In what may prove to be the biggest transfer story this summer, negotiations have begun to bring Paul the psychic octopus to Madrid after he correctly predicted Spain's World Cup final victory.

Madrid's Zoo Aquarium says it is prepared to trump any other offer Germany's Oberhausen Sea Life Centre receives for Paul, certain that the world's most famous cephalopod will attract thousands of visitors.

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The Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET) (Spanish Met Office) records a "proper deviation" in the Canary Islands, with more than a degree Celsius above the average.

The island of Gran Canaria experiences, since the autumn of 2009, a day temperature which is approximately two degrees Celsius higher than historical averages as measured by the AEMET.

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Although Gran Canaria is one of the safest places to celebrate your holiday, you never know what can happen. In such a case, it might be good to know that the emergency number 1·1·2 works here too. (In fact, it works all over Europe.)

Don't be afraid of having a language difficulty, the people at the emergency contact room speak 5 languages, including English. The questions they ask are 'closed' questions which you'll reply to with a 'no' or a 'yes', to prevent confusion. As soon as you call, your (free) call will be traced, as well when you ring from a mobile phone. All this, in order to give you the best and fastest possible help.

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We've just finished uploading a Mountain Bike (MTB) video that was shot last week during the Calima. It was hot, but we had some fun. 

Dim lights

The video was shot mainly in Tamadaba and the Valley of Agaete. We all hope you enjoy watching it.

For more info about Mountain Biking on Gran Canaria, contact Nortetrek. 

Timeshare Industry in Spain Set To Collapse.

A new court ruling in Spain on the 27 of May 2010 is set to see an avalanche of timeshare compensation claims against developers, the ruling can now be used by European timeshare owners to seek compensation from illegal contracts signed after 1996 In Spain and its territories. It is now thought that up to 400,000 contracts were made illegally after 1996, industry experts believe that timeshare compensation claims could reach 2,000,000,000 (Billion) Euro.

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A plague of snakes in Gran Canaria seems uncontrollable. There actually is a control plan, but judging by the results, it was launched too late. It seems someone some day got tired of their pet snakes and released them into the field. Since then, the California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis Dormouse) has become a serious ecological problem.

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Las Canteras, the main beach of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has had to fold up its prestigious Blue Flag that it had been flying for more than twenty years now. 

The Blue Flag is a recognition for a very clean and safe beach or marina. The town Las Palmas de Gran Canaria did not apply for the flag this time, as during the last 12 months it has had several problems related to water quality and services offered.

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The Calima that is currently hitting Gran Canaria is supposed to end by the end of the week. Temperatures should start dropping slowly from today. Saturday should be the last day the Calima is noticable, according to the Spanish Met Office.

Temperatures went up over 40ºC yesterday over extended areas in Gran Canaria. Even in Las Palmas, normally a oasis of fresh and cool air compared to the rest of the island during a Calima, people were struggling to fight temperatures around 40ºC.

The good thing about this Calima is that it has brought less dust from the Sahara than it normally does, so even when some people were stuggling more for the sudden rise in temperature, people with respiratory problems got off lightly this time.

The new design of Gran Canaria Info, the site your currently looking at, has been made available to the public on Tuesday May 25.

The idea behind the new look is to be able to show more to the visitors, but still have a 'peaceful' air about it by creating a lot of open spaces.

Video has been completely integrated in the new design as you can see on our homepage. In the near future, you can expect video to show up on some other pages too. The videos on the homepage rotate, so you can enjoy different short video presentations or movies that have to do with Gran Canaria.

Gran Canaria Info receives more or less 6.000 unique visitors every day, mainly coming from Britain, Spain, The Netherlands, Ireland, Scandinavia and countries like Germany and Belgium. Being positioned number one in the English version of Google makes Gran Canaria Info the face of Gran Canaria in many of these countries. Today, we're happy to present you "the new face".

We think we've created a modern Holiday Destination Site and we hope you like it too!

On Friday, May 14, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, known around the world for attempting to bring dictators to justice, was told he will now face trial for attempting to do the same in his own country. If found guilty, the 54-year-old examining magistrate could be removed from his job for up to 20 years.

The blow has been expected ever since early April, when Spain's Supreme Court accused Garzón of 'knowingly exceeding his powers' during his 2008 attempt to investigate alleged crimes against humanity carried out during the country's 40-year dictatorship under General Francisco Franco. The case is causing consternation both in Spain and abroad, mainly because it was brought by three ultra right-wing organizations. Among these were the Falange Española, the Fascist party once presided over by Franco himself -- whose military coup of 1936 sparked the bloody, three-year Spanish Civil War, and culminated in a long dictatorship that ended only with his death in 1975. Historians estimate that Franco's postwar reprisals cost the lives of 100,000 people.

Garzón's many supporters have responded to the case with dismay, moved by its outrageous symmetry: a highly respected judge brought to trial, for attempting to try crimes, on an accusation by the disciples of the regime that perpetrated those crimes in the first place.

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