News
More migrants
The European Union ’ s border agency says the number of migrants arriving in Europe through Spain has more than doubled this year . The agency said last month that it registered almost 14,000 arrivals in Spain , “ from Morocco , from the western part of the Maghreb .” The figure includes those arriving by sea and those who manage to cross the land borders in Ceuta and Melilla .
Physio shot
A Spanish physiotherapist has been murdered in Afghanistan by one of the patients she was treating . The International Red Cross said last month that Lorena Enebral Perez was shot by a wheelchair bound man who , for 19 years , had been attending the orthopaedic centre where she worked . The suspect and a colleague with him were immediately detained by security staff .
Bank probe
The Madrid branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has been accused of laundering hundreds of millions of euros . Spain ’ s High Court confirmed last month that the anticorruption prosecutor is to investigate ICBC ’ s European headquarters . Seven executives in Madrid were arrested in February last year , including the branch manager and the general manager of ICBC ’ s European division .
Facebook fined
Facebook has been fined € 1.2 million in Spain for three breaches of the country ’ s privacy laws . The regulator found it had failed to inform Spanish users how their data would be used as it collected details from millions of them . It added that Facebook also infringed citizens ’ rights by storing the details of deleted accounts for more than 17 months .
Whatsapp scam
National Police have warned of another WhatsApp scam which swamps respondents with premium-rate SMS messages . Anyone following an ad claiming to offer € 150 vouchers to spend in high-street chain Zara is asked to complete an on-line form , including personal data . The force has an on-going campaign underway against such scams with the title , “ Don ’ t fall for it .”
Nerja ’ s “ illegally occupied ” beach
A tourist from Madrid who spent his holiday in Nerja in August has made a formal complaint to the town hall and the Guardia Civil about the “ illegal occupation ” of a beach in the town . He claims no concession was awarded for sun loungers and parasols on La Caletilla beach this summer but that the neighbouring hotel has installed them anyway .
La Calletilla beach , which is only 50 metres long , lies immediately to the west of the Balcón de Europa and the hotel of the same name has direct access to it , giving the impression it is a private beach . However , it is public as defined in the region ’ s coastal laws . It is reported that , until this year , a concession to place 75 sun beds on the beach was historically awarded to the Hotel Balcón de Europa . However , after a winter which removed almost all sand from the beach , no concession was awarded , but the hotel has installed , “ 75 sun beds , 50 parasols and 15 beach chairs ,” according to the complaint . The tourist , a professional journalist who raised the question of illegal occupation , told local papers last month that he had received no response to his letters . The hotel is reported to have admitted that it did not have a concession from the town hall , but described the sun beds as a service for its clients , adding it did not charge hotel residents for their use . The town hall said it was studying the situation .
Drownings “ impossible ” in special water
A Spanish inventor claims to have developed a way of preventing drowning in swimming pools . With 339 people losing their lives in water already this year in Spain , Antonio Ibáñez de Alba says he wanted to do something to reduce the leading cause of accidental deaths in children worldwide . First , he invented and developed a moveable base for pools which automatically rises to the surface if it detects a weight , such as a drowning child , lying on it . Then , he looked to science to produce water in which , he claims , it is impossible to drown .
He made unsalted water 30 times denser than usual by adding natural products commonly found in shampoos and gels . This makes it impossible for a body to sink , and , he adds , even if the bather is face down in the water , the air pressure in the rib cage rotates the body , preventing the victim from swallowing water . Antonio says his product will be in the shops
soon , has a shelf life of two to five years and makes pool maintenance no more difficult . If the additive begins to solidify in the pool , he says 24 hours of filtration returns the water to its normal state .
With 30 years of inventing and 300 patents behind him , Antonio ’ s list of successes is impressive . From starting as a child in his Barcelona home , he has developed a magnetic reactor for NASA , developed an optical finger print recognition system and a patch for delivering insulin to diabetics .
His most famous invention must be the artificial palm tree which can change the climate in desert locations by absorbing night time moisture and slowly releasing it during the day . A pilot scheme in Libya in the early 1990s saw 50,000 artificial palms planted between fruits trees , and within a year , the maximum temperature fell by ten degrees and humidity increased from zero to over 25 per cent .
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