Morocco Experience Off the Beaten Path in Casablanca

Morocco Experience Off the Beaten Path in Casablanca

Cutest Robot Dances Like Michael Jackson [Video]

Well, maybe the robot doesn’t dance exactly like Michael Jackson, but it certainly is pretty darn close and is definitely very cute. 

What’s more it is aimed at inspiring kids and its homegrown in Spain ... read more

Historical Egyptian Loot Seized In Spain In Europe-Wide Crackdown

Spain’s Civil Guard working with Europol has sized more than 2,200 looted and valuable artifacts, mostly from ancient Egypt, as part of a major crackdown in Europe. In the operation 35 suspected traffickers were captured in total, consisting of Spaniards and Egyptians.

Among the 36 looted items recovered by the police was a vase, covered in hieroglyphics, and a statue of the goddess Isis.  According to Captain Javier Morales, an expert in the field, probably the most valuable single item is a majestic bust of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, which is worth around $113,000.  In total, the various artifacts are apparently worth up to $340,000.

The curator of Barcelona’s Egyptian museum, Luis Manuel Gonzálvez, told The Local that since the revolution in Egypt at the beginning of the Arab Spring, it has been far more difficult for authorities in that country to take care of the many valuable and ancient sites.

“Many artifacts have been taken from Egypt to Europe and the USA, but as the situation improves in Egypt, we are likely to see fewer incidents on this scale.”

The discovery formed part of a major operation launched in 14 countries in an effort to prevent further looting and illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts of this nature.  These particular items were found hidden in a container load of cheap vases, shipped from Alexandria in Egypt to the Port of Valencia in Spain. 

Guardia Civil recupera 36 piezas arqueológicas expoliadas en Egipto http://t.co/EzLxwJlqru No te pierdas la galería! pic.twitter.com/EkR0pDbPEq
— Europa Press (@europapress) January 28, 2015

According to police, some of the items were most likely looted from the Saqqara burial site and ruins, close to Mit Rahina in Egypt.

Among the 35 suspected traffickers found, the discovery of the looted items led Civil Guard officers to arrest of arrested five members of the network in Barcelona and Tortosa in Spain (four Egyptians and one Spanish) and two more in Egypt. The criminals will all now face several charges, including the trafficking of historic objects, being members of a criminal group and money laundering.

La @guardiacivil desarticula un grupo dedicado al comercio internacional de bienes culturales expoliados en Egipto pic.twitter.com/kM9MzPXstJ

— Ministerio Interior (@interiorgob) January 28, 2015

During the operation, agents have inspected several thousands of art and antique dealers, second-hand sellers and auction houses in 14 European countries, including Britain, France and Germany.  Inspections have also been stepped up at border posts, ports and airports.

Besides the successful operation in Valencia, Spain, the Italian Government advised last week that their police had sized over 5,000 ancient artifacts as part of a $51 million haul after they dismantled a combined Swiss and Italian trafficking ring.

Smurf theme park to be first for Spain

Authorities in Lleida announced Thursday that a Smurf theme park is planned for the city, a project that will see the first such theme park completely dedicated to the blue characters, known as the "pitufos" in Spanish. Even better, the theme park will create 200 jobs in the area.

Apparently the project will require set up fees of around $57.8 million, and expected revenues look to be around $17 million within the first year.

20 Minutos reports (in Spanish) that the Smurf theme park will be aimed at families with children aged two to 12 years and this will, apparently be a real first for Spain.  While the Smurfs have been popular on TV, film and in video games, and have generated a lot of success in toys, the Lleida park will be the first dedicated only to the Smurfs and another good option for attracting tourism to Catalonia.

Big Bang Schtroumpf, a park operated in France between the 1980s and 1990s, was Smurf-related but the blue people apparently vanished once the park was bought out by another company.

Of course, Smurfs have met fame in other ways in Spain in the past.

There was a publicity stunt back in 2011 for the Spanish premier of The Smurfs 3D movie, which turned into a successful marketing scheme for the previously white, now completely Smurf-Blue, Andalusian village of Júzcar. (See photo of Hotel Bandolero in the town on the right, courtesy the hotel).

The Local mentioned producers had said at the time that the village would return to its Andalusian "white village" status after the stunt, but villagers said "no," preferring to keep the bluer hue which has attracted around 200,000 tourists to the village. The first "Pueblo Azul" or "Blue Village" of Andalusia, if you will.

Now it seems Lleida is now set to profit from the Smurfs too, in probably an even bigger way.
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Smurf photo CC by-SA Pere López

Bankrupt businessman arrested after attempting to blow up PP Headquarters

A bankrupt businessman has been arrested after crashing a car, loaded with two cylinders of butane gas, into the national headquarters of the Popular Party in calle Genova, Madrid on Friday.  The man was arrested at 7.00 a.m. today.

The man was also carrying two bags, currently being analyzed by police specialists.  He told police that he had "lost everything" and that in the car there were "15 kilograms of ammonal and a timer scheduled to explode within 45 minutes."  (Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder).

However, after an initial analysis was performed on the substance found hidden in the car, it was revealed that it is combustible, but not explosive, according to police.

Police sources say that the unnamed man could be suffering from mental problems. "Everything seems to indicate this is a personal action and has nothing to do with a terrorist action," said National Police spokesman Antonio Nevado in statements to RNE. 

Various security protocols are still in place.  According to an El Mundo reader who lives close to the scene of the incident, calle Genova is "empty" and is blocked off by police at each end, at the Plaza de Colón and Alonso Martínez  but there is something that apparently looks like a robot near the crashed vehicle. "I heard a noise in the early hours of the morning and then a tumult of people," he told the newspaper.

The police have activated the so-called 'Circular 50' protocol for attacks using explosive devices. Agents have cordoned off the building perimeter for security, and public and private traffic has been halted in the area.

As a precaution the subway service on line 4, between the San Bernardo and Goya stations, has been halted. In addition, there will be no stops in Alonso Martínez station, lines 5 and 10. 

Police have urged workers for the PP headquarters to stay away from the building until they have completed their analysis on the crashed vehicle.

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Photo: Twitter post: Estrellan un vehículo contra la sede del PP en Madrid que podría tener explosivos http://t.co/XeI5SbvxPc pic.twitter.com/G0K09URR3R
— Santiago Romero Ruiz (@atlante83) December 19, 2014

Translation of Tweet:

They crashed a vehicle against the headquarters of the PP in Madrid that could contain explosives

Sources:

El Mundo
RT

Animal circuses to be banned in Málaga, animal rights to be protected

An announcement was made on Sunday by the mayor of Málaga that animal circuses are to be banned in the southern Spanish city.  A further ban will be made on the pony ride carousels, popular at local fairs.

 

Photo of elephant in "training" - CC by-SA Heather Norwood PETA

Local government unveiled a new federation for the protection of animal rights in the city, which is the first of its kind in Andalusia, and third nationally.  The Federation of Protectors of the Province is to be dubbed "Tidus," after a dog who died after suffering severe injuries in a fire in Valencia.  Videos telling Tidus' story can be seen on YouTube here.
 
The circus ban in Málaga itself follows the lead of several other Spanish cities, Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Vigo and Vitoria, who also decided to ban circuses that use animals in their acts.

Further work will be done on the proposal in the weeks ahead in order to reach the widest consensus possible. Meetings will shortly be held with the newly-formed Federation of Protectors of the Province and the prohibition is to be brought before the whole city council in January 2015.

Several animal rights groups have been demanding a ban on both animals in circuses and the pony rides saying that the training used is "aggressive" and produces "unnecessary animal suffering,"

The secretary of Tidus, and president of the Málaga Society for the Protection of Animals, Carmen Manzano, spoke to the media about other animal suffering, including that of dogs, saying "animal lovers and animal rights campaigners have had enough of knowing that there are breeding centres and kennels throughout Málaga where dogs are tied up day and night, often without shelter, mistreated and abandoned."

She explained that Tidus was set up show that the group "will not be silent until animals have the respect and love that, as living beings, they deserve."

 

Pony rides at the local fair in Málaga are to also be banned.

Photo: Copyright © Anne Sewell

Sources:

Gnomes
The Local

Less taxing: Madrid theater sells porn instead of tickets (Video)

An all-women theater group in Madrid, Spain was having problems selling tickets due to the high VAT charged on culture in the country.  They came up with a novel idea, in a much lower tax bracket.

It seems one of the areas most badly hit by the crisis and budget cuts in Spain is that of culture, and in this case, theater.  The ladies who run this theater company were finding it hard to sell tickets to their performances.  The VAT on theater tickets is that of a luxury item at a high 21 percent.  However, the VAT on porn magazines is a mere four percent, which makes one think it was men to set the standards.

Anyway, what they did was to print up a whole bunch of porn mags which are sold at the nearby magazine outlets.  People then show the magazine when attending the theater.  Now everyone is happy, and some are no doubt a little more excited than others...