Young Finback Whale beaches at Alcaidesa

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA/Alcaidesa (Agencies) A finback whale (Balaenoptera physalus) appeared dead on the beach last Wednesday at Alcaidesa, according to reports received by the Town Hall at around 8pm. Volunteers from the Centre for Recovery of Threatened Species (CEGMA In its Spanish acronym) at Málaga, arrived some time later, and also members of Circe, the whale watching people from Tarifa. These experts reported that it was about 4 m in length, indicating it was a youngster, but that it had been dead for some time before being flung onto the sand, as it was in an 'advanced state of decomposition'. Also called a rorqual, this is one of the smallest of the large whales (the family of the Balaenopteridae includes the Blue Whale, the largest of all mammals) but it is the fastest and the most common, of ten reaching between 7 and 10 m in length and between 5 to 10 tons in weight. The remains were removed for incineration on Thursday morning and there was little trace of it overt the weekend.

Sisters allegedly made false receipts for their community

ALCAIDESA (Agencies) Two sisters, answering to the initials M.V.A. and M.E.V.G., are being prosecuted for allegedly creating false bills and receipts when they were President and Vice-President, respectively, of their community, and supposedly keeping the money that came in as a result. The matter revolves initially  around two cheques made out to bearer, for €3,000 each, that were to go to pay an employee that had been fired by the community. The employee denied ever having received any cheque nor the amount in cash. Another witness stated that the cheques were cashed by the sisters themselves at a local bank. One of the defence lawyers said at the trial that the total figure as yet unaccounted for amounts to €111,000. Some twenty witnesses are expected to be called. Two Policía Nacional agents testified that the receipts they had seen in this matter, had been 'manipulated', and that the women were arrested in 2009 after the community secretary-administrator denounced that her signature had been falsified in the monthly reports on expenditure.

Capucine and her 'tara-tari' on their way to Miami

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Europa Sur) Tara-tari is a Bangladeshi fishing boat, nine meters long and two wide. Capucine Trochet is the French rower who pitched up in it at Alcaidesa over Easter, on her solo way from Marseilles to Miami. So far, the trip has taken five months - even though tara-tari means 'speedy' in the language of the Bangladeshi workshop where the boat was built. But hers is not just an adventure: through her 'sponsors', Watever, she wants to prove that the jute produced in Bangladesh can readily be considered a viable technical fibre with many industrial uses. "We want to go as far as possible," she told Europa Sur, "to study how the fibre reacts [to different conditions] and [how well it] ages. Also, there is a special philosophy about travelling like this, without electronics or instruments: it is possible to make your dreams come true quite cheaply. What I'm doing is not easy, but it is my dream. And it's also an adventure."

Bush fire burns 20 hectares at La Alcaidesa

(Photo: Europa Sur)

SAN ROQUE (Agencies) A bush fire broke out on the hills in the La Alcaidesa and Sierra del Arca at about 15.14 yesterday, when the Infoca (fire prevention organization) received a call to alert them of smoke in the area. It was finally put out at about 8.30 in the evening, needing five helicopters and three airplanes to do so. The firefighters concentrated on not allowing the flames to spread towards El Albarracín, the main road, the San Roque Club and on towards Sotogrande. As it is, a campsite in the immediate area had to be evacuated. Aside from the aircraft, the fire needed 70 firefighters, seven retenes (units of various numbers spread out for emergencies), three pump trucks containing some 4,000 litres, one 'mother tank' with capacity for another 11,000 litres. The Guardia Civil decided to evacuate the La Casita campsite as a prevention, principally because of the smoke that reached the place, but no damage was registered there other than that.

Seven RGP officers moved to other posts after start of investigations into illegal Alcaidesa search

SAN ROQUE (GibChronicle / Brian Reyes) At least seven police officers have been moved to new duties as a result of an ongoing internal investigation into an illegal search in a house in Alcaidesa (within  municipality of San Roque and reported here), according to several well-placed sources. Some of the officers have also been put on notice that they could potentially face disciplinary proceedings depending on the outcome of the investigation. Police investigators are seeking to establish why officers from the Royal Gibraltar Police searched the rented Spanish home of a Gibraltarian man accused of robbery and seized items there. (Read the full story here.)