THREE Spaniards were killed on Thursday after an avalanche in the Black Sea state of Georgia, two of them confirmed as fire-fighters who worked at a station in the province of Lleida. The avalanche took place close to the city of Mestia and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with the next of kin of those affected. The third fatality was also a Catalan and another Spaniard is in...
A 26-year-old man has been arrested in Mallorca and charged with raping an 18-year-old girl at a party in Valencia last weekend. The accused lives in the Balearics and was visiting a friend in Valencia where the pair were invited to a party. Large amounts of alcohol were consumed, and the man said that the sex was consensual. However, friends of the victim gave statements saying that they found her crying...
WEALTHY retirees, preferably with an ostentatious show of wealth such as expensive watches, were the primary target for a huge Romanian crime gang which has been the subject of 42 arrests this week. Seventeen of these were women who commonly used the “hugging method” to steal from their victims, embracing men while they or an accomplice stole a watch or other valuables before fleeing in a waiting car....
DOZENS of emergency personnel attended a massive fire at an ice making factory in Seville in the early hours of Friday morning. They were alerted just after midnight to the blaze on an industrial estate in the Cerro-Amata district. Chemicals and plastics produced a toxic plume of smoke although fortunately it was not a residential area. A combination of firefighters, Local Police and National Police...
BANKING giant Santander have been ordered to pay €163,000 in damages to a man who invested 6.5 million euros with them and lost all of it. Bricklayer Paco Guerrero won the sum on the lottery in 2007 and went to his bank for investment advice. By his own acknowledgement he had no financial services knowledge and trusted the advice given, investing the entire amount. However, the product was described in...
THE Spanish government is pushing ahead with plans to limit residential property rental prices, with legislation expected before the summer. Minister Jose Luis Abalos made the announcement in the Congress of Deputies last week, although full details are yet to be confirmed. The caps will apply to parts of towns and cities where average rental is high or has risen sharply due to factors such as the booming...
WITH the Fallas fiestas just around the corner for many municipalities in the region, we thought it would be a good time to let you know what some of the locals will be eating and drinking. Many of these also traditionally complement others, such as horchata and fartons (stop sniggering at the back). Horchata is possibly the most iconic Valencian drink, a milkshake type beverage made from locally grown...
THE Guardia Civil, in an operation with the Tax Agency and National Police, have broken up what they describe as a major criminal organisation dedicated to drug trafficking. 39 people were arrested in Alicante last week as a culmination of the two year operation including Colombian cartel bosses. The authorities have also seized around 1,000 kilos of cocaine and located five drug laboratories which have...
A young man aged just 24 died of an apparent heart attack while playing paddle tennis in Castellon (Valencia) last week. The CICU emergency centre was alerted in mid-evening that the man appeared to have gone into cardiac arrest. Two ambulance crews attended the scene and performed CPR for around an hour but were unable to recover any vital signs. An autopsy is being carried out to confirm the cause of...
PROSECUTORS have asked for a five and half year jail sentence for a Gandia man accused of setting up a meeting between a teenager and adult male with the express intent of blackmailing the older man. The scam started on the website pasioncontactos.com where a young woman, calling herself Nerea and who said she was 18, offered to have sex with the man for cash. They arranged to meet at a Gandia address via...