The land around the Palacio de Congresos in Torremolinos will house the Dinosaur Park this summer.

During the months of July, August and September the exhibition of dinosaurs will open to members of the public who will be able to experience this display of life-size models of dinosaurs and learn how they lived and what they ate.

Some models are over 12 metres in height and are mechanical so they move and make realistic sounds. The exhibition has already been a great success in Europe and other parts of Spain.

New routes set to open this summer, along with the consolidation of some already operational during high season, offer Andalucians the chance to fly to dozens of of new destinations and encourage more visitors to come to the region.

Low-cost carriers Ryanair and Vueling are the leaders of the new offer.

Twenty-two new destinations are on offer from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport including a direct flight to New York’s JFK entering its sixth operational year at the airport and Delta Airlines estimates that the route will enjoy 80 per cent occupancy in June and July and more than 90 per cent in August.

Among the new European routes are those to several German cities, including Berlin, Munich and Dortmund, as well as Belfast, Brussels, Oslo, Bergen, Copenhagen, London and Cardiff. Combined, Ryanair, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Jetairfly are offering 41 per cent more seats than last year.

Seville’s airport has seen a 14 per cent drop in passengers in the first quarter of 2013 and a total of 670,000 fewer travellers for the whole of 2012 over the previous year. It hopes to turn this around with new routes to Lyon, Geneva and Menorca. Vueling plans to offer 2.5 million seats out of Seville this year.

Almeria airport has set its sights on Scandinavia, with new routes to Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Oslo and Reykjavik.

A NEW four-star hotel is central to a €14 million plan to restore the once famous Baños del Carmen coastal area in Malaga to its former glory.

Following decades of failed proposals to improve the appearance of the area and rid it of vagrants, the current owners, companies Vera and Acha, have suggested that they be allowed to open and manage a 120-room five storey hotel in exchange for totally restoring the area.

The Baños del Carmen were originally a seaside resort for the upper class built in 1918.

Initial reports suggest both the city hall and coastal department approve of the outlined investment plan which could get the thumbs up by September, although there are fears that Malaga’s insistence to take the Metro underground could delay works due to lack of funding. 

Meanwhile, The Ronda and Nerja Paradors have been revealed as the most profitable of the five properties run by the state run hotel group throughout Malaga Province, according to the Official Cabinet Bulletin.

The Ronda property is the second most profitable Parador throughout Spain, with profits last year of €1.6 million, beaten only by Granada. Nerja Parador also made more than €1 million, while the Gibralfaro Parador in Malaga city, made €300,000. 

However, the one in Antequera lost almost €500,000 last year, in its sixth unprofitable year, and Malaga Golf lost more than €565,000 with no profits since 2007.

A MASSIVE police investigation into child pornography has investigated more than 31,000 connections on the internet. The collaboration of the public has helped the National Police arrest 41 individuals in 18 provinces, including Malaga, for alleged distribution of videos showing the sexual abuse of children between zero and eight years of age.

One of the detained was a teacher in infant education, and also detained were a computer technician, various pensioners and unemployed men between the ages of 30 and 40 with computer skills.

The police used a Twitter account @policia so that the public could inform them of anyone they suspected of being involved in child pornography, and acted upon complaints they received on email to them using the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Material seized included 136 hard discs, eight laptops, 10 CPUS, four pendrives, 594 CD’s and DVD’s and a Smartphone.

THE Malaga to Fuengirola train timetable has been revised to accommodate links with the AVE. From last Sunday the schedule has been altered to accommodate branch line passengers and also extend services beyond midnight

The first Malaga to Fuengirola service departs at 6.10am, followed by 6.45am; 7.20am; and 7.40am. Subsequent services depart on the hour; 20 past; and 20 to the hour.

Other changes will assist Fuengirola, Benalmadena and Torremolinos passengers with connections to the AVE that leaves from Maria Zambrano station in Malaga at 7.10 am and 8.10 am bound for Madrid. 

The last commuter services will leave Fuengirola at 10.20pm, 10.50pm, 11.20pm, 11.50pm and 12.20am.

THE leader of a gang which kidnapped at least 21 businessmen and threatened them with fake explosive vests was arrested in Malaga. The Algerian is just one of 16 people arrested in France and Spain, as a result of an operation carried out by police in both countries and in Luxembourg. 

Officers have recovered €124,000 in cash, five luxury watches, six guns, three swords, two motorbikes, two cars and two bullet-proof vests. 

The victims of one kidnapping were snared in Morocco by a high-class prostitute who offered them the chance to take part in a profitable business buying computer equipment.

She persuaded them to travel to Paris with large amounts of cash. The six businessmen were held in a hotel until they handed over almost €1 million in cash.

Later, the leader of the gang travelled to Luxembourg, where he claimed to be the head of security for an Arab prince willing to invest large amounts in buying jewellery.

He managed to gather 15 jewellers and watchmakers, who were threatened with guns and forced to hand over €1 million in cash and €1.3 million in jewellery and watches.

To prevent the victims from escaping, the kidnappers used vests which they claimed contained explosives which would detonate if any of them tried to leave. 

Following this, the alleged leader of the gang headed to the Costa del Sol. He was stopped at a routine vehicle checkpoint in Malaga. While police were examining his ID, he fled the scene.

Just weeks later, he was stopped again in Torremolinos and immediately arrested. At the time, he was wearing one of the luxury watches stolen in Luxembourg.

Before committing these two crimes, he had escaped from prison in Avignon, France, in October 2012 and had created a network in Spain to sell the jewellery and watches and launder money. The other suspects were traced to Malaga, Valencia, Lyon, Marseille and Paris.

DESPITE the falling population in Spain, the number of registered residents in Malaga has risen by 0.5 per cent from last year. Data for January this year, shows there are currently 1,649,608 registered residents in Malaga province, 8,510 more than in January 2012. 

Meanwhile, the Spanish population has fallen for the first time since 1996.

On January 1, 2013, there were 47,059,533 registered as residents in Spain, which is 205,788 fewer than the same time last year. 

The number of foreign residents registered in Spain has fallen by 216,125 people, throughout 2012, to a total of 5.52 million, while the number of Spanish residents has increased by 10,337, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

According to their report, 11.7 per cent of registered residents in Spain are foreigners, of which 2.4 million are EU citizens.

Most of the foreigners who have left Spain, mainly non-EU citizens, do so because they cannot find work. Almost 86 per cent of the registered residents of Spain were born here. 

Malaga and Sevilla are the only provinces in Andalucia where population has risen amongst both foreigners and Spanish residents.

Malaga is the fourth province in Spain for the number of registered foreign residents, who account for 17 per cent of the total population, and is home to 40 per cent of the foreigners living in Andalucia. 

The most numerous groups in the province are British and Moroccan, both of which have continued to increase. The number of Finns, French, Argentineans, North Americans and Russians has also increased, while the number of Germans fell by 700 people.

IN the first three months of the year, 162 victims of domestic violence were helped in the Axarquia by the provincial government’s Gender Equality Service.

Of those 154 were registered at the Points of Information for Women (PIM) located in Riogordo and Torrox, Pilar Conde the delegate for the Equality and Participation of the Citizen announced.

Now a campaign pioneered in Malaga and Andalucia aims to highlight the fight against domestic violence. Organisers hope it will help fulfil promises made by both public and private organisations when a special helpline was launched.

The line, 900 77 11 77, has received around 8,000 calls since it was set up 15 years ago. The free service aims to give women victims of abuse help 24 hours a day, with lawyers and counsellor available to help. 

Women are guaranteed anonymity when they use the line for help and advice.

MALAGA take on Getafe at La Rosaleda on Sunday (kick-off 5pm) following a comprehensive 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Valencia at the Mestalla.

Ernesto Valverde’s team, one of Malaga’s direct rivals for a top four spot, produced an astonishing four-goal blitz inside six first-half minutes to leave the Costa del Sol outfit’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League hanging by a thread.

subject to their appeal against a one-year ban.

The hosts opened the scoring through Dani Parejo, who took advantage of a fortunate rebound off Martin Demichelis to regain possession and comfortably slot past Willy Caballero.

Less than two minutes later Aly Cissokho skipped down the left past Manuel Iturra and Jesus Gamez before crossing for Soldado to turn home at the far post. The Spain striker then scored a third from the penalty spot on the half-hour mark, Demichelis having brought down both him and Ever Banega inside the area, and amazingly Valencia made it four just a minute after that. Brazilian international Jonas found himself free down the right and Caballero could only push out his angled cross-shot, which Sergio Canales gratefully fired into an empty net.

The visitors appeared to be in a state of shock but finally threw themselves a slim lifeline on the stroke of half-time, with Julio Baptista’s free-kick finding the top corner after he had expertly curled the ball over the defensive wall.

However, the four-goal cushion was restored 10 minutes after the restart when Banega cut in from the left and sent his shot past Caballero and high into the net following some poor defending from Gamez.

A STRETCH of the A-7 dual carriageway in Malaga is one of the most costly in Spain due to the number of accidents. The stretch between Torremolinos and the link to the A-45, costs an average €390,000 per kilometre, according to a study by the Catalan Automobile Club regarding the social cost of accidents in Spain.

The social cost refers to the cost of paramedics, doctors, rehabilitation, repairs, etc, and is estimated at €1.4 million per person killed and €219,000 per person injured. These amounts are compared with the quantity invested on each stretch.

The study reports that the Ministry of Public Works has reduced the amount spent on maintaining the roads by 38 per cent since 2009, to just €31,662 per kilometre. The social cost of accidents on the Spanish network of motorways and main roads is €64,182 per kilometre.

The study, which applies the criteria of cost and benefit to calculate the cost of accidents, concludes that if the amount spent on maintaining the roads was doubled, the number of accidents could be reduced by 20 per cent.

The study analysed 1,350 stretches of roads totaling 25,835 kilometres and used by 52 per cent of traffic, on which in the past three years there have been 3,342 people killed and injured in accidents. The worst stretch is the V-31 between Silla and the link to the CV-42 in Valencia.