The
OLIVE PRESS
Your expat
voice in Spain
VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR FREE Vol. 1 Issue 2 www.theolivepress.es December 10th - December 23rd 2020
Nativity Double!
LIKE buses, Alicante has bagged two world records in one fell swoop. The city has been handed the Guinness World Record award after building the tallest and largest nativity scene in history. The display features a record-breaking 18-metre high statue of Joseph alongside a smaller Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Created by Jose Manuel Garcia, its giant statue easily beats the old 1991 height record set in Mexico. The display is also now the world’s largest-ever static nativity scene occu-
By Alex Trelinski
pying an area of 56 square metres. Some local political parties have criticised the cost of the enterprise, including €123,000 for the sculptures. There is also the bill of €14,000 payable to Guinness World Records for certification. Councillor Manuel Jimenez justified the expense saying: “The visitor numbers justify it and we are seeing business being stimulated by the display.”
Dinner with destiny SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO: Boris was set for crucial meeting with Von der Leyen last night
BRITAIN’S Prime Minister had a date with destiny last night in Brussels. Boris Johnson was having dinner with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to see if there was any chance of salvaging a so-called soft Brexit trade deal with Europe. It came after Johnson insisted a deal with the EU was looking ‘very very difficult’ on Tuesday. The frustrating news came after weeks of claims that a deal was close to being finalised. “We’ll do our level best, but I would just like to say to everybody - be in good cheer, there are great options ahead for our country,” Johnson insisted. Talks with the EU have remained in deadlock for days thanks to disagreement over fishing quotas. While it comprises just 0.1% of the UK economy, the fishing
row could spell a hit of up to 3% for the economy and up to the same for Spain, the biggest predicted victim in Europe. A final last minute push sawJohnson travelling to Brussels in an attempt to salvage a deal. Von der Leyen confirmed that an EU summit will begin on today (Thursday) to address the disagreements. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has been firm that talks will not continue past Wednesday and is ‘very downbeat’ and ‘very gloomy’, according to the Irish government. As Johnson took to Twitter to celebrate the first day of the coronavirus vaccine roll out, Belgium’s president jibed that the jab had been ‘Made in Europe’. See Cash Crash, p17 and No News is Bad News, p22
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas... Saint Martin’s Urban Irish is an Irish Pub with Mediterranean touches, in the center of Valencia. Where you can find good International beer, the best Guinness, live music and sport shown on 7 full HD screens ...Where Valentian rugby meets all International rugby RESERVATIONS WhatsApp: 680 743 904
CAN’T BEAR IT
Environmental groups unite after hunters kill two protected brown bears on ‘dark day’ for Spain SLAIN: Female brown bear Sarousse was shot by a hunter who claimed it was an act of ‘self defence’ AN investigation has been launched after a pair of brown bears were gunned down on a ‘dark day’ for efforts to protect the endangered species. The adult females were shot dead by different hunters, with one claiming to have fired at the bear in self defence. In what has infuriated environmentalists, both animals were killed in conservation zones, in the week a law banning hunting in Spain’s National Parks came into force. The first bear was shot in the Palencia mountains, in Castilla y Leon, by a hunter who claimed he thought the creature was a wild boar. A second bear, named Sarousse, was killed during a
By Kirsty McKenzie
hunt in the Aragon Pyrenees. The 21-year-old animal - one of just 350 in Spain - was shot dead in the Bardaji valley. The hunter, who claimed he was acting in self-defence, gunned her down at pointblank range when she acted in an ‘aggressive manner’ after being disturbed by his dogs. Sarousse, who had originally been captured in Slovenia before being released in 2006, is the third bear to be killed in the Pyrenees this year. Spain’s environment minister Teresa Ribera slammed the deaths and said efforts were
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underway to determine what led to the killings on November 29. It comes after six green groups, including Ecologistas en Accion, SEO Birdlife and Friends of the Earth, united to demand immediate action. The Guardia Civil’s wildlife unit Seprona confirmed this week that an investigation has now been launched.
Heritage
The deaths came just 10 days after police in Catalunya arrested a local environmental official over the death of a third bear, a six-year-old male called Cachou, who was killed in the Val d’Aran area in April. The Spanish Brown Bear Foundation described the killings as a ‘dark day for conservation’. The group warned that deliberate hunting carried penalties of up to three years in prison. “This is enough. These bears were everyone’s heritage,”
said spokesman Garcia Paloma, who insisted the laws needed to be strengthened. Bears, once critically endangered in Spain, are now considered ‘high priority’ by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Brown bears became a protected species in 1973 as part of an attempt to grow numbers in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. The deaths came as sport and commercial hunting became illegal in Spain’s National Parks on December 5. The law was actually passed in 2014, but the then-ruling party, the PP, granted a six year extension, which came to an end last week. Hunters described the ban as ‘ecological disaster’ that will lead to job losses and overpopulation of the species. Environmental groups called for Aragon’s regional council to suspend all wild boar hunts in the areas where the presence of bears is known. Opinion Page 6