January 2022

SPAIN’S Prime Minister released a photograph showing him receiving a booster dose of the vaccine which everyone over 40 years old is now eligible for. Pedro Sanchez, who turns 50 in February, was jabbed at Madrid’s Puerta de Hierro hospital, the same place where he received the first two doses of the vaccine last summer. […]

COLD weather hit the Spanish mainland over the Three Kings’ festive period as we entered the coldest two months of the year – but it’s not here to stay for everyone. Orange weather alerts are still in place through the weekend (January 8-9) as bitter Atlantic fronts batter the northern coastlines in Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias

SELF-EMPLOYED workers will be grumbling in January about their tax returns. Spain has around 3.2 million registered self-employed workers (autonomos) and they pay the highest monthly social security fees in Europe, not to mention declaring VAT (IVA) and paying Spain’s national income tax, IRPF. In fact, new laws in 2022 have pushed monthly social security

A Dutch couple’s excessive use of electricity for a marijuana farm led to their downfall in Aspe, Alicante Province. Guardia Civil officers detected a massive spike in power usage linked to a car park used by lorries. The site was owned by a man who had a history of drug offences. Officers saw power cables

SUSTAINABLE meat production is dominating headlines after Spain’s minister for consumer affairs claimed livestock mega farms are causing the ‘end’ of the very country. Alberto Garzon, coordinator for the leftwing United Left (Izquierda Unida) party, broke ranks with colleagues in Spain’s ruling coalition to claim sky-rocketing meat production was polluting soils and water and causing

ANOTHER nuclear submarine docked in Gibraltar just days after environmentalists warned the Rock was becoming a repair shop for ‘floating bombs’. The USS Albany, a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine owned by the American Navy, was docked in Gibraltar Port from December 30 until January 5. The scheduled visit came less than three weeks after the

SPAIN’S Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has told a political gathering that the country is ‘better prepared to deal with COVID-19’ than a year ago. He added that ‘we are going to have to learn to live with it as we do with other viruses’. Speaking on Friday at a meeting of the PSOE Federal Committee,

ENERGY costs in Spain will increase by €475 this year, due to the high cost of natural gas and an increase of CO2 emission charges in Europe, warned the Bank of America. The Spanish government has extended tax breaks which aimed to lower costs for households; however these only save €170 per household which is

THE number of businesses declared bankrupt in Spain last year rose by 31% compared to 2020. In contrast, 102,169 new companies were registered in 2021, an increase of 34% on the year before, according to figures compiled by Axesor Business Radar. The largest number of bankruptcies granted were in Catalunya with 1,373, up by 38%

TWO fraudsters have been arrested by the Guardia Civil for selling second-hand cars online which were never delivered to customers. The probe was launched in the Murcia region after complaints last November from Santomera and Totana residents over not receiving cars they had paid for. Two women from Pontevedra and Teruel have been charged with