The 37 suspects arrested obtained an estimated 3 million Euro

Police in Málaga have broken up a network of 37 people arrested for bank fraud amounting to 3 million €. The arrests took place in Málaga, Torremolinos and Antequera, and it’s understood that properties were also searched in Alhaurín el Grande.

2,840 bodies have been exhumed, including the remains of women and children

Investigations are to continue at the San Rafael cemetery in Málaga into a further nine mass Civil War graves known to be located at the site, the largest such site in Spain. Work is already underway on identifying the 2,840 bodies which have been exhumed from the first nine graves which have been inspected over the past three years, and the work now will be matching up DNA samples with the victims’ descendants.

Francisco de la Torre echoes the view of the British tourism sector

The Partido Popular Mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, believes stores and businesses must be allowed to open 365 days a year as another aspect of what the city has to offer to the tourists who choose to visit the capital of the Costa del Sol. Speaking at a conference in Málaga on Monday, covered by Diario Sur, the Mayor said continuing to ban Sunday and Bank Holiday trading would be to ignore reality.

The constructor of the AP46, Sacyr, has run out of money

Lack of finance has brought a halt to the construction of the new toll motorway to Las Pedrizas north of Málaga.

The AP46 which will run the 24 kilometres into the city is now 30% complete, but construction is at a standstill as the construction company Sacyr cannot find the funds to continue. In February last year more than 1,000 people were working on the road which has a completion date of Jan 1 2010. The road has a budget of 421.4 million €.

More strike action is possible in September as talks continue with ground staff

Easy jet flights at Málaga landed and took off on time on Saturday despite the strike action called for the day by the CCOO union. The 24 hour stoppage also failed to have any effect on luggage waiting times as 83 workers complied with minimum service agreements.

The second runway is due for completion by the end of next year

The new terminal under construction at Málaga Airport is set to open before next Easter, as announced by Concepción Gutiérrez, Secretary of State for Transport, this Thursday. The work is nearing completion and it’s understood that trial operations at the new building will take place early next year. Málaga Hoy newspaper reported earlier this week that 2,500 people will take part in the trial sessions, with 4,000 suitcases also to be used to keep the simulations as close to reality as possible.

The Mayors of Axarquía want an amendment to allow building on rural land in order to legalise illegal properties

A Junta de Andalucía official has spoken this Wednesday of dialogue and negotiation as the way forward to solve the problem of illegally-built properties in the Axarquía district of Málaga province.

The mayors have proposed legal construction on rural land

The 31 mayors of the Axarquía region of Málaga, meeting at the Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol Oriental, have come up with an idea to legalise the illegally built properties in the region. They want the law to be changed, to allow construction on rural land.

It’s part of a new city-wide ban on drinking in the street

Three years after setting up a specific area for the purpose in the Paseo de los Curas near the port, Málaga City Hall has decided to ban the ‘botellon’ weekend drinking parties in the city as part of a new law which prohibits drinking alcohol in the street.

It means Málaga has followed the examples set in other cities some time ago, such as Sevilla, Cádiz, Madrid, Bilbao and Valencia.

They say the TVE1 programme was misleading and took no account of recent developments on the future of the beach restaurants

The Málaga Socialist Party are unhappy about a programme shown on Spanish national television on Wednesday night, during prime time viewing on TVE1. Entitled ‘desmontar el chiringuito’ – ‘dismantle the chiringuito’, the party says it gave a false impression of the outlook for Spain’s beach restaurants, when agreement has been reached with the government to allow them to remain on the sand.

It’s a phenomenon known as a red tide and is caused by algae proved, in this case, to be non-toxic

The red slicks which have been on some parts of the shoreline on the eastern part of Málaga province in recent days have been identified by scientists as non-toxic algae, which pose no danger to humans or to the environment.

More than 100 British families could have lost expensive summer holidays worth an average £3,000 after booking through a defunct website, www.morairaway.com.

And the number is mounting as British-based holiday lettings websites that carried adverts for morairaway.com try to get in touch with customers who booked and paid.

The final amount involved could top £1m. Spanish police have already launched an investigation into the Malaga-based company whose website does now not work and whose telephone number is out of order.

The Guardia Civil are working in alphabetical order and are now in towns and villages beginning with ‘B’

The Guardia Civil is reported to be combing Málaga province in the search for illegally built homes.

Diario Sur reports that more than 40 agents are currently employed in the task, distributed across the various districts of the province, both inland and along the coast.

A survey puts the Costa del Sol coastline as the third best kept in Spain, though some say they no longer come to the province’s polluted beaches

There’s good news and bad for the Costa del Sol in a survey carried out by Corona beer, as part of an initiative to protect Europe’s beaches. Results in the vote by foreign tourists put Málaga’s beaches as the third best kept in Spain, with 27% of the vote, after the Baleares and the Canary Islands. German and Italian tourists were the most impressed with the condition of Málaga’s beaches.

The properties are in the Axarquía, Marbella and Mijas

The Málaga provincial Government, La Diputación, together with Marbella and Mijas Town Halls, has announced plans to bring 40,000 houses built illegally into legality.

The properties include those in inland Axarquía as well as those along the coast, with the President of the Diputación, Salvador Pendón, saying on Tuesday that the illegally built property could be saved in the Axarquía, but that he did not understand why talk in the region was of ‘charging the Mayors’ when in Marbella alone the talk is of 30,000 homes being legalized.

49 year old Stephen Mallon had been in a coma since a fight in the Málaga village of Cómpeta 12 days ago

The 49 year old Briton, Stephen Mallon, who has been in a coma in the Carlos Haya Hospital in Málaga for the past 12 days after being involved in a large street fight in the village of Cómpeta has died. Doctors say that he had been in a deep coma, and was declared to be brain dead at 1030 on Wednesday morning.

Roofer Stephen Mallon was hurled 25ft to the ground during a brawl near his holiday home in Malaga.

Mr Mallon, of Bournemouth, Dorset, is critically ill with head injuries in a Spanish hospital.

He had gone to help his two teenage sons after they were confronted by a gang of youths at the La Estrella pub in Competa.

He was attacked with bottles and flowerpots before being thrown over the bar’s balcony.