The National Police have arrested a man in Ibiza accused of attempting to kidnap a minor as she left a social services center. The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon when the suspect approached the young girl on the street and invited her to his vehicle with the promise of candy. When the girl refused and tried to run away, the man grabbed her forearm, insisting that she go with him and not tell anyone, according to the Balearic Islands Police Headquarters. The girl managed to break free and take refuge inside a supermarket, where she asked for help from other shoppers. Some locals who were shopping, upon learning what had happened, went out to look for the suspect. Although the man tried to flee and a struggle ensued, the shoppers ultimately managed to detain him until the police arrived. Shortly after, the National Police arrived at the scene, provided assistance to the minor, and located her mother to ensure her safety. The man, a Spanish national, was arrested as the suspected perpetrator of unlawful detention. Subsequently, the judicial authority issued him a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the victim.

A man accepted a two-year prison sentence on Wednesday for raping a 14-year-old girl in Palma in 2020. The parties reached an agreement in the Second Section of the Provincial Court, and the convicted man will not go to prison on the condition that he does not commit any further offenses in the next three years. He will pay €7,500, of which he has already paid €3,500. The prosecution initially sought a nine-year prison sentence for the crime, but before the trial could take place, and thanks to this agreement, he will avoid prison time because he has no prior criminal record and the sentence is less than the minimum required for incarceration in these cases. Furthermore, the man is prohibited from approaching the victim for the next five years and has committed to paying the remaining compensation.

Around one hundred workers from the s'Estel Socio-educational Institute Foundation, which manages the Es Pinaret socio-educational center for minors in Mallorca, gathered this Tuesday in front of the center's management offices to demand payment of the hazardous and arduous work supplement, with a maximum amount of up to 385 euros per month. The action, supported by the STEI Intersindical union, comes after years of administrative gridlock and negotiations that have thus far yielded no satisfactory results. According to union representatives, the supplement has been planned for years but has never been implemented. Mateu Moyà, head of the public sector division of STEI, recalls that the issue was first raised in 2019, but "it came to nothing because no one on the committee dared to request its implementation for economic reasons." Subsequently, under the coalition government, negotiations were "much more difficult and encountered resistance from the administration, which in many cases refused to even negotiate the supplement." “We took them to the inspection,” Moyà recalls. With the change of government, he says, the situation has improved: “We were told that the issue was pending and that it would be analyzed,” and in December 2024 the union presented a new proposal that allowed for more advanced negotiations to begin. Initially, the Administration offered up to 250 euros, but now an amount of up to 385 euros has been reached.

"Tons of young people wow"That's how one of them referred to it." scout Jeffrey Epstein's preferred (top model selector) to the young women he had recruited for one of the many stays they were organizing in Ibiza some fifteen years ago. He wrote this in an email sent in 2010, in which photo shoots with high-profile models were apparently being arranged. The constant references to age and the comments in the messages between the American magnate—who committed suicide in 2019 in prison in New York—and his associates confirm that Ibiza played a key role in the network of influence and international business spaces, with the backdrop of the company of young women, always identified girls in communications.

The National Police are investigating a teacher in Palma for five alleged cases of harassment of underage students, after an initial complaint filed in late December opened an investigation that has led to the identification of five more potential victims of the same teacher. The investigation began following a complaint from a young woman who reported receiving persistent and repeated calls every day from a blocked number, many of them late at night. According to her account, the calls caused her anxiety and disrupted her daily life. Days later, the victim returned to the police to report that the phone harassment continued. In these subsequent calls, the alleged perpetrator asked if they would meet and told her he missed her. At the beginning of the year, the young woman confirmed that the calls were still coming, but this time from a visible phone number.

The Government views favorably the proposal of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to prohibit access to social networks for minors under 16 years of ageAccording to a statement made this Tuesday by the Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, the government is committed to implementing a ban on mobile phones on screens in the Balearic Islands. Vera emphasized the importance of establishing clear mechanisms for the measure to be effectively applied in the islands. He stated that he was "in complete agreement" with the measure and reiterated the government's hope that the situation would not repeat itself, as with the mobile phone ban, which was left to regional regulations after its national approval, and which the Balearic Islands had ultimately implemented through a specific order. The minister explained that the government wants to see how the new legal proposal will be processed and implemented, as well as how it can be applied in the islands, stressing the importance of having clear mechanisms for its implementation within the territory.

She also highlighted other initiatives already implemented in the Balearic Islands along these lines, such as the ban on digital screens up to the fourth grade of primary school and the launch of an awareness campaign for families about the risks of the "harmful overuse" of digital devices, which will be rolled out in the coming months. Despite her positive assessment, Vera considered the announcement to be "just another smokescreen" by President Sánchez, since the People's Party had already submitted an amendment to the law on the protection of minors in digital environments to propose a similar ban. Sánchez made the announcement during his speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he indicated that the government will approve the measure next week in the Council of Ministers. The proposal includes, among other things, requiring platforms to implement effective age verification systems and creating a tracking and tracing system to combat hateful and illegal content. It will also address potential legal violations by platforms such as Grok, TikTok, and Instagram.

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The initial reception center set up by the Consell de Mallorca in the former Son Tous barracks, which has been operational for two weeks, is now receiving its first unaccompanied migrant children. This was explained by the president of the Mallorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS), Guillermo Sánchez, this Wednesday at the IMAS Governing Council meeting, according to a press release from the island institution.

]]> As a social worker, she feels a human and professional responsibility to bring to light the injustices we see every day that the system fails to resolve. Not to point fingers, but to shine a light where institutional darkness leaves families behind.

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The First Section of the Provincial Court of Palma began the trial this Tuesday of a man accused of repeatedly raping his daughter for more than ten years. The prosecution is seeking a 36-year prison sentence for three counts of continuous sexual assault with violence and intimidation, charges which he denies through his defense, which maintains that the accused "is not as he is portrayed" and that he is a "good father," according to the man's current partner, who is not the mother of the imprisoned woman.

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The General Directorate of Consumer Affairs has opened an investigation into the possibility of minors purchasing tickets to attend a bullfight in Muro, which would constitute a violation of the law regulating this type of event. This was reported on Thursday by the Franz Weber Foundation, which stated that the Directorate is studying the case after receiving a complaint regarding the online sale of tickets to minors. Last November, the international NGO sent a letter to the government indicating that the website offering tickets for the bullfight this Sunday, the 7th, in Muro allowed minors to purchase them without the prior requirement of parental or adult accompaniment. This situation would constitute a possible violation of the law regulating bullfights, which, since 2024, requires that any ticket for minors aged 0 to 16 be purchased with an adult. The company in charge of selling tickets now allows the process to be completed, even with fictitious data, and access discounted prices for children without an adult. This is compounded by a new warning from the FFW (Federation of Bullfighting Organizations). The regional regulations themselves prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages during bullfighting events, and the promoters of the bullfight have announced that they will distribute food during a break. This could be accompanied by alcohol, so animal rights activists will submit a new warning to Consum (the Spanish consumer protection agency) for their review. Furthermore, they regret that the Muro City Council has not taken any public action on the matter, given that it is a publicly owned property that has been leased to a foreign company, as it is based in Madrid, not even in the Balearic Islands, and has failed to take basic precautions regarding inspections and vineyards. The organization recalls that the concluding observations made by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child include an explicit request: to keep minors away from the violence of bullfighting. In this regard, they point out that the government has failed to comply with this observation since 2024, and none of its departments seem interested in monitoring compliance with the regrettable legal reform, which, three decades later, allows minors to enter bullrings to view explicit violence against animals and people.

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The Balearic Islands Ministry of Education will allocate a total of €300,000 to public schools this 2025-2026 academic year through the emergency school fund, which is designed to address unforeseen social situations affecting vulnerable students. To date, the Ministry has received 209 applications from schools, an increase from the 157 received last year. The funds are expected to be allocated to each school this week, according to a statement from the Ministry. The objective of this fund is to cover the immediate needs of students who lack the financial resources to cover expenses such as school meals and snacks, participation in extracurricular or supplementary school activities, early morning school programs, textbooks or computer equipment, and tuition fees. This fund, the Education Department has emphasized, allows schools to act quickly in emergency situations while more stable long-term solutions are being put in place.

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The Sencelles Town Council has conducted a survey of families at the local school, revealing that more than half of the children now walk or cycle to school. Despite this progress towards healthier and more sustainable mobility, many families still use cars for various reasons. Notably, 61% of those surveyed believe the journey is dangerous due to the presence of other cars. This is a curious statistic, as the data shows that 61% of respondents perceive the journey as dangerous, and this is the main reason for choosing a private vehicle. It seems to be a vicious cycle. They opt for the car because it is dangerous due to the high volume of traffic. Furthermore, 58% say they use the car because they have to go to work afterward; 33% because they have young children; and 31% because they live outside the town center.

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The Provincial Court of Palma has upheld the one-year prison sentence of teacher Miquel Roldán for the crime of harassment of a former underage student. The court practically upholds the ruling issued by Palma Criminal Court No. 3 last November. Despite upholding the account of the events and the conviction for harassment, the Court did not impose any disqualification on Roldán, allowing him to continue teaching. The court of first instance considered that the events were not related to his teaching status and, therefore, this measure should not be applied.

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The families of the Son Sardina school have unanimously decided to continue not sending their children to class, despite the measures announced by the Ministry of Education. The parents consider that the fact that Miquel Roldán only performs support work and is always accompanied by a tutor is "insufficient" and does not guarantee the safety of the children.

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The Ministry of Education's response to the controversy at Son Sardina over the presence of Miquel Roldán has been to send a new teacher to take over the sixth grade tutoring role and assign Roldán support duties for the third cycle (fifth and sixth grades), always accompanied by the respective tutors for that year.

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The Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, has explained that the Spanish government does not plan legislative changes to prevent a professor convicted of harassing a former student from practicing. This controversy arises after the problems experienced in the Maria Antònia Salvà school (Son Sardina)where Miquel RoldánHe has a temporary position and parents have refused to bring their children as a symbol of protest.

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A few months ago, when the arrival of boats from Algeria to the Balearic Islands was beginning to intensify, I received a call from Radio Illa, based in Formentera, to interview me on the subject. The first question already defined the scope of the interview: Is the migratory route between Algeria and the Balearic Islands established? My answer was a bit brash: of course! In fact, for almost two centuries, this route has been established.

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He insists he shouldn't justify himself in the face of criticism and accusations of racism and xenophobia. The new Director General of Immigration and Development Cooperation, Manuel Pavón (Madrid, 1981), also asks for time to launch initiatives and highlights his experience as a national police officer to help him fill the position for the remainder of the term.

]]> In recent weeks, we have seen how the Prohens government has focused much of its communications efforts on addressing the increase in the arrival of migrants via small boats and the distribution of minors in care. It is true that the data show an upswing that makes it easy to think that the infrastructure for their reception has become saturated. Even so, the phenomenon is sufficiently complex to urge our leaders to take a broad view, offering effective measures to address this problem while avoiding excessively straining coexistence.

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It's been just over a week since Marta and Laura (not the real names of these 15-year-olds) managed to get into a popular nightclub in Magaluf. They say the security staff at the door were worried about whether they were from Mallorca because they had bought a residents' ticket. So they said a few phrases in Catalan and let them in without checking their ID to see if they were underage. Inside, they drank alcoholic beverages without anyone noticing that they might not be of legal age. They had a great time, they say, and laugh at how easy it is to go everywhere without having to explain their age.

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