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SPAIN

The autónomos (self employed) denounce the government and the fragility of their situation; 75% say they are the same or worse off than in 2022: {Translation}
– The self-employed see no signs of improvement in their situation, at least in the short term. The majority of self-employed workers – 3.3 million in Spain, 16% of all Social Security affiliates – maintain that their business has stagnated or worsened. Moreover, in general terms, the group gives poor marks to the measures adopted by the Government for the group during the legislature. So much so that 77% of the self-employed fail the work of the Executive. This survey by the employers’ association ATA is carried out quarterly and on this occasion has had the participation of some 1,200 self-employed.
– Three out of four believe that their business is the same (41.3%) or worse (33.7%) than a year ago, compared to the remaining 25% who say that it has grown. The outlook for the rest of the year is very similar. Only 18% of the self-employed surveyed said that their business would grow, while another 75% said it would remain the same or get worse.
– Further, 32% of the self-employed say that their turnover increased compared to last year, although in most cases the improvement in sales was less than 10%. The rest are divided between those with the same turnover as last year (26.5%) and those whose turnover has worsened (39%).
– A key element in explaining the poor improvement in turnover is the increase in expenses. Thus, 83% of those surveyed stated that their expenses had increased compared to the previous year, in most cases by between 10 and 30%. At the same time, this increase in costs has forced many employees to raise prices. Two out of every three self-employed people have done so this year, while 60% say that they will have to raise prices again in the remainder of the year. ATA points out that the drop in turnover for many self-employed workers and the increase in costs has caused many to raise their shutters every day “in the knowledge that it is going to cost them money”.
– Asked which factors have most affected their production in the last year, the self-employed agree that inflation (87% say it affected them “quite a lot” or “a great deal”), followed by taxes (81%) and the payment of social security contributions (76%). The cost of raw materials (71%), higher fuel prices (70%) and higher electricity prices (63%) have also had a widespread effect. Moreover, so far only half of the self-employed have noticed the rise in interest rates and only a third say that they have been very or fairly affected by the shortage of certain products or the cost of rent.
– With regard to employment, most of the self-employed with employees have opted to maintain the same level of employment. Only 16% have decided to increase it in the last year and another 13.5% have been forced to reduce it. In addition, 30% of respondents reported having a worker earning the minimum wage, a percentage that would be equivalent to one million self-employed workers. Source, Spanish: https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/5146075/0/los-autonomos-suspenden-gobierno-denuncian-fragilidad-su-situacion-75-dice-estar-igual-peor-que-2022/

MALAGA PROVINCE

Caminito del Rey gorge walkway closed today due to 40C temperatures: The famous tourist attraction in Malaga province will be closed on Tuesday, 11 July, due to the Aemet weather ‘risk’ alert covering the local area. (For the next week, it may be wise to confirm your admission the day before you are scheduled to attend. -Ed.) Request ticket refunds or rescheduling at the place of purchase. We regret any inconvenience. Full article: https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/guadalhorce-valley/caminito-rey-suspended-gorge-walkway-forced-close-20230710153549-nt.html 

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Blood Donations- Appointments this summer in Vélez-Málaga, Nerja and Rincón de la Victoria: {Translation, summary}
– The Transfusion, Tissue and Cell Centre of Malaga has organised 221 collections in the summer and aims to exceed 10,100 blood donations and 400 plasma donations. To this end, it will intensify the campaigns in municipalities along the Malaga coastline.
Dates and donation points in Axarquia:
Torre del Mar: 1st and 2nd August.
Rincón de la Victoria: 3rd and 4th August.
Vélez-Málaga: 11 and 12 July.
La Cala del Moral: 14th August.
Nerja: 18th July and 29th August. Source, Spanish: https://www.axarquiaplus.es/once-citas-en-verano-en-los-municipios-de-velez-malaga-nerja-y-rincon-de-la-victoria-para-donar-sangre/

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The price of housing in Malaga continues to rise more than in any other province in Spain: {Translation}
– For the province as a whole, the price of house purchases follows a generalised growth trend for the whole country, led by Malaga with an increase of 12.4% and a value per square metre of 2,446 euros, which makes it the Spanish province with the highest increase in house prices.
– Malaga is followed nationally by Alicante (+11.4%) and Las Palmas (+8.4%). In contrast, the provinces with the most negative variations were Zamora (-4.8%), Cuenca (-4.3%), Albacete (-2.5%) and León (-1.4%). Looking more closely at Andalusia, Seville (8.4% and 1,219 €/m2), Cadiz (8.2% and 1,452 €/m2), Huelva (7.8% and 1,101 €/m2), Almeria (4.6% and 1,089 €/m2), Granada (4.4% and 1,166 €/m2), Cordoba (3.7% and 1,074 €/m2) and Jaen (0.4% and 816 €/m2) are behind.
– In terms of the autonomous communities, the uneven territorial growth in house prices has been maintained. Despite this, six autonomous communities have experienced growth of more than 7%, led by the Valencian Community, which has reached 1,257 €/m2 after an increase of 8.2%. This was followed by Andalusia (7.8%), Murcia (7.6%), the Balearic Islands (7.2%), the Canary Islands (7.2%) and Navarre (7%).
*Rents rise by almost 18%*
– With regard to rental prices, the growth trend remains stable with increases in most provinces, with Cáceres, Castellón and Teruel being the only provinces with year-on-year price decreases. Increases of more than 15% were recorded in the Balearic Islands (+22.4%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (+20.3%), Gerona (+20.1%), Malaga (+17.9%) and Cantabria (+16.1%).
– Analysing the absolute figures, Barcelona once again tops the ranking of provinces with 18.92 €/m²/month, followed by the Balearic Islands (17.27 €/m²/month) and Madrid (16.59 €/m²/month) – Malaga is three euros below Madrid in this ranking.
– In Andalusia, there has also been an increase in all provinces with a year-on-year growth of 10.5% and a price of 9.79 €/m²/month. By cities, Malaga also leads the rental price (17.9% and 13.32 €/m2/month), followed by Jaen (13.2% and 5.11 €/m2/month), Granada (9.8% and 8.42 €/m2/month), Huelva (7.2% and 9.86 €/m2/month), Cordoba (6.2% and 7.25 €/m2/month), Seville (5.2% and 9.36 €/m2/month), Cadiz (4.6% and 9.88 €/m2/month), Almeria (3.8% and 7.78 €/m2/month).
*Theoretical effort*
– According to the latest available data, corresponding to the end of 2022, the theoretical effort required by households to buy a home has increased by almost three points compared to the previous quarter, standing at 36.10%, already exceeding the threshold of 35%, the recommended figure for maintaining healthy personal finances.
– This loss of purchasing power for Spaniards has also meant that the number of years of salary that an average-income family would need to spend to be able to buy an average-sized home has once again increased, reaching almost 8 years. Source, Spanish: https://www.malagahoy.es/malaga/vivienda-Malaga-subiendo-provincia-Espana_0_1810019515.html

EUROPE

Iceland on alert for volcanic eruption, 2,200 quakes detected in 24-hour period: Iceland’s Mount Fagradalsfjall is in danger of erupting soon, according to the country’s meteorological institute. About 2,220 earthquakes were measured and the largest, 5.2 magnitude, felt in the capital region.
The quakes began late afternoon on July 4, under Mount Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes Peninsula at Iceland’s southwest. This is where two eruptions occurred in 2021 and 2022. Seven of the recorded tremors had a magnitude greater than 4, which is considered a light tremor. The aviation industry was alerted to the risk of an eruption. Source: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/iceland-alert-volcanic-eruption-2-160505446.html

RECALLS

Health withdraws a batch of Gerblé brand chocolate cookies sold throughout Spain that contained scopolamine & atropine: {Translation}
– The Spanish health authorities are verifying the withdrawal from the market of a batch of Gerblé brand gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for the presence of scopolamine, known as the burundanga drug, and traces of the drug atropine that have been distributed throughout the country. .
– Specifically, it is batch 51914913, from France, with an expiration date of September 20, 2023, in a 150-gram cardboard container and sold at room temperature, according to the alert from the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (Aesan).
– The authorities recommend that people who have products affected by this alert at home refrain from consuming them.
Source, Spanish: https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/5146050/0/retiran-galletas-chocolate-repartidas-por-toda-espana-por-contener-burundanga-y-atropina/ 

TRAVEL NEWS

EasyJet cancels more than 1,000 summer flights due to Europe congestion: The cancelled easyJet flights represent 2% of its summer flight schedule, affecting up to 180,000 customers. Their press release says, “Customers whose flights are affected are being informed, with 95% of customers being rebooked onto an alternative flight and all customers provided with the option to rebook or receive a refund.” Full article: https://news.sky.com/story/easyjet-cancels-scores-of-summer-flights-due-to-europe-congestion-12918415?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

GASTRONOMIA

The 21 Michelin-Starred Restaurants of Andalucia: {Translation}
-Malaga-
Bardal, (Ronda), has two stars.
El Lago, (Marbella), has one star.
José Carlos García, (Málaga), has one star.
Kaleja, (Málaga), has one star.
Messina, (Marbella), has one star.
Nintai, (Marbella), has one star.
Skina, (Marbella), has two stars.
Solló, (Fuengirola), has one star.
-Cadiz-
Alevante, (Sancti Petri), Chiclana, one star.
Aponiente, (El Puerto de Santa María), three stars. {pic}
LÚ Cocina y Alma, (Jerez de la Frontera), one star.
Barcode, (Cádiz), one star.
Mantua, (Jerez de la Frontera), one star.
-Cordoba-
Choco, (Córdoba), has one star.
Noor, (Córdoba), has two stars.
-Jaen-
Bagá, (Jaén), has one star.
Dama Juana, (Jaén), has one star.
-Sevilla-
Abantal, (Seville), has one star.
Cañabota, (Seville), has one star.
-Almeria-
The Coast, (El Ejido), has one star.
-Granada-
La Finca, (Loja), has one star.
Source, Spanish: https://www.diariodesevilla.es/turismo/lista-restaurantes-estrella-Michelin-Andalucia_0_1808219988.html 

SPORTS

Tennis News- Novak Djokovic wins resumed match to reach Wimbledon quarters & Medvedev advances:
– Having edged two tiebreaks late on Sunday before being beaten by the tournament’s strict 11 p.m. curfew, Djokovic returned to lose his first set of the tournament before sealing a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4 victory.
– Also Monday, No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia reached the quarterfinals for the first time when his fourth-round opponent , Jiri Lehecka, retired injured after losing the first two sets 6-4, 6-2.
Full article: https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/novak-djokovic-wins-resumed-match-reach-wimbledon-quarters/story?id=101009322

TECH

Firefox Browser Goes From Bad to Worse:
– Mozilla has announced that some browser add-ons will be blocked from running on certain sites as part of a new feature called Quarantined Domains.
– “We have introduced a new back-end feature to only allow some extensions monitored by Mozilla to run on specific websites for various reasons, including security concerns,” the company said in its Release Notes for Firefox 115.0 released last week.
– The company said the openness afforded by the add-on ecosystem could be exploited by malicious actors to their advantage. “This feature allows us to “prevent attacks by malicious actors targeting specific domains” (read: “protect our business partner’s websites from your ad-blockers”) when we have reason to believe there may be malicious add-ons we have not yet discovered,” Mozilla said.
– (This allows Firefox to block extensions you have intentionally installed from functioning on Firefox-partner’s websites. See in photo how Firefox allows ad-blocker uBlock Origin extension on the sample website, but it blocks another similar extension by StopTheMadness. Firefox sells this block immunity as a service to extension creators, allowing developers to be immune from being blocked, for a price! That pushes smaller developers, on smaller budgets, out of the extensions market. If they don’t pay blackmail to Firefox, their extensions will get blocked. This also reveals that Firefox monitors every user’s web activity in real-time, a huge violation of your privacy, and to be sure, Firefox sells this private browsing data to the highest bidders. Absolutely outrageous! -Ed.)
– DoctorLaptop’s current recommendations for safe web browsers are:
1. SRWare Iron (Chrome without the tracking functions)
https://www.srware.net/iron/
2. Epic Browser (Chrome with free VPN & ad-blocker, without the tracking functions)
https://www.epicbrowser.com/
Full article: https://thehackernews.com/2023/07/new-mozilla-feature-blocks-risky-add.html 

FINANCIAL

Why you should cancel your mortgage in the registry if you have already finished paying it: {Translation, summary}
– The Bank of Spain informs us that, once the last mortgage payment has been made, the loan will have been terminated. However, this debt continues to appear in the Land Registry, since at the time of the purchase of the property, both the deed of sale and the loan deed were signed before a notary, and both were registered in the Land Registry. Therefore, it is necessary (although it is not essential, it is advisable) to cancel the mortgage. You can do this in person in the following ways:
Requesting from your bank a certificate of economic cancellation of the debt, or “certificate of zero debt”, which is free of charge.
Choose a notary’s office and hand in the certificate so that the notary can prepare the deed of cancellation and contact the bank, which must send a representative. The notary’s office may charge you fees, but the bank will not charge you anything for the representative’s travel and signature.
Go to the delegation of your autonomous community and fill in the document for Documented Legal Acts (IAJD), which is exempt from payment.
Go to the Land Registry with the three documents (“certificado de deuda cero”, deed and copy of the tax) and cancel your mortgage. Here you will have to pay the registry fees.
You can ask the bank with which you had the mortgage to take care of the paperwork, although they may charge you commissions, of which they must inform you beforehand. You will therefore have to pay some notary and registry fees, in addition to the fees of the agency in the corresponding case. Source, Spanish: https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/5145260/0/por-que-deberias-cancelar-hipoteca-registro-si-ya-has-terminado-pagar/

CULTURE

Transgender woman wins Miss Universe Netherlands, sparking outrage: A transgender woman has won the Miss Universe Netherlands competition for the first time ever.  The 22-year-old actress and model, Rikkie Valerie Kolle {Kolle pic on left; runner-up, a biological woman, on right} won the contest over the weekend, meaning she will compete in the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador this upcoming December. Kolle’s victory sparked outrage online, with many saying in various replies to her social media posts that she “only won” because of a “woke agenda,” and implying that she stole the win from other contestants. Full article: https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/transgender-woman-wins-miss-universe-netherlands-sparking-outrage-transgender-rikki-valerie-kolle-beauty-women-pageant 

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