Olive Press Round-Up: The biggest stories in Spain

From The Digital Editor
Walter Finch

Dear Olive Press readers,

August is almost upon us and – as any Spain resident will know – it means the country is about to shut down for a month.

The politicians, CEOs and civil servants all go on holiday, meaning not a lot happens in the regular running of things. But even more tourists come to Spain than any other month, so all in all it can be quite a febrile combination.

However, before they did jet off to the Maldives or wherever, enough people found the time to accuse Pedro Sanchez of profiting from a string of brothels. The wily PSOE returned their serve by exposing another PP corruption scheme relating to former finance minister Cristobal Montoro, who allegedly rewrote Spanish tax law on receipt of cash to benefit various oil and gas companies. It’s not as salacious as brothels and saunas but it apparently cost the treasury €2.2 billion in taxes dodged.

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Spain’s PM Pedro Sanchez ‘lived off father-in-law’s gay brothels and saunas’, conservative opposition claim

PRIME minister Pedro Sanchez has been accused of profiting from a network of gay brothels allegedly run by his late father-in-law as a debate in Spain’s parliament turned ugly. During…

The Spanish politics theme is not always something the Olive Press focuses on, but we feel it’s quite a critical moment in the cycle and we may be seeing momentous changes sooner than later.

But back on the expat beat, and one of our biggest stories this week is the new tourist rules which Malaga is implementing – don’t walk around the town shirtless, boys, basically.

The biggest costa news of the week was the shocking shoot out in an Aldi car park in Atalaya, between Estepona and Marbella. While gunfire is not exactly unprecedented on the Costa del Sol, this one was especially horrifying because it took place in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon and – even worse – a random bystander was hit in the shoulder while he sat in his car waiting for his wife. We have also been informed that in the passenger seat was a 12-year-old girl. Our sources tell us that this was not British or Irish mafia but in fact Turkish.

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Here’s what you need to know about Malaga’s new tourist rules

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Shocking shootout at Aldi supermarket blamed on Turkish mafia war exported to the Costa del Sol

Speaking of mafia, notorious British gangster Brian Charrington died on the Costa Blanca this week. He had previously avoided trial by claiming ill health.

Meanwhile and not far away from the Atalaya Aldi, chilling CCTV footage captured the moment a burglar stole into a Marbella villa while the occupants were sleeping – and spent thirty minutes inspecting the woman’s genitalia.

Over in Benidorm, yet another poolside brawl broke out, this time between what seems to be a British stag party and the hotel bouncers. As usual there’s debate over who actually started it.

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Pervert burglar spent 30 minutes watching naked woman sleep after breaking into Marbella home

THIS is the bizarre moment a pervert burglar spent over half an hour staring at a sleeping woman’s private parts after breaking into her Marbella home. CCTV footage of the…

Things have been busy in Gibraltar. The mayor of La Linea told us that he thinks Gibraltar airport will be able to handle 20,000 passengers daily, while he doubts that the dual passport checks – with passengers going through both Gibraltar and Spanish police – won’t actually happen in reality.

Spain’s property market continues as it has been, with a brand new €80 million tourist flat complex opening up on the Costa Blanca – and all the properties being snapped up by foreigners.

So much so that one failed ghost town is being revived with fresh investment to attract tourists – especially Brits.

And finally, the world’s largest cruise ship has stopped over in Cadiz for a last minute tune up. The Star of the Seas is a floating city with 2,800 rooms and its own water park. Sadly you won’t be able to hop on board – its maiden voyage will be from Florida.