FOREST FIRE IN SIERRA NEVADA NATIONAL PARK

An area known as maja Alcazar in Canjayar, Almeria was affected by a forest fire yesterday. 20 hectares of scrub were burnt, inside the Sierra Nevada national park. Over 100 people worked to bring the blaze, whose cause is unknown, under control.

DRUG BOATS ARRESTS

Seville customs officers have intercepted a sailing boat "Aruba" in international waters off St Vincent. 500 kilos of coaine were found on board. The officers were taking part in an international drug-busting operation and have not discounted more action. The two American citizens who were crewing the boat were arrested and taken to the audiencia Nacional in Madrid. The boat has been taken into port in Cadiz for exhaustive examinations.

MAJOR FIRE IN GRANADA WAREHOUSE

A major fire broke out on Saturday night in a complex of six industrial warehouses near Granada. An open air warehouse containing plastic and paper for recycling was destroyed along with three vehicles from a repair workshop. Flames reached 20 meters in height, and the services of all firefighters in the area and from as far afield as Churriana and Santa Fe were required to bring the blaze under control.

CORPUS CHRISTI CELEBRATIONS

Residents of Valenzuela in Cordoba spent the whole of Saturday night decorating their streets with a thousand meter long carpet of coloured sawdust to celebrate Corpus Christi yesterday. The spectacular sawdust carpet was arranged in geometric and floral patterns by local children...just as well there was no overnight rain or wind.

CORDOBA GANG BUSTS

Police in Cordoba have broken up two gangs, one dealing in drugs, and the other in forged banknotes. In the drug bust, a young married couple were arrested, and found to be using a child to move the drugs around, while the gang forging banknotes were also found to be using children as couriers.

LOVE TRIANGLE SHOOTING

A 41 year old woman died yesterday in Algeciras, allegedly at the hands of her husband, and another man reported to the police station with wounds in the throat from an air rifle. Sources say he was alleged to be having a relationship with the dead woman. The husband, Antonio LP is alleged to have previously gone to his wife Adriana's workplace and killed her by strangulation, before going to the work place of 40 year old JM and shooting him with an air gun.

CLARA KILLERS STAY IN JAIL

The killers of Clara Garcia, Raquel CT and Iria SG will carry on with their current prison sentences, it has been announced. The two girls were sentenced to eight years detention with psychiatric treatment followed by five years on parole for killing their 16 year old classmate Clara in San Fernando, Cadiz.. They were considering taking their appeal to the supreme Tribunal, but have now instructed their lawyers to drop the matter.

TIRELESS CASE SHELVED

The Supreme Tribunal has shelved the case brought against Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Tony Blair by the Antisubmarine association of the Campo de Gibraltar. The Tribunal has rejected the group's case against the two leaders and the commander of the nuclear submarine Tireless for alleged crimes of treason and prejudicing public safety while the sub was being repaired in Gibraltar.

END OF STRAWBERRY SIT-IN

The 800 protesting immigrants in Huelva capital finally broke off their sit-ins thanks to an agreement signed by the Plataforma contra la Ley de Extranjeria and the strawberry business, Freshuelva. The agreement was witnessed by Jose Chamizo, the Defensor del Pueblo Andaluz. Under the terms of the agreement 627 work contracts have been issued. The sit-ins eventually ended shortly before six yesterday evening, after each protesting group had been told the conditions of the agreement which will enable them to get documentation. The news was greeted with applause by the protestors, who are hoping to get work and residency permits to travel to work in other parts of Spain.

DOCTORS STRIKE FOR AN HOUR

Doctors from public hospitals in Andalucia are expected to second an hour long strike to protest against the closure of 7000 beds during the summer. The strike called by the trade unions CCOO, UGT and the Sindicato Medico de Andalucia will take place between 11 and 12 noon. The doctors will gather at entrance to hospitals and health centres to portest about the lack of cover provided for summer leave, resulting in the closure of beds. However a spokesman from the Servicio Andaluz de Salud said the doctors were using incorrect statistics, with a maximum of 2,800 beds being out of service during summer.

FOOD OFFENCES IN SEVILLE

Police have seized 5,605 kilos of food prepared in poor hygiene conditions in an industrial estate in Seville. The owner of the factory, 45 year old MTR was arrested and charged with having false documentation along with offences against public health. The food, some of which had passed its sell-by date was being sold without permission and using the licence of another business with had been struck off the Food Health Register.

RUBBISH PROBLEM IN ALMERIA

The Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in Andalucia, Paulino Plata said yesterday that he thinks one of the main problems of Almeria is the rubbish generated by the area´s intensive horticulture under plastic and the lack of facilities to deal with the problem properly. Plata was speaking from Almeria where he was signing hygiene agrements between the municipalities of the western part of the province. However, El Ejido, the municipality which has the most intensive production, and the most pressing waste needs, failed to sign the agreement. Plata said that if El Ejido did not want to sign the agreement, it would have to clean up its own area, and if it failed to do this, the Junta would study legal measures to force it to do so. This year, the Agriculture department of the Junta will invest 700 million pesetas in cleaning up the fields of Almeria.

PHARMACISTS REBEL AGAINST MORNING AFTER PILL

A Granada pharmacist, representing 25 other chemists, has asked for the suspension of the ruling by the Health department which obliges chemists to dispense the morning after pill. The chemists claim that the order infringes their constitutional right to conscientious objection. The chemists, who come from Granada, Jaen, Almeria and Malaga have spent the last weeks preparing a legal caseand have called a meeting on Monday to set up an association to bring together other professionals who object to the ruling, like doctors and nurses.

ALMERIA HORTICULTURE INDUSTRY IN TROUBLE

Almerian fruit and vegetable growers are demanding the refinancing of a 300,000 million peseta loan to help them get through one of their worst crises. Several thousand people turned out to support a march in the centre of Almeria yesterday to draw attention to their plight and remind politicians that they only get 3% in aid. "Increasing costs and decreasing profits show that the grower is losing 14 pesetas out of every hundred," a spokesman said. The area is also afflicted by a virus and farmers are waiting to hear about proposals for the burning of massive quantities of vegetable waste affected by the so called yellow vein virus. There are fears that they might take advantage of the Noche de San Juan bonfires this weekend to try and dispose of the waste unnoticed.

PARENTS PROTEST AGAINST TEACHER

About 100 women gathered yesterday at the Juan Carlos I school in Jaen, to ask for the expulsion of a primary school teacher accused of physical and mental maltreatment of his pupils and some of their parents. The demonstration was spontaneous in nature and gathered momentum as the morning wore on. The parents association has already denounced the teacher, initials JCC to the Education department, accusing him of racists, sexist and discriminatory behaviour. They have also denounced him before a justice of the peace for humiliating and insulting the children. One woman said the teacher had struck her child on the head, while another said he told her son that she was a drug addict and a prostitute. The mothers said he always went out of his way to attack and insult children of poor families.

NEW SECTION OF PARQUE DE LAS CIENCIAS OPENS

The Parque de las Ciencias of Granada is opening up its third phase today. Presdient of the Junta de andalucia, Manuel Chaves will perform the inauguration of the new space, where visitors will be able to be able to learn about matters ranging from astronomy to physics. The area was built with the help of EU funds and includes a large restaurant, overlooking an artificial lake. The Parque de las Ciencias is the most visited museum in Andalucia, and is also perceived as a bridge between Spain and the Arab world through its connections with the Science Museum in Tunisia.

News Archive from Andalucia

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