22 Blue Flags For Malaga's Beaches This Summer

number of blue flags waving in the Malaga coast is to increase this year. According to data released yesterday by the Asociación de Educación Ambiental y del Consumidor {Association of Environmental and Consumer Education(, the province passed from 21 in 2010 to 22 in the summer season,

Fuengirola will have three blue flags,{Santa Amalia, San Francisco and Los Boliches-Las Gaviotas.}

Marbella has four (Artola –Cabo Pino–, Casablanca, Guadalmina-San Pedro.Río Verde.}

Vélez-Málaga will has one

Nerja Benajarfe will have four flags, (Burriana, La Torrecilla, Maro and the Playazo).

Benalmádena has four {Carvajal, Fuente de la Salud, Malapesquera-Santa Ana y Torrevigia.}

Torrox will has one at Morche Ferrara

Mijas will have three { La Cala, Calahonda and Butibamba (La Luna)}

Estepona will have two La Rada, and El Padrón.

Manilva town has been injured after losing the blue flag of Sabinillas.

And the 22 blue flags on the beaches, the province has received five other ports.

 

Change In Frequency On The Cercanías Málaga-Fuengirola Train Route From September

The C-1 Suburban Train Line which links the capital city of Malaga and Fuengirola Malaga, is to reduce its frequency from 30 to 20 minutes from 11th September, which will lead to an increase in the number of services per day which resulting in around 48 per cent more seats a day.

 

horseshoe snake was captured by agents from the Grupo de Medio Ambiente la Policía Local de Málaga

horseshoe snake was captured by agents from the Grupo de Medio Ambiente la Policía Local de Málaga after it was discovered in a car park of a block of flats in Malaga

It is understood the snake was captured at around 11.45 after it had been spotted in the carpark

It is reported that the snake was very aggressive and even bit the trouser leg of one of the agents during the capture

After the capture, the snake was taken to the Parque Zoosanitario Municipal Park and placed in the care of Centro de Recuperación de Especies Amenazadas (Crea)

Spanish protesters vote to remain in Sol square

Spaniards protesting over the handling of the country's economic crisis vowed to keep their tents in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square this week, driving a movement that is spreading across Europe.

Hundreds of people both young and old voted late on Sunday to keep the Sol encampment going until Thursday at least.

Dubbed "los indignados" (the indignant), tens of thousands of demonstrators packed squares across Spain in a wave of outrage over high unemployment and government austerity measures in the run-up to local and regional elections on May 22.

The elections dealt a crushing defeat to Spain's ruling Socialists, who have had to balance voter anger over national belt tightening and investor demands for strict measures to keep the public deficit in check.

The "Real Democracy Now" movement, also coined the "Spanish Revolution," has inspired similar demonstrations in Paris and Athens.

 

GERMANY has warned that the source of an outbreak of bacteria poisoning blamed for 10 deaths and hundreds of people falling ill, some in other countries, has yet to be pinpointed

.

''Until experts in Germany and Spain are able to positively identify the source of the pathogen, general warnings about vegetables remain valid,'' Consumer Minister Ilse Aiger told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

''The relevant authorities are doing all they can to clear this up, nationally and internationally''.

Germany's national disease institute, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), has confirmed so far two deaths from haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a disease caused by a strain of bacteria known as enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC).

There are eight other suspected HUS deaths, and the RKI has said that more than 270 people have contracted the disease in recent weeks. Normally in a whole year around 60 people contract HUS in Germany.



The epicentre of the outbreak has been in northern Germany, with hundreds of other suspected cases reported, but cases have also been reported in France, Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Switzerland, Austria and The Netherlands.

Suspicion has so far turned on Spain, with the European Commission saying on Friday that organic cucumbers grown in the southern provinces of Almeria and Malaga had been confirmed as a source of the outbreak.

Southern Spanish authorities said they had introduced restrictions on two distributors suspected of exporting tainted cucumbers. Andalusia's regional council said suspect batches had been withdrawn pending tests.

But the European Commission also said that a batch of cucumbers originating either in The Netherlands or in Denmark, and traded in Germany, was also under investigation.

Meanwhile, Austria said yesterday it has taken Spanish cucumbers off the shelves of some 30 stores amid the outbreak of bacteria.

The AGES health agency said 33 Austrian stores had received deliveries of vegetables sourced from Spanish distributors suspected of having exported products contaminated with enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC).

The recall involves cucumbers, but also tomatoes and aubergines, the agency said in a statement.

In Austria, two cases of poisoning have been confirmed among German tourists. Their condition has improved, and one has been discharged from hospital, according to the health ministry.

Barclays is considering buying one of Spain's regional savings banks, it has been reported.

It comes after the Spanish government said Barclays' boss Bob Diamond had met Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid last week.

The Sunday Times said Mr Diamond was seeking a guarantee that Barclays would not be responsible for any historic debts.

Barclays said it would not comment as the discussions were private.

The Spanish government said the talks focused on the financial markets and the global and European economies.

Spain has a number of regional banks, called cajas. Many are struggling with high bad debt levels after the collapse of Spain's property sector.

Reports have not named which of the regional banks Barclays is said to be looking at.

Police fire rubber bullets at protesters in Barcelona

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and swung truncheons to disperse anti-crisis protesters in a Barcelona square Friday as cleaning crews cleared their tent camp.
Catalan police in anti-riot gear moved in after about 50 protesters sat down on the street to block a convoy of cleaning trucks leaving the Plaza de Cataluna square with remnants of the encampment.
Police, some with plastic shields, were shown on television dragging protesters along the street and swiping with truncheons at activists, who had been chanting: "They shall not pass."
An AFP reporter at the scene saw rubber bullets fired.
The protest blockade was broken up within minutes but about 100 protesters regrouped in the square. They were surrounded by two police cordons blocking hundreds more people from entering from nearby roads.
Demonstrators chanted: "The people, united, will never be defeated!" and "No to violence!"
Cleaning crews with 10 lorries dismantled the last of the tents under police surveillance. Later, police left the square and let thousands of demonstrators flood in.
By the evening, at least 5,000 people were in the square protesting against the police intervention, some having put up tents. A dozen police vehicles were in streets leading to the square.
"What happened today was awful but it is a warning" for the country's leadership, said Ramon Deltran, 50, a psychiatrist.
"This is what police brutality achieves, that much more people protest. But also it is the fault of the politicians who don't listen to us," said Maite Loureiro, 30, an unemployed designer.
In Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, hundreds of demonstrators, many carrying flowers, shouted "Barcelona is not alone."
Ten people were taken to hospital after the Barcelona clashes, mostly for multiple bruises and psychological shock, said a Catalan emergency medical services spokeswoman.
A total of 87 people including one police officer were treated, mostly for light injuries, she said.
"Their cleaning has washed up blood, people bleeding from the head," said a comment on the Barcelona protest's Twitter account "acampadabcn".
It was the first attempt by police to clear demonstrators from a nationwide movement that began May 15 and grew in city squares across the country.
Police said they had to clear the encampment in case Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League football finals at Wembley on Saturday and the square was needed for celebrations.
They also swooped on an encampment in Lleida, in the same northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, where the Plaza Ricard Vinyes was cleared for possible football celebrations.
"Once the cleaning is finished they can go back but without the tents, knives and potentially dangerous objects," a police spokeswoman said in Barcelona.
Activists vowed to return.
"They are making us leave because of the match but we will come back again here or elsewhere because our match is more important," said Albert Bonet, a 42-year-old artist who was in the protest.
The demonstrators are known variously as "the indignant", "M-15" after the birth date of their movement, and "Spanish Revolution".
Mostly young people, they have gathered in city squares across Spain in peaceful protests to decry mainstream political parties, soaring unemployment, corruption and welfare cuts.
At the vanguard of the rallies in Madrid, protesters remained camped in the central square Puerta del Sol but in smaller numbers than at the peak just before Spain's May 22 general elections.
In the municipal and regional polls, voters punished the ruling Socialist Party for the grim economy and handed a huge victory to the conservative opposition Popular Party.
Madrid protesters say they plan to decide Sunday how to carry on the movement.

 

Redevelopment of Marbella Port could start early next year

The project to develop Marbella’s La Bajadilla Port was officially presented at a Marbella hotel on Tuesday, where it was revealed that 100% of the companies which will be involved in the work will be Spanish. It’s estimated that it will create 1,500 direct jobs and another 3,000 indirect.

The contract for the new port was awarded to the owner of Málaga Football Club, the Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani, whose right hand man and Vice-President of Málaga, Abdullah Mohamed Haj-Ghubn, was there to give details of the project on Tuesday, accompanied by the Partido Popular Mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz.

Diario Sur reports that the Sheikh will make available the 400 million budget for the project from his own funds, and it’s hoped that not having to depend on funding from the banks will allow the work to be completed within a timescale of three years. The aim is for building to start at the beginning of next year.

The new port will have mooring for 858 boats, a dry dock for another 360, plus two berths for yachts of up to 125 metres in length. There will also be a dock for 175-metre cruise liners, with capacity for 500 passengers.

The temporary consortium formed for the project has been named Bin Nasir Abdullah & Sons, in which Marbella Town Hall has a 3% share.

 

13 arrested for Mallorca telesales scam which defrauded millions out of UK customers

National Police have arrested 13 people in a new scam which operated from Palma de Mallorca and allegedly cheated millions out of their customers in the UK. Diario de Mallorca reports that the majority of the suspects are British, of Pakistani origin.

Officers searched 10 addresses on Tuesday, including an office in Palma from where the telesales calls were made. Two premises in Santa Ponça and Andratx were also searched.

The investigations began in the UK after dozens of people reported that they had been victims of fraud. They said they had invested large amounts of money in a company which promised them a return of high interest, but had received nothing further after the first few months of payments.

The Baleares newspaper ‘Ultima Hora’ puts the number of victims at more tan 80 and indicates that the money defrauded could amount to more than 4 million pounds.

 

Alleged British paedophile arrested in Benidorm

49 year old Briton has been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Benidorm in connection with several sexual abuses on children, and for the alleged crime of corruption of minors for his possession of child pornography.

Sources at the Guardia Civil has said the man is also subject to a search and capture order for child sex abuse issued by the British authorities. In addition there are reports that they man was being investigated on similar charges by the Guardia Civil in Villajoyosa.

Named with the initials P.F.C. he was arrested in his home on May 19 in Benidorm, but news of the detention has only just been released. A search of his home after the arrest found a lap-top computer, two memory sticks and about 50 CD’s, the contents of which are now being analysed.

The judge has ordered the man be held initially in jail on remand.

 

political party set up by the owners of homes now deemed to have been built illegally in Chiclana, Cádiz, now holds the balance of power in the Town Hall.

political party set up by the owners of homes now deemed to have been built illegally in Chiclana, Cádiz, now holds the balance of power in the Town Hall.

The electoral success for the PVRE neighbours of Chiclana party comes as a result of door to door campaigning. They have two councillors, just the amount needed by the PP for an overall majority in the town.

The PP was the most voted for party and they will have to deal with the property owners if they want to stop a pact between the Socialists and left wingers IU. However the PP has said that it is against the plans for the homes to be brought into legality.

There are 15,000 illegal properties in Chiclana, according to the Junta de Andaucía.

Spanish police say they have prevented the illegal sale of nine military transport helicopters to Iran and have detained eight people.

The operation, which took place in Madrid and Barcelona, led to the arrests of five Spanish businessmen and three Iranian nationals, reports say.

As well as the Bell-212 helicopters, police also found spare parts for export to Venezuela, police said.

Iran is banned from buying attack helicopters under UN sanctions.

The five Spanish businessmen are suspected of trying to export the US-made aircraft, while the three Iranians are accused of negotiating the purchase of military material, the AFP news agency reports.

As part of Operation Nam, police raided industrial sites in Madrid and Barcelona where they found the helicopters, reports say.

The total value of the helicopters and spares was 100m euros ($140m), they said.

'Iranians' trip'
The helicopters, which are used to transport troops and military equipment, and spares were being prepared for assembly and disassembly before export to Iran and Venezuela, police said.

"They tried to protect the export sale, which could have resulted in revenue of about 100m euros, under the cover of legal aviation repairs," the statement said.

Police said they found out about the arrival in Spain of the Iranian purchasers who had come to formalise the deal which led to their operation being launched.

The Spanish companies said to be involved are accused of ignoring export requirements by failing to obtain licences for the export of military material for goods that could have military applications, police said.

Under UN sanctions adopted last year, Iran is banned from buying heavy weapons such as attack helicopters and missiles.

476,294 vehicles registered in the province of Malaga were due to take their ITV test. However only 352,223 actually made it to a test centre:

74 per cent. The remaining 26 per cent makes Malaga the Andalusian province with the most cars on the roads that haven’t passed the motor vehicle test, according to statistics from the ITV organisation that forms part of the regional_Economy, Innovation and Science Department. The ITV test is obligatory, either annually or every two years, for vehicles over a certain age in order to ensure that the cars, lorries and motorcycles are roadworthy and therefore do not pose a risk to road safety.
As well as expressing their concern at this “worrying” figure, experts have attempted to find an explanation for the statistics. According to Mario Arnaldo of the association Automovilistas Europeos Asociados, the high proportion could be put down to the large volume of vehicles registered in the province. “However if we look at the figures, in Seville there were even more vehicles due to take the test (559,989) and there the level of compliance with the law was greater, 76 per cent, so the volume theory does not hold by itself”, he argues. While Malaga is only two per cent behind Seville the difference between this province and Cordoba or Jaén, for example is much greater, as there 82 per cent of vehicles take the test.
Crisis and tourism
Joaquín Zamora is the manager of Veiasa, the Junta de Andalucía’s firm that carries out the compulsory tests. He suggests other reasons: “It could be that the economic situation has influenced the figures. The fact that the crisis, and especially unemployment, has hit this province hard, even more so than other areas, could be a factor”, he maintains. “In 2009 the rate of compliance was 75 per cent which shows a slight downward trend which could be due to the crisis”, he continues. At the same time however he brings in another factor especially relevant to this province: tourism. “There are a lot of people who leave a vehicle here because they visit sporadically, but they do not live in Malaga, and do not take the vehicles in for their ITV”.
Arnaldo repeats his alarm at the effect the ITV figures could have on road safety. “The fact that one in four vehicles is not taken for testing is very negative”, he states, pointing out his agreement with Zamora’s impression that financial problems are taking their toll. On average the takings of car repair workshops have fallen by 15 per cent and less spending on car repairs implies that there are more vehicles on the road with mechanical problems. “This could lead to more owners dodging the ITV, fearing that their vehicle’s won’t pass and they will have to spend more”, he points out. Arnaldo also suggests that the new obligation of having to show proof of insurance when taking the test could also affect the figures. “Malaga is the sixth province in Spain with the most uninsured vehicles on the roads”, he reveals before demanding “greater controls” from the relevant authorities, “as this violation of the law increases danger on the roads”.
Moped problem
Looking at the figures for different types of vehicles, owners of two wheels are more likely to dodge their ITV than those with four. In the case of mopeds, only 32 per cent of owners take them for their ITV, that is, less than a third, despite the test being compulsory since 2007. Zamora points that the fact that scooters and mopeds have only been obliged to take the test for the last few years is most likely the explanation. “As it has only come in recently, the idea of taking a moped for a regular inspection has not yet become established”, he says. “What’s more as these vehicles are only used inside cities and towns less attention is paid to their condition, although we also have to bear in mind that the majority of owners are young people”, he adds, while stressing his concern at such a high rate of violation of a regulation. “We have made a huge effort to make life easier for owners, providing mobile testing units that go to different towns. But to our surprise when we have visited towns where 15 or 20 owners were due to being their mopeds for a test, only one has turned up. The Local Police, who are responsible for enforcing the regulation should step up their controls”, claims the manager of Veiasa.
In the case of motorcycles only 50 per cent of owners take the test, while the proportion for cars goes up to 78 per cent.
Joaquín Zamora explains that of those vehicles that are taken for their ITV, 25.4 per cent fail on their first visit. This failure rate goes down to 23.3 per cent for cars, while 46.25 per cent of heavy goods vehicles (over 3,500 kilos) were found to have some kind of defect. Similarly 37 per cent of buses and coaches failed their ITV in 2010.
The most common reasons for failing the test were problems with: headlights and indicators (12%); axles and suspension (10%); brakes (8.3%); or emissions (5.7%).

Unicaja-owned centre in Benalmádena is home to 72 people, including many foreign residents

residents and staff of the Marymar nursing home in Benalmádena Costa organised a rally outside the building’s main entrance last Tuesday morning to demand explanations as to the centre’s forthcoming closure on 31st May.
Following years of rumours and speculation, the Marymar residents received a letter in April from Unicaja bank, the centre’s owner, confirming that it is to be closed at the end of this month.
The building is being shut down for the safety of those living and working there, according to an official Unicaja statement. The financial institution claims that the premises, which were constructed in the 1960s, are in need of urgent reforms, after which a study will be undertaken to establish the future use of the building, located in a privileged position overlooking the beach.
However, those at the rally say they have not been informed of the reasons behind the action. “The letter we received gave us no explanations about the reforms Unicaja will supposedly be carrying out, nor where the residents will be relocated to. The nearest Unicaja nursing home to here is in Ronda!” says Sonia Martínez, whose mother is one of the residents. “It’s a disgrace that these 72 people of many different nationalities will lose their homes, and 45 more will lose their jobs.
“We will continue to protest every week until Unicaja tells us if and when the centre will re-open,” she added

 

Nearly $1M Awarded to Dad Who Sued Ex-Wife’s Law Firm for Role in Child Abduction

A father whose child was spirited to Spain by his former spouse has won a nearly $1 million verdict against the New Jersey law firm that represented the woman.

A jury in Bergen County, N.J., awarded $950,000 to Roy Innes and his daughter in their suit against Lesnevich & Marzano-Lesnevich and name partner Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. The suit faulted the law firm for releasing the child’s passport to the mother, Maria Jose Carrascosa.

The child is now 11. She remains in Spain where she is being raised by her grandparents. The mother, Carrascosa, returned to the United States without the girl in 2006 and is in prison.

Marzano-Lesnevich's husband, Walter Lesnevich, represented the law firm. He called the case a “nightmare” and told the NLJ it establishes "a new standard of responsibility by a matrimonial lawyer to their nonclient."

The law firm got the passport along with the case files after Carrascosa fired her prior lawyer. Lesnevich says his wife did release the passport, but she didn’t know she was supposed to act as trustee.

“Everybody feels very sorry for the father so they just threw out the book and changed the law up and down,” he told the NLJ.

 

Spain's Socialists, devastated in local elections, are now split over how to choose the successor to unpopular Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Spain's Socialists, devastated in local elections, are now split over how to choose the successor to unpopular Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who alienated voters with painful austerity measures.

Unemployment has soared to the highest rate in the European Union as Zapatero -- who will not stand for a third term -- slashed spending to keep Spain from being sucked into the euro zone debt crisis that has claimed Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

The front runners to replace him are Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, a party veteran, and Defense Minister Carme Chacon, a young, Catalan politician and the country's first female Defense minister.

The selection process begins on Saturday, but there is disagreement within the party whether to force one of them to step aside for now, or to begin a 40-50 day primary at a time when the government is under pressure to call early elections.

"I honestly don't want a behind the scenes agreement," Jose Blanco, Public Works Minister and high-level party leader widely seen as the Socialists' kingmaker, told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.

But other prominent socialists disagreed.

"We don't need a process in the Socialist Party now where there is an internal competition between candidates. The best thing in my opinion would be for one candidate but the primaries are a procedure that the party has established," Socialist Member of the European Parliament Diego Lopez Garrido said in Brussels.

The opposition center-right Popular Party -- which trounced the Socialists in the local elections -- has called on Zapatero to call early elections for parliament.

Spain's borrowing costs have soared and PP leader Mariano Rajoy says Zapatero's government has been unable to convince foreign investors that Spain will not be the next euro zone country to go into a full-blown fiscal crisis.

However, the PP has stopped short of saying it will present a parliamentary vote of no confidence, saying the government should seek a confidence vote in parliament.

Under Socialist party rules the party will give candidates 15 to 20 days from Saturday to throw their hats into the ring and seek backing from the party membership or leaders.

If there is a leadership contest, that would take an additional 2-3 weeks.

Ryanair's inexorable passenger growth will go into reverse this winter for the first since it became a low-cost carrier,

Ryanair's inexorable passenger growth will go into reverse this winter for the first since it became a low-cost carrier, the airline admitted on Monday, as high fuel costs and weak demand force the grounding of up to 80 aircraft.

Europe's largest short-haul carrier said passenger numbers will fall between September and March compared with the same period in 2010/11, ending a trend that has seen traffic figures at the Dublin-based airline grow by millions of people every six months. During last winter Ryanair carried 32 million passengers out of an annual total of 72.1 million people. Michael O'Leary, Ryanair chief executive, rejected suggestions that grounding nearly three-out-of-10 jets in its fleet indicated a saturated budget airline market.

"Why is the model not broken? Because next March we will fly all those aircraft," he said. The Ryanair boss said it made no economic sense to expand an airline when, according to forecasts, the traditionally quiet winter months will be accompanied by an average fuel price of around $110 (£68) per barrel.

"If you are facing oil at $110 per barrel this winter it is not a time when you want to be opening new routes and bases," he said.

O'Leary added that after Ryanair completes a Boeing order by taking the last of its new Boeing 737-800 aircraft in 2013, it will not be taking on new aircraft until 2016 at the earliest. Asked if Ryanair is becoming a slower-growing airline that generates its profits from raising fares rather than aggressive expansion, he said: "That's the likelihood." Despite this, Ryanair still grows faster than most and last year added 328 new routes to its 1,000-strong route network. O'Leary warned last year that the airline's "pile it high and sell it cheap" approach will have to change because slower growth rates will have to be balanced with higher fare revenue, forcing Ryanair to become a more sophisticated operation. The airline has already launched reserved seating trials on some routes.

Passengers will feel the squeeze immediately. O'Leary said that high fuel prices will push up Ryanair's average fare by 12% to more than €43 (£37) this year, as the airline seeks to recover an increase in fuel costs by €350m. "A 12% growth in average fares will only just cover the €350m additional fuel bill," he said.

O'Leary said Ryanair's average "lead-in" fare, the term for the lowest ticket price on a flight, will be €12 this summer compared with up to €9 last year. Fewer of those tickets will be offered too, he added.

O'Leary spoke as Ryanair announced a pre-tax profit of €401m for the year to 31 March, up 26% on last year once an exceptional charge related to last year's Icelandic volcano eruption is stripped out. Revenues rose 21% to €3.6bn.

SPAIN’S RULING Socialist Party headed for a crushing defeat in local elections yesterday,

SPAIN’S RULING Socialist Party headed for a crushing defeat in local elections yesterday, punished by voters after a week of mass public protests over high unemployment levels and a stagnant economy.

With 85 per cent of votes counted nationwide, the centre-right Popular Party had 37 per cent of the aggregate municipal vote.

The Socialists were 9 percentage points behind, heading for their worst showing in municipal elections since Spain returned to democracy in 1978 after the Franco dictatorship, and losing control of major cities including Seville and Barcelona.

The rest of the votes were divided among an array of smaller parties.

“We must congratulate the PP since they’ve won Spain’s municipal elections by a wide margin,” said deputy prime minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who is widely seen as a possible Socialist candidate for the next parliamentary elections.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards fed up with the highest unemployment rate in the European Union – 21 per cent – demonstrated in cities around Spain all week, urging voters to reject the two main political parties.

Almost half of Spaniards aged 18-25 are out of work, more than double the European Union average.

On Saturday night their numbers peaked, with around 30,000 people in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol alone, witnesses said. Analysts said the protests would have only a marginal impact on the voting as opinion polls already showed Socialist defeats.

“I’ve voted for the PP because the Socialists are doing a very bad job . . . It’s true there’s been a worldwide crisis, but Zapatero didn’t react to it on time,” said Jesus Lopez, a retired man voting in the Arguelles neighbourhood of Madrid.

Spaniards were electing more than 8,000 city councils and 13 out of the country’s 17 regional legislatures. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, applauded abroad for his fiscal discipline during the euro zone crisis, has become unpopular at home as the economy stagnates.

The youth protests across the country, organised through the internet by Spain’s Youth Awakening, and inspired by the uprisings in the Middle East, continued as polling took place. Demonstrators camped in the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol in central Madrid and in other cities defied a ban on protests by the election authority.

The demonstrators, who espouse a wide range of causes, including electoral reform, bank nationalisation, anarchism and state subsidies for the arts, were last night debating whether to continue the protest indefinitely.

Sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined 900 euros for a woman who had seven hours late to his polling station

The Supreme Court has sentenced to 14 days in jail and 900 euros a woman from Barcelona who had seven hours late to the table of the polling station where he had been named a member second, considering that, but blamed the delay on an unwillingness intestinal, provided no justification that would have exempted from this requirement.
In a ruling made ​​public this Saturday, the Second Chamber of the high court revoked the acquittal that issued the Provincial Court of Barcelona in November 2009 and, according to the criteria of the Office, which appealed, condemned by Evelyn AS committing an electoral crime .
The incident took place on the occasion of general elections were held on March 9, 2008. The woman received the February 20 official notice informing him that he had been appointed alternate member first in a table in a polling station in Barcelona.
The woman, who did not submit any legal cause to dispense with this duty, was presented at the school at 15.00 pm instead of at 8.00 am when the polling station was established. He argued that his delay was because he had suffered intestinal ailment and went to school when he took effect he had taken drugs. Even after he exercised his right to vote.
Without "good cause"
The ruling of the Supreme, which has been a speaker Judge Ramos Diego, states that the woman committed a crime of "failure" to "not attend the date and time indicated for the constitution of the table" and do not provide any "good cause "that exempted from its legal obligation.
"The justification, when he attends because legally callable, have the effect of exemption from liability under the general rules, "say the judges of the Second Division before adding the item to prevent criminal punishment must be accredited by the active subject "that fails to meet its obligation and not by the prosecution, which" can not require the burden of a negative test ('probatio diabolical'). "
In its appeal, the prosecution alleged that the defendant's conduct is "criminal" because that appear at the polling station a few hours later "indifferent to the effects of the attack on the legally protected interest" in this case "safeguard the proper functioning and development of such an important event in a democracy such as elections to Parliament."
"This is a simple crime of activity in which the typical action is not to appear on time for training of the polling station, threatening or hurting so negligent conduct of its legal duties corresponding electoral process" the prosecution argued.

 

Flight chaos feared after new Iceland eruption

Another volcanic eruption has shut down airspace around Iceland and is threatening to disrupt travel across Europe in the coming days.
The eruption at Grimsvotn was much stronger than the Eyjafjoell eruption further south that shut down the airspace across Europe in April last year and disrupted the travel plans of millions of passengers.
Air safety officials said ash from the latest eruption may reach north Scotland by Tuesday before sweeping across Britain to hit France and Spain two days later.
Experts say, however, the impact should not be as far-reaching as in 2010.
The latest eruption started with some small earthquakes around the glacier at the foot of Iceland's most active volcano.
What happened next was the biggest eruption at the site since 1873.
But so far its effects are only being felt at home, with all flights in and out of Iceland's main Keflavik airport cancelled.
The plume of ash shot 20 kilometres into the sky, turning day into night and blanketing many surrounding towns and villages.
Ash coated cars and buildings, while residents are being urged to wear masks and stay indoors.
While it is still too early to be certain and winds are currently mild, meteorologists in Europe are hopeful that the travel disruption can be contained to Iceland.
BBC forecaster Simon King says it may not be until later in the week that the UK experiences any disturbances from the eruption.
"Assuming the volcano continues to erupt at the same pace and the same concentration as it is now and if we look at the upper-level winds, it's towards the end of the week where we'll start to see if there could be a problem or not for the UK," he said.
Last year's eruption closed Heathrow and virtually every other northern European airport for six days, throwing the travel plans of around 10 million people in to chaos.
It was estimated airlines lost around $200 million a day.
But experts say the eruption at Grimsvotn is unlikely to have such a dramatic impact this time.
Professor Hazel Rymer is a vulcanologist at the UK's Open University and says the situation is a lot different this time around.
She says the volcano is erupting a different type of ash.
"For a start what's different this year is this particular volcano is erupting slightly different ash. It's rather denser. The slightly larger particles are mainly what's coming out," she said.
"That means they're going to fall out quicker. They're going to fall out perhaps before they get into European airspace.
"[The] second thing is the weather is a little bit different at the moment. Principally the plume is going over towards the east. So it's not coming down into our airspace at the moment, although of course this may change."

 

Two people aged 36 and 14 have died while watching the II Rally Sprint in Pozoblanco in Córdoba after being hit by a vehicle taking part.

The Guardia Civil say a third person was seriously injured in the accident on Saturday in the rally organised by the Escudería Sierra Morena. 66 cars were taking part in the rally which is part of the Andalucía Champions.hip, and the tragedy occurred at Km 8 on the CO-6410.

Other spectators alerted the emergency services and health professionals reached the scene by helicopter.

Investigations are underway to establish if the two fatalities were in an authorised area.

British woman on a Spanish holiday was gassed and raped while her husband lay unconscious next to her,

British woman on a Spanish holiday was gassed and raped while her husband lay unconscious next to her, it was claimed today.
The mother-of-two, 56, was assaulted at a hotel in Benalmadena, Spain, after a mystery gas was pumped into their roof-top bedroom, her husband said.
The pair from Greater Manchester, were near the end of their Costa del Sol holiday when the sex attacker struck at the Hotel Siroco.
The British woman claimed she was raped at the Siroco hotel in Benalmadena after she was gassed in her room as her husband lay next to her

'I think he somehow gassed us and then came in. My wife woke me screaming my name at around 4am and I realised someone was in the room with her,' the 55-year-old man told the Sun.

 The attacker, who apparently fled the room naked, was still there when the couple woke up. He escaped with a large amount of money as well, the husband said.The terrified victim of the attack was treated by doctors in Spain on Monday morning but now faces an HIV test in Britain.
A Malaga province police spokesman confirmed they were investigating the alleged attack and said no-one had been arrested in connection with the inquiry.
A Foreign Office spokesman said it had not received a report of the attack. Its advice on personal safety in Spain said sex attacks were infrequent but did happen to British tourists.Police are investigating the alleged attack in the popular Costa del Sol resort

It went on: 'Be alert to the possible use of "date rape" and other drugs including "GHB" and liquid ecstasy.

'Buy your own drinks and keep sight of them at all times to make sure they are not spiked; female travellers should be particularly watchful.'

Tens of thousands of disenchanted and unemployed young Spaniards refused to leave tent cities they raised over the week in plazas throughout the country

Tens of thousands of disenchanted and unemployed young Spaniards refused to leave tent cities they raised over the week in plazas throughout the country, defying an official ban on gatherings ahead of this Sunday’s municipal elections.



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Some are calling the growing youth movement a "Spanish Revolution" – spread via Twitter and Facebook – that's reminiscent of the 1968 French student movement that catalyzed an unprecedented social and moral overhaul in Europe and throughout the world. Some commentators say the Arab Spring has arrived in Spain. Critics, meanwhile, call it an excuse for a big party.

Regardless, the so-called 15-M movement, a reference to the day protesters occupied Plaza del Sol in Madrid, is calling for political and economic reform in Spain and has spread to 166 Spanish cities and to other parts of Europe. Similar plaza takeovers have been organized through online social networks for Friday in at least 10 Italian cities.



“I’m here against the system, against everything, the banks, the government, the Popular Party, unemployment. You name it. Nothing works,” says Sabina Ortega, a journalism student. “It’s against a two-party system. And my goal is to feel represented. I want politicians to know they are not listening,” she says. “I’ll stay here as long as I have to.”



At more than 21 percent, Spain has Europe’s highest unemployment rate and is also suffering from its worst economic crisis in decades, compounded by a series of draconian austerity measures.

One of every two people of working age under 25 is jobless in Spain. They are dubbed “the lost generation.” Young Spaniards are fleeing to other European capitals to find work. Experts, though, say this movement is not just about work, but about feeling alienated and misrepresented.


“This is an expression of discontent and it’s understandable. Spain had a generational shift 35 years ago with the transition to democracy, but it hasn’t had any mobility since,” said José Álvarez Junco, a respected writer, historian, professor in Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and an expert in social movements. “They are facing a wall in their professional and personal expectations.”

Sunday's election

Leaders of the Popular Party, who see Sunday’s elections as leading to the ouster of the governing party in the 2012 general elections, have criticized the movement, while the government and Socialist Party have tried to capitalize on the resentment – although apparently without much success.

contract to enlarge Marbella’s La Bajadilla marina has been awarded to Nasir Bin Abdullah & Sons.

The contract to enlarge Marbella’s La Bajadilla marina has been awarded to Nasir Bin Abdullah & Sons. This temporary consortium (UTE) is headed by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family and owner of Malaga FC. With a cost of €84 million this will be the first harbour development in Andalucia that is funded with both public and private money.
The company, specifically formed to bid for the tender, includes Marbella Council as well as Puerto Deportivo Marbella S.A. As well as enlarging the marina over the next four years, the UTE will run the installation for 40 years.
Not only will the revamped marina provide more berths for private boats and yachts, but it makes possible Marbella’s long-cherished ambitions of providing anchorage for cruise ships.
A 200-metre pier in the outer part of the marina, connecting directly with the inner harbour, will allow liners to dock and put passengers ashore to spend time – and money – in Marbella.
The luxury trade has not been overlooked and an exclusive pier inside the marina is to be set aside for 26 boats.
With a further 541 berths for private craft, La Bajadilla’s capacity will increase from the present 262 to 803.
The marina will also provide more moorings for pleasure and excursion craft, with room available for fishing boats and nautical industries.
The project includes underground parking for 450 vehicles in addition to 683 parking spaces above ground.
His ability to finance the project worked in Abdullah Al-Thani’s favour from the outset, and the sheikh entered the race for the La Bajadilla contract backed by capital – more than €25 million – from his parent company.
Al-Thani also provided bank certificates confirming that he had immediate call on a further €20 million in cash.

 

New golf resort under discussion for Coín

The Town Hall in Coín is reported to have started conversations with a group of real estate investors from Russia to build a golf resort which would include a luxury 200-bed hotel and 250 residential villas.

The Mayor of Coín, Gabriel Clavijo, has confirmed to Diario Sur that a first meeting has already taken place, with conversations set to continue in the coming weeks. He added that the investors are interested in creating a high performance sports centre which would allow Russian golfing teams to train in Málaga province.

It’s understood that an area of some 200 million square metres would be needed for the project. Sur indicates a likely site as the area known as Perilas, near Coín’s western boundary. It’s a site which is very close to the A-355, the road which connects the Guadalhorce Valley with the coast, and which is due to be reclassified for tourism use under the Junta de Andalucía’s Territorial Urban Agglomeration Plan for Málaga, the POTAUM.

 

Bulgarian attacker was admitted to psychiatric unit in the U.K

The 28 year old Bulgarian, Deyan Deyanov, who is accused of beheading the 60 year old English woman, Jennifer Mills-Westley in Tenerife on the 13th of this month, has been revealed to have been admitted in the past to a psychiatric facility in Britain.

He was admitted to Glan Clwyd Hospital in Wales last summer for his own safety under the UK Mental Health Laws. What is not clear is whether he was discharged or escaped from the facility, and an investigation has now been announced to clarify the circumstances.
A spokesman for the hospital said that they had had no contact with the patient since last October.

Meanwhile The Sun reports that two of his ex girlfriends have spoken of his violent tendencies and drug addiction. One of them named by the paper as Rachael Sharpe, said he tried to strangle her when she refused to call him the messiah.
‘On one occasion he told me that he wanted to kill someone to see what he felt, that he wanted to stab someone’.

The murder of the British pensioner has led M.P. Steve McCabe to ask for a revision of the protocols which allow someone with mental problems to leave a psychiatric institution.
‘There needs to be an urgent investigation into how someone in a psychiatric hospital can leave the centre, travel and commit a crime like this’, said McCabe.

 

Prison for man who swindled British Couple over property sale

The Málaga Provincial Court has sent a man to prison for five years for defrauding a British couple over the sale of a plot of land containing a half-built house.

The sale of the plot was not inscribed in the Registry, and was non-buildable land; the half built property was illegally built and did not respect minimum distances from the boundaries.
Europa Press reports that he man found guilty acted as a real estate intermediary, advertising in publications and with his own web page which described him as a specialist in rural properties. He directed his activities at the British market.

The court heard that he signed two private contracts, after receiving over 60,000 € from the British couple. However the British couple soon discovered that they could not register the property or indeed build any property on the land, and the man refused to pay back their 60,000 €.

The accused claimed in court that he and his brother considered that the plot could be legalised, but be was still found guilty of a swindle, and ordered to prison for five years, told to compensate the couple with 60,700 € and fined 10,800 €.

 

Torrential rain has caused flash floods in southern Spain, killing an elderly woman and sending cars floating down the streets of one town.

Torrential rain has caused flash floods in southern Spain, killing an elderly woman and sending cars floating down the streets of one town.
National Spanish Television on Thursday showed a river of water gushing through the streets of Canete de las Torres town in the Andalusia region and cars piled on top of one another.
About 150 houses were evacuated, and TV footage showed people sweeping water out of their damaged homes.
The body of an 85-year-old woman was found in a stream in the town hours after the heavy rains began Wednesday.
The regional government says the south-central province of Cordoba was the worst hit.

CAMPAIGNERS have slammed the UK benefit system, which is allowing expats abroad to defraud around 70million euros a year from government coffers.

They believe the majority of this so called ‘abroad fraud’ is being committed by Britons living in Spain.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) is now calling for a major shake-up of the claims process, in a bid to prevent the huge amount of fraud.
TPA Director John O’Connell, told the Olive Press: “It’s alarming for taxpayers and genuine claimants that so much is lost to fraud.
“The reality is that the benefits system is way too complicated, with over 50 benefits available to claimants, meaning that loopholes are exploited too often both in the UK and abroad, particularly Spain. The entire system needs a drastic overhaul and must be simplified as soon as possible.”

Jamie Dempsey, is being held in connection with a 90 million euro cocaine empire.

Jamie Dempsey, is being held in connection with a 90 million euro cocaine empire.
Dempsey, 33, from Essex, was arrested during a raid on a property in Benahavis, Marbella for allegedly conspiring to supply 299 kilos of cocaine in spring 2009.


It follows Dempsey’s appearance on the wanted list, issued by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in February.
Dave Cording, of Crimestoppers, said: “This is another great result which means that now 50% of the most recent batch of wanted individuals have been arrested.
“Not only is the campaign successful in tracking people down in Spain, but it displaces them as well.”

A young man has drowned after plucking his younger brother from the sea off southern Spain.

The 19-year-old had last been seen swimming off the notorious Playa de la Bota beach at Punta Umbria on Sunday evening.

Emergency workers this morning found his lifeless body in the sea two miles from where he had entered the water to save his brother.

His body was taken ashore, at 10am, to Playa Flecha del Rompido beach before being transferred to a forensic centre in the Andalusian town of Huelva.


According to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil, the teenager and his younger brother had travelled to the beach for a day out from their parents’ home near Seville.

The spokesman added that “strong currents” hampered the rescue operation, which began on Sunday evening and involved two helicopters and three boats with teams from the Guardia Civil, Coastguard and local police.

The alarm was raised when emergency services were contacted by a caller who said a young man “was having problems getting out of the water”.

The two-mile beach is known for its dangerous strong currents and has a long history of tragedies. A 16-year-old died in the same location a year ago. Signs warn of the risks and the authorities advise that people swim with extreme caution.

An eyewitness posted a message of condolence and concern over the absence of lifeguards on the website of local newpaper Huelva Informacion.

"I was there when it happened, and although the emergency services did everything they could to get there as quick as they could, I feel ashamed that there was no lifeguard station, or lifeguard in the area, which attracts many swimmers at this time of year, especially taking into account the dangerous waters in that area. I am very sorry for the family," the eyewitness wrote.

Huelva emergency services director Francisco Huelva said: “Every year incidents occur like this along the coast of Andalucia. Many of these, but not the majority, are due to imprudent actions. I’m not saying that is the case here.”

Warning flags and lifeguards at the popular sandy beach are not in force until the summer season begins in mid-June. Generally a red flag, which instructs bathers not to swim, flies over Playa de la Bota beach all summer.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said earlier: “We can confirm that a British national has been reported missing in Huelva, Spain.

“We stand ready to provide appropriate consular assistance to the family if needed.”

TENS of thousands of students, social groups and unemployed Spaniards rallied in more than 50 cities.

The protesters are fighting government austerity measures and the role banks and political parties have played in the financial crisis.

The events were organised by two activist groups under the banner of "We aren't merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers."

Protesters in Madrid marched from Cibeles square to city hall in Puerta del Sol, many wearing yellow T-shirts distributed by the Youth Without a Future group, which was founded in early April at the city's university and helped organise the rallies.

"We the unemployed, the badly paid, the subcontracted in precarious jobs, the youth of Spain, want change and a future with dignity," said Ines Bajo, 24, who is unemployed.

Other large marches took place in the cities of Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao and Zaragoza.

"I have several degrees, speak many languages and still get paid a miserable salary," said Cristina Corbera, 25, in Madrid, adding she had finally got a job two months ago after looking for work for more than a year.

She declined to say where she worked because of fear her employer might react badly to her comments.

"For those who say that Spaniards are passive, here's evidence that things are starting to change," Luis Morago, 44, who is unemployed.

Spain is saddled with the eurozone's highest jobless rate of 21.3 per cent with a record 4.9 million people unemployed and a sluggish economy that grew by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

The government forecasts growth of 1.3 per cent this year, but the central bank and others say that prediction is optimistic.

Scot accused of running a s9million timeshare scam is on the run in Spain.

Police are hunting Edinburghborn Richard Bain after he failed to appear in court in Malaga on fraud charges on May 9.
Bain, 46, is linked to Toni Muldoon who faces more than four years in jail over the racket which fleeced cash from people with unwanted Costa del Sol properties.
Bain was previously arrested in the UK on charges of theft and fraud under the name Richard Thompson.
He is alleged to have conned timeshare victims in Spain by offering legal assistance to recoup their losses but then disappeared with their cash.
Lawyer Antonio Flores, who represents 160 British claimants, said: "This was a multimillion pound scam."
Timeshare owners were conned into paying upfront fees of around s1200 for selling their Fuengirolabased companies linked to Muldoon between 2001 and 2006.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Bain, Muldoon's wife and five others.
One rippedoff Scot from Balerno, Midlothian, said: "They got me the first time. It was quite an operation. You could hear a lot of phones going off in the background."
At Monday's court hearing in Malaga, 10 gang members were given suspended sentences of up to two years.
Six people, including Muldoon, pleaded guilty to fraud while four admitted charges of illicit association.
The court ordered that s438,000 defrauded from 300 Scottish and English claimants be paid back.
Bain's firm, Conectese was also reportedly not registered with Spanish authorities.

The British woman beheaded in a supermarket on the Spanish island of Tenerife has been named as Jennifer Mills-Westley.

The British woman beheaded in a supermarket on the Spanish island of Tenerife has been named as Jennifer Mills-Westley.

Her family paid tribute to her and said they were devastated by her death in the town of Arona, about 10 miles from the popular beach resort of Los Cristianos, in the south of the island.

Her daughter, Sarah, said: "Mum retired a number of years ago and was fully enjoying her retirement travelling between Tenerife and France, where she spent time visiting her daughter and grandchildren, and her other daughter in Norfolk.

"She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone. We now have to find a way of living without her love and light and we would ask at this difficult time for some privacy as we try to come to terms with our loss."

The Foreign Office has confirmed that consular officials are liaising with local authorities investigating the killing.

Spanish police have identified the alleged killer as Deyan Valentinov D, but have not released a surname. The 28-year-old unemployed Bulgarian is said to have attacked Ms Mills-Westley, 60, with a knife and then fled into the street with the severed head in his hands, according to witnesses.

Colin Kirby, a reporter for Tenerife Magazine, explained what he had seen as he walked past the shop at around 10.30am.

He said he had spoken to an English couple who were in the shop when the incident happened.

"They said this guy just walked in, pulled a big knife and started stabbing at her."

He added: "I didn't see the attack, but I saw the guy. I was walking past the commercial centre and I saw a small group of people outside. There was a guy from the medical centre going down the ramp and I thought perhaps someone had fainted.

"I heard people shouting and screaming and making a commotion. A Hispanic-looking guy, very scruffy, was walking behind me muttering to himself, carrying what I thought was a joke head by the hair, with blood.

"It made me think of Clash of The Titans, gorgons. I thought … 'it's a joke'. The man was in his late 20s … He was a bit dishevelled, unwashed, he was wearing a jumper and trousers, when everyone else is wearing shorts. Even at 10.30 in the morning, it's boiling."

Kirby said that the man ran off as security guards and others chased after him.

"Security guards rushed from the shop where he'd been, chased him across the road and by this time he was pinned to the floor. By this time he was empty-handed and was on the other side of the road."

"The security and the police had to hold people off – they were queueing up – they were trying basically to kick the hell out of the guy."

Los Cristianos has a large expat British community.

A witness told the radio broadcaster Cadena Ser that he saw the man drop the head on the pavement after coming out of the shop.

"I parked my car and saw a man running out with something bloody in his hands and a security guard chasing him. He threw it to the ground. It almost hit me.

"What he had been carrying was a woman's head."

A deranged knifeman decapitated a British woman in a supermarket on the Spanish resort island of Tenerife on Friday and fled with her head,

A deranged knifeman decapitated a British woman in a supermarket on the Spanish resort island of Tenerife on Friday and fled with her head, police said.
The man, 28-year-old Bulgarian Deyan Valentinov, launched his knife attack on the victim in a Chinese supermarket, they said.
"The attack culminated with the decapitation of the victim," Canary Islands police said in a statement. "The attacker left the establishment with the head in his hand and then threw it to the pavement."
The victim was a 60-year-old British woman shopping in the supermarket in the tourist spot of Los Cristianos beach in Arona on the southern side of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, police said.
She had no relation to the attacker, they said.
Police said they arrested the man as he was struggling with a security guard and trying to escape.
"A man came running up with something full of blood in his hand and a private security guard behind him, and he threw it on the ground and it almost hit me," a witness named only as Bernardo told Cadena Ser radio.
"What he had in his hand was a girl's head."
The man, who had a previous record for causing bodily injury, struck at 10:30 am (0830 GMT) in the supermarket, which forms part of the Valdes shopping centre of Arona, police said.
The attacker shouted out: "God is on Earth," according to local news site CanariasalDia.com, quoting Arona's mayor, Jose Alberto Gonzalez Reveron. He lived in a "semi-abandoned" house, the mayor said.
Canary Islands political representative Dominica Fernandez was quoted by the news site as saying that the killer was disturbed and had chosen his victim at random.
In London, a Foreign Office official said it had been informed of the attack. "We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Tenerife and are urgently investigating," she said.
Other news reports said the man had been in a psychiatric hospital for breaking a man's teeth and had only been released in February but this could not be confirmed.
Freelance writer Colin Kirby said in a video interview with British expatriate news site Tenerifemagazine.com that he was walking past the Chinese shop when he saw a big crowd and and ambulance.
"I assumed someone had fainted or something," Kirby said.
"I walked on a bit, turned around, there were people shouting. There was an Hispanic looking guy, very scruffy, walking behind me muttering to himself, carrying what I thought was a joke head by the hair with blood," he said.
Further on, Chinese residents began to ran towards the supermarket and security guards chased the attacker across the street where members of the public forced him to the ground, Kirby said.
When security and police arrived they had to hold people off to prevent them beating the suspect, he said.
Tenerife is home to around one million residents and one of Spain's most popular tourist destinations.

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

 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.

Costa del Sol phones should be back today, Tuesday, but ADSL may take longer

Businesses in Málaga and on the Western Costa del Sol say that they have been losing sales because of the massive phone problems which have affected the area since a large fire at a Málaga exchange on Friday night.

The damage has taken out police lines, bringing a halt to the issue of DNI identity cards, and the DGT traffic authority has also seen its services affected.

Travel agents in Málaga city centre claimed that they could not trade as their ADSL lines were inoperative, and the internet outage also affected petrol stations, banks and car parks in the city.
The internet was also down in Málaga University.

Telefónica admitted that there were still thousands of clients without service on Monday, but said they hoped all would have their lines back today, Tuesday. However, they warned that the ADSL services were more complicated and that they needed networks and specialised equipment to restore the service, and this was being sent from elsewhere in Spain.

Telefónica spokesman, Manuel Pineda, said the company had been working to restore the service since the fire and had managed to do so ‘in record time’, given that it was a very serious problem.
Four temporary exchanges have been taken to Málaga, brought in from Zaragoza and Sevilla, as the quickest solution to an exchange where half the equipment was gutted by fire.

The Junta de Andalucía has meanwhile said that those clients who want to apply for compensation do have a right under article 15 and subsequent parts of the Royal Decree 899/2009. It says the user has to place the complaint via the phone, by internet, by post or directly in Movistar commercial offices.

 

British Consular team to explain pensions, benefits and healthcare rights to British residents in Castellón

The British Consul in Alicante will be visiting one of the most northern parts of his Consular district on 25 May to hold an Open Day for British residents in Alcossebre which is part of Alcalá de Xivert, Castellón, where residents will have the opportunity to find out what the Consulate can do to help them.

He will be joined by the Pension, Benefit and Healthcare team who will give a presentation relating to people’s rights on access to healthcare and information on pensions and benefits entitlement in Spain.

British Consul Paul Rodwell said: “even though I’ve now been Consul since last August, I have still not had the opportunity to go to the north of our district. I think this event will be really worthwhile as it will enable us to let people in this area know that even though we are based quite a distance away in Alicante, we are still their Consulate and their concerns do matter to us. This is the first time we’ve held an Open Day in the Castellon region, which currently has nearly 2,000 British nationals on the padron.”

The Pension, Benefit and Healthcare team will also be available to take general questions and after the event to discuss people’s individual queries relating to their healthcare in Spain or any issues they may be having around pensions or benefits.

As space in the venue is limited, if you would like to attend, please register for a place via our website - ukinspain.fco.gov.uk . If you do not have access to the internet, you can reserve your place by calling 91 714 6443.

Event details:
Date: Wednesday 25 May 2011
Location: Alcala de Xivert, Castellón
Venue:
Hogar del Jubilado de Alcossebre
C/ Sabina, (esquina Camino del Campamento)
Alcossebre, Alcala de Xivert, Castellón

Time: 12:30pm (Doors open at 12:00 midday)

 

marijuana lab in Alhaurín de la Torre

The Civil Guard have arrested four people after the discovery of a high tech marijuana laboratory stocked with more than 600 plants at an address in Alhaurín de la Torre.

It was equipped with artificial lighting, an advanced ventilation system, temperature and humidity control, PH testing equipment and ample supplies of fertiliser.

The Civil Guard said in a press release that with this advanced system in place the plantation would have been able to provide between three and four harvests a year, bringing in a substantial profit for the accused.

Other items seized include three computers and more than 9,000 € in cash.

 

Earthquake damages buildings in Spain, no injuries reported

An earthquake of 4.5 degrees on Wednesday rocked south-eastern Spain, causing some damage but no injuries, officials said.
The tremor had its epicentre near Lorca in Murcia region. It damaged the facades of some buildings, and dislodged furniture inside homes, according to media reports.
Lorca residents rushed into the street in panic. The city of 100,000 residents suffered a quake of 4.7 degrees in 2005, when nearly 1,000 homes were damaged.

Final autopsy report on U.S. student shows accidental drowning

The final autopsy report on a San Diego State exchange student whose body was pulled from a Madrid river last March indicates an accidental drowning death with no signs of external violence, a Spanish court official said on Tuesday.
The student, Austin Taylor Bice, 22, was studying a semester of business courses at the University of Carlos III in Madrid when he went missing after a night out with friends. He was last seen outside a nightclub on the banks of Madrid's Manzanares River. Ten days later, on March 8, police pulled his body from the river.
"There was nothing found in the body that would indicate external factors in the death. There were no wounds on the body," said the official from Madrid's Superior Justice Tribunal. He spoke on the customary condition of anonymity.
He said the autopsy also showed a "high level" of alcohol in the blood.
A Madrid judge has kept the case, which is confidential by law, open for further investigation. There was no immediate word on when it might be closed definitively, the official said.
After his disappearance, Bice's friends quickly organized a campaign to put up posters of him around Madrid, which read "Missing. Austin Taylor Bice. U.S. citizen, 22, 1.95 meters tall and 100 kilograms" (6 feet, 5 inches and 220 pounds), and Spanish and U.S. media reported on the search.
Bice's father Larry, an accountant, rushed to Madrid from San Diego to search for his son and met several times with Spanish and U.S. authorities.
The family hired private investigators, at first to try to find the student, and later, after his body was recovered, to try to determine what happened, the elder Bice told CNN.
At the time of the search, a family member told CNN in Madrid that contrary to initial reports, Bice was not refused entry to the nightclub by doormen and was not drunk, although "he had a few beers." Instead, he just decided to go home.
On March 8, when police recovered the body, an initial visual inspection did not indicate any signs of violence, Madrid officials said at the time.
The U.S.-based Institute of International Education said that in 2007, Spain was the third most popular destination worldwide for Americans studying abroad, after the United Kingdom and Italy. It said there were about 17,000 American students in Spain.
The University of Carlos III, where Bice was studying, has 18,000 students, of whom 1,500 are from abroad, including about 220 Americans, Carlos Lopez Terradas, the school's head of international relations,

Spanish bankruptcies climb to record high

The ongoing slump in the property sector and the persistent weakness of the economy after Spain's worst recession in living memory have driven a record number of households and companies to seek protection from creditors, Spanish El Pais daily writes.
According to figures released Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of individuals and firms in bankruptcy proceedings climbed 5.9% in the first quarter of the year from a year earlier to 1,803, the highest figure since the INE began compiling the current series in 2005. The previous high was 1,762 in the second quarter of 2009, when the country was still in the throes of recession.
Spain left behind negative quarterly growth figures at the start of last year but a clear recovery has yet to take root. The Bank of Spain last week estimated GDP was up 0.2% in the first quarter, the same pace of growth as in the previous three months, while the INE said the ranks of the unemployed swelled to an unprecedented 4.9 million as the jobless rate hit 21.3%.

 

KATE McCann has told of her outrage after Portuguese police made her and husband Gerry suspects in the abduction of their daughter Madeleine.

The former doctor, 43, also revealed how she smashed a bed in frustration over the handling of the investigation and how detectives attempted to bully her into a murder confession.

In a personal account of the 2007 disappearance of their daughter, who was then aged three, Mrs McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, said she and her husband were shocked by the treatment they received from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria.

Describing one police interrogation in an extract from her book Madeleine she said: “I felt I was being bullied. I assumed the tactics were deliberate – knock her off balance by telling her that her daughter is dead and get her to confess.

“They tried to convince me I’d had a blackout – ‘a loss of memory episode’, I think they called it.

“My denials, answers and pleas fell on deaf ears.

“I was appalled by the treatment we received. Officers walked past us as if we weren’t there. Nobody asked how we were doing.

“Our child had been stolen and I felt as if I didn’t exist.”

Mrs McCann also described how she and her husband felt “completely alone” while searching for Madeleine the day after her disappearance.

She added: “Nobody else, it seemed, was looking for Madeleine. Finally, I erupted. I began to scream, swear and lash out. I kicked an extra bed that had been brought into the apartment and smashed the end right off.”

Mrs McCann also spoke of her rage after police offered her a plea bargain, claiming they promised she and her husband would receive a “lenient sentence” if they admitted Madeleine had died in an accident and they had then disposed of her body.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

Golf great Seve Ballesteros dies at 54

Spanish golf legend Seve Ballesteros has died after a protracted battle with cancer.

The 54-year-old passed away surrounded by his family at his home in Pedrena, northern Spain, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Ballesteros was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008 after losing consciousness at Madrid Airport.

The five-time major winner had four operations to remove the tumour as well as undergoing chemotherapy.

In a statement, the Ballesteros family expressed gratitude for the "support and gestures of love" it had received and asked for "respect and privacy at such a painful time."


Ballesteros, who claimed 87 titles over his career, won the Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988 and became the first European to win the Augusta Masters in 1980, repeating the feat in 1983.

He also enjoyed a successful Ryder Cup career as both player and captain - playing in eight Ryder Cups and winning 20 points from 37 matches before guiding Europe to victory over the United States as a non-playing captain at Valderrama in 1997.

But it was his daring and flamboyant style that made Ballesteros special, transforming the image of golf and bringing a whole new audience to the sport.

BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter said: "No golfer did more to popularise the game in Europe than Seve Ballesteros.

"He played a fearless, exciting and charismatic brand of the game. It thrilled sport fans all over the world."

Tennis star Rafael Nadal described Ballesteros as a "reference point" for Spanish athletes.

"He's one of the greats of this country without a doubt," he said.

BBC golf commentator Peter Alliss added: "He was a fighter - feisty, skilful, cheeky and loveable.

Golf great Ballesteros dies at 54
"He had hair as black as raven's wing, a wonderful set of teeth and a lovely smile. When Seve was in a good mood the world was happy. I will always remember that smile.

"He had a very sad end but I will remember all the good things."

Ballesteros sprang to prominence as a 19-year-old, finishing second to Johnny Miller at the 1976 Open and becoming the youngest winner of the Claret Jug three years later.

His final round of 70 featured an astonishing recovery shot from a car park to set up a birdie at the 16th hole.

He became the youngest winner of the Masters at the age of 23 in 1980 and made his Ryder Cup debut later that year.

Ballesteros topped golf's world ranking for 61 weeks between 1986 and 1989 and won the World Match Play Championship five times, equalling Gary Player's record.

With his game starting to decline because of back problems, Ballesteros won the last of his record 50 European Tour titles in 1995.

And although he continued playing intermittently until 2007, he was generally a pale imitation of his former self and rarely featured on leaderboards.

Ballesteros appeared in public for the first time following the surgery in May 2009 when he went to watch his local football team Racing Santander and was given a standing ovation.

He had called his battle against the tumour the "hardest challenge of my life."

 

25 immigrants are missing, feared drowned, after an immigrant patera small boat went down off the coast of Almería.

The coastguard services have been combing the coast close to Adra in search of any survivors using the Sasemar 101 plane and the ‘Guardamar Caliope’ patrol ship. Another 30 people have been rescued according to Civil Guard sources.

Among the 25 who are thought to have fallen into the water are a woman and two babies. The rest are all adult males.

29 of those rescued arrived in port in Motril, Granada, at 3,30am on Friday and two of them have been taken to the Santa Ana Hospital by the Red Cross for treatment for hypothermia.

The coastguard services were alerted to the presence of the boat by a series of phone calls from Morocco.

report on immigration, compiled by the Obra Social La Caixa, has dismissed stereotypical images of immigration in Spain.

The study from the savings bank notes that immigrants now represent 12% of the Spanish population, more than 5.7 million people, but only 1% of those in Spain to receive a state pension is an immigrant.

The research looked at immigrants’ access to social services, the health and education systems, and analysed immigrants contribution to the funding of social services.
It concludes that immigrants who live in Spain pay more into the welfare state than what they receive – in fact about three times more.

‘50% of the surplus in the public finances seen in the years of greatest economic growth corresponds to contributions made by immigrants’, says Francisco Javier Moreno, one of the report’s authors.

Immigrants are also 7% less likely to go and see the family doctor, and 16% less likely to see a specialist, although they are 3.2% more likely to attend accident and emergency services.

Immigrants cost the health system about 5% of the total, but despite recent growth remains below the proportion of total immigrants in the population.

The study also notes that 30% immigrants can be considered to be poor, compared to 18% of the native population.

On the negative side the study notes that immigrants tend to live along the coasts or in Madrid, and despite that there are no ghettos as seen elsewhere in Europe, there is a separate concentration of immigrant collectives in certain zones of cities. This can put a strain on certain local public services, but they note that is up to administrators to solve – ‘If there is an increase in demand, there should be a change and improvement in supply’.

The report also considers the recent economic boom was based on the arrival of cheap immigrant manpower, but this has now left the Spanish economy with scant productivity, and lacking technological improvements where immigrants have been employed.

Javier Moreno and the other author of the report, María Bruquetas, have underlined that such studies are important in times of crisis such as now.

‘The perception of the reality is sometime as real as reality itself’, they note, adding that ‘work has to be done to ensure that mistaken perceptions are not transformed into a self-fulfilling prophecy’.

13 year old María Esther Jiménez was found murdered in the village in January

The juvenile prosecution service will be taking witness statements this Friday in the case of María Esther Jiménez, the 13 year old girl who was found in dead in the Málaga village of Arriate on January 20.

The teenager’s beaten body was found in the pump house of a swimming pool on the outskirts of the village the day after she disappeared. R.V.R., a 17 year old boy resident in Arriate, was arrested in connection with her death and remains in preventive custody in an internment centre.

The charge against him is murder. Europa Press reports that he has refused to answer any questions either from the Civil Guard or from the juvenile prosecutor.

María Esther’s family moved away from Arriate from March to return to their native Paterna de Rivera, in Cádiz province.

 

Italian man arrested for indecent exposure and child molestation in Torre del Mar

The National Police have tracked down in La Herradura, Granada province, a suspected child molester who was wanted in Vélez Málaga.

The EFE news agency reports that the 37 year old Italian man allegedly waited outside a secondary school in Torre del Mar and accosted children as they left after school. Some were threatened or even injured when he assaulted them and subjected to indecent exposure.

He has now been remanded to custody after appearing before a judge.

 

Spain is currently on terror alert level two, on a four-point scale. Rubalcaba said government ministers are meeting Tuesday to discuss new security measures

2004, Spain suffered Europe's worst act of Islamic terrorism when bombs blamed on al-Qaida killed 191 people at a Madrid train station.

In the wake of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's death, Spain is reinforcing security and remembering its dead.

Terror in Madrid, March 11, 2004

After Sept. 11, 2001, the single most deadly al-Qaida-linked attack on the West happened at Madrid's Atocha train station. On March 11, 2004, 191 people died and more than 1,800 were wounded by bombs planted on four commuter trains.

Jesus and Gloria Seron lost a close relative, 37-year-old Federico Sierra Seron. A military officer, he was survived by his wife and three-year-old son.

Jesus Seron says considering what their family has been through, bin Laden's death is the best possible outcome.

But his wife says she's not so sure.

Gloria Seron says bin Laden's death represents neither a success, nor a failure. She says she appreciates that the al-Qaida leader is gone, but shrugs her shoulders when asked if Spain -- and the world -- are safer without him. She quotes an old proverb, saying "he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."
The 2004 Atocha bombings -- which struck three days before Spain's general election that year -- had a profound affect on Spanish politics. At first, the center-right government blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the attacks, and is thought to have lost the election because of that mistake. Investigators quickly revealed that Islamic militants inspired by al-Qaida had planted the bombs, in part because of Spain's participation in the Iraq war. Less than two months later, Spain's new Socialist government withdrew troops from Iraq.
More than two dozen suspects of Moroccan, Algerian and Syrian descent were charged in the Atocha bombings. Two are currently serving life sentences.

Future threats
In life, bin Laden inspired terrorists like those who killed 191 people here in Madrid. But Gloria Seron said she fears that in death, bin Laden could still do the same.
Seron says she's worried bin Laden could become a hero for other militants, and that his death could prompt more violence, by people trying to defend his name.

Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcahba, echoed Gloria's feelings at a news conference in Madrid. He said he's relieved bin Laden is dead, but that it's not time for Spain to lower its guard.

Rubalcaba says without a doubt, bin Laden's death is a blow to al-Qaida. But he says we can't rule out reprisal attacks. And he notes that Spain is well within striking distance of al-Qaida's North African branch, which is being investigated in a recent bombing at a tourist cafe in Morocco.

Spain is currently on terror alert level two, on a four-point scale. Rubalcaba said government ministers are meeting Tuesday to discuss new security measures, but that the terror alert level won't be raised. He wouldn't comment on security specifics.

Security barriers erected in 2004 remain outside Madrid's Atocha train station. On hearing news of bin Laden's death, Gloria and Jesus Seron passed through those barriers and stopped to gaze at a memorial built near the site where their relative and 190 others were killed.

Gloria Seron says nothing can bring her loved one back. She says the only thing that remains is to prevent such attacks from ever happening again.

Spain loses 'Rioja' name battle with Argentina

The northwestern Argentinian province of La Rioja was founded by a Spaniard in 1591; the Spanish were also responsible for introducing vines to the region.

In recent decades, however, Spain has been increasingly concerned that wine consumers will confuse wines from La Rioja Argentina, as they are labelled, with wines from the northern Spanish DO of Rioja – one of the most-recognised wine brands in the world.

In 1999 the Consejo Regulador – the regulatory council – of Rioja initiated proceedings against the Argentinian region which resulted in a court battle that has only just been settled.

A Buenos Aires judge has just dismissed the case, arguing that La Rioja Argentina distinguishes its wines sufficiently against its Spanish namesakes’ wines, and that there was no intention to cause confusion.

Moreover, the fact that the majority of the wines in the Spanish region are red wines made from Tempranillo, while most of La Rioja Argentina’s wines are white, made from Torrontes, was a further reason why confusion was unlikely, the Argentinian region argued.

The Rioja consejo said it would appeal the decision. Market research suggested that ‘nearly 60% of consumers identify wines of La Rioja Argentina with those of Rioja,’ secretary general José Luis Lapuente told the Daily Telegraph.

While UK importers reckon the issue is something of a storm in a teacup, given the relative sizes of the regions, many agreed there was certainly a possibility of confusion.

‘I would say 99% of people who saw the word “Rioja” on a bottle would think it came from Spain,’ one wine merchant told Decanter.com. ‘Nobody really knows that much about Argentinian sub-regions do they? Has anybody heard of La Rioja in Argentina?’

La Rioja in Spain has some 600,000ha of land under vine and produces around 250m litres of wine a year from over 600 bodegas.

La Rioja in Argentina is a fraction the size, with 8,200ha under vine producing 60m litres of wine.

 

incident between the Spanish vessel P74 Atalaya, and a merchant vessel in the waters to the East of the Rock in waters considered by Gibraltar to be their territorial waters

The Gibraltar Government complained on Tuesday of an incident between the Spanish vessel P74 Atalaya, and a merchant vessel in the waters to the East of the Rock in waters considered by Gibraltar to be their territorial waters, but which are not recognised as such under the Treaty of Utercht.

The Gibraltar Government says the Spanish patrol ordered the merchant vessel to move on, lacking permission to put down anchor in waters which Spain considers to be hers.

Gibraltar described the incident as ‘a very serious challenge to British sovereignty’, and ordered the boats at anchor in the area to remain. They say that no boats left the area.

Gibraltar sent out an inflatable Royal Navy launch to warn the Spanish vessel that it was in Gibraltar waters, ahead of 'HMS Scimitar' which took an hour to be scrambled. By that time the Spanish vessel had left the Gibraltar waters.

A Gibraltar Government spokesman said they did not believe that physical confrontation or diplomacy which uses armed boats is the way forward, but if Spain continued these incursions and usurpations, the United Kingdom would have to sent out the appropriate vessels to defend the sovereignty of Her Majesty in Gibraltar territorial waters.

A statement from the Spanish Ministry for Defence said that the ‘P74 Atalaya’ was acting in Spanish waters, and in respect of international legality.

Body of missing Barbate fisherman found off Moroccan coast

A body recovered from waters off Morocco on Tuesday night has been identified as that of a Barbate fisherman who was last seen when he set sail from Barbate on March 28. The missing man’s boat was found just a few hours later, with its engine still running, but with no-one on board.

Sixty eight year old Juan Carrillero had retired from his profession, but still liked to sail out on the occasional fishing trip. El Mundo newspaper reports that his badly decomposed body was found 80 kms to the west of Melilla and was identified thanks to the documents which were found on the body.

 

Two German sailors rescued after yacht gets into trouble off Cabo de Gata

two German crew of a small yacht who set off from Ibiza to sail home to Germany arrived safe and sound in Almería Port on Tuesday morning after two days adrift at sea.

They had set sail from the Baleares a week previously, but were left with no rudder, no sails and no communication after they were hit by stormy weather. Ideal newspaper reports that their 2-mast 32 year old yacht was having serious problems in remaining afloat when it was spotted by another yacht, and a call was sent out for help.

A Coastguard boat reached the stricken vessel on Monday night when it was some 40 miles off the south eastern coast of Cabo de Gata. The yacht and its crew were safely in port in Almería by 7am on Tuesday.

 

Thirteen stowaways caught at Málaga Port

Eleven stowaways, including a 12 year old boy, are in the custody of the National Police after they were found hiding in the double bottom of a trailer which had been brought into Málaga Port on a Moroccan merchant ship last Friday night. Diario Sur reports the ship had been subcontracted by a Spanish company.

The paper indicates that all claimed to be underage and from Algeria, although officers believe them to be Moroccan and suspect that only three are minors. Bone testing was due to take place to determine their age.

Another two stowaways had arrived at the port just hours earlier on board the Melilla ferry.

A group of four migrants from Sub Saharan Africa were intercepted off Estepona on Monday.

 

Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US forces in Pakistan, President Barack Obama has said.

The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a ground operation outside Islamabad based on US intelligence, the first lead for which emerged last August.

Mr Obama said after "a firefight", US forces took possession of his body.

Bin Laden was accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

He was top of the US' "most wanted" list.

Mr Obama said it was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda".

The US has put its embassies around the world on alert, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks for Bin Laden's killing.

Crowds gathered outside the White House in Washington DC, chanting "USA, USA" after the news emerged.

1,304 people have been admitted to drug treatment centres in the province of Almeria in the past year according to figures released in a report last week from the Andalusian Observatory on Drugs and Addictions.

The figures show that the number of women being treated is much smaller than that of men. Of all admissions, 1,085 were male and just 219 female.
The same study indicates that 717 people attended the centers for ongoing addiction to illegal drugs, while 587 had problems with legal substances, 460 were alcohol related and 34 people sought help because of their addiction to cigarettes.
Treatment to prison inmates was administered in just 70 cases in Almeria,6 of whome were women. However, virtually all of these cases were as a result of addictions to illegal substances.
In fact, over 50% of people admitted to treatment in prison were heroin users, representing a much higher percentage of admissions for substance in the whole of the Network for the Care and Addiction Drug Addiction -19 , 3% -.
Meanwhile, treatment in prison for cocaine motivated represent over 33%. In addition, in 2010 increased the percentage of admissions caused by alcohol -7.1% - -2.6% and cannabis - substances that, although still a minority among the treatments in prison, increasing their presence.
The report also showed that 28 of those treated were minors although the Almeria figures were substantially less than in other provinces of Andalusia Cadiz reported with 101 cases, Córdoba  88 and 155 in Malaga, 5.2% of whom were foreigners.
Of the addictive substances requiring treatment, cannabis remains the drug of choice in 85% of cases, both amongst men and women with cocaine admissions dropping significantly, from 10% in 2009 to 4% this year.
Amongst men the majority of treatments are for cannabis, whilst among women there is more diversity in terms of drug use where, although cannabis is the most common, there is a greater proportional presence of cocaine.