Daily Brief

Spain Today – Monday 22 January 2024

Published

5 months ago

Jan 22, 2024

Mark Nolan

The week begins in Spain with the publication of the doubtful loan data for November, as well as the corporate turnover index for the same month. In addition, the debt and public deficit data for the eurozone for the third quarter will be known. Investors will be watching the one-year benchmark lending rate in China.

Also, in Spain today we have tourism figures and spending boosts, a woman who swindled 216,000 euro from a vulnerable victim with Alzheimer’s, and a man who sexually assaulted a disabled woman in a toilet stand trial, as do a pair of waiters for attacking each other with scissors involved.

Contents (click to jump ahead)

Spanish News Headlines

If you have been following the court case surrounding the man who brutally killed his son on his 11^th birthday, I am not going to dwell on the story as it is so brutal and upsetting, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about I only partly apologise, but I do want to tell those of you who were following the case that the man was found guilty, and so is now awaiting sentence, which will be harsh considering he changed his plea because he wasn’t happy with the original life term he was to be given.

As the annual FITUR tourism event is about to get underway, Spain’s Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, has valued “the extraordinary performance of tourism in 2023”, a record year bringing more than 84 million international tourists, and more than 108 billion in spending, the best figures in the historical series. These closing figures for 2023 mean that Spain exceeds the number of tourists in the pre-pandemic reference year of 2019 by 1%, and the spending of that same year by 17.4%. It is of course worth noting that the cost of everything has increased in 2023, from travel to hotels, from food to leisure, and so much of the increase in spending is forced revenue.

The Castellón Court will begin to hear evidence form Monday against a woman accused of swindling more than 216,000 euro from an elderly woman, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The Prosecutor’s Office, asking for 6 years in prison, maintains that the defendant knew that the victim was a widow, had no close relatives and had a comfortable economic situation and so generated a relationship of trust with her, which allowed her to have access to her bank accounts, credit cards and secret numbers that, between 2015 and 2016, she used for her own benefit to the detriment of the victim’s assets.

The Court of Seville has the trial scheduled for today against two men accused of alleged crimes of injury, as a result of the mutual aggression they allegedly carried out while working as waiters at the popular April Fair event. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, at around 2:00 a.m. on May 6, 2022, the pair got into “a strong discussion”, resulting in a brawl, and a stabbing with scissors. The Prosecutor requests 2 and 5 years in prison for the pair.

The Provincial Court will hear the case today against a man accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the toilets of a health centre in Castellón where both were patients. The events occurred in 2018, when the defendant allegedly sexually forced the woman, with 76% recognised disability, in the toilets of the medical facility. The Prosecutor’s Office requests that the defendant be sentenced to six years in prison for the crime of sexual assault.

To read these articles in full, visit SpainToday.news

Things to Do Today

Regarding things to do and what’s on, I realised this weekend that I had made a monumental mistake, in that I was telling you about Torrevieja Carnival. I apologise for the confusion, but it starts this coming Friday, not last as I kept saying. Everything still applies, but it’s starting this coming Friday. I will repeat everything again as the week goes on.

In the Casa de Cultura in Guardamar del Segura a collective exhibition featuring “new perspectives” is on in the same venue until February 4.

For more local events, pick up The Leader newspaper every Monday, and This is Torrevieja for Torrevieja events.

Local Markets

Monday is market day in Elche and Santa Pola.

The roads will of course be busy around those locations.

Traffic and Travel

Road wise, there´s nothing significant planned but remember that if you are venturing into the mountain areas, which in some cases might be less than an hour from the sunny coast, snow chains should be a consideration to avoid getting stranded.

All this week, the Guardia Civil, and some Local Police forces, will be checking up on school buses, making sure they are roadworthy, documents up to date, and drivers are competent. It’s all routine, but if you do see the Guardia Civil near a school bus, don’t panic, that’s what is happening.

For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit N332.es

In the air, with some 23.200 flights scheduled across Europe, the weather is once again expected to have an impact, but this time in the form of wind.

Low pressure caused by storm Isha will bring strong winds to the UK, northern France, Benelux, northern Germany and Scandinavia.

A significant impact is expected in the south of the UK, particularly London, with strong cross winds at most airports, with the increased probability of both bumpy landings and go-arounds.

Scottish airports are also expected to remain a little rough into Monday.

Weather

There are still weather warnings in place in various locations, and the conditions are mixed across the country, so you should check the official sites for the must current weather updates where you are (links below).

As an overview locally to the Costa Blanca for the next 10 days, will are currently expected to have a maximum temperature of 21°c this coming Thursday, warming up again after the minimum expected today of 10°c. Today is also expected to be the windiest with gusts of up to 25 kmph.

On This Day

1188, in the Kingdom of León, which at the time was pretty much the top half of modern-day Spain and Portugal, Alfonso IX is proclaimed king, after the death of his father Ferdinand II.

1921, the Spanish Government establishes mandatory insurance for all workers.

1931, the telephone link between the mainland Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands begins to operate.

1993, terrorist group ETA murdered José R. Domínguez Burillo, a prison official.

1994, a hundred Spanish language academics from 20 of the 22 existing institutions in the world urge their respective governments in Huelva (Andalusia) to defend the Spanish language and culture.

Video of the Day

Torrevieja Carnival starts this week… Honestly!

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The post Spain Today – Monday 22 January 2024 first appeared on Mark Nolan´s Podcast.