News from Andalucia & Costa del Sol
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Spain embargoes Mubarak's Marbella assets
The former Egyptian president had seven properties valued at over three million eurosBy David Eade
THE NATIONAL Police have moved in to seal off seven properties owned by the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak located in Marbella.
These properties are valued at over three million euros.
The move was ordered by the Spanish Justice Ministry and is said to have involved two properties and five garage parking spaces. The apartments are located in the 'Golden Mile' area on the urbanization Playa Esmeralda.
They cannot now be sold or transferred to other owners and they will be held to await any claims of misappropriating public funds, corruption or illicit enrichment that may follow in the Egyptian courts.
The National Police took action after officials received a judicial commission sent by the Egyptian authorities. The police were asked to locate any properties, bank accounts, companies or any other assets owned by the former president, and 129 other people, that are held in Spain. Those involved are Mubarak and his immediate family, senior government officials, civil servants and the businesses they may have established.
Málaga suicide linked to eviction
In a separate incident an Ardales man also took his own life last weekendBy Dave Jamieson
A WOMAN took her own life on Friday morning by jumping from her fourth floor apartment in the Los Corazones district of Málaga.
Neighbours said that she was in debt and had received an eviction order days before. However, the Superior Court of Andalucía later denied any such notice had been issued.
The 56-year-old lived with her mother, aged 96, who is bed-ridden and suffers from dementia, and who has since been transferred to be cared for in a home for the elderly. The dead woman's husband and their other daughter both died over ten years ago.
The emergency services were called to the scene of tragedy shortly after 9.20am but nothing could be done to save the victim's life.
Police found three hand-written notes in her apartment, the first of which gave details of the drugs which her mother takes and the name of the home where she would like her to be moved to.
The second note was addressed to her friends and neighbours while the third was for the carer who had looked after her mother in recent years.
She is also known to have gone out to post a letter immediately before her death, but it is not known to whom this was addressed.
Mijas prepares allotment gardening plots
The plan is aimed at pensioners and local social or neighbourhood groupsBy Oliver McIntyre
ELDERLY residents and gardening enthusiasts in Mijas will soon have access to allotments under a scheme set to be launched by the town hall.
Some 80 allotments of 30 square metres each are currently being prepared by municipal maintenance workers, who will lay out the plots, condition the soil and install water access for irrigation.
The plots are located in Las Lagunas - near Cortijo San Elías between Camino de Campanales and the Ciudad Deportivo sports centre - and in La Cala de Mijas near the Los Olivos football pitch.
They will be made available to elderly residents of the town and local social or neighbourhood groups, said officials, who highlighted the strategic location of the allotments close to residential zones.
PEDDLING FOR PUPS
Briton Steve Hall gets on his bike to raise cash for two animal charitiesBy Dave Jamieson
THERE'S one man on the coast who will be refusing a double helping of Christmas pudding on Tuesday because he has his own double to face in the following days. Steve Hall plans to cycle from Mijas to Nerja on Boxing Day, and then to make the return journey on the day after, to complete a round trip of some 200 kilometres.
Steve's object is to raise cash for two animal charities which work with abandoned and ill-treated cats and dogs, and which are both in desperate need of funds. Many such groups along the coast have been faced with an increasing number of animals seeking new homes during the recession, in part as a result of many ex-pat families returning to their own countries and being unable to take their pets with them.
The money raised by Steve's efforts will be shared between Kim's Animal Rescue in Mijas and Axarquía Animal Rescue which say that if just 1,000 people pledge one euro and 20 businesses pledge 10 euros, their generosity would mean each organisation benefitting by some 600 euros. And that goes a long way towards feeding and caring for those animals who have been abandoned through no fault of their own.
Pledges can be made online by going to https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/dOlX0 and clicking on the button marked ‘Give'.
Dole queuers and poor given El Gordo lottery tickets
A local group has handed out 1,500 tickets which could net winners €20,000 if they're luckyBy David Eade
THE ¿Yo? ¡Producto Andaluz! association hopes to add some extra cheer to the Christmas celebrations of hundreds of unemployed or otherwise struggling people on the Costa.
The group is handing out a total of 1,500 participations in Christmas lottery ticket number 11946 to people in line at unemployment offices in a number of local towns, at the municipal soup kitchen in Benalmádena and at a home for the elderly in Torremolinos.
Each participation is worth one euro, representing a twentieth of a 'décimo' lottery ticket, meaning if the group's number hits El Gordo, each participation would pay out 20,000 euros, explained the association's president, Bartolomé Florido.
"Maybe 20,000 euros isn't much to the owner of a big store, the mayor of a town or a member of parliament, but to these people here it could be a life-changer" that gets them through a rough patch, he said during one of the hand-out sessions at an unemployment office.