Reopen Madeleine case, police urge

Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there are 195 potential leads to finding her alive. The detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case can still be solved before officers released a picture of what she might now look like as a nine-year-old. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believes her disappearance was a stranger abduction, as he said there...

Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks

Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security. The list of good and bad sites will be published regularly by the non-profit Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM). A survey carried out to launch the group found that more than 52% of sites tested were using versions of security protocols known to be compromised. The group will test websites to see how well they have implemented basic...

Anti-depressants likely do more harm than good, study suggests

Commonly prescribed anti-depressants appear to be doing patients more harm than good, say researchers who have published a paper examining the impact of the medications on the entire body. See Also: Health & Medicine Pharmacology Birth Defects Mental Health Research Mind & Brain Depression Disorders and Syndromes Psychiatry Reference COX-2 inhibitor Psychoactive drug Seasonal affective disorder Anti-obesity drug "We need to be much more cautious...

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal half a decade ago, could still be alive, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday.

Madeleine McCann as she might look aged 9  Photo: Teri BlytheDetectives released a new “age progression” image of the toddler, which they said showed what she would look like today at the age of nine.On Wednesday, Britain’s biggest police force said that as a result of...

Dengue Fever Asian Mosquito Could Invade UK

The mosquito can carry dengue and chikungunya viruses A mosquito that spreads tropical diseases including dengue fever may be poised to invade the UK because of climate change.The Asian tiger mosquito has already been reported in France and Belgium and could be migrating north...

Spanish real estate boom was one of the headiest ever. Spurred by record-low interest rates, Spaniards piled into holiday villas

 Spanish real estate boom was one of the headiest ever. Spurred by record-low interest rates, Spaniards piled into holiday villas along the Costa Blanca, gaudy apartments in Madrid and millions of starter homes throughout the country. Enlarge This Image Carlos Luján for the International Herald Tribune Marta Afuera Pons is juggling two mortgages — one on her house, another on an investment property that went sour — and is about 350,000 euros...

Women visit lonely rural town in central Spain to try to ease its bride shortage

 Country boy, meet city girl. Inspired by a Hollywood western, a Spanish dating association is trying to slow a population drain from the country’s beleaguered central villages, introducing bachelors to women bussed in from the big city of Madrid with hopes of ending a bride shortage. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? Personal Post Candeleda, a town of 6,000 on the banks of the picturesque Lobera River, hosted a weekend fiesta to welcome...

Women visit lonely rural town in central Spain to try to ease its bride shortage

 Country boy, meet city girl. Inspired by a Hollywood western, a Spanish dating association is trying to slow a population drain from the country’s beleaguered central villages, introducing bachelors to women bussed in from the big city of Madrid with hopes of ending a bride shortage. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? Personal Post Candeleda, a town of 6,000 on the banks of the picturesque Lobera River, hosted a weekend fiesta to welcome...

Briton dies in fall from Magaluf hotel balcony

A British tourist has died after falling from a balcony at a hotel, the second Briton to die at the same Spanish resort in three days. Benjamin Harper, 28, from Twickenham, south-west London, fell to his death at the four-star Sol Antillas hotel in Magaluf, Majorca, on Friday. It is believed that Harper, a roofer, had gone out on to the balcony for a cigarette before leaning over and falling to his death while on a stag do. His death came three...

Britons living overseas defrauded 43 million pounds in benefit fraud in 2011

The British Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has been visiting the Department of Work and Pensions benefits and healthcare team in Madrid. He warned Britons living abroad not to break the strict rules on what benefits they can and cannot claim. People who are pretending to live in the UK so they can collect benefits, but in fact are living overseas cost the British taxpayer 43 million pounds last year. Most of the reports...

Anti-Corruption prosecutors to be strengthened in Málaga

 The State Attorney General, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, has said that there are plans to designate ‘one or two prosecutors’ more to the specialist Anti-Corruption section in the province of Málaga. He made the comment at an event where Juan Carlos López Caballero took possession as Chief Prosecutor for Málaga, a job which he was sharing with his post as Delegate from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, where three prosecutors work. There have been...

Health Minister announces crackdown on foreigners using the Spanish Health Service

The cabinet on Friday decided to crack down on foreigners using the Spanish Health Service as part of an additional 7 billion € of cuts. They intend to toughen the conditions for inclusion on the Padrón census. Minister for Health, Ana Mato, said ‘We are going to end the abuses committed by some foreigners’. She is going to change the Ley de Extranjería which intends to put a limit to the so-called ‘health tourism’, which has seen family members...

Ryanair threatens surcharge on flights to Spain

 Millions of its passengers – who have already booked and paid for their flights in full – may now be asked to pay an extra fee upon departure, or be told they are not allowed to board. The airline sent an email to customers this week warning them of the backdated fare. “We may be forced to debit passengers for any government imposed increases in airport charges prior to your travel date,” its message read. “If any such tax, fee or charge is...

France and Germany want to suspend the Shengen Agreement

They say they want a temporary suspension while the crisis continues. Spain will being introducing border restrictions during the European Central Bank meeting in Barcelona at the start of May.Angela Merkel and Nicolás Sarkozy - The Interior Ministers of France and Germany have written a joint letter in which they call for the reform of, and ‘temporary suspension’ of the Schengen agreement which allows for the free movement between most member states...

Marbella Police Commissioner moved to Madrid

 The Police Commissioner in Marbella, Agapito Hermés de Dios, is to be disciplined for spying on the Vice President of the Madrid region, Ignacio González, in what is now considered to have been an ‘illegal’ investigation according to the Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz. Agapito Hermés has presented his resignation from the Marbella Police Station and will now be destined to a district of Madrid. He was subjected to an internal...

A British man has died in front of his girlfriend during his first-ever flight as a pilot.

Luis Rivera, 35, died instantly after he lost control of his two-seater plane as he prepared to land.He was on his first flight when the tragedy occurred at a flight school on the Costa del Sol.A One Air Aviacion airplane similar to that being flown by Luis Rivera a the time of the...

Spain slams Argentina amid escalating oil dispute

 Spanish officials warned Argentina on Friday that the country risks becoming "an international pariah" if it follows through on its threats to wrest control of Spanish-owned energy company Repsol's majority stake in its South American YPF unit. Escalating tensions, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo summoned Argentine Ambassador Carlo Antonio Bettini to convey Spain's "concern" over possible nationalization of YPF, which...

Spain regions stage backing for PM's austerity bid

 Spanish regions controlled by the ruling People's Party staged their backing for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's austerity drive on Saturday in a move intended to reassure investors the country can manage its finances. Eleven of Spain's 17 highly devolved autonomous regions, which owe billions of euros to street cleaners and health workers, are run by the centre-right party. At a meeting chaired by Rajoy, they all committed to meeting the...

Spain has a vast and less widely recognised stash of private sector debt.

  Global bond markets, previously sedated by ECB "funny money", now realise that a big slice of those liabilities could land on the government's balance sheet. Back in the 1990s, in the run-up to monetary union, the Spanish government "deleveraged", cutting back debt to comply, or almost comply, with the unfortunately-named Stability and Growth Pact. A national determination to maintain Spain's massive construction boom, though, a country-wide...

Spain accused of 'draconian' plans to clamp down on protests

 Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the Spanish interior minister announced in Congress on Wednesday that a reform of the penal code was planned to criminalise those involved in organising street protests that "seriously disturb the public peace". Under the laws, a minimum jail term of two years could be imposed on those found guilty of instigating and carrying out violent acts of protest under a new package of measures unveiled on Wednesday. But it has...

Thousands of British expats are on the brink of losing everything after being duped by unscrupulous financial advisers.

 The cowboys have persuaded thousands of  our vulnerable pensioners — many in their 80s and 90s — to give up huge stakes of their property in exchange for investments that will never make a penny. The schemes are often sold by rogue financial advisers who exploit weak...

Spanish banks face funding lock-out

Covered bond syndicate bankers are expecting weak jobs data out of the US and a persistent deterioration of Spanish bank credit to weigh heavily on the new issue market for the foreseeable future. It's a backdrop that is likely to lock Spanish banks out of the primary market and deprive the country's banks of a funding plan B, according to one banker.  Click here for Cloud Computing     Also Read   Related Stories News...

Egypt accepts Spain's conditions for tycoon's handover

 Egypt has accepted Spain's conditions for the extradition of a tycoon who was a close associate of Hosni Mubarak, legal sources have told BBC Arabic. Egyptian officials have promised Hussein Salem a free and fair trial, clearing the way for his transfer. Spain's National Court ordered the 78-year-old's extradition last month. After his arrest on money laundering and corruption charges in June, police froze 32.5m euros in his bank accounts...

New 65 Euro charge to become a 'pareja de hecho'

 Fuengirola is to start charging common law couples who become a ‘pareja de hecho’ in the Town Hall a cannon of 65 €. The Town Hall says the measure is designed to fight fraud, as the numbers doubled last year, due its thought to changes in the Foreigners’ Law in the summer of 2011. They say the money will cover the costs of the service and mean the public funds will be need...

The Hotel Incosol in Marbella closes down

 The hotel Incosol, a landmark in Marbella for 39 years, is closing down on Sunday. Unions have said it is a setback for the workers and for the town. Union CCOO thinks that there could be another interested company behind the move. It does seem odd that it is closing on what many consider to be the first day of the season, but many of the 130 workers have not been paid for three months and are ‘desperate’. UGT union spokesman for Tourism...