Spain nationalises three more savings banks

 Spain’s official bank rescue fund has nationalised three more struggling savings banks, valuing them even lower than their directors’ worst expectations of only a few weeks ago, according to the Bank of Spain and private bankers. Miguel Angel Fernández Ordóñez, governor of the Bank of Spain, said on Friday that the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring or Frob was spending €4.75bn on recapitalising the banking operations of NovaCaixaGalicia (NCG),...

Spanish sailors to be decorated after rescuing French woman taken hostage by pirates

 The Defence Minister, Carme Chacón, announced that Spanish forces from the amphibious assault ship, ‘Galicia’, are to be decorated for rescuing a French woman who was taken hostage with her husband by Somali pirates off the coast of Yemen earlier this month. Evelyne Colombo was rescued on September 10 two days after the catamaran she and her husband were sailing had been attacked by pirates. Her husband, Christian Colombo, was murdered and...

El Hierro still on yellow alert, but no fears of an imminent eruption

 UME Emergency Military Unit was deployed to El Hierro on Wednesday as the island remained on yellow alert amid fears of a volcanic eruption. The Defence Minister, Carme Chacón, was also due to travel there on Wednesday afternoon to supervise their work, and spoke of the UME’s deployment as a preventive measure to assist emergency services in any evacuation over the increased seismic activity on the island. EFE indicates that there is a 15...

Wanted Belgian fugitive arrested in Alhaurín El Grande

 wanted Belgian fugitive has been arrested in Alhaurín El Grande after a marijuana plantation was discovered at a property in the town. He was found there with a man and a woman, and all three are believed to have been part of an organisation which cultivated the drug for distribution in Europe. The Civil Guard found 55 marijuana plants on the property plus a 9 calibre revolver. One of the group was identified as F.V.B., who was wanted on...

Franco mass grave found in Jerez

 It has been a local rumour for many years, that the El Marrufo estate in Jerez de la Frontera had been used to bury hundreds of people shot under Franco. The rumour was well known in nearby Cortes de la Frontera, Jimena de la Frontera and Ubrique. But the investigations made by archaeologists over the summer have confirmed the site, the size of ten football pitches, filled with bones and bullet casings. There were so many casings the archaeologists...

Ferronats, a company formed by Spanish construction firm, Ferrovial and British air traffic controllers, Nats, has won 10 of the 13 tenders to run control towers at Spanish airports

 Ferronats, a company formed by Spanish construction firm, Ferrovial and British air traffic controllers, Nats, has won 10 of the 13 tenders to run control towers at Spanish airports as AENA privatises 49% of the company. It will control Alicante, Valencia, Ibiza, Sabadell, Sevilla, Jerez, Melilla, Cuatro Vientos, Vigo and A Coruña. The remaining three towers on the Canary Islands at Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma have been awarded...

Iberia to launch new low cost airline next week

 Iberia is planning to launch a new low cost airline next week. The Iberia board is expected to approve the project on Tuesday 4 October, to launch the low cost airline for the company’s short and medium distance services. The new airline is expected to take up 37 of the 69 A-320 aircraft the airline currently has in service. Iberia is now merged with British Airways to create the IAG, the International Airline Group, and the IAG board would...

Belgian couple spot the men who stole their car in Belgium on a Spanish beach

 Sometimes it a very small world. A Belgian couple who had their car stolen at gunpoint in Belgium some months ago could not believe it when they recognised their attackers when on holiday in Alicante. They saw them on the beach in Guardamar, Alicante last Monday, and made no hesitation in calling the Spanish police. While they were waiting for the police to arrive, the couple found their own car parked nearby, and the owner decided to puncture...

Major heroin haul in Algeciras

 The second largest ever haul of heroin in Spanish history has been seized at the port in Algeciras, from a container which was on route to the Ivory Coast from Pakistan. The consignment of heroin was found in three hundred cylinders, each weighing half a kilo, which had been hidden in the cargo of iron oxide powder. The Agencia Tributaria Tax Authority had tracked the container until it arrived at the port, where it was searched on Wednesday....

Ex Ronda Mayor released on bail in corruption case

 Antonio Marín Lara, the ex Socialist Mayor of Ronda who was amongst seven people arrested on Tuesday in an operation against alleged planning corruption, dubbed ‘Operación Acinipo’, has been released on 150,000 € bail. He was freed on Thursday after questioning by the judge and is charged with perversion of the course of justice, bribery, money laundering, misappropriation of public funds and influence peddling. It’s understood that he has...

UK pressure group set up to help Spanish property victims

 While there are similar groups already in existence in Spain, this group is the first of its kind in the UK and aims to raise awareness and pressure the UK Government and MEPs into taking action. Many thousands of Britons are believed to have bought property in Spain and through the actions of various levels of Spanish government, property developers and banks, find themselves unable to enjoy the rights to these properties. The Protection of...

Irish expat charged with prostitutes' murder in Spain

 The 42-year-old man, who is believed to be Irish, was arrested near his home in the resort of Mijas Costa, near Marbella on Spain's southern coast on Friday. The suspect's girlfriend and her mother were also being held over possible involvement in the serial slayings. Police suspect him of stabbing two prostitutes to death, the first in August and the second a month later. The killer was dubbed the "10 murderer" because both women were killed...

Blasts hit ex-home of Franco-era politician

 A Spanish official says two homemade explosive devices detonated outside the childhood home of Manuel Fraga, the last surviving member of the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco. No one was hurt. An official with the Interior Ministry office in Lugo province in northwest Spain says Monday's blasts broke windows and damaged the facade of the house, which is being turned into a museum by the conservative Popular Party, which Fraga founded. The devices...

Spanish police hold suspected 'Irish serial murderer'

 SPANISH police were last night reported to be holding an Irishman on suspicion of stabbing two women to death in their Costa del Sol homes. Leading Spanish TV station Telecinco described the suspect as Irish. Last night speculation was mounting that detectives were treating him as a suspected serial killer and looking to link him to a series of other unsolved murders across the country. Detectives established a link between the deaths of...

Spain 'a Top Choice' For Those Thinking Of Moving Abroad

 Spain has been named among the top five destinations that people would consider moving to if they were going to leave the UK, new research has found. A survey conducted by Post Office International Payments revealed that the European nation, which was the fourth most popular...

Bank of Spain reassures on Spanish banks

 A spokesperson for Bank of Spain reiterated that Spanish banks do not need more recapitalisation than was established in the Financial System Reform Plan that was approved in February and is being realised on schedule, as reported by El Pais. This affirmation was made after yesterday's Financial Times report that 16 European entities need to recapitalise. Among them were seven Spanish banks: Banco Popular, Bankinter, Caixa Galicia, BFA-Bankia,...

Germans don't like the British, and the British are the majority in Benidorm

 A spokesman said part of the problem was that the Germans don't like the British, and the British are the majority in Benidorm hotelsPhoto EFE Air Berlin has cancelled five direct flights from El Altet airport as the company puts a tough cost cutting scheme into operation with the goal of saving 200 million €. The plan will leave 18 planes on the ground, and Alicante is reportedly hard hit because of the high seasonality of traffic at El...

Costa del Sol’s oldest magazine shuts its doors

 The Costa del Sol’s oldest magazine is reported to have closed down after running its final edition on Friday. The Friday-Ad – which continues to run a UK operation boasting over 1 million readers a week – had produced a Costa del Sol edition out of its Gibraltar offices since 1975. The reason behind the decision to close remains unclear. When the Olive Press attempted to contact the publication’s office, the number failed to connect. However,...

Barcelona's last bullfight marks end of an era in Spain

 When Spanish bullfighter Serafin Marin plunges his sword into the back of a bull's neck in Barcelona on Sunday, he will be marking the end of an era. The bull will not only be the last of six killed in the bullfight, but the last-ever to be killed in Barcelona's Monumental...

Spain fears pain as Ratón the killer bull prepares to enter ring for last time

Ratón the bull at a festival in Sueca, Spain. Photograph: Alberto Saiz/APIt is the end of a long career, deemed venerable by those who admire Spanish fighting bulls.In the early hours of Sunday morning, the half-tonne 11-year-old killer bull known as Ratón, or Mouse, will feel a...

Spain’s central bank reported this week that things were getting worse for that country’s banks

 Spain’s central bank reported this week that things were getting worse for that country’s banks — but not because they held a lot of Greek debt or bonds issued by other troubled European economies. The problem, instead, is the same old one. With Spain’s economy weak and home prices falling, bad loans are growing. And the central bank thinks things are getting worse. In a surprisingly frank presentation to investors in London on Tuesday, José...

Elizabeth Taylor's designer clothes to be auctioned

 Designer clothes owned by Hollywood legend and fashion icon Elizabeth Taylor, including haute couture by Chanel, Yves St. Laurent and Dior, will be sold at auction in New York, Christie's said on Wednesday. The silk chiffon dress that the Academy Award winning actress wore...

Ernest Hemingway’s final visits to Spain are remembered at a new exhibition in Rioja.

Ernest Hemingway’s final visits to Spain are remembered at a new exhibition in Rioja.Hosted and created by Bodegas Paternina at its Conde de los Andes winery in Ollauri, the exhibition entitled “Tinta, Sangre y Vino” – “Ink, Blood and Wine” – celebrates the writer’s visit to the...

Halle Berry taken to hospital after breaking her foot on set of new movie

 Halle Berry broke her foot while in Spain today. The actress, who is in the country filming scenes for Cloud Atlas, injured herself after a simple misstep on property where she is staying, according to TMZ. She is understood to have been taken to hospital where her foot was put into a cast and she later left in a wheelchair. The accident has put her film bosses in a spin however, with sources saying they plan to shoot around her injury...

Spain Examines Long Hidden Swiss Account

 Emilio Botín is a billionaire Spanish banker renowned for running a tight ship. He asks that his top credit officers at Santander — one of Europe’s largest banks — make a trek to his vacation home each summer to report on loan exposures. And he queries the head of his charitable foundation, euro for euro, on its smallest donations. Enlarge This Image Daniel Ochoa De Olza/Associated Press A Spanish court is investigating whether the family...

Bullfighting to end in Spain's Catalonia,

 Bullfighting fans will shout "Ole" for the last time in Barcelona's Monumental bullring on Sunday before a ban on the sport takes effect across the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia. The regional legislature banned the centuries-old tradition -- which pits a sword-wielding...

Spanish schools hit by strike over staffing cuts

 Thousands of public school teachers went on strike Tuesday in Madrid to protest staff cuts as anger over government austerity measures spread to Spain's education system. The work stoppage in some 300 schools is to last at least two days and perhaps three, and teachers elsewhere in the country also plan strikes or protests this month against budget cuts. Teachers say education should be spared as Spain tightens its belt to resurrect its economy,...

Spanish custom officers seize cigarette packs

 SPANISH customs officers in La Linea de la Concepción seized 2,848 packets of cigarettes last weekend, according to press reports. Contraband tobacco was found hidden in three vehicles crossing the border into Spain from Gibraltar. In a fourth case, the bag of a person walking by the Levante area was searched and was found to be carrying 1,000 packets of contraband tobac...

Brits arrested for drug trafficking on the Baleares

  The Organised Crime Squad ECO of the Guardia Civil based on Mallorca completed the second part of an operation against drug trafficking on Sunday. The first part of the operation had been started at the end of August. At that time ten Britons were arrested and on Sunday...

British man breaks his hip in new 'balconing' incident

 British man has broken his hip in yet another case of ‘balconing’ on the Baleares. The 29 year old, who was said to be very drunk, fell from the first floor of his hotel when trying to cross to the neighbouring balcony. It was a fall of some 3 metres and happened in Avenida Isidor Macabich in Sant Antoni. He was taken to the Can Misses Hospital where he is expected to stay for a few days. The Guardia Civil is in charge of the investigation,...

Ibiza fire brought under control

 Some 1,200 people were evacuated overnight as their homes in the Roca Llisa urbanisation in the town of Santa Eulàra des Riu were threatened by the fire. The fire was declared at 8pm on Sunday afternoon in Cala Llonga, but given the size of the blaze in the early hours of Monday, 16 men from the Emergency Military Units UME were scrambled to the scene to reinforce the fire crews already working. They arrived on the island overnight on two...

Spanish banks hit by spike in bad loans

 Bad loans from Spanish banks, a major source of concern to financial markets, rose in July to the highest level in 16 years at nearly seven per cent, the Bank of Spain said on Monday. Bank loans whose recovery is in doubt amounted to 124.7 billion euros ($A166.5 billion), or 6.94 per cent of total assets, in July, the central bank said in a report - the highest ratio since February 1995. That compares to a revised bad loan ratio in June of...

Marbella Club Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa: Marbella, Spain hotel:

 Located on the Southern Spanish Costa del Sol, in the heart of the 'Golden Mile' only 5 minutes to Old Town Marbella and Puerto Banús, with 320 days of sunshine and a mild year round average temperature of 21ºC). Open year round, the renowned Marbella Club Hotel, was once the...

Housing Market Woes Even Hit Celebs

 Even celebrities are having a hard time selling their mega-mansions. More on DIS Fan Cam: The Next Sports Cash Machine?Jay Rasulo, Senior Executive Vice President And Chief Financial Officer, The Walt Disney Company, To Speak At The Goldman Sachs 20th Annual Communacopia ConferenceBond Funds See Huge Spike in Inflows Market Activity The Walt Disney Co| DIS Mommy-to-be Hillary Duff has put her first mansion that she purchased while starring...

Spain finance chief admits odd quirk in wealth tax

 One aspect of a plan to restore wealth tax in Spain makes no sense but there's nothing the government can do about it, the finance minister said Saturday. Elena Salgado spoke from Poland where she was attending a meeting of euro zone counterparts. The tax stems from the central, Socialist government but is collected by regional administrations. It was suspended in 2008 to stimulate growth as the global economic crisis started to bite in...

Spain to cover 20bn euros in potential bank losses

 The Bank of Spain has promised to cover up to 20 billion euros ($27 billion) in losses at Caja Mediterraneo as it seeks to offload the troubled savings bank, a newspaper said Monday. The Bank of Spain took control of the bank in July and is now trying to sell it off. According to the daily El Mundo, the central bank let investors know it would cover up to 20 billion euros of losses, the estimated amount of property-related assets at risk in...

Spanish lenders to be seized by Madrid

 Spain’s official bank rescue fund, Frob, is preparing to nationalise three more groups of savings banks at the end of the month at a cost of nearly €5bn ($6.9bn), but could allow two others extra time to find investors to help boost their capital, according to people familiar with the discussio...

Roche threatens to stop supplying Spanish hospitals

 multinational pharmaceutical company, Roche, has warned Spain that it may stop supplying its products to Spanish hospitals and clinics. It comes as the company has stopped supplying medicines to Greek hospitals because of the debt they are owed, and that say that what they are owed by some regional administrations in Spain is ‘at the limit’. CEO of the company, Severin Schwan, made the revelation to the New York Times, and El País then asked...

Spain court convicts Basque leader of terrorism

 Spanish court convicted a prominent Basque separatist of terrorism Friday and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for trying to resurrect the banned political wing of the militant group ETA. Arnaldo Otegi, former leader of the outlawed Batasuna party, can appeal the conviction handed down by the National Court. Four other suspects were also convicted, and three were acquitted. Otegi served 15 months for an ETA-related offense and was freed...

Passenger 'tried to open jet door'

 A holidaymaker who allegedly tried to open the doors of a plane at 36,000ft has been arrested. The Thomson Airways flight from Palma, Majorca, to Newcastle early on Wednesday was diverted to Gatwick. Witnesses said friends tried to restrain a man as he attempted to open the door, and he shouted: "It's OK, we are just on a simulator." Passengers and crew wrestled him into a seat and he was tied up with seat belts. A man aged 22 from Ashington...

Marihuana seized in Rincon de la Victoria

 LOCAL POLICE in Rincon de la Victoria arrested a 25-year-old man and seized 30 kilos of marihuana from his home. The police estimate that it would have had a street value of more than €30,0...

Gang who tampered with ATM machines caught

  gang of criminals have been arrested by police following a spate of thefts from ATM machines (hole in the wall, cash machines). Police sources have suggested that the arrested had managed to take € 2,420 through 19 illegal “extractions”. The technique involves installing a metal plate over the front of part of the ATM machine, that physically prevented cash being given out. This method of theft is called "cash trapping," so those who...

Spanish townspeople spear bull to death

 Lance-wielding Spanish townspeople speared a huge fighting bull to the death Tuesday, defying a lone protester who sprayed some of them with an irritant. Hundreds of people, many on horseback, turned out for the combat with a 608-kilogram (1,338-pound) black bull named Afligido...

Expat equity release victims take on banks

 Tempted by the offer of a salary for life and an inheritance tax reduction, organisers of Equity Release Victims Association, Ian Sherdley, 69, and Euan Armstrong, 73, used their Spanish holiday homes as collateral to buy into the equity release schemes. The schemes were sold by independent financial advisors working the expat communities along the Costa del Sol on behalf of Denmark's biggest bank Danske Bank and Nordea Bank SA. They were told...

Coin, near Malaga in southern Spain, is, like many towns across the crisis-hit nation, on the verge of bankruptcy with an estimated debt of nearly 30 million euros (£26m)

 Coin, near Malaga in southern Spain, is, like many towns across the crisis-hit nation, on the verge of bankruptcy with an estimated debt of nearly 30 million euros (£26m) owed by the town council. For more than a week there has been no lighting in public areas after power company Endesa cut services because of an outstanding bill of 280,000 euros (£240,000). Meanwhile some 500 council employees in the town have not yet been paid their August...

Businessmen guilty of £8m "boiler room" shares scam share-selling was undertaken by salesmen working from Marbella and Barcelona,

 share-selling was undertaken by salesmen working from Marbella and Barcelona, although many of them used false names and claimed to be calling from offices in Frankfurt, Stockholm or Amsterdam. The SFO said the business prospects of the company were inflated by WBR’s directors and salesmen. WBR eventually went into adminstration in 2007 following a petition by creditors. It is now officially in liquidation. Of the £8.2m attracted from investors,...

Investigation launched as forest fire destroys four homes on Costa del Sol

 investigation is under way into a forest fire which destroyed four homes and 400 hectares of land on the Costa del Sol. The blaze – which affected parts of Mijas, Marbella and Ojen – saw more than 300 people evacuated from their homes after starting at around 8.30pm on Sunday evening in the Entrerrios area of Mijas. Andalucia’s Councillor for the Environment Jose Juan Diaz Trillo, suggested the fire had been started deliberately, before confirming...

Spanish-based Seven guilty of 'boiler-room' fraud

 Seven men were convicted today of an £8 million boiler-room fraud, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said. The Spanish-based operation targeted thousands of investors in the UK applying high pressure telesales techniques to push shares in a bio-diesel company, Worldwide Bio Refineries (WBR). In fact, the company was practically worthless. One defendant, company director Redmond Johnson, 66, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud investors....

Fame of killer bull named 'Mouse' spreads in Spain

 With more than 3,000 fans cheering, a hulking, black-and-white fighting bull named "Mouse" chased one daredevil runner after another, trying to flip them airborne and skewer them as he did a month ago in a fatal goring that enshrined his reputation as Spain's most feared and...

Spain to bring back Patrimonial Tax

 The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will bring back Patrimonial Tax at next Friday’s cabinet meeting, following a request to do so from the Socialist candidate for the November General Election, Alfredo Pérez-Rubalcaba. A Royal Decree will be used, and no new law will be needed to reactivate the tax, although the new tax will be modified so as not to affect the middle classes. However press reports indicate that Rubalcaba...

Spanish warship rescues French hostage from pirates

 Troops from a Spanish warship stormed a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden Saturday and rescued a French hostage missing from her yacht but found no trace of her husband, the EU anti-piracy mission said. As a helicopter kept watch overhead, naval commandos in a fast launch fired on the skiff to disable its engine. The boat sank, but the hostage was rescued and seven pirates were arrested unharmed, the Spanish defence ministry said. "She was the...

Spain scandalised as wealth of millionaire politicians is revealed

 Spanish politician sparked public anger yesterday as he was shown to own 22 properties after the country's parliamentarians were forced to open their finances to scrutiny following a series of corruption scandals. The revelations – which saw the parliament's website crash when tens of thousands of people tried to view the figures – also showed at least eight others were euro millionaires, even before property was taken into consideration....

Kicking in shop windows. Setting a police car on fire. Clashes with police. Tottenham? Hackney? Brixton? No. Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava.

 Kicking in shop windows. Setting a police car on fire. Clashes with police. Tottenham? Hackney? Brixton? No. Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava. Last month police fired rubber bullets – but not at rioting Spaniards but at drunk foreigners. After two nights of riots that dragged on until the early hours, there were 20 injured, including nine police officers, and 20 arrests. Significantly – in a city of 40,000 with 25 discos, 261 bars and approximately...

Spanish site crashes as lawmakers reveal worth

 In a country with 21 percent unemployment, learning the net worth of lawmakers plugging austerity right and left is turning out to be irresistible. Spanish parliament released such numbers for the first time and its website immediately crashed. Hours later access was still spotty. Highlights of Thursday's revelations: Mariano Rajoy, the conservative likely to be the next prime minister, reports having nearly euro600,000 ($843,000) in bank accounts...