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Armijo elected
Madrid stands firm on former Catalan leader
Former Nerja mayor , José Alberto Armijo , ( pictured ) has been re-elected as president of the town ’ s branch of the Partido Popular . A vote last month gave him , the only candidate , the approval of 97 % of local members . In his acceptance speech , Armijo described the present three-party left-wing coalition administration of Nerja as “ disastrous ” and “ anchored in the past .”
Pollution summons
Spain is one of nine countries summoned to Brussels to explain why their air pollution levels exceed the safe maximum . The Spanish areas in which high pollution levels have been recorded are in Madrid and Barcelona . The EU , which estimates 400,000 deaths a year are caused by poor air quality , says a summit will give the states the opportunity to explain their positions .
Shakira ’ s taxes
The taxman says singer Shakira owes the exchequer income tax for a period between 2011 and 2014 when she was resident in Spain . The Colombian star ’ s management have denied tax evasion and say she always complied with her obligations . The tax authority is demanding that tax should be paid on her worldwide earnings during the period , which could total many millions of Euros .
Growth cut
The IMF has reduced its estimate for Spanish growth for 2018 citing “ political uncertainty .” Their figure for the year has been cut by one point to 2.8 %, while the forecast for 2019 has risen by a point to 2.1 %. In its World Economic Outlook Update published last month , Spain is the only developed country for which the IMF has cut back its growth prospects .
Awkward delay
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy arrived 32 minutes late after a high-speed train was delayed during its inaugural run along a new 72 kilometre line between Vallencia and Castellón . The new route , expected to shave 37 minutes off the three-hour journey from Madrid to Castellón , went into public operation last month .
The war of words between Madrid and the former Catalan president has continued . On January 24 , Carles Puigdemont asked to be allowed to return to Spain from his self-imposed exile “ without any risk ,” while the government of prime minister Mariano Rajoy warned his supporters against trying to smuggle him home “ in the boot of a car .”
Puigdemont was speaking in Denmark on his first visit outside Belgium where he fled to avoid arrest after the illegal independence referendum staged by his administration in October . He wants to return to Cataluña to be elected president of the new administration following the regional elections last month , but Madrid says if that were to happen , it would maintain direct rule over the region .
In addition , as soon as he set foot on Spanish soil , Puigdemont would be arrested to face charges including rebellion , sedition and embezzlement which have been levelled at a number of his colleagues who remain in jail in Spain . However on January 23 , a judge refused to reactivate the International Arrest Warrant against Puigdemont which had been requested by the state prosecutor , but said it could be renewed when the current investigation into the
The regional health service ( SAS ) says that an IT failure caused a widow in Granada to receive a letter inviting her husband to be checked for cancer . In fact , he died in 1998 after contracting cancer of the colon .
The letter , reported to have been sent in November and signed by Health Minister Marina Alvarez , invites the recipient to take a “ simple test ” to “ detect the disease in its early stages before the symptoms appear .”
The Granada lady who received the letter has expressed her “ shock ” and her reaction as “ depressing .” However , politician ’ s conduct is completed .
As expected , members of Cataluña ’ s new regional parliament last month elected a new parliamentary President ( equivalent to the Speaker ) who is now charged with brokering deals between political parties in an effort to form a viable coalition , a process which by law had to be completed by Wednesday , January 31 . He is 38-year-old Roger Torrent Ramío , a political scientist who has been a regional Deputy for the pro-independence Catalan Republic Left party ( ERC ) since 2012 .
On January 24 , Torrent travelled to Brussels to meet Puigdemont who he named two days earlier as his preferred candidate for President in the regional parliament ’ s investiture session . With Puigdemont remaining outside Spain and a proposed video link from Brussels ruled out , it is now expected that another Deputy will read out Puigdemont ’ s speech during the coming debate .
Meanwhile , Spanish security forces continue to watch the borders to prevent Puigdemont sneaking back to Barcelona unnoticed . On January 23 , Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said , “ Justice will be done with Carles Puigdemont .”
SAS writes to man who died 20 years ago
she does not presently plan to make a formal complaint . After being contacted by a Spanish newspaper , the SAS has apologised and attributed the “ mistake ” to a “ computer failure ” in the databases which they manage .
However , according to the national newspaper ABC , the regional health service in Andalucía does not have a unified database system , although this was originally planned .
It claims that different software is used across the service which leads to compatibility problems and prevents cross-referencing patient data .
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