Europol are now looking for 35 year old Darren O'Flaherty who was already wanted in the U.K.

Spanish police have named the person they want to question in connection with the murder of the Irishman John O’Neill outside Coco’s bar in Benalmádena Costa last Wednesday.

He is 35 year old Darren O’Flaherty, from Kirkby, who is already wanted by police in North Yorkshire in connection with the kidnap of a lorry driver at knifepoint in 2006. He jumped bail in 2008 after being charged with robbery and kidnap.

O’Neill, a father of two, had stepped in between two men having an argument outside the bar over the use of a toilet. He stormed off and returned to the scene with a .38 calibre pistol, with reports saying five shots were fired.

The suspect left the scene, with his wife after the shooting. He faces a charge of murder in Spain for the death of O’Neill, and several counts of attempted murder regarding the other people in the bar at the time.
Europol have extended the search for him.

 

 

 

The Government has said that unemployment continues to be of concern, but that it sees positive signs. But Secretary of State for the Economy, José Manuel Campa, described the latest EPA data as ‘bad’.
It showed that for the second quarter unemployment has risen by 32,800 even though new jobs have been created.
In total at the end of June there were 4,645,500 people out of work, 508,000 more than a year ago, and taking the percentage to 20.09% and a new 13 year record.
The increase comes despite a strong increase of 82,700 in the number of people in work, which has now reached 18,476,900, but it still could not absorb the new numbers in the workplace with the EPA putting the total workforce at 23,122,300, some 39,900 more than a year ago. Over the past 12 months the number of people in work has fallen by 468,100.
1.3 million families now have all their members out of work and it is often taking youngsters two years to find their first job.

Moodys rating agency is reported to be considering reducing its ranking for the Spanish economy. Bloomburg is reporting today that Moodys could reduce its rating from the highest AAA to Aa2 and that a decision is expected within the next three months.

The Euribor, used to set most mortgages in Spain, has ended July at 1.373%, which means that those who have their mortgage annual review at the end of the month will see a fall in payments of just three € a month. It’s the fourth consecutive month that the Euribor has risen, and mortgage payments next month are expected to rise as a consequence.
Meanwhile the Ministry for Housing says that prices have fallen by only 12% since their highs. The amount is far below that of the real estate promoters who claim prices are 20% off, although the Ministry admits that prices are set to fall further, despite noting ‘a new balance between supply and demand with more reasonable prices’.

The Ministry for Industry is to revise the grants awarded to thousands of solar farms across the country. 25% of the total power installed will be inspected by the Ministry, in an attempt to weed out fraud. There are 55,000 solar farms established in Spain.

The big four Spanish banks, Santander, BBVA, Caja Madrid and La Caixa have announced profits of 8.4 billion € for the first half of this year. The number is down 9% on last year. The banks profits have been hit by bad debt and the fall in other activity. Biggest profits have been at the Santander at 4.445 billion € which says that 70% of its profit came from outside Spain.

Construction, Services and Energy group, ACS, have obtained a net profit of 501 million € for the first half of the year. It’s a fall of 67.4% compared to last year which included the extraordinary item of the sale of 35.3% of Unión Fenosa.

And finally,
Bwin and PartyGaming have created a giant online gaming business, the largest of its type in the world, with Bwin holding 51.6% and Partygaming 48.4% of the new company.
The new company will have its headquarters in Gibraltar and will trade on the London stock market.