Update 6pm: After an afternoon of large quakes, the biggest one yet. Direct reports from El Hierro say it occurred at 5.01pm, and really shook property. This quake is being recorded as 4.7 on the Richter scale, but direct reports say it felt bigger than that. It was also felt on La Palma.

Update 11.30am: Scientists say that the energy released since the start of this latest crisis has exceeded the total energy released during the initial part of the eruption throughout 2011. So far today, there have been 51 earthquakes over Richter 3, eight of them over R4. Naturally the public has felt the tremors. The strongest ones have also been felt on other islands.   ... Read more...

Update 30 January 2013: This apartment has now been reduced to €139,500. I was on this complex only a couple of weeks ago visiting some friends on holiday and I have to say it’s lovely. What’s more, I was delighted to see the works that Adeje Ayuntamiento have been carrying out in the area: the paving and planting is now a real pleasure.

Original post 3 November:  I’ve added another property for sale direct from the owner, a beautiful 1 bedroom apartment in Fañabe for sale at €144,500. It’s under the Owning Property tab, sub-tab Property for sale direct from owners, but a direct link for more photos and further details is HERE. Please just let me know if you’re interested and I’ll put you in contact with the vendor.

Update 30 January 2013: Whatever their plans are for these dog catchers I hope they get it together soon because last night another woman was injured. The attack happened in C/. Nido in the Montaña Chayofita area above Avenida Suecia and the dog responsible is said to be an abandoned one. I don’t know whether this implies it was a dog unrelated to the Guaza mountain pack, or whether they’re spreading their activities more widely these days. The woman, 73 years old, had an open bite wound in her leg: her injuries are said to be “not serious”, but were sufficiently serious to require emergency services assistance.   ... Read more...

Update 29 January: The Government has now confirmed that it will maintain the 50% discount for residents who live outside of the mainland, namely in the Canaries, Balearics, and Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. Minister Ana Pastor will meet with airline representatives to study tariffs and attempt to improve efficiency, but the full discount will continue.

Update 9 January 2013: As I posted on 9 August, there were eleven Ayuntamientos offering this service: Arona, Guía de Isora, San Miguel de Abona, Granadilla de Abona, Güímar, Vilaflor, La Guancha, Santa Úrsula, Santa Cruz, La Laguna, and El Sauzal. Guía de Isora has now joined the list of Ayuntamientos facilitating this document online.   ... Read more...

Tenerife’s cuisine is playing a leading role as one of the events in the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) which begins tomorrow in Madrid and runs until next Sunday. Chefs Juan Carlos Clemente, Braulio Simancas and Seve Díaz have created a special menu based on local produce for twenty or so food journalists who will also try wines from each of Tenerife’s five denominations of origin.   ... Read more...

Update 28 January 2013: German company RWE Dea AG, which along with Woodside (Australia) and Repsol is conducting soundings for oil off the eastern Canary islands, has estimated that there is a supply of around 1,390 million barrels in the Aaiun-Tarfaya oil field to the east of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura: the extent and scale is clear from the area of the red box in the above image. The report says that the field can be considered as a northern extension of recent discoveries of oil deposits in Mauritania, Liberia and Sierra Leone from the Tertiary and Cretaceous eras: this dating apparently indicates that the oil will be of a high quality.  Exploration, the next stage after prospection, is expected to start in the second half of 2014.   ... Read more...

The Ministerio de Empleo is preparing a new strategy to combat youth unemployment involving a six-month period in which they can set up as autonomo with a social security contribution of just €50 a month compared to the more than €250 a month currently required. “Youth” is deemed to be those under 30 years of age. Once this six months has passed, contributions will be discounted by around 30% for the following two years.   ... Read more...

A 70-year-old man is in Hositén Sur tonight with multiple injuries after a fall while walking on Montaña Roja, El Médano this morning. Emergency services were called out shortly before 10.30am, but due to the inaccessibility of the terrain a helicopter was required to rescue him. After evacuating him to the airport, he was transferred by ambulance to hospital where he remains in serious condition.

As I have posted previously, normally in Spain, fines are paid at the start of Court appeals, with the money being repaid if the appeal is successful. With these cases, however, José Escobedo has submitted a petition to the Court along with the appeals requesting that payment of the fines is not enforced while the case is ongoing.   ... Read more...

Update 23 January: Sadly, the body has been confirmed as that of Fernando Torres who disappeared from a home for the mentally ill in Puerto de la Cruz a week last Sunday. Police have apparently ruled out the possibility that he died a violent death.

Original post 22 January: The body of a man of around 40 years of age was found this evening in the La Perdoma area of La Orotava. Police say that given the state of decomposition, they think the poor man died some days ago. There has been no identification as yet, but police have been searching for some days for 48-year-old Fernando Torres, who was reported missing from a home for the mentally ill in Puerto de la Cruz a week last Sunday.