Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspect

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspects in the disappearance and death of a 5-year-old local girl.
The crowds shouted «murderer» and hurled bottles and stones as the suspects _ a man and his sister _ arrived in a police van. Three police officers and two journalists were slightly injured. Two people were arrested.
«I insist in asking people to stay calm and to let the courts do their work,» Juan Jose Lopez Garzon, Interior Ministry delegate for the southern region of Andalucia, told reporters.
The detained man and his sister were arrested Tuesday in the central city of Cuenca.
Mari Luz Cortes vanished Jan. 13 when she left her home in the southern town of Huelva to buy sweets. After weeks of searches, police found her remains March 7 in an estuary near the city.The case was major news in Spain given that the child had disappeared in an area about two hours' drive from the Portuguese town where British girl Madeleine McCann went missing in May of last year while on vacation with her parents.
Lopez Garzon said the detained man is the main suspect. He had been a neighbor of the dead girl, Mari Luz Cortes, but had left Huelva shortly after her disappearance. He was arrested weeks later but released for lack of evidence.
The General Council of the Judiciary, an oversight board, said Thursday it had ordered an inquiry into why the suspect had been free despite having been sentenced twice in recent years for child abuse. Santiago del Valle García, the man being held in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortes was arrested in Cuenca, along with his wife and his two brothers, although del Valle is the only one to remain in custody.In his original statement, Santiago del Valle García apparently confessed to killing the young girl but later amended his statement to say that although he taped the girl’s mouth and was present when she died, her death was accidental. This latest version claims that Mari Luz had willingly accompanied him and died as a result of falling down some stairs. He admits putting tape over her mouth and then removing the body using a shopping trolley.Meanwhile, the McCann family are keen to question Santiago del Valle García in relation to the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine last May 3rd.

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Violent attack in Benidorm ends in death

The suspect is a 42 year old Moroccan man and reports in Diario Sur say that several victims of theft have recognised the attacker in police identification parades.
One of the alleged attacks from the 42 year old Moroccan led to the accidental death of a 77 year old German pensioner
A 77 year old German pensioner, named with the initials J.G., has died from a blow he received during a violent robbery attempt in Torre del Mar on March 18. His body was found in the doorway of his house in Edificio Faro II.
The attack happened as he returned home late after fishing, and the National Police say they have arrested a suspect who they consider has carried out a series of similar violent attacks in Vélez-Málaga which have been seen in the area after ten at night.

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The main suspect is named in reports as Santiago del Valle, who was a neighbour of the Cortés family until recently

Mari Luz´s father, Juan José Cortés, gave a press conference on Wednesday thanking officers for their work in the investigation into his daughter’s death, and commented that he would not wish the pain he suffered in the 54 days she was missing on anyone else, not even on ‘my daughter’s murderer.’
arrests took place in Pajaroncillo, Cuenca, where del Valle and his wife recently moved to avoid reprisals, according to reports. Del Valle has a previous criminal record for sexually abusing one of his daughters, EFE says, and was suspected by Mari Luz’s family from the very first moment. He was in fact arrested in Granada in the early stages of the investigation but released for lack of evidence.


The Civil Guard now have four suspects for the death of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old from Huelva who disappeared from her home in the El Torrejón district of the city on 13th January on a short trip to the local sweets kiosk, and was found dead 54 days later. The main suspect is named in reports as Santiago del Valle, who was a neighbour of the Cortés family until recently, and lived on the route she would have taken to the kiosk. He was arrested along with his wife on Tuesday. It’s understood the wife has now been released with charges, and she and del Valle’s brother and sister are said to be charged with covering up the crime.He is reported to have confessed to police to his involvement in the child’s disappearance, and said she fell and died accidentally when she was with him ‘at her own choice.’ El Mundo gives a few more details on his confession, that he claims she died when she hit her head after falling down the stairs at the entrance to his block, and that he panicked and hid her in a shopping trolley. He is also said to have admitted that he covered her mouth at one stage.His arrest is said to have come thanks to evidence from the autopsy results on Mari Luz’s body, after she was found floating in the Ría de Huelva on 7th March. There has been no confirmation of what that evidence is, but EFE said the results showed there were no signs of sexual assault, and that asphyxia was the cause of death. She had suffered a broken rib, which could have been the result of a struggle or an attempt to keep her quiet.The suspects are expected to appear before the investigating judge in Huelva on Thursday.

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Lottery Scam’

14 Nigerians and 1 Chilean have been arrested by Police at Málaga following investigations into a ‘Lottery Scam’. Victims received letters, sometimes at their home address abroad, informing them they had won a lottery and were asked to supply bank details and a small ‘transfer fee’. Investigators have estimated that the proceeds from their joint operations could have exceeded six million euros in 12 months. As well as 43 mobile telephones and a quantity of cash, officers confiscated false documentation used for opening bank accounts. Into these accounts, 19,000 euros had been transferred from abroad by victims of the fraud, while a total of 100,000 euros had been transferred within two months into 15 other accounts. The police are now appealing for anyone who thinks they may been a victim of these gangs to come forward.

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Santiago del Valle García convicted for child abuse and indecent assault on minors, and is already said to have confessed to Mari Luz's murder.

Santiago del Valle García, 52, has confessed to the murder of Mari Luz Cortés, according to news sources. He had already been questioned in Granada but was released for lack of proof. Santiago G. and his wife and sister, who had been neighbours of the Cortés family in Huelva, were detained in Cuenca, to where they had moved well before the body of little Mari Luz was found downriver from the family home.Del Valle had always been the prime suspect in the case but police lacked evidence against him. According to police sources quoted in the newspaper, he had a history of child molestation, even on his own daughter, and had left the El Torrejón district of Huelva to avoid possible reprisals from indignant neighbours. His wife, whose name does not appear, was detained for questioning with her husband although she is not a suspect; his sister could be accused of collaboration in the execution of a crime.
Mari Luz disappeared on her way back home from buying a packet of crisps on January 13th and was the subject of a wide search throughout the country, with European extensions. Her body was found accidentally on March 7th by workmen at the Cepsa refinery in Huelva. Autopsy reports indicated that she had been murdered very near, or on the date she disappeared.The man being quizzed by Spanish police is reported to have convictions for child abuse and indecent assault on minors, and is already said to have confessed to Mari Luz's murder. man has been arrested in Huelva in connection with the disappearance and death of the five year old Mari Luz Cortés, whose body was found floating in the Ria de Huelva last March 7. She had vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district of Huelva.The Government Sub-delegation offices in Huelva have confirmed that an arrest was made yesterday, and that this person is now in police custody answering questions.The identity of the arrested man has not been given, and a reminder was given that reporting restrictions are in force in the case.Mari Luz's body was found floating in an estuary in Huelva near the Portuguese border on March 7 shortly after the posters went up around Spain.

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luxurious hotels on Lanzarote are illegal

A third of the most luxurious hotels on Lanzarote are illegal, according to a string of recent court rulings that are expected to lead to at least some of them eventually being demolished.The rulings by the Canary Islands High Court affect 22 hotels and apartment hotels built under licenses issued by the town halls of Yaiza and Teguise in violation of a ban on new construction imposed in 2000. Combined, the hotels - eight of which are four or five star - offer about 15,000 beds, approximately 23 percent of all beds available on the island.


While conservationists and some island officials are trumpeting the rulings as a victory for the environment, others are concerned that demolishing the hotels will cost jobs, reduce tourism and cause further harm to Lanzarote's already flagging economy."These town halls broke the regulations we had imposed to preserve the island, which has been declared a biosphere reserve," notes Carlos Espino, a Socialist member of the island council.Together with the César Manrique Foundation, a cultural association, the council brought the lawsuits against the hotels built in Yaiza and Teguise, including emblematic establishments such as the Princesa Yaiza, a luxurious five-star complex, and the nearby four-star Meliá Volcán.The cases echo the drawn-out legal processes that led to thousands of apartments and dozens of hotels being declared illegal in Marbella, a sprawling resort on mainland Spain's southern Costa del Sol. However, as in Marbella, where years of unchecked construction have blighted a once-picturesque coastline, it is unlikely that the illegal status of the buildings in Lanzarote will be sufficient to have them demolished.
Though Espino stresses that there "will be no amnesty" and we "will tear down those that must go," he admits that in all likelihood that will not mean all of the complexes. In some instances, razing the buildings may do more harm than good, and in others the developers may be allowed to stop the bulldozers from rolling in if they cede land elsewhere as compensation. However, the buildings that most flagrantly violate the law will be razed, especially those built on beachfront land, officials say. In the meantime, prosecutors have also launched investigations against the former mayors of Yaiza and Teguise who issued the illegal licenses between 1991 and 2004. Evidence suggests that, like in Marbella, they may have received substantial bribes from developers to break the rules.

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Moroccan Pirates sieze Spanish trawler?

Spanish authorities on Thursday launched a search for the two-man crew of a fishing trawler that has not been seen or heard from since setting sail for the Canary Islands from the southern Spanish province of Cádiz a week ago.José Quevedo, who bought the boat over the internet and was transporting it home to the Canaries, and Cristo Herrera, a retired merchant captain helping with the delivery, were last heard from shortly after they set sail on 13 March.
While authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation, relatives of Quevedo suspect that the trawler may have been boarded while in Moroccan waters and that the two men may be being held captive in what would constitute the first case of piracy the area in decades. The boat owner's daughter, Jennifer Quevedo, said that the only time she managed to get through to her father on his cell phone the call was answered by "someone speaking in Arabic."So far two ports along the Moroccan coast have said they have no record of the 10-metre long trawler, Saulo, docking in their facilities.
The boat is reported to have two valuable 580-horse power engines on board.

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Costa Destruction, Britons owning houses on the Spanish coast will have their homes demolished

Britons owning houses on the Spanish coast will have their homes demolished, it was claimed yesterday. The Spanish environment ministry last year announced an ambitious £3.5billion drive to protect the country's coastline from over-development by knocking down houses built illegally close to the shore. It insisted that there would be no widespread demolition of properties built before the relevant laws were passed. However, a campaign group set up last month to fight the government scheme yesterday revealed it already has 20,000 members whose homes are under threat. It claimed that more than 500,000 will be affected in total. A significant number of these are likely to be Britons, because Spain is a popular destination for UK residents taking holidays or retiring abroad. Jose Ortega, a lawyer who heads the campaign group, the Platform for those Affected by the Coastal Law, said: "This is the single biggest assault on private property we have seen in the recent history of Spain. "They are destroying property without any concern for the law or rights. "This will affect more than 500,000 people who live along the coast in Spain, of whom up to 100,000 are foreigners, including tens of thousands of Britons." Spain's 1988 Coastal Law banned building within 330ft of the shoreline. Until now homes built before the law came into force were exempt. But the environment ministry is now targeting thousands of homes that were built before 1988, which protesters say is unfair and illegal.

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Swedish super-band ABBA's long-time drummer Ola Brunkert was found dead in his Mallorca, home over the weekend.

Swedish super-band ABBA's long-time drummer Ola Brunkert was found dead in his Mallorca, home over the weekend. Spanish police say the gruesome death was caused by a freak accident in which Brunkert bled to death after puncturing his throat with a broken piece of glass. According to CNN, police believe the drummer may have fallen against a glass partition that separated his kitchen from his garden, causing the glass to break and fatally cut his throat.A former drummer for 1970s Swedish pop group ABBA, Ola Brunkert, has been found dead after an apparent accident in his house in Mallorca, Spanish police said on Monday.Brunkert bled to death from a throat wound which police suspect was caused after he accidentally smashed a pane of glass, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard police said, adding that authorities were awaiting the result of an autopsy.

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Russian Mafia corrupt Marbella Police?

Inspectors Alfredo Marijuan and Carlos Farré from Marbella were detained following an investigation into alleged corruption of the elite Udyco force, which saw 40 officers questioned.both are members of the Costa del Sol’s crack anti-corruption police force have been arrested for alleged fraud and embezzlement. A further two high ranking officers – Fuengirola-based Issac Pacheco Suárez and Eusebio Vázquez – were released with embezzlement charges.The charges relate to alleged payments made by Russian nationals for information relating to police operations.The Udyco division of the Costa del Sol police force was involved in several corruption crackdowns in Málaga in recent years – including Operations Malaya, Ballena Blanca and Hidago, which all centered upon illicit dealings in Marbella.

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Gibraltar to a blacklisted as an outlaw tax haven.

Spain is due to ask the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to return Gibraltar to a blacklist of tax havens that refuse to cooperate in fighting money laundering and other financial crimes, despite the British colony's promises of greater transparency. A spokesman for the Spanish tax office told EL PAÍS last week that the only fiscal information Spanish authorities receive from Gibraltar is "scarce and mostly useless," and that the government of the rocky outcrop on Spain's south coast routinely refuses to cooperate in investigations into money laundering and tax evasion."As far as we are concerned, Gibraltar is still a non-cooperative tax haven," the Spanish official said.

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Mariluz Cortes police to believe she was grabbed from behind

Police believe five-year-old was suffocated before being thrown into river
The autopsy on the body of Mariluz Cortes shows the five-year-old died only hours after she went missing on January 13.Police recovered her badly decomposed body from a river estuary in Huelva on March 8 – almost two months after she disappeared while buying sweets near her home.Tests revealed Mariluz had suffered a broken rib before her death, leading police to believe she was grabbed from behind.
Marks on her face show her mouth and nose were covered until she suffocated to death.Police have ruled out the possibility that the five-year-old died as a result of accidentally falling into either of the two rivers that run through the city.
Officers are now searching the banks of the Odiel and Tinto rivers to discover the location she was thrown in to the water.Her body was found fully-clothed and tests revealed no sexual assault had taken place.The girl’s parents - Juan Jose Cortes, 34, a former professional footballer, and Irene Suarez – had maintained from the first day of her disappearance that she had been abducted.The case has drawn parallels with that of missing British toddler, who disappeared in May last year. Huelva is a short drive from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz from where Madelaine McCann disappeared in May last year while her parents were dining with friends.

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200 vultures apparently killed a cow and its newborn calf on a farm near Villar de Peralonso

Colony of around 200 vultures apparently killed a cow and its newborn calf on a farm near Villar de Peralonso (Salamanca) yesterday lunchtime. It seems that the cow went into labour shortly before noon, but when the farmer returned to check on progress around two and a half hours later, he found around two hundred vultures hungrily devouring the two corpses. The local mayor said that "It's a very unusual incident because vultures never eat live animals," adding that there had been reports of a similar case recently in the nearby village of El Manzano "though nobody paid very much attention at the time." Unusually large colonies of vultures have also been reported in the Arribes del Duero area recently. Being carrion birds, their chances of survival have been severely hampered by the introduction of legislation in 2001 in response to the 'mad-cow' crisis, that obliges farmers to remove animal corpses from their fields immediately

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Método 3 has said that some bones found in a plastic bag at the bottom of a lake in Portugal are not those of the missing British youngster Madeleine

The Spanish detective agency Método 3 has said that some bones found in a plastic bag at the bottom of a lake in Portugal are not those of the missing British youngster Madeleine McCann. The Portuguese Judicial Police confirmed that the bones are from a small animal.A search had been carried out in Arade reservoir all last week by seven divers who were working for the Portuguese lawyer, Marcos Aragao Correia. The lawyer has been working by himself at his own expense for more than a month in the search for Madeleine, and had said that he is 99% certain that the girl is dead, and that her body was thrown into the reservoir which is found some 40 kms from the apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz last May 3. He now says he will abandon his search in the area, as he no longer has the resources to continue. He says he decided to start his own search after receiving some clues in the case three days after Madeleine vanished, and that his line of investigation coincides with that of the Spanish detective agency contracted by the McCanns.

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Armed Robbery in Orihuela on Saturday night

Police in the Vega Baja are looking for three men responsible for a robbery at a petrol station near the district hospital in Orihuela on Saturday night and who left a member of staff seriously injured as they made their escape. The injured man, reported by the Información newspaper to be from Almoradí, was shot in the side and is now recovering after emergency surgery. It’s understood his life is not in danger.
The robbery came after the owner had left with the day’s takings, and all the thieves took was the money bag he was carrying around his waist. They were seen driving away in a black Volkswagen Golf, and it’s believed that their faces were also filmed on the security cameras at the petrol station.

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British man in Alicante arrested at a warehouse in Villajoyosa where he was waiting to receive drugs

The Interior Ministry gave news last Friday of an operation run jointly with Customs and police in Portugal which seized more than half a ton of cocaine in port in Lisbon and led to the arrest of a British man in Alicante.He was arrested at a warehouse in Villajoyosa where he was waiting to receive the drugs which reached port in Portugal in a cargo of nappies The Ministry said 514 kilos of the drug were discovered in a cargo of paper nappies from Gambia on 29th February, which was due to be sent on to Spain. The cargo was allowed to continue on with its journey, once the drugs had been removed, and police were waiting to swoop on a warehouse on an industrial estate in Villajoyosa, Alicante province, when the lorry arrived to unload its cargo. There, a 50 year old man named by his initials of R.P.J. was taken into custody. The operation remains open and further arrests have not been ruled out.

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Armed Robbery in Sotogrande

There are renewed fears amongst residents of the luxury Sotogrande urbanisation in San Roque after yet another house raid, this time targeting a British family. In recent years the wealthy zone has been targeted by sophisticated criminal gangs. Sotogrande employs its own private security firm and both the Guardia Civil along with the local police have stepped up vigilance but seemingly without effect.
The details of the latest robbery were revealed by the Guardia Civil last week. The raid took place in a British-owned property close to Valderrama golf course. The thieves made off with cash, jewellery, various valuable items as well as the family’s credit cards.
The thieves entered the property at around 9pm two Thursdays ago and held the sole British occupant at gunpoint. They then laid in wait for the three other members of the family to arrive and locked them in an interior room of the house. The thieves then went through the property taking anything of value.
Once they had fled, a member of the family managed to break free in the early hours of Friday and raised the alarm with the Guardia Civil. The local police searched the area but without success. It is believed that between three and five robbers were involved and it is suggested they were part of a criminal gang from Eastern Europe.
The fact that the intruders were armed and held the family captive set the robbery apart from previous break-ins in the zone, in which raiders have either entered late at night and used a gas spray to knock out already sleeping occupants or have staked out the house then broken in when the residents went out for the evening.

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Madeleine McCann: Método 3 99% certain that the girl is dead, and that her body was thrown into the reservoir

"We found two bags, one of which contains some small bones."We don't know at this stage if they are human bones. If they are, they look like they come from a child's fingers. They are too small for an adult. I can't tell you how many we found, because we didn't count them. "As soon as we made the find, we handed them over to the Portuguese authorities and the private detectives working for the McCanns."

bones were found by divers in a reservoir some 40 kms from Praia da Luz
The Spanish detective agency Método 3 say they are bring some bones found at the bottom of a lake in Portugal back to Spain to have them analysed. First reports say that the bones are more likely to be from a small animal rather than those of the missing British youngster Madeleine McCann, but they are already in the hands of the detective agency for analysis.A search has been carried out in the Arade reservoir all week by seven divers who have been working for the Portuguese lawyer, Marcos Aragao Correia. He has been working by himself for months in the search for Madeleine and says that it is 99% certain that the girl is dead, and that her body was thrown into the reservoir which is some 40 kms from the apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz last May 3.
The lawyer says he decided to start his own search after receiving some clues in the case three days after Madeleine vanished, and that his line of investigation coincides with that of the Spanish detective agency contracted by the McCanns.

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Police UDYCO anti-drugs and organised crime chiefs who were arrested on Tuesday accused of corruption, were ordered to prison

Minister for the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, on Thursday asked for respect for the four arrested police chiefs, reminding his audience about the presumption of innocence.Two of the four National Police UDYCO anti-drugs and organised crime chiefs who were arrested on Tuesday accused of corruption, were ordered to prison without bail on Friday evening. They are the UDYCO chief from Marbella, C.F. and the chief inspector from Málaga, J.A.M. Instruction judge number 5 in Marbella, Julián Cabrero, also granted bail with charges remaining for the other policemen. A translator at the National Police station in Marbella was granted bail and the director of the Marbella Clinic, which is also linked to the case, was also granted bail of 30,000 €. They are charged following a Police Internal Affairs investigation which began two years ago into alleged misappropriation of items seized in the course of police operations from mafia-type criminal gangs. The men spent all of Friday in the court building in Marbella, finally leaving with heads covered around 6pm.



Meanwhile unions have criticised what they describes as the ‘systematic ill-treatment’ of the arrested policemen. They accuse the man who is the assistant operations director, Fernández Chico, of not respecting the presumption of innocence, and they have called for his resignation. They also say the men were given no food or water for a 24 hour period.

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British girl arrested for drug trafficking in Morocco

British girl was arrested on Wednesday while trying to sail from the Tangiers Port (northern Morocco) for Algésiras (southern Spain) with 10 kg of chira (cannabis resine).The drug was found in a cache set up in the front of a Spanish-registered four wheel drive vehicle, a Moroccan security source said without disclosing the identity of the British national.Some 70% of the processed kif (cannabis) in Europe comes from Morocco.

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Deputy Mayor of Palma spent 45,000 euros in gay clubs using a Town Hall credit card

Baleares newspaper claims he spent 45,000 euros in gay clubs at the time he was Deputy Mayor of Palma
The prosecution service on the Balearic Islands has placed an official complaint with the courts against a former Partido Popular councillor in Palma for allegedly spending public money in alternative nightclubs. The Baleares newspaper Última Hora claims that Javier Rodrigo de Santos spent 45,000 € in gay clubs using a Town Hall credit card between the end of 2005 and the end of May last year. The newspaper said police have already spoken to staff at the clubs in question, who said the ex councillor was a regular customer.
The action from the prosecution service comes after a complaint from the Socialist Mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, and an informative investigation then followed, starting on 20th February. Catalina Cirer, who was Partido Popular Mayor of Palma at the time in question, said in a press conference on Thursday that she totally condemns the alleged misappropriation of public funds and said she felt ‘deceived’ by her party colleague. She said she only had only heard about it herself on Thursday morning, in the media.Javier Rodrigo de Santos was Deputy Mayor of Palma at the period under investigation, and also had responsibility for town planning. He is now a civil servant and works at the Town Hall in the tax department

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Alfredo M., who is responsible for the organised crime section of the Udyco unit across the Costa del Sol.is awaiting trial in two other cases

four top police officers arrested in Málaga on Tuesday have been questioned by National Police internal affairs on allegations of corruption and all say they are innocent. They are expected to be called before an Instruction Court on Friday, along with the two other suspects arrested in the case, a police interpreter and the director of a Marbella clinic.They are charged in a Police Internal Affairs investigation which began two years ago into alleged misappropriation of items seized in the course of police operations from mafia-type criminal gangs. El Mundo newspaper reported on Thursday that one of the officers in custody is Alfredo M., who is responsible for the organised crime section of the Udyco unit across the Costa del Sol. Udyco investigates offences involving organised crime and drugs, and two of those in custody head the Udyco branches in Marbella and Fuengirola. The fourth suspect is an assistant to Alfredo M., the paper said.El Mundo quotes sources in the police saying that Alfredo M.is awaiting trial in two other cases. One of them involves the previous head of the Udyco unit on the Costa del Sol, Valentín Bahut, where they both allegedly supplied an Italian drug dealer based in Benalmádena with confidential information from police records to allow him to escape arrest under a European warrant for extradition.The crimes under investigation in this latest case are revealing secret information, illegal searches and misappropriation.

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Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto to retain the status of a political refugee

Spain's Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto to retain the status of a political refugee despite his implication in coup attempts against the regime of President Teodoro Obiang. The court revoked a 2006 decision by the Spanish government to lift the status of a political refugee that Moto had enjoyed in Spain since 1986. Had the court not agreed with Moto's appeal against the decision, the politician, who claims to be under persecution by the Obiang regime, would have had to leave Spain. Moto is one of the top opposition politicians in Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish-speaking, oil-rich Central African country of around half a million residents.

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Spanish police have detained four police officers

Spanish police have detained four police officers, including three chiefs responsible for fighting organised crime, on charges of several criminal offences, police said Wednesday. The four worked on the southern Costa del Sol coast, which is known for the presence of numerous international criminal rings. The three chiefs were based in Malaga, Marbella and Fuengirola. The officers were suspected of keeping objects they had confiscated from criminals, making illegal house searches and revealing confidential information to outsiders. One of them was already awaiting trial on charges of helping an Italian drug trafficker flee. An entrepreneur and an interpreter were also held. The affair was "painful and delicate," because it affected the reputation of the national police force, government delegate Hilario Lopez Luna said. Senior official Antonio Camacho stressed that police themselves had discovered the alleged irregularities in their midst.

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Spanish police have arrested six Chinese citizens in the country's biggest operation

Spanish police have arrested six Chinese citizens in the country's biggest operation against DVD and CD piracy so far, police said Wednesday. The ring was capable of producing 80,000 pirate copies of CDs and DVDs and of earning EUR 240,000 daily.
Police discovered a clandestine production site and three warehouses in the Madrid region. Police have carried out about 20 major operations against audiovisual piracy over the past five years.

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Officials seized a total of 129kg of hashish destined for Algeciras, Spain

Customs authorities at Tangier port foiled three drug trafficking attempts on Sunday (March 9th) and Monday, MAP reported. Officials seized a total of 129kg of hashish destined for Algeciras, Spain. The largest single shipment of 66kg was found in the vehicle of a Moroccan citizen living in Belgium. Authorities seized some 35 tonnes of hashish in Tangier in 2007, an increase of 26% over 2006. In related news, Algerian press reported that on Monday police discovered more than 15 hectares cultivated with cannabis and opium in Ajdir, Adrar province. Security forces reportedly arrested eight suspects, in part for allegations that some of the farmers involved had benefited from state funds through the land-reclamation programme.

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Croatian General Ante Gotovina capture in Spain's Canary Islands

Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina went on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Tuesday charged with driving Serbs from Croatia's Krajina region with a campaign of murder and plunder.Gotovina, who is accused with two other former Croatian generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, was instrumental in planning the retaking of the Krajina which Serbs had claimed in 1991 and cleansed of Croatians, U.N. prosecutors say."This trial arises from the forcible elimination of Krajina Serbs from Croatia and the destruction of their communities in August 1995 and the roles and responsibilities of the generals in that process," prosecutor Alan Tieger told the court.Gotovina's troops murdered at least 37 ethnic Serbs, torched villages and stabbed and burned those trying to flee as part of "Operation Storm", a massive military operation from August until September 1995, according to the indictment.
Although the legality of Croatia's retaking of its territory is not in question, crimes against humanity and war crimes took place during the execution of the operation and in its intention to permanently remove Serbs, the prosecution said.
"The Serb community was a scarred wasteland of destroyed villages and homes. By the end of the first day of the operation Serbs were in panic-stricken flight, not by accident but by design," Tieger said."For those who remained, life became a nightmare.""Operation Storm" meant the end for many Serbs of their lives on their ancestral lands, Tieger added.After he was indicted in 2001, Gotovina evaded arrest by travelling extensively using false identities before his capture in Spain's Canary Islands in December 2005.As the overall commander of the offensive, he knew of the mistreatment of Serbs but failed to prevent the crimes or punish the perpetrators, according to prosecutors.All three accused, who have pleaded not guilty, are charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise alongside Croatia's late former President Franjo Tudjman that aimed to permanently remove the Serb population.The three sat side by side in court dressed in dark suits. Gotovina, a 52-year-old former French Foreign Legionnaire, was the court's last wanted war crimes suspect from Croatia.His arrest has helped ease Croatia's path to joining the European Union, which has long been sceptical about how hard Zagreb was trying to hunt a man many Croats consider a national hero.His trial is being shown live on Croatian state television.The prosecution blames Gotovina for doing nothing to stop the murder of at least 150 civilians. "Gotovina planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of the deportation and forced displacement of the Serb population," the indictment said. "These crimes included the unlawful killing of Serbs who did not flee, the burning and destruction of Serb villages, and the looting of property. The cumulative effect led to the large-scale displacement of an estimated 150,000-200,000 Serbs."Gotovina remains a hero to Croatian nationalists, who watched the trial live on TV in Croatia yesterday.
Before returning to Croatia as Yugoslavia collapsed, Gotovina had been in Africa as a French legionnaire, and had been convicted in France of robbery, kidnapping and extortion.

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Five year old Mari Luz Cortés was buried in her home town of Huelva on Monday

Thousands gathered outside the Huelva crematorium on Monday to pay their last respects to the five year old. Amongst them was the entire team of the Recreativo de Huelva football club, where Mari Luz’s father once worked. Also there was the Mayor of Huelva, Pedro Rodríguez, who spoke of his pride of being the Mayor of a city which, ‘once again, has shown their solidarity and generosity’ towards Mari Luz’s family. Rodríguez mentioned two comments made to him by the young girl’s father, Juan José Cortés, which have stuck in his mind: the first, ‘I am not going to die without knowing what has happened to my daughter,’ and the second, EFE said, after she was found, ‘Now I no longer have to look for her.’ Five year old Mari Luz Cortés was buried in her home town of Huelva on Monday, three days after her body was found floating in the Ría de Huelva estuary, and 57 days after she disappeared during a short trip to the local sweets kiosk from her home in the El Torrejón district of the city.The five year old’s body left the crematorium shortly before 2.30 pm and was carried in a silent procession on foot for the half-hour distance to the municipal cemetery where Mari Luz was buried.It’s now been confirmed that two autopsies have taken place on her body, the second was held at the request of the family. There has been no news on any results as yet.Mari Luz’s body was found in the common estuary of the Tinto and Odiel Rivers on Friday afternoon, by an employee at the Cepsa refinery. She was dressed in the same clothes she was wearing when she was last seen, on the afternoon of 13th January this year.

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North African branch of al-Qaeda

The North African branch of al-Qaeda says it is holding two Austrian tourists who were abducted in Tunisia last month. The news channel al-Jazeera broadcast two audio recordings featuring a spokesperson for the terrorist organisation. He said that al-Qaeda will soon issue demands for their release.The spokesperson also said that the two Austrian hostages were in good health, but warned that Western tourists in Tunisia will nowhere be safe from militant Muslims. The Tunisian authorities have launched a major search operation for the abducted Austrians

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Sad Headlines in the Spanish Press.La Guardia Civil confirma que el cadáver de la niña localizado en Huelva es el de Mari Luz.

Headlines in the Spanish press confirm the worst fears that the body of Mari Luz the little girl from Huelva has been found by a petrochemical worker on the salt marshes outside Huelva.La Guardia Civil confirma que el cadáver de la niña localizado en Huelva es el de Mari Luz.the Civil Guard today located in an undetermined point of the Huelva coast the body of a girl who could be Mari Luz, the girl from Huelva who disappeared from Huelva in the 13 of January. Sources of the Subdelegation of the Government in Huelva said to Europe Press that someone sighted a body floating in the sea and gave warning to the Civil Guard, who, with a boat, is at the moment towing the body to the 'Muelle de Levante'. The same sources indicated that, although there is no confirmation, the first indications aim that the body is the one of the of five years old, Mari Luz

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'Eurostat,' released figures stating that 8.8 percent of Spain's economically active population was out of work

Although Spain is maintaining its position as one of the most economically productive countries in Europe, it also now holds the second-highest rate of unemployment. The European Union's statistics office, 'Eurostat,' released figures stating that 8.8 percent of Spain's economically active population was out of work during January. During this month, the number of applications for unemployment benefit rose by 132,378 on the figure released for December. This left Spain in second place in the unemployment stakes, following closely behind Slovakia within the European community. The average unemployment level was recorded as 6.8 percent within the EU and 7.1 percent throughout the European continent. Spain was also among the countries which experienced a substantial deterioration in its labour market over the past 12 month period, rising by 0.6 points in comparison to the same period last year. It is suggested that one of the reasons for this slide has been the slow down in the labour market, which in turn affected construction and related industries.

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Spain is the biggest drug emporium in the world

The US State Department has come out with a report identifying Spain as the biggest drug emporium in the world. It's the highway for cocaine entering the EU from Latin America and hashish coming in from Morocco. 3% of Spaniards use cocaine regularly; one in five European coke users is Spanish. Spain has a higher percentage of users of not only cocaine, but also hash and designer drugs, than any other European country. Surprisingly, only three or four of the comments at La Vanguardia are along the lines of "I don't believe anything those lying gringos say, and besides the CIA controls all drug trafficking anyway.new report from the United States Department of State claims that black money from drug trafficking in Spain has been feeding the Spanish real estate boom which has been seen along the coast.
The ‘2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report’ dedicates a whole chapter to Spain where it claims that there are local town halls which have preferred to ignore the origin of the money. It claims that given the high profitability of the construction sector over recent years, many coastal municipalities have turned their backs to the illegality of diverse construction projects in their towns. They note that the Prosecutor’s Office has acted in the face of this reality and note that in Málaga province alone, more than 200 cases of corruption linked to construction have been investigated.

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Government-subsidized bars. Only in Spain

Great news: Barcelona is going to license 130 small bars to put on live musical shows. About the only thing I don't like about Barcelona's nightlife offerings is the lack of live music, and now there's going to be a lot more. Ridiculous news: The city government is going to subsidize said bars with €600,000 of the taxpayers' money so that they can meet the soundproofing requirements. Just what we need. Government-subsidized bars. Only in Spain.

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