Bailed Kyle Thain and James Harris return from Spain

 Two men from Essex accused of attempted murder in Spain have returned to England. Kyle Thain, 24, and James Harris, 29, had been in Spain for the past seven months after being accused of attacking two men in an Alicante bar in July 2011. The pair, both from Southend, were held in a Spanish prison for four months without charge. They have now been allowed to return to England on strict bail conditions. Mr Harris returned to the UK on Tuesday...

Britain’s biggest international criminals has walked free from court despite been accused of attempting to smuggle £80 million worth of cocaine into the U.K.

A man who was named one of the Britain’s biggest international criminals has walked free from court despite been accused of attempting to smuggle £80 million worth of cocaine into the U.K.Jamie Dempsey, 33, was suspected of plotting to flood London and the south-east with 299kg (660lb)...

Spanish government will try and secure the 'gold on the Rock'

 With the Odyssey gold back in Spain, the Spanish keep referring to more gold that remained in Gibraltar. It is being reported in Spain that the Spanish government will try and secure the 'gold on the Rock' through what they term a European order. They say that although Gibraltar likes to play a dual role, it is in fact part of the UK and thus Madrid is knocking on the UK's door to get them to urge Gibraltar to hand over the gold. Bilateral...

Tarragona village wants to grow marihuana to get out of the recession

 village in Tarragona has come up with a way to beat the recession. They propose to plant marihuana. A smokers’ club in the village of Rasquera and say the plantation would create jobs. They say they will not sell it, rather it will be for the use of the club members and also for ‘therapeutic ends’. A cannabis association in Barcelona that uses the drug for therapeutic reasons has offered to pay 36,000 € to the club and sign a deal with the...

Prison and no bail for Moroccan man who planned to poison tourist complexes in Spain

37 year old Moroccan man who was arrested in La Línea de la Concepción because of alleged links to Al Qaeda has been ordered to prison without bail. Police now believe that Abdellatif Aoulad Chilba, who is married to a Spanish woman, was planning to poison the water in tourist complexes in the area. It has been revealed that a phone call he made to his wife, who lives in Girona, on the 12th of this month, sounded as if it was a goodbye. National...

Spain and Morocco to establish joint police stations in Tangiers and Algeciras

 Spain and Morocco have agreed to open joint commissioners’ offices in Tangiers and Algeciras from May. The interior ministers from both countries gave the announcement on Tuesday in Rabat. Jorge Fernández Díaz and his Moroccan counterpart, Mohand Lanser, did little detail about the composition of these ‘centres of police cooperation’. Morocco is the first country outside the EU with which Spain has come to such an arrangement. There are already...

Four members of 'Anonymous' arrested in Spain

 National Police has arrested four members of the Anonymous collective in Spain as part of an international operation against cyber-crime. Two of them are currently in prison thought to be behind DDos attacks, and the other two have been released. They are allegedly linked to attacks on the UPyD webpage, as well as for revealing personal data from the GEOS security personnel. A man known as ‘Thunder’ or ‘Pacotron’ was F.J.B.D. arrested in...

Search for a lorry driver after man and his niece are found dead in Zafra

The Guardia Civil are searching for a lorry driver following a double homicide in Zafra, which they consider was the settling of scores. The family of the man shot dead, a businessman Manuel Borallo, along with his niece, Verónica Gordillo, say that the crime could have been committed by a lorry driver from Algeciras whose whereabouts are now unknown. It’s thought however that he could have been in Zafra when the crime was committed in an industrial...

Son-in-law of King Juan Carlos of Spain admits he defied orders in corruption trial

 The Duke of Palma, the husband of the King's youngest daughter Cristina, appeared in court in Majorca over the weekend, subpoenaed to give evidence in a case that has turned the spotlight on Spain's royal family. The Duke, a former Olympic handball medallist who received the title when he married in 1997, has stirred latent antimonarchist sentiments in Spain with the suggestion that he used his royal influence to feather his own nest. The Duke,...

Spain will not object to an independent Scotland joining the EU

 SPAIN have insisted they will not block an independent Scotland becoming a member of the EU. Uk ministers had claimed Madrid was considering a veto because of fears that Scottish independence would encourage the Catalan and Basque OPINION Garcia-Margallo separatist movements in Spain. But Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said it would not raise objections to Scotland joining the EU. Garcia-Margallo said: "If in the UK, both...

Spain king’s son-in-law questioned over corruption

 As public relations nightmares go, it can’t get much uglier: The Spanish king’s son-in-law will be questioned over alleged corruption while everyday people brave austerity measures, tax hikes, staggering unemployment and bleak prospects for the future. Inaki Urdangarin — the Duke of Palma — has not been charged with a crime. But his arrival Saturday at a courthouse on this Mediterranean resort island will be one for the history books anyway...

A glamorous French politician is set to become France’s first ever ‘MP for Britain’ to represent more than 100,000 Gallic expats living in the UK.

A glamorous French politician is set to become France’s first ever ‘MP for Britain’ to represent more than 100,000 Gallic expats living in the UK.Emmanuelle Savarit, 39, is leading the race to be elected to France’s newest overseas constituency - based in London’s well-heeled Kensington.The...

ENVELOPES full of cash, drug habits funded by EU grants and police taking payments to legalise prostitutes – you name it, it has happened in Spain.

  Add to those a snail-paced justice system and, a law society in Malaga that fails to scrutinize bent lawyers, and things start to look distinctly cloudy. Consider too that last week Spain’s top anti-corruption lawyer, Baltasar Garzon, was suspended from his post for illegally tapping the phones of lawyers, and most will come to the same conclusion. “Yes, corruption is certainly endemic in Spain,” says Gwilym Rhys-Jones, an Estepona-based...

EU clampdown on unregulated financial advisers in Spain

 The European Commission is to consider setting up an ombudsman to help expat victims reclaim against unregistered financial firms. It comes after a local pressure group, that represents over 1,000 victims, sent a dossier of information to Brussels. The Costa del Sol Action Group demanded action against the advisers who, it claims, have lost their clients over €120 million (£102 million). “It is good news as something has to be done about this...

Poor men and lonely wealthy women

I see so many lonely women out here in the world today. Of course, there are lonely guys as well. But, in my opinion men react and respond differently to their problems. We almost never actually admit that we are alone, except when our self-esteem is compromised. We just go with the flow. But for women, it is a totally different story. “I am so alone,” was what she would say. I hear this all the time from the opposite sex. Why is this so in the...

Spain's banking sector set to shrink to about 10 lenders

This year, Spain’s banking sector looks set to shrink to about 10 lenders from more than 40 before the economic crisis, as the government forces banks to recognise steep losses from a housing crash. Small and medium-sized banks will scramble to join forces to meet capital requirements implicit in a new law demanding lenders write down up to 80 per cent of the book value of real estate assets on their balance sheets.  Click here for Cloud Computing...

Showbiz world remembers Frank

 Celebrities from all generations have paid tributes to Frank Carson. The Belfast-born comic died on Wednesday after battling poor health for some time. Famous for his sayings "it's a cracker" and "it's the way I tell 'em", Carson came to prominence in the 1960s after winning TV talent show Opportunity Knocks. He leaves a wife, Ruth, daughter Majella and sons Tony and Aidan, as well as 10 grandchildren. Tony told BBC Radio Ulster that he...

4.5 billion euros were spent on Spanish luxury items last year, particularly in the foreign tourist havens of Barcelona, Marbella and Madrid.

–Despite the fall of Spanish consumer confidence, many are still buying bags that cost more than the average salary. In fact, the local luxury brands actually grew 25 percent last year. The huge influx of Chinese, Japanese and Russian tourists looking to buy designer fashion and...

Costa del Sol could soon shed its reputation as a cheap package holiday destination.

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder. The local tourism board has launched a plan to market the coast as a luxury brand.This is because this market has bucked global trends by showing steady growth over recent years, according to Costa del Sol Tourism Board President, Elias Bendodo.“We know the economic crisis is very difficult, but we have also...

Thomas Willis, 57, was lifted in Estepona on the Costa del Sol after an international arrest warrant was issued in Scotland.

Willis has been evading authorities since 2000, when he was convicted of plotting to flood Glasgow with £500,000 of drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis.He was arrested in Spain with Briton Arnold Stagg, 78.Willis could be back in Scotland in a couple of weeks if he agrees to the terms of the arrest warrant.He will be taken to Madrid to appear before an investigating judge at the National Criminal Court, which handles extradition cases...

Whitney Houston Dead at 48

 Whitney Houston was found dead today in a Beverly Hills hotel room, the Los Angeles Times is reporting. Paramedics arriving at the Beverly Hilton found the singer's body.   While the cause of death is still unknown, Houston's publicist Kristen Foster has confirmed the sad news.  Houston had been scheduled to attend the annual pre-Grammy party of music mogul Clive Davis, the producer who discovered her, tonight and had attended...

British expats in Spain face the bulldozers once again

 British couple receives an order saying they must face the bulldozers although their home had planning permission from the local council in 2002 and has all of its necessaru paperworkArchive Photo AUAN British expatriates in Albox, a sm0all provincial town in Andalucía, Spain, faced an anxious New Year in 2010 after police served notice that their homes were to be bulldozed after their construction was declared illegal. Having overturned...

Spain cuts salaries of rescued bank bosses

 While debate continues to rage in the UK about bonuses, and bank bosses defend their payouts, their counterparts in Spain are taking a rather more pragmatic and popular approach Rodrigo Rato's position as a former boss of the International Monetary Fund and now one of Spain's senior bankers would normally put him among Europe's highest-paid financiers. But then his bank took money from the taxpayer so Rato has agreed to have his executive...

Spanish police arrest man convicted in the 2003 assassination of Serbia’s premier

 Spanish police have arrested three men, including one who had been a fugitive for five years after being convicted for the 2003 assassination of Serbia’s prime minister, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Friday. Vladimir Milisavljevic, Luka Bojovic and Sinisa Petric were arrested as they met in a downtown restaurant Thursday in the eastern coastal city of Valencia, the statement said. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? inShare (...

Number of British fatalities from Calpe Legionnaire's outbreak rises to three

 The number of British tourists to die after contracting legionnaire’s disease in a Calpe hotel has risen to three, aged between 73 and 78. Saga Holidays said the hotel concerned was the Diamante Beach Hotel in Calpe. The first person to die a 76 year old man, who died in intensive care at the Benidorm Clinic on Tuesday, and the second fatality was found in his room on January 31. News of the third fatality came this morning, but there are...

Spanair bankruptcy proves expensive for Baleares travellers

 The closure of Spanair has resulted in ticket prices soaring for those who want to travel between the Baleares and the mainland. Prices as high as 700 € have been see for a flight from Menorca to Madrid. For that price you could fly to Chicago. Most affected island is Menorca, given that from tomorrow it will have no direct flight to Madrid. A flight via Mallorca can cost as much as 1,000 € although residents on the islands would pay half...

Half of Spain “Addicted” to the Internet

 Nearly half of all Spaniards (45%) claim to “be addicted” to the internet, amongst them, the majority are women and youngsters between 18 and 34. The figures come from the “Nestea Study about the Internet and Social Networks”, carried out by the Sondea Institute. 2,618 people were interviewed throughout Spain. According to the study, the autonomous communities with the most “addicted” to the internet are people living in Navarra (65%), Balearic...