Marbella to ban animal cruelty for horse-drawn carriages
Authorities in the glitzy Costa del Sol city of Marbella are looking to follow in neighbouring Málaga’s footsteps (somewhat) and introduce animal welfare laws for the horses used to take tourists around town on carriages.
However, whereas Málaga will soon ban the tourist attraction altogether, Marbella will have its first-ever legislation that provides some protection to the animals, as current outdated laws don’t even ban the use of whips.
The horses used will have to be between 4 and 18 years old (with some exceptions), have veterinary check-ups every six months, they will have to be well taken care of and hydrated by their owners and no form of animal cruelty will be allowed.
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Ibiza residents block access to tourists’ favourite sunset spot
Ibiza’s Mirador des Vedrà lookout point has in recent years become known for its instagrammable sunsets, and with it hoards of tourists, traffic jams, rubbish and even DJ sets have taken over this protected natural space.
So it was perhaps inevitable that local authorities would eventually take action, as they have given permission (or turned a blind eye rather) when disgruntled residents recently blocked the parking spots available close to the clifftop and even closed off access to pedestrian tourists with big rocks and fencing.
READ MORE: Ibiza’s favourite sunset spot drowning in selfies, DJs and rubbish
Valencia considers taller buildings as solution to housing shortage
The Socialist Party’s branch in Valencia has suggested making buildings taller as a solution to the eastern city’s lack of housing, a measure which they calculate will allow 70,000 extra public housing units to be added to the city centre.
By changing existing urban planning legislation to allow one or two more floors per building they argue that this formula would avoid the issue of residents having to leave their neighbourhoods and being marginalised in the outskirts of Valencia.
So far, the region’s governing Popular Party has dismissed the Socialists’ proposal.
Most of Valencia’s flood victims died before govt alert
The vast majority of the victims of the devastating October 29th floods 29 in Valencia province died before the alert was issued to the population via SMS.
Those are the latest conclusions of a local court summary, which includes dozens of testimonies about people who died in their basements, in elevators or while trying to rescue their vehicles.
Meanwhile, Valencia’s regional leader Carlos Mazón has changed his version of events, arguing that he arrived an hour later than initially stated to the emergencies coordination unit (Cecopi), and after the alert was sent out to Valencians’ mobile phones.
Tens of thousands of people in the region have taken part in several protests calling for Mazón to resign for his poor handling of the worst natural disaster in modern Spanish history.
