Under the stars of Marbella’s historic Nagueles quarry, local favourite and superstar Antonio Banderas celebrated his 66th birthday with more than cake and candles. The Hollywood star returned as host to the 17th Starlite Occident Gala, where peace signs, flowers and a 1970s hippy theme set the scene for an evening all about generosity, music and a quiet plea for humanity in troubled times.

A hippy tribute with heart

Organisers embraced a “Peace & Love” dress code, transforming the open-air venue into a retro world of peace symbols, floral garlands and feel-good anthems. Banderas, who has called himself a “late hippy”, leaned into the theme. “Peace and love is now a slogan that unfortunately makes very little sense in the world we are living in,” he said, hinting at how his public voice has shifted from pure glamour to purpose.

Midnight birthday moment and a shirt auction

Guests included long-time collaborator Placido Domingo, who led the room in singing “Happy Birthday” at midnight. In a spontaneous gesture that lifted the night’s fundraising total, Banderas handed over the very shirt he was wearing—painted by his own hand for the charity auction. Proceeds support educational, health and social projects run by the Starlite Foundation in partnership with Ninos en Alegria, Cudeca (palliative cancer care) and Lagrimas y Favores, the actor’s own foundation that backs students at the University of Malaga among other causes. Nicole Kimpel, Banderas’s partner since 2014, stood by his side for what felt like a double celebration.

Starlite matters more than ever 17 years on

Now in its 17th year, the gala has raised more than €3 million for charities over the years, turning Marbella’s summer spotlight into real-world impact. This edition also featured a special initiative to support reconstruction efforts in Venezuela following recent earthquakes, working with CAF (the development bank of Latin America and the Caribbean) and Venezuela Sin Limites. For Banderas, using fame to gather people and funds is “almost an obligation”, proof that celebrity can do more than dazzle, it can deliver.

Ten euros doesn’t buy much these days. Here, though, that small note could hand one lucky winner a €4,216 haul of prizes and, at the same time, help dogs in need

A single winning number, fifty ways to celebrate

Fundacion Canya SOS has launched its Grand Charity Raffle, but this is no ordinary raffle. Buy a €10 ticket, and if your number is the one drawn, you don’t walk away with a single item — you take home every one of the fifty prizes on offer. Only one ticket number wins, but that winner scoops the lot. Donated by local businesses and individuals across the area, the haul ranges from dog grooming vouchers and pet photography sessions to spa days, restaurant dinners, whale-watching trips, paragliding flights and gift cards from well-known shops. Winners will be decided by matching the last three digits of the official ONCE lottery coupon drawn on September 20, the same day the foundation hosts its first-ever Canya Festival.

Why the Los Barrios shelter needs urgent help now

Behind the glossy prize list sits an urgent appeal. Rescue teams describe this summer as one of the toughest on record, with dogs arriving in growing numbers, many sick, injured or just dumped by owners who can no longer cope. Eight puppies from Jimena were recently discovered tied up inside boxes, left exposed to soaring heat, while eleven dogs were brought in during a single day alone. Over the past year, more than 850 abandoned dogs have passed through the charity’s care, and over 200 currently depend on foster homes and the pound for food, medicine and daily attention.

How to buy a ticket

Tickets are sold at several points across the region, including the charity shop in Puerto de la Duquesa, Protectora Canya in Los Barrios, Discos Grammy in Algeciras, Tienda Cachalot in Tarifa and BigMat El Motor in Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro. . Anyone abroad or unable to visit in person can still take part remotely via Bizum, Revolut or PayPal, though organisers ask that buyers send a message beforehand to arrange payment details.

Where does the money go

Every ticket sold goes directly towards vet bills, vaccinations, surgeries and basic care for rescued dogs waiting for a second chance. Expats in the area have long supported SOS Canya’s work rehoming animals to new families in the UK, Germany and Finland, and this draw offers a low-cost, high-reward way to keep that lifeline running through a particularly difficult season.

The tablets were wrapped like ordinary chocolate bars and left to chill in a freezer. Officers who found them belonged to a Marbella narcotics unit that had just dismantled a cannabis club allegedly used as cover for a drug trafficking operation.

Two raids uncover a drug operation hiding in plain sight

The Policía Nacional launched Operation Barrio after receiving tip-offs that a coffee shop on a central square in Marbella was selling and distributing drugs “constantly and systematically”. Officers from the Marbella police station’s Group II narcotics unit tracked the premises before identifying the people running it, then carried out two searches: one at the coffee shop itself, the other at the home of its alleged ringleaders.

Five people were arrested. Two were detained at the coffee shop, where officers found part of the stash already portioned out and ready for sale. The other three were arrested at a private address linked to those accused of managing the club.

How the cannabis club was used as a front

The business operated as a self-styled cannabis consumption association, known in Spain as a club cannábico, the type of private members’ club that has spread across the Costa del Sol by exploiting a legal grey area that allows adults to grow and share cannabis for personal use in a closed setting. Selling to non-members or the wider public is illegal. Police said the format was being used as cover, and investigators concluded that the people running it were part of a wider network dedicated to drug trafficking rather than a genuine private club.

Hashish tablets disguised inside chocolate bar wrappers

The most striking find came at the home of the alleged ringleaders. Officers opened a freezer and found 11 tablets of hashish wrapped to look like ordinary chocolate bars. More than €32,000 in cash was also recovered from the property, along with two vehicles and four luxury watches.

Marijuana, hashish and THC vapes among the haul

Across both addresses, officers seized 3.41 kilograms of marijuana and 1.55 kilograms of hashish, together with about 50 pre-rolled joints and around 20 vape pens containing THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis. A judge has since ordered the coffee shop’s temporary closure, and Marbella’s Local Police helped enforce the shutdown administratively, requiring the business to cease trading with immediate effect.

All five detainees have been placed before the judicial authority. Police say the investigation into the wider network behind the club continues, and further arrests have not been ruled out.