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MARBELLA MAGAZINE

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3 Feb 2012

Half of Spain “Addicted” to the Internet

 Nearly half of all Spaniards (45%) claim to “be addicted” to the internet, amongst them, the majority are women and youngsters between 18 and 34. The figures come from the “Nestea Study about the Internet and Social Networks”, carried out by the Sondea Institute. 2,618 people were interviewed throughout Spain. According to the study, the autonomous communities with the most “addicted” to the internet are people living in Navarra (65%), Balearic Islands (58%), Cantabria and the Basque country (both 50%). The least “addicted” are in Asturias (35%), Galicia (36%), La Rioja (38%), and Murcia (41%). The study reveals that 43% of all Spaniards spend between four and ten hours per day, actively connected to the internet, while 5% are connected more than ten hours per day. Over 90% of those...

31 Jan 2012

Spain Lost $51 Billion Foreign Portfolio Investment to November

 Spain lost 38.6 billion euros ($51 billion) of foreign portfolio investment in the 11 months through November, as the sovereign debt crisis pushed more foreign investors to exit Spanish markets. The outflow from securities such as bonds and equities accelerated from 24.1 billion euros in the first 11 months of 2010, the Bank of Spain said in an e-mailed statement today. Spain’s current account deficit narrowed to 36.2 billion euros in the period from 45.8 billion euros a year earlier, the central bank said. The People’s Party government, in power following a general election on Nov. 20, is trying to convince foreign investors it can fix public finances and kick-start the shrinking economy. Spain’s 10-year borrowing costs have fallen to 5 percent from more than 6 percent at the end of...

26 Jan 2012

TONY Blair agreed to a secret deal to hand Gibraltar over to Spain, claims a former cabinet minister.

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder In a sensational new book, Peter Hain insists that he and Jack Straw struck a joint sovereignty deal with the Spanish government in 2002 after being given the green light by the former Prime Minister.In his memoirs, Hain reveals that Blair was keen to win the support of Spain in order to strengthen his hand in Europe.The former Europe Minister also accused Gibraltarian leaders of being stuck in the past, while he describes Blair’s attitude towards the Rock’s inhabitants as ‘contemptuous’.The deal was scuppered following resistance from Spanish ‘hardliners’ who insisted on full sovereign...

former Europe Minister revealed Mr Blair sanctioned the deal because he wanted to win the backing of the Spanish government

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder. Deal: Gibraltar has been a British overseas territory since 1704The former Europe Minister revealed Mr Blair sanctioned the deal because he wanted to win the backing of the Spanish government – then led by Jose Maria Aznar – to help Britain take on France and Germany in EU negotiations.The agreement was only shelved when what he called 'hardliners' in the Spanish government – who wanted only full sovereignty – objected. More...An insult to every working family: Labour, bishops and Lib Dem peers derail plan to cap benefits Blow for Boris as poll puts Ken Livingstone ahead in race to be London...

17 Jan 2012

Huaxi: The socialist village where everyone is wealthy

 The sort of oxen you expect to see in Chinese villages tend to be pulling carts or tilling fields, not a beasts made of a ton of gold. This precious cow is located on the 60th floor of a 328m-tall skyscraper in Huaxi, China's richest village, and building that juts out of the eastern landscape like a giant tripod topped by a golden ball. Huaxi is a "model socialist village", according to local officials, and was founded by local Communist Party secretary Wu Renbao in 1961. His foresight was to transform a poor farming community into a super wealthy community, built on its clever adaptations of modern agribusiness methods, then its diversification into steel mills, its logistics firms, and its textile businesses. The commune listed on the stock exchange in 1998 and is now a major corporation...

16 Jan 2012

British driver arrested after Sevilla hit and run

 23 year old Briton has been arrested in Campillos, Málaga, by the Guardia Civil in connection with a hit and run accident at a petrol station in Gillena Sevilla last Thursday. A petrol station worker was injured and had to be admitted to the Virgen del Rocio Hospital, and the driver failed to stop. The Briton lives in Campillos and has been named with the initials W.A.F., and has been taken to Sevilla to attend the court which has charge of the case. By chance a member of the public had seen a TV report on the wanted driver and recognised him coincidentally at a petrol station in Campill...

Bad news for foreign victims of Costa del Sol mortgage scam

 The National Court will not be investigating the mortgage fraud which was reported last year by twenty foreign residents of the Costa del Sol and which affected victims all along the Spanish coastline. Most of the banks and foreign financial advisors involved were from Denmark who informed their clients that, if they died without a mortgage on their Spanish property, their heirs would be subject to hefty inheritance taxes which they would never be able to pay. They were then offered a mortgage on their property, with the money invested outside Spain, mainly in Luxembourg. El Mundo reports that the investments did not however go well, and the victims are now in danger of losing their homes. The Málaga victims are represented by the Marbella law firm Lawbird, who told El Mundo, ‘This...

Court orders Spanish woman to return her children to her husband in the UK

 Spanish woman resident in Valencia, named by EFE as Carolina A.G., has been ordered by a local court to return her children to their father in the UK, where the family moved in 2008. Her estranged husband is a Nigerian man who obtained Spanish nationality after they married in Spain in 2003. The couple has three children, now aged 8 and 5 years old and, the youngest, just 4 months. Their mother says she has suffered abuse from her husband throughout her marriage, and she finally reported the abuse last year. She also reported him for rape. She told the EFE news agency, ‘I feared for mine and my children’s lives … he has also mistreated the eldest and he even punched me in the stomach when I was pregnant with my last child.’ She decided to return to Spain after he threatened to take...

15 Jan 2012

Days of the Costa del Crime could soon be over

 THE days of the Costa del Crime could be seriously numbered. Or at least, so say the Spanish police. Detectives in Malaga have revealed that a year-long crackdown on British and Irish fugitives is paying off and Malaga is no longer an ideal hideout for wanted criminals. The clampdown, which came in a series of on-the-spot raids on pubs, bars and shops on the Costa del Sol, has drawn considerable success. In total, dozens of wanted fugitives have been caught in the raids after six roving teams of national police were set up at the end of 2010. The teams entered establishments closing off exits and demanded identification from all those present. In one day alone, last year, they made a staggering four arrests, while in total 117 Irishmen were arrested last year, using the method. The moves...

14 Jan 2012

Ciudad de la Luz film studios in trouble in Alicante

 Another of the large projects in the Valencia region is in trouble as the company which runs the Ciudad de la Luz film studios in Alicante, Agua Amarga de Gestión S.L., has applied for bankruptcy protection. It comes as the regional government has failed to pay four million € as the promoter of the project. Mercantile Court 2 in Alicante accepted the application on December 16 2011. The centre has amassed a total debt of more than 190 million €, and now the Valencia Government wants to privatise the operation despite spending 160 million € on it. The project was an idea of Eduardo Zaplana, an ex Partido Popular President of the Valencia Government who thought it would compensate the city for the Terra Mítica park in Benidorm. The studios cover a 320,000 square metre site. El País...

Iberia pilots announce more strike action

 Pilots from the SEPLA union who work for Iberia have announced three more days of strike action on January 25, 27 and 30. It follows four days of previous action in protest at the plans by Iberia to establish a new low-cost carrier, Iberia Express. SEPLA say that they have picked the dates with care, so as not to affect the Spanish tourism fair, FITUR, which runs in Madrid between the 18th and 22nd of this month. Meanwhile cabin crew and ground staff are also considering taking action, and are reported to be looking at striking on Mondays and Fridays from February 2. A meeting will be held on Tuesday to confirm that action which could affect 21,000 workers on the ground in handling, cargo, maintenance, trade and operational activiti...

The Decree to regularize houses in Andalucia

 According to Hillen “It’s possible that this fireworks display will dazzle some but if you look at the detail of the Decree you will see that it does not help those with ongoing court proceedings, where perhaps the majority could face the chop”. “If what the Junta wants is more cases like the Priors, the decree certainly does nothing to prevent that” she added. “Actually, I sometimes despair at how little the administration is in contact with the real problems of its citizens. They must know that what looks nice on paper is not always workable in practice. It appears that they don’t and all they want to do is inundate us with a byzantine tangle of laws and, whilst they are about it, completely destroy foreign investment in Spain”. Hillen asks “What shall I tell elderly retirees who...

Government to bring in changes to the 'Ley de Costas'

 The current and controversial ‘Ley de Costas’ has been in force since 1988 with hardly any modifications. Now the new Minister for Agriculture, Foodstuffs and the Environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, has indicated that ‘very deep reforms’ are on the way to bring value to the coast. El País reoprts that at an event to welcome top civil servants in his department, he gave a speech which indicated that the environment cannot stop economic development, and said that environmental legislation needs to be simplified. Sources at the ministry have noted that there is a problem of judicial insecurity with the current legislation and that they have received pressure from countries such as Britain and Germany, and complaints from EuroMPs as there are foreigners who have been affected by the compulsory...

Extra Virginity: The Sublime And Scandalous World of Olive Oil, not all virgins are as pure as they might seem — and the world of olive oil is increasingly beset with fraud, smuggling and even poisoning.

According to Tom Mueller, author of a new book on the subject, Extra Virginity: The Sublime And Scandalous World of Olive Oil, not all virgins are as pure as they might seem — and the world of olive oil is increasingly beset with fraud, smuggling and even poisoning.The problem is that where there’s money, there’s crime, and olive oil is a very valuable commodity. Olive oil is graded into several different types for sale, the most common of which is extra virginIn July, Spanish police arrested the leader of a gang responsible for the theft of more than a million litres of the stuff, siphoned from storage tanks in Murcia, and shipped under false paperwork to Italy for sale. Italian newspapers regularly report producers being robbed...

SHIP AGROUND: COAST GUARD CONFIRMS 3 DEAD

 At this time, 3 people are confirmed dead in an accident involving the cruising ship Costa Concordia. The ship left Civitavecchia for Savona yesterday at 7:30 PM and ran aground near the Isola del Giglio. According to Coast Guard sources, the situation is still confused. The ship has been boarded by Coast Guard rescue personnel, firefighters and a Costa officer and checked top to bottom to confirm that everybody has been evacuated. A portion of the passengers was taken on other vessels to Porto Santo Stefano while other went to Livorno by helicopter. The cause of the accident has not yet been ascertained. The grounded ship suffered a blackout just before running aground. ....

'Six feared dead' and thousands evacuated as cruise ship hits rocks off coast of Italy

 Holidaymakers from France, Italy, Germany and Britain were forced to flee the 1,500-cabin Costa Concordia in lifeboats when it hit a reef less than two hours after leaving port. Some leapt overboard and swam to shore as the ship started to sink into the waters near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast. Francesco Paolillo, the coastguard spokesman, said that at least three bodies were retrieved from the sea and at least three more were feared dead. Pregnant women and young children were among the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew on board. Passengers' dinner on Friday night was interrupted by a loud boom at around 8pm and a voice over the loud-speaker system initially claimed that the ship was suffering an electrical failure, before ordering everyone on-board to don life-jacke...

12 Jan 2012

Two air passengers met by police over heated bust up after teenager 'reclined his seat'

 A furious row broke out between two passengers on a packed jumbo jet after one reclined his seat as the man behind was about to eat. The pair almost came to blows at 40,000ft as shocked travellers looked on. It started when an 18-year-old sitting in economy class moved his seat back to sleep. Air rage: The drama happened on board an Emirates 517-seat Airbus A380 - the world's biggest commercial airliner - from Dubai into Manchester Airport The 38-year-old passenger sitting immediately behind him was about to eat his in-flight meal at the time. And when he asked the youth to put his seat back up while he ate a major row broke out.   More... Airline passenger is stunned three times with a Taser gun after after he refuses screening check and runs into secure area Car-sized...

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