Local News

In The Spanish News

The police in Madrid have arrested a 42 year old man who used his under-age son to rob nine banks.
The boy would enter the bank branch armed with a pistol and wearing a cap, while his father would wait outside to make sure that the escape route was clear. They would then flee by car or in the metro.
Miguel Ángel M.O and his son were both from Uruguay, and were finally caught after their last robbery on February 1 in the Latina district of the capital.

Some 500 hectares in five municipalities of the Sierranía de Ronda were affected by fire over the weekend. It started on Saturday in Pujerra, Málaga, and was not brought under control until Sunday
The strong winds in the area, up to 40kms/hour on Saturday, complicated the control of the fire, and the fire-fighters continued their work on Saturday night despite temperatures of -4ºC.

The judge instructing the Marta del Castillo case, the 17 year old girl who was murdered in Sevilla in January 2009, has asked the prosecutor if it is worth continuing to search for her body.
Sources close to the case have said the judge in instruction court 4 has posed the question after receiving a police report, the contents of which have not been released.

Two secondary school pupils have been arrested for spying on their teachers at an institute in Riotinto, Huelva.
They had installed a keylogger program in their computers which allowed them to know the texts written by the teachers and the web pages they visit. The idea was for them to get an advance look at the examination papers.
The case came to light when one of the teachers accidentally found the details of his companions on his computer. The two students will appear before the Duty Instruction Court in Valverde de Camino.

In The Gibraltar News

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has expressed surprise that the new Spanish Foreign Secretary Garcia Margallo should be “so uninformed about the reality of Gibraltar.” In an interview with the Madrid daily ABC, Mr Picardo argues that to suggest a four-way process to include the Mancomunidad, the Campo mayors and the Junta de Andalucia “is to overlook the structure of the Tripartite Forum because they can all come along as part of the Spanish delegation.”

The Gibraltar Government has declared that it is wrong for the GSD Opposition to point to allegations by the operator of the Algeciras ferry, Medex, to “an unnecessarily aggressive attitude by the new Government” as a reason for the withdrawal of the ferry service between Gibraltar and Algeciras.
A Government spokesman said it has been made patently clear that the withdrawal of the service was exclusively for “commercial and not for political reasons.”

The Ministry for Sport and Leisure yesterday declared the temporary closure of the 25 metre swimming pool at GASA, for safety reasons.
A Ministry for Sports spokesman said: “During the silent hours of last Friday night/Saturday morning, a large section of the air ducts suspended from the ceiling collapsed and fell onto the spectator platform.
“Thankfully, this occurred at a time when the facilities were still closed to users
Works were immediately carried out to remove all the air ducts as a preventive measure. A structural survey and other safety checks are to be carried out.
The Ministry will not reopen these facilities until it is satisfied that they are declared fit for public use.”

That’s the Spanish & Gibraltar News for the Bay FM area, I’m Mike Martin.