| Gratum goes Canarias
(openPR) - Madrid, Spain – Gratum Inc. announced that it has planned for April 2007 to capture all of the canary islands, currently a recognized leader in property search engines for Tenerife, to offer estate agents to publish properties in all of the Canary Islands. The property sector in Tenerife has changed and developed radically in recent years and this trend is sure to continue across the other Islands. The number of Estate Agency offices has grown dramatically at the same time as buyers have become more demanding in their use of the internet for research into property options. Gratum DesktopTM is comprehensive property management system designed to meet the needs of small to medium Estate Agencies. The application is easy to use and automates a large number of tasks that allow estate agencies to manage the information and pictures relating to properties in their portfolio, while increasing profitability, efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Passengers overpower airline armed highjacker
LAS PALMAS - Spanish security forces arrested a man who hijacked a Mauritanian airliner that eventually landed at an airport in the Canary Islands. Officials involved in the investigation told Efe during the hijacking a score of people were slightly injured when the airplane was evacuated. They identified the hijacker as a Mauritanian and said he was carrying two pistols, one of which had a bullet in the chamber at the time of his arrest. The man commandeered the Air Mauritanie flight after it took off from the country's capital, Nouakchott, bound for the northern port city of Noudhibou late on Thursday. The Boeing 737 aircraft was carrying 71 passengers and a crew of eight. .
Side trip outside Britain avoids becoming pound-foolish
After visiting friends in Manchester, England, in June we would like to take a week or so to fly to some close-by, non-U.K. destination where we'll get better value for our dollar. We were thinking of Barcelona, the Canary Islands, Mallorca, Malta. Can you suggest some planning ideas? -- M.E., Clark Good idea -- visiting England is definitely more manageable when you're staying with friends, and then for the exotic getaway there are many satisfying destinations within a few hours by air. But first, a word about that bully British pound. You and many other U.S.-based travelers are cringing at the weakness of the U.S. dollar against the pound. Last week the rate was about 1.95 dollars to the pound. The British newspaper the Guardian reported late last month that the pound was at its strongest against the dollar in 14 years, having gained almost 45 percent since being at around $1.37 in 2001.
Vacation Homes Boom in Spain May Bust as Banks Recoil (Update1)
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Vacation home prices in Spain, a leading indicator of Europe's property market, may face a slump that's worse than the real estate decline in the U.S., based on the loan terms banks are imposing on developers. Property magnate Fernando Martin, the former Real Madrid soccer chairman, and Barcelona-based Promociones Habitat SA are paying five times more to borrow than U.S. developers such as Centex Corp. in Dallas, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Even UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, which was bankrupt last year, pays a lower risk premium on its loans. ``Banks are imposing terms on real-estate firms similar to those for defaulted loans,'' said David Malpica, who helps manage $5.6 billion of real-estate and distressed debt assets in Europe and the U.S.
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