for potential victims to come forward after a woman reported being sexually abused by a dwarf posing as a shaman in Madrid. According to the police report, José Israel G. R.'s modus operandi was to approach women in the center of the capital and strike up a conversation. The young woman who filed the complaint said she was handed a newspaper by G. R. and after leafing through a few pages began to feel a loss of perception. She then gave G. R. her address. On arrival, she remembers sharing a drink with G. R. but nothing else. Police suspect that G. R. used scopolamine, a Jimson weed derivative with hallucinogenic properties, to sedate his victims. It is believed he had been operating since 2007 and that some of his victims may have been tourists. G. R. had been identified on Internet forums as "dangerous" and his profile on a dwarf stripping website was removed hours after his arrest. (Prospero comment: No comment.)

Prosecutors charge Catholic nun in alleged stolen baby scheme at Madrid hospitals

(Illustration only)

MADRID (El País/Natalia Junquera) The Madrid public prosecutor has charged a Catholic nun in connection with an ongoing investigation into cases of stolen babies, which allegedly took place in hospitals from the 1950s up until the early 1980s. She is the first person to be indicted in the investigation, which has gained international attention. Sister María Gómez Valbuena was subpoenaed to testify before investigators recently but refused to answer questions, according to sources at the prosecutor’s office. Her name has surfaced in dozens of complaints filed by>>>

School 'cleaned out' by bailiffs

(Photo: cuatro.com)

Teachers and children cried as materials were loaded onto trucks

MADRID (Agencies) Santa Illa, a private school in the Chamartín neighbourhood of Madrid had almost a million euros worth of debt with Social Security. Under a court order, the bailiffs moved in yesterday morning and, as teachers and children looked on, removed chairs, whiteboards and even shelves, from which they 'threw books and papers on the floor', according to one witness. The police also looked on as several teachers and children cried, said the father of a student. The Ministry for Social Security said the school had had 'plenty of warning'. In fact, it has emerged that the schools head teacher, Iñaki Santa, received the court order that allowed the bailiffs to remove materials during school hours. What is yet to be determined is whether the traumatic experience was worth the amount of 'money' collected.

Armed and hooded SEUR robbers get away with millions

SEUR centre, Vallecas, Madrid

High speed escape in luxury vehicle but with difficulty

MADRID (Agencies) The main distribution centre for SEUR, Spain's largest courier company, was attacked yesterday by an armed gang wearing hoodies. The alarm sounded at 3.50, when a van slammed into the security chamber that held the most valuable objects such as jewelry, watches, diamonds and gold. They knew exactly where to hit, and the suspicion is that this is an experienced gang, probably with insider help. Investigations are under way. There was a luxury vehicle waiting for them but they crashed on a roundabout on their way to the M-40, so they pointed a pistol at a woman driver and took her car instead, leaving behind some of the booty.