The National Police have arrested a former employee of a hair salon in Alcoy on charges of stealing 2,800 euros from the company’s accounting book and threatening to kill his former employer and set fire to the property.

The investigation began after the proprietor of this establishment filed a complaint, claiming that a former employee, whom he had fired and paid severance compensation to a few days prior, issued these threats after discovering that he had seemingly kept the money. According to a police statement, the accused also told the victim that he had nothing to lose and planned to flee to his home country following the incident.

Officers from the Alcoy Police Station’s Judicial Police Brigade conducted a series of checks before apprehending the accused, who was charged with misappropriation of property and making threats.

Following police investigations, the 32-year-old man appeared before the Alcoy investigative court.

The Benidorm City Council’s Department of Parks and Gardens is employing a variety of biological techniques to manage insect pests that threaten a considerable portion of the municipality’s trees, as well as the plants and shrubs in the gardens, each year. The coming of spring and the approaching summer are the most favourable seasons of year for pest development in trees and gardens, as warm and humid climatic conditions promote their reproduction and activity.

To reduce the impact of these pests on the municipal green heritage, the City Council uses “biological control,” which involves the use of living organisms, such as “useful fauna, predators, parasites, or pathogens that are used to eliminate pest populations that affect ornamental plants, whether trees or shrubs,” according to José Ramón González de Zárate, Councillor for Parks and Gardens. Using this method, the city stays a “phosphate pesticide-free zone,” according to the councillor.

Beneficial insects are released from abundantly planted streets and highways, including Secretaría Juan Antonio Baldoví, Alcalde Vicente Pérez Devesa, Francia, and flowerbed regions. These trees include jacarandas, tipuanas, ficus trees, rosebushes, and cypress.

This technique has also been used in the parks of Sèquia Mare, Rincón de Loix, La Cala urban park, and the remainder of the rose gardens. González de Zárate mentioned the employment of insects like ladybirds to manage aphids, parasitic wasps (parasitic) that lay their eggs within caterpillars, and fungi and bacteria that infect dangerous insects. “These techniques offer only advantages because they do not contaminate the environment at all, and you can almost say that for every pest there is an insect, without affecting other species, since each predator has its preference,” according to the councillor.

The employment of these beneficial insects has long-term effects, beginning with the organism’s establishment in each garden and on each plant type. In Benidorm, aphids frequently colonise jacaranda and tipuana trees, while thrips prefer ficus. “We use this beneficial fauna to keep the most harmful insects at bay,” the councillor explained.

The City Council uses various types of insects depending on the specific specimens and species it aims to conserve. Lacewings attack aphids, caterpillars, thrips, scale insects, and other soft-bodied insects; coccinellids consume mites and scale insects; phitoseid mites combat red spider mites; and the aforementioned parasitoid wasps consume whiteflies and aphids.

According to González de Zárate, utilising these tactics has apparent benefits because it “reduces the use of chemical insecticides on trees and flowerbeds, thus protecting pollinators.” It also increases the sustainability of decorative crops and, most importantly, protects citizens’ health by avoiding exposing them to any toxins.

Elche City Council, through its Department of Commerce, has announced the latest edition of the “Elche Street Food Market,” which will be held on Paseo de la Estación from Friday May 23rd to Sunday May 25th.

Caridad Martínez, a local councillor, welcomed Elche residents to enjoy the event, which would include a variety of culinary offerings and entertainment for adults and families alike.

This tenth edition will include 14 food trucks serving national and foreign cuisine, a market with thirty craft, fashion, and design shops, and seven performances over the weekend by bands including Guanará, a Mecano tribute band, Hermano Salvaje, and others. In addition to live food and music, there will be storytelling, comedy shows, and children’s concerts, among other things.

Rafael Baeza, the event’s organiser, stated, “This year we’re going around the world for a gastronomic tour, with typical dishes from different countries that we’ll be able to enjoy over the course of three days.”

Admission is free and the hours of operation will be Friday, May 23rd from 6pm to midnight, Saturday, May 24th from 12pm to midnight, and Sunday, May 25th from 12pm to 11pm.