23 year old British tourist died this morning, (Friday) after falling from the second floor balcony of his hotel in Avenida Doctor Fleming, in Sant Antoni, Ibiza.

22:30 El NACHO 0 Comments

23 year old British tourist died this morning, (Friday) after falling from the second floor balcony of his hotel in Avenida Doctor Fleming, in Sant Antoni, Ibiza.

Europa Press reports that the emergency services say the youth suffered multiple injuries following his impact with the ground, and also suffered a heart attack. They were advised at 7,43am.
Medics were able to revive him at the scene and took him to the Can Misses Hospital where he was admitted in a serious condition.

However the Briton suffered another heart attack and doctors were not able to save him.

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suspect in the alleged fraudulent £10m Gilher investment scheme has been extradited from Spain to face charges of conspiracy to defraud

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Richard Pollett, a suspect in a £10m ponzi scheme fraud, was extradited from Spain to appear before the Bradford Magistrates court today (27 July), charged with conspiracy to defraud.
Mr Pollett was based in Mallorca and Poole and joined John Hirst, who was charged earlier this year with conspiracy to defraud in connection with an alleged ponzi investment scheme that targeted UK based investors and expatriates living in Spain.
The scheme was based on a Panama and Seychelles registered company called Gilher, which was operated by Mr Hirst and invested funds on behalf of private clients who were mainly based in the UK and Spain.
The scheme attracted over £10m of investors' funds with losses thought to be around £6m.
In addition to the conspiracy offence, Mr Pollett is charged with making misleading statements. He has been granted conditional bail

 

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The Saudi royal family is on location in Marbella.

16:45 El NACHO 0 Comments

The Saudi royal family is on location in Marbella. This weekend was the wedding with 1.500 people invited including 400 princesses. Sara Fahd Bin Salman who is the granddaughter of the former monarch’s brother, Salman Bin Abdul Aziz.
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There was increased police surveillance of the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia in Marbella at the weekend and the area around the Saudi royal family palates Al-Riyadh which is located between Marbella town and Puerto Banus. Around 1,500 people were invited and many of them lived at hotel Puente Romano, Marbella Club and Villapadierna.
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Entrepreneurs in Marbella rubs there hands, the Saudi royal family Fahd has over the years invested several sums of money in Marbella and continues to invest in both small and medium enterprises. Jewelers Gómez y Molina has long been the Saudi royal family as its major customers. Many real estate companies true to sell property Marbella, Marbella apartments and Marbella villas to the guests.
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On the menu were fish and shellfish for Salman who is governor of Riad. He also visited the mosque or mezquitan outside Marbella to pray and honor her late brother King Fahd el Rey. It was also churros, fried corn rings of the Plaza de Los Naranjos in the Old Town and a tour too Puerto Banus for Salman.

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The Guardia Civil who killed his ex-boyfriend in a Madrid gym has himself died.

13:25 El NACHO 0 Comments

One man died and another was seriously hurt in a shootout in a Madrid gym on Tuesday, in the Chamartín district of the Spanish capital.

It happened in the men’s changing rooms, shortly before 5pm, where the victim was shot five times in the chest and once in the head. Emergency services were at the scene on Tuesday afternoon stabilising the injured man, who had one bullet wound in his head.

He was rushed to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in a critical condition.

Witnesses say they heard between eight and ten shots at the Holiday Gym, on Madrid’s Plaza República Dominicana, which is one of a chain the company has in the city.

The Sergeant went to a Madrid gym on Tuesday and shot his ex boyfriend dead.


The Guardia Civil who killed his ex-boyfriend in a Madrid gym has himself died.

45 year old Sergeant Ángel Luis J.T died in the Gregorio Marañón Hospital from serious head injuries he suffered when he tried to commit suicide after the attack.

On Tuesday evening he had gone to the Holiday Gym in the Plaza de República Dominicana in the capital and killed his ex boyfriend, a 28 year old, Marcos H.H. who worked in the gym, by shooting him in the forehead.

Health and Civil Protección said the victim had suffered several shots, but it was the shot to the head which had proved fatal.

Two guns were found at the scene of the shooting, a revolver and a Beretta pistol, both of them belonging to the Guardia Civil sergeant who has now died.

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Civil Guard smash major drugs cartel's money laundering network in Spain It was led by the wife of Don Lucho

13:22 El NACHO 0 Comments

The Civil Guard have smashed the money laundering branch in Spain of one of South America’s biggest drugs cartels, with the arrest of nine people in Ribarroja del Turia, Valencia.

They include the wife of Luis Agustín Caicedo Velandia, known as ‘Don Lucho’, one of the top kingpins of the Colombian super cartel who was arrested by US authorities in Colombia last year and is now serving time in a US prison. She is understood to have led the organisation in Spain.

The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday that an additional 13 suspects have been charged under ‘Operation Ánimas Blancas’, and warrants have been issued for the arrest of another seven.

The investigation began in June last year and discovered that millions of drugs money were being sent to Spain from Colombia, Mexico and Panama for laundering and was used to buy land and property in areas including Madrid, Guadalajara, Málaga, Barcelona, the Baleares and Valencia.

The organisation also smuggled gold out of Spain by melting it down into ingots and using chemicals to change its colour.

Twelve addresses in a number of towns on Spain’s Mediterranean coast were searched as part of the operation. Officers seized 1.4 million € of cash in addition to 30 properties with a total value of more than 12 million €.

 

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Man dies after trying to reach Spanish mainland from Ceuta on a jet ski

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man who was rescued from a broken down jet ski 19 miles off the coast of Málaga on Sunday afternoon was discharged from hospital on Monday, where he had been treated for sunstroke and jellyfish stings.

He had set off for the Spanish mainland from Ceuta with a friend whose jet ski had broken down, and the two had continued the journey on the other craft until it, too, had broken down. They were two days adrift at sea until they were found by an Italian ship, by which time the friend had died.

El Mundo reports that the 27 year old is thought to have died of hypothermia.

It’s understood that the two men are of Moroccan origin but have Spanish nationality.

 

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Protests against wind mill plans off the Cádiz coast

11:28 El NACHO 0 Comments

The Mayors of three Cádiz towns, Conil, Barbate and Vejer have said they will not allow wind farms off the coast of their municipalities. They have repeated their opposition despite the plan to build the mills in the local Puerto Real dockyard, creating or saving hundreds of jobs.

President of the energy company Acciona, Carmen Becerril, has said they still want to develop a 1,000 MW park in the Trafalgar Sea, off the coast of the three municipalities, but she admitted that social rejection of the plan was causing problems. She pointed to Germany were projects similar to that at Puerto Real had created 1,200 jobs and said she hoped the municipalities would realise what is at stake.

However since the announcement of the construction of the mills in the dockyard, a protest platform has reactivated its activities, bringing together political groups, fishermen, businessmen, unions and locals.

Antonio Roldán, the IU Mayor of Conil has said the mills should be located in the Cádiz Bay, opposite the naval factories which will make them.

 

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French police raid Norway shooter's father's home

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French gendarmes are searching the house of the father of the man who confessed to attacks that killed 93 people in Norway.
About a dozen gendarmes are surrounding the house in Cournanel in southern France on Monday, entering and leaving at irregular intervals.
The house is cordoned off, and reporters do not have access.
The regional gendarme service confirmed the house was that of Anders Behring Breivik's father but would not comment on the search operation.
News reports have said Breivik's father, Jens Breivik, has not been in touch with his son in many years.
Breivik, 32, has confessed he was behind Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo and shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the capital, but denies criminal responsibility.

 

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A womanis in intensive care with serious leg injuries on the holiday island of Ibiza after she was caught in the propellers of a boat.

08:51 El NACHO 0 Comments


Susanne Cassidy, 26, received injuries to her right leg after jumping into the sea from the boat off the popular resort of San Antonio, on the holiday island's west coast.

The incident was said to have taken place on Sunday afternoon. Local police have launched an investigation.

It is understood Ms Cassidy is living in the resort this summer.

She was taken to the island's Main Can Misses hospital in a special intensive care ambulance after being brought ashore.

On Monday, her condition was described as "serious but not life threatening". Reports from Ibiza state Ms Cassidy was born in Scotland.

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Outgoing ambassador says he personally experienced Spain's anti-Semitism

10:50 El NACHO 0 Comments

Israel's ambassador in Spain, Raphael Schutz, who is about to leave his post, denounced the "anti-Semitism and hatred that exist in Spanish society" in a message on the embassy website Saturday.
 
Schutz, who served in the post for a total of four years, referred to his time in Spain as "not very pleasant."
 
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"I am ending a four-year term as Israel's ambassador to Spain and returning to Israel to continue my diplomatic career in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem," he wrote in the message.
 
''I also take with me the hatred and the anti-Semitism that still exist in Spanish society, and which I experienced personally," he wrote. The outgoing ambassador cited Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008-9 and the lethal flotilla raid in 2010 as especially difficult periods.
 

However, the Israeli diplomat also said that ''I had experienced some positive, very warm and very exciting moments'', making note of the celebration earlier this year of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel.
 
Schutz ended his message optimistically, writing that relations between Israel and Spain were just starting to flourish and concluding: "See you soon in Spain."

 

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Thief falls to his death in Jaén robbery after killing his victim

20:15 El NACHO 0 Comments

Two people died in Jaén on Tuesday morning in what appears to have been a violent robbery, when a suspected thief fell to his death after fatally stabbing the occupant of the city centre flat.

It was originally thought to have been a case of domestic violence, after a call to the central National Police emergency number reported hearing a heated argument from inside the flat. The National Police have however now confirmed that was not the case.

A 22 year old woman was found stabbed to death on the floor when officers arrived on the scene, and then spotted someone trying to escape out of the window of the fourth floor flat. He lost his hold and fell to his death on the street below.

He has been identified as a 34 year old man with a previous criminal record. El Mundo reports that the murder weapon was found on his body, plus personal possessions of the woman who was killed.

 

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Dutch woman left a hospital in Spain Thursday a day after she was rescued unharmed after spending 18 days trapped at the bottom of a ravine without any food.

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Mary-Anne Goossens, who wore sunglasses, entered into a car with tinted windows that was waiting for her outside of the hospital in the southern city of Velez-Malaga as her daughter Jantje and son Fritz looked on.
Spanish media said she was in good health, having shown only signs of dehydration and malnutrition.
Jantje said her mother lost 10 pounds (4.5 kilos) and survived by drinking water from a nearby river and thinking about how in two years she would celebrate her 50th birthday.
"She thought of how the party would be, the food that will be served and who she will invite. She just kept looking forwards to the future, a happy future, never backwards," Jantje told reporters outside of the hospital.
Goossens went for a hike on her own along a river near the resort town of Nerja on June 16, a day after she arrived in Spain, and became trapped in a pit at the bottom of a steep ravine.
Three hikers spotted her on Wednesday and left her some food before alerting emergency services, who then evacuated her by helicopter.
"We heard cries of 'Help me! Help me! and some whistles so we went to the edge of the trail and we looked down at the river. We saw a woman and we decided to descend to where she was," said one of the hikers, Francisco Conde.
"She told us she had spent 18 days trapped in the pit and during this time she only drank water from the river. She said she had been very cold and to stay warm she put twigs inside her clothes," the 27-year-old told the online ediction of daily newspaper El Mundo.
The woman also made a bed out of grass to remain warm, Conde aded.
Another one of the hikers, Daniel Sanchez, said Goossens could barely speak when they reached her.
"Even so, she was conscious the entire time of what she was saying and of the situation she found herself in," the 24-year-old added.
The three hikers left the woman with food and a sleeping bag and blanket to stay warm before heading out to get help since the region was not covered by mobile telephone networks.

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40 homes evacuated in Mallorca fire

20:11 El NACHO 0 Comments

A fire which forced the evacuation of 40 homes and a rural hotel on Mallorca has been brought under control overnight. 350 hectares were affected in the municipalities of Maria de la Salut, Santa Margalida, Muro and Llubí.

Strong winds on Wednesday made its extinction more complicated, but conditions improved later. However another fire in Artà was reported only to be 40% controlled early Thursday morning and had affected 200 hectares.

Five local roads were closed by the fire, three of which are now open again, leaving the MA3440 and MA3443 affected Thursday morning.

 

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Four injured in opening Pamplona bull-run

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Hundreds of runners fled half-tonne bulls thundering through Pamplona's streets Thursday in the first bull-run of Spain's San Fermin fiesta, resulting in four injuries.
Six huge fighting bulls and six steers charged through the narrow, winding streets of the northern Spanish town, clearing a path through a sea of runners mostly dressed in white, with red handkerchiefs.
Some dared to run just an arm's length before the bulls, glancing nervously behind at the running beasts' dangerous curved horns, on the first run of the alcohol-laced festival, which runs to July 14.
Others chased behind the pack, occasionally touching the bulls' sides on the inaugural run, watched by millions on television.
Many cowered on the sidelines or peered down from balconies.
Bulls and runners stampeded through an 848.6-metre course from a holding pen to the city's bull ring in 2 minutes, 30 seconds, a spokesman for the festival organisers said.
The run was "fast and clean," the spokesman said.
Four runners -- three Spaniards and a Panamanian -- suffered light injuries and were taken to hospital, he said.
"I've never actually felt something like that ever before in my life," said 28-year-old Briton Jonathan Fieldhouse, his hands still shaking after the chase.
"One brushed past me then all the rest came past."
His 20-year-old brother Ben, a barman in the English city of Hull, vowed to return for next year's run.
"The adrenaline pumps into you. It's unreal," he said.
The two brothers said they had not overindulged in alcohol, a factor that is closely policed in Pamplona to minimise serious injuries among tourists who down copious amounts of sangria, cheap wine and beer.
"It is a very dangerous activity, you have to have a cool head," said 48-year-old Miguel Leza, who ran with the bulls for his 32nd year in a row.
"You are up against a bull, a heavy animal, which can kill," he said.
Leza said the thrill drew him back to Pamplona every year.
"I like to be right close to the bulls. I feel the adrenaline, the fear too," he said.
The city of some 200,000 residents expects at least as many festival-goers as last year when 1.5 million people turned out and hotels reported a 95-percent occupancy rate.
The bull run can attract 2,000 to 3,500 runners trying to get as close as possible without being trampled or gored in an event popularised worldwide by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises.
And every year between 200 and 300 participants in the run are injured. Most are hurt after falling but some are trampled or gored by the bulls despite increased safety measures.
The most recent death occurred two years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard to death, piercing his neck, heart and lungs with its horns in front of hordes of tourists.
In the evenings after the daily chase, the beasts are killed in the bull ring and their meat is served up in city restaurants.
This year organisers have launched a free iPhone app in English to help revellers to assess their chances of emerging from the runs intact.
It asks users about their behaviour at the festival, including how much they have had to drink and how many hours of sleep they have had.

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Spanish emergency services workers rescued Wednesday a Dutch woman hiker who spent 18 days trapped at the bottom of a ravine

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Spanish emergency services workers rescued Wednesday a Dutch woman hiker who spent 18 days trapped at the bottom of a ravine, surviving by drinking water from a nearby river, police said.
A group of hikers spotted Mary-Anne Goznes, 48, in the ravine near the resort town of Nerja in southern Spain and left her some food before alerting emergency services, who then evacuated her by helicopter.
"She became trapped in a pit near a river, without a rope and unable to ascend on her own," police said in a statement.
The rescue operation was difficult because the woman was in a hard-to-reach place and in "a weak state" after not eating for so many days, it added.
"She thought of eating ants but in the end she could not do it," Bernadette Veeger, a Dutch doctor who lives in southern Spain and spoke to Goznes after the rescue, told the online edition of daily newspaper El Pais.
The woman was taken to hospital for observation. She is "stable, conscious and talking," a hospital spokesman said.
Goznes arrived in Nerja on June 15. She went for a hike on her own the following day and became lost, said a spokesman for her family, Antonio Diaz.
Police were alerted to her disappearance several days later after they had no news from her.
Diaz said the woman endured the time she was trapped in the ravine by thinking of her two adult children.
"She's hungry and tired, he

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Spanish mobs block evictions

21:51 El NACHO 0 Comments

When Ronald de la Cruz bought an apartment in Madrid in 2004 for 216,000 euros ($313,000), it seemed like a good investment. The future looked bright for the 40-year-old father of four from the Dominican Republic who had been drawn to Spain by the wealth of jobs in the booming construction sector.

Seven years later, de la Cruz is unemployed, he can’t keep up with his mortgage payments and the bank is about to take his property back. To make matters worse, his apartment is now valued at just 108,000 euros ($156,000). That means he still has to keep paying the bank to make up for the difference between the market value of his apartment and his original mortgage.

“I feel like I’ve been defrauded,” he says. “The bank says my property has lost half its value.”

The Spanish economy’s difficulties, including a soaring unemployment rate, have led to a wave of similar cases, with home repossessions rising since the real estate market collapsed in 2008.

But in recent months, victims of the crisis have been striking back at lenders. They have started blocking the doors of properties due to be repossessed so that officials cannot deliver eviction orders. The “15-M” or May 15 civic movement, which staged sit-in protests in cities across Spain this spring, has thrown its weight behind the anti-eviction initiative.

“In this crisis, our government has bailed out banks that are not giving credit but at the same time are trying to evict people,” said Eduardo Munoz, a spokesman for the 15-M movement, which is made up mainly of young people. “People are really mad right now.”

The anti-eviction drive started in Barcelona and was led by Latin Americans, who were particularly exposed to the crisis since many worked in the construction sector. However, with many Spaniards now also in danger of losing their homes, several social organizations across the country have joined to give the movement greater heft.

Activists use social networking sites to announce imminent evictions, ensuring that hundreds of people turn up at the property in question, peacefully preventing court officials and police from enforcing the repossession.

On June 15, Luis Dominguez, a 74-year-old man in Parla, near Madrid, contacted the 15-M movement because his house was due to be repossessed the next day. When officials arrived to evict Dominguez, who has health problems and uses crutches, they could not reach his door because dozens of protesters were blocking it.

Those involved say they have stopped about 40 evictions over recent months, although they estimate that more than 200 are taking place each day across Spain.

“People can’t pay back their loans and mortgages and so the banks have to show their muscle — they don’t want to allow irregularities,” said David Carominas, a Madrid-based real estate analyst. “We’re all trapped in this real estate bubble, because we bought the idea that it’s better to own than to rent. As it was so easy to get money, we went after the easy money — but it’s difficult to pay that kind of money back.”

The burst property bubble has left more than 700,000 unsold new homes and a market whose prices are close to freefall. In addition, Spain has a 21 percent jobless rate, the highest in the European Union.

The country is also struggling to match the growth rates of many of its neighbors. Despite a relatively low public debt, Spain's large deficit has fuelled doubts about its ability to finance payments and even made it a potential candidate to follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in requiring an emergency bailout — although the government insists that will not happen.

The Socialist administration of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has embarked on an unpopular reform program in a bid to ward off such bailout rumors, including cutting public sector wages, increasing VAT, freezing pensions and raising the retirement age from 65 to 67.

Those involved in the anti-eviction actions admit that the bank usually obtains a new court order to evict the homeowner within a few weeks. However, they want to see the law changed so that when the keys to a property are handed back, all pending debts are cleared. They also want banks to be more sympathetic to families who are in particularly desperate financial situations.

The pressure seems to have paid off, at least in part. On June 30, the Socialists reached an agreement with other political parties to ensure properties are given a higher, fairer market valuation when owners are unable to keep up payments. The parties also agreed that a higher portion of an owner’s income should be protected from the bank in case of non-payment of a mortgage.

“Even the politicians are realizing that it’s time things changed,” said Aida Quinatoa, who has been one of the leaders of the anti-eviction movement, on hearing of the slated reform. “The banks’ abuses have reached such a point that people won’t stand it any longer.”

 

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SPANISH LEGION TO RETURN TO AFGHANISTAN

17:39 El NACHO 0 Comments

Almeria’s Legionnaires opened the Spanish mission in Afghanistan in September 2004 when they provided a battalion, about 800 personnel, to establish the ISAF Quick Reaction Force. It was confirmed last week that despite the drawdown announced by the Minister for Defence, Carme Chacón, aimed at pulling all Spanish troops out of the country by 2014, they will have to serve at least one more tour of duty. 
If the history of Spanish casualties in Afghanistan were not enough to prove the danger of the military mission, last week’s death of a sergeant and a female soldier, Argudin Manuel and Pineda Niyireth, following an attack on a convoy highlights the real war scenario that these troops are constantly facing. 
Since the beginning of the Allied offensive the Spanish 'fallen' now  totals ninety-seven, making the Afghan conflict the most damaging of all in Spanish military history during it’s years of democracy.  
Defence Minister, Carmen Chacón, announced the timetable for phasing out Spanish troops by 2014 and, as such, the Legion, with it’s central base in Almeria, will have to serve at least one more tour of duty in Afghanistan.  
The forecast is that the Legion will now send a large contingent of close to a thousand troops in early 2012. The Legionnaires are already undertaking their preparatory training at their base 'Alvarez de Sotomayor, "located in the municipality of Viator. This camp has been used in recent years as the main location for military training by all Spanish troops about to serve in desert conflicts with characteristics very similar to those found in Afghanistan. 
The Spanish Foreign Legion was formed in 1920, in emulation of the French one, and had a significant role in Spain's colonial wars in Morocco and in the Spanish Civil War on the Nationalist side. The Spanish Foreign Legion recruited foreigners until 1986 but unlike its French model, the number of non-Spanish recruits never exceeded 25%, most of those from Latin America. It is now called the Spanish Legion and only recruits Spanish nationals.
The Spanish Legion nowadays is mostly used in NATO peacekeeping missions. It currently numbers 5,000 in a Brigade of two tercios (regiments) with two other independent tercios currently deployed mainly in the Spanish African enclaves, namely Ceuta and Melilla but also in Ronda, Viator and Almería. Although the detachment at Málaga was transferred away, every Holy Week a platoon of legionnaires marches through the city in procession of the Christ of the Good Death, a figure of a crucified Jesus, venerated by the Legion. 
The Legion remains a harshly disciplined elite unit and is directly controlled by the Spanish General Staff.  
During a trip in which she visited the wounded and met with leaders of the Spanish contingent, Carme Chacon, the Minister of Defense was in Afghanistan last week to collect information on the recent attack suffered by Spanish troops. She was accompanied by Chief of Defense Staff, Air Force General, Jose Julio Rodriguez.

 

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Las Palmas elderly care home shut down over allegations of sex abuse

13:29 El NACHO 0 Comments

An old people’s home in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was closed down by a court order on Thursday and the director taken into custody over allegations of abuse.

Sources quoted by Canarias 7 indicated that sexual abuse of the women who live there by the director and his brother is under investigation.

The residents were being re-housed in other centres on the island.

The residence was the subject of a television programme on the situation by the journalist Mercedes Mila some weeks ago, which showed footage shot with a hidden camera.

 

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Greenpeace calls on new Carboneras Mayor to take action over Algarrobico Hotel

13:25 El NACHO 0 Comments

Greenpeace called on the independent Mayor-elect of Carboneras this Thursday to rectify the ‘errors’ of his Socialist predecessor as Mayor and declare the land where the Algarrobico Hotel has been built as unsuitable for development.

The environmental organisation said Carboneras has become an ‘example of coastal destruction’, and asked Salvador Hernández to reverse the ‘obsolete policies of excessive and illegal development’. They said it’s time now to correct errors and draw up a new PGOU development plan for Carboneras to promote rural tourism.

Salvador Hernández, from the Gicar party, is Mayor-elect until Friday, when the new council is constituted thanks to a governing pact with the Partido Popular. He told Teleprensa Almería that the situation of the Algarrobico is outside municipal responsibilityas the Environment Ministry is currently negotiating on the matter with the owners, Azata del Sol.

 

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German tourist falls from hotel balcony in Lloret de Mar

13:24 El NACHO 0 Comments

A 19 year old German tourist, reported to be in a state of drunkenness, fell in the early hours of Thursday from the balcony of the hotel where he is staying , the Hotel Frigola, in Lloret de Mar, Girona.

He fell when trying to cross the balcony next to his own and is now admitted to the Joesp Trueta Hospital in Girona with a fractured skull.

 

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Hoteliers on the Baleares say that they cannot fence in tourists to stop the current fad of balconing

13:21 El NACHO 0 Comments

Hoteliers on the Baleares say that they cannot fence in tourists to stop the current fad of balconing, despite the death of a 24 year old Briton last Thursday in Sant Josep who fell trying to reach the neighbouring balcony.

Juanjo Riera, President of the hotel owners in Ibiza and Formentera, told Europa Press that the hotels all meet the height regulations on balcony verandas under British legislation which is 1.10 metres. He said the hoteliers would be doing all they can to remind tourists about the dangers of the fashion, and called for more convincing awareness campaigns. He complained that the videos of the practice which are on YouTube bring legitimacy to the practice.

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8,500 Britons affected by the notorious problems of Land Grab; the Law of the Coasts; illegal properties; demolition orders and the abuse of bank guarantees.

06:03 El NACHO 0 Comments

ANGRY EXPATS are attacking Spain’s attempts to kick-start its housing market by attracting overseas investment with the promise it is a safe place to invest.
They maintain Madrid is in denial over the number of innocent victims affected by problems in the property sector and are directly challenging figures quoted by Spanish Ministers.

And a petition is being raised calling for King Juan Carlos I, the Governor of the Bank of Spain, and Premiers Zapatero of Spain and Cameron of Great Britain, amongst others, to intervene and fast track complaints through the courts.

It is organised on behalf of thousands of people who began to purchase off plan homes and saw homes in the sun half-finished or never started as builders went bust in the recession.

Some were never given the legally required bank guarantees or those issued with the certificates found banks refused to honour them.
The first stage of the Spanish government’s promotion ended earlier this month after a presentation across Northern Europe to the institutional market – the road show will return to pitch to the commercial sector, although dates have yet to be set.

Ministers Jose Blanco and Beatriz Corredor attempted to highlight the strengths of the economy and promote the country for its “transparency and legal security of buying a property in Spain.”

MESSAGE
In short the message was that now was the perfect time to snap up a bargain with prices at a record low after the boom years of construction.
And in response to protests from victims, Ms Corredor said there were around 850,000 Brits living in Spain and problems applied to less than 1% of them.
Keith Rule is the organiser of the ‘Bank Guarantees In Spain Petition’ and takes exception to the figures – he claims according to the Minister there were less than 8,500 Britons affected by the notorious problems of Land Grab; the Law of the Coasts; illegal properties; demolition orders and the abuse of bank guarantees.
“The many thousands, including myself, who paid their off-plan deposits in good faith and are now experiencing bank guarantee problems, are totally unaccounted for and not included in any property register,” he said.

“Therefore they cannot possibly be among Sra. Corredor’s figure of 850,000 Britons ‘living in Spain’ as they were denied that opportunity due to the fact their properties were either not completed or in many cases not even started.”

And he added: “There are hundreds of half-finished or abandoned developments all over Spain on which purchasers are at serious risk of losing their off-plan deposits dues to developers and banks failing to issue or honour the legally required guarantees.”
Keith heads the La Figuerinas Finca Parcs Action Group in Agramon near Hellin, where only 36 of a projected 617 homes were built. He said there were 100 purchasers there with bank guarantee issues.

ABANDON
He said in abandoned Murcia projects by one developer alone there were some 2,000 people who had paid deposits and had guarantee issues, and last week Keith was assessing the situation in Orihuela.

He alleges much of the money advanced by people seeking a home in the sun had vanished into “a black hole”  as banks had allowed developers to withdraw funds and put the money to use other than the construction of the properties.

And Keith said it was totally unacceptable for the Spanish government to force victims into expensive legal action.
He said the Bank of Spain supervised the banking sector and had done nothing despite finding some banks “had not acted with due diligence.”

He said Mr Zapatero told the European Parliament in July last year that Spain insured laws were upheld and respected, the politician adding the courts were responsible to apply the law and: “ We stand shoulder to shoulder with those people, who perhaps have had the wool pulled over their eyes in the Spanish Property market.”

But Keith said Mr Zapatero had failed to address the issues – while the petition would gather detailed evidence “relating to corrupt developers and negligent estate agents, banks and lawyers” and be presented to the authorities in Spain and the UK later this year.

The petition and more information can be found at www.bankguaranteesinspain.com and a petition calling for UK Minister for Europe David Lidington to halt the Spanish road show is at www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-spanish-property-roadshow-open-letter-to-davl.html

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Spain will ease conditions for people who can't pay their mortgages

06:00 El NACHO 0 Comments

Spain will ease conditions for people who can't pay their mortgages as floating interest rates rise and unemployment remains the highest in the European Union, the government said on Thursday.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the government will decree on Friday a new and higher limit on the amount banks can legally deduct from the wages of a mortgage holder in default.

The government is contemplating other new rules to protect homeowners four years after a property bubble burst leaving many Spaniards stuck in homes worth much less than what they owe the bank.

"Indignados" or "indignant" protests around Spain in recent months have called on the government to address the plight of borrowers who can be evicted by the banks but still owe the entire amount of their mortgage even though the bank now owns their home.

Banking groups have warned that changing mortgage rules could send the wrong message to investors, who are concerned about the high levels of exposure to bad property loans in Spain's financial system, particularly if applied retroactively.

Rubalcaba did not say whether the measure would be retroactive. Under current rules banks can deduct all but 641 euros of monthly wages. The new amount that is protected from deductions will be 961 euros.

"This will help a lot of people who are having a rough time or who may have a rough time," Rubalcaba said in a television broadcast.

Spain's tough mortgage rules are part of what has kept the country's property prices from correcting more sharply four years after the real estate boom came to a dramatic end. There is no incentive in Spain for property owners to walk away from their home.

Frustration over the credit crisis has led to a series of blockades on planned evictions across the country as protesters arrive with lawyers and try to block evictions by banks.

Though the government's planned new rule goes some way to address protesters' concerns, one troubled homeowner said he would wait and see what effect it had before he could celebrate.

"The new measures could be an indicator of success (of the protests), but I don't really trust them," said Javier Payero, a salesman in his 30s who is at risk of being evicted.

On Wednesday Payero and dozens of other protesters in Malaga in southern Spain, successfully blocked the eviction of a mother of three children.

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