Welcome to Oculto Café – Cordoba’s infamous Satanic saloon.

 

GLASSES shoot across tabletops, busty vamps serve blood-red cocktails, and twisted locals raise a toast to an image of Aleister Crowley. Welcome to Oculto Café – Cordoba’s infamous Satanic saloon. The bar is situated in a maze of narrow, winding streets in the ancient ‘Old Town’ district. Stepping outside for a Marlboro, I scan my surroundings. It’s a chilly, moonlit night and the streets are deserted. Strain your ears, however, and you’ll hear muffled voices coming from dark balconies. It’s like a scene from Interview with the Vampire. As I re-enter, the room falls silent. A cross-eyed chap stares at me… well, I think it’s me… it’s hard to tell. Had my gothic guy-liner run, or had he caught a whiff of fresh meat? In this insular atmosphere, I feel as welcome as Gary Glitter at Tivoli World! Forget fruit machines and pool tables, it’s ouija boards and tarot cards that keep these punters amused. A little weakened, I seize a newspaper and hide in the corner. Alongside ads for ‘Black Angels’ and ‘Colombian Swallowers’, the classifieds are swarming with clairvoyants. I’m shocked! Isn’t Spain supposed to be a God-fearing country? But the truth is, up until the Inquisition (1478), Iberia was a hotbed of magic and sorcery. With the coming of Catholicism, however, mystics – including ‘witches’ and ‘healers’ were round-up and executed. For survival’s sake, Spaniards severed their ties with the ‘other side.’ Today, however, there is growing evidence that Spain is returning to its supernatural roots. Church-going is down (just 14.4%), and stories of Satanism are everywhere. In March 2011, an Almerian church was littered with satanic scrawls. Investigators claimed that the site had been used for a “black mass.” Tenerife’s Arona Cemetery has also been targeted by sinister cults. In 2008, graves were desecrated and animals sacrificed during “bizarre nocturnal rituals”. For sceptics, it’s easy to blame rebellious youth or drug-addicts for these atrocities. However, as someone who’s experienced dark forces – first hand – I try to keep an open mind. It all started in 2001 when I was filming a documentary at Devon’s Berry Pomeroy. In the castle grounds, I indivertibly captured an inhuman figure on camera.  Whilst replaying the footage to BBC colleagues, the office computers went wild. In 2009, I moved my family to a 15th century cottage on the West Pennine Moors. Unbeknown to us, our ‘dream house’ was built on a Quaker burial site. During our six-month stay – we endured stamping noises, icy chills and orbs zipping round the lounge. At night, the constant thumping would deprive us of sleep, and we’d trudge into work like a couple of zombies. However, my most recent spooking occurred right here in Andalucia. One evening, I watched a can of Asturiana cider move sideways, hover and then drop off the table! Earlier that day, an old drinking buddy had been buried in Devon – was this his final ‘chin-chin’? Whatever it was, it scared the bejesus out of my missus and she hasn’t slept properly since. Two weeks on, and we’re sitting in Oculto, trying not to blush at orgy paintings. After some Dutch courage, I enquire about a séance at the bar. A black-toothed midget points towards a battered wooden door. Timidly, I wander down the corridor and knock on wood. It’s opened by a raven-haired gypsy. She’s both beautiful and grotesque: Penelope Cruz’s mum meets the Bride of Chucky. Without speaking – she beckons me in with a long, black talon. With low ceilings, purple walls and an absence of windows – the room is claustrophobic and unsettling. Under flickering candlelight, the Victorian death portraits seem to eyeball you from the walls. But it’s the cold air and fetid stench that’s really sending shivers down my spine. The woman glides over to a monolithic Ouija board and orders me to sit. She lays out a clutch of cards, including The Hanged Man, The Fool, The Stig, Jeremy Clarkson, Dog the Bounty Hunter, The Archbishop of Canterbury and Boy George. Okay… I lied about Boy George – but it’s all the scary ones! Suddenly, my stomach churns and I shout ‘Stop!’ I apologise for wasting her time – but I’ve got the heebie-jeebies. A floating cider is hardly The Ring – so why risk opening a fresh can of worms? I chat to Jose, a Pepe Reina lookalike in his late 20s. Around us, weirdoes chuck darts at an image of the Pope (only joking….it’s Desmond Tutu!) Jose is erudite and speaks fine English. Over Osbourne brandies, I pose the question: “So….Are you a Satanist?” “Of course”! Jose replies: Usually, I’d grab my coat, but by now, I’m immune to the madness. After dispelling myths of “priest-beating” and “baby-eating”, Jose insists that Satanists are “Perfectly normal.” Apparently, the only difference is they choose “indulgence over abstinence’, and prefer “vengeance” to forgiveness. Oh…..and they enjoy kinky sex and coke-snorting – but hey… so does the cast of Skins. By 1am I’m craving a Horlicks and a late night snack. I thank Jose and wish him a “hell-of-a-life.” We leave Occulto and hot-foot it to the Corredera for a greasy kebab. After filling our faces, we clamber into a taxi. We’re only 10-minutes from the hotel – but I’m bloated on beer and lamb offal. Back at the room, Jose’s words haunt me. Having spent the last five hours binge-drinking, ogling rude pictures and eating crap – could I be accused of “indulgence”? If Christianity equals modesty, chastity and turning the other cheek, what about all those times I’ve bought designer togs, belted a thug or lusted over lesbians? Perhaps I’m more Satanic than I thought? By bedtime, I’d seen no demons, virgin sacrifices or people snacking on goats’ head soup. This said, not everyone was as friendly as Jose, and the yokels at the bar seemed quite menacing. I’ve yet to decide whether Satanists are ordinary folk – daring to be different, or psychopaths to be avoided at all costs. I DO know, however, that pentangles are not for me. For one – I like animals too much to put their heads on sticks – and secondly, I root for the “goodies” when it kicks off on Buffy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time at Occulto and found the experience enlightening. Whatever they are (or aren’t), there’s a pub full of them in Cordoba, and if you ever feel like taking a walk on the wild side, you know where to head.

Body found in boot of crashed car on Alicante motorway

 

Firemen called out to an accident on the A-31 Alicante-Madrid motorway early on Monday found an unidentified body in the boot of a car which had crashed into the central reservation at Sax and then burst into flames. The body was partially burnt but appears to be that of a man. Reports indicate that the deceased had been tied up and gagged. No other occupants were found at the site and the Civil Guard are now trying to identify the victim and the cause of death.

Boy, 17, shot in back in Poplar, east London

 

teenager has been shot in the back in east London. The 17-year-old boy was wounded in East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the early hours of the morning. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A 17-year-old male had a gunshot wound to the back and is in hospital in a serious condition." The attack happened just before 01:00 GMT, police said. Any witnesses to the shooting should call the Metropolitan Police.

Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates,

Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates, David Cameron announced today.

A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones.

The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become 'a complete stain on our world'.

He unveiled the measure after talks at a Commonwealth summit in Australia with leaders of countries in the Horn of Africa over the escalating problem faced in waters off their shores.

Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms laws.

Officials said around 200 ships were expected to be in line to take up the offer, which would only apply for voyages through particular waters in the affected region.

It is expected to be used by commercial firms, rather than private sailors such as hostage victims Paul and Rachel Chandler.

Pirates: There are around 50 ships currently being held hostage

 

Asked if he was comfortable with giving private security operatives the right to 'shoot to kill' if necessary, Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: 'We have to make choices.

'Frankly the extent of the hijack and ransom of ships round the Horn of Africa is a complete stain on our world.

'The fact that a bunch of pirates in Somalia are managing to hold to ransom the rest of the world and our trading system is a complete insult and the rest of the world needs to come together with much more vigour.

 

Two British tour operators who come to Spain go bust

 

Two British tour operators who bring tourists to Spain have gone bust. Romano Travel ceased operations on October 26, a day after Airborn Limited. Romano Travel specialized in package holidays to Spain and Turkey and had been operating for 30 years. There were no more than half of dozen or so pending bookings from the Buckinghamshire firm which was fully protected with an ATOL licence and was a member of ABTA. Airborn Limited operated as Airborn Direct and Holiday Hero, and was based in Romford, Essex. It sold packages to Spain, Cyprus and Turkey, and sold its products to other operators. The CAA says there are many clients who have purchased flights with the firm using a credit card, and these flights should be operating normally. If in doubt passengers can confirm with the airline.

Spain no longer the main destination for Brit's second homes

 

A new survey carried out by the HomeAway holiday rentals company and real estate group Savills International has concluded that Spain is no longer the first choice among the Brits for their second residence. 1,700 British property buyers were questioned. More Britons now prefer France because of its better economic stability and the moderation in its house prices. 40% of Brits who buy in Spain later rent out the property, sometimes obtaining an income of as much as 34,500 € a year, but 24% still say that Spain is the place they have chosen for retirement. Despite the change away from purchasing a second home, Spain continues to be the most popular holiday destination for the Brits. In France, Italy and Switzerland the British purchasers usually opt for restored old properties, while in the United States, Cyprus and also in Spain and Portugal, they tend to go for more modern or new constructions.

Malaga on the Mediterranean coast, in the Southern Spanish region of Andalucia, was the city you avoided

The city of Malaga on the Mediterranean coast, in the Southern Spanish region of Andalucia, was the city you avoided. An industrial port encircled by a tired ring of Franco-era low-rise apartment buildings, it was always the city tourists dashed by on their way to Torremolinos or Marbella further down the Costa Del Sol.

Being out of favor from the 1970s onwards – when torrid overbuilding ruined the Spanish coast – has served Malaga well, and the tired city around the old port has gone through a revival in recent years: The pedestrian-only squares and streets are washed clean, filled with a mix of fashionable shops selling Ermenegildo Zegna suits and Omega watches, and old men hawking lotto tickets and blanched Andalucian almonds wrapped in paper cones—all in the shadow of the city’s baroque cathedral where the 17th century choir stalls are carved from mahogany and cedar.

The city is still no great beauty, but its unpretentious charm stems from the fact it remains a middle-class working port. The first night I arrived I dined on a plate ofpata negra (thinly-cut slices of cured ham, with a rich marble of fat, made from black pigs that feed on acorns) and some grilled sea bream served with French-cut beans. As I drank my copa de vino tinto, contentedly observing the town’s life from the sidewalk café, a guitar-banging gypsy dashed by, twitchy as a heroin addict, followed by an old man selling to local tapas bars the snails slowly crawling the walls of his white bucket.

Two newly-opened institutions have greatly contributed to Malaga’s cultural revival. The crowd-puller is the Picasso Museum, and I am sure it is a lovely collection, but, in all honesty, I couldn’t bear to see yet another second-tier Picasso Museum. (The Spanish painter, for all his greatness, would have benefitted considerably from being a little less prolific.)

My interest was, however, very much piqued by the new museum housing the collection of Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kaszon.

The Thyssen family, dating back to the 17th century, famously made their fortune supplying the industrializing German state with steel. But they were also great collectors of art, and the late Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza aggressively added works to his father’s stacks of Old Masters until the family’s 1,600-strong collection became the second largest private art collection in the world, second only to the British Royal Family Collection.

Ranging from Hans Holbein to Edward Hopper, the collection was originally housed in the family’s Villa Favorita in Lugano, Switzerland. (The Thyssen family left Germany for Switzerland in the 1930s.) In the mid 1980s, however, the Swiss unwisely barred the baron from expanding his museum at Villa Favorita—they were unimpressed he wanted to show more of his collection to the public.

Enter Spain. In 1985 the baron married his 5th wife, Carmen Cervera, a former Miss Cataluna, just as his battle with Swiss small-mindedness was heating up. The Catalan beauty was instrumental in getting her husband to move his art collection to more flexible Spain, where it now sits in its own museum next to the Prado in Madrid.

But Baroness Carmen Thyssen herself began collecting in the late 1980s, all under her husband’s tutelage, and she focused on Andalucian art of the mid-19th to early 20th century. It was this collection, critically praised throughout Spain when it was first exhibited in the late 1990s, which was squirreled away in the newly-converted palace called the Museo CarmenThyssen Málaga.

The mid-19th century Andalucian works in the collection were largely painted for middle-class European tourists of the day who wanted to return to London and Paris with reminders of their Andalucian holidays. So the first floor of the museum is devoted to these so-calledColumbrista painters, and provides a panoply of chocolate box scenes of idealized Andalucian landscape romanticism: sultry gypsy dancers and battling bandoleros in mountain caves and young fishermen wooing flower girls.

But as the 19th century progresses, so does the sophistication of the paintings. Two paintings in particular stayed with me long afterwards: the dark Columbrista painting of 1851 by the Frenchman, Alfred Dehodencq, painted for the duke occupying the Palace of San Telmo. It’s of a procession through the town during Holy Week. Hooded monks, like an all-black vision of the Ku Klux Klan, are the candle-carrying advance guard of the Mater Dolorosa, and they walk a gauntlet of rapturous women in black mantillas. Powerful stuff.

Later, in 1867, the Spaniard Mariàno Fortuny Marsal painted a bullfight with quick, almost impressionistic brushstrokes that seems to foreshadow what is yet to come in the art world. Called Exquisite Realism, or the Précieux Style, the intense brushstrokes of the “Bullfight” give a blurry sense of speed and movement at the breath-holding moment when a gored picador is carried dying from the ring and another picador is trying to weaken the bull with the hard thrust of his lance. It’s hard to tell who is going to live or die, and it’s a very modern work, in a 19th century way.

Five arrested for road rage attack in Madrid

 

National Police have arrested five people, two of them underage, for a brutal road rage attack in a tunnel on the M-30 motorway in September. They were taken into custody after they were identified on video footage from security cameras in the tunnel. The aggressors were travelling in two vehicles on the evening of September 17, and were seen on film chasing another car into the tunnel, speeding ahead and cutting across it to bring it to a halt. The eight occupants of the two cars are then seen getting out of their vehicles and dragging the three people travelling in the third car out onto the roadway. They are beaten and kicked, and their car is vandalised. Some personal items were also stolen and one of the victims was stabbed in the back. The reason for the attack was because the victims had criticised their assailants for a dangerous manoeuvre a few kilometres previously. The Interior Ministry released news of the five arrests this week, and said the search continues to locate the three other suspects involved.

32 arrests in luxury car scam in Spain

 

National Police in Spain have arrested 32 people accused of stealing 25 vehicles worth over a million € from counties such as Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, to be sold on in Spain. The sale of the vehicles were helped by official dealers and the gang even had the collaboration of workers at several ITV/MOT centres which issued certificates to say the vehicles had no signs of being manipulated. The Ministry of the Interior says that the gang was made up mainly of Hungarians, Romanians and Spaniards, and the vehicles were sold on with false documents in dealers in Madrid, Santander, Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia, Alicante, Cuenca, Almería, Córdoba, Jaén and Granada.

Spain's first private airport goes bust

 

Spain’s first private airport has closed. The Ciudad Real Airport was opened in December 2008, considering that it could act as a Madrid overflow for residents in the south, but that just has not happened. The very last flight, operated by Vueling and with just 45 passengers, took off for Barcelona on Saturday at 2,45pm. The airline lasted less than a year at the Ciudad Real airport which has been dogged by bad luck from the start. It had problems with the environmental agency in 2005 as it is located in a special bird protection area, there were complaints that as much as 50% of the building works were illegal, it needed a continued supply of capital, and the intervention of the Bank of Spain in the CCM Castilla La Mancha savings bank revealed more irregularities. The airport closes with the company, CR Aeropuertos, owing its creditors more than 290 million €. It opened with debts of 1.7 million, and a poster declaring ‘Our dreams take off’, can still be seen in the Cuidad Real City Hall. The airport had hoped to attract seven million passengers a year, and managed to attract the airlines, Air Nostrum, Air Berlin and Vueling, with the attraction of a AVE high speed train station at its door, and one of the longest runways in Europe, but the facility never attracted more than 500,000 travellers in the first year. It was not long before some flights had more crew than passengers. There has been a rash of private airport projects in Spain, started during the economic boom, and there were six projects in total in Cataluña, Aragón, Valencia, Murcia, Andalucía and in Ciudad Real. Only one has opened, and today, has now closed for business.

Man stabs three people to death in Valencia

 

A man has stabbed three people to death and injured another two in a hamlet close to Valencia. It happened in Castellar-Oliverar to the south of the city on Friday night at about 9pm. A 48 year old is reported to be very seriously hurt and is in the intensive care unit of the La Fe Hospital. Another 44 year old man has injuries to his back and head, and is stable in the General Hospital. Two of the dead are father and his 13 year old son, while the third is a female pensioner. 33 year old local resident and neighbour to the dead and injured, named as J.P., has been arrested in connection with the triple homicide. Municipal sources say the man carried out his attacks in several flats connected to the stairway of his block after ringing the door bells. A local policeman then saw the man in the street, covered in blood, and asking what had happened. It seems that the case is linked to a dispute between the neighbours, and it is still unclear if the attacker is related in any way to the victims. Several neighbours have described him as ‘a normal man’ who was married and had a young daughter and who had never caused any problems.

Fresh appeal launched to find man living abroad accused of murdering Nantwich man

 

NEW appeal has been launched to capture a man wanted in connection with the murder of a Stapeley market trader. Christopher Guest More, 33, of Lymm, near Warrington, is one of 10 individuals wanted in the latest campaign being run by Crimestoppers and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). He is suspected to have been part of a gang involved in the torture and murder of market trader and cannabis farmer Brian Waters, who was killed in a barn in Tabley, near Knutsford, in June 2003. Three of his alleged accomplices, Otis Lee Matthews, James Stuart Raven and John Godfrey Wilson, received life sentences for their part in the brutal attack. More is also sought in connection with the attempted murder of Suleman Razak and for the alleged false imprisonment and assault of other victims present during the incident. It is believed he fled to Spain just 24 hours after the incident. The appeal is part of crime charity Crimestoppers’ ‘Operation Captura’ campaign, which is trying to locate wanted criminals abroad. Crimestoppers’ regional manager Gary Murray, said: “This extremely heinous crime saw an individual lose their life and the person responsible needs to be tried for their actions. “I’d urge anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers on our 0800 555 111 number or use our online form on our website – we guarantee your anonymity.” Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Smith said: “Eight years on, we still remain determined and committed to finding and arresting Christopher More for his alleged involvement in the brutal murder of Brian Waters. “Cheshire Police will not close this case until the family of Brian Waters sees justice done.”

Boland launches new radio station on same frequency as Heart

 

HEART FM bosses have denied any bad feeling after controversial DJ Maurice Boland took over their coastal frequency for a new radio venture. The self-styled ‘Mr Marbella’ has left the station and plans to launch his new business later this month. “As far as we are concerned he can have it, it was an amicable agreement,” owner Pat Jay told the Olive Press. But other sources have revealed that there has been ‘considerable tension’ over the fallout, which left Heart FM ‘retrenching’ back inland. “There have been various issues and Pat and husband Lee have been left shattered,” said a friend. Now Boland, 62 – who was sacked from his previous job at Talk Radio Europe (TRE) after an alleged affair with a teenager – is setting up a studio at Estepona’s Kempinski Hotel. According to sources, he has managed to acquire a retail space to work out of and claims to have some big backers. “He has been approaching presenters at other radio stations, but is not offering a lot of money,” said a source.

Thousands of Telefonica clients disconnected for 5 hours

 

THOUSANDS of Telefonica clients on the Costa del Sol were left without service for five hours. The problem, which affected clients in Marbella, Ronda, Casares and Estepona, last Friday was due to a fault with a commutation network system, and also caused minor problems in Malaga City. According to Telefonica, it affected 20 per cent of communications in Malaga province, however, it did not affect clients with smartphones, which account for 65 per cent of clients in the province. Consumer group Facua said compensation for this can amount to the average of the amount charged over the past three months or five times the monthly tariff calculated proportionately by the time the problem lasted.

Spanish town rushes to wed gays before election

 

Spanish town is offering gay couples fast-track marriages before a likely November election win by the conservative Popular Party, which opposes same-sex marriage. The mayor of the small southwestern town of Jun, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, said he offered the service across Spain after hearing from gay couples fearing a change in the law after the November 20 vote. “People are very afraid, they are starting to realise that there could be a real change and they will lose a hard-fought right,” the Socialist mayor told AFP. “I felt it was important to reassure people and find a way so that people who want to get married could do so,” he said. Rodriguez said the town had received 52 requests from same-sex couples wanting to be married in the past week after he announced on Twitter he would offer speedy gay marriages before the general election. The town of just over 4,000 residents carried out just 11 same-sex marriages during all of 2010. The wedding applications are handled entirely online in about five days, complete with marriage certificate delivered by e-mail. The mayor said he had made the town’s park available for wedding ceremonies but the vast majority of couples opt for the electronic marriage and would not need to set foot in Jun. Under Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain has been on the vanguard of Europe in terms of gay rights. In 2005 — a year after Zapatero was first elected — Spain passed a law to allow same-sex marriages, making it only the third member of the European Union after Belgium and the Netherlands to do so. The law, part of the ruling Socialists’ aggressive agenda for social reform, also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each other’s property. Since then more than 20,000 gay couples have tied the knot. The conservative Popular Party, which is riding high in the polls, has appealed the gay marriage law to Spain’s Constitutional Court. Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy has pledged to reform the same-sex marriage law if elected but as the general election has neared he has stressed that any legislative action will come only after the court issues its ruling. Polls show two-thirds of Spaniards back same-sex marriage, one of the highest levels of support in Europe.

Choose your petrol station carefully in Malaga Province

 

UP to €4.50 can be saved be choosing the cheapest petrol station to fill up. The average price per litre for unleaded petrol in Malaga Province is now up to €1.34, 13 per cent more than the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and the highest in the whole of Spain. Diesel is €1.29 on average, 16 per cent more than October 2010. The cheapest place to fill up with 95 octane is Distreax-22, Velez-Malaga, at €1.29 per litre. The most expensive place to fill up with 95 octane is E.S. El Torcal, Villanueva de la Concepcion (Malaga), at €1.38 per litre. The cheapest place to fill up with diesel is Galp, Antequera, at €1.24 per litre. The most expensive place to fill up with diesel is Cepsa, Manilva at €1.31 per litre.

British man arrested with contraband tobacco in Cádiz

 

Guardia Civil has arrested a British man on the quay at Cádiz port after 5,800 cartons of contraband tobacco from the canaries were found in a false bottom of the van he was driving. A statement was released from the Guardia Civil saying the arrest took place last Monday when searches were carried out on vehicles which had arrived from the Canaries. The unit from the UAR, the Risks Analysis Unit, which is made up jointly by the Guardia Civil and the Agencia Tributaria, earmarked the van for an exhaustive inspection. They found the cigarettes behind wooden panels in the van which had been placed on the floor walls and even the ceiling of the vehicle. The arrested man has been named as 39 year old G.M.H. from Liverpool. He will appear before the Instruction Court Four in Cádiz.

Nine arrested for growing marihuana inside a luxury property in Zaragoza

 

Nine people have been arrested and 2,500 marihuana plants recovered from a luxury villa in a village of Zaragoza. The electrical installation to heat and supply light to the plants used as much power as 50 homes, and an illegal connection had been established to the grid. The facility had the capacity to produce 1,500 kilos of cannabis a year and had been established following the ‘Holland Model` of optimising plant growth by controlling the hours of light the plants receive. The chalet was found in Caspe, Zaragoza, and the nine arrested are accused of distributing all types of drugs including cocaine, hashish, amphetamine, methamphetamine and marihuana to bars and clubs in Tarragona. The swoop is the result of investigations which started five months ago. Six searches were carried out in different homes in Caspe, Tortosa, Amposta and Santa Bárbara where 40 grams of cocaine and different amounts of speed and crystal were recovered along with 11,500 € in cash.

A PLANNED bid for freedom by Melbourne identity Tony Mokbel has been sensationally scrapped.

Tony Mokbel is expected to use a legal loophole to try to beat charges against him. Supplied

Mokbel was expected to use a police stuff-up to try to get off drug charges he has already admitted.

Police sources yesterday revealed that Mokbel's lawyers would try to use a legal loophole to beat charges against the notorious gangland boss.

Mokbel would have been the first of many criminals and suspects hoping to take advantage of a recent admission by Victoria Police that officers routinely failed to swear an oath when signing affidavits.

The embarrassing blunder could render any evidence gained from affidavits used to execute search warrants, bug telephones or install listening and tracking devices unable to be used in prosecutions.

The legal team was expected to seek an adjournment in the sentencing process to allow it to check the veracity of documents used by Victoria Police to gather evidence against Mokbel.

But Mokbel's lawyer Peter Faris QC appeared before the Supreme Court this morning and said they no longer wished to proceed with an application for an adjournment.

No reason was given for the change of plans.

A plea hearing for Mokbel will now go ahead on Tuesday.

Mokbel, 45, pleaded guilty in April to drug charges relating to him masterminding his drug gang while he was on the run in Victoria and Greece.

Bugging and tracking his phones enabled Purana taskforce detectives to work out where Mokbel had fled to - resulting in him being arrested in the Definia seaside cafe near Athens in 2007 after 15 months on the run.

Forensic accountants attached to Purana were able to establish that Mokbel made about $100 million through his gang, which he called The Company.

Company members were involved in the manufacture and distribution of very large quantities of amphetamines and trafficking ecstasy and cocaine.

The Company was formed largely to finance Mokbel's escape from Australia and pay for his life as a fugitive in Australia and Greece.

In a deal between his lawyers and prosecutors, outstanding drug charges were dropped in return for him pleading guilty to trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, trafficking a large commercial quantity of ecstasy and urging an undercover operative to import a commercial quantity of ecstasy.

His fear of being charged over one or more underworld murders prompted him to disappear near the end of his March 2006 drug trial.

He fully expected to be convicted on the cocaine smuggling charge, telling close associates he would cop it and do the five years he expected to be jailed for.

What he couldn't stomach was the thought of a life sentence for murder.

He was sentenced in his absence to a nine-year minimum term from the 2006 drug trial. With time served before sentencing, he would be eligible to be released in February 2014.

FORMER policeman lived the high life in Marbella by running a £300million VAT fraud

 

 – the biggest ever uncovered in the UK. Nigel Cranswick, 47, tried to cheat the taxman by claiming back tax on £2billion worth of bogus sales made by his mobile phone firm I2G. The “phenomenal” turnover was generated in eight months, HMRC said. Advertisement >> Meanwhile Cranswick lived it up in his rented villa in Marbella. “Despite this phenomenal turnover... I2G operated from a small office in Sheffield,” HMRC said. The scam was smashed after a five-year police probe, Newcastle crown court was told. Cranswick, from Sheffield, admitted conspiracy to cheat HMRC, as did accomplices Brian Olive, 56, of Doncaster, and Darren Smyth, 42, from Rotherham. Claire Reid, 45, also from Rotherham, admitted false accounting. The four will be sentenced next month

Man arrested in connection with body found on Marbella roadside

 

A man has been arrested in connection with the death of the 15 year old Moroccan whose body was found by the roadside between Marbella and Ronda. The arrested man lives on a nearby finca to where the body was found, and has claimed that the 15 year old was continuously stealing from him. Government Sub Delegate for Málaga, Hilario López Luna, said that the National Police arrested the Spaniard on Tuesday. The 15 year old Moroccan is known to have had a police record. The arrested man said that he surprised the Moroccan on his land and shot him in the face with a shotgun. He then moved the body to the roadside. He is expected to appear in court shortly.

National police officers suspended the search for the two children who went missing on Saturday in Cordoba, Spain.

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  Photo: EFE. 

 

The children, Ruth and José Bretón Ruiz aged six and two respectively, went missing at around 18:40 on Saturday while playing in a park just in the outskirts of Cordoba. They were with their father when they vanished. He claimed that they vanished when he lost sight of them for an instant.

The children, who usually live with their mother in Huelva, travelled to Cordoba with their father on Friday. The parents are currently in the midst of separation proceedings.

The search was concentrated on an area around the rio Guadalquivir but no trace of the children was found.

Forensic experts from Madrid and Sevilla are also analysing samples taken at the home of children’s paternal grandfather, where the father has been living since the start of separation procedures.

On Sunday, the mother of the children filed a complaint of psychological abuse against the father. The complaint apparently only related to marital issues as the children were not named in the complaint.

I was set up, former chief of the National Police in Ronda claims

 

former chief of the National Police in Ronda claims that he was accused in the police corruption case because people wanted to “bring him down”. Nine people are accused in the case which is currently being tried in Malaga. They include three other National Police officers and a Guardia Civil. The hearing was initially planned in March last year but was suspended after the defence for one of the accused asked to know the identity of some of the protected witnesses to carry out tests. This was agreed, but the trial was postponed on two other occasions. There are 60 witnesses, many whose identities are protected. Malaga Public Prosecutor is asking for a total of 39 years for the five officers who allegedly failed to investigate prostitution and drugs sales at brothels in the area from which they are accused of demanding money and sex in exchange for not going ahead with deportation orders for the illegal immigrants working there between 2003 and 2007. Three club managers were charged with prostitution, and another man who allegedly accompanied the officer with influence peddling. He is said to have boasted about his relationship with the police and an affair with the local judge. The Internal Affairs investigation led to the arrests of the officers and the other people between February and May 2007. The former National Police chief visited the brothels and, like the others, allegedly had drinks and sexual favours which he never paid for, and was also accused of helping an illegal immigrant who worked in a care home in exchange for sex. The prosecution believes that another one of the National Police rented a house to one of the brothel owners for the girls to stay in and tipped them off about possible raids. The former police chief claims in court that the whole case is a set-up organized by people he had arrested or had problems with in the past, including other officers, and says he never failed in his duty, nor abused his position to obtain sex or anything else. He does admit to having had a consenting relationship with a protected witness who he claims demanded money from him and went to his wife after they split up. He says he regrets this, but that it was the only thing he has done wrong.

Possible Drug Connection Moroccan teenager found dead on a roadside in Marbella

 

The National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old Moroccan boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. Despite the identification from finger prints there is no report of a missing person. It’s thought that his body could have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it passed the access road to the La Quinta urbanisation. The body, which was dressed in sports gear, was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death. However reports indicate that he had suffered shotgun wounds to the face.

British man mugged in La Línea

 

Local police in La Línea de la Concepción have reported that last Sunday they arrested three local men, 17 year old J.Z.B., 20 year old L.M.L.F. and 22 year old J.R.P. in connection with a robbery with violence. The police were patrolling the Calle Gibraltar in the town at 0630am close to a discotec, when they were approached by an 18 year old British man who told them that his father was being beaten up in the Princesa Sofía park. On their arrival at the scene they saw a 63 year old British man on the ground, with injuries to his face and body. They called the health services and were told by the victim how three youngsters had attacked him and stolen his mobile phone, passport and tobacco. Local police informed the National Police and a search of the area found the three in the Bellavista district. Once back at the police station the three are reported to have confessed and the stolen items were found in their pockets.

alleged members of an organized network trafficking with weapons and drugs were arrested in Granada.

All the detainees are Spanish and are aged between 35 and 45.

The operation began several months ago focused on locating illegal weapons which had allegedly been sold by the network. The police also found sophisticated cannabis greenhouses where more than 2,000 plants were seized. The electrical supply to the greenhouses had been obtained illegally.

Thirteen properties in Granada province were searched, and more than €130,000 in cash, as well as 14 firearms, ammunition, and four high range vehicles were seized.

Polish woman arrested in Marbella for murder

 

POLISH woman was arrested in Marbella for her alleged involvement in a murder in Valencia in August 2009. The victim was Djordje Kenecevic, who was shot and burned inside his car in Almussafes (Valencia). The 49-year-old woman, identified as Danuta G.K. but also known as Renate B. and other identities, was arrested on the Palm Beach urbanization in Marbella. She had been identified as a suspect some months ago but was only located in Malaga last week after using one of her false identities to travel within Europe. She is a known drug smuggler and was wanted by the German authorities, according to press reports. She was set free with charges of covering up the murder, but later taken to prison under the orders of the National Court as there is also a request for extradition to Germany. The extradition process will have to wait, as the crime which she will have to respond for in Spain is more serious and carries a longer sentence. Djordje Kenecevic is believed to have been killed by members of the gang he belonged to. Most of them, like him, were sailors who took advantage of their work with Europe’s main shipping company to transport packages with up to five kilos of cocaine between European ports. The detainee is considered to have been one of the leaders of the organization, and is the second person arrested in this case.

Bank manager arrested for robbing his own bank

 

Bank manager has been arrested in Vitoria after trying to rob his own branch. The man arranged for his brother to attack the bank, but things immediately went wrong when several people saw the brother putting on a wig and false moustache sitting in a car round the corner from the bank, and alerted the authorities. The man then left the bank by car but was found later by the police who found a wig, beard, moustache and false teeth in a bag he was carrying, along with gloves and a fake pistol. The car he was driving was found to belong to the bank manager, his brother. When the police asked the bank manager what had happened he initially said that a man had come into the bank to ask about several products and left shortly after, but other clients and employees said that it was ‘evident that the man was in disguise’. Both men have been arrested by the Basque regional police, la Ertzaintza, who said that the brothers came up with the idea because of the financial difficulties they were in. The arrests took place on Friday, but the Basque Government interior department only released news on Monday. The 60 and 53 year old are accused of attempted robbery with intimidation and will appear in court shortly.

Moroccan teenager found dead on a roadside in Marbella

 

National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old Moroccan boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. Despite the identification from finger prints there is no report of a missing person. It’s thought that his body could have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it passed the access road to the La Quinta urbanisation. The body, which was dressed in sports gear, was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death. However reports indicate that he had suffered shotgun wounds to the face.

Family mourns man's death in Spain

 

family has been left "devastated" after a young father died while on holiday in Spain. Chris Lindsay was staying in Calahonda, between Marbella and Fuengirola, when he died on Friday. His brother told a newspaper that the 34-year-old was found unconscious in the street with cuts and bruises and his passport missing. He is thought to have died of liver and kidney failure. Mr Lindsay had become a father three months ago. His brother, Tony Lindsay, 38, from Edinburgh, told the newspaper: "We don't know who found him but he had been unconscious in the street and his passport was missing. There was bad bruising down his right-hand side and cuts on his knees and elbows. He had certainly been in a fight. "All we can say for sure is that he ended up dead." Mr Lindsay's father, Harry Lindsay, from Airdrie in Lanarkshire, told the newspaper he was "absolutely devastated". Mr Lindsay is believed to have travelled to Spain with colleagues from the Marketing Company, based in Glasgow. A company spokeswoman said she had "no comment at all". A Foreign office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Spain on October 7. We are providing consular assistance to the family."

Spain's fifth biggest bank, Banco Popular, said on Monday its takeover offer for smaller rival Banco Pastor has been accepted

 

Spain's fifth biggest bank, Banco Popular, said on Monday its takeover offer for smaller rival Banco Pastor has been accepted by the target bank's majority shareholders. Their agreement effectively seals the all-share deal, worth a reported 1.36 billion euros ($1.8 billion), the latest step in the restructuring of Spain's financial sector following the collapse of a property bubble in 2008. The three major Banco Pastor shareholders representing a combined 52.28 percent of the equity "have accepted the terms of the offer," Banco Popular said in a statement. The three shareholders are corporate foundation Fundacion Pedro Barrie de la Maza with 42.17 percent, Amancio Ortega, who owns the textile giant Inditex, with 5.06 percent and Tesalia with 4.04 percent. Banco Popular announced Friday it was in talks with Banco Pastor, one of five Spanish banks that in July failed European Union stress tests to assess the ability of lenders to withstand a prolonged recession. "It was very unlikely that Banco Pastor could survive given its strong exposure to the property sector and its resulting high level of bad debts, but also its reduced size and weak capital base," Spanish retail bank Bankinter said in a research note. Banco Pastor hopes to complete the deal by early next year. It said it may carry out a convertible bond issue of around 700 million euros to maintain its solvency ratio at 9.6 percent. "It is likely that there will be more concentrations in the sector, but this will take place slowly," said Fernando Hernandez, a fund manager at Spanish brokerage Inversis. The Bank of Spain and the government have put pressure of Spanish banks to merge so as to lower costs and strengthen their balance sheets to cope with bad loans that piled up after the 2008 property market collapse. The financial restructuring has already cut the number of savings banks from 45 to 15 through a series of mergers. Banco Pastor and Banco Popular shares were suspended from trading on Friday when they announced the takeover was being discussed. The offer consists of: -- 1.115 new Banco Popular shares in exchange for each Banco Pastor share. Based on the latest Banco Popular share price, that would value Banco Pastor's outstanding shares at 1.08 billion euros. -- 30.9 new Banco Popular shares for each mandatory convertible bond in Banco Pastor. According to the daily El Pais, this part of the offer is worth another 277 million euros. Hernandez said the deal would allow Banco Pastor "to get out of a delicate situation and move to a more normal situation. "But for Banco Popular, even if they gain market share, they will introduce more risk to their balance sheets through greater exposure to the property sector," he added. Banco Pastor shares jumped 21.05 percent at 3.68 euros in mid-afternoon trade while Banco Popular shed 1.21 percent at 3.522 euros. Banco Popular had total assets worth 130 billion euros ($174 billion) at the end of last year, compared to 31 billion euros for Banco Pastor.

British Ambassador encourages cooperation between social services and English speaking charities

 

As part of his visit to Murcia, the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, attended a workshop with local English speaking charities and social services to help improve the support offered to vulnerable British nationals living in the area. As the British population in Murcia has increased tenfold since 2002, all parties were keen to get together and discuss how working together could help them to better support vulnerable and elderly British nationals. The workshop, part of the Alicante Consulate’s ConeXiones programme, was the first of its kind in Murcia, and was organised with the help of YoVoluntario, the Murcia regional government volunteer support organisation. The Ambassador was able to see the local English speaking charities find out from social services exactly what was help was available and also discuss how they could work together in the future. They all agreed that it is vital for British nationals to be registered on the padrón in their local towns as without this, they cannot access social services assistance. Leopoldo Navarro Quilez, the head of Yo Voluntario, started the event by explaining to the local associations what support Yo Voluntario can offer and also how to ensure that they are legally registered in Spain. He encouraged people to use the resources that are available in Spain and thanked them for their hard work in supporting British nationals. During his talk at the event, the Ambassador said: “I am delighted to launch ConeXiones in From left to right, The Ambassador, the President of the Region of Murcia, the British Consul and the Regional Councillor for Tourism Murcia. The rapid increase in British population in the last decade has meant that it is essential that there is an adequate support network. It is impressive to see representatives from social services from all the main town halls where there is a significant population working hand in hand with British and Spanish charities to support those who are in need.” As this is the first time that the Ambassador has visited the Region of Murcia, he also took the opportunity to meet with the President of the Region to discuss issues around property and the new airport that is being built. Additionally, he met with the Honorary Consul in Murcia, Antonio Berdonces, and the Delegado del Gobierno for Murcia where they discussed the location of the Honorary Consulate and contingency planning. Charities that attended the ConeXiones event included Age Concern Costa Cálida, MABS Murcia, Royal British Legion, Help at Home and Help Mar Menor. From the Spanish side, Caritas and Cruz Roja attended as well as social workers from the key town halls where British nationals live, such Mazarrón , Los Alcazares and San Javier.

Belgian pensioner jailed for wife's death in Calpe

 

80 year old man from Belgium was remanded to custody on Monday after his 78 year old wife was found dead at their home in Calpe on Saturday. The Civil Guard found him next to his wife’s lifeless body at the couple’s home on the Carrió urbanisation on Saturday afternoon after a phone call from the man’s son saying that his father had confessed by telephone to killing his mother. She was also from Belgium and her body was found lying on the floor with a serious wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services who were called out to the couple’s home. The husband was found to have minor injuries, which he appears to have sustained after attempting to commit suicide after killing his wife. The accused took up his right to refuse to answer any questions when he was interviewed by the judge on Monday, although Diario Información indicates that the 80 year old confessed to the Civil Guard on Sunday that he had killed his wife during an argument. There has been no confirmation as yet of any previous history of domestic violence.

54 immigrants intercepted by the Spanish authorities

 

54 immigrants were intercepted by the Spanish authorities on two patera small boats close to Motril and Adra on Saturday night. Most of those rescued were adult Moroccans, but it has not been ruled out that some are under age. The Red Cross reports that all are in good health. The Motril boat was carrying 24 males, 21 Moroccans and three from the Sub-Sahara. They were taken into Motril port where they arrived at 0410 Sunday morning. The other boat was intercepted 7.5 miles to the SE of Adra, and was carrying 30 male Moroccans.

Two children missing from Córdoba

 

search is underway for a brother and sister, aged 6 and 2, Ruth and José Bretón Ruiz, who vanished from a park in Córdoba on Saturday afternoon. The children were in the Cruz Conde park in the city with their father, and since then there has been no sign. Police say they are keeping all options open after taking statements from the parents who are in the process of separation, and after the mother denounced psychological ill-treatment on Sunday. The mother is from Huelva where the coupled lived until a month ago, when they decided to end their relationship. The father is from Córdoba and the first news of the missing children came at 1840 on Saturday. He claimed that they vanished when he lost sight of them for an instant.

Teenager found dead on a roadside in Marbella

 

The National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. His exact nationality has not yet been released, although it is known that he is not Spanish. The body was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death.

British man arrested on Tenerife with 34 heroin capsules in his body

 

34 year old British man has been arrested at the Los Rodeos Tenerife North Airport after found to be carrying 75 capsules of heroin inside his body. News has just been released of the arrest which took place last Wednesday afternoon, and a statement from the Guardia Civil says the total weight of the drug recovered was 913 grams. Apparently when stopped by customs officials on arrival from the Spanish mainland, suspicions were raised when the Briton was unable to give a clear explanation as to the reason for his visit to Tenerife. The man, who has not been named in reports, was subjected to medical and police surveillance in the Canaries Universitario Hospital until all the capsules had been passed. That was checked by x-ray.

Sponsored walk for missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick

 

SPONSORED walk for missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick was held recently to show that she is not forgotten. The walk was 20 kilometres from Sinatra’s Bar in Puerto Banus to Harmon’s Irish Bar in Elviria. Amy was 15 when she disappeared from Mijas Costa on January 1, 2008 when walking home from a friend’s house. At the time she had dark hair, was very slim, 1.65m tall, with big blue eyes. She is Irish but had lived in Spain for many years. For more information, contact Audrey and Dave on missingamy@live.co.uk.

Peter Bibby on the run while other boiler room crooks get jailed

 

Seven crooks who ran an £8million boiler room scam flogging worthless shares in a supposedly successful bio-diesel enterprise have been jailed for a total of 39 years. Worldwide Bio Refineries was portrayed by coldcallers as a fantastic investment, turning vegetable waste into fuel, but it was a dormant company with just £20 in its bank account. The Serious Fraud Office says: "The share-selling was undertaken by salesmen working from a number of boiler rooms in Marbella and Barcelona although many of them used false names and claimed to be calling from offices Frankfurt, Stockholm or Amsterdam. "The business prospects of the company and the bio-diesel market were inflated by WBR's directors and the salesmen, who claimed that substantial international business was being done and that the business's shares were valued at £110 million. "Investors believed that their investment in a successful bio-diesel enterprise would net them significant short term returns, bolstered by claims that WBR was to be floated on the stock market which would result in a significant increase in share value. These claims were bogus. "The reality was that the UK bio-diesel plant produced no output and, with only limited imports coming from a Singapore plant, WBR was not being managed with any intention of it becoming a growing commercial success generating profits from sales of bio-diesel. WBR was simply a vehicle for fraud." At Ipswich Crown Court, Dennis Potter of Singapore, born April 1939, was jailed for seven years. Redmond "Ray" Charles Johnson of Tyne and Wear, born September 1944, got three years. From Marbella, Steven John Murphy, born in February 1976 and Greg Pearson, born August 1973, both got six years inside. From Hertfordshire, Paul Daniel Murphy, born in September 1973 got six years and Lee Eliot Homan, born in July 1972, got five years and six months. Peter Bibby from south London, born in September 1967 is on the run. He was sentenced in absentia to six years. Serious Fraud Office director Director Richard Alderman said, "I am very pleased with the sentences in this case which reflect the callous way the criminals preyed on their victims." Potter and Johnson were associates of Alternative Diesel Investments, run by Robert Alan Scott and an earlier "completely fraudulent" operation.

pregnant woman murdered while attending Mass

 

A madman shot two women attending Mass at a Catholic church in the Ciudad Leal district of Madrid on September 29. It was approximately 8 pm when Iván Berral Cid (34) entered the Santa María del Pinar parish church and without a word opened fire on the two innocent women, killing one and severely wounding the other. After commiting the crime, Berral Cid shot himself thus ending his own life. According to reports, Berral Cid had meticulously planned the attack following a June 2011 restraining order to stay away from his former companion, a Colombian woman. He had a considerable criminal record, including drug trafficking, domestic abuse, and resisting arrest. However, no record of psychiatric treatment has yet been reported. His former companion is expecting a child. It is believed that his obsession with his former girlfriend, coupled with other psychological issues, led him to take action at the church after he had spent months living on the street. Some members of the congregation believe that they may have seen him before the fatal attack. According to witnesses, Berral Cid had been haunting the church all day on September 28. One witness said that Berral Cid asked him at 6:45 that evening at what time Mass was expected. The killer entered and left the church several times during the recitation of the Rosary before the Mass.  The parish priest, Fr Francisco Santos, said that Berral Cid was acting strangely and also asked him at what time the Mass would begin. Witnesses said that moments before the Mass began, Berral Cid entered the church with pistol in hand. While raising the pistol, he grazed the head of a 72-year-old man waiting for the Mass and then put the muzzle to the temple of the unsuspecting expectant mother thus ending her life and of her baby. Rocio Pineiro (36) fell dead to the floor as Berral Cid advanced towards the altar as he fired wildly. Another bullet struck 52–year-old María Luis Fernández in the chest, and at least another struck the ceiling of the church. Witnesses said that in what seemed like a bizarre ritual, the killer stalked towards the sanctuary and at about six feet from the altar spun around to face the congregation whereupon he sank to his knees. Fixing his gaze on the congregation and the entry into the church, Berral Cid placed the muzzle of the pistol in his mouth, pulled the trigger and blew his head off. Panic ensued after members of the congregation had appeared transfixed during the carnage. Some flew out the door to seek help while others rang for the police and emergency services with their cellphones.  “My daughter, my daughter!” wailed María del Carmen, the mother of the dead woman who was due to deliver her baby within days. Emergency services were unable to revive Rocio, whose head was destroyed by the impact of the pistol’s discharge.  “Save at least my grandson, Alvaro!” cried María del Carmen. Physicians at the La Paz Hospital were able to save little Alvaro, who remains in critical condition.  Rocio and her mother had come to the church to pray for the health of the baby, having just celebrated the patronal feast of their hometown in Galicia. Members of the congregation sought help for Fernández, who fell bleeding to the floor of the church. One man tried to staunch the blood flowing from her breast as Fernández fell in and out of consciousness.  When she asked what had happened to her, Jesus Herranz told her that she was fine even as blood drained from the exit wound on her back. Fernández said that she felt cold as Herranz tried to stop the bleeding. Finally, emergency services arrived and took her to a nearby hospital. Police found in the killer’s wallet a handwritten note in which he claimed that the “devil is after me” and that he had no work or money for food. Rocio and her husband Fernando had been married for barely 5 months. Her family and friends were overcome with grief and confusion following the attack. Neither she nor the other victim knew the killer nor each other. Some witnesses are concluding that Berral Cid was looking to kill a pregnant woman as a form of demented rage actually directed towards his girlfriend. Rocio worked at a bank in Madrid,  a branch of which also employed her father. Upon hearing the news, her father fainted away in grief. Her mother, Maria del Carmen, had come to Madrid to help with preparations for the birth.

Man dies in shoot out in Alicante City Centre

 

One person has died and three have been seriously injured in a shoot out in the centre of Alicante. The 30 year old dead man is one of some thieves who got involved in the shoot out with the police after attacking a jewellers shop in Avenida Alfonso X el Sabio. Witnesses said that between 15 and 20 shots were fired. Another one of the thieves was arrested after a police chase as far as Canalejas, and a third managed to stay on the run until the early hours of Sunday when he was finally detained. Police say that the robbers were armed with shotguns, a hand grenade and a sub-machine gun, and all are French and aged between 24 and 61. They were all dressed entirely in black with gloves, balaclavas and bullet-proof vests. The three injured people are passersby who happened to be close to the jewellers at the time of the incident at 2030 on Saturday night. One is a 51 year old woman who was shot in her left hip and has been taken to the San Juan Hospital, and the other two injuries are male, a 63 year old with an injury to his back and another, aged 23 who was hit in the wrist. They have also both been taken to Alicante hospital.

Spain's fishy practices cast shadow on seas

 

Some quotes stay with you forever. One that's stayed with me came from Rafael Centenera, a general assistant director in Spanish fisheries ministry, when I interviewed him in Vigo, Europe's busiest fishing port, in 2007. "For sure we are friends of fish," he said. "But still more, we are the friends of fishermen." The reason these 16 words have stayed with me is that they encapsulate perfectly the approach to managing fisheries that has held sway for many years in most of Europe and indeed much further afield. What it implies is that a bit of restraint and conservation is fine - so long as it doesn't get in the way of fishermens' profits. What that stance implies in Spain has been laid out more clearly than ever in a new report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). According to their analysis, Spanish fishing has been subsidised to the tune of 5.8bn euros ($7.8bn, £5bn) since 2000. Those subsidies have spanned the scrapping of old boats and the building of new ones, and just about everything in between. And the number is so high that one in every three fish landed by Spanish boats is paid for in subsidy, ICIJ calculates. European fisheries are a tangled business To anyone who's familiar with the issues, the findings won't come as any surprise; but it is nevertheless striking to have the scale of the subsidies laid out so starkly. Incidentally, on that same trip to Vigo, everyone connected with the industry claimed there were no subsidies, that everything had been ended. One skipper then undermined the case by telling me how little he had to pay for his diesel. The website fishsubsidy.org has also documented the scale of public support across the EU. The world's fishing fleets are just too big, a number of reports have concluded Among other things, it has produced a list of vessels that were first subsidised in renovation, and then in destruction. In one Spanish example, money was awarded to the boat Mikel Deuna Primero for modernisation. Just 17 days later, more money was allocated for scrapping it. The ICIJ report also mentions that fishermen found guilty of fraud or other offences have continued to receive subsidies. And this theme is taken up in another new report, this time from Greenpeace. It concludes that a single family of fishing barons has amassed about 16m euros in subsidies, despite a series of arrests and convictions for offences such as smuggling, illegal shark-finning and falsifying records. Maria Damanaki, Europe's fisheries commissioner who's leading moves to reform the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), says the accusations are being investigated. World leader Spain isn't the only country that supports its fishing industry with subsidies that in theory do not exist. Ernesto Penas Lado, director of policy and enforcement at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, tells the ICIJ: "Spain has earned its bad reputation; the problem is others don't have the reputation, and deserve it just as much." But if European fisheries are to be put on a sustainable footing, Spain is the key nation. That's partly because it operates by far the bloc's largest fleet, and partly because it traditionally leads the process of political lobbying designed to ensure that authorities prioritise fishermen (at least, the big industrial companies that organise the lobbying) above fish in their hierarchy of friendship. But there's a huge disconnect here; because ultimately, keeping fishing at unsustainable levels is anything but friendly to fishermen. Fishing methods have moved on - but regulation appears stuck in the dark ages As the World Bank made clear a few years ago in its Sunken Billions report, the huge overcapacity of the world's fleets actually make the industry much less profitable, with about $50bn being poured into the sea every year. Cutting the overcapacity and allowing stocks to recover will in the end make for a financially healthier proposition. That's a reality that the authorities in Spain (and other countries) have routinely ignored. The situation has barely changed in years, with changes wrought in long-term management plans for species such as cod just a drop in the ocean. CFP reform - due to be completed in 2013 - is the biggest opportunity to put things right that there has been in years, and the biggest there is likely to be for many more. Yet pressure for reform from the "usual suspects" such as Greenpeace frankly appears unlikely to bring about major change, because the pressure has been there for years and has pushed governments only a small distance. So what might make a difference? One window of opportunity could be the financial mess in which Spain finds itself - not on the scale of Greece, but mentioned whenever the "who's next after Greece?" question gets asked. Some of its economic indicators are around the European average, but 20% unemployment is anything but - the highest in the bloc, in fact. If research is showing that cutting fishing capacity would increase revenues, why not demand Spain trims its industrial fleet as a condition for economic aid? If that brings just one of the World Bank's sunken billions into Spanish ports every year, that's one less billion the rest of the eurozone would have to find. The other window is surely provided by that unemployment figure. An industry that favours big industrialised fleets with a powerful lobby over small-scale, artisanal operations is inherently less sustainable from an ecological point of view, because fishermen who do not have the capacity to move somewhere else when stocks are depleted are more likely to look after their fishing grounds. It's also much worse socially. Globally, artisanal fishing snares less than half the world's total catch, yet provides 90% of the jobs. So a switch from large-scale industrialised fleets to small-scale localised effort would create employment, as well as increasing the chances of creating a more sustainable industry - which in turn means more profits down the line. Sounds like a way to be a better friend to both fish and fishermen; but don't hold your breath.