Summary: With local and regional elections coming up in mid-2019, the Popular Party (PP) is hoping that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will make Cabinet changes to appoint members with a higher political profile. THE number of applications made by refugees for asylum status in Spain was around 31,700 last year, almost twice as much as 2016 levels. An average of around 2,700 people per month applied for the status nationally. A tip-off three years ago launched “Operation Mastín,” a police operation that led to 41 arrests last year. Twenty of the suspects are now in pre-trial detention; all of them are Chinese men between 25 and 35, except for a Spanish electrician. .......The involvement of Chinese mafias in the marijuana business “has led to a boom in its production in Spain in the last four years,” say investigators. THE suffering of many animals should end with new protection laws that have come into effect in Spain from last Thursday. The amputation (docking) of tails, cutting of ears, removal of teeth and claws, and the sectioning the vocal chords have all been banned. It will also be against the law to offer pets as prizes. POLICE in Spain have arrested an 85-year-old man at a hospital in Valencia for throwing ‘acid’ in the face of a retired doctor. Screaming ‘Murderer, you have killed my son’ the pensioner threw a liquid in the face of the 72-year-old doctor. A SPANISH union has appealed to Ryanair to change its members working conditions. The Spanish Union of Airline Pilots (SEPLA) has taken issue with what they said was the “abnormal” situation of its members, with many of them working under Irish employment status. Dozens of EU laws could be imposed on Britain during a two-year transition period after Brexit, it was claimed today. A leaked Whitehall document revealed the UK could be forced to accept 37 controversial EU directives. One of the rulings could make people take out insurance for all off-road vehicles including tractors, golf buggies and mobility scooters. Nick Clegg has launched a searing attack on the Brussels elite - blaming their 'sneering' attitude for Brexit. The former deputy prime minister, a prominent Europhile, complained that the drive for 'ever-closer integration' had been a 'terrible misreading' of public opinion. A British man with Aspergers accused of hacking into the FBI's computers will not be extradited to the US after a High Court ruling today. US authorities have been fighting for Lauri Love to face trial on charges of cyber-hacking after he allegedly stole data from agencies including the Federal Reserve, the US Army, the Defence Department, Nasa and the FBI. The student could have faced solitary confinement in the US and a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if found guilty. The 33-year-old, who lives with his parents near Newmarket in Suffolk, suffers from Asperger syndrome, a depressive illness and severe eczema and his lawyers said he was at risk of suicide if sent to the US. Two burglars who raided an 83-year-old woman's home were caught in clear ......They spotted two CCTV cameras installed inside the home and grabbed them, but police managed to download the images recorded from a central database. A white supremacist has been convicted of terrorism after planning to carry out a machete attack at a gay pride event. Ethan Stables, 20, planned to kill people attending a LBGT meeting at the New Empire pub in Barrow, Cumbria. Armed police stopped him on the way to the pub after a tip-off from a member of a far-right Facebook group, where he had posted a message saying he was 'going to war'. We've had prosecco flavoured crisps and even a gin and tonic version. Now Doritos is making ‘lady-friendly’ tortilla chips that are quieter to eat, less messy and come in a packet designed to fit in handbags. The company says women do not like to crunch loudly or lick their fingers in public while eating the snacks – unlike men.
