Morocco has no Libyan assets, the central bank governor said on Tuesday at a news conference.
"We don't have any (Libyan) assets," Abdellatif Jouahri told reporters in response to question on ties to Morocco's fewllow North African state. "We haven't been approached by anyone to freeze any assets."
He made a distinctions between Libyan foreign investments in Morocco and state assets.
more than 20 years since a young Englishman hopped off his mountain bike outside a villa in Llanos de Naguelos, near Marbella, went round to the swimming pool and shot dead the great train robber, Charlie Wilson. The murder represented the Costa del Crime writ large and was a reminder that thousands of British criminals had made Spain their home and given the coastal area the reputation of being "the bit of Europe that fell off the back of a lorry." It was the collapse of the extradition agreement between Spain and the United Kingdom in 1978 that first encouraged villains on the run to settle there and although that has long since changed, Spain remains an unwilling haven to thousands of Britons on the run.
The scope of British criminality in Spain has been well illustrated over the past month. Last week, (MAR 22) three Britons were arrested in Benidorm for allegedly importing three kilos of mephedrone from India. Two other Britons in Spain have just launched an appeal against their conviction for killing an ex-pat playboy criminal, Colin Nobes, whose body was dumped, wrapped in a tarpaulin, under a flyover in the province of Alicante in 2006.
Shipwreck experts are evaluating a centuries-old-101-centimetre gold chain plucked from the sea floor while searching for a 17th-century sunken Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys.
The piece is tentatively valued at about $250,000. It is believed to be from the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank during a 1622 hurricane. It was found Wednesday by divers from Mel Fisher’s Treasures about 55 kilometres west of Key West.
The chain has 55 links, an enameled gold cross and a two-sided engraved religious medallion featuring the Virgin Mary and a chalice.
In 1985, the Fisher crew recovered more than $450 million in artifacts and treasure from the Atocha shipwreck, but part of the ship has not been found.
British criminal gangs have always been involved in turf wars or acts of revenge but these used to take place in their own backyards. In recent years Nueva Andalucía has become the preserve of Britons with criminal connections. There have been a number of shootings, some deadly, in what the National Police call the “settling of accounts” largely amongst drug traffickers.
The latest of these cases was the Thursday of last week just before 15.15 when the 091 emergency room of the local police in Marbella received a call to say there had been a shooting in the calle del Califa. A number of shots were discharged and a person injured.
When officers arrived there was no injured man to be found but eyewitnesses informed them the shooting had indeed taken place with the victim shot in the leg. It is understood the gunman arrived on the back of a motorbike; had got off and shot the victim as he talked with another man in the street. The gunman was then driven off at speed whilst the injured man was taken away in a four wheel drive vehicle.
Police searched the scene and found two spent cartridges which corresponded with the number of shots heard. However there was no sign of blood and no hospital or health centre had treated anybody for gunshot wounds.
From speaking to witnesses police say they are sure those involved were British. Tragically this is nothing new for Nueva Andalucía where one of the more serious shootings was in December 2009 when a Briton was shot three times, with one bullet entering his head.
However the worst case was back in December 2004 when gunmen shot and killed a 7-year-old boy and a 36-year-old hairdresser outside the Andalucía Plaza Hotel. Also injured in the hail of bullets were three other people. This case probably did not involve Britons although one of the gunmen spoke in English.
The tragic events took place at 17.30 on a Saturday afternoon when three heavily armed men got out of an Audi car parked outside the hotel leaving a fourth man at the wheel. They walked to a BMW parked outside the Cosmo hairdressers, which is part of the hotel building, and fired at a man sitting in the passenger seat. Eyewitnesses then say that the trio ran to the entrance of the hotel and one of the men fired a hail of bullets inside. The men were armed with automatic rifles and reports state that police found over 100 spent shells at the scene of the shooting.
Killed in the outrage was the 36-year-old Italian male owner of the hairdressers. Slain too was a seven-year-old boy from Sevilla who was on a short holiday to Marbella. He was waiting in the interior of the hotel for members of his family when around 6 bullets hit him in the abdomen. His aunt and another family member were amongst those injured.
After the shooting, an Algerian-born French businessman, without any known previous convictions, went to Marbella National Police station and told officers that he believed that he was the target of the killers. The businessman is involved in the exclusive fashions industry and commutes between Paris and Marbella. He was in the hairdressers at the time of the shooting.
He claims that he did not know the identity of the four men but they appeared to be looking for a second man after shooting his colleague sitting in the BMW. The injured man, who also has no previous convictions, has been described as the Frenchman’s friend and bodyguard. A pistol was found beneath the BMW car and officers have arrested him in his hospital bed on charges of alleged possession of an illicit firearm.
Today the Costa del Sol is a shooting gallery for rival gangsters. British criminals there are a plenty plus various Italian mafias, Russians, Eastern Europeans and bad guys and girls from other nations. The only difference is now the Spanish police work closely with their counterparts in these countries. Hence if you turn a corner and face a man or woman with a gun they are just as likely to be from the police as a gang member.
The Terra Sana group, which has been going for over a decade, is suing the owner of the branches at Nueva Andalucia, Puerto Banus and on the Golden Mile.
Terra Sana claims he has not paid any of the two million euro asking price, since they were sold in September last year.
And since then, the founders of the green, health food-style chain, claim they have had at least 100 complaints from diners at the trio of restaurants.
Owner, Steve Sweeney, told the Olive Press: “It is really damaging our brand and it breaks my heart to have to go through all this. This is the worst time in the history of the chain.”
The American – whose parents have run restaurants in Marbella since the 1960s – has now gone to court to get the new owner out of the restaurants.
“He is not respecting the of the franchise, nor the look of the restaurants,” said Sweeney.
“It’s so hard seeing the business I’ve nurtured since day one, now being slowly destroyed by one man. We just want him to give us our restaurants back so we can start restoring our reputation.”
The franchise – which was set-up in 2000 with the concept of offering ‘healthy and creative food’ – allocates part of its revenue to planting trees and conferences in schools.
Spanish house prices fell for the twelfth straight quarter in the final three months of 2010, but came close to break-even as the property market struggles to emerge from an extended slump.
In the October to December period prices fell 0.1 percent quarter on quarter, national statistics institute INE said on Tuesday.
That was the smallest drop since quarterly prices began to descend in the fourth quarter of 2007 and much less than the 2.2 percent decline registered in July-September 2010.
However, official data underestimates the weakness of the market and final sale prices, rather than valuation prices used by INE, may have fallen much more sharply, economist at Global Insight Raj Badiani said.
"Despite recent indicators suggesting that the rate of decline in housing activity has been stabilising, the fundamentals point to weak activity across the sector," Badiani said.
"This is a concern for the household economy, given that housing equity constitutes around 90 percent of total household wealth."
The dream of living in Spain is one held by many Britons of all ages and from all walks of life. For some, the thought that you can live in perpetual sunshine and not have to learn the local lingo is a draw, for others it’s the other side of Spain away from the tourist beaches that appeals to them most.
Spain is also quite close to the UK geographically speaking, it does enjoy excellent weather on the Mediterranean coastline for example, and because may Brits already live there, integration can be relatively smooth. However, parts of Spain such as Mallorca practically die in the winter because tourists drift away and everything gets boarded up – and it does get cold! Other parts of Spain such as Marbella are currently a crime hotspot.
The nation has been extremely badly impacted by the economic downturn, entire developments remain unfinished and some people are truly stuck living in Spain when they’d rather flee back to the UK.
To live in Spain you need to love the nation – ideally you’ll have a comfortable pension or income to live on, you’ll speak Spanish and your move will be a permanent one if you buy a house in the country. Otherwise, try renting instead of buying so that you’re not tied to one location if it becomes less desirable.
Just like France, Spain can represent the fulfilment of the dream on every level – but do your homework and research to ensure you get your move right.
David Valadez, the Socialist Mayor of Estepona, is to appear in court next month, where he’s to be questioned as a suspect for allegedly using funds from land sales to pay the wages of the municipal workforce.
El Mundo newspaper gives his date in court as April 1. It’s understood that the municipal secretary, Francisco de Paula, the Town Hall treasurer, Javier María Marín, will be in court with him on the first of next month.
The complaint presented by the Partido Popular in September claims that most of the funds used to pay Town Hall wages are income resulting from planning agreements and should only be spent on planning matters.
El Mundo notes that Andalucía’s LOUA land law prohibits using funds from planning agreements to cover general expenditure.
'Bargain Properties' Available In Spain: "Substantial price falls in the Spanish property
market have meant that there are plenty of opportunities for buyers to pick up a bargain at present.
Posted in: 'Bargain Properties' Available In Spain
Selva Pascuala cave murals
'show man may have used magic mushrooms 6,000 years ago' | Mail Online: "For all those who thought hallucinogenic drugs took off in the 1960s, think again: scientists believe they have found evidence of magic mushroom use 6,000 years ago.
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