TWELVE of the Marbella Casino’s 14-strong board face charges of document falsification. The Casino, one of the town’s oldest but with no links to the Casino de Marbella in Nueva Andalucia, has been at the centre of internal conflict for several years. Differences over renting out of part of its La Alameda installation to a restaurant business resulted in the sacking of the Casino’s former president Antonio Ric and ex-secretary Manuel Porras in April 2010. Both started legal proceedings against the remaining board members, claiming that their rights had been violated and they were excluded from the meeting which decided to remove them. After examining the dismissal document, the judge from Marbella’s Number Two Court decided there were grounds for suspecting forgery. He has now summonsed 12 board members, including the current president, Agustín de la Fuente Perucho, for questioning on September 19.

In a country with 21 percent unemployment, learning the net worth of lawmakers plugging austerity right and left is turning out to be irresistible. Spanish parliament released such numbers for the first time and its website immediately crashed. Hours later access was still spotty. Highlights of Thursday's revelations: Mariano Rajoy, the conservative likely to be the next prime minister, reports having nearly euro600,000 ($843,000) in bank accounts and shares, plus properties in Madrid, the Canary Islands and his native Galicia. His Socialist opponent Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba reports having about euro1 million ($1.4 million), a Madrid apartment, a parking place and no debts. This transparency stems from a reform approved July 10.

Rock and roll legend, Slash, of Guns and Roses fame will be jetting into the UK to be at the grand opening of GuitarGuitar in Epsom later this month. The guitar hero, famed for his aviator glasses, top hat and legendary licks, will be in store for a special autograph signing and to slash the sash to open the largest guitar emporium in the UK. A handful of lucky competition winners will be invited to meet the man himself at this exclusive event which will take place on Thursday, September 15 from 2.30 to 5pm. Five exclusive Dunlop pedals, signed by Slash, made available in partnership with the not for profit Surrey organisation, Love of Learning, will also be available to purchase at a cost of £200.

Jaguar has released new details of a hybrid sports model it is working on as a potential successor to the legendary E-Type.

The new C-X16 two-seater uses a new 3.0-liter V6 engine along with a 70kW hybrid motor and is described as an ‘exploration’ of future performance hybrid options.

Using a combination of gasoline and batteries, the C-X16 offers a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) and a 0-100 km/h time of 4.4 seconds, with an electric-only top-speed of 50 mph (80 km/h)

The electric motor can also be activated using a steering wheel button for a power boost, inspired by the recently-introduced Formula One KERS system, charged through a brake regeneration system.

The C-X16 picks up on a couple of new Jaguar styling signals such as the front trapezoidal grille, although Jaguar says that it is intended to showcase the evolution of its design direction, with sharp creases on the hood and a sweeping roofline.

Inside, it is finished in ‘vermillion red’ and uses a climate control system which Jaguar says is inspired by the Typhoon fighter jet, with dash-mounted vents that appear from the dash to provide a blast of air as necessary, retracting afterwards.

The model will go on show for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show (september 15-25), where it will compete for attention with the upgraded Porsche 911 Carrera, the Maserati GranCabrio Fendi and the Ferrari 458 Spider

Fashion designer John Galliano was Thursday found guilty of anti-Semitism and handed a suspended... Fashion designer John Galliano was Thursday found guilty of anti-Semitism and handed a suspended fine over a series of drunken outbursts against fellow customers in a Paris bar. The 50-year-old British designer, who was sacked from fashion house Dior over the scandal, was handed total suspended fines totalling 6,000 euros (8,400 dollars) over two incidents, in February this year and October 2010. Galliano -- who had faced a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of 22,500 euros on the charge of making anti-Semitic insults -- was not in court to hear the verdict. The Paris criminal court also ordered him to pay a symbolic euro in damages to each of his victims, as well as to five anti-racism groups that were plaintiffs in the case. He was also ordered to cover the legal costs of four anti-racism bodies. One of the most celebrated designers of his generation, Galliano had been at the creative helm of Christian Dior for 15 years, as well as running his own label, until the outburst brought his career crashing to a halt. At his one-day trial in July, he apologised for his conduct. Galliano insists he is not an anti-Semite but admits he can not remember the evenings in question, blaming a "triple addiction" to drink, sleeping pills and painkillers for his behaviour. The designer told the court he had since undergone two months of rehab in Arizona and Switzerland.

The Puerto Banus street market in Marbella is on every Saturday from 9am to 2-3pm. It’s next to the Plaza de Toros (bullring), 10 minute walk from the port.

He went public about his split from long-term love Lauren Goodger and cited their non-existent sex life as a reason for the break-up.

But while Mark Wright has had no qualms about spilling the beans about the end of their romance, it would appear that his former fiancée has been told to keep her mouth firmly shut.

And to make sure that she doesn't tell her side of the story, she has reportedly been made to sign a gagging order to stop her talking about their ten-year relationship, according to heat magazine.

Gagged: Lauren Goodger has reportedly been banned from talking about her relationship with Mark Wright since splitting from him last week

And today, this claim appeared to hold some truth when she took to her Twitter page to dismiss a magazine interview that she had reportedly given about the break-up telling her side of the story.

In it, she said the pressure of the show and the wedding became too much for her and she grew fed up of his criticism over her weight.

But Lauren denied that she had spoken to the magazine and wrote: 'Just to clarify I haven't done an interview with NowMag this week its utter rubbish.. I haven't done ANY interviews about my breakup.'

The death last Saturday of a 42 year old worker from Cetursa, the company which runs the Sierra Nevada ski resort, has reset alarm bells ringing in Granada. The 42 year old died of a heart attack in his home in Güéjar Sierra and it’s not the first time that an employee at the Sierra Nevada has died so young. Union Commisiones Obreras calculates that some 20 employees have died over the past ten years from heart attacks, while a similar number have had to leave their posts because of permanent incapacity. Workers at the ski station think it is because they work at altitude, and although they get an extra payment for doing so, they are increasingly worried about their health. The first symptom of working at altitude is tiredness as the number of red cells in the b blood increases. Workers are now calling on the Junta, the owner of the Cetursa company, to carrying out an exhaustive study into the risks of working at such a height to see if there are preventative measures which can be taken. President of the workers committee, Miguel Ángel Vargas, has told the press that a study was started three years ago, and now because of the recession there is no money to complete it.

The Spanish Air Safety Agency has called on the local authorities in Alhaurín de la Torre, Málaga to control the lights coming from discotheques on the Costa del Sol. The high powered spotlights and laser lights fired up into the sky to draw attention to their venues are bothering pilots trying to land and take off at Málaga airport. The pilots say the problem is worse in the summer and obviously on night time flights. There is a body in Spain, The Department of Operative Coordination of Airspace, which can inform the discos about the conditions which are attached to using such lights, limiting the bother to pilots and allowing the normal development of services at the airport. The Department is requesting that they are allowed to control new opening licences on such establishments to ensure correct use near airports. Alhaurín de la Torre Town Hall commented that they have already sent a local policeman to patrol the airport area, to stop anybody pointing laser lights at the planes.

Despite paying off a million € every month to Hacienda and Social Security, the debt at Marbella Town Hall is continuing to increase. The million € payment is only covering the interest generated on the debt amassed in the 15 years of the GIL administration in the town when the Mayor was the late Jesús Gil y Gil. The debt which remains is put at some 300 million €, and the administration led by the PP Mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, says the Town Hall is suffocated. Three moratoria and different agreements reached between the Town Hall and Central Government have not solved the matter. Hacienda and Personal coordinator, Carlos Rubio, has said that there are already judicial sentences in favour of the Town Hall worth some 400 million €, and he told La Opinión de Málaga that this should be taken into account. The Mayor travelled to Madrid on Monday to meet with the PP Economy Spokesman in Congress, Cristóbal Montoro to discuss the matter. They agreed to present Congress with the proposal to allow debt payments to be linked to the judicial processes which are open, investigating the differet corruption cases which have emptied the public purse in Marbella. The PP notes however that the PSOE does not want to get implicated in the problem.

 

Lulu is swapping singing for salsa

Ex-Neighbours stars Jason Donovan and Holly Valance have also agreed to take part in the show, according to The Sun newspaper.

It has been confirmed by show producers thatDaybreak's sport presenter Dan Lobb,Waterloo Road actress Chelsee Healey and impressionist Rory Bremner, will also be taking part in the hit TV show.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's ex Nancy Dell'Olio and ex- EastEnders star Anita Dobson plus astrologer Russell Grant are also set to be swapping their day jobs for salsa dancing.

Speaking about the line-up, a source told The Sun newspaper, "Lulu is lots of fun and will bring in viewers who remember her from the Sixties - but also younger fans who know her from her duet with Take That on Relight My Fire. Harry will tick the heartthrob box."

The BBC will officially confirm the Strictly Come Dancing line-up on The One Show on Tuesday.

You’ll need a car to reach Ojen. It was made famous by a local liqueur and Julio Iglesias has a home here. It’s heaven for nature lovers, set in the mountains just above Marbella and is definitely worth a detour, not just for a taste of some fine Spanish wines, but for a feel for the quieter side of Marbella, where birdsong and the whizz of mopeds are the soundtrack in spring and summer. This is Malaga’s “spiritual” home, but it’s not just wines that are on display or for tasting. Resident guide Antonio will tell you it’s Ojen’s own special Eau-de-Vie (a concoction of aniseed and aromatic herbs that packs quite a punch) that originally put the Ojen on the worldwide map. In 1840 a man called Pedro Morales started distilling the special liqueur but he kept the recipe a secret. Soon, visitors were asking for a “copita de Ojen” in bars around Spain and it was exported all over the world. Picasso probbly enjoyed a swig or two – he immortalised a bottle of the anisette liqueur in his work “Bodegon Espanol”. But after being passed down from father to eldest son over four generations, one father died suddenly before he had the chance to pass the formula on, so the recipe remains a mystery. Also worth visiting: The local 16th-century church with its square minaret-style Mudejar tower; the Caves of Ojen; the Los Chorros fountain; and Juanar Palace, a very old hunting lodge (game is still shot here) that is now a hotel and restaurant, set in the hiker’s and rider’s paradise in the Sierra Blanca mountains.

Lady Gaga is serious about fashion and she doesn't take its criticism lightly. In her latest column for V Magazine, she sends out a memo slamming negativity from critics, including New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn, and poses the question: when does criticism become "insult and not insight"?

"Doesn’t the integrity of the critic become compromised when their writings are consistently plagued with negativity?," Lady Gaga writes. "When the public is no longer surprised or excited by the unpredictability of the writer, but rather has grown to expect the same cynicism from the same cynic?"

Lady Gaga does name one critic specifically, Horyn, but not a particular story the pop singer may have found offensive. She does "copy" the memo to her friend Nicola Formichetti, who she collaborated with for Thierry Mugler. For the most part, Horyn had good things to say about the collection.

"What I think is so promising about Nicola Formichetti’s first women’s collection for Mugler is that he created a look for the runway; for magazine stylists like himself; for performers like his friend Lady Gaga, who modeled two outfits at Wednesday’s night show; and for the girls who love fashion and always have some place to go," Horyn said about the collection back in March, also noting that Gaga "worked it" on the runway.

Not so negative. Could it have been some negative words said about Gaga's other friends in the fashion biz such as Galliano or Jean Paul-Gaultier? She doesn't say. But Gaga wants to put less emphasis on professional fashion critics and more on, well, everyone else who's got a pulse and an Internet connection.

"In the age of the Internet, when collections and performances are so accessible to the public and anyone can post a review on Facebook or Twitter, shouldn’t columnists and reviewers, such as Cathy Horyn, employ a more modern and forward approach to criticism, one that separates them from the average individual at home on their laptop?" Gaga writes.

Gaga instead names Tavi Gevinson as the "future of journalism," that infamous 15-year-old fashion blogger who famously began writing for fashion well before she could land a driver's permit and can now be found sitting front row at some of the biggest runway shows.

You can check Gaga's full column at the V Magazine website. Meanwhile, we'll be awaiting Cathy Horyn's response and maybe a clue as to what angered Gaga so. Did Horyn slam her drag king look at the VMA's? Or maybe her faux penis accessory?

An Italian businessman and his wife were arrested Thursday, accused by Naples prosecutors of extorting money and favors from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in return for what prosecutors described as “cooperation” in an investigation into a high-end prostitution ring in the southern city of Bari.

While the prosecutors consider Mr. Berlusconi a victim in the case, the arrests further weaken, and distract, him at a time when he is struggling to rally his fractious center-right coalition around a package of austerity measures expected to go before Parliament next week.

Few details about the extortion case were officially released. But the Naples prosecutor Francesco Greco called “credible” an account that appeared in last week’s edition of the newsweekly Panorama, which is owned by Mr. Berlusconi. Panorama said that the prime minister had paid the businessman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, about $715,000, as well as sizable monthly payments, to encourage him to strike a plea bargain if necessary to keep the case in Bari from going to trial.

In that case, Mr. Tarantini admitted that he had paid a prostitute and other women to attend parties at Mr. Berlusconi’s residences, saying he aimed to curry favor with the prime minister, a billionaire businessman himself.

A trial would have the potential of uncovering yet more unsavory details of Mr. Berlusconi’s dalliances. He is already on trial in Milan, accused of paying for sex with an under-age Moroccan woman. He denies wrongdoing.

Mr. Berlusconi told Panorama that he did not deny the payments, but that he had simply wanted to help Mr. Tarantini, “who found himself and still finds himself in very serious economic difficulty.”

“I have nothing to repent,” Mr. Berlusconi told Panorama. “On the contrary. I did nothing illicit. I limited myself to helping a desperate man without asking for anything in exchange.”

The Naples prosecutors say that Mr. Tarantini and his wife, Angela Devenuto, forced Mr. Berlusconi to pay their legal bills and housing costs, among other favors.

They have long been maligned as fattening and shunned by those  following the Dukan and other low-carb diets.

But potatoes could be the latest superfood. For eating a portion twice a day can lower blood pressure, researchers say. What is more, it seems there is no weight gain involved.

However, before you get out the roasting tin or rush to the chip shop, read on.

Microwaved spuds, free of butter, oil or ketchup, are best for health, scientists say. Baked potatoes and boiled spuds, including mash, are also acceptable.

In the study, 18 men and women were asked to eat six to eight golf ball-sized potatoes with their lunch and dinner, as part of their normal diet.

Most of those taking part were overweight or obese and on pills to lower blood pressure.

After a month of the ‘tattie treatment’, their blood pressure readings dropped significantly – suggesting the potatoes were powerful enough to take over when the tablets could not do any more.

Yet almost daily, defendants in court plead guilty to crimes and agree to serve time, some begrudgingly, others acquiescently and a select few happily.

Mbarek Lafrem, a native of Morocco who had been arrested in Manhattan, was the picture of ambivalence when it came to accepting punishment.

Mr. Lafrem, 32, pleaded guilty in July to attacking a woman in the restroom of a Midtown bar, and the judge, Justice Ronald A. Zweibel of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said he would be sentenced to 16 years in prison. But on Thursday, Mr. Lafrem, mumbling and visibly agitated, asked Justice Zweibel if he could withdraw his guilty plea.

In court, Mr. Lafrem’s lawyer, Yana A. Roy, said she did not quite understand her client’s reasoning and did not support his request to renege on his plea. Outside court, Ms. Roy said she believed he was having a difficult time dealing with the length of the sentence. This arrest was Mr. Lafrem’s first time behind bars, Ms. Roy said.

Mr. Lafrem gave the judge a lengthy letter explaining why he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

Justice Zweibel took a few moments to read it. He quickly flipped through some of the pages. At times while reading, he inhaled deeply and breathed out heavily.

Then he said, “I find no merit to the papers whatsoever.” Referring to what Mr. Lafrem had conceded to about the crime, the judge continued, “The defendant was fully allocuted by this court when the plea was taken.”

Justice Zweibel said he would not revoke the plea deal.

Before the judge formally imposed the 16-year sentence for first-degree assault and attempted sexual abuse — after the completion of which Mr. Lafrem is to be deported to Morocco — Shanda Strain, an assistant district attorney, provided her interpretation of the defendant’s change of heart.

“It does appear to be a boilerplate motion filed by many defendants who are often having buyer’s remorse, so to speak, after having time to contemplate their plea,” Ms. Strain said. “It appears to be a last-ditch effort.”

When Justice Zweibel asked if he had anything to say, Mr. Lafrem spoke a few words that could not be heard in the courtroom gallery. Later, Ms. Roy quoted him as saying, “Whatever the judge decides, that’s the way it’s going to be.”

According to prosecutors, Mr. Lafrem punched a 29-year-old woman several times in March 2010, leaving her unconscious and with her slacks partly removed in a restroom at Social, a bar on Eighth Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets.

Thursday was not the first time that Mr. Lafrem had reconsidered a decision to plead guilty.

At an earlier hearing, he had gone to court ready to accept a plea deal, his lawyer said, only to decide against it. The difficulty then, Ms. Roy said, was that Mr. Lafrem did not want to admit to attempting to sexually abuse the woman because he was a Muslim and his faith considers that crime to be one of the ultimate acts of wrongdoing.

The lawyers had in fact arranged a plea in which Mr. Lafrem would have had to concede only that he could have been found guilty of trying to sexually abuse the woman if the prosecutors had been able to prove certain things, Ms. Roy said. But at that hearing, there was no interpreter to properly explain that to Mr. Lafrem.

On Thursday, an interpreter was by his side.

But as he left the courtroom, he wore a scowl on his face and grumbled to himself, his hands cuffed behind his back.

If you are passionate about food and wine, there is no such thing as a holiday from the subject. It is impossible for me to visit any new destination without first inquiring about the most interesting chefs or restaurants in the region, regardless of why I am going there.

Enough of my friends had mentioned Marbella's Calima (www.restaurantecalima.es), a two-star Michelin restaurant run by the young Andalusian chef Dani García, for me to know it was worth the journey down Costa del Sol's tourist-polluted coastline during a recent holiday to Spain. Quests like this always have a certain risk. There are too many Michelin-starred establishments in the world that create cuisine of technical excellence but without any clear identity—if you were blindfolded, you wouldn't know if you were in Helsinki, Munich or Lyon. This is not an affliction I suffered at Calima, which offered the most pleasurable and original meal I have had for some time.


Andalusian chef Dani García promotes regional flavors using Molecular Cuisine techniques.

Mr. García is a native of Andalusia, and is firmly rooted in the traditions and food of Spain's southern heartland. The jovial 35-year-old chef first worked with Martín Berasategui, the acclaimed Basque chef from San Sebastian, then spent time in and around neighboring Malaga before coming to Marbella in 2005 to open Calima on the raised terrace of Gran Melia Don Pepe, a luxury hotel with uninterrupted views over the Mediterranean.

Spanish cuisine has been at the forefront of the international food world for the past decade, thanks in large part to Ferran Adrià's El Bulli and the Molecular Gastronomy movement with which it was associated. But that Modernist style isn't one that would immediately come to mind if you were contemplating a chef in southern Spain who takes special pride in promoting regional flavors.

This would be an error. Mr. García is actually a devotee of many of Mr. Adrià's techniques, and even if the young chef's end result isn't overwhelmed by "molecular food," he uses the methods to put on a brilliant exposition of the culinary heritage of Andalucía in a set meal of 20 or so courses.

"Ferran is extremely important in my evolution—both personally and professionally," says Mr. García. "He is not just a major chef, but he helps people who come to him with culinary problems. I have never actually cooked with him in El Bulli, but we travel a lot together." (In fact, the chef was about to head off on a tour of China with Mr. Adrià.)

"Also, Ferran spoke to the hotel group who own this place and actually helped me buy the restaurant," he adds. "He is my 'godfather'—he created new formulas, new philosophy and new techniques. My kitchen has many influences from chefs all around the world, but the most important one is Ferran."

Although it wasn't apparent in the dishes coming out of that kitchen, Mr. García frequently uses liquid nitrogen to create certain effects, which are in no way Modernist or Molecular. The culinary disappointment of virtually tasteless and completely hollow squid croquettes is rectified when the diner removes the ceramic saucer holding them to find a richly textured soup and squid in the bowl below. Another dish appears to be a glazed tomato but is in fact solidified tomato juice, enveloping a brandada de bacalao of cod.



Ferran Adria on the True Nature of Food
"I use nitrogen quite a lot in my kitchen, but I am quite pleased that people do not notice it or other Modernist techniques, as it is merely a means to an end and not important," he says. "Too many chefs think they are artists rather than cooks. For me, it is critical to always remember that you are a chef and that you only have one objective and that is to provide pleasure for your guests. It is perfectly acceptable to have a concept and philosophy behind your cooking, but first and foremost the diners have to enjoy themselves—that is more important than the concept." He sums up his beliefs with the phrase La técnica debe estar siempre al servicio del gusto ("It is fine to use technique, but only if it enhances the flavors").

That philosophy is nowhere more evident than in a tiny bowl of clear soup with what appears to be three chickpeas in the middle. The "chickpeas" have a delicious, unctuous texture and a depth of flavor I have never experienced before. When I mention this to Mr. García, he laughs because the dish is, again, a molecular creation—using a silicon mold, he shapes sesame butter into the form of a chickpea. "This dish is one that demonstrates perfectly that technique can be successfully used in the service of taste and flavor."

There is one other fundamental difference between the cuisine of El Bulli and Calima: Virtually no fine wine matched or complemented the multiplated cuisine of Mr. Adrià, but at Calima, sommelier Jose Godoy manages to enhance the experience with his selection of Spanish white wines and aged sherry.

While Mr. García is determined to remain in Marbella, running his flagship restaurant from Easter until the end of October, he has also created a number of more casual restaurants called La Moraga (www.lamoraga.com), which he hopes to export around the world in the coming year. "Because of the economic crisis in Spain at present, I would prefer to expand abroad," he says. The chef is planning to open these simple tapas bars in Beirut, Morocco, Dubai, Germany and New York.

There are no plans, however, to try to emulate Calima at any other destination, either in Spain or abroad. "Sometimes, people come to me saying they would like to back a Calima in New York City or Paris, but it is impossible to do that," Mr. García says. "This is my flagship and it requires all of my time and effort to make it work. I only desire to have one Calima, here in Marbella and no more. It is my baby."