NEWS UPDATES and tidbits

Some news items we posted in August, need some updating, so here goes, with links to the original item:

• The Italian skysurfer who slammed into a wall in Tarifa on Sunday is still in the ICU but is out of danger and stabilized.
• Gibraltar removes all Nurofen Plus products from pharmacies on the Rock, after it was revealed in the UK that several other substances have been found in these packets and sabotage is suspected.
• National Police have closed the case of the Algeciras businessman who was killed in a home invasion with seven people under arrest.
• The Al Qaeda man arrested in La Linea in mid August was planning to poison water supplies at campsites and tourist resorts. He remains in custody.

And then there are several recent news items that might be of interest but that we don't have time to write a full report on:>>>

• A 20 year old La Linea man turned himself in after injuring pedestrians while driving. He tested positive.
• King Juan Carlos is to be operated on again next week, this time on the Achiles tendon on his left leg, and by the same team that operated on his knee at the beginning of June.
• Hotel occupation in the province of Cadiz reached 87.61% in August, against 90.33% last year, but better than had been expected.
• Air Europa pilots announce strike action on Mondays and Fridays from September 22, affecting most of the Spanish airline's 280 daily flights.
• A drunken priest in Valencia crashed into two cars, nine motorbikes, the terrace of a bar and stopped only when he hit a street light. He left the scene but was arrested later.
• Salvador Márquez, 19 and of Jimena, is campaigning to join Spain's version of Big Brother, Gran Hermano in its next season.
• Study reveals that the over-fishing of red tuna in the Straits of Gibraltar is seriously affecting a group of Killer Whales that feed almost exclusively on the tuna. The group is based in the Bay of Cadiz.
• Family bodega González Byass, of Jerez, was chosen as the best in Spain by the World Association Wine and Spirit Writers and Journalists.
•  Neither Jose Luis Zapatero, Prime Minister, nor Mariano Rajoy, Opposition leader, have any English and very little knowledge of computers or computing.
• Work has begun in Gibraltar for the installation of bicycle stations. More info on a Government website: www.gibibikes.gi.
• Inaer, the emergency helicopter company with an Algeciras-Ceuta service, suspended operations on the 27th because of a recall of its local helicopter, an Augusta Westland AW 139. Service from Malaga to Ceuta is also affected. The company does not know when service will be restored.
• Municipalities in the Campo de Gibraltar have been advised that they must return €9.8 million in overpayments by the Central Government for 2009. (This item will be expanded.)