Taghazout serves up an endless supply of surf all year round,

There’s nothing quite like a faceful of offshore ocean spray to let you know you’re alive. But then there’s also nothing like sliding on to a smooth early morning wave, riding the liquid glass on an uncrowded break with 
a handful of other surfers and the slow-rising sun as your only companions.I would sit and contemplate all this, but there’s no time; more peaks are lumbering towards the beach at Panoramas in Taghazout. Forget thinking about the dream – I’m living it.Surfing lessonsMy Surf Maroc guide Zac, a Taghazout local with a style as wild as the afro atop his head, constantly chirps at me in broken English.“Look up earlier,” he chides. “Trust yourself. Feel the board underneath your feet. You know it’s there, just point where you want to go.”I launch myself into wave after wave, my...

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Moroccan property takes a tumble

The terrorist bombing of a Marrakech cafe in April, which left 16 people dead, dealt another blow to Morocco's struggling holiday-home industry.Five years ago, the North African country was seen as a rival to Spain and Italy, a less-expensive alternative, luring pensioners and buyers of holiday homes. Middle East developers such as Emaar Properties, Sorouh Real Estate, Barwa and Qatari Diar announced large, multibillion-dollar developments.But the global financial crisis, political turmoil in the region and the cafe bombing have brought activity in the market to a halt."The second-home market collapsed totally," says David Le Bail, the director of consulting for the international property consultancy DTZ. "There were simply no transactions."Even before popular uprisings began in the Arab world,...

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National Police in Malaga have dismantled 108 drugs sales points, arrested 179 people, and seized 322 grammes of heroin, three kilos of cocaine and 8.3 kilos of hashish

National Police in Malaga have dismantled 108 drugs sales points, arrested 179 people, and seized 322 grammes of heroin, three kilos of cocaine and 8.3 kilos of hashi...

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Costa del Sol red tide fishing warning extended across the Málaga coast

 red tide fishing warning which has been affecting parts of the Costa del Sol recently was extended across the coast of Málaga province on Monday, where fishing for bivalve molluscs has now been banned until further notice.It comes after increased levels of the PSP toxin, which causes the phenomenon known as ‘red tide’, was detected in three types of bivalve molluscs.The Junta de Andalucía’s agriculture and fisheries representative for Málaga, Mónica Bermúdez, informed Europa Press that the ban only affects shellfish. She said the fishing grounds can only be reopened after analyses show at least two negative results, with a minimum period of 48 hours between each sample which is taken.The shellfish sector supports around 90 fishing boats in the province, and it’s understood the crews...

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The Sierra Nevada biosphere reserve has been highlighted by UNESCO as a case study in good practice against climate change.

The international coordinating council for the organisation’s Man and the Biosphere programme met in Dresden, Germany, recently, which was preceded by an international conference, ‘For life, for the future. Biosphere reserves and climate change’. The conference analysed the work of 564 biosphere reserves and a report which has been now been published on good practice case studies includes the Sierra Nevada as a reserve which fully integrates climate change into its work ‘as a very high priority’.The report notes that the Global Change Observatory’s monitoring programme is one of the key activities of Sierra Nevada, and adds that, ‘The Spanish biosphere reserve invests more than 30 million dollars on forest adaptation and 9 million dollars on reforestation. Many other projects of more than...

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Six Spanish banks fail European stress tests

six Spanish banks have failed the European stress tests, including five savings banks and one medium-sized bank, ABC newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.The European Banking Authority (EBA) will publish stress test results for 91 of the region's top lenders on Friday afternoon.Spain's Economy Minister Elena Salgado said on Monday some banks had failed the tests as generic provisions - cash put aside by the banks to cover potential losses - would not be counted as core capital.Spain's banks held some €27 billion in generic provisions at the end of March.Nobody at the Bank of Spain was immediately available for comment&nb...

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