City Hall has now set up a special space where woman and men can carry out the oldest profession in the world without being fined.

area has been prepared next to the Guadalhorce river

Photo EFE

 

Ten months after introducing new restrictions on prostitution in Málaga, prohibiting the offering of services less than 200m from shops or homes, the PP controlled City Hall has now set up a special space where woman and men can carry out the oldest profession in the world without being fined.

Some are calling the idea a ‘follódromo’, and it reminds others of the late Marbella Mayor, Jesús Gil’s intention to establish a ‘Putódromo’ in Marbella.

The area chosen is next to the Guadalhorce river, and over the last few weeks the Ayuntamiento has levelled the ground and installed a dozen or so lampposts. 

Several non-governmental organisations have already criticised the plan, considering that it will expose the prostitutes to robberies and aggressions, but the prostitutes think it is the only way for them to avoid the actions of the police and fines of 700 €.

Sandra Vicente, from the Commission to Investigate Domestic Violence against Women, is reported in El País as saying
‘The problem is the Town Halls are taking it for granted that prostitution is legal. Most of the laws penalise the women who are in the street, but do not specifically mention prostitution’.

Tanning beds may be even riskier than thought

 

New research published online Oct. 6 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology suggests that the main type of ultraviolet rays used in tanning beds -- UVA1 -- may penetrate to a deep layer of skin that is most vulnerable to the cancer-causing changes caused by UV rays. The new study comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers banning the use of tanning beds among children under 18. The American Academy of Pediatrics is on record that it supports such a ban. In the study, 12 volunteers were exposed to UVA1 and UVB rays on their buttocks. (One difference in the waves is length: UVB waves are shorter.) The UVA1 was more damaging to the skin's basal layer then the UVB light. The UVA1 induced a type of lesion called thymine dimers on the deeper basal layers of the skin. UVB radiation caused more of these lesions, but they did not go as deep, and thus may be less likely to cause the changes linked to skin cancers. "The doses we used were comparable for erythema -- sunburn -- for UVA and UVB. That would be roughly equivalent to the doses needed for tanning in each spectrum," said study co-author Antony R. Young, a professor at the St. John's Institute of Dermatology at King's College School of Medicine in London. "Indoor tanning is like smoking for your skin," said Dr. Doris Day, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It's the single worst thing you can do in terms of skin cancer and premature aging." Many indoor tanning salons advertise that tanning beds can help boost the body's production of vitamin D, known as the sunshine vitamin because skin makes it when exposed to the sun's rays. "This is nonsense and an excuse," Day said. "We know people burn in tanning beds and that UVA and UVB are toxic." Teens are particularly vulnerable, she said. "They are immortal in their mind, and skin cancer and aging seem a long ways away." Melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer, "is not an old person's disease," she said. The new study provides "a little bit more muscle in helping to warn people about the dangers of tanning, but an FDA ban is what we need," she added. "I do think there should be legislation on sunbed use under 18 years of age," said Young, who added that such use is already prohibited in England. John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group representing the industry, said that if there was science to back up many of these claims, the FDA would have acted by now. The agency has been mulling these claims since March 2010, he noted. What's more, the new study is about ultraviolet radiation, not tanning beds, he said. "Tanning beds have the same ratio of UV waves as the sun. UVA-1 is the primary wave length emitted by the sun, too," he said. "The sun and indoor tanning pose the same risks and benefits if you don't burn. There is no science that shows non-burning exposure to sun or a sun lamp causes cancer."

Legionnaires' disease caught by holidaymakers

 

Nine Britons have been struck down by ­Legionnaires’ disease after visiting Corfu. The Health Protection Agency is investigating after the tourists to the Greek island, aged from 39 to 79, fell ill since August. However, the HPA said the possibility of a UK-source had not been ruled out.Flu-like symptoms of the disease can lead to severe pneumonia or even death. It is treated with antibiotics. Legionnaires’ can be spread through water droplets from taps or air conditioning but not from person-to-person. Professor Nick Phin, of the HPA, said: “People travelling to Corfu should be aware of this potential risk, however we are not suggesting they change their holiday plans.”

death's-head hawk moth is a harbinger of pestilence and death.

Death’s-head hawk moth: spotted in England. Photograph: Butterfly Conservation/PA

As the favoured signature of the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, the death's-head hawk moth is a harbinger of pestilence and death. But the benign sunshine and warm southerly winds of an Indian summer have brought the rare moth flying to our shores.

The death's-head, a forbiddingly charismatic insect with a distinctive skull pattern on its thorax, has been sighted along the south coast at Arne, Dorset, and in Plymouth, Devon, in what is proving to be a vintage autumn for exotic migratory moths.

Most exciting for Britain's army of amateur moth recorders is the largest influx of the rare flame brocade moth for 130 years, with lepidopteristssuspecting that the purplish-brown moth has established a breeding colony at an undisclosed location in Sussex.

Michael Blencowe, Butterfly Conservation's officer for Sussex, and a friend, Graeme Lyons, first discovered the flame brocade when one turned up in a back garden last weekend.

"I'd never seen one of these moths before so I grabbed my net and went off to find out if there were any others about at a suitable site nearby," said Blencowe. "I saw 10 that night and there have been recordings of 20 or more there every night since."

This has been the best season for migratory moths for more than five years, according to Butterfly Conservation. Other species lured by the Indian summer include the distinctive crimson speckled, the dainty vestalmoth and Spoladea recurvalis, an extremely rare tropical species.

Before 2006 there had been just 19 records of Spoladea recurvalis in Britain, with 19 recorded that year. More than 20 have been recorded so far this autumn in Sussex, Dorset, Cornwall, Cumbria and the Isle of Man, ushered into the country by southerly winds.

Usually only single figures of flame brocades, which is more commonly found in France and Spain, turn up in the UK each autumn. Mark Parsons, head of moth conservation for Butterfly Conservation, said: "This moth appears to have been making an attempt to recolonise these shores, possibly as a result of more favourable overall weather conditions through climate change."

The death's-head hawk moth is the largest moth to fly in Britain and has the ability to fly into beehives in search of honey without being stung. If handled, it can emit a loud squeak, which terrified medieval Europeans. In Poland, where the moth was called the wandering death-bird, its cries were likened to those of a grief-stricken child.

It has been a shorthand for horror ever since: given an honourable mention in Bram Stoker's Dracula, more recently its pupae were left in the mouths of victims by the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs.

British warship chases Spanish boat out of Gibraltar waters

 

British warship chased a Spanish customs vessel out of British territorial waters at Gibraltar, a spokesman for the British military command in the contested territory said Wednesday. The frigate HMS Argyll was leaving Gibraltar on Tuesday on deployment to the Middle East when it spotted the Spanish ship in British waters off the territory, the spokesman at the British military command said. "Argyll turned and followed the customs vessel round Europa Point and into the Bay where the customs vessel exited British Gibraltar's territorial waters," he said. The Spanish vessel, a large corvette-type vessel named "Fulmar", then sailed to the Spanish port of Algeciras on the other side of the bay, he added. It was the latest in a series of maritime face-offs in the waters off Gibraltar, which is strategically placed at the western entrance of the Mediterranean. In April Gibraltar police charged one of its boats was damaged in a clash with Spanish police vessels that illegally entered its waters in pursuit of alleged drug traffickers. Britain claims a strip of three nautical miles (5.5 kilometres) surrounding Gibraltar as its territorial waters. But Spain does not recognise any waters off Gibraltar as belonging to the territory apart from its ports. Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht but has long argued that it should be returned to Spanish sovereignty. Britain has said it will not renounce sovereignty against the wishes of Gibraltarians.

Imogen Thomas brands Katie Price a "transvestite" as Danny-Gate continues

And in the latest salvo of what I’m ­calling ­Dannygate after the ex-model’s dalliance with rugby player Danny Cipriani, 23, furious Imogen has told pals: “Out of every woman in the world, her?! She’s such a slag.” Imogen, 28, has been with Danny since July. She thought they had a future.

But now all Imogen’s plans are off after pictures showed him ­leaving his home barefoot with Katie the ­morning after an evening together.

Former Miss Wales Imogen fumed: “He’s such a liar. You don’t spend ages telling someone about your issues and how women have treated you then go do ­something like that.”

Imogen was putting on a brave face when she appeared at the Inspiration Awards For Women in London on Friday – but photos of Danny cosying up to mum-of-three Katie, 33, had her ­tweeting in fury on Thursday: “Danny Cipriani is the ­biggest bull******r out there.”

It’s not their first clash over guys – Katie dated Jermain Defoe after ­Imogen split with him in 2009.

Now I can’t wait to hear what Katie has to say about all this.....

Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla could lose his vision after a dangerous run-in with a bull.

Elena Munoz/AP

A bull brutally gored a matador in Spain on Friday, tearing through the man's jaw and pushing out his eyeball as spectators watched in horror.

"I can't see, I can't see anything," Juan Jose Padilla, 39, shouted as he was rushed out of the ring while bleeding profusely and cupping his protruding eye.

The 1,120-pound animal had chased the bullfighter and pinned him to the ground, goring him after he tripped. Television images caught the horrifying scene.

The bull, named Marques, was the second fighting beast Padilla had faced during the second day of the annual Virgen del Pilar festivities in Zaragoza.

Padilla was rushed to emergency facilities at the Misericordia bullring before being driven to the hospital.

A statement from the Miguel Servet Hospital said he was in a stable condition after a five-hour operation to repair his face.

The hospital said Padilla was likely to suffer facial paralysis and lose sight in one eye.

The hospital said he suffered eye, bone, muscle and skin damage when the bull pinned him to the ground. Surgeons had not been able to repair a severed facial nerve.

Surgeons used titanium plates and mesh to reconstruct parts of Padilla's face.

 

Sicily's tiny anti-Mafia TV channel

 

Sicilian TV station that campaigns against the Mafia, Telejato, is among hundreds of channels threatened with closure due to a change in the law. Partinico is a pretty nondescript little town - a handful of baroque churches, a couple of elegant palazzos and a lot of ugly concrete in between. If it were not for the fact that it is in the so-called "Mafia Bermuda Triangle", perhaps nobody outside the province of Palermo would have heard of it. As it is, like Corleone, it is a name that prompts Italians to raise an eyebrow and suck in their breath when you tell them you are planning to visit. Discreet entrance My point of departure is San Giuseppe Jato, another former Mafia stronghold. Continue reading the main story From Our Own Correspondent Broadcast on Saturdays at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4 and weekdays on BBC World Service Listen to the BBC Radio 4 version Download the podcast Listen to the BBC World Service version Explore the archive Having just visited a vineyard on land confiscated from an infamous jailed boss, I decide to try my luck with the only direct bus of the day to Partinico. I do what the traffic warden advises and wave it down in the middle of the road, just in front of the toy shop. After a picturesque journey through the Jato Valley, I alight an hour later at my destination, a town where the mountains rise up above the church steeples and illegal attic extensions. I find the block of flats which is home to Telejato without too much difficulty. It is on a quiet side street away from the bustle of the main road. The building number seems right but there is no sign or any directions to the TV station inside. I conclude that the best way to find Pino Maniaci is to follow my nose. As I climb the staircase, the smell of cigarette smoke gets stronger. I follow the aroma up to the second floor, through an unlocked door and into the newsroom. Pino Maniaci's daughter Letizia is the station's main reporter It is 13:20 and they go live at 14:00. Pino, his daughter and a couple of volunteer journalists are putting together the bulletin. When I come in, he turns towards me, cigarette between his lips. After the briefest of greetings he says, "We're on air soon so sit down and don't break my balls." His daughter looks up and grins. "Don't worry, that's how he talks to everyone," she says. Indeed Pino Maniaci, when not inhaling smoke, is invariably exhaling expletives. Unable to sit still and not wishing to be a ball-breaker, I nose around the small converted apartment. You can tell by the pictures, tributes and cuttings on the walls, just how proud Pino is of Telejato. Courage He has turned a tiny local TV station into one of Sicily's most powerful anti-Mafia voices. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote With his Groucho Marx-style moustache and Chico Marx-style accent, he boasts that even the Mafia watch Telejato” He says nearly all the locals watch it. In the heart of Cosa Nostra territory, he was the first journalist to dare to give the full names of arrested mafiosi. Before him, nobody published more than initials for fear of reprisals. Pino, his family and a small team of volunteers put together a daily news show, which is dominated by Mafia and corruption stories. "We're always first on the scene," he tells me. "Even international channels like CNN call and ask to use our footage." The station works closely with the various police forces, including the Catturandi di Palermo - a special squad that hunts mafiosi in hiding. "Wherever we show up, they're there. Wherever they show up, we're there." Pino's childlike bravado conceals his genuine courage. With his Groucho Marx-style moustache and Chico Marx-style accent, he boasts that even the Mafia watch Telejato. "We were the only ones to interview the brother of Bernardo Provenzano, one of the biggest Mafia bosses," he tells me. With a gleeful twinkle, Pino continues, "We even discovered that Provenzano himself had an aerial specially positioned to pick up our signal. If you listen to the police wire taps, you can hear our signature tune!" Murder attempt Telejato has a motto: "They consider themselves men of honour. For us, dishonouring them is a question of honour." Pino uses derision as both weapon and shield, but he admits he is scared, especially for his family. "I smoke three packets a day and always joke that it's just as well the biggest room in our tiny station is the bathroom!" Living under police escort, he has suffered countless attacks - slashed tyres, severed brake cables, burnt-out cars, windscreens shattered by gunshots. "They even tried to bump me off!" he chuckles, describing a failed attempt to strangle him, which left him with four fractured ribs, a broken leg, a black eye and several broken teeth. At 17:00, it is time for me to head for the station to catch a train up to Palermo. Pino refuses to let me go without showing me some true Sicilian hospitality. Police escort in tow, we go to a nearby coffee bar. Everyone, including the officers, gets an espresso and Pino insists I taste a cannolo, the island's famous ricotta-filled pastry. "I have to keep Telejato going," says Pino between mouthfuls, "so that one day Sicily will be more famous for these than for the Mafia."

PM intervenes in Fox flatmate row

 

Beleaguered Defence Secretary Liam Fox is fighting for his political career after the row over his working relationship with a close friend deepened. Prime Minister David Cameron is poised to decide his fate on Monday after ordering the head of the civil service to urgently report back on an internal investigation into whether Dr Fox's links to Adam Werritty, a former flatmate, breached ministerial guidelines. A series of allegations have surfaced over the unusual involvement Mr Werritty had in brokering meetings for Dr Fox, as well as the access he enjoyed to Government despite having no formal parliamentary or Whitehall role. Dr Fox, who has been in Libya on what should have been a publicity coup as he met the country's interim government, was forced to issue an embarrassing statement clarifying comments he made earlier about how a meeting in Dubai in June with a businessman had been arranged. But he also insisted he has nothing to hide and indicated he is the victim of a smear campaign, telling The Sunday Telegraph: "I have absolutely no fear of complete transparency in these matters. I think there are underlying issues behind these claims and the motivation is deeply suspect." Further revelations emerged, however, that cast doubt on previous claims made by Dr Fox that Mr Werritty, best man at his wedding, had never attended formal meetings with overseas dignitaries. According to the Observer, footage has been uncovered that shows Mr Werritty meeting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa with Dr Fox in a London hotel last year. During his visit to Libya, Dr Fox was asked to answer allegations that Mr Werritty arranged the Dubai hotel meeting, away from officials, with him and Harvey Boulter, chief executive of private equity company Porton Group. The Secretary of State said defence industry representatives asked for the meeting "when they happened to be sitting at a nearby table in a restaurant", but emails emerged later that appeared to confirm that Mr Werritty had been involved in setting up the discussions for some time - and Mr Boulter told the Guardian he first met Mr Werritty to arrange a meeting with Dr Fox in April. In a statement issued after the emails emerged, a spokeswoman for the minister said: "Dr Fox was referring to Mr Werritty, and not himself, bumping into Mr Boulter at a restaurant prior to the meeting."

15 year old British holidaymaker taken into care as his aunt is drunk

 

The police in Sant Antoni de Portmany got more than they bargained for when they asked the 15 year old who was looking after him on holiday The juvenile unit of the Sant Antoni de Portmany Police on Ibiza has decided to admit a British 15 year old to a youngsters’ centre while it is hoped that he can return back to the U.K. EFE news agency reports that the 15 year old was found on the island looking after his alcoholic aunt, and a statement from the local police on Friday explained that the case came to their attention last Wednesday, when the police were involved in a minor incident with the youngster. The 15 year old was found in the street and the police asked who was looking after him. He told them that it was his 40 year old aunt, with whom he had come to Ibiza on holiday. However the police found the aunt to be drunk in the hotel and possibly also under the effects of drugs or medicaments, and considered she was in no condition to look after the adolescent. They took note of the situation and returned a few hours later and then found the 15 year old also drunk, and the woman was now ‘totally out of it’ and ‘shrieking at her nephew for no apparent reason and with clear symptoms of being drunk’. The police saw empty alcohol bottles on the floor and medicines on the furniture. After a time the police managed to locate the boy’s mother by phone in England, the sister of the aunt, and explained the situation, calling on her to come to Ibiza urgently to deal with her son. The mother apparently told the police that she could not travel to Ibiza the next day, and it was agreed with her that the boy should sleep that night in another room with some friends. Then the decision was taken, with the help of the British consular offices in Ibiza to try and mediate with both the mother and the aunt, and finding that collaboration missing, and assembling witness reports on incidents between the boy and his aunt in the hotel, it was decided to remove the 15 year old into temporary care. He’s now in the Sa Coma centre awaiting the arrival of his mother to take him back to the UK. The consul is helping with the organisation of the flights.

Local Police in Nerja crackdown on pavement ‘invasions’

 

LOCAL POLICE in Nerja are to crack down on bar and restaurants which take up too much space on pavements. Over the past month, complaints from Nerja residents have risen regarding bars and restaurants putting their tables out on pavements, preventing people from passing. Nerja is a tourist area, and most local cafeterias, bars and restaurants have their tables, chairs and signs out on the pavements, something which is allowed as long as they pay a fee to do so. However, there are limits to how much space they can take up, and it appears that in over this summer, some of them have decided to ignore the rules, making it difficult for pedestrians and vehicles to pass. This also affects shops which put their goods out on the pavement. One shop in particular has had its goods confiscated after doing so on several occasions. The owner was cautioned, but failed to keep within the limits set for his shop. This does not necessarily lead to a fine, but the owner will have to pay to get his merchandise back. “It’s not permissible to allow any business to obstruct walkways used by tourists and local residents, nor to endanger others” sources from the town hall said.

Ronda police accused of prostitution allege witnesses were coerced

 

Four National Police and a Guardia Civil are accused of accepting the presence of local whorehouses in exchange for sexual favours. The defence teams for the four Ronda National Policemen and the Guardia Civil who are accused of looking the other way regarding the opening of whorehouses in the town, in exchange for sexual favours, called on Monday for the case against the accused to be declared null and void. They claimed that the witnesses who had declared against their clients had been forced by the investigators, with some of them being told they would not be expelled from Spain if they cooperated. The lawyers allege therefore that their statements are contaminated, and that would mean the process would have to stop. One of the defence lawyers, José Luis Ortega, said witness protection had not been enabled and even spoke of ‘tortures’. ‘This will end up in the Supreme Court’, he said. The Prosecutor, Valentín Bueno, noted that one of the protected witnesses in the case had been expelled from Spain after she had changed her statement and cleared the policemen. He spoke of pressures from those implicated in the case, and said the witnesses had been threatened using mafia tactics. The case got underway in the Provincial Court in Málaga on Monday, despite the fact that one of the accused failed to show. The agents face a total request from the prosecutor of 39 years in prison for bribery, sexual abuse, and influence peddling among other crimes. The Guardia Civil is accused of extortion, and the owners of three ‘clubes de alterne’ are also on the accused bench.

British tour operator goes bust

British tour operator, Fairway Golf Holidays, has closed. The company sold package golf holidays to Portugal, Turkey and to Spain where the Costa del Sol, Costa Brava, Costa de la Luz, Tenerife and Gran Canaria were its main destinations. The British Civil Aviation Authority reports that the company closed for business on September 28, but that it was still to inform clients on its webpage, which would be the normal practice. The company as ATOL financial protection, which means that the CAA will get clients home. Meanwhile in a separate story, the British low cost accommodation company, Travelodge, on Monday opened their first hotel in the Valencia region. The hotel at Manises, the Travelodge Valencia Airport, has cost 10 million €. The 116 room hotel gives employment to 16, and is 90% full in its first week of operation. The company says it intends to open 12 hotels in the Valencia region in the next ten years, starting in Torrent, El Saler, Valencia, Castellón and Alicante.

 

British tour operator goes bust

 

British tour operator, Fairway Golf Holidays, has closed. The company sold package golf holidays to Portugal, Turkey and to Spain where the Costa del Sol, Costa Brava, Costa de la Luz, Tenerife and Gran Canaria were its main destinations. The British Civil Aviation Authority reports that the company closed for business on September 28, but that it was still to inform clients on its webpage, which would be the normal practice. The company as ATOL financial protection, which means that the CAA will get clients home. Meanwhile in a separate story, the British low cost accommodation company, Travelodge, on Monday opened their first hotel in the Valencia region. The hotel at Manises, the Travelodge Valencia Airport, has cost 10 million €. The 116 room hotel gives employment to 16, and is 90% full in its first week of operation. The company says it intends to open 12 hotels in the Valencia region in the next ten years, starting in Torrent, El Saler, Valencia, Castellón and Alicante.

The Duchess of Alba with her new husband Alfonso Díez outside Dueñas Palace in Seville.

 Photograph: Javier Diaz/Reuters

She is a frizzy-haired 85-year-old eccentric and hugely wealthy aristocrat with a squeaky voice and an impossibly long name. He is a lowly civil servant 25 years her junior. Today the two were married, prompting a frenzy of excitement in this southern Spanish city.

Crowds formed outside Seville's Dueñas Palace – just one of several regal residences the Duchess of Alba owns around Spain – as she, her family and a few friends gathered for a small ceremony for her marriage to Alfonso Díez in the palace's private chapel.

The billionaire duchess, who has been known to ask the media for money in the past, allowed in just two news agencies – for free.

"She is an amazing woman. She does whatever she wants and doesn't give a damn what people say," said 18-year-old tourism student Ana Trigo, as she fought for space on the pavement outside the Dueñas's imposing gates. "I know she's got lots of money, but that's just the luck of birth isn't it?"

A neatly groomed priest, a flamenco singing troupe, innumerable bunches of roses, sunflowers and carnations, and at least two bullfighter guests made their way into the palace complex as security guards pushed back the crowd of gawping, shouting Sevillanos.

"I've written a paso doble and want to sing it for her," said composer Vicente Tarrancón, who travelled the 300 miles from Alicante with an electric piano and a violinist but who remained firmly outside the palace gates.

Onlookers mostly were not disturbed by the duchess's inherited wealth, estimated at up to €3.5bn (£3bn), even though one in five Spaniards are currently unemployed and the economy is heading towards a double-dip recession.

Apart from her palaces, the duchess owns huge tracts of land all over Spain and has a collection of paintings that include works by Goya and Velázquez.

"She gives a lot of money to charity and employs a lot of people. And she repaired the church of the Christ of the Gypsies," said housewife Mari Luz González. "She's wonderful."

Cries of "Guapa!" or "Good-looking!" welcomed the pallid duchess when she appeared dressed in a pink wedding dress with a green ribbon around her waist at the palace gates with her new husband. She responded by dancing a few flamenco steps.

Most people, however, seemed to be taking a tongue-in-cheek attitude to the duchess's latest romance and using it as an excuse to indulge in Seville's favoured pastime of partying. At least one onlooker had dressed in a bridal gown. Another came disguised as Spain's monarch, King Juan Carlos, who was reportedly petitioned by the duchess's children to see if he could dissuade their mother from remarrying.

"Let's face it, the scandal is not that he is younger, but that she is so old," said Margarita Ruibal. "It's not every day you hear of someone of that age getting married."

An unemployed man who called himself Buti came dressed as a yoghurt carton to protest at the €40 a day paid to farmworkers. "Here they are, living it up in their palaces while 300 families a day lose their homes in Spain," he said.

The duchess's attempts to stop her six children from squabbling with her husband-to-be over money – by making her will public before the marriage – failed to appease them all, prompting the duchess to call one daughter-in-law "lying, wicked and covetous" on a television gossip show.

The daughter-in-law and her husband were among the few guests who turned down the wedding invitation. "Alfonso doesn't want anything. All he wants is me," the duchess said earlier this year.

Newsstands, meanwhile, displayed the front cover of Interviú magazine – which showed topless pictures of the duchess taken three decades ago on an Ibiza beach. The publicity-loving aristocrat was said to be formally furious, but privately delighted, by the flattering figure she boasted when she was a mere fifty-something. The magazine said it had held on to the pictures for 30 years so as not to upset the duchess, but thought them now worth publishing.

Local shops were selling duchess-themed "I love DQS" T-shirts featuring her trademark frizz of white hair. The regional CanalSur TV station beamed live coverage into the city's bars, where unemployed men sold postcards of the Virgin Mary statues that populate Seville's churches.

The duchess, whose full name is María del Rosario Cayetana Victoria Alfonsa Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, boasts 49 inherited aristocratic titles – at least 20 of which allow entry into the select club of Spanish Grandees. She also claims the title of Duchess of Berwick and boasts blood ties to the British royal family and Winston Churchill.

Twice widowed, her last husband Jesús Aguirre, who had previously been a leftwing Catholic priest, died in 2001

Change of Heart for Maurice Boland

 

 Maurice Boland, is set to launch a new radio station later this month after formally leaving Heart FM. The controversial DJ posted a statement on his Facebook page this morning (Wednesday) thanking the station for its support during his ‘short but enjoyable stay,’ but announced he had a new project in the pipeline. “Let me assure you that my absence on the airways will be only short lived. I’m delighted to announce that along with an exceptional team of top class broadcasters, I am developing a new radio project,” he said. He later told the Olive Press: “I am really excited to be setting up a new radio station. “It will be similar format to before with news and current affairs and I have a great name and fabulous studios. “But I haven’t really released any information about it yet. I put it on Facebook as so many people had been calling and emailing me asking where I had gone as I had disappeared off Heart so I was forced to reveal something,” he added. Boland refused to confirm the name of his new station but sources believe it will be an online station called Eye Talk Europe. It comes after the disgraced Irish entertainer returned to the airwaves in April after his close relationship with a 16-year-old girl was exposed. He was forced to lie low for nine months after having his contract terminated at Talk Radio Europe (TRE), as exclusively revealed at the time by the Olive Press. The broadcaster, 62, had set out to help the teenager forge a musical career but their relationship had evolved and he later admitted to making a ‘terrible mistake.’

Peter Bibby on the run while other boiler room crooks get jailed

 

Seven crooks who ran an £8million boiler room scam flogging worthless shares in a supposedly successful bio-diesel enterprise have been jailed for a total of 39 years. Worldwide Bio Refineries was portrayed by coldcallers as a fantastic investment, turning vegetable waste into fuel, but it was a dormant company with just £20 in its bank account. The Serious Fraud Office says: "The share-selling was undertaken by salesmen working from a number of boiler rooms in Marbella and Barcelona although many of them used false names and claimed to be calling from offices Frankfurt, Stockholm or Amsterdam. "The business prospects of the company and the bio-diesel market were inflated by WBR's directors and the salesmen, who claimed that substantial international business was being done and that the business's shares were valued at £110 million. "Investors believed that their investment in a successful bio-diesel enterprise would net them significant short term returns, bolstered by claims that WBR was to be floated on the stock market which would result in a significant increase in share value. These claims were bogus. "The reality was that the UK bio-diesel plant produced no output and, with only limited imports coming from a Singapore plant, WBR was not being managed with any intention of it becoming a growing commercial success generating profits from sales of bio-diesel. WBR was simply a vehicle for fraud." At Ipswich Crown Court, Dennis Potter of Singapore, born April 1939, was jailed for seven years. Redmond "Ray" Charles Johnson of Tyne and Wear, born September 1944, got three years. From Marbella, Steven John Murphy, born in February 1976 and Greg Pearson, born August 1973, both got six years inside. From Hertfordshire, Paul Daniel Murphy, born in September 1973 got six years and Lee Eliot Homan, born in July 1972, got five years and six months. Peter Bibby from south London, born in September 1967 is on the run. He was sentenced in absentia to six years. Serious Fraud Office director Director Richard Alderman said, "I am very pleased with the sentences in this case which reflect the callous way the criminals preyed on their victims." Potter and Johnson were associates of Alternative Diesel Investments, run by Robert Alan Scott and an earlier "completely fraudulent" operation.

64% Of Moroccan Men Are Reunited With Their Wife

 

Sánchez-Domínguez states that “Moroccan men show strong endogamic tendencies and use marriage as a way of being reunited later on with their partner within Spain. The most common type of behaviour consists of a Moroccan single man coming to Spain. After a certain amount of time, he returns to Morocco where he gets married to a Moroccan woman and then returns to Spain without his spouse. Later on, he is reunited with his wife within Spanish society. Some 64% of Moroccan immigrant men have employed this strategy. According to experts, religion as well as geographical proximity to Spain are key factors in explaining this phenomenon. Exogamy is an indication of an immigrant’s level of social integration. Those who have higher tendencies towards exogamy are Argentineans and Colombians. According to the researcher, linguistic and cultural proximity means that the number of marriages with the Spanish population is very high “because they see each other as equals.” Furthermore, it was observed that Brazilian, Dominican, Cuban and Colombian women display a high percentage of marriage with Spanish men within just a year of arriving in Spain. This is a phenomenon known as “imported brides”. Sánchez Domínguez highlights that “in general terms, endogamy decreases according to the amount of time that an immigrant spends in a country, which, in turn, is a clear indication of integration. On the other hand, endogamy is higher amongst immigrants with less educational attainment and exogamy is more prevalent amongst immigrants who have a university education.”

Spanish Women Marry Immigrants With More Qualifications

 

A team at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has studied the marriage strategies of immigrants in order to determine the nature of endogamic (between people of the same nationality) and exogamic partnerships (between people of different nationalities) in Spain. The preliminary results indicate that, unlike Spanish men, Spanish women prefer immigrants with more qualifications. “It caught our attention that human capital was more important in determining outmarriage amongst Spanish women but this is not the case in Spanish men. In other words, it seems that Spanish women prefer to get married to an immigrant man who has a higher educational attainment. However, this preference does not exist amongst Spanish men when it comes to getting married to an immigrant woman,” explains María Sánchez-Domínguez, investigator at the UCM and co-author of the study that was published in the International Sociology Journal. The researcher and her team gathered data from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain (2007), which was carried out by the UCM’s Population and Society Study Group (GEPS) and Spain’s National Statistic Institute (INE). The survey acts as a unique source of information and can be used to understand the characteristics of immigrants in Spain since 2007. Sánchez-Domínguez points out that “although it is from 2007, the survey contains both information on the current situation of those surveyed as well as their migration history. It is the only source of information that we can use to study the marriage strategies of immigrants and link them to integration processes. It is useful not just in understanding immigrant marriages in Spain but also those marriages that took place in the country of origin. From these data, in an initial study, researchers analysed endogamic marriages in Spain and the relationship between marriage and migration strategies. The expert’s main conclusion was that Moroccans are more prone towards endogamy, followed by Romanians and Ecuadorians.

Strictly star Chelsee Healey says she loves showing off her £3,000 boob job

 

As a teenager Chelsee Healey was afraid to take her top off even in front of a boyfriend. 

But, fast forward a few years and with a £3,000 investment in her appearance, the Strictly Come Dancing star is happy to flaunt her chest on national television. 

Chelsee, 23, is among stars on the show who've come under fire for wearing skimpy outfits during their performances. 

Thrilled: Chelsee Healey was ashamed of her 'droopy boobs' before she went under the knife

The actress, who appears on Waterloo Road, flew to a Marbella-based surgery to have her cosmetic procedure.

 

More...

• So is all that flesh Strictly necessary? Stars told to cover up as judge Len Goodman calls show 'celebrity job centre'
• 'Bonza, you beauty!' Jason Donovan blows the competition out of the water on second night of Strictly

 

And she raided her trust fund to pay for the operation, which boosted her chest from a C-cup to a 32DD. 

She told Now magazine: 'I'd hated my boobs for as long as I can remember. I'm naturally outgoing, but in this area I lacked self-esteem. By the time I was 19, I was desperate to change. I took £3,000 from a trust fund my dad had set up for me. I knew I'd never be happy until I got the shape I wanted.'

Ashamed of her saggy boobs, it wasn't until her friends pushed her to go for it in 2007 after a holiday to Puerto Rico, that Chelsee finally went to Spain and under the knife.

Proud of her assets: Chelsee Healey pushes her chest out at the Inside Soap Awards - she spent £3,000 on her 32DD boobs

Now over the moon with her new chest, she is often seen wearing low cut tops.

She told Now: 'I'm thrilled with them. They're round, firm and perfect and now I'm happy to show them off.'

However, Chelsee has come under fire on the BBC dancing show for her revealing outfits.

After receiving a few nasty comments on Twitter, she said: 'I was happy with the outfit, but if you come out dressed like that it can make a bad first impression.

Tiger Woods' most famous mistress got married Sunday in Las Vegas.

Rachel Uchitel's two-year nightmare is over.

Tiger Woods' most famous mistress got married Sunday in Las Vegas.

The chapel wedding took place two years, almost to the day, after Woods' last outing in Sin City before his world -- and reputation -- unraveled six weeks later. The golf great was spotted celebrating at Tao Las Vegas' star-studded four-year anniversary and Lavo's one-year anniversary.

Uchitel, a former host at Tao, was in Marbella, Spain, at the time, orchestrating some of Woods' activities.

Her decision to invite Las Vegas night-life regular Ashley Hollingsworth Samson to Marbella led to Samson's $25,000 paycheck from The National Enquirer for going public with Uchitel's romance with Woods.

Uchitel and boyfriend Matt Hahn, a former Penn State football player, got married on impulse Sunday while in town to attend the wedding of their friends.

The Uchitel-Hahn wedding took place at the Little White Chapel, where Britney Spears married childhood friend Jason Alexander over New Year's weekend in 2004. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore tied the knot there on Nov. 21, 1987.

Uchitel and Hahn, with 12 friends, danced into the chapel at 11 p.m. to Beyonce's hit "Single Ladies," according to TMZ.com. After the wedding, they departed to Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas."

It was anything but an all-night celebration for the newlyweds. They were back at her grandmother's by midnight, according to TMZ.

Spain Regions Race to Sell $1.3 Billion Property This Year

 

Catalonia and Andalusia, two of Spain’s largest and most indebted regions, are trying to sell $1.3 billion of real estate by the end of the year as the country tries to slash its budget deficit and keep borrowing costs from ballooning. “We put the cream of the crop in the portfolios to ensure the sales are completed,” Jacint Boixasa, director of assets for Catalonia, said in interview in Barcelona. “Our target is to sell 550 million euros ($742 million) of real estate by year- end, which is relatively little time.” Spanish regions, which control more than a third of public spending, will play a pivotal role in the nation’s effort to cut its deficit to 6 percent of gross domestic product this year from 9.2 percent in 2010 as the country tries to avoid following Greece, Ireland and Portugal in requiring a bailout. In August, Moody’s Investors Service put Spain’s credit rating on review for a downgrade, citing the worsening finances in the regions. Catalonia is trying to find buyers for 37 properties including the Barcelona stock market on Paseo de Gracia, Spain’s fourth-most expensive commercial street, as well as the Catalan Agriculture Ministry on Gran Via. Jones Lang LaSalle and Madrid- based real-estate consultant Aguirre Newman are advising the government on the sales. Andalusia hired BNP Paribas SA to help raise at least 400 million euros selling 76 properties including the cultural department in Granada and youth centers in Malaga, according to the region’s treasury department. The government will pay around 30 million euros a year to lease the buildings after the sale

Greenpeace has revealed how Spain is “repeatedly and systematically overlooking illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by its huge fleet throughout European waters and beyond”.

 

Greenpeace has revealed how Spain is “repeatedly and systematically overlooking illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by its huge fleet throughout European waters and beyond”. The report, titled Ocean Inquirer, takes as a case study one Galician family whose companies have received over €16m in subsidies from European taxpayers to fund a long list of criminal activities. Greenpeace states that the Vidal family’s many ships have been found conducting IUU fishing for decades, right around the world, and been prosecuted in the US, the UK and in the Pacific and the Spanish government have promised on numerous occasions to investigate and put an end to these abuses. But Greenpeace claims that what they have actually done is fund them - with our money. Spain has the largest fishing fleet in Europe, maintained with billions in subsidies - more than double the amount of subsidies received by any other EU nation. Greenpeace has accused the Spanish fleet of exploiting the CFP to infiltrate the fleets of other European nations and take their fishing quotas. If Spain, and Europe, continue with business as usual, it is predicted by the EU that less than 10% of our fish stocks will be at sustainable levels by 2022. Greenpeace’s case study of the Vidal family documents their long history of illegal fishing, their prosecutions and convictions and their frequently successful attempts to avoid justice, and Spain’s continuing failure to deal with an issue which has been raised with them on numerous occasions. It also reveals new evidence on Vidal’s latest business venture, an alleged fish oil factory in Galicia. This factory is not currently operational, many months after its claimed opening date, and yet Greenpeace says it has already earned the Vidal family another €6.5m - in EU subsidies. Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ariana Densham said, “According to some estimates, up to 49% of the global catch is IUU, and this is one of the reasons why our over-exploited fisheries are in such rapid decline. The fact that in Europe this theft of fish is being subsidised by taxpayers’ money, that we’re actually paying pirates to steal our fish, destroy one of our oldest industries and devastate the marine environment, shows just how corrupted the CFP is.” Greenpeace is calling for a full EU investigation into subsidies given to the Spanish fishing industry, and for all future subsidies to be given to legal, transparent and sustainable fishing practices, consistent with the CFP’s stated objectives. In response to this report, European fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki stated that “The serious allegations are already under investigation by the European Commission and being followed up with the Spanish national authorities. We are establishing all facts in order to pursue breaches“.

Sheikh Abdullah Ben Nasser Al-Thani's work on La Bajadilla Port in Marbella delayed

 

DELAYED La Bajadilla Port in Marbella has still not begun, because four months after the work was assigned, the contract has not been signed. There are three appeals against Sheikh Abdullah Ben Nasser Al-Thani’s project, which was due to be completed in 2015. One is from the Marbella Marina International Consortium, which was on competition with the temporary union created by Marbella Town Hall and Qatar Sheikh and Malaga CF owner, Al-Thani. His proposal to expand Marbella’s port and marina was chosen over theirs, but they believe that the decision was “unfair”. They haven’t directly asked for the process to be stopped, but bringing a case against the decision makes this automatic, regions such as Andalucia must have a specific tribunal to regulate relationships between public administrations and the companies chosen to carry out work, as the Junta de Andalucia does not have one, the Andalucian Supreme Court of Justice will rule in this case, and a judge will decide if the work can go ahead, even if the case continues at the same time. In any case, it appears the contract will not be signed this year. Al Thani’s project conceives a circular port with space for 1,221 yachts and a cruise stop, as well as a 45,000m2 commercial and leisure area with a five-star hotel. It aims to create around 3,000 jobs.

35 towns in Malaga spend more than they make

 

101 towns in Malaga province, 35 ended last year with budgetary deficits for spending more than they were making. Changes to the Constitution which were approved by PSOE and the PP in early September in congress in order to limit the deficits of public administrations could mean that many towns will find themselves in a sticky legal situation. The text states that “local administrations” must have “budgetary balance” by 2020, but seeing the figures for the province, which is not an exception in Spain, for 2009 and 2010, this will not be easy. The numbers could be even worse than it initially appeared, as Atajate, Carratraca, Cortes de la Frontera, Gaucin, Genalgualcil and Parauta have not yet handed in their figures for either year, while others, which although the Tax and Economy Ministry’s records show their budgets were balanced, admit that they ended the year with empty coffers and no money available in banks and payments to face. Many cases have only come to light after the elections when new parties have taken over. Malaga city has a debt of €735m, the highest in the province and the fourth worst in Spain behind Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The second worst figures are seen in Benalmadena, with a debt of €87m, although the worst deficiency is in Cuevas Bajas, with a difference of €800,000 between what was spent and what was taken in 2010.

Spain's first ever retirement home for gay and lesbian residents.

A landscaped, luxury home is envisaged

A short train ride from central Madrid is a scruffy plot of land covered in weeds and surrounded by wire fencing. In just a couple of months work is expected to start to transform the site into Spain's first ever retirement home for gay and lesbian residents.

Spain has been at the vanguard of Europe in terms of gay rights in recent years, but activists say reforming laws has been easier than changing attitudes.

"Gay old people have to go back in the closet when they enter retirement homes," explains Federico Armenteros, who runs the December 26th Foundation in Madrid.

It is named after the date in 1979 when the law used during Gen Franco's dictatorship to imprison homosexuals - or to send them for "cure" with electric shocks - was repealed.

"For many years, a lot of people believed that homosexuals were sick and sinners," Mr Armenteros says.

"That is more pronounced among older people, and hard to change,"

So the foundation has been working on a solution.

'Insulted and alone'

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

I have to make myself as invisible as possible - go back in the closet - so they don't notice me”

Jose Maria Herreras

It has formed a co-operative, recruited architects and designed a luxury, landscaped retirement complex - complete with 115 apartments, gym, spa and restaurant.

There is space for yoga, Tai Chi and dance classes - and plans to house archive material for the first research centre on the history of the gay rights movement in Spain.

Designed to be "gay-friendly", the Foundation says the home will be open to anyone regardless of their sexuality.

Jose Maria Herreras describes it as a dream come true.

He looks relaxed, sitting at street cafe in Chueca - the gay heart of Madrid. But Jose is 65 and lives in a retirement home. He says his life has been miserable ever since the other residents discovered he was gay.

"They started to steer clear of me and insult me," he explains.

"They called me 'queer' and it made me feel awful. My room has two beds but no-one wants to share with me. So I'm alone and it's bad.

"I have to make myself as invisible as possible - go back in the closet - so they don't notice me. And I spend as much time outside the home as possible."

For now the site of the home is just wasteland

Gay rights activists believe that experience is widespread.

Predominantly Catholic Spain was among the first countries to legalise gay marriage and adoption.

Gay pride celebrations in Madrid are among the best-known and most extravagant.

The formerly run-down neighbourhood of Chueca now has a thriving gay scene including clubs, saunas, bars and bookshops.

But four decades of Gen Franco's right-wing dictatorship meant that change came late to Spain and has spread slowly.

'Anti-camp law'

"We only started fighting for our rights in the 1980s," explains Mili Hernandez, who opened Madrid's first gay and lesbian bookstore, Berkana, in 1993.

"Until 1979 there was a law that [they] could take us to jail just for walking on the streets and being a bit camp."

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

I think we should go to the homes and ask for our rights”

Mili HernandezSpanish gay rights pioneer

The 1980s Aids epidemic was another setback for equal-rights campaigners.

"Now we have [some] of the best laws in the world for homosexuals, but we didn't have enough time to change mentalities," Ms Hernandez says, and points out that there are still very few high-profile, openly gay role models in the country.

"We're still in the closet," she says.

The bookstore owner sympathises with the problems of gay pensioners in care but she would prefer a different approach.

"I think we should go to the homes and ask for our rights. Ask for a double room, and tell them we are gay. We should try to insist."

But plans for the alternative home are already well advanced.

"It's too tough to make people who are suffering now wait until society changes and the discrimination ends - when people whisper about you and call you names, and won't enter your room," argues Federico Armenteros.

"These things are shrinking but unfortunately they exist."

He and his partner have already signed up for an apartment.

"I'll be living in a quality place, with people who respect, understand, love and care for me," Mr Armenteros says.

"Usually, when you end up in a home you're just another number. But this is something completely different."

'Social need'

A flat at the new complex should also work out considerably cheaper than the average retirement home.

How the home should look eventually

That is largely because a sympathetic local mayor has granted a low-cost 75-year lease on the land.

The co-operative system means members will cover 40% of the home's costs in advance while remaining funds will be sought from the banks.

For the architects who have drawn up the plans - for no charge, so far - the project makes sound sense.

"This is a project which will actually happen - that's important because we've done a lot of unnecessary building in Spain," says chief architect Julio Touza Sacristan, walking the plot with his sketches and artist's impressions.

But he also got involved because he saw a social need for the residence.

"I'm not sure everyone would like to be associated with such a project," he says.

"We're not as modern as we think we are in Spain but we think this is really necessary."

For Jose Maria Herreras, the place cannot be built quickly enough.

"This is somewhere where everyone will be equal," he says. "It's a totally different home where we won't have to hide who we are. We will be people. I will be free again."

Spain judge frees 5 suspected of financing terror

 

Five Algerians suspected of financing al-Qaida's North African branch have been freed by a judge who said there was no significant evidence against them. The judge ordered the men to stay in Spain, report to judicial authorities twice a month and declare any change of address. The men are being investigated on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. The arrests took place Tuesday in the northern Basque and Navarra regions. Mohamed Talbi, Hakim Anniche, Mounir Aoudache, Abdelghaffour Bensaoula and Ahmed Benchohra have not been charged. National Court Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Saturday that there was no evidence the men had sent "significant sums to Algeria" or that the recipients were "persons related to terrorist activity." The five men had also been under investigation on suspicion of maintaining contacts with radical Islamists in France, Italy and Switzerland. Police seized a large amount of documents and computer material as part of their probe. AQIM operates in Algeria and emerged in the 1990s from armed groups fighting the Algerian government after the army stepped in to cancel the 1991 elections in a bid to stave off a victory by an Islamist political party. The group declared allegiance to al-Qaida in 2006, changed its name and renewed a campaign of bombings and kidnappings across the Sahara. AQIM is currently holding four French hostages, and French officials have called it the biggest terror threat to France and its interests. Dozens of suspected radical Islamic militants have been arrested in Spain since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington, and again after the 2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid.