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Friday, February 17, 2012
THE SPANISH PRESS
La Verdad
Dog saves owner from blazing apartment A DEVOTED dog proved he was man’s – or in this case woman’s – best friend when he saved his terrified owner from a burning building in Andalucia. The woman was sleeping when fire broke out in the living room of her apartment. And it was only the dog’s desperate barking and cries that saved her life. Alerted by the noise the dog was making, the woman smelt smoke and discovered a blaze in her living room. Firefighters quickly arrived and put out the fire, but not before it had destroyed the living room and caused extensive smoke and heat damage throughout the apartment. The fire also spread to the outside sunshades of other apartments in the nine-storey building. The woman was treated for smoke inhalation and a second person needed treatment for burns to the hand. Had the dog not woken the woman at that time, it is believed she would almost certainly have died. It is thought the blaze emanated from a problem with a heater in the living room.
DIANA’S ‘AFFAIR WITH THE KING’
PRINCESS Diana was one of the many young ladies The King of Spain, Juan Carlos, had an affair with, a new biography claims. The book by Barcelonabased author Pilar Eyre also alleges Juan Carlos is a ‘professional seducer’ who made a ‘tactile’ advance on Princess Diana while she was on a holiday with Prince Charles in Majorca in the 1980s. And it reveals that age has not stopped the 74-year-old, with the monarch regularly receiving vitamin injections and anti-ageing treatments, the Daily Mail reported. The biography also claims that the king has not shared a bed with his wife for the past 35 years. The Solitude of the Queen follows the much-derided allegations made in 2004 by Lady Colin Campbell that the princess had a fling with Juan Carlos while on a cruise in August 1986 and then again the following April.
“Diana did it to make Charles jealous, but it didn’t work. Charles couldn’t have cared less,” said Lady Colin. During a 1987 visit to Madrid by Charles and Diana, the king was clicked smiling as he kissed the princess on the hand – a gesture that left her looking embarrassed. Eyre has claimed that the Princess, together with Prince Charles and their young children, holidayed in Majorca with the Spanish
royal family a number of times during the Eighties. Charles never felt comfortable on the sunshine island and much preferred visiting the Duke of Wellington’s estate near Granada where the shooting was good. But Diana, who loved lounging about on yachts and flaunting her figure in stylish bathing suits, was right at home on the shores of the Mediterranean. And the king, who appreci-
ated displays of female beauty, apparently acted on an impulse to get closer to her. After her first trip to Majorca in 1986, Eyre alleged that Diana told her bodyguard Ken Wharfe that Juan Carlos fancied her. It seemed that the king made all kinds of excuses to get physical with her and used to love bending down with her to stroke his old German shepherd dog, Archie. According to Eyre, rumours of the affair deepened later over the curious case of some photos of Diana in a state of undress. These were hyped around the world’s publications, only to be taken off the market when someone in Spain paid 45,000 dollars for them. That someone is rumoured to have been Juan Carlos, who wanted to guard the Princess’s reputation. The book also claims Queen Sofia only remains in the marriage out of ‘a sense of duty’.
Criminal enquiry into deadly hotel bug cover-up THE prosecutors’ office is to investigate whether any crime took place in the outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease in a Calpe hotel. Two French tourists who stayed at the Diamante Beach Hotel between January 25 and February 1 have now been taken ill, taking the number of people affected to 18, three of whom, all British tourists, have died. Three workers at the hotel and a doctor who treated cases were also struck down by the bug. Under scrutiny is why it took so long to close the hotel when it appears there was evidence it was the source of the outbreak even before the deaths. It is also being questioned how the British Health Authorities were able to issue an internal statement on January 20 warning about the outbreak when the Valencia Health Authority was still to make any comment.
PSOE to launch Camps appeal - because verdict doesn’t suit
Francisco Camps (front) and Ricardo Costa during the trial
THE socialist party in Valencia has confirmed that it is to appeal against the not guilty verdict handed down on Francisco Camps and Ricardo Costa in the suits part of the Gürtel corruption case. A statement from the Valencia PSOE said they will be presenting an appeal to the Supreme Court. The ex-President of the Valencia region and his ex-General Secretary were absolved at the end of the case on
the alleged crime of passive bribery. The appeal by PSOE comes despite the fact that the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office said they would not appeal the verdict as they could not see ‘sufficient legal base’ to do so. On Twitter the Secretary General of PSOE, Jorge Alarte, said it was the ‘obligation’ of the socialists to present this appeal which they owe to ‘the thousands of residents of Valencia who do not agree with the verdict’.