Spanish economic recovery in danger as Europe considers Russia action

Spain’s already fragile economy could be teetering on the brink as the EU decides whether to impose sanctions against Russia. A crackdown on Russian investment and assets in Europe would badly hit Spain, which has seen a large influx of Russian capital over the last few years. It comes after the UK government openly accused Russia of arming and supporting the Ukrainian rebels who shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet last week, killing 295 people. Britain is now pushing for EU sanctions to freeze the assets of Putin’s wealthy group of ‘cronies’ – many of whom have financial connections with the Costa del Sol – unless Putin cooperates with a Flight MH17 probe. But Spain is joined by Italy, Finland and France in its reluctance to impose strong sanctions – in part because of strong economic ties with the country.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich says reading an interview in which Noel talked about quitting drugs is what made him give up taking cocaine.

Ulrich says in the interview with the mrror that he was using cocaine up to around ten years ago but, when reading about Gallagher's own experiences with the drug, decided he wanted to stop."I loved the social elements of cocaine. I loved the danger of it," he said. "Then, about 10 years ago, I read an interview with Noel Gallagher, in which he said, 'I just stopped doing cocaine'. I thought that was really cool. It felt so fresh, so honest, so pure - I love that side of him. I've never had an addictive personality, so I woke up one day and said, 'Enough'."In fact, Ulrich says he only began taking cocaine in order to be able to drink more with his bandmates. "In the early days, I'd always get drunk way faster than the other guys," said Ulrich. "I realised that if there was a little bit of cocaine involved I could stay up longer, instead of ending up face down in the corner, passed out three hours before the party ended."

Guadalhorce valley The beautifully scenic Guadalhorce valley in Spain is an area full of stunning natural views.

Guadalhorce valley The beautifully scenic Guadalhorce valley in Spain is an area full of stunning natural views. Lying within easy reach of key Spanish cities such as Malaga, and easily accessible from the nearby Costa del Sol airport, Guadalhorce is enjoying a renaissance in popularity, as investors purchase second homes in the area. Guadalhorce valley is also located ideally closely to market towns including Coin and Alhaurin el Grande, making it an ideal option for visitors and residents who enjoy the quiet and picturesque valley life, but who sometimes like to sample the more vibrant side of Spain’s culture. Increasing interest In recent years, Marbella has become Spain’s go-to place for property investment, with the Costa del Sol resort enjoying an unprecedented rise in popularity amongst the rich and famous. Whilst considerably helping an ailing global property market, this proved to be a difficult period for the more sedate and understated side of the Spanish economy, with Guadalhorce valley amongst the areas suffering. But now, Guadalhorce is enjoying its own rise and recovery, with investors from the UK, Belgium and Holland taking interest in properties that are reasonably priced between £150,000 and £200,000. Providing a much more authentic taste of Spanish lifestyle than the more party-orientated resorts such as Marbella, Guadalhorce is becoming ever more popular.

Mayor and politician Arenas at La Sala Banus

Marbella’s illustrious Mayor, Maria Angeles Muñoz graced La Sala Banús with her presence on Saturday 19th July when the resort’s first lady enjoyed lunch on the terrace with Javier Arenas, the well-known Spanish politician, currently National Vice Secretary for territorial affairs for the Partido Popular, and formerly President of the party in Andalucía from 2004-2012. In the middle of a promotional campaign to create awareness among the population of residential tourists in Marbella about the advantages of registering at the Town Hall, the Mayor was campaigning from a large mobile office stationed opposite La Sala Banús at the entrance to the bustling Saturday market. The Town Hall are aiming to increase the number of people officially registered as resident in Marbella from 145,000 to 150,000 over the summer months and are outlining the benefits in terms of increased funding for Marbella from central government which translates to better services for the resort. At La Sala Banús, the Mayor, Mr. Arenas and a group of friends sampled an appetising array of La Sala signature dishes including Calamari, Mini Hamburgers, Duck Spring Rolls, Butterfly Shrimps and Pasta Vongole. The Mayor’s party enjoyed lunch on the terrace, one of eight available areas for dining at La Sala Banús.

Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria, was in Marbella, holidaying with family.

Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria, was in Marbella, holidaying with family. To celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday, Eva took her, Ella Eva Mireles, to a local spa. However, there was a lot more than rest and relaxation on the agenda for driven Longoria.

She organised and attended two events in the area in aid of a variety of charities. The first was on Saturday, a golf tournament benefiting Global Gift, an organisation that brings different influential people and organisations together for charitable causes. The event was held at the glamorous La Quinta club.

Then on Sunday night, Longoria attended the Global Gift gala in aid of Global Gift, the Eva Longoria Foundation and the Bertin Osborne Foundation. The event attracted many wealthy guests who paid €500 each for a seat.

The star’s foundation, helps deprived women and children in the US-Latino community by giving education and opportunities, whereas, the Bertin Osborne Foundation aids children who suffer from cerebral palsy.

Global Gift is now planning on distributing the money raised to five different organisations in Marbella, according toFox News Latino.

The sponsors took care of all the event’s expenses, so the money raised went in total to good causes.

“In other galas, in the end, you have to pay all the organisational costs and the money raised ends up going for the party,” explained Global Gift founder Maria Bravo. 

Luckily, this wasn’t the case because Iberia Airlines covered the celebrities’ journeys, the chef, Martin Berasategui, took care of the dinner and the Don Pepe Hotel supplied accommodation.

Barcelona To Tackle Dog Walkers: Get a License Or Receive a Fine

The Catalan capital is set to unleash a new law that will force dog owners to get a license or face fines up to €600. From October, dog owners will be required to obtain a “civic license” before letting their pets walk around without a leash within one of Barcelona’s 103 designated dog parks. An “animal abuse” register will also come into effect with a prohibition of leaving animals tied up for more than two hours or leaving animals locked in a car for more than 20 minutes.

Is it balls, vagina, or both? Airbnb logo sparks wave of internet parodies

Is it balls, vagina, or both? Airbnb logo sparks wave of internet parodies The apartment-rental website launches its grown-up logo to a wave of ridicule – as well as claims of plagiarism

Sugar Daddy University: New course teaches 'sugar babies' how to land a wealthy man

A new course is offering to teach women how to be the ideal ‘sugar baby’ in order to land a wealthy man. Professional sugar baby Carla Abonia, 37, has been flown across the world and had wildly lavish gifts bought for her by rich men who can't resist her company. But she admits the relationships aren't always straight forward, so has joined forces with her mentor, sugar daddy Alan Schneider, to form their Sugar Daddy University in New York. The pair teach five key elements of being a successful sugar daddy or sugar baby through the curriculum - Sexuality, Understanding, Generosity, Attraction and Reciprocity.

Dennis Hopper's Lost Album: life both sides of the lens

As the Royal Academy's forthcoming exhibition Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album shows, the mercurial actor took to photography in his own instinctive and utterly obsessive way. Between 1961 and 1967, he shot around 10,000 images, using high-speed black-and-white film for immediacy, shooting only in natural light and never cropping his images. He made portraits of his fellow actors, including the young Paul Newman and Jane Fonda, and the artists he hung out with in Los Angeles, including Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg and Edward Kienholz.

He photographed Hells Angels, hippies and passersby as well as rioters in Sunset Strip in 1967 and protesters on the famous civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. He shot Andy Warhol and his retinue at the Factory in New York in 1963 and a portfolio of rock stars – Brian Jones, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds and James Brown – for Vogue magazine in 1965. That same year, he created the cover image for Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep – Mountain High album. He also photographed shop signs and storefronts for himself in a style reminiscent of the great Walker Evans and more abstract patterns in steel, wood and fabric that he spotted on his walks in Los Angeles and New York. "Through his eyes," says his longtime friend Ed Ruscha, "I can see a virtual dictionary of the City of Los Angeles." Andy Warhol (bottom left) and members of the Factory, 1963. Hopper was both of his time and ahead of it. "He was serious about photography and very ambitious," says Petra Giloy-Hirtz, curator of the new exhibition. "He was not an actor who dabbled in art and photography, but someone who expressed himself creatively through another related medium. The photographs offset the image of him as a mad, reckless, self-destructive hippy. That came later."

The exhibition comprises a cache of 400 original prints that Hopper made for his first photography show at the Fort Worth Art Centre Museum in Texas in 1970 and which have not been seen since. They were discovered after his death in 2010 in five dusty boxes among his belongings and extensive collection of art and antiques. "The Lost Album is the title I gave to what is a treasure trove of evidence about Dennis and how he made images," says Giloy-Hirtz, who also edited the book of the same name last year. "The prints are much smaller than the ones we are used to seeing, just 6½in by 9½in. Some are creased or showing some wear and tear, but they carry an extraordinary sense of historical authenticity. I have tried to replicate the original show by using documentary photographs of it from the time, so this is as close to what Dennis would have wanted as is possible." Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda at their wedding, Las Vegas, 1964. It was his friend James Dean who first interested Hopper in photography. They bonded on the set of Dean's defining film, Rebel Without a Cause, and, according to Hopper, it was Dean who first noticed his eye for composition, telling him: "I know you're going to direct some day so learn to take photographs and don't crop them, use the still full frame." That advice, given by someone Hopper considered a mentor and a kindred spirit, would later help define Hopper's naturalistic style. The disruptive behaviour that led to Hopper's banishment from Hollywood may have been precipitated in part by his grief at Dean's premature death in a car crash in 1955, just eight days after Hopper and he had finished working on Giant. Hopper got by for a time on small television roles and theatrical work but by 1960 he had also established himself as part of the fledgling contemporary art scene in Los Angeles, both as an artist and a collector.

That scene centred around the Ferus Gallery in La Cienega Boulevard, founded in 1957 by the curator Walter Hopps and Edward Kienholz. Ed Ruscha tells me: "The art world in Los Angeles in the early 60s was minuscule: two or three galleries, and not many artists spread far and wide around the city. Dennis himself began to collect art and could be counted as maybe one of the four people in the movie business that had any interest in the art of the day." "From the start, Dennis was very interested in what was happening in contemporary art," says the art dealer Irving Blum, who took over curating at Ferus in 1958. "When pop art broke in Los Angeles in 1961, he was one of the first people to pick up on it. I sold him one of the Campbell's soup cans for $100 in 1962. He bought some Lichtenstein landscapes before that when no one had even heard of pop. He saw the transparencies on my desk, and he just said, 'Yes! I want them.' You could tell he was someone with an understanding of the zeitgeist where art was concerned. He was utterly instinctive and absolutely on the money." Ruscha concurs: "My very first sale of art was to Dennis Hopper. It was a large painting of a Standard gas station. I remember his reaction upon seeing this picture. There was a long pause, then he came out with the words, 'Oh, man!' No other verbals necessary. This was the way we communicated." Untitled (Hippie Girl Dancing), 1967. Early on, Hopper also wrote poetry, painted abstract canvases and made sculptures. He gave up painting in 1961 after a fire destroyed his home and most of his possessions, including his own paintings and his contemporary art collection. At that time, he was preparing for his first photography exhibition at the Photo Lab/Gallery in Los Angeles and, from then on, photography became his obsession. Initially, he made abstract work, experimenting with multiple images and enlarging his prints, often exhibiting his assemblages alongside found objects. He won first prize in a worldwide open submission competition in Australia for an early series called Pieces and was written about glowingly in Artforum in 1963 in a feature headed "Welcome brave new images!" At Ferus, he became the in-house photographer, photographing the gallery's artists for catalogues, exhibition flyers and art magazines. "Dennis was shooting many portraits of his friends in those days, especially artists," says Ruscha. "I remember, with me, he picked the location, a storefront on Santa Monica Boulevard that sold saws and industrial tools.

There was not a lot of making ready or posing to my portrait. He used his trusty Nikon 35mm camera. In 10 to 15 minutes, he had just what he wanted." In 1965, London's hippest gallery owner, Robert Fraser, a friend of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who would later be arrested with Mick Jagger in the infamous Redlands drug bust, visited Hopper's studio with Irving Blum. The two hit it off and Hopper took Fraser to Ed Ruscha's studio, where he bought some pieces that he later sold to John Lennon. In 1966, Fraser included Hopper's work – abstract photographs alongside giant foam boulders and cacti – in a group show, Los Angeles Now, at his Mayfair gallery alongside Ruscha and six other California artists. In Groovy Bob, Harriet Vyner's oral biography of Fraser, Pauline Fordham, a gallery assistant, recalls her first meeting with Hopper. "This strange paranoid guy arrived… covered in camera equipment in tan leather cases, straps, thongs etc – masses of it – which never left him. He slept, ate, went out with it – whether he went out to dinner or a nightclub. I'd say, 'I don't think you have to take all this rather wonderful camera equipment with you.' He'd reply, 'My wife, who I've just married, gave it to me, and if I lose anything, she'll kill me.' It was quite bizarre to see this smallish man covered in equipment." Hopper's then-wife was the actress Brooke Hayward, who was instrumental in his photographic career. Not long after they met in 1961 she bought him an expensive Nikon camera for his 25th birthday. "I spent my last $351 on a Nikon that was thereafter permanently slung around his neck," she recalled later. "He never left the house without it.

It turned out that he was as natural a photographer as he was an actor." Hayward's daughter with Hopper, Marin, recalls: "He always had a camera around his neck. This is how I remember him. His friends called him the Tourist. My brother once drew a family picture and gave my father a camera for a head." Hopper continued photographing the world around him and defining his distinctive observational style until 1967, when the idea for Easy Rider started gestating in his head. By the end of 1969, on the back of the film's surprise success, he was feted as the voice of the hippy generation, but he was too complex and unpredictable for that. As his spectacularly indulgent, intermittently brilliant, follow-up, The Last Movie, showed, Hopper made work purely for himself. The film, shot on location in Peru, ran way over budget and the task of editing Hopper's reams of footage took him more than a year. By then, divorced from Hayward, he had retreated to Taos, New Mexico, where his unruly, drink- and drug-fuelled life became the stuff of legend. "I stayed in touch with him over the years," says Ruscha, "and in 1972 stayed in his compound in Taos. He was in an edgy period of his life, having finished Easy Rider and The Last Movie, and was feeling alienated and detached from his friends in the movie industry… His character in the movie Apocalypse Now was true to his form as an actor and a person in real life. Together with his character in Blue Velvet, it forms a vital and powerful image of Dennis as an actor and a person." Hopper's film career since Blue Velvet never quite matched the intensity of that performance, though roles in Paris Trout (1991), True Romance (1993), Speed (1994) and a turn as the evil Victor Drazen, in the American TV series 24 kept him in the public eye. Back in the early 70s, however, as Hopper's reputation for self-destruction grew – he later claimed he was drinking half a gallon of rum and snorting three or four grams of coke a day – he often seemed, as Ruscha intimates, to be playing himself: a lost soul on an arc of epic self-destruction. In 1970, though, he was together enough to sort through his huge collection of negatives, select and produce the 429 small prints he took with him to Fort Worth for his first retrospective exhibition. What happened to them between then and their rediscovery in 2010 remains a mystery. By the mid-1970s, the negatives were almost certainly stashed in his house in Taos which, as Giloy-Hirtz puts it, had become "a biker gang, lesbian, drug and hippy nest". There, Hopper had also developed a fondness for guns. When Taschen published Dennis Hopper: Photographs, 1961-1967, edited by gallery owner Tony Shafrazi, who also put on shows by Hopper, it included an essay called The Taos Incident. It was written by Hopper's long-time friend, the late Walter Hopps, an influential photography curator. Hopps recounted how, following a series of night-time shootings at Hopper's house, he had put "nine guns, including the goddamn machine gun… under our mattresses", before gathering up all the negatives and contact sheets that were scattered about the house and fleeing back to Los Angeles. Those contact sheets and negatives have since provided the raw material for every exhibition and book of Hopper's photography until the discovery of the original prints for the Fort Worth show in 2010. They are, as Giloy-Hirtz attests, "a treasure trove" of information about how Hopper's creative mind worked back then, not least in the surprising scale of the prints and "how densely the photographs were mounted, often three rows high, organised in thematically arranged blocks as well as in unusual juxtapositions." They provide further evidence, if needed, of Hopper's instinctive talent for composition and his impatient, but remarkably focused, eye. "His relationship to photography was very natural. He had an eye," says his daughter Marin. "Photography didn't fit into his life, it was a part of his life." Ed Ruscha, who was one of the pallbearers at Hopper's funeral at the San Francisco de Asis church in Ranchos de Taos, says: "He approached his photographs as a sort of wandering of the soul, followed by the familiar ka-chunk of the Nikon." Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album by Petra Giloy-Hirtz (Prestel Hardback, £35)