North Korean Embassy Attack
More details have emerged about a mysterious attack last week on the North Korean embassy in Madrid, suggesting that the incident was more serious than first thought.
According to sources close to an investigation into what happened on February 22 “around 10 people carrying fake firearms” entered the residential building, and assaulted the eight people inside, who were a mixture of “staff from the embassy and guests.”
According to the same sources, the assailants “covered the victims’ heads with bags, tied them up, interrogated them and beat them. The injured were treated on the scene by ambulance crews, with at least three people having suffered “bruises caused by heavy blows.”
A Korean woman who managed to escape the building alerted residents. Police officers who responded, tried to enter the building, but a man opened the door to them and told them that there was nothing going on.
Minutes later, two luxury vehicles with diplomatic plates sped out of the embassy taking computers and documents with them.
There have so far been no arrests in the case, but “one person” was found to be carrying fake identification.
Opinion Poll
Spain’s ruling Socialists would lead the vote if general elections were held today, with 33.3 percent up from 29.9 percent a month earlier, according to the official state-run CIS opinion poll published yesterday.
The new far-right Vox party meanwhile, saw support dip slightly in the latest poll, with 5.9 percent down from 6.5 percent previously.
The official poll by the Centre for Sociological Studies showed the traditional conservative People’s Party would win 16.7 percent of the vote, up from 14.9 percent, while the centre- right Ciudadanos party would take 15.3 percent, down from 17.7 percent at the end of January.
The poll surveyed 3,000 people from February 1 to February 10, before Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the snap election.
Russian Death
Police are investigating the death of the Soviet journalist Igor Malashenko who was found hanged in Sotogrande .. a privately owned residential development in Andalucia.
The 64-year-old analyst and Russian television executive was the number two of the independent media group, Media Most, owned by tycoon Vladimir Gusinski.
Malashenko was behind Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s 1996 re-election campaign and also led the election headquarters of Russian presidential contender last year.
An autopsy will ascertain the cause of death.
Although no theories about Malashenko’s death have been ruled out by the Guardia Civill early indications are that it was suicide.
Flight Aborted
A Flybe flight was forced to abort take-off due to the cabin filling with “smoke” while it was accelerating along the runway at Exeter Airport.
The airline said one passenger suffered a suspected broken ankle during the subsequent evacuation, which involved inflatable slides.
There were 100 passengers and five crew on board the flight to Alicante when the incident happened yesterday morning.
The airline said in a statement that flight BE4321 experienced “haze in the cabin just prior to take-off” and the crew took “the necessary precautionary measures”.