Cowboy Cops Kill Bull

The Town Hall at Las Pedroneras in Cuenca, denied that a bull escaped during the start of last Tuesday's fiesta and was shot by local police 36 times, to kill it.

But this video that turned up on YouTube shows the allegations to be true.

It seems the bull escaped from a garage while the lottery to select the bulls for the next bullfight was going on. In a scene from Keystone Kops the Professionals move in shoot the scared and much wounded animal, rather than wait for a vet to arrive who would use a tranquiliser gun.

See the video here.

Ryanair Cancels Travel Agent Reservations

The UK's cut price airline, Ryanair has cancelled some reservations made through Spanish travel websites, as some agents have been adding a charge of around ten euros per ticket to flights.

Ryanair has said that this practise is against their conditions and have started cancelling tickets bought through such vendors and are returning the money paid to the agents who will be instructed to reimburse customers.

Ryanair says that only bookings made through travel agency websites for flights after August 25th would be cancelled and that all flights booked directly through the Ryanair website will not be affected.

Ryanair justifies its action by saying that the travel sites have violated their conditions of use, and increased their prices with ‘hidden costs’. In the case of Atrápalo.com, the extras amount to 10 € a ticket according to Ryan Air.

Large Numbers Of Illegal Immigrants Returning Home

There has been a sharp increase in the number of non EU immigrants looking to return to their home countries, according to three non governmental reports.

The Red Cross, The International Migration Organisation and Spanish Catholic Migration Commission have all reported that the number of 'returnees' has increased dramatically.

The returns are no doubt prompted by organisations such as those above who are digging into their own resources to pay for fares back home.

Spain Fights First Large Scale Forest Fire During Heatwave

The Spanish Ministry Of Defence have sent 285 soldiers to an area in Zaragoza, where a fire has been raging through the pine forest since Tuesday.

The army have been called in to help control the blaze that started after an accident in which a car crashed into a tree. The resulting fire has so far affected 2,200 hectares of pines in the area of Zuera.

High temperatures and gusty winds have hampered the efforts to control the fire. There are an estimated 400 people working to control the blaze, with 16 fire fighting planes being used during daylight hours.

Helicopters are also being used and can be seen lifting water from nearby swimming pools, to drop on the fire.

The Disappearing Gourmet

A Swiss gourmet on a pre-planned trip around Spain's sixty eight Michelin guide three star restaurants, has disappeared.

Pascal Henry was last seen on June 14th, when he was dining at the famous El Bulli restaurant in Roses, Girona. Police were alerted when the gourmet failed to turn up at restaurants in the Basque country.

After eating at El Bulli, Henry said that he was going to look for a business card from the establishment, but he never returned to the table. To add to the intrigue Henry's notebook was left on the table, complete with a list of restaurants he had eaten at, along with comments.

Spains Coastal Towns Growing With Foreigners

A report on Typically Spanish News says that half of Spanish municipalities are growing in size thanks to the foreign population.

Not surprisingly most of the growth can be found along Spain's Mediterranean coastline.

There are no surprises in the list of towns that have grown due to foreign population, not for anyone who knows the Spanish coastline.

Popular retirement areas such as Benalmedena, Torremolinos, Mijas and Fuengirola are all areas on the Western Costa del Sol that are on the list. Anyone who has visited these towns, from my experience can see straight away the huge number of English that are living in these places.

I am always surprised at how many of the Brits here don't consider themselves to be foreign.

But I digress the remainder of the list is Roquetas de Mar, El Ejido, Torrevieja, Orihuela, Estepona and Gandia.

El Ejido actually has six times more foreigners than local people!

Raul: It Would Be Most Beautiful To Play For Spain Again

Real Madrid captain Raul says that he hopes that one day he will play for his country again following the appointment of the new Spain manager Vincente Del Bosque.

Raul played some of the best football of his career last season to spur Real Madrid on to the La Liga title. He was dropped from the Spanish squad by controversial manager Luis Aragones, who's decision to support the younger players was vindicated when they won the Euro 2008.

Despite the differences Raul wished Aragones all the best for his new job in Turkey and also to Vincente Del Bosque in Spain.

Raul said he would continue to play for Real, but it would be 'most beautiful' if he were to be called up for his country again.