Burglars knock out their victims with sleeping gas

The Guardia Civil are investigating the burglaries of six homes in the Colinas de Procusan urbanisation at La Cala del Moral, near Rincón de la Victoria in Málaga.

The same gang attacked all the homes, using sleeping gas to put out the occupants. Most people were sleeping with the windows open and the burglars threw gas canisters in through the windows to knock out their victims.

When they woke, complete in most cases with a sore throat, and even vomiting, they found that wallets, and jewellery and other small items of value had gone. Curiously the thieves did not take any of the vehicles in the urbanisation, despite the keys being available to them.

Residents say they are worried, especially for their children.

 

Glenn Close to be presented with this year's Premio Donostia

Glenn Close, the star of ‘Dangerous Liasons’ and TV series, ‘Damages’, is to be presented with the Premio Donostia, the special award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

The award is in recognition of her film career, and she will be in San Sebastián to collect the gong on September 18. The festival runs between the 16th and 24th of September.

Glenn Close joins a list of previous winners which includes Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen, Robert de Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis and Gregory Peck, among others.

Guardia Civil arrest two British fire raisers in Torrevieja

Guardia Civil has arrested two British men, named as 40 year old C.J.M., and 38 year old M.A.F. in connection with some 15 fires in commercial establishments in Torrevieja where the shop owners also allegedly suffered threats from the Brits.

The Guardia Civil think the British men carried out the threats, cut power supplies, and set the fires in the shops or on their terraces in revenge following arguments with the business owners in episodes which started in July 2009.

Some of the shop owners were so intimidated by the Britons that they declined to give details to the Guardia.

The Britons are alleged between them to have set 15 fires which caused damage, and face charges of causing criminal damage and making threats.

The Guardia Civil has said that the two Britons also set fire to the rubbish containers outside their homes, as they were not happy about their location. They also set a fire on waste land, and on two occasions set the home of one of them on fire, although the damage in these events was generally not serious.

 

Nine Britons have been arrested on Ibiza with 1,700 doses of ecstasy and other drugs.

The Guardia Civil believe the group supplied the ecstasy which is believed to have been responsible for the fatal heart attack suffered by Jodie Nieman, a 20 year old British tourist, on July 13.

Mephedrone is a stimulant which has an increased heart rate among its side effects, and is sometimes sold as ecstasy.

The breakup of the British drug traffickers comes thanks to the work of the rural security section of the Guardia Civil on Ibiza, who identified an individual who was nervous when questioned last August 9. This 24 year old was carrying 200 ecstasy pills, 51 doses of mephedrone and 78 grams of the drug in a bag, 10 grams of ketamine, as well as precision scales.

The EDOA anti organised crime and anti-drug group then took charge of the case leading to the location of the nine Britons, aged between 20 and 30, who lived in apartments in Sant Antoni de Portmany.

Their homes were searched last Wednesday afternoon when the arrests were also made. They will appear shortly in Instruction Court 2 in Ibiza.

Court orders demolition of illegally built property in Torrox

The EFE news agency has seen the order which states that the property has to be demolished ‘in a forced way’, given that the owner, Antonio Urdiales, who has been found guilty of a crime against planning laws, has not attended to the demand to voluntarily demolish the property.

The owner has started legal proceedings in an attempt to be granted a pardon, and has also launched a petition. His spokesman, Modesto Jiménez, said that signatures have been collected since last week and they now have more than 400, ‘although there will be many more as we have put sheets in all the businesses and shops in Torrox’.

The petition states that the demolition of the property, in the Manzano Alto area, will not solve the problem of the irregular properties which exist in the Axarquía region.

‘In all the villages in the district, 90% of the existing buildings in the campo are in the same circumstances as our neighbour, and demolishing one house is not going to solve the problem’.

Urdiales was found guilty in November 2009, by Penal Court 6, which considered it proved that from 2004 he used a municipal licence for the construction of a 24 m2 agricultural caseta to build a detached villa.

The building is 100 square metres and a swimming pool and cement boundary wall have also been constructed.

 

Dolce & Gabbana cocaine in Galicia

Cocaine branded with the Dolce & Gabbana name has been seized in a Guardia Civil operation in Galicia which has resulted in ten arrests. Six of those arrested in the ‘Medusa’ operation are already being held in prison, while the rest have been granted bail with charges outstanding.

The drug runners broken up by the UCO unit of the Guardia Civil used a 30 ton hydraulic press to brand their product according to quality and also used the Camel and XX brands.

A laboratory in Cambados received pure cocaine from Colombia, and then cut the drug and repackaged it.

Some ten kilos of the drug recovered by the police remains uncut and pure. The Guardia describe the lab as ‘one of the best for the manipulation of cocaine found in the Galicia region’.

Spanish regulators suspended subsidies to 279 solar-power installations

Spanish regulators suspended subsidies to 279 solar-power installations, bringing to 1,561 the number of rooftop and open-field installations punished for not proving they followed rules for earning above-market prices.
The National Energy Commission announced the latest series of sanctions after completing checks on 86 percent of the 8,201 power stations suspected of not meeting regulatory requirements, the regulator said today in statement.
The owners of photovoltaic parks and rooftop systems failed to prove they were capable of producing power by the Sept. 30, 2008, deadline to be eligible for earning the highest consumer- subsidized rate. That tariff is 47.5 euro cents ($0.678) a kilowatt-hour, or about nine times today’s spot price paid to operators of fossil fuel power plants.
Spain’s government is trying to reduce aid for many of the nation’s renewable-energy plants as a way to lower electricity costs for businesses and homes and help the economy emerge from its worst slump in 60 years.
Armed with a law passed in 2010, the energy regulator this year requested more proof from 9,041 operators of solar plants and rooftop gear that they had completed all construction and permitting by the September 2008 deadline. Spanish news reports had suggested hundreds of entrepreneurs were illegally earning the top subsidized rate, which was lowered after 2008.
Some 840 operators agreed not to challenge the regulator and accept a lower subsidized price of 32.6 cents a kilowatt- hour for the power they produced, in a form of amnesty agreement that avoided them losing their entire subsidy payment.
The 1,561 installations to be penalized generate about 5.5 percent of the country’s photovoltaic power.
The suspensions handed out so far are “precautionary” until final judgments are made, the commission said.

Gems from a collection once owned by the late first lady of Argentina, Eva Peron, which had been stolen in Spain two years ago, were found in a luxury hotel in Milan

Gems from a collection once owned by the late first lady of Argentina, Eva Peron, which had been stolen in Spain two years ago, were found in a luxury hotel in Milan, Italian police said.

The jewels, worth 6 million euros, include a set of diamond rings, earrings and a tiara given to Peron by the Dutch royal family.

Lieutenant-Colonel Antonino Bolognani from Milan's investigative force told a news conference the occupants of the hotel room were on the run.

They are part of a group from Serbia who had lived outside of Milan and set up scams involving fake bank notes organised through the internet.

Posing as sheiks and Middle Eastern investors, the thieves persuaded the owners of the Joyas Sofia jewellery shop in Valencia, Spain to sell them the collection, acquired from Peron's heirs after her death.

During a meeting in December 2009, the thieves asked the jewellers to put the gems on a desk while they counted the 10 million euros payment.

"Under the desk was hiding one of the accomplices, substituting the real money with fake bank notes under the eyes of the victims," Lieutenant-Colonel Bolognani told reporters.

The sellers suspected something was wrong and the thieves ran, grabbing the jewels. After months of investigations by Spanish and Italian police six of the gang members were arrested in Spain in May 2010 and another man was held in Milan.

When police broke into the Italian hotel room on Tuesday a member of the gang escaped, leaving behind him about three quarters of the missing jewels.

Peron, who was known as Evita, died of cancer in 1952 and her husband, Juan Peron, was ousted by a coup three years later. He returned from exile to become president again in 1973 but died a year later.

WELL-KNOWN businessman died after an accident on the first day of his holiday on the Costa del Sol.

Self-employed plumbing and heating engineer Gordon Taylor, 49, of St Helen Auckland, County Durham, slipped on rain-soaked paving tiles on a night out and hit his head, an inquest heard yesterday.

The accident happened at the end of October at the gated holiday complex in Benalmadena, Malaga, Spain, where Mr Taylor was staying with his wife, Elizabeth, and her relatives.

He was found some time later lying unconscious near a gate by a fellow holidaymaker.

He was taken to Malaga Hospital, where he died after more than three weeks in a coma.

County Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle said the post-mortem examination conducted when Mr Taylor’s body was flown back to Britain revealed that he died of head injuries. Tests showed he had a high level of alcohol in his blood.

Mrs Taylor told the hearing that she returned to the couple’s one-bed apartment after they had been out, but her husband decided to go out again.

The following morning, after finding he had not returned, she discovered from the complex reception that a man had been taken to hospital.

Mr Tweddle said there was no evidence of crime, and no jewellery or money had been taken from Mr Taylor.

There were no witnesses, so Mr Tweddle said his best guess was that Mr Taylor hit his head because he had been unsteady on his feet and had slipped on the wet tiles.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Afterwards Mrs Taylor, 49, said her husband had died from a minor mishap, but that others in the hospital had survived a balcony fall and being hit by a train.

She said: “You ask yourself questions, but at the end of the day there is only him (Mr Taylor) who knows.

“We have been waiting for this inquest to get closure. We have waited six months to get it finished so we can start to grieve properly.”

Mrs Taylor said she had been surprised by how many people her husband knew, saying there had been a big turnout for his funeral.

SPANISH police say they arrested 34 Chinese citizens as they smashed a family-run crime gang suspected of importing fake goods and laundering the profits, with the help of a chain of laundries.

The raids in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Cadiz, Seville and Huelva overnight broke up the largest Chinese-linked criminal gang based in Spain, operating since the 1990s, said the Civil Guard overnight.

Police detained 34 Chinese nationals and seized assets worth 11 million euros ($15 million), it said.

The gang may have earned more than 40 million euros ($54.64 million) a year, importing four-to-six containers a month through Valencia packed with fake tobacco, clothes and other goods bound for sale in Spain, Britain, France, Italy and Portugal, they said.

The Chinese family-run gang laundered the proceeds by moving the money around with couriers, making bank transfers of less than 20,000 ($27,318) and by extending high-interest loans to compatriots based in Spain, police said.

The gang recruited Chinese people it had helped to enter Spain, often taking away their passports after they arrived or opening bank accounts in their names to launder illicit gains, they said.

According to police, the organisation had a branch in China, which controlled more than 30 companies including a chain of nearly 1,000 laundries and was used to conceal the source of the profits.

BAGS of Andalucian super chips are set to go on sale in the UK

BAGS of Andalucian super chips are set to go on sale in the UK for a staggering four pounds a packet.
Said to have the ‘best ingredients in the world’, the crisps made by company San Nicasio, in Priego de Cordoba, are handmade from extra virgin olive oil, Catalan potatoes and Himalayan pink salt.
UK distributor Mike Coleman said: “They are twice the price of anything else, but you can definitely taste the difference.”

Costa del Sol-based Muldoon, 64, and his wife Kim were accused of leading an operation that conned £9million from hundreds of timeshare owners

An arrest warrant has been issued for Kim Muldoon, believed to have headed to Turkey, and six other members of the gang after they missed a court hearing in Malaga, Spain, brought by 300 mainly British claimants.
Maidstone-born Toni Muldoon and nine other defendants were given suspended sentences of under two years on condition that they repaid £438,000 within two years. Six pleaded guilty to fraud, the rest agreed to charges of illicit association and received a one-year suspended prison term.
The scam was run from call centres in Fuengirola from 2001 to 2006. Britons seeking to offload overpriced timeshares were contacted by telesales staff from companies including Screenit and Platinum Properties and offered an enticing rate after being told a buyer was interested.
An upfront fee of about £1,200 was then demanded for the sale management, never to be seen again. Twenty-six other companies, all linked to Muldoon, presented a fresh front for the racket, allowing it to run unchecked. A follow-up scam by company Conectese, run by Scotsman Richard Bain, saw the timeshare victims offered “legal assistance” for £250 to get their money back.
Lawyer Antonio Flores, of Marbella firm Lawbird, who represented 160 British claimants, said: “The amount the claimants were defrauded is considered only a fraction of all those who were swindled. This was a multi- million-pound scam. Muldoon is just horrible. He’s a natural-born conman.”
Victim Victor Jacobs, 89, of Hauxton, Cambridgeshire, said he was conned by “crooks”. The former engineer and his wife Peggy, also 89, received a call in 2001 from a Muldoon-linked company offering to sell their timeshare.



Mr Jacobs was keen to sell, being fed up with high maintenance fees at Lanzarote Beach Club. “The caller, a young woman, said, ‘We’ve got a buyer lined up for you,’ ” he explained. “They gave me his name and told us we would have to pay in advance.” The couple sent the £926 fee but were not contacted again.
Thousands of victims are thought to have funded Muldoon’s lavish lifestyle which includes a mansion in Benalmadena. He wrote on social networking site Bebo: “I love the fact that my work is not work. It is my passion and as I feel I am also good at it that makes me a happy man.”
Muldoon has been linked to more than 50 companies based in the UK, Spain and offshore, part of a huge international racket investigated by Interpol. He is also understood to be wanted in the UK in connection with two scams which netted £6million, after 15,000 victims paid upfront fees to websites promising debt elimination and a string of escort work.

Timeshares

Timeshares – a form of ownership where multiple people have a right to use a property for a period of time every year – were often sold aggressively and without any legal advice. Figures from the European timeshare industry show that 590,000 Britons still own timeshares, while thousands are up for sale on websites and forums.
If owners can't pass the properties on, the contracts lock them in for life. And the management companies that run timeshares often refuse to buy them back. Most recommend the use of costly middlemen, who take a fee for handling your timeshare with no guarantee of a sale.
The Timeshare Consumers' Association (TCA) estimates that as many as half the 1.5 million timeshares in Europe are being kept "under duress".
"Timeshare owners may be continuing to pay maintenance fees because they have little choice legally," said Sandy Grey, a spokesman for the non-profit, entirely voluntary TCA. "We receive around 20 inquiries every day, and the majority are from timeshare owners who have been contacted by these companies offering to take the timeshares off owners' hands – for a fee.

The large quake struck the community on Wednesday evening, two hours after a moderate 4.7 earthquake hit the town.

An earthquake measuring 5.3 hit a town in southeast Spain today causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and killing at least six people.

Some reports said that the rare earthquake in Lorca, sent tremors through the region of Murcia and had affected a nursing home and the tower of an important church in the town which is dependent on farming.

The large quake struck the community on Wednesday evening, two hours after a moderate 4.7 earthquake hit the town.


Wreckage: At least six people have been killed in an earthquake in southern Spain, with damage shown in this Twitter picture


Several buildings were destroyed by the pair of earthquakes in Lorca, with the aftermath captured in another Twitter picture

'Unfortunately, we can confirm ... deaths due to cave-ins and falling debris,' the mayor of Lorca, Francisco Jodar, told radio station Ser.

'We're trying to find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses.'

A Murcia government spokesman said on the radio that six people had been killed in the earthquake.

The quake hit at 6:47 p.m., according to data from Spain's National Geographical Institute. The U.S Geological Survey said the epicentre was 1 km below the ground.

Lorca, which has a population of about 90,000 people, dates back to the Bronze Age and probably gained its name from the Romans. The old part of the town is made up of a network of narrow alleyways.

At least seven people, including a child, have been killed and dozens more hurt by two strong earthquakes in southern Spain.

A 4.4-magnitude tremor hit the small town of Lorca, in the region of Murcia on Wednesday afternoon.
It was followed by a stronger 5.2-magnitude quake around two hours later.
The epicenter of the quakes was close to the town of Lorca, and the second came about two hours after the first, officials said.
Francisco Jodar, the town's mayor, told radio station Ser of the first reported fatalities.
"Unfortunately, we can confirm... deaths due to cave-ins and falling debris," he said.
"We are trying to find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses."
The Murcia regional government said a hospital in Lorca was being evacuated, dozens of injured people were being treated at the scene and a field hospital was being set up.
It said the seven deaths included a minor and were caused by the second, stronger quake.
Large chunks of stone and brick fell from the facade of a church in Lorca as Spanish state TV was broadcasting live from the scene.
A large church bell was also among the rubble.
The broadcaster reported that schoolchildren usually gather at that spot around that time, and if it had happened 10 minutes later, a "tragedy" could have occurred.
The town of Lorca has around 90,000 inhabitants.

Plastic bag tax comes into effect in Andalucía

The BOJA Official Bulletin in Andalucía has published the law placing a tax on the sale of single-use plastic bags in shops and supermarkets.

The tax came into effect on Friday with the objective of reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

The tax for this year is 5 cents per bag, but goes up to 10 cents in 2012.

Shops will have to clear the tax they have collected every quarter, and make the corresponding payment in the first 20 days of April, July, October and January.

 

A FLIGHT from Doncaster to Spain will be grounded this autumn.

Budget airline Ryanair says it will stop flights to the resort of Alicante following a row over cash with Spanish airport bosses.

Ryanair claims it is being forced to pay £2 million by Alicante so will axe more than two-thirds of its flights in and out of the Costa Blanca from October.

Robin Hood’s summer-only timetable continues as planned.

Spain to send diplomat to Libya for talks with rebels

Spain will send a diplomat to Libya's rebel stronghold of Benghazi for talks with the Transitional National Council, the main Libyan opposition group, a Spanish diplomatic source said Wednesday.
Jose Riera, Spanish ambassador for the special mission for Mediterranean affairs, will head to Benghazi "in around two weeks" to "reinforce dialogue" with the council, the source said.
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez will give more details regarding Riera's mission later on Wednesday at a top-level diplomatic meeting in Doha called to discuss the crisis in Libya.
NATO has led air strikes against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's forces for almost two weeks since taking over from a US-led coalition that began bombing the regime's heavy weaponry on March 19.
Spain has committed four F-18 fighter jets and a refueling aircraft to help enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya.
It has also deployed an F-100 frigate, an S-74 submarine and a CN-235 maritime surveillance plane to help enforce an arms embargo on Libya.

 

Nikki Beach will be opening its doors at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas on Memorial Day weekend.

The club will bring the same spirit of the International day club, a mix of European sophistication with the tropical feel as seen in other exotic locations as Miami, St. Tropez, Marbella and Cabo San Lucas.

Nikki Beach Las Vegas will open at Tropicana Las Vegas hotel resort & casino on Memorial Day Weekend, kicking off with a grand opening White Party on Thursday, May 26.

We hear the Tropicana Hotel is in the midst of a $180 million transformation and is reclaiming its status as Las Vegas' hottest hotel resort and casino destination.

The Nikki Beach at this hotel will be the largest Nikki Beach property in the world, a place where revelers can party in style with a sizzling blend of beautiful design, hot fashion, haute cuisine, exotic cocktails and sexy entertainment.

I am sold, count me in!

Nikki Beach at Tropicana Las Vegas will include three key elements: Nikki Beach Club, Club Nikki and Cafe Nikki.

Spanish government has slashed its solar power subsidies

Spain had one of the world's most ambitious – and generous – plans to boost the amount of electricity it generates from the sun. That dream, for the solar industry at least, has turned sour. Just days before Christmas, the government slashed the level of subsidies that all new and existing photovoltaic (pv) solar projects will receive. But even the powerful utility companies, who opposed the solar industry, are now warning that the fallout could be long-lasting and reach far beyond the energy sector.

The row has pitted the renewable lobby against Spain's three biggest utilities – Iberdrola, Endesa and Gas Natural – which have been urging the government to take action to stem the wave of subsidised renewable projects being built, particularly solar ones.

Carlos Salle, Iberdrola's director for regulation, told the Guardian that divisions between the renewable lobby and the rest of the energy industry are even deeper in Spain than elsewhere as a result. "We have more controversy here in Spain with renewables against non-renewables … this is an aspect of our system – it provokes problems."

Another Madrid-based businessman, from one of Spain's leading companies, was franker, likening relations, only half-jokingly, as a "war". The Asociación de la Industria Fotovoltaica (Asif), Spain's solar industry body, accuses politicians of telling lies, exaggerating the costs of generating electricity using solar pv to justify the cut in subsidies.

Bank of Spain on Wednesday said that four lenders that were supposed to merge into Banco Base will have to present new recapitalization strategies "immediately,"

Bank of Spain on Wednesday said that four lenders that were supposed to merge into Banco Base will have to present new recapitalization strategies "immediately," after a planned merger fell apart at the last minute.

The general assemblies of three out of the four lenders late Wednesday voted against a plan to transfer their assets into Banco Base at the terms agreed on in February, effectively terminating the merger.

The failure is a big setback to the country's plans to clean up an industry suffering from the collapse of a decade-long housing boom.

The Bank of Spain said in a statement that the state's bank bailout fund, the FROB, would inject the necessary capital into the lenders that fail to raise sufficient capital privately.

The FROB in December last year agreed to inject EUR1.49 billion into Banco Base in return for preferred stock, but the Bank of Spain said that this injection hadn't yet been completed.

It reiterated that all the savings banks that are short on capital must have their recapitalization plans approved by the central bank before April 28.

The planned members of Banco Base were Cajastur, Caja Cantabria, Caja Extremadura, and Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (CAM.MC), or CAM.

CAM, the biggest but also the weakest of the four, was the only one to approve the transfer of assets into Banco Base.

Why they’ve cut back on whisky in Greece and Spain

The Scotch Whisky Association is celebrating a record-breaking 2010, but exporters are starting to feel the pinch from Europe's economic woes.

Global shipments climbed 10 per cent last year to reach £3.45-billion, the Edinburgh-based group said today. Since the turn of the century, exports have claimed 60 per cent, it boasted.

Notable in its figures is that the so-called BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are showing stunning growth, while North America also shows an increase. But the value of shipments in the European Union are flat, and down markedly in Greece and Spain, both troubled countries with high debt burdens.

"Greek excise duty on Scotch Whisky, for example, was increased three times in 2010 as part of the government's austerity measures," the association said.

The value of shipments tumbled 26 per cent in Greece last year and 15 per cent in Spain, and while up in France it was just by 4 per cent. Germany, the economic engine of the continent, is showing no ill effects: The value of shipments was up by 22 per cent.

low- cost airlines including Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA) are increasingly overcharging customers who pay with plastic, U.K. consumer- rights group Which? said in a complaint to a regulator.

Retailers, taxi services and low- cost airlines including Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA) are increasingly overcharging customers who pay with plastic, U.K. consumer- rights group Which? said in a complaint to a regulator.

Which? asked the U.K. Office of Fair Trading to probe the use of surcharges that exceed the actual cost of processing credit and debit transactions, the association said today in a statement. Ryanair and London-based real-estate agency Foxtons Ltd. are among companies with the biggest overcharges, it said.

“Low-cost airlines are some of the worst offenders, but excessive card surcharges are becoming ever more widespread,” Peter Vicary-Smith, the group’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “Consumers are really fed up with paying excessive card charges.”

The request, in the form of a so-called supercomplaint filed with the London-based OFT, comes as more companies are using inflated surcharges as a way to increase revenue rather than cover the costs of transactions, the group said.

The regulator has 90 days to decide if it will open an investigation, close the case or refer it to the Competition Commission for a broader probe.

The Spanish Post Office, Correos, has suspended its collection service from all courts in the Valencia Region because of an accumulated ‘astronomical’ debt which is owed to Correos by the regional government.

The Spanish Post Office, Correos, has suspended its collection service from all courts in the Valencia Region because of an accumulated ‘astronomical’ debt which is owed to Correos by the regional government.

The exact amount owed isn’t known; an El País source put its at more than 10 million €, while the CCOO unions said it was more than 30 million €.

The order to suspend the service to the hundreds of Valencia courts was sent through to local Correos offices on Monday and it’s understood it will not be resumed until the Valencia government approves a payment plan to settle its debt.

A recent order from the Valencia High Court of Justice instructed the courts that they must send their notifications by post rather than personal delivery. The UGT union said this means that more than 90% of court communications are now sent through the post, and has warned that suspending the service will bring the region’s justice system to a standstill.

A meeting of the Valencia government which is due to take place this Friday is expected to discuss a payment plan in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Body found in burnt out car in Málaga

Body found in burnt out car in Málaga: "Police in Málaga are trying to identify a body which was found in a burnt out car in the Campanillas district of the city on Wednesday night.

The call reporting the burning vehicle near the Carretera de la Fresneda came in shortly before 10.30 pm, and the body was found inside the car’s boot once the flames had been extinguished.

There has been no confirmation as yet on the sex of the victim who was found inside the vehicle."

Civil Guard officers are amongst eight suspects who have been arrested in an operation against drug smuggling on the coast.

"two Civil Guard officers are amongst eight suspects who have been arrested in an operation against drug smuggling on the coast. One is understood to be a mechanic, and the other is assigned to the Guardia’s maritime patrols.

They are accused of helping the drugs gang to avoid detection by putting part of the instrumentation for the SIVE electronic surveillance system out of action.

There was news of another drugs haul elsewhere in Andalucía on Thursday, on the coast of Carboneras, Almería province, in the east of the region. 779 kilos of cannabis were discovered on board a boat which was found on Los Cocones Beach on Sunday.
There has been no news so far of any arrests in that operation."

Civil Guard seize more than a ton of cannabis in Andalucía

Civil Guard seize more than a ton of cannabis in Andalucía: "Civil Guard in Cádiz have recovered almost half a ton of cannabis from a helicopter which had been under suspicion of drug smuggling from Morocco.

Officers had the aircraft under surveillance after it was detected taking off due south one night, without having filed the necessary flight plan with the authorities. It was followed on its return flight to Cádiz and seized by Civil Guard waiting on the ground in La Janda, who discovered the aircraft was carrying 400 kilos of cannabis as its cargo.

The helicopter’s two German crew were arrested, as were two Spanish suspects who’d been waiting on land to guide the aircraft in and unload the cargo. It’s understood a fifth person is also in custody and that five vehicles were impounded."

Civil Guard seize more than a ton of cannabis in Andalucía

Civil Guard seize more than a ton of cannabis in Andalucía: "Civil Guard in Cádiz have recovered almost half a ton of cannabis from a helicopter which had been under suspicion of drug smuggling from Morocco.

Officers had the aircraft under surveillance after it was detected taking off due south one night, without having filed the necessary flight plan with the authorities. It was followed on its return flight to Cádiz and seized by Civil Guard waiting on the ground in La Janda, who discovered the aircraft was carrying 400 kilos of cannabis as its cargo.

The helicopter’s two German crew were arrested, as were two Spanish suspects who’d been waiting on land to guide the aircraft in and unload the cargo. It’s understood a fifth person is also in custody and that five vehicles were impounded."

Family of Málaga woman killed in Colombia accuse her husband of hiring a hit man

Family of Málaga woman killed in Colombia accuse her husband of hiring a hit man: "The family of the Málaga woman who was killed by robbers while on holiday in Colombia this week have accused her husband of hiring a hit man to kill his wife.

The husband emigrated to Spain in 2001, but is originally from Barranquilla, where his wife was killed on Wednesday. The couple and their children were in the city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia for Baranquilla’s carnival celebrations, which take place there this week.

32 year old Irene Cortés, who lived in Vélez Málaga and ran a bar in Torre del Mar, was shot in the chest when she and her husband were held up by a group of armed men in a local bar. She died shortly after she was admitted to hospital."

Parents charged after two cases of female circumcision discovered on Mallorca

Parents charged after two cases of female circumcision discovered on Mallorca: "The parents of two young girls from Mali face charges from a court in Mallorca after doctors at a hospital in Palma discovered that the children had undergone female circumcision. The older child is 3 years old, while the youngest is just 15 months.

They arrived on the island with their mother last December, after their father’s arrival more than a year before. It’s understood from El País that the discovery was made by doctors at the Son Llàtzer Hospital where the girls were seen on separate occasions for unrelated health matters – one for a burn she suffered at home, and the other for a fever.

Once the couple were identified, the father was arrested and later released with charges. The mother was not taken into custody as she was staying with her sick daughter in hospital.

Their parents told police that the circumcision took place in Mali when the two girls were under the guardianship of their grandfather, who has since died."