Sotheby's International Realty Brand Opens Offices in Costa Brava, Spain

19:44 El NACHO 0 Comments

Sotheby's International Realty Brand Opens Offices in Costa Brava, Spain: "Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC today announced it has further expanded its global real estate network across Spain with the addition of Costa Brava Sotheby's International Realty.
The firm is jointly owned by Markus Thoene and Christoph Toelle and serves Costa Brava, Spain, which includes the coastal region of Girona, located next to the province of Barcelona. The Sotheby's International Realty® network already has firms representing its brand in Madrid, Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca and the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca.
'The addition of Costa Brava Sotheby's International Realty reinforces the strength of our presence in Spain, one of the most important markets in Europe,' said Michael R. Good, chief executive officer, Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. 'We look forward to further growth in this market with Markus and Christoph and their team of professionals.'
The area Costa Brava Sotheby's International Realty serves includes the beach locations of Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Playa de Aro, S'Agaro, Llafranc, Begur and the countryside around the medieval towns of Pals and Peratallada. For the last five years, Thoene and Toelle have run four luxury real estate offices located in Playa de Aro, Calella de Palafrugell, Begur and Pals."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Maritime Civil Guard gets new vessel to patrol the Strait of Gibraltar

17:02 El NACHO 0 Comments

Maritime Civil Guard gets new vessel to patrol the Strait of Gibraltar: "A new Civil Guard maritime group is to patrol the Strait of Gibraltar in search of the criminals involved in people trafficking and drug traffickers.

A team of 32 lead by a commandant will use the ‘Rio Miño’ patrol boat to make up the new group from April. They will be based in Cádiz. The new service comes in addition to the new Guardia Civil ocean going boat, ‘Rio Segura’ has upped the operative capacity in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, presented the ‘Rio Miño’ in a ceremony on the quayside in Cádiz on Saturday. The boat has been constructed specifically for the job, can carry a crew of 39 people and carry upto 80 more when it attends to a possible ship sinking.

Rubalcaba said that the Maritime Guardia Civil ‘had done a better than good job since 2006’, the day when the mafias started directing operations to the Strait, rather than to the Canary Islands."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Ocean View was involved in a number of successful enterprises, but ran into difficulties when it became involved as an agent for a Spanish developer, Ricardo Miranda Miret.

19:22 El NACHO 0 Comments

Ocean View was involved in a number of successful enterprises, but ran into difficulties when it became involved as an agent for a Spanish developer, Ricardo Miranda Miret.
Two investors sank almost a million pounds each into schemes run by Mr Miret.
They included a 350 luxury apartment build at the Estepona Country Club, on the Costa del Sol, and a prestigious 6,000 property development in Punta Perla, in the Dominican Republic.
It was at the launch of the Punta Perla development that the investors’ legal team claim Prince Albert of Monaco and President Reyna were present.
More than a thousand British investors who paid a total of £43 million for off-plan overseas property developments lost their money after Ocean View was formally dissolved in 2009.
They had paid up to £125,000 each in deposits for properties in Spain and the Dominican Republic, but the holiday homes were either never built, or were sub-standard.
Investor Mark Mackay said: “I paid £85,000 in advance for an apartment, but when it all started to go wrong, they offered me another in Morocco.’’
Another alleged victim who invested in the proposed Estepona development with family members said: “We put down a deposit of £50,000 and we haven’t seen the money since and all the time they hadn’t laid a single brick.”
One Brit told how she had remortgaged her house to pay for a £125,000 deposit on a luxury apartment in the Dominican Republic. “It’s a pure disaster,’’ she said. ‘‘I just want my money back and the whole thing to be over.”DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Junta de Andalucía refuses calls for investigation into early retirement scandal

09:21 El NACHO 0 Comments

Junta de Andalucía refuses calls for investigation into early retirement scandal: "The Junta de Andalucía has ruled out any political resignations over the new scandal which is being referred to as EREgate. It’s an alleged fraud, investigations into which have found irregularities in 14 companies of the 39 where people have been paid early retirement payments when in fact they have never worked for the company concerned.

The Andalucia cabinet is blaming the General Director of Employment from 1999 to 2008, Javier Guerrero, for the irregularities, and he has already confessed to the judicial police, admitting that over those years he managed what he called ‘the reptile fund’.

However since that admission, Guerrero has withdrawn his statement. The case has put a question mark over the entire policy of help given to companies in the region since 1999, in which time over 647 million € of public money was spent. The case looks like fast becoming a national scandal, and three ministers have already had to face questions about it in Congress in Madrid."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

José María Ruiz Mateos facing bankruptcy again

09:19 El NACHO 0 Comments

José María Ruiz Mateos facing bankruptcy again: "Nueva Rumasa, the business empire of one of Spain’s most charismatic and famous entrepreneurs, José María Ruiz Mateos, is on the edge of collapse, but the man himself has said ‘If I can’t pay the investors, I’ll shoot myself’.

Ten of the companies in his Nueva Rumasa group are reported to be on the point of having to announce a suspension of payments, including the football team Rayo Vallecano, and food companies Dhul, Clesa and Elgorriaga. The debt is reported to have reached 700 million €, most of it owed to the RBS, Santander and Aareal banks."

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Northern Ireland home buyers sue British real estate agents for Estepona fraud

16:14 El NACHO 0 Comments

Northern Ireland home buyers sue British real estate agents for Estepona fraud: "The case of dozens of British purchasers affected by an alleged real estate fraud in Estepona has now reached the courts, in a suit presented on their behalf by the Marbella law firm, Lawbird.

The suit for fraud and misappropriation was presented at the courts in Madrid this Thursday against the Spanish promoter, Ricardo Miranda Miret, and three British real estate agents who El Mundo newspaper names as David Charles Stewart, Robert John Parkes and Colin Thomas. Lawbird has, in addition, asked the court to freeze funds amounting to 7.8 million €."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

MacAnthony's MRI Property International, Florida closed down

16:12 El NACHO 0 Comments

MacAnthony's MRI Property International, Florida closed down | Olive Press Newspaper | News: "DARRAGH MacAnthony’s dreams of success in America are in trouble.
The Olive Press can reveal that one of the beleaguered mogul’s company’s, MRI Property International, based in Florida, has closed down.
And at least one property scheme linked to MRI is being probed by the Florida State Attorney.
The development in question, Los Jardines Del Sol, was offered to British buyers as an off-plan investment despite apparently not having planning permission.
Prosecutor Stephen Menge told the Olive Press: “We have had a lot of complaints about Los Jardines Del Sol and our investigation is continuing.”
One buyer Denise Cutler revealed how she had lost her life savings in the development promoted by MRI."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Restaurant can reopen it if enforces smoking ban | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain

16:10 El NACHO 0 Comments

 Restaurant can reopen it if enforces smoking ban | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain: "Health Delegation in Malaga has announced that the Marbella restaurant which was closed for failing to obey the smoking ban will be allowed to open as soon as the owner bans smoking. He will still have to pay the €145,000 fine. The owner claimed online that he is the victim of a coup d’état, and that the police entered his restaurant without permission and forced customers to leave.

He says his lawyer advised him not to put up a fight, and claims he will fight to “legally destroy” the Health Councillor, Maria Jesus Montero.

Meanwhile, other hoteliers in the area believe say that “the law is the law” whether they like it or not, and in the case of the Asador Guadalmina, they weren’t going to lose custom due to the smoking ban."

Sands eyeing $20 billion 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain

14:55 El NACHO 0 Comments

Sands eyeing $20 billion 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain - Bloomberg: "Las Vegas Sands Corp. wants to build 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain, its CEO Sheldon Adelson said Thursday, touting a euros 15 billion ($20.3 billion) plan for a massive strip-style casino resort in Madrid or Barcelona.

Sands is in talks with officials from both cities about the project, which could have 20,000 hotel rooms, millions of square feet of retail and convention space and create 180,000 jobs, Adelson told reporters in Singapore.

'I want to do a mini-Las Vegas in Europe,' Adelson said. 'I hope we can use the name Europe Vegas or Euro-Vegas.'

Adelson said he plans to meet with contractors in two weeks and is assembling a team of architects and builders that would construct several resorts at once."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Sands eyeing $20 billion 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain - Bloomberg

Sands eyeing $20 billion 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain - Bloomberg: "Las Vegas Sands Corp. wants to build 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain, its CEO Sheldon Adelson said Thursday, touting a euros 15 billion ($20.3 billion) plan for a massive strip-style casino resort in Madrid or Barcelona.

Sands is in talks with officials from both cities about the project, which could have 20,000 hotel rooms, millions of square feet of retail and convention space and create 180,000 jobs, Adelson told reporters in Singapore.

'I want to do a mini-Las Vegas in Europe,' Adelson said. 'I hope we can use the name Europe Vegas or Euro-Vegas.'

Adelson said he plans to meet with contractors in two weeks and is assembling a team of architects and builders that would construct several resorts at once."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Nintendo blackmail hacker arrested in Spain

18:30 El NACHO 0 Comments

Nintendo blackmail hacker arrested in Spain: "An unnamed Spaniard has allegedly managed to hack into Nintendo’s user database and extract details, with which he attempted to blackmail the company.

This story was reported on TypicallySpanish.com (spotted by Spong). The hacker managed to get hold of the personal details of around 4,000 Nintendo users, and then threatened to publish them online unless Nintendo stumped up some dosh.

When the gaming giant didn’t reply to his demands, he went ahead and published some of the details he had on the net (the hacker’s equivalent of sending a finger in the post, albeit considerably less grisly).

Furthermore, the man also threatened to report Nintendo to the Spanish data protection agency for its lax security.

Unsurprisingly, this all went pear-shaped, and he has now reportedly been located and arrested by the Spanish police."

Polish tourist drowns as storms lash Canaries

18:09 El NACHO 0 Comments

Polish tourist drowns as storms lash Canaries < Spanish news | Expatica Spain: "Maritime rescue services in Spain's Canary Islands Wednesday found the body of a Polish tourist who drowned when he was swept away by storms, police said.
The 33-year-old man was caught by massive waves as he was walking along the beach on the island of Tenerife with his cousin, a police spokesman said.
Maritime rescue services found his body on Wednesday morning not far from the beach.
A storm is lashing the Canaries archipelago, in the Atlantic off the coast of north Africa, causing waves several metres high.
Spain's meteorological agency has issued an alert for the whole region until Thursday night."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Spanish rules are not in line with EU law as they discriminate against pensioners from other EU member state

18:05 El NACHO 0 Comments

EU tells Spain: give foreign retirees free medicine < Spanish news | Expatica Spain: "European Commission took Spain to court Wednesday for refusing to grant pensioners from other EU countries who live temporarily in the country access to free medication.
European Union legislation gives pensioners who live temporarily in another EU country the same access to health care as retirees from their host country, if they present a European health insurance card.
The EU's executive arm accused Spain of discriminating against foreign pensioners by not granting them equal access to free medication, a right for retirees under Spanish law.
The commission decided to bring its case to the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, which could force Spain to modify its law.
'The Commission takes the view that Spanish rules are not in line with EU law as they discriminate against pensioners from other EU member states,' the commission said in a statement."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Spain 'remains popular for foreign mortgages'

18:04 El NACHO 0 Comments

Spain 'remains popular for foreign mortgages' - Corporate FX News: "Britons continue to be attracted by the idea of taking out a foreign mortgage for a property in Spain, an expert believes.
Following the revelation by Spain's National Statistics Institute that there was a drop of 0.4 per cent in the number of property transactions in 2010 compared to 2009, Robin Wilson, head of overseas at Rightmove, said Britons remain interested in buying a property in Spain.
He noted that the country accounts for a fifth of all searches on Rightmove Overseas.
'Whilst there are opportunities or pain - depending if you are a buyer or vendor - in those areas of Spain with oversupply, we're still seeing healthy traffic and interest for quality properties,' he said.
Mr Wilson added that areas away from resort-style offerings are becoming more attractive to potential consumers, with smaller towns and inland locations growing in popularity."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Italy and Spain opt out of new European patent scheme - Patents/Designs Law Articles and News - Lawdit Reading Room

18:02 El NACHO 0 Comments

Italy and Spain opt out of new European patent scheme - Patents/Designs Law Articles and News - Lawdit Reading Room: "Only two EU countries have decided not to participate in the new European patent plan.

As previously reported the European Commission has been mulling over significant changes to how the European patent system works. Now the European Commission has said that the new process will be adopted by all members of the EU apart from Italy and Spain.

At present an applicant must translate their patent into the official language of every country in which they seek patent protection, needless to say this results in an extremely high cost for gaining EU wide protection.

In an attempt to solve this problem 12 EU countries (including the UK) proposed a new system whereby a patent examined and granted in English, French or German will have effect in any of the countries in the scheme. If the applicant's own country is not part of the scheme then the scheme will cover the cost of translating the patent into one of the aforementioned languages. Now a total of 25 member states have joinedd the scheme, leaving just Italy and Spain outside of the scheme."

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

New insecticide developed to protect trees from Red Palm Weevil

15:17 El NACHO 0 Comments

New insecticide developed to protect trees from Red Palm Weevil: "The Estación Phoenix palm tree labs in Elche have developed an insecticide which is able to protect the trees from the plague of ‘picudo rojo’, the attack by the Red Palm Weevil which forced 1,600 palm trees to be destroyed in Elche last year.

It’s a product which reaches the leaves after being applied to the base of the trunk of a healthy tree and will protect it from infestation for six months. It’s the longest protection period which has ever been achieved.

La Verdad newspaper reports that the team has been testing the product for the past eight months on palms of more than 4 metres high, and the mortality rate of the Palm Weevil larvae has been 100%.

If a female lands on a leaf to lay her eggs, she will die.
It’s seen as an important step forward in preventing the spread of the plague and is understood to cause no harm to the tree."

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Container ship runs aground during storms in Almayate

15:08 El NACHO 0 Comments

Container ship runs aground during storms in Almayate: "A fully laden container ship has run aground on the Almayate beach near Torre del Mar, in the storms. The 133 m long German owned vessel, ‘K Wave’ is flying a British flag, and has suffered no structural damage, and there are no reports of her taking on water.

A coastguard Helimer 207 copter has been at the scene to evaluate the condition of the boat, and two coastguard boats are standing by. There are 13 crew on board the vessel.

A team of divers from Cartagena, Murcia, are on the way to the scene, and other specialists are to attend from Sevilla."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Gary Moore died hours after checking into the Kempinski Hotel at Estepona with his girlfriend, who is in her 30s, for a six-day holiday.

09:19 El NACHO 0 Comments

In 1986 Lynott, who had known Moore since they were teenagers, died of pneumonia brought on by his heroin addiction. He was 36.Thin Lizzy star Gary Moore found dead in hotel room | The Sun |Showbiz|Music: "GUITAR ace Gary Moore died on holiday yesterday - choking on his vomit after knocking back champagne and brandy.
The 58-year-old ex-Thin Lizzy star was discovered just before 4am by his girlfriend, unconscious in their Spanish hotel room.


Medics found him lying lifeless on his back wearing just his underpants.


An ambulance source said: 'We believe the deceased had been drinking heavily.'


A source at The Kempinski hotel on Spain's Costa del Sol - where suites cost up to £3,500 a night - said: 'There were definite signs of alcohol in the room."

Spain busts voodoo prostitution ring

16:46 El NACHO 0 Comments

Spain busts voodoo prostitution ring: News24: World: News: "Spanish police said on Thursday they had broken up an international ring that forced women from Africa into street prostitution with constant beatings and voodoo rituals.

Police arrested 17 suspects in cities across Spain, taking the gang apart after one of the prostitutes gave evidence as a protected witness of her ordeal at the hands of the gang.

'The organisation was perfectly structured with connections in various African countries such as Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Algeria and Morocco, through which the women passed until their arrival in Spain,' police said in a statement.

'The women were forced with voodoo practices and constant beatings to work as street prostitutes to repay a 'debt' to the organisation that rose as high as €50 000,' they said.

The gang is accused of forging identity papers such as Nigerian passports for their victims.

They also stole credit card numbers by hacking on the internet, used them to buy goods especially from online stores in the United States, and then re-sold the objects at great profit, police said.

Spanish police have swooped several times in past years on similar prostitution rings that used the threat of voodoo curses to frighten their victims into obedience.
"

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Malaga call-girls have nowhere to go | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain

11:13 El NACHO 0 Comments

MALAGA has begun fining prostitutes and their clients, however, the city hall does not plan to let them move to the Arraijanal area, near the Plaza Mayor shopping centre. This moved was proposed by residents and business owners in the areas of the city where prostitution is a major problem, and the prostitutes were willing to consider the possibility.

But residents in the Guadalmar and San Julian areas obviously do not want the problem dumped on their doorstep and have made this known to the city hall.

The area was proposed by the Alameda de Colon and the Guadalhorce Industrial Estate residents because it is well-lit, built-up and easy to access.

Local residents have asked Malaga city hall to determine who regulates prostitution, in the belief that as it is a matter of public order and health, it should be the central government and the Junta de Andalucia.

Meanwhile, prostitutes who continue to work in the abovementioned areas complain that the police are frightening and harassing them, and that they are now unable to make a living."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.