Gangs of highway robbers are targeting British tourists on holiday in Spain.

Hundreds of visitors in British-registered vehicles or hire cars have had their possessions, passports and money taken in ‘quick and slick’ distraction muggings.The thieves typically trick their victims with loud noises, apparent accidents, supposed vehicle problems or pleas for...

The biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

 Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPASome of the biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.Two companies owned by the Vidal family were fined £1.62m in total in a Truro court,...

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper* magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books. I suppose it can be alternated with "In the Library," a perfume that smells like old books.Paper Passion fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine,...

Spain king ousted as honorary president of World Wildlife Fund branch after elephant hunt

The World Wildlife Fund’s branch in Spain has ousted King Juan Carlos as its honorary president — a title he’d held since 1968 — after deciding his recent elephant hunting safari was incompatible with its goal of conserving endangered species. The announcement Saturday was the latest in a string of bad news for Spain’s royal family, which has been embarrassed by legal and other scandals. The fund said in a statement that “although such hunting is...

Pope sues magazine over photo

 July's Titanic magazine cover (Photo from www.secularism.org.uk)TAGS: Religion, Scandal, Law, Mass media,GermanyPope Benedict XVI has resorted to court action after apparently being offended by a German satirical magazine.The July edition of Titanic published...

Thousands of Spanish miners and their supporters flooded the streets of Madrid in a second day of mass protests, just hours after the country’s leader announced a nationwide tax hike.

Workers marched up the city’s main avenue, wearing hardhats and carrying walking sticks, to protest outside the Industry Ministry.Many walked for nearly three weeks in the blazing sun before finally reaching Madrid.The crowd chanted, “Miners, stick it out, Spain is rising up!” as...

This is the shocking moment a foreign driver ran over a group of British tourists as they celebrated Spain's Euro 2012 win in Magaluf.

The motorist bounced over the bodies of the fallen holidaymakers in his Range Rover before nonchalantly driving off as if he had gone over a speed bump.Joe Worsnop, 20, was seriously injured as he partied on the Spanish holiday resort's main strip with a group of friends. His twin...

Spain’s current government, like its predecessor, always seems behind the curve

Spain’s current government, like its predecessor, always seems behind the curve. It has made some progress in passing budget cuts and some structural reforms, but it’s not enough. Only recently did it start to mention additional measures to get the country’s finances under control. The hope is that it won’t fall short. Spain’s 2012 budget target of 5.3 percent of GDP will be impossible to reach and is arguably too ambitious (last year’s deficit...

Spain’s current government, like its predecessor, always seems behind the curve

Spain’s current government, like its predecessor, always seems behind the curve. It has made some progress in passing budget cuts and some structural reforms, but it’s not enough. Only recently did it start to mention additional measures to get the country’s finances under control. The hope is that it won’t fall short. Spain’s 2012 budget target of 5.3 percent of GDP will be impossible to reach and is arguably too ambitious (last year’s deficit...

Spain to Set Deadline for Companies Owned by Local Governments to Balance Books

Spain's central government plans a Dec. 31, 2013, deadline for companies owned by local governments to balance their books or face liquidation, a document seen by Dow Jones Newswires shows. It is part of a wider reform of town-level administration that may be approved Friday. It seeks to transfer municipal services to provincial governments. Those services are currently provided by towns, which have had a steep drop in revenue because of a collapse...

Spain Crisis Forces $7B in Cuts on Hospitals

For some cancer patients, Spain’s debt crisis means living on borrowed medicine. Virgen de la Luz hospital in the rural province of Cuenca turned away two women with lung and breast cancer in May after Roche Holding AG (ROG) stopped supplying tumor fighter Herceptin, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News. The women got the drug after a 24-hour wait thanks to a hastily-brokered deal to borrow it from another clinic. To rescue Cuenca...

Beware of missed call to check SIM cloning

Next time if you get a missed call starting with +92; #90 or #09, don't show the courtesy of calling back because chances are it would lead to your SIM card being cloned. The telecom service providers are now issuing alerts to subscribers —particularly about the series mentioned above as the moment one press the call button after dialing the above number, someone at the other end will get your phone and SIM card cloned. According to reports, more...

France brings in breathalyser law

New motoring laws have come into force in France making it compulsory for drivers to carry breathalyser kits in their vehicles. As of July 1, motorists and motorcyclists will face an on-the-spot fine unless they travel with two single-use devices as part of a government drive to reduce the number of drink-drive related deaths. The new regulations, which excludes mopeds, will be fully enforced and include foreigner drivers from November 1 following...

The number of Britons arrested overseas is on the rise, official figures have shown.

 The Foreign Office (FO) handled 6,015 arrest cases involving British nationals abroad between April 2011 and March 2012. This was 6% more than in the previous 12 months and included a 2% rise in drug arrests. The figures, which include holidaymakers and Britons resident overseas, showed the highest number of arrests and detentions was in Spain (1,909) followed by the USA (1,305). Spanish arrests rose 9% in 2011/12, while the United States was...