yellow jacket stun gun case for iphone

yellow jacket is a case that transforms the iPhone 4 & 4S into that 650,000-volt stun gun you've always needed.

scheduled to hit the US market in fall 2012 the case is advertised as being able to 
easily stop an aggressive male attacker, and ready for use in less than two seconds. 
its designer seth froom, a former military policeman came up with the product after 
being robbed in his home at gunpoint.

what is the demand for such a hostile product you might ask? well, yellow jacket 
has managed to receive over 100,000 USD worth of backing on the crowd-funding 
website indiegogo which means that there must be quite a few people out there 
who feel the need to transform their phone into a weapon.


detail of the stun gun nodes 

the iPhone's designers could never have conceived half of the the weird and wonderful accessories 
that have been designed for use with the iPhone since its launch, but even in the name of self defense 
a stun gun seems a bit much, doesn't it?

Police have arrested three suspected members of Al Qaeda in Spain who had amassed enough explosives to blow up a bus.

The trio - two of whom had practiced flying light aircraft - may have been plotting attacks in Spain or elsewhere in Europe according to Spain's interior minister.

The three - a Russian, a Russian of Chechen descent, and a Turk, were arrested after being watched by Spanish authorities for 'some time'. 

 

In custody: Three unnamed suspected members of Al Qaeda, pictured, have been arrested in Spain

Police operation: Vehicles and personnel from the Spanish Police are seen outside an apartment at los Junquillos district in La Linea de la Concepcion, Cadiz, Southern Spain

Pictures of the suspects were released by Spanish authorities but they were identified only by their initials: C.Y. for the Turk and A.A.A. and M.A. for the other two.

 

More...

• FBI admits they had radical American-born terrorist al-Awlaki in custody in 2002... but let him go
• Terror twins: Identical brothers who posed as charity collectors to raise funds for terrorism are jailed for three years each
• Radical clerical Abu Qatada loses bid to be freed from custody during Olympics

 

The mug shots showed three men who appeared to be in their 30s, two with crew cuts and one with hair down to his shoulders.

The Turk was arrested in the southern city of La Linea bordering the British colony of Gibraltar, while the other two were picked up near the central city of Ciudad Real as they traveled toward a northern Spanish town near the border with France. 

Spanish Minister of Interior Jorge Fernandez Diaz, pictured, said enough explosives were found to blow up a bus

Enough explosive material was found in the house in La Linea where the Turk lived to blow up a bus,  Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said. 

He added that investigators found no indications that the three were targeting Gibraltar but added that 'there are clear indications they could have been planning an attack in Spain and/or another country'.

He continued: 'This is one of the most important operations carried out against Al Qaeda' before calling one of those arrested as a 'very important member'.

He said the operation involved close collaboration with intelligence services from 'Spain's allies' without identifying any of the countries.

The arrests came as the Summer Olympics were being held in Britain under tight security against possible terrorist attacks, including military aircraft and ground-to-air missiles. 

Spanish authorities had been watching the suspects for 'some time' and the minister added the decision to arrest them was made after the Russian and the Russian of Chechen descent took a bus towards France. 

The two arrested in the bus were traveling from southern Cadiz to the northern town of Irun, possibly intending to cross into France, the minister said. 

The pair had been in Spain for about two months. Cadiz is near the large U.S. military base in Rota alongside the Mediterranean. 

'Police moved to arrest them when it became known that they planned to leave Spain' he said. 

Fernandez Diaz did not disclose the suspects' names, but said two were suspected Al Qaeda operatives while the Turk was a facilitator. 

Lethal: Police found enough explosives to blow up a bus at the property in La Linea de la Concepcion, Cadiz, Southern Spain

Target: It is not known if the trio were attempting to target the Olympics in London

 

The minister described one operative as a key member of the terror network and said both operatives had practiced flying in light aircraft. One was also an expert in explosives and poisonous substances, said Fernandez Diaz. 

Spanish police have arrested dozens of Al Qaeda suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, and more after the 2004 train bombings in Madrid. 

Most Islamic-based terror arrests in Spain over the last several years have been of lower-level players and people trying to recruit jihadists, but the detention of the Russians and the Turk was significant because of their apparent high level of training and capability, said Magnus Ranstorp, a terror expert at the Swedish National Defence College. 

Whether Isabel Pantoja, 55, is truly innocent will emerge over the course of the 49 days of the trial

Whether Isabel Pantoja, 55, is truly innocent will emerge over the course of the 49 days of the trial, which is likely to drag on until next spring. The popular Seville native has been charged with money laundering, and the prosecution is asking for a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence and a fine of €3.68 million ($4.64 million).

The investigative judges believe that they can prove she laundered at least €1.84 million, using half a dozen fictitious companies registered in her name, on behalf of her former domestic partner, a former mayor of the luxury resort town of Marbella on the Costa del Sol.

According to the prosecution, Julián Muñoz solicited his then girlfriend to launder a portion of the more than €3.5 million he had allegedly collected in bribes during his tenure as mayor. Muñoz could face seven-and-a-half years in prison and a €7.6-million fine. His former wife, Maite Zaldívar, who also allegedly helped him, could face a similar sentence to Pantoja's. For formal reasons alone, the defense attorneys question the validity of the indictment.

Trail of Corruption

Regardless of the outcome of the trial, the high-profile trio has already played its part in turning Marbella into Spain's corruption capital. It is a symbol of the undeniable consequences of the Spanish disease -- a growth model that was based almost entirely on an unfettered construction boom that attracted hustlers and became fertile ground for their criminal activities.

It was the conservatives, under former Prime Minister José María Aznar, who stimulated the boom in the real estate market, which fostered growth exceeding the European Union average for an entire decade. The liberalization of Spain's land-use laws in 1998 enabled municipalities to increase their revenue by zoning parcels of land as building sites. It was practically a license to print money. As a result, there was more new construction in Spain than in Germany, France and Italy combined.

Of course, bribing officials made it easier for developers to build all the apartment complexes and tourist hotels. A broad trail of corruption wound its way through the entire country, from Marbella to Galicia, and from Valencia to the island of Mallorca. Local politicians from almost all parties collected bribes for issuing permits.

Some business owners would call the offices of local politicians to ask where they should drop off the sacks of bribery money. Agreements were reached over cocktails at nightclubs to determine who was to receive concessions for services like garbage collection in the new developments, circumventing the public bidding process -- in exchange for small contributions to the local town-hall mafia.

In return for the permits to build oceanfront dream houses, a luxury apartment would occasionally fall into the lap of an official who had signed the papers assigning the land to the developer. When the machinations and malfeasance surrounding the Marbella construction boom were exposed in 2006, the Madrid government had to replace an entire municipality under receivership for the first time in the history of the Spanish democracy.

Construction Mafia On Trial

Muñoz and Zaldívar, now divorced, are also in the dock in Courtroom Number 4, at a suitable distance from La Pantoja, who greeted her former lover with a cool kiss on the cheek. Muñoz, with his hair gelled, a wide tie and a white pocket square in his dark jacket, took notes for three hours. His ex-wife, in a garish pink T-shirt, kept looking over at him. Pantoja sat there quietly, gazing at her hands in her lap.

She played the part of the stoic, suffering woman. Her attorney asked the court to drop the charges against her. He accused the investigative judge of unleashing an "inquisition" against his client and her family in 2007 "without any grounds," and of having violated her constitutional rights.

The Pantoja case is actually just a small part of a major case that has been conducted against the Marbella construction mafia for the last two years. Trials are being conducted in the same courtroom, at the "City of Justice" in Malaga, against some 85 former city council members, attorneys who acted as front men, police officers and government officials, as well as a few of the most important construction and real estate developers in Andalusia. The main defendant is the former head of the planning office and subsequent head of the building department in Marbella, Juan Antonio Roca. The court is expected to render a verdict against him soon. He had discovered a true gold mine. Since the beginning of the 1990s, some 7,000 new apartments were built each year in the rapidly growing beach resort, and officials collected their bribes for every administrative deed.

Roca's attorney is also trying to win his acquittal, arguing that her client, as a successful businessman, did nothing but profit from the Spanish real estate bubble. "Sometimes he earned profits that were unscrupulous," she said, but noted that speculation can be "amoral, but it's legal." With these words, she sought to justify the €125 million Roca had made during his 14 years in Marbella.

But in the fourth year of the crisis, facing a European unemployment record of almost 25 percent, the Spaniards have no sympathy for such excesses. Citizens are now deeply outraged over the daily reports in the media, citing the latest details of corruption scandals in politics, the economy and even among associates of the king.

Fallen Idol

The rage of all those who run the risk of losing their homes in the current real estate crisis is now directed at those who filled their pockets in the boom years. Protesters gather in front of courthouses in Palma de Mallorca and Valencia, scornfully berating the defendants as "chorizos," the fatty dry sausage typical of Spain. They cloak their anger in the saying: "No hay pan para tanto chorizo," or "There isn't enough bread for so much sausage."

But many would prefer to forgive their idol Pantoja. The singer is a national deity of sorts, an embodiment of great suffering and great emotions.

The daughter of a flamenco artist and a dancer from Triana, a Romani neighborhood of Seville, Pantoja began her stage career at 13. Since her marriage to "Paquirri," a matador from the legendary Rivera family of bullfighters, the paparazzi have not left her side. Pantoja and Paquirri were the epitome of Spain's dream couple, the beautifulgitana and the torero, and the nation identified with them. When the celebrated bullfighter bled to death in 1984, after he was gored by a bull named "Avispado" in an arena near the Andalusian city of Cordoba, the "widow of Spain" became a legend once and for all. After that, the lyrics of Pantoja's songs were all about her private loves and tribulations, and the entire country sympathized with her.

Her romance with the mayor of Marbella, the former waiter Julián Muñoz, began at the beginning of 2003, when he hired the Andalusian singer to appear in an ad promoting the luxury resort town. At the time, according to investigations by the "Special Unit in the Fight Against Drugs and Organized Crime," her accounts were in the red. During the three years of her relationship with Muñoz, prior to his arrest in their house in Marbella, more than €1.1 million was deposited into Pantoja's personal accounts and those of her companies. Most of the deposits consisted of small sums of about €3,000 in cash, so as to circumvent bank scrutiny under a law against money laundering. In the space of two weeks in April 2004, for example, €293,000 was deposited into the accounts. Pantoja claims that she knew nothing about this.

The prosecution, however, is convinced that she was only too familiar with the "illegal origins" of the bribery payments to her domestic partner. Together, the couple purchased "Mi Gitana," a 650-square meter (6,995-square-foot) chalet in the upscale La Pera development, for more than €3 million. Muñoz also allegedly gave her €350,000 for an apartment in the luxury Hotel Guadalpin complex. As evidence, the prosecution submitted an orange folder marked with the initials I.P., J.M. and M.Z. -- for Isabel Pantoja, Julián Muñoz and Maite Zaldívar -- which contained a certified copy of the purchase agreement for the apartment by one of Pantoja's companies. The compromising documents were found in the offices of Roca, the ringleader of the Marbella bribery cartel.

Outed By the Jealous Wife

Pantoja's attorneys have now submitted invoices that are meant to prove that she did have high legal revenue through a restaurant she owned and a bar managed by her son Kiko. According to the documents, 100 meals of the restaurant's specialty, "Chicken Pantoja," were served at €120 a plate. The next day, the identical meal was already priced at €150. According to local residents, however, the restaurant was usually empty. Pantoja was forced to close it in early 2005.

The singer claims that she was almost always paid in cash for her gala performances at home and in the United States, and that she earned €19 million between 1999 and 2010. Why then, say her attorneys, would she have laundered her boyfriend's money?

The Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption became aware of the colorful activities of the mayor and his girlfriend after Maite Zaldívar, the jealous wife, had gossiped about them on a TV show. The jilted wife said that garbage bags filled with money had frequently been dropped off at the family estate. About a year after her boyfriend was arrested, the police picked up Pantoja from her chalet at night in May 2007 and brought her before the investigative judge in Málaga. After spending a night in a jail cell, she was released on a €90,000 bail.

The ensuing multimedia fight for her good reputation is driving Pantoja's admirers to her concerts. Many are also curious to see with their own eyes how the trial, in which she is sharing the dock with her lover and her rival, is affecting her.

 

Both the audience in the courtroom and the majority of her fellow Costa del Sol residents are convinced that Pantoja will not go to prison. "No pasa nada," or "nothing will happen," whisper the chauffeurs waiting for passengers in front of the monumental buildings of the City of Justice in Malaga. Celebrities have always gotten off scot-free in Spain, they say. Local journalists predict that if she is sentenced to less than three years, the sentence will be suspended.

 

Meanwhile, seemingly oblivious to the crisis, the fiesta continues in Marbella, where Italian billionaire and former Formula One magnate Flavio Briatore has just opened the first Spanish branch of his Billionaire Club. The complex, complete with a bar, restaurant and nightclub, is on the golden mile between the center of town and the Puerto Banús marina. There appears to be no lack of wealthy individuals willing to pay up to €1,000 for a table reservation. But today the guests drinking the cocktails are Northern Europeans and, even more so, Arabs and Russians, while the increasingly impoverished Spaniards are left outside.

Even the local politicians, once so adept at raking in the cash, are no longer part of the game today.

regional heath services want payment for treating national holidaymakers

Spain’s autonomous regions say they want compensation for medical attention to National tourists. The movement is being led by Valencia, Murcia and Cataluña, the three regions who have already accepted money from a regional support fund set up by the Government. Now they want another compensation fund so they can treat the tourists. Not all the regions like the idea, with Andalucía saying it does not understand the claim because they believe ‘in the universality of health assistance and in the free circulations of the Spanish citizens, and this implies not making distinctions’. Valencia says however, ‘We are all equal’ and everyone should pay their way. Most of the tourists who turn to the Spanish Health Service do so via the Emergency departments where no facture is issued and no health card asked for. Other regions do not take details of the origin of their patients and that makes it difficult to count how many tourists are attended to.

Tom Jones cancels his concert in Santiago de Comopostela

Tom Jones has had to cancel his only show in Spain which should taken place in Santiago de Compostela at 2230 tonight, for reasons of health. A new date, ‘probably’ in August will be fixed. The news was given by David Lago, the spokesman for the production company Sweet Noctura. Some media say that the Welsh singer has had to be attended to for a sudden loss of his voice although there are no details on his health

If you unwittingly purchased an illegal house in Spain you can expect to receive little or no support from the European Union according to AUAN, an association of mainly British homeowners based in Andalucía.

“Many of us purchased property in Spain believing that membership of the European Union offered an extra safety net should things go wrong. We were very much mistaken.” said Maura Hillen, the association’s president. 

“When you finally find out that you have fallen foul of complex and poorly enforced planning legislation, political corruption, a hopelessly slow judicial system, unscrupulous developers, lawyers of ill repute and other ‘professionals’ who cheerfully flout any reasonable standard of professional behaviour, you will find that the EU is utterly ineffective in terms of its support’ she continued.

“It is not as if the European Union is unaware of the problem” she stated. “It has received hundreds, if not thousands, of petitions from its citizens on this matter over the years. It has sent observers and has produced various reports and is fully aware that illegal houses are a significant problem for Spain . For example, the government of Andalucía, a popular destination for foreign home buyers, has admitted to the existence of at least 300,000 illegal properties within its territory and it is still counting”.

“Nevertheless, the European Commission continues to block all appeals for assistance on the basis that no European laws have been broken. Homeowners face an uphill and expensive legal battle to convince them that they are wrong”.


Humanitarian Appeal

“We have appealed for help for Helen and Len Prior, whose home in Vera was demolished without compensation in 2008, under Article 17 of the EU charter of Human Rights which states that ‘No-one may be deprived of his or her possessions, except in the public interest and in the cases and under the conditions provided for by law, subject to fair compensation being paid in good time for their loss’. The European Commission replied that it has no competence to intervene in cases concerning infringement of individual fundamental rights when EU law is not involved. This notwithstanding the fact that the Charter of Human rights itself is EU law and that it has become national Spanish law as well”.

“Such intransigence on behalf of the European Commission renders the EU Charter of Human Rights meaningless for ordinary people and denies us access to the European Courts of Justice.” Mrs Hillen said. “Your only other option is to submit a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg when all legal remedies are exhausted in Spain . But, there are two problems with this option. One, it costs an absolute fortune to do so and is well beyond the reach of many and two, the Spanish legal system can bounce you from pillar to post with appeals and counter appeals for years. People like Len and Helen have no chance of ever getting to Strasbourg as far as we can see”.


Economic Appeal

“In addition to appeals on humanitarian grounds, we have also tried to convince the Commission that the reputational damage caused by this problem is discouraging investment in the property market in Spain and thus impeding the free movement of capital within the union, a big ’no no’ under European Law. Whilst the Commission has acknowledged that the purchase of property is covered by EU laws relating to free movement of capital, it says that we have failed to make our case. We think that we have a case but we need more help to make it properly”.


We need your help to continue

“Members of the EU Petitions Committee are very supportive but getting past the lawyers of the EU Commission requires tenacity and skill. We need the right expertise and public support to continue. So, I am appealing to other associations and those with expertise in European Law to come to our aid. We need your help to continue and we can be contacted on info@almanzora-au.org. “

“After all, are we the only ones who find it a bit odd that the EU creates a bailout package to stabilise an economy whose problems were caused in good part by a poorly managed property market whilst ignoring our pleas to help address some fundamental issues which, if resolved, would help everyone?”.

Confused press reports on Ryanair planes running out of fuel

Some English language media are reporting that three Ryanair aircraft have had to make emergency landings in Valencia because they had run out of fuel. The reports say they originally tried to land in Madrid, but summer storms prevented that and they were diverted to Manises Airport in Valencia. The pilots sent out urgent alerts to the control tower to say there were on their way. One of the pilots called for an ambulance and police to be at the scene. The Irish low-cost airline has neither confirmed nor denied that the planes were running out of fuel, but it could be they were only carrying enough fuel to get safely to Madrid. These reports have only just been published, but we think what really happened was that one plane, a Boeing 737, was flying to Alicante from Stansted with 138 passengers and three crew on board, and that storms had preventing them from landing in El Alter twice. They were ordered to Valencia airport in Manises, as the three tanks of fuel were running on empty. The pilots called a ‘Mayday’ but managed to land safely on runway 12. This happened on May 14 this year, so we wonder why there are three reports of something similar happening on the same day now. Ryanair has had a recent argument with the Spanish Airports Authority, AENA, over increased airport taxes, and has reduced the number of its flights to Spain as a result, claiming the rise in costs would ‘seriously hurt the low-cost model’.

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper* magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books. I suppose it can be alternated with "In the Library," a perfume that smells like old books.

Paper Passion fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine, with packaging by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.

“The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.” Karl Lagerfeld. 

It comes packaged with inside a hollow carved out of a book with "texts" by "Karl Lagerfeld, Günter Grass, Geza Schoen and Tony Chambers."

Kym Marsh's 'honorary hen' guest

Kym Marsh will be breaking from tradition to enjoy her hen do with a male pal, according to reports. The star will be taking a trip to Marbella in Spain with her Corrie co-star Antony Cotton, who plays Sean Tulley in the soap, The Sun claims. Kym, who plays Weatherfield's Michelle Connor, is taking along her favourite Coronation Street colleagues for the trip before she marries Jamie Lomas. A source was quoted as saying that Antony "will be the belle of the ball and can't wait to let his hair down. "He loves girlie holidays and is so excited to be an honorary hen." Former Hollyoaks star Jamie made headlines in April after he was pictured lying on a bed with a woman who claimed he told her he was single. Kym later said that Jamie had been "an idiot" to get snapped with the woman in a hotel room - but insisted their relationship is solid..

Workers at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella start strike action

Workers at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella have started what is the first indefinite strike in a public clinic in Málaga province. The workers are demonstrating about the cuts from the Junta de Andalucía, increasing the working day and cutting wages. They say there has been no negotiation with the Hospital Management to see how the cuts could be introduced. It’s reported that the action is only affecting only 10% of the patients a day, some 60 in number. 1,800 workers are called to strike in the three public centres managed by the public company, Agencia Santaria Costa del Sol, but only 0.8%, some six workers, came out. The President of the workers committee, Juan José Sánchez, said the low numbers responded to the imposed ‘elevated’ minimum services. They plan to discuss the action so far at a meeting on Wednesday.

The Guadalhorce Hospital is built in Cártama, but remains closed

It will cost two million € to connect the electricity, and nobody wants to pay.

The empty Guadalhorce Hosptial in Cártama - Photo EFE

 

The Guadalhorce Hospital has been completed in Cártama on the Costa del Sol, but it has been empty for several months with no opening date planned.

To continue installing the equipment in the hospital it has to be accepted as meeting requirement, and to show that hospital is as planned, but for that to take place it must be connected to the electricity supply.

The problem is that will cost two million €, although the originally quoted price was 300,000 €, to install the electrical connection required. Endesa say the problem is that to supply the hospital an electrical substation at Villafranca del Guadalhorce will have to be expanded.

Cártama Town Hall has said they cannot meet the extra cost, which has put the budget up five fold. Mayor Jorge Gallardo says he thinks the electricity company is ‘making the most of the circumstances’. 

However the Junta say they think the 2 million bill should be met by the Town Hall. They say the electricity contract was undertaken by Cártama Town Hall.

The Guadalhorce Hospital has been built thanks to an agreement between the Málaga Diputación, the Junta de Andalucía and the Cártama Town Hall, to give the district its long-wanted hospital. Many foreigners live in the inland area and have complained about the time to get to a hospital in Málaga.

Forest Fire out of control Three are known to have died

There are now two active fires, one which has affected 6,000 hectares near La Jonquera and another which has broken out at Portbou.The fire next to the La Jonquera customs point After the large forest fire earlier this month on Tenerife, now there is a new blaze at La Jonquera near the customs post at the French border. The fire is out of control and more than 7,000 hectares have been burned. French fire-fighters are taking part in the fight against the blaze which is being complicated by strong winds. A statement from the Cataluña Government at 8pm said ‘The fire is totally out of control’. 150 soldiers from the Emergency Military Response units in Valencia and Zaragoza are being mobilised. The AP-7 and N-II roads are closed as is a section of the AVE high speed line because the train tunnel which connects with France has been affected. The Ministry of the Interior has asked the public not to go to France by La Jonquera, but though the Cadí tunnel instead. A French person with burns to 80% of his body died later in hospital and at 2130 on Sunday night the number of deaths had risen to three. One 75 year old man from Llers had a heart attack when he saw his home surrounded by flames. People across nine municipalities have to been told to stay at home, according to the Generalitat Fire Service. The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalan Police, have called on residents of La Jonquera, Agullana, Capmany, Biure, Vilarnadal, Sant Climent Sescebes, Masarac, Llers and Pont de Molins, to stay inside and close doors and windows. A large column of smoke can be seen across the entire district. First indications are the fire started in Fuerte de Bellegarde, a fortress town dating from the XVII on the frontier. The fire is not thought to threaten the population. There is another fire at Portbou, and Catalan Interior Minister said that one person had been seriously hurt and a dozen have suffered injuries of diverse consideration. One French person has burns to 80% of his body.

Spain wildfires: Three killed

 

Officials say the flames have been fanned by strong winds

Forest fires raging in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region have left three people dead, officials say.

Two French nationals drowned in the sea close to the border with France while trying to escape the flames, Catalonia's interior minister said.

Strong winds gusting up to 90km/h (55mph) have rendered one fire "out of control", he said.

All residents of the county of Alt Emporda - about 135,000 people - have been ordered to stay indoors.

The area is a main link for holidaymakers travelling to and from southern France. Traffic on the cross-border AP-7 motorway was reported to have been severely disrupted on Sunday.

Cardiac arrest

The two French victims were among several people who were trapped by fire as they travelled along the N-260 main coastal road near the town of Portbou and tried to reach the sea by climbing down cliffs, according to Catalan Interior Minister Felip Puig.

The victims were a 60-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter, Spanish media reported.

A 75-year-old man died after suffering a cardiac arrest in Llers, north-west of the area's main town, Figueres.

At least another 19 people have been wounded, including a French national who suffered burns on 80% of his body when he was caught in his car by the flames.

The fire near Portbou has been brought under control, according to media reports, while a much larger blaze further inland, around the border town of La Jonquera, was still spreading late on Sunday, Felip Puig said.

The fire, travelling at about 5-6km/h, came within 10km of Figueres, Mr Puig said.

A total of about 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of forest are estimated to have been devastated in the area, according to the authorities.

Spain Scraps Siesta as Stores Stay Open to Spur Spending

The Spanish shopping siesta may be about to become the latest victim of the sovereign debt crisis. To stimulate spending after a 23 percent drop in retail sales since 2007, the euro region’s fourth-largest economy this month approved measures that allow shops of more than 300 square meters (3,229 square feet) to open for 25 percent longer a week. The new rules may encourage the outlets to sell during the traditional afternoon snooze from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and on an additional two Sundays or holidays a year for a total of 10. “When everything was fine, nobody complained, but now that things have gone awry, then it’s another story,” said Carmen Cardeno, director general for domestic commerce at the nation’s economy ministry, which created the rules. “We need to evolve and be more flexible.” Spain is following its European neighbors in trying to liberalize shopping hours that have traditionally been checked by governments in the region to protect religious observances, for rest and on behalf of smaller retailers that have fewer resources to staff shops around the clock. England has allowed retailers to open for longer on Sundays during the Olympics than the six hours usually allowed. In France, food shops can be open 13 hours a day and stores located in tourist areas have the right to open on Sundays. Spanish shops are allowed to open for less time than anywhere else in Europe, according to its government, which was asked by retail associations to allow large stores to open 16 Sundays or holidays a year. Some smaller merchants opposed the extension, arguing that the bigger stores would have the necessary manpower and they wouldn’t. The new measures allow stores 18 additional business hours a week and will permit merchants to decide when to cut prices in sales instead of only twice a year. Siesta Time The country’s regions will get to decide how to implement the rules, though they usually follow the lead of the central government. In Madrid, which is an exception, stores have been able to open for as long as they want since July 15. Outlets of less than 300 square meters also have no restrictions on opening hours, though the Spanish tradition of eating at home and having a siesta means most shopkeepers keep their businesses closed for about two hours in the middle of the day. The new measures may not be enough to offset shrinking demand in Spain’s 217 billion-euro ($264 billion) retail industry, which is worsening each year the crisis goes on in a nation where one in four people is out of work. The number of companies seeking bankruptcy protection rose 22 percent from a year earlier to 2,224 in the first quarter, according to the nation’s statistics institute, with commerce being the third- largest contributor behind construction and housing firms and industrial and energy companies. ‘Almost Insignificant’ Javier Millan-Astray, director general of retail association ANGED, said the approved loosening of restrictions on opening hours doesn’t go far enough. “The government’s reform is almost insignificant,” Millan-Astray told reporters in Madrid, when retail groups pushed for 16 Sunday openings. The associations’ “new proposal would help boost consumption and create more jobs because when we open on a holiday, people come and shop. It’s unbelievable that amid this crisis, we have to keep our stores closed.” Spain has been wrestling with the dilemma of preserving its culture and modernizing the industry for decades. The socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in 2004 rolled back liberalization of opening hours instituted by his predecessor, bringing them back to rules from the 1990s and leaving the country with the tightest regulations of any European country. Job Creation Even with the latest proposals, “retail regulation is hurting both business and customers in Spain,” said Fernando Fernandez, a professor at the IE Business School in Madrid. “Both big and small retailers would benefit from fewer restrictions. When big retailers such as Ikea or Zara open a store, all small shops in that area benefit from that.” Ending the restrictions completely would create 337,581 jobs across all industries and add 17.2 billion euros to economic growth this year, according to a study commissioned by the government, which examined the implications of several scenarios. The nearest of those to the current proposals, under which stores open on 16 Sundays or holidays, could have added 47,945 full-time retail jobs, the study found. About 1.8 million people worked in retail in the first quarter, 0.3 percent less than in the year-earlier period. Stores are also bracing for change as the government looks to the retail industry to help boost tax revenue. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will increase the most common rate of sales tax to 21 percent from 18 percent on Sept. 1, putting an additional brake on consumers’ ability to spend. previous

Spain king ousted as honorary president of World Wildlife Fund branch after elephant hunt

The World Wildlife Fund’s branch in Spain has ousted King Juan Carlos as its honorary president — a title he’d held since 1968 — after deciding his recent elephant hunting safari was incompatible with its goal of conserving endangered species. The announcement Saturday was the latest in a string of bad news for Spain’s royal family, which has been embarrassed by legal and other scandals. The fund said in a statement that “although such hunting is legal and regulated” it had “received many expressions of distress from its members and society in general.” It said members voted at a meeting Saturday in Madrid to “to get rid of the honorary President” by a substantial majority of 226 votes to 13. The Royal Palace declined immediate comment on the announcement. Many Spaniards were dumbfounded when news broke in April that the king had made a secret journey to hunt elephants in Botswana even though it was widely known he was president of the Spanish branch of the fund. Such an opulent indulgence also angered Spaniards at a time when national unemployment hovers around 25 percent, the economy is contracting and there are fears the country may need an international financial bailout. The Spanish public learned of the safari only after the king had to fly back in a private jet to receive emergency medical attention for a broken hip suffered during the trip. In an unprecedented act of royal contrition, a sheepish Juan Carlos apologized, saying as he left the hospital: “I am very sorry. I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.” It was a poignant moment because the royal family had been under intense media scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. The king’s son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, is a suspect in a corruption case, accused of having used his position to embezzle several million euros in public contracts through a supposedly not-for-profit foundation he’d set up. Over Easter, the king’s 13-year-old grandson, Felipe Juan Froilan, shot himself in the foot with a shotgun, even though Spanish law dictates you must be 14 to handle a gun. The king on Tuesday decided to take a pay cut in solidarity with civil servants who are to lose their traditional Christmas bonuses as part of the government’s most recent austerity drive. The salaries of Juan Carlos and Crown Prince Felipe will be reduced about 7 percent — to about 272,000 euros ($334,000) and 131,000 euros ($160,000) respectively — in line with government policy, the Royal Palace said. The king and prince acted voluntarily in cutting their salaries, the palace said.