The mortgage statistics for October, the business turnover for the same month and the resident tourism survey for the third quarter will be the main macro references in Spain on a Thursday in which Metrovacesa and Prosegur pay dividends. Outside our borders, investors will be attentive to the US GDP for the third quarter and the Philadelphia survey for December.
In Spain, the Institute of National Statistics (INE) has a busy day releasing reports before Christmas, including the domestic tourism figures for September, and the combined report for quarter 3, as well as foreign tourism and spending figures for September. Environmental and health expenditure will also be amongst the reports out today.
Locally, in Torrevieja, we have the Divertijoven on Paseo Vistalegre, at 5:30 p.m., which is an event specifically for the younger people in the town, but a little later, we are all invited to join in with the Casa de Andalucía Christmas Zambomba, at 8:30 p.m., on the stage at the Plaza de la Constitution. The UMT youth band of Torrevieja will also be holding their Christmas concert in the Palacio de la Musica.
Orihuela Costa, meanwhile, will be holding a Crafts workshop for children aged 12 and over from 5pm to 7.30 pm at the Esplanade in Playa Flamenca.
The Guardia Civil has seized 10,696 toys in the Valencian town of Manises for not meeting the safety conditions established in the European directives. There are two people investigated for an alleged crime against industrial property. Children’s toys must have the ‘CE’ marking, a distinctive mark of the European Community but some of the seized toys did not have this marking and in some of them the acronyms appeared but referred to ‘China Export’ and not that of the European Community.
Spanish airline, Vueling, a company belonging to the IAG group, is the most punctual airline in the low-cost sector in Europe, second in all airlines in the continent, and third most punctual low-cost carrier in the world, according to the latest figures released this week. Vueling has a punctuality index of 86.3% in more than 15,700 operated flights, according to the global consulting firm specialised in aviation analysis Cirium.
Two men appear in court today facing four years in prison for hate crimes, after they are accused of homophobically abusing and attacking a victim in Valencia. According to the public accusation, the events occurred in the early hours of March 4 on a street in Valencia. The defendants approached the injured party and asked him to give them part of what he was eating, which he refused, and so they allegedly began to punch and kick him, while insulting him with the intention of undermining his dignity.
Decathlon has sold 90 stores in several European countries, including 30 in France, as well as in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany, to American investor Realty Income, according to French media. The operation, which covers approximately 400,000 square metres of commercial space, has reached an estimated value of 600 million euro. Decathlon representatives have assured that this transaction is a continuation of similar operations and have emphasised that it will have no impact on the daily activity of the stores involved.
The Supreme Court (TS) has clarified that sending a single image of intimate content to third parties is sufficient to convict them of ‘sexting’, as long as the objective is to “denigrate” the affected person. The ruling came about after a man was acquitted as he had only sent a single image, whereas the law refers to images in plural, as a single image could have been sent in error. However, the supreme court reinstated the conviction, as the man’s intentions were clear in the evidence.
Taking a look back in time on this day, and tragedy struck in 1988, when a Pan Am jumbo jet crashed onto the town of Lockerbie. Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 locals on the ground were killed.
On this day in the world of music, in 1970, Elvis Presley met President Nixon, after he just turned up at the White House. We mentioned her yesterday as a teaser, but it was on this day in 2019 that Mariah Carey topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with the now classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” 25 years after its original release in 1994. It topped the UK Singles Chart for the first time ever on December 11, 2020.
Sticking with music and Say, Say, Say by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson was number 1 in America 40 years ago today, that’s 1983 by the way, and Only You by the Flying Pickets was top of the charts in the UK.
