The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 5.1% in the Balearic Islands in September in year-on-year terms, seven tenths higher than the previous month, according to the final data published this Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). With this result, prices have chained five consecutive months of increases in the Archipelago.

We are at the park. At the Estacions park in Palma, where small social ecosystems coexist with each other. Now, from where I wait for my bus departure time, I can observe one. It is the ecosystem of the people sitting around the multiple and enormous planters in charge of generating shade. Inside each one, four trees rise, connected by earth and air: their crowns caress and join into a single roof that shelters us all, and the branches tickle each other with lights and shadows, letting the air in. It is a late summer afternoon and since I sat under the shelter of this porch I have stopped huffing, sweating, and swearing. The city seems, for a moment, habitable.

The Association of Consumers and Users of the Balearic Islands (Consubal) has reported to the Government a presumed discrepancy between the quantity of beer advertised by Es Jardí Musical on its menu during concerts and the capacity of the glasses it uses to serve it to customers. The entity has filed the complaint with the Directorate General of Benefits, Pharmacy and Consumption and has requested that the Inspection services verify both the real capacity of the containers and the quantity of beer that consumers actually receive.

The Balearic Islands consume 22 cubic hectometers of water more than assigned by the current hydrological plan for urban and residential consumption in rural land. This means that the Archipelago exceeds the water extraction limit from aquifers by 8.5% in Mallorca, 15.4% in Ibiza, 35.5% in Menorca, and 70.8% in Formentera, according to the Water Alliance.

Homes located in the highest part of the Rotgetes and Jardín de Flores developments turned on the tap and, in some cases, not a single drop of water came out. Meanwhile, other homes in the area were consuming up to 8,000 liters of water in a single day. This is the situation that forced the Esporles City Council to adopt unprecedented restrictions to ensure the distribution of an increasingly scarce resource.

Projecte Home Balears attended nearly 3,200 people in 2025, the highest figure in its history. According to the annual report presented this Thursday by the organization, the number of users increased by 4.8% compared to the previous year, with alcohol and cocaine as the main reasons for starting treatment.

The situation of water resources in Pla de Mallorca has become particularly delicate after the Mancomunitat detected in recent weeks "episodes of extraordinary consumption" that have exceeded the usual production capacity of the region's wells and have caused increasing pressure on underground aquifers.

In a convulsed global landscape, the feeling of global and also local fragility, Xesca Martí Llodrà(Vilafranca, 1969) opens a window to hope and optimism. She has worked at the Deixalles Foundation since 1997 and has been its director since 2010. A biologist by training, an environmentalist by conviction, and a tireless activist for the social and circular economy, the Vilafranca native leads a benchmark entity in socio-labor insertion and reuse in the Balearic Islands. At a time marked by the climate crisis, inequalities, and the throwaway culture, she advocates for collective work, social commitment, and the need to put people at the center, and no, it's not just a slogan, because she dedicates a large part of her time and efforts to this goal.

The Manacor City Council has approved changes to the water rates for water supplied by SAM, the municipal company responsible for its management. The new, more socially oriented system will offer discounts on bills for, for example, large families, single-parent families, families with a dependent person, or families with a victim of gender-based violence. Thus, the City Council is establishing a system of consumption blocks from now on, in order to implement progressive tariffs and "so that those who consume more pay more," explained the Councilor for the Environment and President of the Board of Directors of SAM, Sebastià Llodrà, who recalled that water prices have not been touched since the population changed.

The Directorate General for Benefits, Pharmacy, and Consumer Affairs has intensified its inspections of Carnival products in establishments across the Canary Islands this year to ensure that items aimed at families comply with safety standards and contain the necessary information for their proper use. As a result of this work, inspection teams have ordered the withdrawal of 559 products from the market, including accessories, makeup, costumes, and wigs. Specifically, 284 accessories, 140 makeup items, 73 costumes, 20 wigs, and 42 miscellaneous items were withdrawn after it was confirmed that they did not meet the required standards for sale.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to 2.2% in the Balearic Islands in February in year-on-year terms, two tenths below the year-on-year rate of the previous month, according to definitive data published this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

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.

The Civil Guard and staff from the Government's Department of Health have seized 20 tons of spoiled fish and shellfish from a food distribution company in Palma. According to the Civil Guard, the inspection of the facilities where the food was stored took place last April, and the sanctioning process has concluded with fines totaling €90,000 for two very serious infractions. Agents from the Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) of the Civil Guard and technicians from the Palma Region's Department of Public Health, who carried out the operation, verified that most of the stored products had expired, in some cases as far back as 2019. Furthermore, the cold chain, essential for the proper preservation of fish and shellfish, had been partially broken in these 20 tons of food, despite having been refrozen. The shipment was immediately impounded to prevent it from entering the market, and a disciplinary file was opened against the responsible distributor.

MF rented a car in Valencia for a long trip. Upon returning the vehicle, they charged her €200 on her credit card—and the company wanted it to be €500—for exceeding the mileage. "But no one had told us we couldn't do that," she says. On the other hand, Francisca (not her real name) explains that they wanted to charge her for not carrying her physical card, but if she took out vehicle insurance, they would let her pay with her mobile phone. "I didn't know I had to carry the physical card because they didn't inform me," she says. These are some of the victims of the abusive practices applied by some car rental companies, which are under social suspicion because the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) recently reported five companies for "lack of transparency and abusive clauses."

Palma's ice cream shops are offering an increasingly wide and exotic selection. They must satisfy the tastes of tourists without losing sight of trends emerging on social media. A clear example is the success of Dubai chocolate, a viral flavor that combines chocolate, pistachio paste, and kataifi (a crunchy thread pastry), which originated on TikTok. Several ice cream shops consulted by ARA Baleares confirm that this flavor has become one of their best-selling thanks to the impact of digital platforms. This chocolate originates in the United Arab Emirates, where Sarah Hamouda founded Fix Dessert in 2021, a company that makes chocolate bars combining ingredients. In the case of Dubai chocolate, she wanted a flavor that reminded her of the Arabic knafeh desserts. The title Tasting the Dubai chocolate, videos have gone viral in which users eat this ice cream for the first time. Users even share recipes for its preparation, which have accumulated millions of views. Its success has spread to supermarkets, where sales have also increased.

The Consumer Association, FACUA, has filed a complaint with the General Directorate of Benefits, Pharmacy and Consumption of the Government of Ibiza against a restaurant for including a twelve euro charge on the bill for providing a hook to hang bags on the table.