For REAL NEWS ... GET INFORMED! TODAY at San Javier Murcia Airport, Spain LOW Cost Ads! --- THE Newspaper for the COSTA CALIDA --- FREE Ad. Design Service! Home Contact Local News Worldwide Amusing Stories Classifieds Clubs/Societies Emergency & Useful Numbers Horoscope Pharmacy Rotas To the EDITOR Advertising Rates, etc. Newspaper Subscription Mail Direct to the Editor LOCAL HEADLINES    No More Sewage for the Mar Menor    10-Metre Giant Squid Spotted off the Coast    Council Announces Plans are Now Open for Viewing    Stoned Driver Loses Dope    Oil Spill Came From Abandoned Boat    1 Copper for 20 Women ... More Headlines No More Sewage for the Mar Menor: The Ecologists in Action group, A.N.S.E., is not the only one to be extremely happy with the end of the bad smells and the dead fish in the Albujon and the continuous leakage of semi-treated sewage water from the old water purification plant in Los Alcázares. The new €20 million purification plant in Los Alcázares has been finished and is now open almost a year ahead of schedule. Not only is this a great achievement and fantastic news for the environment, it also kills two birds with one stone. The waste water from households in and around the Los Alcázares area will be treated correctly and processed, leaving it in a pure state, suitable for use by farmers for irrigation purposes. The Mayor of Los Alcázares, Encarna Gil, presided over the official opening ceremony during which he stated, “Los Alcázares will no longer be the Mar Menor’s problem.” The President of the Ecologists Group, A.N.S.E., Pedro Garcia, is of the same opinion and added, “Let’s just hope that contamination of the Mar Menor will end. We would also like to see the old purification plant knocked down and the site made into an open space that is replanted with local shrubs and trees.” The new purification plant has the capacity to treat 22.500 cubic litres of water per day and according to Jose Salvador Funtes Zorita (President of the Hydrographic Federation), “There is more than enough capacity to treat all the waste water that the 120,000 residents of the area could possibly ever generate. Urban contamination will be no more and instead the wastewater will be reused to provide much needed water to the agricultural industry.” Back to Top  or   NEXT STORY 10-Metre Giant Squid Spotted off the Coast: A group of holidaymakers who were enjoying the afternoon sunshine aboard a small speedboat called the emergency 112 services when they bumped into the dead floating body of a 10-metre long giant squid. After making several failed attempts to capture this impressive specimen the group returned to shore, telling their tale to what soon became a large crowd of fishermen. A team of biologists from the Recuperation of Species and Animals Centre managed to retrieve the giant squid, which had already begun decomposing. According to a spokesperson from the centre it is rare that examples of giant squid are ever seen alive by humans, as they normally live in very deep water between 400 and 1500 metres. Scientists have learned what they know about the giant squid by performing autopsies on the bodies that wash up on the country’s shores. According to Juan Ramon Jimenez of the Recuperation of Species and Animals Centre, the giant squid can grow up to 20 metres in length and weigh up to 1 tonne. Back to Top  or   NEXT STORY Council Announces Plans are Now Open for Viewing: The Mazarrón town council has initially approved plans relating to point number 57 on the general ordnance plan relating to the new building project presented to the council by the promotions and development firm, Hansa Urbana. The plans have been initially approved, subject to the public’s comments. The plans will be available for inspection for 30 days from Wednesday 30th July. The plans relate to the new urbanisation in El Alamillo, an urbanisation built into the hillside on the edge of the municipality of Mazarrón. Hansa Urbana’s project includes luxury apartments and chalets, a commercial area and golf facilities. Back to Top  or   NEXT STORY Stoned Driver Loses Dope: On Tuesday 29th July Guardia Civil Traffic Department officers arrested a 24-year-old male, identified by his initials J.A.E.S., after they discovered he was transporting 11 kilos of hashish in his Volkswagen Golf. He lost control of his car on the RM-2 stretch of motorway between the outskirts of Cartagena and Alhama by the inland municipality of Fuente Alamo. The incident occurred at approximately 6am when the driver, who was on his way to Alhama de Murcia, lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the median. Officers arrived at the scene and immediately called an ambulance as the driver was bleeding from cuts on his face. According to officers he was acted strangely; he wasn’t in shock or upset but instead was frantically trying to collect packages that had fallen out of his car during the accident. On closer inspection officers were able to ascertain that the packages were indeed 500-gram blocks of plastic-wrapped hashish resin. The officers were even more surprised after they looked inside the crushed Volkswagen Golf to see that across the back seats were even more of the brown packages. The driver was taken by ambulance to the Santa Maria del Rosell Hospital in Cartagena from where, after receiving medical assistance for his cuts and bruises, he was escorted to the Guardia Civil station where he will remain until he is brought before a judge. Back to Top  or   NEXT STORY Oil Spill Came From Abandoned Boat: The oil spill that saw the Mazarrón beaches of Puerto and Riheute being closed on a busy Saturday at the end of July came from an abandoned fishing boat. According to a spokesperson from the Fishermen’s Federation in the Port of Mazarrón, Juan Ballesta, the oil came from a fishing boat, “The Vimar la Vila”, which had been abandoned and was waiting to be sunk after it had been cleaned out. The Mayor of Mazarrón, Francisco Blaya Blaya, stated, “Members of the coastguard spotted the fuel spill and they immediately set in motion the emergency procedures to safeguard the security of swimmers. Six Red Cross lives saving boats quickly approached the oil spill and marked off the area clearly before setting about trying to clean up the pollution. Luckily the fuel did not cause any major damage, it was cleaned up and the beaches were only kept closed for two days.” Back to Top 1 Copper for 20 Women: TThe associations of the local police, national police and the municipal police forces have complained that they feel incapable of doing their jobs correctly because they are understaffed. In the region of Murcia one policeman is supposed to be in charge of protecting twenty women, who have been victims of domestic violence. The guideline figure is that one policeman should be in charge of the welfare of up to twelve victims of domestic violence and no more. A spokesperson for the syndicate of police associations stated, “We feel completely helpless and it is very depressing because we cannot individually guarantee the safety of up to twenty women. It is impossible, you cannot be in so many places at one time and it means that we are failing the very women that we are supposed to be protecting simply because we have been assigned too many cases.” More Headlines. . . For the FULL INFORMER Experience, take out a Newspaper Subscription ... you'll be amazed!