Rapist leaves prison under 'chemical castration'

Martínez Singul

BARCELONA Alejandro Martínez Singul, will be leaving the prison, where he has spent the last three years, tomorrow. He had been sentenced to, and has completed, three years after being found guilty of the attempted rape of a 12-year-old girl. He was previously sentenced to 65 years for 10 rapes, for which he paid the maximum time of 16 years. He has never been allowed out because of fears that he would reoffend due to his uncontrollable sexual desire. However, he has been taking part voluntarily in a programme that includes the use of chemicals that inhibit sexual desire, as well as intensive psycho- therapy.

HSBC whistleblower out on bail

BARCELONA Hervé Falciani, who identified 3,000 French tax evaders when he stole data from the bank he worked for as an IT specialist, was released on bail last month pending extradiction proceedings to Switzerland. He had been arrested in July last year in Barcelona and had been in prison since then, charged with stealing data from the HSBC Private Banking in Geneva. He then handed over the list to France's then-Minister of Finances, Christine Lagarde, who now heads the IMF. The list of tax evaders has been called the Lagarde List and details and identifies over 3,000 French and other citizens or residents (659 of whom are Spanish, including members of the Botín family that owns Banco Santander) with accounts in Switzerland that at that time remained undeclared during the period between February 1997 to December 2007.(A more detailed article on this subject will soon be available on SpainInformer.com) 

Barcelona Erotic Show gets under way - and it's legal

The only photo we could publish
on a family website

BARCELONA (Press release) "The Barcelona Erotic Show (SEB) will be held from Thursday 11th  to Sunday 14th  October 2012 at Feria de Cornella (Barcelona). The Barcelona Erotic Show is an event organized by the FICEB, The International Erotic Film Festival of Barcelona, ​​and its created for both women and men and that includes all genders. A unique event worldwide for its shows and activities where you canSOON YOU WILL BE UNABLE

Catalonia announces mega tourist resort development

Announcement comes before (unofficial) loss of Eurovegas

BARCELONA (Agencies) The government of Catalonia announced yesterday that it was planning the development of Barcelona World, with an investment of €4,740m and the creation of around 20,000 jobs. This comes as rumours fly that Las Vegas developer Sheldon Adelson has chosen Madrid as the site for his company's expansion into Europe. Behind the Catalonian development is the Veremonte Group, whose largest shareholder is Enrique Bañuelos de Castro, an international businessman who announced that SOON YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO READ THE REST OF ITEMS SUCH AS THESE UNLESS YOU SUBSCRIBE

Is EuroVegas decision made?

Sheldon Adelson

MADRID There are persistent reports (rumours, really) that say that billionaire financier Sheldon Adelson's company, Las Vegas Sands, has made its decision on where to install a Las Vegas 'copy' in Spain. The two rival cities were Barcelona and Madrid. The company is making no comment, but Esperanza Aguirre, Mayor of Madrid, said in a radio interview yesterday that she had a 'positive intuition' that the choice had fallen on Madrid. In Barcelona several politicians have remarked about how an opportunity 'has been' lost. According to Adelson, EuroVegas would mean>>>

Nice job if you can get it

Dr. Ricard Gutiérrez Martí

BARCELONA (Agencies) Ricard Gutiérrez Martí, was co-Managing Director of the Sant Pau hospital in Barcelona between 2001 and 2004. However, he continued to be paid his full salary -between €80,000 and €110,000 per year- for the following seven years. He was not made redundant until last year, when he received an additional indemnity od €158,569.63, according to the foundation that runs the hospital. Having worked a mere three years at the hospital, Gutiérrez Martí received a total of over one million euros.>>>

Spanish court says 'nein' to neo-Nazi bookseller

Pedro Varela Geiss in court

BARCELONA (El País / Jesús García)  Adolf Hitler has landed a Spanish neo-Nazi in legal hot waters. Pedro Varela Geiss, the Barcelona librarian who was jailed for disseminating genocidal ideas, will sit on the dock again soon. But this time it will not be for selling books that denigrate blacks and homosexuals, or for saying that the Holocaust was a "myth" made up of "six million soap bars." This time, Varela - who feels he is the victim of a persecution, to the extent of comparing himself with Jesus Christ and Joan of Arc - is indicted on more prosaic charges: violating intellectual property laws by publishing and distributing Mein Kampf, the bible of National Socialism.>>>

The end of a bullfighting era arrives this Sunday

Monumental bullring, Barcelona

BARCELONA (El País/Antonio Lorca) When the bullfight featuring matadors Juan Mora, José Tomás and Serafín Marín comes to a close next Sunday, Barcelona's Monumental bullring will close forever. That afternoon the corner between Gran Vía and Marina street, which lies adjacent to the arena, will once more be the stage for heated verbal encounters between aficionados and noisy, angry and intense protests from anti-bullfighting campaigners. But it won't come to anything serious; the attitudes of both sides show the passion is intrinsically linked to this once-massively popular spectacle, which is now adrift in a rough sea of troubles.>>>

Ex FC Barça head and son sentenced to six years in prison

BARCELONA (El Pais) The former president of the FC Barcelona soccer team, José Luis Núñez Clemente, and his son José Luis Núñez Navarro, have been sentenced to six years in jail each for bribery and forgery. In the most complex case handled by the Barcelona High Court to date, 14 out of the 16 defendants were convicted, including the chief tax inspector in Catalonia, Josep María Huguet, who was slapped with a 13-year jail sentence for helping the Núñezs avoid paying around 13 million euros in taxes between 1991 and 1999. Núñez, who is also>>>

Government backs Mediterranean rail route linking Algeciras with Barcelona

ALGECIRAS / BARCELONA / SPAIN (Agencies) Reiterating the government's commitment to the EU's Mediterranean Corridor rail route, Public Works Minister José Blanco met with representatives from the regional governments of Valencia, Catalonia, Andalusia and Murcia this week, promising to begin the tendering process for construction of key sections of the high-speed link within two months. The Corridor will link North Africa and southern Spain with central Europe. The Mediterranean Railway Corridor has been on the drawing board for decades, and will eventually link North Africa and southern Spain with central Europe along Spain's Mediterranean coast via a standard European rail gauge. (See CampoPulse items here and here)>>>

Madrid and Barcelona airports to be privatised

SPAIN (Agencies) The Spanish Government aims to raise a minimum of €5.3 billion from concessions awarded to companies to operate Barajas airport in Madrid and El Prat in Barcelona. The Cabinet on Friday approved the creation of two concession-holding companies for the two airports. Companies will be invited to bid for 90.05 % of their capital, with the remaining 9.95 percent to be held by state-owned AENA Aeropuertos. The minimum asking price for Barajas is €3.7 billion and €1.6 billion for El Prat. Concession holders must also pay AENA a fee of 20 % of the annual revenues of the airport managers, with a minimum set for Barajas in 2012 of €150 million and €80 million for El Prat.

Contorsionist thief bends the law

(Illustration only)

BARCELONA (Agencies) The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalonian Police) on Tuesday arrested a pair of thieves with an ingenious method of relieving bus passengers of their valuables on the Girona Airport to Barcelona Estació del Nord line. One of the miscreants, a contortionist, would squeeze into a large suitcase that would then be deposited in the luggage hold of the bus by his accomplice, who bought a ticket and traveled on the bus to its destination. Once underway, the second heister would extricate himself and rifle through the hold stealing valuable objects, particularly electrical devices. The ruse was discovered when the suitcase containing the flexible thief was deposited at Girona Airport, arousing suspicion, as his accomplice carried off the pair's latest haul. When police opened the case, they found the second man inside with a cellphone, a torch and a bradawl.

Fire breaks out in Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

BARCELONA (Agencies) A fire broke out earlier this morning in the crypt of the central nave of Gaudí's famous unfinished church in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia, promoted to a Basilica by Pope Benedict on his last visit. Latest reports say that a 'mentally disturbed' man is the alleged author of the incident, which had a large number of people evacuated from the spot - a major tourist attraction. Firefighters were still working to put the fire out at  noon today, but, according to the head of the Patronato (management committee) 'it is easily controlled.' UPDATE (12:51): The fire is completely under control and the suspect is under arrest.

FC Barcelona members to vote on smoking ban

BARCELONA (El Pais) Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium will be the first in Spain to ban smoking if members of the Liga soccer club vote for the measure at its next general assembly. Until a decision is taken, the Catalan giant has recommended that supporters refrain from smoking in the stands, even though open-air arenas such as soccer stadiums are exempt from the anti-tobacco law that came in to effect on January 2. A complete ban on smoking inside Camp Nou has been proposed by the club president, Sandro Rosell, who on Monday announced the measure alongside the regional health chief, Boi Ruiz, and the president of the Barcelona Medical Association, Miquel Vilardell. "You can do what you want with your health," Rosell said, citing the number of children who attend games. "But not with that of others."

17 arrests in voodoo prostitution ring

ALGECIRAS (Agencies/Photo: illustration only) Two people were arrested in Algeciras in an operation involving the National Police in Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Tarragona and Las Palmas as well., in a total of 17 arrests. The gang forced women to prostitute themselves using threats of voodoo practices, according to a press release from the Jefatura Superior de Policía in Madrid. The operation came about after a woman was offered witness protection; she reported that a gang had obliged her to prostitute herself in the street when she was tricked into coming to Spain under offers of employment. The police say that the gang was perfectly structured and made up of men from Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Algeria and Morocco, through which the victims were transported into this country. Constant beatings and voodoo threats were the norm. Aside from charges related to kidnapping, pimping and people traficking, the gang is also accused of using false documents and credit card fraud. They are all 'at the disposal of the courts'.

La Caixa prepares to become a bank

SPAIN/BARCELONA You may not have noticed, but La Caixa is not (yet) a bank proper. It is the largest building society in Spain, however, and it is preparing to become a fully fledged bank. The board of the Barcelona-based finanial institution announced today that it and its affiliate Criteria are studying the group's reorganization, which would include passing its banking business to Criteria and other divisionary measures. Criteria Caixa Corporation announced the possible restructuring in a note to the Stock Exchange Commission, which suspended trade in various associated stock "as a preventative measure,"`according to a press release from Madrid.

723 kilos of 'coke' found in container at Algeciras port

ALGECIRAS/BARCELONA
(Photo: EuropaSur) The drug was found amongst a legal cargo of flowers coming from Colombia. Another operation by the National Police and the Customs Agency also discovered a further cargo of over 250 kilos of pure cocaine at the port in Barcelona that came from the same source as that in Algeciras. The head of the cargo terminal in Barcelona was arrested as the alleged head of the importation part of the gang involved. In a third operation, cooperation between the National Police and the Federal Police of Argentina, confiscated 113 kilos of the drug found hidden in the false bottom of a very heavy safe that had been sent inside a container.

Straits ferry sent to Mallorca to aid in transferring passengers trapped by volcanic ash cloud

ALGECIRAS
The Captaincy General yesterday announced that is has ordered the immediate transfer of the Milenium II ferry that normally crosses  from Algeciras to Ceuta, to aid the transfer of passengers from Mallorca to Barcelona. The objective is to decongest the airport terminal on the island, where airline passengers have been stuck for almost a week due to the volcanic ash cloud having reached Northern Spain.

Ándalus severs Gibraltar - Madrid connection

GIBRALTAR

The latest airline to try its luck with connecting Gibraltar to Madrid and Barcelona, Ándalus, announced yesterday that it was 'suspending flights indefinitely', as well as those between Girona and Mahón. The announcement came as the Spanish air safety agency AESA announced that it was 'monitoring the airline's activities very closely'. Sources say that Ándalus owes the Gibraltar Government over €110,000 and had debts amounting to approximately €7million. The Spanish airline, of Andalusian capital, tried to fill the gap left by Iberia and GB Airwaves, who pulled out in 2008 and 2009 respectively.