Staff Reporter
From The Digital Editor
Walter Finch
Dear Olive Press readers,
I hope you are all sipping your macchiatos or cafe con leches in a nice comfortable chair with some stunning views as you read this latest round up.
Because feeling nice and relaxed is the only way to enjoy a week of madcap mayhem news as Spain’s summer season kicks into gear! So where to start?
Our headline story in the newspaper was the terrifying and haunting tale of a Swedish expat who found her Costa del Sol apartment had been stolen from under her feet by crooks in Colombia who had forged a power of attorney. Apparently it happens more than you think…
The Olive Press team recorded the second episode of our podcast this week. Each time we are learning and sharpening up. We encourage you to check out our first episode, in which we tackled hot topics such as Jody Smarty and the Continental Wealth Management scandal, the Iberian funerals scandal, and the upcoming trial of the Estepona mayor.
This week property is once again a strong theme, with Pedro Sanchez attempting to move ahead with his plans to effectively force non-EU second home buyers in Spain to pay double. And it comes as the Bank of Spain warns of a property bubble…
Meanwhile, controversy has been stirred by a German real estate company’s advertising campaign in Mallorca. Its ‘Game of homes’ slogan was criticised for making light of the region’s housing crisis – so much so that it has now been sheepishly withdrawn.
It comes after Mallorca was officially crowned ‘the most visited place in Europe’ – and unofficially as ‘overrun with tourists.’ It was also overrun by Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori, who has been hit with a €3,000 fine for ‘public nudity’ over her revealing top.
Over in Ibiza, an eight-year-old British boy suffered terrible injuries after plunging from a third floor balcony, while in Marbella a 24-year-old Brit tumbled over a balcony at the Hard Rock Hotel. And a British woman, 19, was allegedly raped in the same location while enjoying the resort’s nightlife.
In the Canary Islands, the regional president said ‘we are not a free bar’ in response to a drop in British tourists – its primary market and number one customers.
And the boss of the Malaga hotel association responded to the current wave of anti-tourism sweeping across Spain once again this summer by calling it ‘extremely dangerous’. But he isn’t helped by the wave of homeless people sleeping rough at the airport, which are reported to be ‘mostly foreign and refusing free flights home.’
At the same time, there have been warnings that the incoming EU digital border control system will cause chaos for Brits, Americans and Canadians once it comes into effect in October. Passengers departing from Tenerife this week got a taste of it.
Moving away from tourist shenanigans, the Spanish government announced plans to force wet wipe manufacturers to clean up the enormous ‘fatbergs’ that congelate in the country’s sewers.
And another Spanish supermarket chain has fallen among the country’s ‘supermarket wars’, with one particularly well-known name still king.
There’s so much more we covered, but we’ll leave it there for this week. Enjoy the heat.
Walt
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