La Manga Club in Murcia filed for bankruptcy protection

La Manga Club in Murcia filed for bankruptcy protection. Owned by George Soris’s company MedGroup, the company says that they will continue to trade, but will take ‘very strong measures’ to make the company viable.They purchased the club from P&O for 102 million pounds in 2004. It includes three golf courses, 28 tennis courts, 8 football pitches, a spa, 1,800 private villas and apartments, and a 5 star Hyatt Regency hotel. It’s one of the most complete tourist complexes in Spain and one of the best in Europe, and currently employs 700 workers.The Concurso Voluntario de Acreedores was placed in the mercantile court in Murcia, but the judge has yet to make any decision on the case.The situation implies that the firm has problems meeting debts which are pending. Some reports say that its...

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Posted in: La Manga Club in Murcia

severe fall-off in bookings is alarming tourist authorities and businesses.

The severe fall-off in bookings is alarming tourist authorities and businesses. Figures from the Spanish tourist industry reveal that the number of Britons who visited Spain in November, for example, was down by 15% on 2007. The fall has closely tracked the decreasing value of the pound. Britons began to turn their backs on Spain in September, when numbers were down 5%, reaching 7% in October. Last month's dramatic decline came after the pound had lost 25% of its value against the euro in a year. With the pound and the euro now apparently heading for parity, tourist authorities fear that worse will come ? with the all-important summer season now looking grim. Thousands of Britons are dropping traditional holidays to Spain because of the weakness of the pound and fears over the after-effects...

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Posted in: They only ever spend their money on alcohol and then they have to be carted off to hospital after they get drunk and pass out

arrest of 20 members of a suspected international counterfeit money distribution network, operating in Spain and Portugal.

code-named ‘Margarita-Kuskus,’ in Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Malaga, Almeria and Lugo provinces, has led to the arrest of 20 members of a suspected international counterfeit money distribution network, operating in Spain and Portugal. The operation, carried out in collaboration with the European Union's criminal intelligence agency (Europol), also resulted in the seizure of 150,000 fake euros in 50 and 20 euro denominations destined for distribution in Spain. The investigation was launched toward the end of last year after in increase in false bank notes was detected in circulation in Alicante and Lugo Provinces. Given that the modus operandi of these crimes was the same in both provinces, Guardia Civil officers from both agreed to work in partnership on the investigation. Once the distributors,...

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Posted in: Portugal and North Africa,Spain

purple €500 notes are so rarely seen that they have earned the nickname “Bin Ladens”.

Spain is estimated to have one of the biggest black economies in Europe, accounting for between 20 and 23% of annual GDP. Spanish tax authorities are investigating 12,000 big transactions involving €500 notes.It is, perhaps, the strangest idea yet for pumping extra liquidity into Europe’s troubled banking system. Spanish officials were yesterday reported to be looking for ways of encouraging Spaniards to remove the estimated 108m €500 notes they have hoarded in safes or under floorboards and take them to the bank. That averages out to at least two per Spaniard, or a total of €54bn, circulating outside the country’s banking system.A combination of tax-cheating and a long-standing mistrust of banks, means Spain soaks up a quarter of all the €500 notes - one of the world’s highest denomination...

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Posted in: Spain is estimated to have one of the biggest black economies in Europe

Banco Santander SA,hit by worlds largest fraud

The $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Fund invested solely with Madoff, taking a cut of 1 percent of assets and 20 percent of gains, which averaged about 11 percent annually in the past 15 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Fairfield Greenwich is one of at least 15 hedge-fund firms and private banks, including Tremont Holdings Group Inc. and Banco Santander SA, that earned similar fees for sending customers’ cash to the 70-year-old money manager. “It’s mind-boggling that people like Tremont and Fairfield Greenwich had been doing this for so long,” said Brad Alford, who runs Alpha Capital Management LLC in Atlanta, which helps clients choose hedge funds. “It’s the job of these funds of funds to be doing due diligence. That’s why they get paid.” Madoff was arrested Dec. 11 after he...

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Posted in: Banco Santander SA

Man driving his car against the traffic at 120 kms/hour with a woman hanging on for dear life on the bonnet.

Police in Marbella could not believe what they saw. A scene more at home in a Quentin Taratino film than on the local N340 road. A man driving his car against the traffic at 120 kms/hour with a woman hanging on for dear life on the bonnet.It happened at 4am in the morning last Tuesday, but details have only now been released. Diario Sur newspaper reports that witnesses said the driver was zigzagging and appeared to be trying to get the woman to fall from the car bonnet. The police patrol radioed for support in an attempt to block the way of the car which refused to stop to their sirens. After a long chase with the woman hanging on to the windscreen wipers, a second patrol car managed to stop the vehicle. The 31 year old Brazilian woman told the police that the driver, a 34 year old Spaniard,...

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Posted in: Marbella

Fortuna Land scam was run out of offices on the Costa del Sol using companies registered in places like Cyprus and Delaware (USA).

The Spanish land investment scam run for years by Fortuna Estates has finally been busted, with the Spanish fraud squad swooping last week on several office in Mijas and Fuengirola, arresting at least 2 people, and questioning 20 others. This could be one of the biggest Spanish property scams to date, with hundreds, if not thousands of British and Irish victims. The Spanish authorities estimate that Fortuna Estates made at least 65 million Euros out of this fraud.Still under official secrecy orders, the police have released few details about “Operation Fuentespino”, but the Spanish press reports that there could be more than 2,000 victims, mainly middle class investors from the United Kingdom and Ireland.Fortuna Estates, which had changed its name to Fortuna Land (Investment) by 2007, snared...

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Posted in: Fortuna Estates fraud

Death of the Beach Bars,500 bars and restaurants in the Malaga province alone have been built on the sand in contravention to planning regulations

Coastal authority of Andalusia has announced plans to enforce a 1988 law designed to prevent construction within 100 yards of the waterline. An estimated 500 bars and restaurants in the Malaga province alone have been built on the sand in contravention to planning regulations, authorities claim. Around 300 of them will be forced to close when their concessions end next year. Javier Hermoso, the chief of beaches on the eastern Costa del Sol, said closing the bars and clearing the coastline had become his main objective since taking office in September. "It will be a long complicated process because nothing has been enforced for 20 years," he told local newspaper La Opinion de Malaga. Critics of the move fear that the clamp down will lead to huge job losses at time when the area is already suffering...

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Posted in: 7000 people out of work in Malaga alone with this move

15 self-proclaimed anarchists stormed the Greek embassy in Berlin

Protests at the killing of Athens teenager Alexandros Grigogorpoulos have spread abroad. About 15 self-proclaimed anarchists stormed the Greek embassy in Berlin, saying Greece itself bears responsibility for his death. There was no violence reported, but the group displayed a banner saying the youth was killed by the Greek state. Berlin police sealed off the embassy while talks began on ending the stand-o...

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Posted in: Berlin

Greece has been hit by a third day of unrest

Greece has been hit by a third day of unrest, as anger continues to boil over at the police killing of a teenage boy on Saturday. Rioting erupted again in the Athens suburb of Exarchia, where 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead, and also in the northern city of Salonika. The Greek Communist Party called a popular demonstration in Athens and a 24-hour strike against the police’s action. This morning papers carried dramatic pictures of the weekend’s rioting, with blazing headlines like ‘Athens under siege’ and ’48 hours of horror.’ “The trouble, for me, simply highlights the lack of education in this country,” said lawyer Haralambos Samaras. “It is the most important thing we lack, both here in Greece and across Europe.” Dozens of people were hurt in the worst rioting in years...

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Posted in: Greek Communist Party

falling pound poses a serious danger for millions of ordinary British people since almost every daily essential, from food to fuel and manufactures,

A falling pound poses a serious danger for millions of ordinary British people since almost every daily essential, from food to fuel and manufactures, is imported. The dominance of finance capital has left the UK with a manufacturing sector that accounts for no more than 16 percent of GDP, while the service sector, much of it related to finance, accounts for 73 percent.Joining the euro does not offer a lifeline, since it would not offer a solution to the economic and fiscal problems that underlie the falling pound. With government borrowing now set to rise to 57 percent of GDP, it might not even be possible.Britain’s borrowing requirement puts it well outside the convergence criteria originally set for euro membership. The criteria might be relaxed because so many existing member countries...

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Posted in: ” said Roger Brown,“but the risk is higher because of the amount of debt.”,global head of rates research at UBS,No one expects the UK to actually default

Sweden cut its rates by a massive 1.75 percent, bringing the base rate down from 3.75 percent to 2.00 percent.

The cut in British interest rates was part of a general move by the world’s central banks in response to the deepening recession. The European Central Bank (ECB) cut its rates by three quarters of a percentage point. By the standards of the ECB, this is a huge cut. Over recent months, it has never cut by more than one half of a percent. Interest rates in the Eurozone now stand at 2.5 percent.Sweden cut its rates by a massive 1.75 percent, bringing the base rate down from 3.75 percent to 2.00 percent. Sweden’s action was in response to worsening economic data. Growth of 0.1 percent had been anticipated, but the latest figures point to a contraction of 0.5 per cent in Sweden’s export-oriented economy.Even in this context of sharply deteriorating economic conditions across Europe, the situation...

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Posted in: European Commission president José Manuel Barroso recently said that he thought British membership was “closer than ever before.”

If you feel any insecurity in your job you are not going to go out and buy a house

The government’s hastily unveiled plan to reduce the number of home repossessions was dismissed by leading UK house builder Bellway. Finance director Alistair Leitch said it would have “absolutely zero effect on new housing. It will not entice Joe Public to buy a new property.” Leitch identified concerns about unemployment as the major factor in slumping house sales. “If you feel any insecurity in your job you are not going to go out and buy a house.”His impression was confirmed by a new survey of job trends, which showed that the UK job market is weakening rapidly.“The UK jobs market is heading downhill at breakneck speed,” said Mike Stevens at KPMG. “Employers in almost all sectors have drastically cut recruitment plans and are shedding contract and temporary staff as fast as they can.”The...

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Posted in: The scale of the downturn in the UK manufacturing PMI [Purchasing Managers Index] data during November is unprecedented

The UK jobs market is heading downhill at breakneck speed

The reason for the drastic fall in the pound is the state of the British economy. “The outlook for the British economy is particularly dire,” the Economist warned, “because it has been hit so hard by the banking crisis.” As a result, “Lending to the sectors that matter—households and non-financial companies—has essentially stalled since the summer.”Lending has dried up because banks are attempting to shrink their balance sheets so that they can stay in profit. But the effect of every bank doing this is to send the whole economy into a further downward spiral. The banks are shifting the risk from their own balance sheets to other companies and to working people who lose their jobs and homes.Recent economic data has pointed to Britain entering a deeper recession, and at a more rapid rate, than...

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Posted in: outlook for the British economy is particularly dire

It now costs more to ensure the UK against default than some of its banks such as HSBC and Lloyds

Bank of England cut its interest rate to 2 percent on Thursday, bringing the UK base rate to its lowest level since 1951. This historically low level reflects the scale of the crisis that has hit the British economy after decades of being the favoured destination for global flows of speculative money.In the run-up to the interest rate cut, the pound fell to US$1.45. This is its lowest level against the dollar for six years. As recently as July the pound was trading at US$2.00. From its peak, the pound has fallen by a total of 30 percent against the dollar.The pound hit its lowest ever level against the euro at €1.1 and a 10-year low against the Japanese yen. It has lost 45 percent of its value against the yen since last summer. The extent of the fall in the pound is comparable to its collapse...

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Posted in: impact on sterling will be negative.

British pensioners living overseas should be stopped from raking in millions of pounds in winter fuel payments

British pensioners living overseas should be stopped from raking in millions of pounds in winter fuel payments, campaigners are insisting.Charities and OAP groups will next week protest that more than £10million a year is being paid to those who have escaped the chilly UK and retired to the sun.Some 50,000 elderly Britons who have moved permanently abroad are claiming the yearly allowance, worth between £200 and £300, which is supposed to help with winter heating bills.Campaigners have hit out at winter fuel payments made to those living in sunny climates abroad, while elderly UK residents struggle with rising energy billsEven those living on Spain's Costas and in Portugal, Greece and some tropical islands are benefiting from taxpayers' money.As long as they register for the allowance in Britain,...

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Posted in: British pensioners living overseas should be stopped from raking in millions of pounds in winter fuel payments

Guardia Civil and the National Police have seized 26,199 kilos of drugs in the Campo de Gibraltar so far this year

The Guardia Civil and the National Police have seized 26,199 kilos of drugs in the Campo de Gibraltar so far this year, compared to the 25,001 kilos seized in 2006 for the same period. More facts: during the first three months of this year they have caught more than the total for 2006; the total street value of the hashish hauls alone amount to €37 milli...

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Posted in: Guardia Civil and the National Police