A man who killed his wife in Girona (northeastern Spain) in 2005 had been receiving a widower's pension ever since. The Social Security Department has now revoked this allowance.

In the early hours of July 21, 2005, the victim left home with her husband in their car. Shortly afterwards, the vehicle crashed into a wall on the outskirts of the town, and her husband stabbed her in the back 10 times with a large knife. He then returned home, cleaned the knife, and when the police told him she was dead, he faked surprise and grief. He said she had been carrying € 300 in her handbag, leading police to believe she had been robbed and killed.

However, on October 31 that year, he was arrested for murder, he confessed and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was also sentenced to pay the victim's brother, sister and son € 85,000 in compensation, which he is yet to do. Nor has he paid his € 21,475 legal costs.

When the family's lawyer demanded the payment, it was discovered that the day after killing his wife, he had gone to the Social Security office to start claiming a widower's pension, which was granted, entitling him to € 592 per month.

When the court requested information from the Social Security department to determine whether the man had a pension which could be impounded to make the payments, they were told that it could not be impounded because it was less than the minimum of € 600 which is considered the least a person can live on for a month.

In this case, the pension was granted due to a clerical error, since the social security department failed to receive notification that he had been sentenced for his wife's death. The woman's family has demanded that the man be required to pay the € 45,000 he has received so far back to Social Security.

(The law specifies that a person who has a definitive sentence against them for causing the death of another, cannot benefit from the deceased's pension.)
Source: euroweeklynews.com

The Socialists at Málaga's City Hall want the microchips (which all dogs must carry by law) to include the animals' DNA, to allow their owners to be identified and fined if their pets foul the city's pavements. The proposal was slammed as "ludicrous" by the conservative Mayor of Málaga who said it has already been rejected by other cities as too costly and inappropriate in these times of recession.

A viability study carried out in the Basque Country put the cost of the DNA analysis at between € 30 and € 75, which would have to be paid out to analyze every "object" of this type found on the public way.

The mayor said he believes education is the best way of keeping the streets clean of dog mess and added that he personally congratulates dog owners he sees picking up after their pets.
Source: typicallyspanish.com

Madrid - José Camacho was issued a € 150 ticket by the Guardia Civil Traffic police for driving while listening to music on a headphone with only one earpiece. He fought the ticket in court and won.

The judge ruled that he the driver didn't break the traffic legislation that says the use of headphones (or other objects which diminish the required permanent attention needed for driving) is a serious infraction. He said reasonable interpretation of the law meant that both headphones needed to be worn for the offense to be valid.

The State Attorney called on the judge to leave the fine in place but the judge noted that the driver had asked the Guardia to note on the fine that only one headphone had been used.

The judge's decision cannot be appealed as the fine involved is less than €  18,000.
Source: typicallyspanish.com

There could be between five and six million empty homes in Spain, or over 20 percent of the total, some experts believe. To get a better picture of the condition of Spain's property sector following the crash, over 5,000 agents from the National Statistics Institute (INE) have taken to the streets to try to draw a precise map of the houses and apartments that are lived in and those that stand empty.

Ten years ago, a similar exercise yielded 3.1 million empty homes, or 15 percent of the total, but the figure is likely to be much higher now, experts warn. Between 1998 and 2007, the housing stock grew by 5.7 million, or nearly 30 percent.

"Knowing whether a dwelling is occupied or not is relatively easy, but knowing whether it is empty on a temporary basis is much harder. How do you know if it is a vacation home, if there is nobody there to tell you?" asked a INE spokesman. The field work aims to count only those homes that are permanently shuttered, not second homes or those that are rented out to third parties.

The survey is expected to confirm that 4.6 million housing units were built during the real estate bubble, but fewer than three million were sold.
Source: elpais.com

Spain's jobless rate hit its highest level in 16 years during the last quarter of 2011 when the economy contracted again as the number of people out of work climbed above five million for the first time ever. That's more than a fifth of the working population.

According to the government's latest quarterly survey, the unemployment rate climbed from 21.5% in the 3rd quarter to 22.85% in the 4th quarter. The number of people out of work at the end of the year stood at a record 5.273 million.

The central bank predicts a contraction in GDP of 1.5% as the government continues with its austerity drive to rein in the public deficit, which will give way to a modest recovery in 2013. The IMF is more pessimistic, forecasting output will shrink 1.7% this year and 0.3% to following year, with the jobless rate climbing to over 23%.
Source: elpais.com