Spanair applies to stop all its flights

The decision of Qatar Airways not to take a 49% share means the operation is not viable.Archive Photo EFE Qatar Airways has decided not to invest in Spanair, and the Barcelona Generalitat regional government has announced they will no longer inject funds into the airline. It means the airline will not get the 150 million € which it was expecting from Qatar for a 49% share. It seems Qatar have decided to turn away for fear of sanctions for the airline regarding the Government grants. Since 2009 the Generalitat has given more than 100 million to the airline, and Qatar wanted assurances that the European Commission would not claim that money...

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Spain Plans Budget Law as Drug Firms Owed $8.4 Billion by States

 Spain pledged to set spending limits for regional governments in a new law tomorrow as the country’s pharmaceutical lobby said the regions owe companies $8.4 billion for drugs. The People’s Party Cabinet plans the budget-stability law to flesh out a constitutional amendment that the party helped the former Socialist government pass in September. Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said “early warning” and “automatic correction” systems will be set up to prevent overspending and sanctions will be strengthened. “The aim is to guarantee the budget stability of all administrations, boost confidence and strengthen Spain’s commitments to the...

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The UK could become a hub for smuggling the herbal stimulant khat,

 European police and politicians have warned. The Netherlands is the latest country to outlaw the sale of the plant, which is now banned in sixteen EU member states and Norway. Khat is freely sold in the UK and observers say the UK's isolated stance could make it the main base for Europe's khat trade. The British government has commissioned a new review of khat use. Until announcing its ban earlier this month, the Netherlands was similar in its stance to the UK where the East African plant is legally imported, sold and consumed. In 2005 the UK Home Office commissioned a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which...

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3 years after US accident, boat washes up in Spain

 As he swam toward the coast of Nantucket, Mass. in August 2008, Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee. But yesterday, more than three years after Douglas and his brother-in-law were tossed off the boat by a wave, the U.S. Coast Guard called to say the vessel had washed up on the Spanish coast. It was rusty and covered in barnacles, but intact. "It looks entirely different," Douglas said upon seeing the photos. "That's amazing." Douglas remembers the water was restless on the day he set out to sea, and the fish...

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Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet, but the findings are too good to be true for Canadians, experts say.A study in Wednesday's issue of the British Medical Journal suggests that frying foods in olive and sunflower oils is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or premature death.The Mediterranean diet favours fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. (iStock)Prof. Pilar Guallar-Castillón...

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Drug smugglers and dealers to get law thaw in UK

 Drug smugglers and street dealers could avoid prison in the UK even if caught with heroin, cocaine or thousands of pounds worth of cannabis, under new guidelines on drug offenses published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales on Tuesday. The new guidelines, to come into force next month, on February 27, were put out following a three-month public consultation. They cover importation, supply, production, permitting premises to be used for drug-related activities, and possession offences. "Drug offending has to be taken seriously. Drug abuse underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime, and dealing can blight communities....

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Saravy Sok, 22, of 88 Forthill Ave., Lowell, who was identified by prosecutors as a member of the Tiny Rascals Gang-Grey, a violent street gang with ties to California, was arraigned on gun charges

 Saravy Sok, 22, of 88 Forthill Ave., Lowell, who was identified by prosecutors as a member of the Tiny Rascals Gang-Grey, a violent street gang with ties to California, was arraigned on gun charges and a charge of armed assault to murder after the Sunday morning shooting outside 12 Benefit St. According to police and Assistant District Attorney Roberta O’Brien, a 28-year-old man was at a party at 12 Benefit St. when he got into a minor verbal argument with another partygoer. The 28-year-old man decided to leave the party, but outside the man he had argued with challenged him to a fight. The two men had begun to fight when Mr. Sok arrived...

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Spain’s Two Finance Ministers Clash on Budget Amid Recession

 Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Spain is sticking to its deficit goal even as the economy shrinks, underlining a rift in the month-old Cabinet over whether the nation can halve its shortfall during a recession. De Guindos said the government’s commitment to budget cuts is “total” and there’s “no change” to this year’s target. His comments in Brussels today came after reporters asked him about Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro’s call on Jan. 22 for the European Union to ease Spain’s 2012 deficit goal to take its shrinking economy into account. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy divided the Finance Ministry in two after coming to...

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Italian fugitive arrested in Almería

 An Italian fugitive has been arrested in Almería on a European arrest warrant for pending sentences amounting to almost 10 years behind bars. His crimes include drug trafficking, violent robbery, illegal possession of weapons and falsifying documents. It’s understood from EFE that his criminal record goes back for more than 20 years. The man, named as Maurizio R. aged 56, was arrested in Almería City in the early hours of Friday after discovered that he had moved to the provin...

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Vladimir Putin is moving to Marbella

 The Russian Prime Minister is currently buying a property in the luxury La Zagaleta urbanisation in Benhavís. Website Vanitatis reports Putin has been convinced of the charms of the area by the ex Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, who already lives in the urbanisation which he describes as ‘my place in the world’, where he has planted fruit trees and install three hives which give ‘a fantastic honey’. Those who live in the urbanisation have the right to vote on whether or not to accept any new neighbour, and Vanitatis reports that some of the people who have been rejected include Julio Iglasias, Shakira and David Beckham. Hugh Grant was accepted...

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How Tony Blair tried to give Gibraltar to Spain to curry favour with the European Union

 Peter Hain says the then-Prime Minister was “contemptuous” toward the desire of Gibraltar residents to remain under the British flag and told how close Britain came to losing the rocky territory to the Spanish in 2002. Mr Hain tells in his memoirs, published on Monday, how he wanted to work to “do something about Gibraltar”, which has been a British overseas territory since 1713, as soon as he became Europe minister in June 2001. This was based on a “gut instinct that it as ridiculous in the modern age for Britain to have a colony on the tip of Spain nearly 2,000 miles away”. His “African roots” made it easy for him to understand the strong...

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Libya minister denies claims Kadhafi men attack town

 Deadly clashes erupted on Monday in Bani Walid, with a Libyan minister denying local officials' claims the attack on the former bastion of Moamer Kadhafi was carried out by his loyalists. An AFP correspondent who managed to enter Bani Walid for a short time said thick smoke billowed into the sky, while the identity of those present was unclear and there was limited evidence of the new Libyan authorities on the roads outside the town. While local officials said the town was attacked by Kadhafi's men, Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali dismissed these claims, saying the firefight was caused by "internal problems" in the town. He told Libyan...

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The King of Spain is a serial womaniser who once made a pass at Princess Diana while she was on holiday with Prince Charles, a book has claimed.

It also alleges that Juan Carlos is a ‘professional seducer’ who has had numerous affairs and has not shared a bed with his wife for the past 35 years.And it reveals that age has not stopped  the 74-year-old, with the monarch regularly receiving vitamin injections and anti-ageing treatments. Tactile: Princess Diana being kissed in 1987 by the King of Spain, who according to a new book, is a serial womaniserTogether: Diana, Prince Charles...

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Fake Ryanair pilots sentenced for smuggling cocaine into Spain

 One was a flight attendant for the airline and obtained the pilots' uniforms which helped them to bypass airport securityEFE archive A gang which used fake pilots to bypass airport security and smuggle regular shipments of cocaine into the country has been sentenced by the Alicante provincial court, after 13 kilos of cocaine were discovered at their drugs store in Benidorm. The street value of the drugs found there in a police swoop in July 2009 is given at close to half a million €. One of the defendants was a flight attendant for Ryanair who obtained pilots’ uniforms for himself and an accomplice, allowing them to bypass security...

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Costa tragedy: 'Get back on board, damn it!' T-shirts a hit

 A coast guard officer's "Get back on board damn it!" order to the fleeing captain of the capsized Costa Concordia liner is being printed on T-shirts by a company hoping to inspire Italians to rescue their country from economic crisis. Italians have made a hero of coast guard officer Gregorio De Falco for his angry exchange with skipper Francesco Schettino - who has been blamed for the accident and is now under house arrest accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Stefano Ramponi, owner of the Lipsiasoft web agency that is producing the T-shirts and selling them on the Internet for 12.9 euros ($16.63), said they...

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Galicia offers attractive alternatives.

Since the Middle Ages, the Catholic faithful have flocked to Galicia in the far northwest of Spain to worship at the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela.But a new sort of pilgrimage to Galicia is under way, this one prompted by the excellent potential of the region’s vineyards. As travelers along the Way of St. James know, Galicia can be a forbidding place. Before reaching Santiago, they have to cross mountainous badlands where temperatures can dip well below freezing. On the coast, the landscape turns green and fertile — thanks to torrential rains that can roll in off the Atlantic at any time.But vines are hardy, often producing the...

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UK ticketholder wins £41 Euromillions jackpot

 Camelot said that the winner scooped the rollover jackpot of £40,627,241 in Friday night's draw although no one has yet come forward to claim the prize. A Camelot spokesman said: "This is fantastic news – we're absolutely delighted to have yet another huge EuroMillions win here in the UK. "We have plenty of champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the lucky ticketholder into The National Lottery millionaires' club. "Over 2,800 people have become millionaires since The National Lottery began and, to date, our players have raised an amazing £27 billion and counting for National Lottery Good Causes." The success is the seventh biggest...

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City drummer Robbie France dies aged 52

 sheffield-born hard rock drummer Robbie France has died aged 52 at his home in south-east Spain, it has been reported. The Spanish national newsagency EFE quoted ‘family sources’ as saying that the musician, who played with such groups as Diamond Head, Alphaville, UFO, Skunk Anansie and Wishbone Ash, died on Saturday. It said he was buried on Wednesday at Puerto de Mazarron, in the province of Murcia, south of Alicante. Mr France had lived in the Costa Blanca resort for the past three years. He was born in Sheffield in 1959. In the 1970s he emigrated to Australia, returning to the UK in 1982 and joining the hard rock band Diamond Head....

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Pound Falls Versus Euro, Gilts Drop as France, Spain Sell Debt

 The pound posted its biggest weekly decline against the euro in almost three months and gilts dropped as French and Spanish borrowing costs fell at their first debt auctions after their credit ratings were cut. The yield on 10-year gilts rose the most in four months as demand for the relative safety of AAA government bonds eased amid signs global growth hasn’t lost momentum. Reports this week showed U.K. retail sales rebounded in December while U.S. initial jobless claims fell to the least in almost four years. Further advances in gilt yields may be limited next week before a report predicted to show the U.K. economy contracted in the fourth...

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Judge orders search of News of the World executives' computers in bid to find out if key hacking evidence was destroyed

 A judge overseeing the settling of hacking claims by victims of News of the World has ordered executives' computers be searched. Senior managers at News Group Newspapers – the parent company of the News of the World – were criticised by Mr Justice Vos, the judge supervising the settlements. Jeremy Reed, who is acting on behalf of several victims of phone hacking, said that when the News of The World moved offices in 2010, computers used by journalists accused of hacking were destroyed. He disparaged their reaction to a request in 2010 from lawyers for the actress Sienna Miller to retain emails that might be relevant to a phone hacking...

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Spain is happiest expat destination

 The research, from Lloyds TSB International, asked over 1,000 British citizens in the 10 most popular expat destinations to rate their new homes on factors ranging from quality of life to cost of living. Overall, 68 per cent of those interviewed said they were happier in their adopted country than in Britain, rising to 75.9 per cent in Spain. Other countries which fared well on the happiness index were Canada and Germany, where 72.2 per cent and 71.4 per said they were happier respectively. Interestingly, those countries where expats said they had the highest quality of life or best financial prospects were not necessarily where expats...

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Arrested businessman had ‘double life’

 A MAN, 36, was arrested in Albacete, southeast Spain, accused of the abduction and rape of several women. In Albacete, he was a respected businessman, with a wife and children, but in Madrid, he was wanted for the abduction of one woman, raping another and several robberies. His criminal ‘other life’ allegedly began in 2010 when he began to carry out burglaries when on business trips, mainly to obtain jewellery and cash, although he also kept ‘trophies’ from his victims. With time, he began to commit other crimes and in October he allegedly pointed a gun at a woman in the Chamartin district and kept her captive for 12 hours, threatening...

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northern Spain is the place to go

Spain ranks as one of the most mountainous countries in Europe because – and this isn't obvious – the heart of the country sits on a huge plateau. Madrid is 2,100ft above sea level (which explains why the Spanish capital is so cold in the winter and roasting-hot in the summer). But for impressive mountains, northern Spain is the place to go. If you're arriving here direct from the UK with Brittany Ferries – when you can bring your car to explore...

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