Local News in Brief

Wednesday, 22 August 2012 12:32

Written by Editor

MALAGA

Fewer fair visitors

Mayor Francisco de la Torre said on Monday that there was a 10 per cent drop in the visitors to this year’s August fair, down from six million last year to 5.5 million. He said that while the drop was substantial fairs in other parts of the country had seen drops of 25 or 30 per cent. Despite the drop, he said hotel occupation was up slightly this year, as was the number of foreign visitors, thanks to the cruise ships that put in at the port during the fair to unload some 30,000 visitors. The other good news was the 45 per cent drop in incidents that required police intervention.

FUENGIROLA

Payment by credit card

The town council has announced that taxi drivers and stall holders at the three street markets are taking steps to accept payment by credit card. Mayor Esperanza Oña said it would also be possible to use credit cards in the blue zone parking and that the possibility of extending the time by mobile phone was being studied so that car owners would not have to return to their vehicles. She said one of the advantages for the general public would be that they no longer had to carry much cash on them, which should reduce the number of muggings.

Jail for mother who abandoned her baby

The woman who abandoned her newborn baby in an urbanisation, believing it to be dead, has been jailed provisionally on a charge of attempted homicide. The baby girl was found on a plot of land by the family who had hired the 20-year-old Russian woman as a nanny. They took her to the Costa del Sol hospital where doctors found two fractures in her skull. The woman had given birth in the family’s bathroom and told police she had abandoned the baby because it appeared to be dead. The woman is reported to have given the child up for adoption.