MALAGA GAZETTE

Mediterranean fish under threat from gruesome 'Alien' parasite which eats their tongues then lives in their mouths

2012-03-03T10:09:00.001+01:00

A gruesome ‘Alien-like’ parasite which eats the tongues of bream and then 'replaces' them in its victims mouths is spreading in the Mediterranean. Almost half the fish in some areas are infected with the parasite, which swims in through the gills of young fish, then takes up position on top of the tongue, feeding on blood and growing. Researchers found that the 'cerathotoa italica' parasite - named 'Betty' by the scientists - is spreading fastest in heavily fished waters.

Spain planning to breach EU budget targets, warns prime minister Mariano Rajoy

2012-03-03T09:53:00.001+01:00

Mariano Rajoy, prime minister of Spain, said the budget deficit would be 5.8pc of GDP in 2012 - more than 30pc higher than the 4.4pc target agreed by Brussels. In a move that was heralded in Spain as defiance against the German-led austerity drive, Mr Rajoy said he had decided to set a new target rather than extract €44bn (£36.6bn) from the budget at a time of economic crisis. Mr Rajoy said it was now a "sensible and reasonable" target. "This is a sovereign decision made by Spaniards," he said. Spain's appeals to Brussels to relax the targets have been rebuffed in recent days. The European Commission has reportedly insisted on investigating the reasons for Spain missing its previous targets first. At the EU summit in Brussels this week, leaders said the targets were non-negotiable. Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt said: "The first thing that we do after the new rules [on budget stability] should not be to relax them." Mr Rajoy insisted the slippage was just on an interim target and Spain would still honour its commitment to bringing its deficit down to 3pc of GDP by 2013. But the announcement was seen as rebuffing other European leaders since the figures do not have to be confirmed until April.

Gored bullfighter leaves hospital

2012-03-03T03:16:00.001+01:00

Spanish bullfighter, Juan José Padilla, who was dramatically gored in the face on October 7 as part of the Pilar fiestas in Zaragoza, was released from hospital in the city on Wednesday. He told the press, sitting in a wheelchair and with his face uncovered and clear of any bandage, that he would be putting on his suit of lights and entering the ring again, although he admitted that it was impossible to continue this season. He said he would be back in 2012. Chief Ophthalmology surgeon at the Miguel Servet Hospital, Luis Pablo, described the matador’s recovery as spectacular, given that he arrived in the E.R. with his eye out of its socket. The bullfighter admitted that the prognosis is not so good as the optic nerve has been affected, and his retina also came detached, but he said ‘in medicine you never know, and miracles exist’. He told the press that he would not mind seeing pictures of him being gored, where one horn entered his cheek and exited in his left eye, but he had not done so as yet. ‘I bear no grudge against my profession or the bull’, he said. ‘The bull has given me much grandness’.

UK Benefit Fraud investigators have recently enjoyed more success in the fight against benefit cheats in Spain.

2012-03-03T03:11:00.001+01:00

In one of the latest cases to go to prosecution, Debbie Williamson from Rotherham was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to 18 months immediate imprisonment for having stolen UK benefits between 2004 and 2009. Ms Williamson had been claiming a number of non-exportable benefits from the UK, including income support. She denied having any connection with Spain, but investigators established she owned property in Valencia, had made regular cash withdrawals abroad and had her daughter in a local Spanish school. In total Ms. Williamson stole £42,558.72 from the British taxpayer by claiming benefits she was not entitled to after her circumstances changed. Ms. Williamson is just one of many cases that make up the estimated £79 million of benefit fraud committed abroad. Although most people claiming UK benefits abroad do so legally, Spain is one of the countries where most UK benefit fraud is committed. In many of these cases, the person has purposefully not informed the UK authorities of a change in their circumstances. Anyone in receipt of a UK State Pension or benefit has the responsibility to keep the department paying their benefit up to date with any changes that could affect their payment, no matter how small the change seems. More information on UK benefits in general and on which ones can and cannot be received whilst living in Spain can be found on the DirectGov website. If you know of someone committing UK benefit fraud whilst living in Spain, such as claiming a non-exportable benefit, working in Spain while in receipt of UK incapacity benefit, or claiming benefit as a single person but living with a partner, you can help to protect the taxpayers’ money. A free and confidential Benefit Fraud Hotline is available in Spain – call 900 554 440 or visit the Benefit Fraud website to help UK investigators close the net on the benefit thieves.

SEPLA call 24 more strikes in Iberia, and some are over Easter

2012-03-03T03:05:00.001+01:00

Iberia SEPLA union pilots have announced a new wave of strike action in protest at the company’s plans to start a new low-cost airline, Iberia Express, the first flight of which is set for March 25. They have called 24 more 24 hour strikes, which follow from the previous 12 which have already been seen. The stoppages are between March and May and some affect both the Easter break and bank holiday weekends. The pilots say they have upped their action because the company is refusing to talk and their attitude is ‘a radical rejection of any of the proposals offered by the collective, and to maintain the creation of Iberia Express which will result in the destruction of 8,000 jobs’. The union also claims that Iberia is not respecting Air Safety Regulations on work and rest time for the crew, saying that in one case a pilot has been sacked for this reason. The new strike action will be taken on 16, 19, 23, 25, 26 and 30 of March; 2, 4, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27 and 30 of April; 2, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25 and 28 of May. On these dates Government imposed minimum services will see some services and normally the links to the Canaries and the Baleares are not affected. The 12 days strike action carried out so far is estimated to have resulted in losses of 32 million €.

Spanish photographer Javier Espinosa painted a harrowing picture of life inside the shattered center of Syrian resistance

2012-03-02T13:04:00.001+01:00

Spanish photographer Javier Espinosa painted a harrowing picture of life inside the shattered center of Syrian resistance in Homs in the days before a full-scale assault by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Espinosa, who works for the Spanish daily El Mundo, was one of four journalists who escaped this week from Baba Amr, a neighborhood of about five square miles that was shelled for 26 consecutive days before Syrian forces began an assault. "It's an enormous tragedy," Espinosa told Anderson Cooper during an interview that aired Thursday on CNN's "AC360." "And the latest news I have is that it is almost finished because they don't have any more ways of resisting the advance of the army." Activist: Assad will have to kill us all Wife spread husband's ashes in garden Opposition leaves Baba Amr in Syria Espinosa escaped Baba Amr on Sunday just days before Syrian forces began an assault on the neighborhood that culminated Thursday with rebels announcing a "tactical retreat," saying they were withdrawing to protect the civilians in the neighborhood. The announcement by the opposition came at the same time Syrian forces seized control of the neighborhood. Apparently, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency did not get the message that Espinosa had escaped. Citing a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, it reported Thursday that authorities had discovered the body of Espinosa along with those of Colvin and Ochlik after the Syrian Army "cleansed Baba Amr from the foreign-backed armed groups of terrorists." After DNA analysis confirms the identities, the bodies will be handed over to the embassies of Poland, on behalf of the U.S. Embassy, France and Spain, it said. In an interview from Beirut, Espinosa said that the report of his death "would be a nice joke" if not for the suffering of the people of Baba Amr. Espinosa described a dire humanitarian crisis in Homs, with dwindling food, water and medical supplies. In Baba Amr, the situation was worse. "They had nothing. They didn't receive (anything) at all," he said. Journalists escape Syria, find safety CNN spends '72 Hours in Hell' in Syria The way forward in Syria debated Espinosa was in the makeshift media center during last week's shelling by Syrian forces that killed American Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times of London and French photographer Remi Ochlik and wounded French reporter Edith Bouvier of La Monde newspaper. When rockets began striking the media center, Espinosa and the other journalists were told by an opposition activist to get out of the building that was taking direct hits. But when the activist "heard the sound of an incoming shell," he tried to turn the journalists back, Espinosa said. Espinosa said he was able to take cover by a wall. "But Marie and Remi were already outside, and they received the full explosion of the rocket," he said. Espinosa described the shelling by Syrian forces as "systematic." He described a typical day in the neighborhood as one of routine horror: Shelling began at 6 a.m. and continued until 1 p.m., when the army stopped for precisely one hour. "They just stop for lunch," he told CNN. At 2 p.m., the shelling resumed until 6 p.m., when it ended until picking up again the following morning, he said. Espinosa escaped to Lebanon with British journalist Paul Conroy, who was also wounded in the shelling attack. Espinosa and Conroy fled Baba Amr along with Bouvier and French photographer William Daniels. But Bouvier and Daniels were forced to turn back after they were targeted by Syrian security forces, according to the opposition group Avaaz, who says its activists helped guide the four out of Syria. A second evacuation attempt on Tuesday moved Daniels and Bouvier to a safer neighborhood in Homs, and then on Wednesday the opposition activists got the two out along with a number of civilians. The French Embassy in Beirut said Bouvier was in stable condition on Friday and expected to be flown to France later in the day.

The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain

2012-03-02T13:02:00.001+01:00

In Spain today, the civil war triggered three quarters of a century ago is still "the past that has not passed away". When a Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, internationally renowned for his championing of human rights, opened an investigation into the conflict's core of extreme extrajudicial violence (in which more than 200,000 people were killed), he was charged with abuse of power. Although Garzó* was acquitted this week, the fact both that he was put on trial at all and that judicial investigation into the violence is now blocked leaves unresolved the vehement memory polemics of Spain's civil society, and so renders Paul Preston's monumental, rigorous and unflinching study important and opportune in ways that reach far beyond the purely academic. Preston is Britain's foremost historian of modern Spain. He acknowledges his debt to those historians inside Spain who over the past three decades, despite huge social and political obstacles, have opened up the facts of this violence through painstaking research in local archives. But Preston's own contribution is a major one, both in tracing the fundamentalist origins of the military coup that unleashed the killing and in reconstructing its complex consequences. What the conspirators intended was to crush the social challenge posed by the reforming project of the democratic Second Republic. They and their supporters – whether patrician elites, conservative townsfolk or inland peasantry – saw it as heralding the end of a cherished and familiar world; indeed as the end of "Spain". From the beginning, Preston "reminds" us that while the conflict in Spain evolved into the "war of two equal sides", as subsequently enshrined in Western consciousness, it began in July 1936 as something very different. It was a military assault on an evolving civil society and democratic regime in the name of the "true nation", in defence of which the rebels were prepared to kill, or "cleanse", as their rhetoric proclaimed. General Queipo de Llano, whose troops laid waste to south-western Spain, called it "the purification of the Spanish people". Recognising that the initial massive violence was generated by the military rebels themselves remains the biggest taboo of all in democratic Spain's public sphere. Franco's dictatorship has never been delegitimised since his death in 1975, notwithstanding the symbolic measures of recent years. It is this military responsibility, which Garzó* sought unsuccessfully to confront, that lies at the heart of Preston's study. He builds on a lifetime's research into the destruction of democracy in 1930s Spain to show how a military-led coalition against political and social reform triumphed, against the divided and inexperienced centre-left government of the Second Republic. The conspirators' determination to deploy terror from the start was made clear in the prior orders of the coup's director, General Mola, to "eliminate without scruples or hesitation all who do not think as we do". Their aim was to reverse both the Republic's redistributive policies of land and social reform, and the cultural shift implied in its extension of literacy, co-education and women's rights. But resistance to the rebels in much of urban Spain created such logistical challenges that the coup would likely have failed, had it not been for the provision by Hitler and Mussolini of the aircraft that transported Franco's colonial Army of Africa to mainland Spain. This gifted the rebels the brutal force which effectively rescued the failing coup. The military rebels now unleashed the mass slaughter of civilians. Preston's book tells the harrowing story of this "cleansing" war of terror as it unfolded across the entirety of Spain's territory. Even in areas where there was no resistance to the coup, the new military authorities presided over an extermination, mainly perpetrated by civilian death squads and vigilantes, of those sectors associated with Republican change. The victims were not only the politically active, or those who had directly benefited from reform, but also those who symbolised cultural transformation: progressive teachers, self-educated workers, "new" women. As Preston shows, all these sectors were perceived by the army's rebel commanders as akin to insubordinate colonial subjects. His use of "holocaust" in the book's title will rightly spark debate. But Preston's intention is not to equate Spain with the Holocaust. Rather he wishes to effect a category shift in how people think about what actually happened in Spain, in order to suggest parallels and resonances between the cases which allow a deeper understanding of Europe's dark mid-20th century as a whole, and of the mechanisms of human violence itself. Even in the areas of Spain where the military coup failed, in one crucial respect it "succeeded" fully. There too it unleashed extrajudicial killing which, combined with the killing in the rebel zone, would change Spain's political landscape forever. In Republican territory this killing, which for a time the government was powerless to prevent because the coup had collapsed the instruments of public order, was perpetrated against civilian sectors assumed to support the coup. Some 50,000 people were killed, including nearly 7,000, mostly male, religious personnel. These killings drastically undermined the Republic's international credibility – even though, as Preston reminds us, it was the coup itself that conjured the killing, creating the conditions that made it possible. Republican-zone violence was as ugly and unscrupulous as that of the rebels; it was, of course, also reactive. But once in existence it took on a life of its own. By the time that the Republican authorities were able to rebuild public order and put an end to this killing, it had already reinforced support for Franco among the families of its victims. After Franco achieved victory in spring 1939, the mass-murdering dimension inherent in war-forged Francoism became fully apparent, as the final section of Preston's study explores. Of the baseline figure of 150,000 extra- and quasi-judicial killings for which it was responsible in the territory under direct military control between 1936 and the late 1940s, at least 20,000 were committed after the Republican military surrender in late March 1939. In a bid to create the "homogeneous" nation of which the conspirators dreamed, based on traditionalist values and social deference, the regime engaged in the killing, mass imprisonment and social segregation of the Republican population. To do so, the regime exhorted "ordinary Spaniards" to denounce their compatriots' "crimes" to military tribunals. Tens of thousands did so – out of a combination of political conviction, grief and loss, social prejudice, opportunism and fear. Thus did the Franco regime, born of a military coup that itself triggered the killing, pose as the bringer of justice. But this was "justice turned on its head", given the notorious lack of fit between the acts of wartime violence themselves and those denounced and tried for them. No corroboration was required nor any real investigative process undertaken. But, as Preston shows, matching culprits to crimes was not the real point of the exercise. Tens of thousands were tried merely for their political or social alignment with the Republic. As one prosecutor declared: "I do not care, nor do I even want to know, if you are innocent or not of the charges made against you." This was the Franco regime's "fatal" moment. Through its choice of legitimising strategy it mobilised a social base of perpetrators, building on their fears and losses during the war, while, at the same time, it criminalised the Republican population, perpetrating an abuse of human rights on a vast scale. Worse still, the regime, buoyed up by the Cold War, then kept alive these binary categories for nearly 40 years, through its apartheid policies and an endlessly reiterated discourse of "martyrs and barbarians". This is what marks Francoism apart – the lasting toxicity of its originating strategy, which still burns the social and political landscape of 21st-century Spain, three and a half decades after the dictator's death. That Spain's public sphere is still shaped by the values and perceptions bequeathed by four decades of Francoism is blindingly evident in the Garzó* case. Inside Spain, the afterlife of violence remains; and with it the need for a democratic coming-to-terms, inherent in which is an openness to the difficult past. Preston's study is history as a public good, a substitute for the truth and reconciliation process that has not taken place in Spain and an antidote to those who still regard Franco as a good Christian gentleman. That this remains unfinished business is clearly indicated by the child-trafficking scandal recently exposed in Spain, whose origins stretch back to the dictatorship's criminal social-engineering policies. The picture is clear: the victimised social groups are the same as those who, in 1936, were subjected to the military rebels' "prophylaxis".

Makers say 'sorry' as excessive vitamin D found after dog food recalled from 190 Mercadona stores

2012-03-01T18:15:00.001+01:00

A Brand of dog food in cartons sold by Mercadona has been blamed for causing kidney failure in pets. The supermarket chain – the largest in Spain – has now withdrawn carton-packaged Compy wet dog food from its shelves in 190 stores in Albacete, Almeria, Alicante and Murcia provinces. This action followed a flood of concerns from dog owners – including scores of expatriates – after their pets had been taken ill, with some vomiting violently. On Tuesday, four days after Mercadona had withdrawn the food from sale as a safety precaution, a statement from Tunilament pet division, which is part of Escuris, the company that manufactures Compy, confirmed tests on the pet food had confirmed excessive Vitamin D. They admitted that this Vitamin D increment could cause urine problems to pets, although only through high doses or persistent use of the product, according to the manufacturer’s veterinarian reports. Earlier, vets and many expatriates had identified Compy wet dog food in aluminium-lined cartons and sold by Mercadona as the common link between dozens – and possibly hundreds – of complaints by dog owners over sick pets. There were even reports by expatriates living in the Costa del Sol, but a Mercadona official gave assurances that the Compy product packaged in these cartons was not sold by them in Malaga Province. British-born Audrey Millar of Benitachell (Alicante) said her three dogs (Shih Tzu, aged 7 yrs, 4.5 yrs and 20 months - Teddy, Shakira and Latika respectively) had always eaten “the Mercadona dog food in the big tins priced at €1.25 a can.” “When the packaging was changed to cartons (indivisible packs of 3) they were less than enthusiastic about the food but did eat a bit - I mix it with Burns Mini Bites dried food for them.” “Within a couple of days they started to vomit violently (thank God for tiles!) and refused to eat the food. I took them to the vet and she thought initially that they may have ingested pesticide as she had had a couple of other local dogs in with the same symptoms.” “She ran renal function tests on two of them and their urea and creatinine levels were raised. “ “She did not consider it worth running the blood tests on the third one (Latika) as she had the exact same symptoms I then started cooking chicken/turkey/ brown rice/vegetables for them until their stomachs settled but I will continue to cook for them now. All have lost a little weight but are almost completely back to normal although Latika was sick last night - they are on Uro Can tablets to protect their stomachs.” “Thanks for bringing this into the public domain - I am glad Mercadona seem to be taking it as seriously as they should be and let's hope they are willing to reimburse customers for vet's fees incurred - I know it has cost some people 100s of Euros and, worse still, some people have lost their beloved pets due to this fiasco. “And there is the cost of all the cleaning products I bought from them to clear up piles (and it was) of dog vomit for a couple of weeks!” “I feel quite guilty to be honest, as I know other pet owners do - like I have been poisoning them really. “ Meanwhile, Veronica Catala of Clinica Veterinaria Benitachell said she had seen 10 to 15 cases of dogs with kidney problems in the last two months, and the majority of dog owners – including Ms Millar - had fed pets with the Comfy dog food in cartons. Inka Labsch of Clinica Veterinaria Europa in Mojacar (Almeria) confirmed that in the last month there had been a huge rise in the number of dog owners bringing in pets suffering from kidney problems. “In the past month there have been nearly 10, and quite a few otherwise young and healthy animals.” Tests to see if the kidney problems was caused by Leishmaniasis came back negative, a vet told EWN. “At one point we thought it might have been caused by pesticide used to combat the Red Weevil Beetle plague we have here,” said Inka. “But then I heard that other vets in other towns were experiencing similar unusual numbers of young dogs with kidney problems, so I do not think it is that. Many of the dog’s owners say they feed their pets with Mercadona’s Compy brand wet dog food,” said Inka. Various pet owners’ who feed their dogs this pet food confirmed this. One of Inka’s patients is ‘Goldie, who is on a drip for five hours a day after tests showed she had kidney problems. Ken Grey’s five-year-old white German Shepherd ‘Gemma’ started to develop symptoms, which include excessive thirst. His partner Georgette Hurcomb took Gemma to the vet in Garrucha who confirmed the kidney problem. “I personally know of at least six dogs who all eat the same brand of dog food who have this problem, although I understand there are at least 20 dogs who may be affected, one of which died,” said Georgette who lives in Palomares. “We drink the same water as the dogs and they only eat this brand of dog food.” “I made a complaint to Mercadona and a representative contacted us very concerned and said they would take the dog food off the shelves and would conducting tests.” Jamie Moore’s dog Tyson was diagnosed with ‘bad kidneys’ by the vet in Turre. “I did not think it could have been the food from Mercadona as my dog has eaten this brand of food for many years,” said Jamie. “But since its packaging changed, he has had a reaction.” Albox resident, Heather Whythe’s dog ‘Scruffy’ fell ill after a week of eating the ‘trozos in salsa’. “Since switching to another dog food, she is now back to her normal self,” said Heather. Chris Reade realised something was wrong when his dog began drinking excessively, suffered from urinary incontinence and went from 20 kilos to 16 kilos. “No definite diagnosis was found, although liver and kidney function results were abnormal. I immediately took the dog off the meat and with complete rest and a diet of chicken and rice she is thankfully on the road to recovery.”

Spain’s Deficit Tests Europe’s Financial Rules

2012-03-01T18:04:00.001+01:00

ONLY months after they tightened the rules for the euro, Europeans are again confronting a question posed a decade ago: Is their rule book in fact a little stupid? In 2002, Romano Prodi, then the president of the European Commission, provoked widespread criticism by using the word “stupid” to describe the Stability and Growth Pact, a set of rules intended to maintain the stability of the euro zone by imposing fiscal discipline on member states. Now Spain is pressing for leniency, using more polite language but a similar argument. Deep in recession, Spain is not close to hitting European Union target dates for cutting its budget deficit to acceptable levels. And that, according to the logic of the new rules, ought to begin a process leading to the imposition of fines against Spain’s government. Euro zone finance ministers are set to discuss Spain’s economic situation Thursday in Brussels. It may come up again when European heads of government take part in a two-day meeting to discuss policies intended to increase economic growth. The new center-right Spanish government led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces a severe economic squeeze. To hit the European Union’s deficit target it would need to impose another austerity package that, according to estimates, would be more than double the 15 billion euros, or $20 billion, of tax increases and spending cuts already agreed to this year. And Spain is entering its second recession since the sovereign debt crisis began and is struggling with an unemployment rate of nearly 23 percent. But the European authorities face a dilemma, too. The Spanish case illustrates a design flaw in the euro rule book — fining a nation in financial trouble can only make matters worse. Even insisting on more austerity could drive Spain over the edge. Inaction, however, could threaten the credibility of the revised rule book when financial markets remain nervous. While the European Commission, the executive body of the 27-nation European Union, has issued tough warnings to some smaller nations, including Hungary — which is outside the euro zone and subject to different sanctions — Spain is the first large country to run afoul of the strengthened rules. The issue is particularly delicate because when France and Germany violated the original pact in 2003 by running up excessive deficits, the agreement was softened. And some policy makers have said that is one reason euro nations did not weather the financial crisis better. Last year the pact was strengthened to make sanctions more difficult to avoid and to make overall debt levels a bigger factor in determining whether penalties should be applied. Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of Bruegel, an economic research institute in Brussels, said Spain posed a substantial test for the new rules. “It is big because it is a bigger country and this is a tough case: how to reconcile fiscal discipline and economic realism,” he said. “Spain is facing a true recession,” he added, with estimates that its economy will continue to contract. “The commission is forecasting minus 1 percent, the Bank of Spain minus 1.5 percent, and there is no shortage of people forecasting even less. I think they should be careful at a time when they are embarking on a large number of reforms.” But Mr. Pisani-Ferry added that the European Commission had latitude in determining whether a country had violated the new rules. The commission will recommend how to proceed, and, if it has determined that Spain has tried its best to meet the target dates but has been blown off course by events outside its control, the European Commission can propose new target dates. Under the Stability and Growth Pact, European nations are supposed to keep their budget deficits below 3 percent of gross domestic product and their debt levels below 60 percent of G.D.P. Spain’s target was a deficit of 6 percent of G.D.P. in 2011, 4.4 percent in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013. On Monday, though, the Spanish government said it ended 2011 with a deficit of 8.5 percent of G.D.P. Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, said he was awaiting more information from Madrid, and the new Spanish budget, due to be presented in March. “The reality regarding Spain is that we do not yet have a full picture of Spain’s fiscal slippage last year and the reasons for that slippage,” Mr. Barroso said. “Only then, when we receive the concrete information, we’ll be able to take a position.” He expressed confidence that the new budget “will be fully in line with the Stability and Growth Pact rules.” The national government in Madrid has blamed Spain’s regional governments, estimating that they accounted for about two-thirds of the slippage last year. The regions ended 2011 with an average deficit equivalent to 2.94 percent of G.D.P., compared with a target of 1.3 percent. Spain is one of at least 23 European Union nations in violation of the bloc’s rules, subject to what is known as “excessive deficit procedure,” with closer monitoring and clear targets. But it was already given the benefit of the doubt in December 2009, when it was allowed an extra year to reach the 3 percent deficit level. All of which makes for a difficult decision for the commission, which must walk a tightrope between squeezing Spain’s economy too much and undermining the new rules. Mr. Pisani-Ferry said he believed that it should worry more about the first of those factors than the second. “Credibility rests also on the fact that what you do is economically sensible,” he said.

Spain braces for further cuts amid national uproar

2012-03-01T04:49:00.001+01:00

Spain, whose economy – the fourth largest in the eurozone – is staggering under a burden of debt, is preparing for further austerity measures after its finance minister revealed that the 2011 budget deficit was substantially higher than expected. The deficit came to 8.51% of GDP – far higher than the European Commission’s own forecast of 6.5%. Brussels will now effectively dictate the 2012 budget ceiling which Spain will announce on Friday. The country will have to come up with more than 40 billion euros in savings to meet that target. However, most economists say the planned cuts are impossible as the economy is already slipping into recession. Spain has been in the eye of the European debt crisis storm ever since its Socialist government racked up one of the bloc's largest budget deficits. The Socialists were trounced for mishandling the crisis. As a result, a new conservative government began a four-year term in December. It faced a wave of massive protests when it swiftly introduced tax hikes and spending cuts to the tune of around 15 billion euros. More anger followed when the new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, introduced a labor decree making it easier for employers to fire workers. His reforms are said to be part of a program aimed at creating jobs: the country has the developed world's highest unemployment rate, at 23%. But the new legislation sparked an outbreak of discontent with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets of Madrid and other major cities. The unemployment rate for Spaniards aged between 16 and 24 stands at 48.6%, and 39% for those between 20 and 29, according to this month’s government report. There are no official statistics but estimates suggests thousands are emigrating monthly and the country last year saw more people leave Spain than arrive in the country for the first time in a decade. One of the main sources of discontent is bad real-estate debts left over after Spain's housing bubble burst. The debt crisis led to a crash in Spanish real estate with thousands of new houses standing empty, resulting in a rash of so-called ghost-towns country-wide. Spaniards now accuse the government of enormous waste which left them without houses, work or money. “When the crisis started, the real estate bubble burst, and of course companies started going bankrupt. Public administrations started not receiving incomes they were accustomed to and the whole economy blew up,” Prof. Manuel Balmaseda, an economist from the ICAI School of Engineering, told RT. The property crash continues to hit people hard, but a nationwide movement is now fighting back. Banks prefer to repossess the homes of those who cannot afford the mortgages taken out when the outlook was more positive. Among the worst affected are Spanish youngsters and immigrants. The situation has sparked regular protests against banks, the government and the austerity cuts which are widely seen as provoking a further slowdown of the economy, which is set to shrink this year by 1.7%.

The economic disaster that heavily indebted Spain has found itself in is clearly a consequence of Spain joining the euro

2012-03-01T00:18:00.001+01:00

The economic disaster that heavily indebted Spain has found itself in is clearly a consequence of Spain joining the euro, insists economist Dr. Manuel Balmaseda. When Spain joined the euro, the EU Central Bank settled overly low interest rates, resulting in Spain receiving “enormous amounts of credit which increased Spanish indebtedness, particularly foreign”. Cheap money created financial bubbles, for instance in real estate. When the 2008 economic crisis came, the bubbles burst, many companies went bankrupt and the whole overheated economy blew up, explains the professor. Madrid now needs more flexibility to curb deficit as the EU introduces new rules on budget discipline. Spain appears to have become the first country to test them. Madrid is desperately trying to negotiate a higher 2012 fiscal deficit target than that set by the European Commission. The austerity measures taken by the new conservative government of the eurozone's fourth largest economy will bear no fruit, believes Dr. Balmaseda, “because the problem is in the euro.” “There are great expectations that a new government is going to arrange the problem,” the professor says, stressing that the honeymoon of the Spaniards with the new government will not last for more than six to nine months. Dr. Manuel Balmaseda, Professor at the ICAI School of Engineering, is certain that the futures of Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy lie outside the eurozone. He also believes that the countries remaining in the eurozone will not be very happy without their breakaway partners. Exit from the eurozone would mean a default for Spain, which is unacceptable for French and German banks that hold up to half of Madrid’s €900 billion foreign debt. These banks are interested in returning the money, whatever the cost for Spaniards. The professor believes that leaving the eurozone does not necessarily mean leaving the EU. “Nobody would chase Spain out of the EU,” he says. Dr. Manuel Balmaseda believes that the eurozone crisis is not just caused by governmental overspending. “The origin of the problem is the euro, the lack of competitiveness that the euro brought to Spain”. Spain is following the path of Greece with a two-year delay, believes the professor, because more austerity measures and further cuts of public spending are only pushing countries like Greece and Spain deeper into recession.

Mercadona Rocked As Own Label Linked To Canine Deaths

2012-02-29T13:08:00.001+01:00

Mercadona is in the middle of a public relations disaster after its ‘Compy’ own label dog food brand was linked to the deaths of several pets across Spain, after having caused kidney failure in the animals. . The deaths were initially recorded by pet owners in Andalucia, Murcia and Alicante, but new reports have claimed that similar cases have been found along the Costa del Sol. Several pet owners insisted that the deaths were caused after their pets ate the own label product, and following intense pressure, Mercadona has removed two variants of the ‘Compy’ range from select stores. The chain said it is now studying whether there indeed is a connection between the product and the deaths. It would not comment on whether the problem was caused by a recent shift in packaging of the product from tins to cartons. Mercadona added: “At this stage we have only removed the product as a precaution and we are waiting for the results of the analysis. We do not know with any certainty if the food is to blame”.

Blues legend Gary Moore died after drink binge

2012-02-28T23:08:00.001+01:00

ROCK legend Gary Moore died after bingeing on enough alcohol to put him nearly eight times over the drink-drive limit, tests in Spain have revealed. The guitar ace (58) suffered a heart attack brought on by the massive amount of alcohol that he knocked back at the start of a sunshine holiday in Spain's Costa del Sol, the studies showed. No traces of any illegal drugs were found in his body. But he had 380mg of alcohol per decilitre of blood in his system, which is more than 30mg the amount associated with fatalities. And it was just short of the 416mg that Amy Winehouse had in her body when she died. Tests revealed that dad-of-three Mr Moore, found dead in bed at a luxury hotel on February 6 last year, had abused alcohol for years. Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Mr Moore died at the Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona hours after starting a six-day holiday with his new partner.

Spanish government will try and secure the 'gold on the Rock'

2012-02-28T22:21:00.001+01:00

With the Odyssey gold back in Spain, the Spanish keep referring to more gold that remained in Gibraltar. It is being reported in Spain that the Spanish government will try and secure the 'gold on the Rock' through what they term a European order. They say that although Gibraltar likes to play a dual role, it is in fact part of the UK and thus Madrid is knocking on the UK's door to get them to urge Gibraltar to hand over the gold. Bilateral talks are said to be taking place. It is said that there are 59 artefacts still in Gibraltar, apparently stored by Odyssey. A Spanish heritage official was critical of the way the Oddysey gold left for the USA via Gibraltar,which is a joint sovereignty airport, adding that it was far from being dignified. This happened in 2007, a year after the signing of the Cordoba Agreement. The British Embassy in Madrid has confirmed that it is in touch with the Spanish foeign ministry, saying it was not clear if part of the consignment was in Gibraltar. Two military planes laden with 17 tons of silver and gold coins from a Spanish warship that sank during a 1804 gunbattle with the British is now back in Spain. It followed a 5-year legal battle between the Spanish and the American Odyssey company. On Thursday the Peruvian government made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block transfer of the treasure to give it more time to lodge its claim as the rightful owner of the gold. Peru says the gold and silver was mined, refined and minted in that country, which at the time was part of the Spanish empire. But the appeal obviously arrived too late, as the gold was flown to Madrid by the two Spanish military aircraft.

Tarragona village wants to grow marihuana to get out of the recession

2012-02-28T20:16:00.001+01:00

village in Tarragona has come up with a way to beat the recession. They propose to plant marihuana. A smokers’ club in the village of Rasquera and say the plantation would create jobs. They say they will not sell it, rather it will be for the use of the club members and also for ‘therapeutic ends’. A cannabis association in Barcelona that uses the drug for therapeutic reasons has offered to pay 36,000 € to the club and sign a deal with the Town Hall, and then promises to pay 550,000 € a year each July for the land rental, legal and judicial costs, and security which make up the project, noting the Town Hall won’t have to pay a penny. For now the local Town Hall is to hold a meeting and vote on Wednesday to decide on what to do; they have requested a report to see if the idea is legal or not. The Mayor of Rasquera, Bernat Pellisa, told the EFE news agency that they are studying the proposal which he said was ‘developed and an opportunity, and certainly not frivolous’. There are about 1,000 inhabitants in the village, and while they admit they could never have imagined it, the crisis is such they say they are prepared to grow whatever is needed.

Renounce your British Citizenship?

2012-02-28T20:10:00.001+01:00

Britain ignores its citizens who live abroad. James Preston, a businessman in Spain angrily declares he will renounce his British citizenship. Yet he feels sick at feeling forced to do so. Why does he do it? He is denied representation at Westminster (the vote!) because he has lived outside of Britain for more than 15 years. He has fought before the High Court his demand to be represented as a Citizen in the British seat of power – the Parliament at Westminster. His case and his appeal have been rejected. James Preston resents having the door slammed in his face. Britain denies him the basic democratic right of representation. He writes “We have concluded, therefore, that the contract between the State and my wife and I – the citizens – has been broken. We moved to Spain, an EU country, to represent British interests and find work, and not continue to claim unemployment benefit.” James Preston in his despair, intends to renounce his British citizenship and take out Spanish citizenship. Britain, in this, acts as a dictator State which regards the citizen abroad as ‘subjects’ and not as free people with democratic rights. The Government of Britain will not listen to the citizens abroad but still expects their obedience to the laws of Britain. These are strong words but are they not true? James Preston, is undoubtedly proud of his British (English) Ancestry which he can trace back for over 400 years. He left Britain in 1995. He was then unemployed but found work with a British company in Madrid, and has worked for British companies ever since. He stills considers his soul is British, but in Spain you cannot hold dual citizenship. Because Britain will not grant him representation in Parliament he therefore feels that he has no alternative but to turn his back on Britain. But still the clammy mechanical claw of British bureaucracy might well hold claim on his estate at his death. British Tax Law could still claim to his dying day that he is ‘domiciled in Britain’, because it says he will retain his British domicile of birth! You may think this outrageous and you are right to think so. It is difficult to cut yourself loose from the British State if you are born British. The fact that his children are educated in Britain, and extraordinarily, the very fact that he has taken a case before the High Court in London to claim the right to vote displays in the eyes of the Revenue his ‘attachment’ to Britain. It is incredible but true that for these reasons the estate he leaves could well be subject to taxation by the British State, even though he would die a Spanish citizen. Mr. Preston also tells me that his children do not have full British Citizenship but are considered as 'Spanish of British descent' because they were born in Spain. If they had been born in the UK they would be fully British. If they then marry British spouses and have children born outside of Britain, his grandchildren would not be British citizens at all. But if they were born in the UK they would be British. It is a crazy stupid mixed up world. It is the last straw that, after having been insultingly refused the right to Representation, Britain could still claim a pound (£) of ‘flesh’. It beggars belief that Britain, claiming to lead the world in Democracy so treats its own citizens who dare to live abroad. It cannot desire, can it, that every British Citizen living abroad should renounce their citizenship? Should not Britain be proud of us who live abroad? To our neighbours we are the image of Britain. Why are we ignored by our own country? We want to be ambassadors for Britain, but Britain does not want us – except perhaps our money.

Prison and no bail for Moroccan man who planned to poison tourist complexes in Spain

2012-02-28T20:01:00.001+01:00

37 year old Moroccan man who was arrested in La Línea de la Concepción because of alleged links to Al Qaeda has been ordered to prison without bail. Police now believe that Abdellatif Aoulad Chilba, who is married to a Spanish woman, was planning to poison the water in tourist complexes in the area. It has been revealed that a phone call he made to his wife, who lives in Girona, on the 12th of this month, sounded as if it was a goodbye. National Court judge, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has charged him with belonging to a terrorist organisation and for conspiracy to carry out a terrorist act. The Moroccan had expressed his wish to carry out such an attack against the ‘infidels’ in several internet forums which were also being used to recruit new members for different Islamic cells. It was on one such forum that he asked for the formula for a mortal venom. One person responded with how to produce a botulism toxin.

Spain and Morocco to establish joint police stations in Tangiers and Algeciras

2012-02-28T19:59:00.001+01:00

Spain and Morocco have agreed to open joint commissioners’ offices in Tangiers and Algeciras from May. The interior ministers from both countries gave the announcement on Tuesday in Rabat. Jorge Fernández Díaz and his Moroccan counterpart, Mohand Lanser, did little detail about the composition of these ‘centres of police cooperation’. Morocco is the first country outside the EU with which Spain has come to such an arrangement. There are already similar offices established with France and Portugal. The talks between the interior ministers today centred on illegal immigration, organised crime and drug trafficking. Fernández Díaz underlined the ‘support’ of the Spanish Government for the process of ‘political and democratic reforms which are being brought in by King Mohamed VI’ in Morocco, and described them as ‘an example for the Arab world and many other countries’.

Four members of 'Anonymous' arrested in Spain

2012-02-28T19:56:00.001+01:00

National Police has arrested four members of the Anonymous collective in Spain as part of an international operation against cyber-crime. Two of them are currently in prison thought to be behind DDos attacks, and the other two have been released. They are allegedly linked to attacks on the UPyD webpage, as well as for revealing personal data from the GEOS security personnel. A man known as ‘Thunder’ or ‘Pacotron’ was F.J.B.D. arrested in Málaga, J.M.L.G. known as ‘Troy’ was arrested in Madrid, J.I.P.S was also arrested in Madrid with a 16 year old close collaborator, J.M.L.G. thought to be part of the international hacking group known as ‘Sector 404’. 25 computers have been impounded along with hard discs and other storage devices, following four searches in Spain and these are now being analysed. The case has resulted in two servers being blocked in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic and has developed with the help of Interpol.

Search for a lorry driver after man and his niece are found dead in Zafra

2012-02-28T19:53:00.001+01:00

The Guardia Civil are searching for a lorry driver following a double homicide in Zafra, which they consider was the settling of scores. The family of the man shot dead, a businessman Manuel Borallo, along with his niece, Verónica Gordillo, say that the crime could have been committed by a lorry driver from Algeciras whose whereabouts are now unknown. It’s thought however that he could have been in Zafra when the crime was committed in an industrial estate on Monday. The dead businessman had denounced the lorry driver to the Guardia Civil previously for using his company’s name without permission and also for using lorries with no ITV test or insurance. It seems the lorry driver had travelled to Zafra on Monday to ask for explanations. The only thing the family know is they were talking by phone with the niece, Veronica, when some bangs were heard and the line went dead. They say the last thing she said was she had to go because the man had come to see the papers. An autopsy is being carried out on the two bodies in the Anatomic Forensic Institute in Badajoz.

Barclays Bank told by Treasury to pay £500m avoided tax

2012-02-28T12:03:00.001+01:00

Barclays Bank has been ordered by the Treasury to pay half-a-billion pounds in tax which it had tried to avoid. Barclays was accused by HM Revenue and Customs of designing and using two schemes that were intended to avoid substantial amounts of tax. The government has taken the unusual step of introducing retrospective legislation to end such "aggressive tax avoidance" by financial institutions. Tax rules forced the bank to tell the authorities about its plans. The government has closed the schemes to retrieve £500m of lost tax and safeguard payments of billions of more tax in the future. BBC business editor Robert Peston has been told by Barclays that it is surprised by HMRC's reaction to the two schemes, which it believed to be in line with those used by other banks. Our business editor says it is highly embarrassing for Barclays, because Britain's big banks have all signed a code committing them not to engage in tax avoidance. However, he adds that Barclays may end up paying no more than £150m of additional tax. 'Decision justified' Announcing the crackdown, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said the bank should never have devised the schemes in the first place. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote All Britain's big banks have signed a code committing them not to engage in tax avoidance” Robert Peston Business editor Read Robert Peston's blog "The bank that disclosed these schemes to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has adopted the Banking Code of Practice on Taxation which contains a commitment not to engage in tax avoidance," he said. "The government is clear that these are not transactions that a bank that has adopted the code should be undertaking. "We do not take today's action lightly, but the potential tax loss from this scheme and the history of previous abuse in this area mean that this is a circumstance where the decision to change the law with full retrospective effect is justified." One tax scheme involved Barclays claiming it should not have to pay corporation tax on profits made when buying back its own IOUs. The second tax avoidance scheme, also designed by Barclays, involved investment funds claiming that non-taxable income entitled the funds to tax credits that could be reclaimed from HMRC. The Treasury described this as "an attempt to secure 'repayment' from the Exchequer of tax that has not been paid". Forced disclosure A Treasury source suggested that outlawing the tax schemes immediately would save the government a further £2bn in tax that would otherwise have been foregone. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Banks are simply not going to be able to get away with it” David Gauke Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Barclays disclosed the two schemes to the tax authorities under rules which have been in place since 2004. Anyone, such as a bank, accountant, lawyer or tax adviser, who devises a seemingly legal tax avoidance plan, is obliged to tell the tax authorities about it within a few days of using it or marketing it to clients. More than 2,000 schemes have been disclosed in the past eight years. Mr Gauke told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the experience of Barclays showed that the system of compulsory disclosure for legal tax avoidance schemes was working. "They have got caught, they disclosed this information, the HMRC has acted very quickly, there will be no benefit to the bank, they are clearly taking a substantial reputational hit and we have demonstrated that banks are simply not going to be able to get away with it," he said. John Whiting, of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), said: "Quite a few of the disclosures have come from banks in the past." "They are usually intended to sell to others such as clients." Tax obligations The banking code on taxation was first introduced by the Labour government in June 2009. It followed reports that some big banks used large scale tax avoidance schemes involving complex transactions and financial instruments. The code - which was supported by the incoming coalition government the following year - demands that banks which sign ensure that their tax and the tax obligations of their customers are observed. It says they should not go out of their way to avoid tax for themselves or clients. The 15 biggest banks operating in the UK have signed up. 'Treated even-handedly' In a separate development, HMRC said it would appoint a senior official to act as an "assurance commissioner" for any tax deals struck with big companies for more than £100m. The job of the commissioner will be to make sure taxpayers in general do not suffer from any such settlements. The move follows severe criticism last December from MPs on the public accounts committee who denounced HMRC for appearing to cut contentious tax deals with companies such as Vodafone and Goldman Sachs. Lin Homer, the new HMRC chief executive said: "This commissioner will take the role of challenging whether any proposed settlement secured the correct amount of tax efficiently and that taxpayers had been treated even-handedly." "The commissioner will also make sure that the governance procedures have been followed," she added.

UK photographer Paul Conroy out of Homs

2012-02-28T11:57:00.001+01:00

British Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy has been evacuated from the besieged Syrian city of Homs and is in neighbouring Lebanon. He was smuggled out of the Baba Amr district on Monday with help from the Syrian opposition and Free Syria Army fighters, diplomats told the BBC. The whereabouts of the French Le Figaro journalist Edith Bouvier remain unclear. The two were wounded in an attack on a makeshift media centre last Wednesday. American Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed. The Syrian Red Crescent said earlier that it had reached Baba Amr on Monday, bringing out three Syrians, including a pregnant woman, her husband and an elderly female patient, but that it had been unable to bring out the Western journalists or the bodies of their colleagues. Reports on Tuesday said Homs had come under some of its heaviest bombardment yet, with the government sending in units of an elite armoured division into rebel-held districts to try to end the three-week-long offensive. It comes as the United Nations Human Rights Council is set to hold an emergency session in Geneva to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation in Syria. 'Warning shot' Mr Conroy's father, Les, confirmed reports that his 47-year-old photographer son was safe in Lebanon. "We've just had word from Beirut. I've got it on the other phone in my other hand," he was quoted by the Press Association as saying. Edith Bouvier, speaking on 23 February: "I need an urgent operation" The movements of Devon-based Paul Conroy had been shrouded in discretion because of fears for his safety, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut. Syrian opposition sources said he was smuggled out of Baba Amr on Monday, taken through the Syrian countryside before crossing the border into Lebanon during the night. In a video posting a few days ago, Mr Conroy had said he received "three large wounds" to his leg and was being treated by Free Syria Army medical staff. Ms Bouvier was more seriously wounded, suffering multiple leg fractures. Some reports on Tuesday suggested she too had been smuggled into Lebanon, but other reports said she may not have been evacuated from Baba Amr. There has been no word either on what has happened to the bodies of Marie Colvin and Remi. Ms Colvin's mother Rosemarie told the BBC's Today programme of her hope that her daughter's body could be brought home. "I want my daughter back and I can't rest myself, I can't have peace in my life, with my daughter's remains in that country," she said. The Syrian government appears to have stepped up its offensive against rebels across the country - sending forces into several towns in northern Syria for the first time. As many as 125 people died across Syria on Monday, many of them in a single incident at a checkpoint in Homs, the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activists' group said. However, it is difficult to independently verify the death tolls and individual incidents as media access across the country is tightly restricted. Members of the UNHCR are due to discuss a confidential report that names Syrian officials believed to be responsible for atrocities. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "The task of the council is to express the disgust of the entire world at the odious crimes that the Syrian state is committing against its people." He has urged the 47 nations in the council to be prepared to submit a complaint against Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. A UN panel of experts last week delivered a confidential list of Syrian army officers and government officials who could be investigated for crimes against humanity. Their report found that Syria had become increasingly militarised, and they accused security forces of gross and systematic human rights violations. "The day will come when the civilian and military authorities in Syria, in particular President Assad himself, will need to answer for their actions," Mr Juppe said.

Son-in-law of King Juan Carlos of Spain admits he defied orders in corruption trial

2012-02-27T23:16:00.001+01:00

The Duke of Palma, the husband of the King's youngest daughter Cristina, appeared in court in Majorca over the weekend, subpoenaed to give evidence in a case that has turned the spotlight on Spain's royal family. The Duke, a former Olympic handball medallist who received the title when he married in 1997, has stirred latent antimonarchist sentiments in Spain with the suggestion that he used his royal influence to feather his own nest. The Duke, 44, is implicated in a case that alleges the embezzlement of public funds through the Noos Institute, a non-profit organisation that arranged sporting and cultural events for the regional governments of Valencia and the Balearics, and which the Duke was chairman of between 2002 to 2006. Prosecutors believe up to 5.8 million euros could have misappropriated and have uncovered evidence of funds being squirrelled away to offshore accounts in Belize, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. Under intense questioning the Duke conceded the King had ordered him to stand down as chairman of the Noos Institute in 2006, shortly after questions were raised over a 1.2 million euro (£1m) contract from the Balearic government.

A glamorous French politician is set to become France’s first ever ‘MP for Britain’ to represent more than 100,000 Gallic expats living in the UK.

2012-02-25T11:36:00.001+01:00

A glamorous French politician is set to become France’s first ever ‘MP for Britain’ to represent more than 100,000 Gallic expats living in the UK.

Emmanuelle Savarit, 39, is leading the race to be elected to France’s newest overseas constituency - based in London’s well-heeled Kensington.

The member of Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party is the clear frontrunner among five hopefuls vying for the seat of northern Europe.

Hopeful: Emmanuelle Savarit, 39, is leading the race to be elected to France's newest overseas constituency - based in London's well-heeled Kensington

The radical plans to create 11 foreign constituencies to represent French abroad were approved by the Paris parliament three years ago.

More...

Dominique Strauss Kahn to be grilled in New York next month over 'sadistic and violent attack' on hotel maid

Britain is part of the northern Europe constituency, which also includes the Irish Republic, Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

But within the new seat, 113,655 French voters are registered in the UK, compared with 27,076 in all the other countries put together.

Divorced mother-of-two Ms Savarit’s main rival is equally glamorous 36-year-old socialist Axelle Lemaire, a London-based lawyer.

Competition: Divorced mother-of-two Ms Savarit's main rival is 36-year-old socialist Axelle Lemaire, a London-based lawyer

But the French media predict the right-winger’s victory will be ensured by wealthy expats based mainly in west London when the first election takes place in June.

Ms Savarit, who has a doctorate in Psychology, describes herself
on her campaign website as ‘a tough cookie’, but adds: 'That’s not necessarily a fault when you’re in politics.'

The new foreign constituencies are the brainchild of former French interior affairs minister Alain Marlaix.

Vital: The importance of the French expat vote was highlighted when President Sarkozy came to London to give a speech to thousands of French voters ahead of his 2007 election campaign

He said: 'This is the first time in any country in the world that something like this had been done.

'The new overseas MPs will have identical status to any other MP based in France, and vote in parliament in Paris.

'They will be elected in the same way and speak for the French expatriates they represent.'

Government advisor Herve Fabre-Aubrespy, who is overseeing the new constituencies, said: 'It is a challenge for us, because nothing similar has ever been done anywhere.

'No one has carved the world up into constituencies in this way.'

The new constituencies are part of a larger parliamentary shake-up, with seats being merged or enlarged across France so that the total number of 577 MPs still remains the same.

The importance of the French expat vote was highlighted when President Sarkozy came to London to give a speech to thousands of French voters ahead of his 2007 election campaign.

But French socialists have claimed the new overseas seats are ‘closet gerrymandering’ - where constituencies are created to the benefit of the ruling party.

A socialists’ spokesman said: 'Studies show French people living abroad are more likely to vote for a centre-right party than a left wing one.
'This is being proposed as something that is good for French expatriates, but in fact it is just a way for the government to give itself another 11 safe seats.'

Six of the 11 new constituencies will be in Europe, but others are based in Canada and the US, central and South America, the Middle East, Arica and Asia, representing more than million French people living abroad.

Spain's banking sector set to shrink to about 10 lenders

2012-02-24T03:25:00.001+01:00

This year, Spain’s banking sector looks set to shrink to about 10 lenders from more than 40 before the economic crisis, as the government forces banks to recognise steep losses from a housing crash. Small and medium-sized banks will scramble to join forces to meet capital requirements implicit in a new law demanding lenders write down up to 80 per cent of the book value of real estate assets on their balance sheets. Click here for Cloud Computing Also Read Related Stories News Now - 24-hr deadline for Kingfisher to submit revised schedule - Kingfisher assures to restore normal schedule in 5-7 days - Indian banks eye assets of European counterparts - It is time to take money off the table: Jim Walker - Swiss solicits tourists from India amidst EU crisis - Abheek Barua & Shivom Chakravarti: Risk-on in a sweet spot Particular focus would rest on the country’s fourth-largest bank by market value, Bankia. Fears persist over its ability to fund losses from its heavy exposure to the property sector. Only a handful of banks — international leaders Santander and BBVA, domestic lender CaixaBank and Basque Country savings bank Kutxa — are considered strong enough to remain independent and cover capital holes with their own profits. Bankia has insisted it does not plan a link-up with Barcelona-based counterpart CaixaBank, but market sources say it would be hard for the bank to go it alone. "It’s true there were overtures towards CaixaBank, but that has gone cold. It seems CaixaBank is the only one interested in Bankia. BBVA and Santander do not seem up for it," said one banking source. Another expressed doubt Bankia could deal alone, with Euro 3 billion of capital needs with annual net operating profits of Euro 1.67 billion and with its parent company BFA still owing Euro 4.1 billion of state loans given out last year. "The numbers simply don’t add up," the second banking source said. If Bankia opts for a tie-up, it could win more time to write down losses related to real estate. The government has given banks one year to write down losses, but would extend it to two years for lenders involved in a merger process.

Spanish property scandal: expat battle to save Albox homes

2012-02-24T01:57:00.001+01:00

The property in Albox, Andalucía, is part of a group of homes served with demolition orders in 2012. The couple, who do not wish to be identified at this stage, built the property in 2002 and say that they believed that they had planning permission from the local council and all the necessary paperwork. They were issued with a demolition order in December 2009. The couple's lawyer, Gerardo Manuel Vazquez, says the planning and real estate system in the region is "absurd". "My clients were sold the Spanish dream which has turned out to be a nightmare," he said. "There are a number of other British couples in Albox alone in a similar situation and some in a worse situation with a final judgment against their property. "Changes in the law are obviously required, which, in my view, must go beyond the mere tinkering that has recently taken place." There are more than 12,000 so-called illegal properties in Almanzora and sources say as many as 300,000 across the Andalucia region. Local expats describe the property market to a "minefield".

Ruiz-Mateos family paid themselves days before Nueva Rumasa declared bankruptcy

2012-02-24T01:16:00.001+01:00

Members of the Ruiz-Mateos family put up their wages just days before their Nueva Rumasa group declared bankruptcy. A document has revealed the strategy followed by the family, intended to avoid them facing any embargo and allowing the payment of their mortgages. José María Ruiz-Mateos has 13 children and each one saw money diverted to them. Also under investigation is the claim that a few days before bankruptcy the family ordered the ‘cleaning of professional offices’ and the destruction of all compromising documentation. To do so they claimed it was an internal audit, so no further explanations had to be made.

Brussels says NO to Spain's request for an easier deficit target Brussels says NO to Spain's request for an easier deficit target Brussels says NO to Spain's request for an easier deficit target

2012-02-24T01:14:00.001+01:00

Brussels has made it clear to Spain that it wants them to publish their budgets for this year before it enters into any discussion on relaxing deficit targets. Mariano Rajoy had been hoping to get the budget deficit for the end of this year changed ahead of the budgets which will be given at the end of March, after the Andalucía elections. Spain’s deficit target for the end of 2012 is 4.4%, but Rajoy thinks they will only be able to get somewhere above 5%. The European Commission also wants to hear Spain’s explanations why there was also a deviation last year, when 6% was the target and it came in at about 8%. Deputy President of the Commission and responsible for economic matters, Olli Rehn, said that there would be no flexibility in the deficit reduction targets for Spain this year, and the target for the year end remains at 4.4%, until the new Government presents information in the 2012 with more adjustments. Mariano Rajoy, who has been in Rome for talks with Mario Monti, had insisted earlier in the day that he would be talking to the European Commission on the deficit target. He also confirmed the 2012 State Budget would be March 30. The European Commission has also published its economic forecasts for Spain today, forecasting a more gentle recession for Spain for this year. It says there will be a fall of 1% in GDP over this year, a favourable number compared to the 1.5% fall expected by the Bank of Spain and the 1.7% fall forecast by the International Monetary Fund. However it also indicates Spain will be back in recession in the first quarter. The Eurozone as a whole will see a fall of 0.3% of GDP this year.

Bailiffs take the desks while the children are in class

2012-02-24T01:07:00.001+01:00

Crying and upset children at the Santa Illa private college in the Chamartín area of Madrid on Thursday, as bailiffs arrived and started to take the furniture, and even the blackboards and chalk while the 200 children were attending class. One of the parents told El Mundo that it was ‘outrageous’ after, along with the other parents he had been summoned to the school at about 11am. He said ‘The parents have lied to the children, saying how good it was that they were changing the furniture’. The youngsters would probably not understand that the bilingual centre has been embargoed by Social Security. One parent commented that they knew things were bad at the school, because last year there were 25 in the class, and this year there has been only ten.

France reporter Edith Bouvier asks for Syria evacuation

2012-02-23T17:10:00.001+01:00

The French journalist who was wounded in an attack on the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday has asked to be evacuated from Syria quickly, saying she needs urgent medical attention. Edith Bouvier was injured in the attack that killed journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik in the Baba Amr suburb. In a video posted online by opposition activists, Ms Bouvier says she has a broken femur and urgently needs an operation. She asks to be evacuated to Lebanon. There is growing pressure on Damascus to give access to civilians trapped by the onslaught. 'Very difficult' In the video, Ms Bouvier praises the doctors who have been treating her and says they are doing what they can. Photojournalist William Daniels, who is also French, appears alongside her and says she has not lost her smile. He was also caught up in the attack but says he was not injured. William Daniels says he was fortunate not to be injured Mr Daniels appeals to the French authorities to help them as soon as possible, as conditions "are very difficult". There is no electricity and not much to eat, he says, adding that they need to get out as quickly as possible using medically equipped transportation. The US, Europe and Arab countries plan to challenge President Bashar al-Assad to provide humanitarian access within days to the worst affected areas. They plan to present their ultimatum at Friday's international conference on Syria in Tunisia. Russia and China have said they will not attend the conference. The two countries have faced Western and Arab criticism for blocking a UN Security Council resolution that would have backed an Arab League peace plan for Syria. Meanwhile, a United Nations panel has drawn up a confidential list of Syrian military officials - believed to include President Assad - who could face investigation for crimes against humanity. It says these include shooting unarmed women and children, shelling civilian areas and torturing the wounded.

Juan Antonio Roca has face to face showdown in court with Marisol Yagüe

2012-02-23T09:21:00.001+01:00

A face to face declaration in the Malaya case in Málaga on Wednesday brought sparks between the ex Marbella Town Hall real estate assessor, Juan Antonio Roca, and the ex Mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe. Roca said to Yagüe – ‘Darling, I deeply lament disagreeing, but I did give you money’. To that Yagüe said ‘You are looking for a way out of jail’. The conversation between the two came after she denied to the prosecutor that she had received envelopes, in the form of backhanders, from Roca. Judge José Godino then ordered a face to face ‘careo’ between the two which lasted just over a minute. ‘When did I ask you for money, Juan Antonio?’ she spat ‘I paid you always on the orders of Jesús Gil’, he replied, adding that the payment was for ‘maintaining cohesion’ in the three way government of which she was Mayor. The payments to Yagüe and the rest of the councillors took place between January 2004 and 2006, according to Roca’s own notes, which he has collaborated repeatedly in court. He says the ex Mayor received 1.8 million €. Yagüe told the court that Roca knows she loves him a lot, and that she wants him to get out of jail, ‘but it is not as he says’, she said, looking directly into his eye and grabbing his forearm. She also denied that he had supplied funds for the purchase of a luxury flat in Madrid in the Argüelles district. She faces 20 years in prison and a 3.8 million € fine in the case on charge of bribery, perversion of the course of justice, fraud and the misuse of public funds. The questioning continues on March 5.

Libyan land being freed for development in Marbella

2012-02-23T09:17:00.001+01:00

A large real estate project which the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank wanted to place in Marbella is back on the road. The project was frozen because of the death of Muamar El Gaddafi, but now the lawyers for the development say it is active again. The lawyer Ignacio Pérez de Vargas said the plans are for 1,915 homes, a golf course and a congress hall to be built in La Resinera, the finca owned by the Libyan in Benahavís which stretches to 6,900 hectares across the municipalities of Benahavis, Estepona, Pujerra and Júzcar. Part of this is in the Sierra de las Nieves, declared a Biosphere Reserve, but the PGOU urban plans shows 500 hectares which can be built on in Benahavís. Construction could start as early as December. The Spanish Government blocked all the assets owned by the Libyan Government in Spain, or related to Gadaffi, when the fighting started in Libya. There is another plot in Nerja also owned, as nearly all the Libyan assets, by the Libyan Foreign Bank. Now the politicians and ambassadors of the two countries have been talking, and the Libyan Ambassador commented ‘Soon we will know what is going to happen to our properties in Spain. We have asked for meetings to find out what we can do with them. Now we will try to complete the arrangements so the projects we initially had in mind can go ahead.

Ex Marbella Mayor, Isabel García Marcos, found guilty of corruption

2012-02-23T09:14:00.001+01:00

The ex Mayor of Marbella, Isabel García Marcos, has been handed down her first conviction for real estate corruption. Penal Court 10 in Málaga fined her 3,600 € and banned her from holding public office for ten years. Three other ex councillors were given the same sentence, José Jaén and Carmen Revilla among them, and another 11 ex-councillors were given a year’s prison sentence and a ten year ban. These include Julián Muñoz, Rafael González and Marisa Alcalá. José Luis Fernández Garrosa, Alberto García Muñoz and Pedro Reñones were all given nine month prison sentences and a nine month ban from office. The case relates to April 2002 and a licence for the construction of 20 luxury villas on a plot of land in Trapiche.

Let's Hear it for the Costa Del Sol...

2012-02-22T17:29:00.001+01:00

I'm getting fed up with the poor old CDS being written off as a kind of Brit immigrant colony populated by either beer-drinking pizza-eating tattooed types who want Blackpool with sun or a load of tarts and gangsters.. When I told friends we were moving from Prague to the CDS their reactions were raised eyebrows, comments along the lines of 'But it's full of tarts, gangsters and chavs'...comments more revealing of the ignorance of the person making them than anything else. Then you get the comments along the lines of 'Well, it's not really Spain, is it...' or 'It's so ugly. Totally spoilt by all the construction in the last decade'. Beneath these comments lies ignorance, snobbery and a kind of cultural superiority, itself a kind of snobbery. I've lived for four years in a small village on the coast road between Marbella and Estepona. You couldn't find a more 'Spanish' ambiance. Yes, there are a few British immigrants, not many,but then where in Spain will you not find them? The towns along the Costa are as different as the proverbial chalk and cheese. Some I like, some I loathe. Sobre los gustos no hay disputos. But they are all recognisably Andalucian and Spanish. I prefer small quiet places but like to be within easy reach of towns. I like the beach and I like the Sierras. The CDS offers all kinds of countryside, most of it beautiful. Yes, there are some ugly developments....but not only on the CDS. I'm getting a tad tired of my chosen part of Spain being written off as 'not really Spain' or as somehow being radically culturally different in a non-Spanish way from other parts. Spanish culture and the Spanish people are strong and self-confident enough to maintain their essential Spanishness whatever. So Mods...perhaps we should have a sweary filter whenever the phrase 'real Spain' or anything similar crops up?

Hospitalised, robbed, arrested – new TV series follows consular staff as they help Brits in distress

2012-02-20T15:18:00.001+01:00

How the staff of British Consulates in Spain help citizens in distress is to be highlighted in a new TV documentary series to be broadcast next month on the UK’s Channel 4.UK in Spain The new TV series, filmed last summer, reveals how consular staff come to the rescue of Britons who find themselves in trouble. From helping victims of crime to advising Brits arrested by the police, the series also follows consular staff as they visit holidaymakers who end up in hospital and meet expat residents to hear their property concerns. In a three part series, ‘Our Man In…’, provides unprecedented access to the work of British consular staff. It will be shown on the UK’s Channel 4 on Thursdays 1st, 8th and 15th March at 22.00 GMT (23.00 CET). The first programme features Mallorca and Ibiza, the second follows the team in Alicante and the third covers Tenerife and Barcelona. “The series shows the hard work and professionalism of our staff in helping British expats and holidaymakers as well as highlighting the serious issues that Brits can face abroad”, says Paul Rodwell, British Consul in Alicante. “Some of the less serious cases can be avoided and I would encourage people to read our travel advice and have a look at the information we have on our ukinspain website.” The series reveals the consequences of failing to prepare properly for a holiday. Even if you’re staying with friends and family, travelling without insurance could cost you many thousands of pounds if you’re injured abroad. “Losing your passport will cost you time and money”, says Paul Rodwell. “And without an EHIC health card, you’ll find it harder to get medical care. By taking a few simple precautions, you can avoid a dream holiday turning into a nightmare.” The programme in Alicante, about life on the costas, shows the pro-active face of the consulate, with staff seeking out Brits caught up in a forest fire, organising outreach events to hear residents’ property concerns, and working with local police to manage an invasion of Scottish football fans for a big game against Spain. On the party island of Ibiza, consular staff tackle the fall-out from a new drug on club scene - the so-called 'pink pill'. A young tourist is found lost, nearly naked, and unable to recall anything but his name. Then the Brit dealers who supply the pills also need help after they're arrested. In Mallorca, staff deal with a young Brit who's been tasered by overzealous police. A holidaymaker from Essex has been run over by a drunk driver, and lies seriously injured in hospital. And a Lancashire couple's holiday is transformed by the arrival, nine weeks early, of their tiny baby son. In Barcelona and Tenerife, crime has its effects on visitors and on the workload of the Consulates. Street robberies and stolen passports lead to inconvenience, distress and unexpected costs for holidaymakers. Meanwhile consular staff are also busy helping some of the people who need it most – expat prisoners & homeless Brits who simply want to go home. ‘Our Man In…’ was filmed mainly in August and September last year and is produced by Screenchannel Television, a London-based independent production company. The executive producers are Emma Barker, a former commissioning editor and controller at ITV, and Peter Lowe, a former executive producer and programme editor at BBC Television and controller at Carlton Television.

No date set for Málaga's second prison to come into service

2012-02-20T14:18:00.001+01:00

Construction appears to be funded, but the problem is how to find the money for the staffThe entrance to the Alhaurin prison There is concern over when a new prison being built in Archidona, Málaga will be able to accept inmates. 70% of the construction, which is budgeted at 117 million, has been done, and there is a date of the end of this year or the start of next for completion. However to start accepting inmates the prison has to employ some 600 people, and there has been no advertising of any jobs as yet. Union CCOO think the new Director of Prisons, Ángel Yuste, wants to delay the reception of the installations as long as possible as there is no money, and noting that the maintenance of the facility could be more than five million a year. The new prison will have 1,008 cells. We will probably better know if there is funding to open the prison after we have seen the State Budget for 2012 which the PP is to reveal next month. Thankfully the prison population has fallen slightly, falling by 1.6% in Andalucia in 2010. The latest figures show 17,215 inmates in 9,445 cells. At Málaga’s prison in Alhaurín de la Torre which was designed for some 1,000 prisoners, it is now holding 1,400, and has held as many as 1,900 inmates at times in the past.

'IRA' drug-gang linked to double British murder

2012-02-19T14:32:00.001+01:00

The "IRA" gang referred to in a British murder trial last week as running the drugs trade in Liverpool is almost certainly a mixture of local gangsters and their Dublin and Limerick-based associates, gardai believe. The mention of the gang came in the murder trial of Thomas Haigh, 26, who was convicted last week of the double murder of two men referred to as gangland "enforcers", David Griffiths, 35, and Brett Flournoy, 31. Both men were shot dead, their bodies burned in a car and then buried on a remote Cornwall farm in June of last year. The court heard that Haigh was a low-level member of a Liverpool drugs gang. He said he had been forced to carry out a drugs run to South America and to oversee the cultivation of cannabis plants at the farm in Cornwall to pay off a €40,000 debt to the gang which he insisted, in statements to police, was run by the IRA. When the two enforcers came to the farm there was a confrontation and Haigh shot the two dead and buried their bodies. He was convicted by a jury at Truro Crown Court last Tuesday and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years. In the UK a minimum term is the set time a prisoner must serve before he or she is eligible for parole. Garda sources last week said there has never been any evidence of an organisational link between the IRA and drugs criminals in the UK, but they are aware that former IRA members, including members of one well known family with both IRA and criminal links in south inner Dublin, has links to organised crime and drug dealers in Liverpool and the Midlands of Britain. These links, gardai say, go back for at least two decades and one of Liverpool's biggest drug dealers also was a close associate and bought drugs off John Gilligan and his gang. After Gilligan's gang was broken up during the investigation into the murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996 these links continued. Gardai know there were strong links developed by the major Dublin and Liverpool gangs as they rubbed shoulders in Costa del Sol holiday resorts where they owned villas. Liverpool, Dublin, Limerick and even Belfast-based ex-loyalists all became interlinked as they shared drug trafficking operations. Over the past two decades there have been persistent disputes and dozens of murders in the UK, Spain and Holland -- the centre of drug trafficking in Europe. Gardai said the most likely figures that Thomas Haigh was referring to as the "IRA" in Liverpool are members and associates of a south Dublin family-centred gang with close links to the criminal "Fat" Freddie Thompson. This family and their close associates are central to the drugs supply in Dublin and have well-established links with UK criminals. Ironically, gardai point out, the same IRA and Sinn Fein figures were closely involved in the anti-drugs movement known as "Concerned Parents Against Drugs" which was active in Dublin in the Eighties, picketing the homes of heroin dealers and carrying out vigilante attacks. During the Nineties this IRA group eventually became involved in extorting money from certain drug traffickers and then became centrally involved in drug trafficking. One of their associated former IRA families from Ballyfermot in Dublin became one of the biggest suppliers of heroin in the State, at one stage using private jets to import large quantities of pure heroin supplied by Dutch-based Eastern European traffickers. The major Irish drugs cartel in Spain, broken up by joint Spanish and European police action in the summer of 2010 also had strong links to Liverpool and London gangs. Gardai believe that the "IRA" associates of the Liverpool gang, referred to in the Haigh trial, are almost certainly the "ordinary" Dublin traffickers and their associates who were formerly in the IRA but who have continued "trading" on the IRA name in order to scare opponents. On Friday convicted drug dealer John Gilligan was given a further six-month sentence by the Special Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to possession of a mobile phone at Portlaoise District Court in 2010.

Horse Racing: Winter-spring season starts in the Costa del Sol Hippodrome

2012-02-19T14:27:00.001+01:00

February 19 begins the winter racing season at the Hippodrome Costa del Sol in Mijas. In this winter-spring season which runs until April 13, there will be a total of five racing days. The dates of the races are as follows: Winter Racing days in the Costa del Sol Racecourse February 19 February 26 March 4 – Mijas Cup April 6 April 13 The facility is open from 10:30 am and races will take place from 11:30 am, except that of April 13th to be held at 4 pm. Tickets can be purchased at El Corte Ingles or at the Hippodrome box office for a price of 5 €; visitors under 18 and over 65 years enter for free. We anticipate also the dates for the summer. Summer Racing days in the Costa del Sol Racecourse June: Saturday 30 July: Saturdays 7, 14, 21 and 28 August: Fridays 3, 10, 17 and 24 These races take place at night after 10 pm.

Trains coming to the Costa del Sol oriental

2012-02-19T14:26:00.001+01:00

New plans for the expansion of the railway network include a line from Almería to Málaga, and also one from Motril to Granada - this should make getting about on that side a lot easier!

Pair Of Late Night Shootings In Coachella Valley

2012-02-19T14:24:00.001+01:00

Two shootings happened within minutes of each other in the Coachella Valley Saturday night. The first, a drive-by in a Cathedral City neighborhood, according to police. It happened around 8:30 P.M. near the intersection of Shifting Sands and Ortega. A vehicle pulled up along side a car and someone inside the first vehicle opened fire, hitting a man inside the car, said officers on scene. The suspect vehicle then took off before officers arrived on scene. Emergency crews took the victim to the hospital, but there is no word yet on his condition. Investigators have not provided a suspect description, nor have they provided any information on the suspect's vehicle. The second shooting also happened around 8:30 P.M., this one in Coachella. Two men shot at a home on the 1600 block of 6th Street, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Deputies arrested the suspects, but are not releasing their names. No one was hurt in this incident. If you know anything about either of these shootings, call Valley Crimestoppers at 760 341-STOP. You can remain anonymous and could receive up to a $1,000 reward. PrintEmail

FOUR men have pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to charges linked to the Gambino crime family.

2012-02-19T14:19:00.001+01:00

The charges result from a variety of activities including assault, loansharking, drug trafficking and trying to recruit illegal aliens to work in adult entertainment clubs. The US Justice Department described the four, Alphonse Trucchio, Michael Roccaforte, Anthony Moscatiello and Christopher Colon, as being "a captain, two soldiers and an associate of the Gambino organised crime family of La Cosa Nostra." Attorney Preet Bharara said, "For those who believe La Cosa Nostra's criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today's guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion". According to the Justice Department, Trucchio and Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo - who had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges - supervised crews of street level criminals, known as soldiers and associates. From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and his associates oversaw the Gambino family's narcotics distribution network, which was based in Queens, New York, the Justice Department reported. "Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family, in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits," it said in a statement. Drugs they distributed included cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and the narcotic pain killer, Vicodin. The accused men's other illegal activities included extorting payments from business owners and strip clubs, stabbing one person and hitting another with a car while trying to collect a debt and operating illegal gambling enterprises. Charges are pending against 11 more defendants.

Spain to extend life of its oldest nuclear plant

2012-02-19T14:12:00.001+01:00

Spain will extend operations at its oldest nuclear power plant by five years, Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said Saturday as the country seeks to make the most of its energy sources. The decision was immediately slammed as "irresponsible" by environmentalists. "The nuclear safety council has given approval for a five-year extension" of the Garona plant near Burgos, northern Spain, Soria told a meeting of his conservative Popular Party in Seville, southern Spain. "We cannot allow ourselves to under-utilise any of our energy resources," the minister added, as Spain faces a likely economic recession and has undertaken a major austerity programme to clean up its finances. "We need a good mix, a good combination" of power sources, Soria said. Garona, first brought on line in 1971, is owned in equal parts by Spanish power companies Iberdrola and Endesa via their joint venture Nuclenor. Environmental group Greenpeace has pressed for its closure, portraying it as a "twin sister" of the Fukushima plant in Japan that was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, causing reactor meltdowns. And one of Spain's main environmentalist groups, Ecologistas en accion, said Saturday that "maintaining an old plant that was built before conclusions were drawn from the worst nuclear accidents ... and which suffers from unresolved problems, is irresponsible". "It is obvious that this body (the nuclear watchdog) represents the interests of Nuclenor, to the detriment of Spanish society". A decision to shut Garona on April 1, 2013 was overturned as Spain tries to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels. Spain is home to six nuclear power stations that include eight reactors, and lawmakers agreed in February to extend the pre-established lifespan of 40 years for the facilities.

'Kinky' nuns and tattooed Christs spark controversy for Spanish gallery

2012-02-19T12:52:00.001+01:00

Catholics and conservatives have denounced as blasphemous two recent exhibitions in Madrid featuring kinky nuns in lingerie and tattooed and near-naked Christs, demonstrating outside one gallery. Catholic group AES called a demonstration for Friday evening outside the Fresh Gallery in Madrid against its latest exhibition: "Obscenity", a collection of photographs by Canadian artist Bruce LaBruce. The 50 pictures on display include a portrait of Spanish actress Rossy de Palma in a black and white habit and see-through corset with a rosary between her teeth. One shows a well-known singer, Alaska, dressed as a sexy saint with a communion wafer on her tongue, while in another she hugs a tattooed Christ to her breast in a kinky tribute to Michaelangelo's Pieta sculpture. Around 50 protesters demonstrated outside the Fresh gallery Friday evening bearing placards reading "For a unified and Catholic Spain" and "God Exists". LaBruce himself was unrepentant. "How can fascists attempt to assert any sort of moral authority over anything?" he said. LaBruce, 48, whose work has often sparked protests and censorship, wrote on the gallery's website that "the lives of the saints are full of ecstatic acts of sublimated sexuality."

Spanish duke to be questioned by judge in embarrassing first for Madrid's royal family

2012-02-19T12:49:00.001+01:00

Spain's royal family has long enjoyed a level of privacy and respect that the Windsors could only dream of. But, in an uncomfortable first for the Madrid monarchy, one of their number will face questioning from a judge this week in a scandal which has rocked the royal family and raised questions over the future of the monarchy. Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of King Juan Carlos, is preparing for a court appearance in which he will defend himself in a widening embezzlement scandal. Hearings into the case began last weekend at a court in Palma on the Balearic island of Majorca and will culminate on Saturday with the long anticipated appearance of the Duke of Palma, who received the title when he married Cristina, the King's youngest daughter, in 1997. The Duke, 44, a former professional handball player who won Olympic medals for Spain in the sport, was formally made a suspect in the wide-ranging fraud case that alleges the embezzlement of millions of euros of government funds through a non-profit organization he co-directed between 2004 and 2006. Investigators claim to have discovered a "black hole" in the accounts of the Noos Institute, which organised sporting and tourism events for the regional governments of the Balearic Islands and Valencia.

Morocco bans Spain’s El Pais newspaper over royal cartoon

2012-02-19T12:47:00.001+01:00

Morocco has banned the distribution of Thursday’s edition of Spain’s influential El Pais, as a cartoon published by the newspaper allegedly tarnished King Mohammed VI’s name, an official said. “The decision to ban (the paper) was made on the basis of article 29 of the press code” that protects the monarch, the senior communication ministry official told AFP on Saturday. “The caricature contains a deliberate intention to smear the (king’s) image to harm the king personally,” he added. The cartoon, which was picked up by a Moroccan website, accompanied an article by Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero, who knows Morocco well. Contacted by AFP, Cembrero said the Moroccan reaction surprised him as the small cartoon was “friendly and rather likeable”. It seemed to be the first time that a foreign publication was banned for the stated reasons since the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) came to power in Morocco in January, he added. So far Morocco has only banned weeklies that carried images of the Prophet Mohammed, or of God, which is forbidden under Muslim tradition. Earlier this month French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur fell into that category after printing an image of God. And last month the magazine was banned when a cover story on the Arab world included the supposed face of the Prophet Mohammed. Morocco also banned French weekly l’Express in January for publishing a 95-page dossier on Islam including a face meant to represent Mohammed’s.

Morocco bans Spanish paper over royal cartoon

2012-02-19T12:43:00.001+01:00

Morocco has banned the distribution of Thursday's edition of Spain's influential El Pais, as a cartoon published by the newspaper allegedly tarnished King Mohammed VI's name, an official said. "The decision to ban (the paper) was made on the basis of article 29 of the press code" that protects the monarch, the senior communication ministry official told AFP on Saturday. "The caricature contains a deliberate intention to smear the (king's) image to harm the king personally," he added. The cartoon, which was picked up by a Moroccan website, accompanied an article by Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero, who knows Morocco well. Contacted by AFP, Cembrero said the Moroccan reaction surprised him as the small cartoon was "friendly and rather likeable". It seemed to be the first time that a foreign publication was banned for the stated reasons since the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) came to power in Morocco in January, he added. So far Morocco has only banned weeklies that carried images of the Prophet Mohammed, or of God, which is forbidden under Muslim tradition. Earlier this month French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur fell into that category after printing an image of God. And last month the magazine was banned when a cover story on the Arab world included the supposed face of the Prophet Mohammed. Morocco also banned French weekly l'Express in January for publishing a 95-page dossier on Islam including a face meant to represent Mohammed's. Cembrero was, along with El Pais's director, the last foreign journalist to interview the monarch in January 2005. Early this week, Rabat's private economics school EGE cancelled a conference on Spanish-Moroccan relations where Cembrero was to speak on February 29, but did not give a reason. Cembrero was in Rabat in late January during a visit to the country by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He wrote a book on sometimes tense relations between Madrid and Rabat, "Vecinos alejados", (Distant Neighbours) in 2006 and has attended public meetings in Morocco that also focussed on the latest upheaval in Arab countries.

British man killed and 24 injured after coach crash during half-term skiing holiday

2012-02-19T12:38:00.001+01:00

British man was killed and 24 others were injured when a coach carrying school pupils home from a half-term skiing trip careered off a motorway in northern France today. At least four teenagers are in a serious condition following the accident on the A26 road, near Chalons-en-Champagne, in the Ardennes region. The dead man's name has not been released. He was 61 years old.

Javier Arenas welcomes rail plan for Costa del Sol

2012-02-19T00:25:00.001+01:00

The President of the Partido Popular in Andalucía, Javier Arenas, and candidate for the PP in next month’s regional elections, has applauded the Minister for Development’s decision on the European railway route. He said the infrastructure project was ‘very important for the future, for innovation and the creation of employment’. Ana Moto announced earlier in the week to create a rail link from Almería to Algeciras, passing through Málaga and the Costa del Sol, with a connection to Málaga port and the future logistics area on the outskirts of Antequera. He also noted the train would link both Málaga and Motril ports which would have been isolated under the previous plan.

The continuing cold and drought is starting to cause serious damage to the campo in Andalucía.

2012-02-18T09:40:00.002+01:00

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder. The freezing temperatures and a 50% reduction in the normal amount of rainfall has resulted in a loss of 78 million € in the region, according to the Union of Small Farmers UPA.

Hard hit provinces are Almería, Sevilla, Córdoba, Huelva and Málaga and the UPA General Secretary, Agustín Rodríguez, claims that less than half the loss is covered by agricultural insurance.

In the last week several areas of the region have seen -7º overnight and 90% of the winter produce, such as artichokes, leeks and broccoli are affected. There is damage in 20% of citric fruit and the damage done in strawberries is as much as 50%.

The drought is meaning that there is very little grazing land, and this in turn has resulted in a 20% price hike in feeds for sheep, goats and cattle.

Iberia airlines has cancelled 111 flights today in another 24 hour strike. 65% of the airlines routes are in service as normal.

2012-02-18T09:39:00.000+01:00

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

The protests, called by the ground crew unions CTA and CNT with the cabin crew union TCP Stavia started last December when the SEPLA pilots’ union too action, are against the creation of a new low-cost airline, Iberia Express.

Today’s is the ninth 24hr stoppage in Iberia since December 19.

Lorca had a relationship with a Uruguayan writer and millionaire, Enrique Amorín, and the writer speculates that he could have taken the body after Lorca’s death.

2012-02-18T09:37:00.000+01:00

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.With the recent failures to locate the body of the Granada writer, Federico García Lorca, who was shot dead on August 18 1936 by the Guardia Civil for being a member of the Frente Popular and openly gay, a new theory on what may have happened has emerged.

According to the Peruvian writer, Santiago Roncagliolo, Lorca had a relationship with a Uruguayan writer and millionaire, Enrique Amorín, and the writer speculates that he could have taken the body after Lorca’s death. There are letters between the two men which are very intimate but Ian Gibson, famous for his knowledge about Lorca, has written that many people fell in love with Lorca, and that he forgot them quickly.

Roncagliolo has published a book ‘The Uruguayan lower – A true story’ which investigates Buenos Aires in the 30’s, the Spanish civil war, and the post war Paris. He describes Amorín has ‘ a seductive writer, communist, married but homosexual, and Uruguayan and Argentinean in equal halves, who claimed that he stole the Granada writer’s body when he paid homage to Lorca in 1952 in Salto, and when he had in his possession a white box which supposedly contained Lorca’s bones. A monument was built at the site of that homage ceremony and it remains intact today.

Roncagliolo says that if Lorca’s remains are where Amorín said he placed them, it is of historical interest, but if the remains are not there it is simply a joke against the intellectual world which should never be taken seriously.

Another item of interest which Ronagliolo mentions in the book is a letter about a secret meeting that Charles Chaplin had at the time with Picasso.
‘Chaplin did not want people to know that the meeting had taken place because they would pursue him in the United States for being a communist, as Picasso was a recognised communist. The author says the two met in secret and Amorín was there. However there is no record of Chaplin mentioning Amorín, although he says Jean-Paul Sartre was present. Ronagliolo speculates that Amorín was pretending to be Satre.

Luxury eco-resort opens on Easter Island

2012-02-18T00:47:00.001+01:00

Luxury has landed in the island's capital, Hanga Roa, with the soft opening of Hangaroa Eco Village & Spa. Situated on the town's main drag and only a kilometre from the airport, the 75-room resort appeals to travellers who want to experience the wonders of Easter Island in eco-friendly style. The overall design is inspired by the ancient dwellings of Rapa Nui, the island's native people, and includes such environmentally sound components as energy-generating solar panels and wind turbines. Rooms have free-standing clay baths, desks made from volcanic rock and terraces overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Check into the spa for a sand sauna or a dip in the outdoor Kneipp pool.

'FAT' FREDDIE'S GIRL IN SUICIDE VIGIL

2012-02-14T19:09:00.001+01:00

Hood's lover desperate to raise awareness over spate of young victims

FUNDRAISER: Vicky Dempsey poses with picture of her brother

THIS is gangster 'Fat' Freddie Thompson's girlfriend posing for photographs at a fundraiser for suicide awareness last week. Vicky Dempsey (31) has been dating 'Fat' Freddie since they were teenagers and has stayed loyal to the notorious criminal through thick and thin.

The pretty blonde - who has an 11-year-old son with Thompson - recently turned up in court for her partner's extradition hearing. But last weekend, the mum-of-one was part of a group who camped out near the Guinness Hopstore in Dublin to raise cash for suicide charity. The fundraiser was arranged after a "spate" of suicides among young people in the south-inner city.

Violent

In August 2008,Vicky's brother, Les, tragically took his own life just days before his 26th birthday at a house in Clondalkin, west Dublin. Les was an associate of 'Fat' Freddie's but was not regarded as a serious or violent criminal by cops. A source told the Sunday World that her brother's death has had a "terrible impact" on Vicky.

"They were very close and she took it very hard. Les was a very well liked guy, he wasn't a hard man or anything like that.

"She does a lot for suicide awareness charities since and arranges a fundraising ball in his honour every year."

Vicky's other brother, Karl, is one of Thompson's key associates. In 2000, Karl was jailed for five years after he was caught with
€63,000 of heroin. The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) also ordered him to cough up €424,987 following an investigation in 2002. Writing on the tribute website, Vicky recently posted a heartbreaking tribute to Les.

She wrote: "I've one son Brad and a partner Frederick.

"Les is Brad's godfather and is sorely missed by every single one of us. life is just never gonna be the same without my lovely brother."

Gardai believe 'Fat' Freddie is the leader of one of the two gangs locked in the bloody Crumlin/Drimnagh feud. Last year, he was extradited following a request by Spanish police investigating godfather Christy Kinahan's drugs ring. Thompson is suspected of sourcing shipments of drugs and weapons from Kinahan and arranging for them to be smuggled into Ireland.

Last weekend, Vicky was also joined by the family and friends of another well-known southinner city criminal at the 24-hour camp out.
Last March, Bernard 'Gack' Lee took his own life just days before he was due to be sentenced for heroin dealing. In March 2008, Lee (28) had sold a large quantity of heroin to undercover gardai who were monitoring his activities. Gardai believe Lee was a member of a crime gang headed up by crime figure Greg Lynch.

Last Saturday his close friend, Ciara Comerford, held a photograph of 'Gack' as she posed for pictures. Fat Freddie is currently relaxing in Marbella after being released from custody, having only been quizzed for a matter of hours following his extradition.

Bail

Despite the seriousness of the charges, the maximum sentence that the mobster is facing is just nine years in prison. The Spanish authorities have not provided any direct evidence to back-up assertions that Thompson is a key member of the Kinahan gang.
They claim that he is a "trusted right-hand man" of Kinihan.

EU to punish Spain for deficits, inaction

2012-02-14T19:04:00.001+01:00

The European Union is likely to take action against Spain's newly installed government by May for delaying austerity measures ahead of a regional election next month, sources familiar with the situation have told Reuters. Spanish and EU officials said in response to Reuters' story that the government in Spain was working hard to reduce its deficit and that it was premature to say the country might be punished. Three senior EU officials told Reuters that a final decision still has to be made, but the European Commission believes the new government overstated the deficit figures for 2011 so the current year's data would look better. Spain is also not addressing quickly enough the deterioration in public finances expected in 2012, risking the country's longer-term growth, the officials said. Asked if the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, would take action and recommend that the bloc's 27 finance ministers adopt sanctions against Madrid, one of the officials said: "It is very likely." "It is not that we want to. But if there is a deviation, and it is almost inevitable, then we will have to," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In a news conference on Tuesday Rehn denied that any decision had been taken with regard to the 2012 deficit forecast and that any report that it could lead to a sanction was "incorrect and misleading." But asked about Spain's preliminary 2011 deficit figure, Rehn said it was too early to comment. Any sanction of Madrid over failure to meet its deficit goals - potentially a fine - would be separate to the Commission's report released on Tuesday that named Spain among 12 EU countries with serious economic imbalances. Spain has been under what's known as an excessive deficit procedure since April 2009 for breaching the EU's 3 percent of GDP deficit limit. Twenty-three of the EU's 27 members are under the procedure but now Madrid could face fines of up to 0.1 percent of its economic output for not cutting its deficit. If confirmed, the sanctions would be a blow to new centre-right Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy who, Spanish officials say, had hoped to be given leeway on the country's deficit target in return for implementing ambitious economic reforms. "It's speculation. It's misleading information," the government spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Government officials declined to comment to Reuters before the story was first published. The story leaped to the top of Spanish language news websites on Tuesday and was widely discussed on social media including Twitter as well as domestic television news channels. DEBATED NUMBERS In late December, Rajoy, blaming the previous Socialist government, announced the deficit would reach 8 percent or more in 2011, mainly because of a larger-than-expected slippage in the public finances of Spain's regions. The preliminary figure compared with the latest Commission estimate at the time of 6.6 percent. The government spokeswoman said the government stuck by its preliminary estimate of 8 percent. The official 2011 deficit figure will be published in late March. The Socialist party reacted to the Reuters story by demanding the government publish the 2011 deficit figure and present its budget. "The government should quit making electoral calculations and not play with our economic credibility and solvency," the Socialist party said in a statement. Although the Commission acknowledges that social security and unemployment payments exceeded forecasts last year, it considers the government's new figure to be exaggerated. "We are waiting for the official figures, but we don't trust the current calculations," said one of the sources. Another official said the Commission expected Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, to announce a figure of less than 8 percent when it releases updated forecasts on February 23. HIGH RISKS The Commission, the EU's executive, also thinks the Spanish government's decision to delay until late March the presentation of the 2012 budget is risky, said the officials. Rajoy and his economy minister, Luis De Guindos, have argued that they need the Commission's forecasts before they draft the new budget. But sources in Brussels and Madrid indicate they would rather delay any austerity measures until after regional elections in Andalusia on March 25. The centre-right People's Party is expected to win the Andalusia elections for the first time since 1982, ending 30 years of socialist rule in Spain's biggest region. With more than 55 percent of people under 25 without a job, Andalusia is one of the regions most severely hit by the crisis in Europe. "This delay is a pity. The new budget will be sent only in April and that's really unfortunate. I don't think they've realized how bad the situation is," one of the officials said, echoing the concerns of other sources. Spain has said it will start implementing its new budget as soon as possible, but the officials believe that may not be until June - too late to change course meaningfully in 2012. DEFICIT RESPITE? While the government maintains for now that it will reduce the deficit to 4.4 percent this year, the growth outlook makes that highly unlikely. The economy is expected to shrink 1.5 percent this year, according to the Bank of Spain, meaning the country needs to stimulate growth as well as reduce spending. EU officials believe the Spanish prime minister has already convinced euro zone paymaster Germany and the International Monetary Fund to give him more time to reduce the deficit. In November, the Commission forecast Spain would have a deficit of 6.6 percent of economic output for 2011 and 5.9 percent for 2012, based on an assumption of 0.7 percent GDP growth in each year. But with the economy heading for recession, Spain's deficit commitments of 6 percent for 2011 and 4.4 percent for 2012 -- based on a 2.3 percent growth in 2012 -- look unattainable. "Rajoy knows that necessary adjustments in the Commission's figures will have to follow these very negative forecasts," one of the officials said, adding that other countries too would expect leniency on their deficit targets amid a weakening economy. "His calculation is that the demand will be made collectively, sparing him a difficult negotiation."

Two arrested in connection with Cabopino stabbing

2012-02-09T14:36:00.001+01:00

Two people have been arrested in connection with the stabbing to death of a man whose body was found in Cabopino in the early hours of Tuesday week. The 26 year old received three stab wounds in his back after an argument in a bar. Diario Sur reports that two arrests have been made but that the investigation remains open. Police will have to establish which one of the two arrested men was the main player in the aggression. It seems there was an argument at about 1,20am close to the Bar Mesón 24 horas in Marbella, and it was the waiter there who called the police after finding an injured man on the ground. An ambulance went to the scene, but the medics could do nothing to save the victim who had suffered three stab wounds and a blow to the head. The victim was of Ecuadorian origin but had Spanish nationality and lived in a nearby urbanisation. The waiter said that the victim did not want any problems with the two men, and even invited them in the bar to a ‘chupito’. He said that he thought the group went outside to smoke. Robbery could have been a motive, and the victim was found without his wallet and mobile phone.

Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.

2012-02-09T00:49:00.001+01:00

Eugene Paull heard the beep.

In his three-story home east of Brooksville, Paull was lying on his bed that morning last March when the security system sounded. He rolled over and glanced at two nearby TVs wired to a dozen videocameras. Law enforcement officers swarmed across his property.

Seconds before the 66-year-old could slip into a secret room he had nicknamed the "worm hole," the SWAT team caught him.

Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.

On Tuesday, Hernando County investigators released details of their stunning investigation for the first time. Paull, an international criminal on the run since 1973, had lived under a false identity for 33 years. He would later tell investigators he had come to Hernando because he felt safe and hidden and free to build his fortress.

Authorities believe he had amassed a fortune from trafficking drugs in Jamaica. But they could only prove that he and his girlfriend stole a pair of dead people's identities, the original tip from federal authorities that led to the raid. The couple avoided prison time because they forfeited most of their assets: two Hernando homes, three vehicles, two campers, a pair of custom motorcycles, a 47-foot yacht and nearly $20,000 in cash.

His girlfriend, Subrena Spence, was deported to her native Jamaica. Paull received two years of probation. He moved to Miami, but federal authorities say they recently caught him with explosives and about $90,000 in cash that was found stashed inside gas cans with false bottoms.

Tuesday morning, Hernando sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Kraft, who helped lead the investigation, stood at the escape tunnel's exit, shook his head and smiled.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen in all my years of law enforcement," Kraft said. "Ever."

• • •

Paull's career in crime began in 1968. Five years later, he was convicted on a drug charge, then released. He never showed up for the sentencing.

He fled to Jamaica, where investigators say the drug trafficking began. In 1978, he obtained a passport under the name of Robert Harris.

On the Caribbean island, he owned a hotel and supported youth boxing. He fell in love with a teenager, Subrena Spence. In 2000, she obtained a fake passport. Six years later, the couple moved to Hernando and bought the home near Brooksville for $350,000. They purchased another house in Brooksville for $114,900 four months later.

Detectives, who for 11 months have continued to investigate Paull's activities, believe he brought his drug fortune with him, and he needed a way to explain it. Spence bought a yacht, named Veteran, and claimed that he chartered trips on it. The boat still sits on stilts in his back yard. It never left the property.

He also created a charity that he claimed supported veterans. Paull, who served in Vietnam, was a patriot, or at least he wanted people to think so. His walls were covered in American flags and POW posters.

To support the charity, he bought a customized motorcycle, adorned with images of war, fake weapons and a sidecar that looked like the nose of a fighter jet.

He traveled to events around the country and asked for money. Signs in his garage indicated what he charged: $1 to photograph the bike, $5 to take a picture with it, $10 to take one sitting on it. "To help homeless veterans," the sign said, "with thanks."

In one year, Kraft said, Paull and Spence raised more than $100,000. Investigators could only confirm that the couple gave $1,300 to veterans.

After being arrested and forced to take on his real identity, Paull became eligible to receive veterans benefits.

• • •

Paull, detectives say, knew law enforcement would come for him one day. To prepare, he bought a home at the end of a single-lane dirt road in one of the most remote areas of Hernando. The house, from the outside, looked normal. It had a gate with a call box. A brick driveway surrounded a 6-foot-tall fountain. He housed Rottweilers and built an aviary for his birds.

Clues of Paull's intended seclusion appeared in the back yard. He had stacks of firewood, the makings of a garden and a pond that held catfish and tilapia.

Inside the home, guns were hidden everywhere: an antique Vickers machine gun in the garage, a shotgun in a living room cabinet, a revolver in an empty can of Bon Ami cleanser.

He put in an intricate security system and sealed off the bottom of a spiral staircase to create a secret room the size of a closet. In his bedroom, Paull installed a mechanical elevator that could lower him into a concrete bunker equipped with lights, electrical outlets and a pair of heavy metal doors with dead bolts, presumably to lock behind him as he fled.

The bunker led to a 4-foot-wide plastic tube that extended into the back yard. He didn't like the small tunnels in Vietnam, so he made the pipes spacious. When finished, investigators say, the tunnel would have extended about 200 yards into the woods.

Last fall, soon after Paull received probation and sheriff's officials prepared to seize the home, Kraft met him in his front driveway as he prepared to leave. Paull talked about writing a book and said his life would be made into a movie one day.

Man stabbed to death in Marbella in the early hours

2012-02-08T01:55:00.001+01:00

33 year old Ecuadorian man has been stabbed to death in Marbella following an argument with two individuals who then made their escape. Police sources said the body of the victim was found on the N-340 at 1.20am today, near the cambio de sentido at Cabopino, after a call to the police from a hotel worker reporting that a man had been injured and was bleeding badly. National and local police and health workers rushed to the scene but could do nothing to save the victim’s life. The police say the victim and the two other men were arguing in an establishment, and then continued their discussion in the street. The police continue to investigate and are still to identify the other two men involved.

FISH and chip chain said today it would save the original Harry Ramsden’s restaurant in West Yorkshire with a £500,000 investment.

2012-02-07T11:49:00.001+01:00

Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s

Harry Ramsden's at Guiseley

A FISH and chip chain said today it would save the original Harry Ramsden’s restaurant in West Yorkshire with a £500,000 investment.

Harry Ramsden’s announced last year that it was to close its original Guiseley branch - the first restaurant it opened in the UK - after 83 years in business.

Today, the Wetherby Whaler fish and chip group revealed it would take over the premises and return the restaurant to its “glory days”.

In November, Harry Ramsden’s said its flagship restaurant, which opened in Guiseley, Leeds, in 1928, was losing money and needed a considerable investment before it could become profitable again.

The branch, which led to the chain of 35 restaurants across the UK, was originally run out of a wooden “shed” before moving into its famous art nouveau-style building, complete with chandeliers, in 1931.

Now, the Wetherby Whaler group, which has four restaurants and takeaways in Yorkshire, said it would invest £500,000 on refurbishing the restaurant to become its flagship branch.

A spokeswoman for the group said the famous chandeliers would be updated with new fittings and it was hoped that the original “shed” could be preserved.

Phillip Murphy, who launched the Wetherby Whaler with his wife Janine in 1989, said: “The famous fish and chip restaurant in Guiseley is the spiritual home of fish and chips in England. It would be a national scandal if it were to close at this time of economic uncertainty.

“Our investment has saved a Yorkshire landmark and will ensure the tradition of fine fish and chips continues at this important location.

“The new Wetherby Whaler in Guiseley will be our flagship restaurant. We expect it to recapture the atmosphere and flavours of Harry Ramsden’s best years.

“We are confident that with the right investment, careful attention to detail, great-tasting fish and chips and excellent value for money, we will make a lasting success of this new venture and return the restaurant to its glory days.

“Our family-owned business is built on solid foundations and this has given us the confidence to invest. It fits perfectly with our business strategy of controlled growth and accentuates our belief that Yorkshire is a great place to do business.”

Sex on Las Yucas Beach gets a council no

2012-02-07T09:59:00.001+01:00

RESIDENTS living near Las Yucas Beach in Benalmadena Costa are hopeful that they can now use the beach without fear of bumping into people engaging in sexual acts. Benalmadena Council has installed cameras and signs by the entry point to Las Yucas, prohibiting nudism and sexual activity on the beach. People caught breaking the rules face fines of up to €3,000, according to Benalmadena Councillor for Safety, Manuel Arroyo. “Local Police officers have been told to act immediately.” For years this beach had become a popular meeting place for people engaging in ‘dogging’, sexual acts in public places – or watching others doing so. Websites exist promote dogging locations, and people travel from all over the Costa del Sol to these places, one of which was Las Yucas. The properties above this beach are luxury apartments and people living there say they have not been able to enjoy the beach due to these sex romps. “It started about 10-years ago, and has escalated since then. The past two summers were the worst,” explained one resident who lives by Las Yucas, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. “They are quite aggressive, and I am sure they would come after me personally,” he said. “These people are disgusting degenerates.” “Often I would look down from the terrace and see children on the beach come running away from behind rocks because they had come upon two men in the act,” he said. The beach next to Las Yucas is a nudist beach, which is governed by rules, so people who wish to fulfill their sexual desires often hop across the rocky outcrop that separates them. “There used to be a sign that said ‘end of nudist beach’, but it was torn down and then never put back,” said the resident. Ana Boss who for six years has lived in La Sirena apartment building, overlooking the beach said there has always been this problem. “It is disgraceful; they have no respect for anybody. Children playing in the community pool can see them.” Residents had been trying for years to get the police and the Town Hall to do something about the situation, she said. Finally they approached the Tourism office and explained how detrimental this situation was. “The situation had become so bad that many owners no longer came to spend their holidays at their second homes,” said Mario Cordero, administrator of the Puerta del Mar building next to La Sirena. She confirmed that since officials installed the security cameras and signs there has been less of this sexual activity. “There are still some of these men who come to see what is going on,” said Ms Boss. Although the CCTV cameras are trained on the entrance to the beach Ms Boss believes they should also put cameras looking onto the beach, as a greater deterrent. Meanwhile, the unnamed resident said, “it is so much better now, for the first time in years I see normal couples walking around and I have not noticed any sexual acts.” “For the most part these perverts have been scared away.”

Benalmadena Council has installed cameras and signs by the entry point to Las Yucas, prohibiting nudism and sexual activity on the beach

2012-02-07T09:54:00.001+01:00

RESIDENTS living near Las Yucas Beach in Benalmadena Costa are hopeful that they can now use the beach without fear of bumping into people engaging in sexual acts.

Benalmadena Council has installed cameras and signs by the entry point to Las Yucas, prohibiting nudism and sexual activity on the beach. People caught breaking the rules face fines of up to €3,000, according to Benalmadena Councillor for Safety, Manuel Arroyo.

“Local Police officers have been told to act immediately.”

For years this beach had become a popular meeting place for people engaging in ‘dogging’, sexual acts in public places – or watching others doing so.

Websites exist promote dogging locations, and people travel from all over the Costa del Sol to these places, one of which was Las Yucas.

The properties above this beach are luxury apartments and people living there say they have not been able to enjoy the beach due to these sex romps.

“It started about 10-years ago, and has escalated since then. The past two summers were the worst,” explained one resident who lives by Las Yucas, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

“They are quite aggressive, and I am sure they would come after me personally,” he said.

“These people are disgusting degenerates.”

“Often I would look down from the terrace and see children on the beach come running away from behind rocks because they had come upon two men in the act,” he said.

The beach next to Las Yucas is a nudist beach, which is governed by rules, so people who wish to fulfill their sexual desires often hop across the rocky outcrop that separates them.

“There used to be a sign that said ‘end of nudist beach’, but it was torn down and then never put back,” said the resident. Ana Boss who for six years has lived in La Sirena apartment building, overlooking the beach said there has always been this problem.

“It is disgraceful; they have no respect for anybody.

Children playing in the community pool can see them.” Residents had been trying for years to get the police and the Town Hall to do something about the situation, she said. Finally they approached the Tourism office and explained how detrimental this situation was.

“The situation had become so bad that many owners no longer came to spend their holidays at their second homes,” said Mario Cordero, administrator of the Puerta del Mar building next to La Sirena.

She confirmed that since officials installed the security cameras and signs there has been less of this sexual activity.

“There are still some of these men who come to see what is going on,” said Ms Boss. Although the CCTV cameras are trained on the entrance to the beach Ms Boss believes they should also put cameras looking onto the beach, as a greater deterrent.

Meanwhile, the unnamed resident said, “it is so much better now, for the first time in years I see normal couples walking around and I have not noticed any sexual acts.”

“For the most part these perverts have been scared away.”

Half of Spain “Addicted” to the Internet

2012-02-03T01:28:00.001+01:00

Nearly half of all Spaniards (45%) claim to “be addicted” to the internet, amongst them, the majority are women and youngsters between 18 and 34. The figures come from the “Nestea Study about the Internet and Social Networks”, carried out by the Sondea Institute. 2,618 people were interviewed throughout Spain. According to the study, the autonomous communities with the most “addicted” to the internet are people living in Navarra (65%), Balearic Islands (58%), Cantabria and the Basque country (both 50%). The least “addicted” are in Asturias (35%), Galicia (36%), La Rioja (38%), and Murcia (41%). The study reveals that 43% of all Spaniards spend between four and ten hours per day, actively connected to the internet, while 5% are connected more than ten hours per day. Over 90% of those who took part in the survey confirmed that they had a profile on a social networking site, mainly Facebook (85%), Twitter (35%), Tuenti (27%), and LinkedIn (17%).

U.S. court backs Spain over $500M sea treasure

2012-02-02T08:41:00.001+01:00

"With the ruling by the appeals court, the process begins to recover all of the coins taken illegally" from the sunken ship, Spain's Culture Ministry said in a statement. Odyssey, which can still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, said in a statement, "Currently, no final order has been issued in the case and it would be premature to comment at this time." The battle royal began after Odyssey announced in 2007 it had found the sunken treasure. It quickly laid claim to the coins, put them in crates and said it flew them to a discreet, well-guarded location in the United States. Spain soon filed suit in a federal court in Tampa, Florida, also claiming the treasure. Spain claims $500 million sunken treasure Spain says its navy warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was carrying the coins. The Mercedes, a 34-gun frigate, left Peru in 1804 and crossed the Atlantic to within a day's sail from Spain when British ships attacked the Spanish fleet. In the ensuing Battle of Cape St. Mary, south of Portugal, the Mercedes exploded after being hit in its power magazine, according to the Spanish government's filing to the Florida court. The federal court in Tampa in 2009 ruled in favor of Spain's claim to the treasure, but Odyssey took the case to the federal appeals court in Atlanta, which ruled last September to uphold the lower court's ruling. At the end of that 53-page ruling, the three-judge appeals panel wrote, "For the foregoing reasons, the district court did not err when it ordered Odyssey to release the recovered" items to the custody of Spain, according to a copy of the order viewed by CNN. Since then, Odyssey has filed various motions at the appeals court to overturn or delay the ruling, said James Goold, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who is representing Spain in the case. But on Tuesday, the appeals court denied an Odyssey motion, the court's chief deputy clerk, Amy Nerenberg, told CNN by phone from Atlanta. Goold, who spoke to CNN by phone from Washington, said it appears that Odyssey's only possible appeal now would be to the U.S. Supreme Court. That court agrees to hear only a tiny portion of the cases presented to it. The appeals court is expected to send the case in the coming days back to the federal court in Tampa, which would establish and supervise the procedures for sending the coins to Spain, Goold said. Spain believes that the main part of the nearly 600,000 coins are currently in Florida, Goold said. Spain's Culture Minister, Jose Ignaico Wert, told CNN in Madrid on Wednesday that the case was never really about the money. "We're not going to use this money for purposes other than artistic exhibition, but this is something that enriches our material, artistic capital and it has to be appreciated as such," Wert said in an interview. He said the coins would be exhibited in Spanish museums. Peru has also followed this case. The silver and gold came from Latin America when Peru was a Spanish colony. "Formally, they haven't claimed anything, but we are completely open to consider the possibility of distributing some part of the treasure also among the Latin American museums," Wert said. The treasure includes a vast trove of coins, included fabled "pieces of eight," some minted in 1803 in Lima, Peru, Spanish officials said at a 2008 news conference. The treasure already has crossed the Atlantic ocean twice -- by ship in 1804 and then by plane in the other direction just a few years ago. Spanish officials hope it might finally arrive now for the first time on the Spanish mainland.

Legionnaires' Disease: Pensioners Hospitalised After Spain Holiday, Benidorm

2012-02-02T08:36:00.001+01:00

nine British pensioners have received hospital treatment for Legionnaires' Disease after a stay at Spanish hotel, it has been reported. A 76-year-old man is in an intensive care unit at the Benidorm Clinic, two more are being treated on regular wards while a fourth has already been allowed home. Dr Delfin Arzua from the clinic said: "Four British holidaymakers were admitted with symptoms of pneumonia and tests have confirmed Legionnaires' disease." Five more pensioners were treated in UK hospitals after suffering symptoms when they returned home from Spain. They all fell ill after holidaying at the four-star AR Diamante Beach hotel in Calpe, on the Costa Blanca, local journalist Tom Worden told Sky News. Legionnaires' disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia most likely to affect the elderly or ill. People catch the disease by inhaling small droplets of water from the air which contain the bacteria. A spokesman for travel agent Saga said holidaymakers were moved to another nearby hotel after the cases were reported and a British scientist was sent to investigate the suspected outbreak. The scientist found no trace of the bug in the hotel but he did recommend some changes to the plumbing. A spokeswoman for the Alicante health authority said: "Once the alert was raised the entire water and sanitation structure of the hotel was cleaned. "As the incubation period is 10 to 12 days we cannot rule out new cases in the next few days."

Amy Winehouse coroner 'not qualified'

2012-02-02T01:07:00.001+01:00

The family of singer Amy Winehouse have said they are "taking advice" following news that the coroner who oversaw her inquest has resigned. Camden Council has confirmed that Suzanne Greenaway had stood down because she had not been a lawyer in the UK for the required five years. The council said she had been appointed "in error" by her husband Andrew Reid, the coroner for inner north London. Ms Greenaway ruled that Winehouse, 27, died from accidental alcohol poisoning. She returned a verdict of misadventure. The Office for Judicial Complaints has begun an inquiry into Dr Reid's conduct. Letter of apology In a statement, Winehouse's relatives said: "The Winehouse family is taking advice on the implications of this and will decide if any further discussion with the authorities is needed." Ms Greenaway qualified in Australia in 1999 in September and was a member of the Supreme Court there but she had not worked as a lawyer for the required time in the UK, a Camden Council spokesman said. The spokesman added that the Winehouse inquest verdict remained legal and would only be judged illegal if it was challenged and subsequently overturned by the High Court. Amy Winehouse's father leaves St Pancras Coroners Court Dr Reid said he was writing to all of the families affected to apologise. He said: "While I am confident that all of the inquests handled were done so correctly, I apologise if this matter causes distress to the families and friends of the deceased." He has offered to hold the inquests over again if the families of the deceased request it. During her time as deputy assistant coroner, Ms Greenaway conducted 12 inquests in Camden, but mainly worked from Poplar Coroner's Court. Coroners are appointed by the Ministry of Justice who then interview and appoint their own staff, including in the case of Dr Reid, his assistant deputy coroner. Under the Coroners Act, he must then notify the local authority although it has no power of scrutiny over appointments, a Camden Council spokesman said. The inquest into Winehouse's death heard she was more than five times the drink-drive limit when she died on 23 July. Ms Greenway had said the "unintended consequence" of Winehouse drinking so much alcohol was her "sudden and unexpected death". Three empty vodka bottles, two large and one small, were found at her flat, St Pancras Coroner's Court heard.

The great Asian gold theft crisis

2012-02-02T00:37:00.001+01:00

Two small faces pull the curtain back in a side room and peer round to see who is at the door. After they run back inside, their mother, Mrs Rashid, unlocks the front door. Five weeks ago, she came home one evening to find the door ajar. The downstairs floor of her house was relatively untouched but upstairs the bedrooms had been ransacked – drawers opened, wardrobes emptied, clothes and belongings scattered everywhere. "It was such a huge shock," she says, sitting on the sofa, her voice breaking slightly. Her husband, Mr Rashid (neither want to give their full names), a big man sitting across the room, shakes his head. "They took it all," he says. The thieves who broke into this semi-detached house in Earley, near Reading, stole around £70,000-worth of gold jewellery. To those who are not from a south Asian family, it might seem remarkable to own so much valuable jewellery, but families such as the Rashids (Mr Rashid runs a small business) live in ordinary houses and are not particularly wealthy. Their gold collection – elaborate necklaces, rings, earrings and bangles – is treasure that has been handed down from generations of their families in Pakistan or bought as wedding gifts. It's our savings, our security, says Mrs Rashid, visibly upset. If, in future, the family needed money, they would have sold some pieces. "It's like paying a mortgage for 20 years and then having a house worth thousands of pounds afterwards – it's the same thing with gold," she says. "Our parents gave it to us, we would have given it to our children, they would have given it to their children," says her husband. They tried to put their gold in the bank, but "there were no lockers available. Everyone is looking for one." With other investments looking distinctly shaky in the economic crisis, last year gold prices reached record levels. In the autumn, an ounce reached a peak price of £1,194; today it is worth around £1,100 and analysts predict it could reach a new peak later this year or early next, as people seek safer investments, and demand for gold jewellery rises with the growing middle-classes in India. Asian gold (sometimes called Indian gold) is a broad term that covers jewellery bought and held by south Asian families, and often passed down through the generations. It tends to be the highest quality – often 24 carats, the purest gold – and it has vastly increased in value, sometimes to the point where a family can't afford to insure it. Thieves know that some south Asian families may have a large collection of gold at home, and it is these houses they target. There are no figures for the number of gold thefts, let alone the theft of Asian gold, but everyone I speak to believes the number of robberies is increasing. Last year, several police forces in areas where there is a large Asian community, such as Leicester and Slough, ran awareness campaigns after a spate of opportunistic robberies – there have been several reports of women who have had their gold jewellery snatched in the street – and burglaries. For a while, an attempted gold theft was a line of inquiry in the murders of Carole and Avtar Kolar in Birmingham in January, though the police later ruled this out. Mr Rashid shows me the window in the downstairs bathroom that was broken, and where the thieves must have got in. He thinks the house was being watched, because he noticed a silver car outside the front some days before. "My family is so frightened," he says. "My kids won't go upstairs on their own, it's a completely different life since it happened." They feel the police have not been very supportive, and they have little hope the perpetrators will be caught. "I was already upset, and a policeman said: 'Your gold must have been melted down by now,'" says Mrs Rashid. "I was even more upset when he said that." The Rashids know of several other families in the area who have been burgled. "A few watches and a BlackBerry were taken, but they were looking for gold," says Vikas Tandon, whose house in the area was broken into in September. "They seemed to know where to look – I am confident they used metal detectors. There were bowls of jewellery in one of the rooms, with real gold and artificial jewellery mixed in together. They only took the gold, so they knew what they were looking for." Tandon has now installed CCTV cameras "to give the family more confidence. The loss of the gold itself is bad, but the psychological after-effects of being burgled are worse. Everyone is scared." A local councillor, Tahir Maher, says: "A lot of residents have been very badly affected. It started in the summer. It is very much Asian families who are being targeted." In one day, he says, five homes in the area were burgled and gold stolen. He went door-to-door warning families to keep their gold in safes, or put it in the bank, "although banks have started to stop giving people safe deposit boxes, so people are keeping their gold at home". It isn't just homes that are targeted. This month, in Bradford, two men wearing balaclavas stole bagfuls of gold worth up to £100,000 – a third man had driven a 4x4 into the back of a jewellers as it was closing up. The terrified staff fled. In areas of Birmingham where there are a large number of Asian jewellers, several shops have been robbed. In the Handsworth area, where many south Asian people come to buy jewellery, there are numerous jewellers. Wedding sets – an elaborate necklace and earrings in 22-carat gold – can cost upwards of £5,000 for a fairly basic design, though the sets I see on display in many of the shops are much cheaper, lesser quality versions. Most of the jewellers have CCTV cameras and metal shutters. One of the jewellers I go into is protected by cameras, a metal grille, bulletproof glass and two time-lock doors. Another jewellers across the road was robbed last year during the day by three armed men. "There were customers in the shop," says the owner, who does not want to be named and is reluctant to go into details. He says there is an increased level of fear among jewellers specialising in Asian gold. "There is a fear daily. This is what we are living with now." Nigel Blackburn is chairman of Lois Jewellery, one of the biggest gold buyers in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. The staff behind the counters are busy dealing with a steady stream of customers bringing everything from random old bits of broken chains and odd earrings, to cases full of gold jewellery. It is weighed, the quality gauged, and cash is handed over. I watch some people leave with bundles of notes – one man, who has brought in several kilos of gold, walks out on to the street with nearly £75,000 in £50 notes stuffed into a plastic carrier bag. Blackburn's company buys £4-5m worth of gold every week, and about £500,000 of that is Asian gold. Much of it comes from jewellers wanting to get rid of stock, from owners selling pieces and from smaller dealers selling it on. He shows me a tub of bangles ready for smelting (once molten, they are poured into a mould and come out as gold bars). The prices have rocketed. Six years ago a kilo of Asian gold jewellery would have fetched £6,000; now it is worth £30,000. How much of it is stolen? Hopefully none of it, he says. His staff do what they can – sellers fill out a form before their gold can be bought – but he says: "ID means nothing these days – criminals can forge anything." Mainly his staff rely on judgment. "If someone brings in a gold chain that has been snapped, it could have been pulled off someone's neck," he says. "If someone is out there" – he points to the timelock door where people can be seen before they are admitted – "and they look nervous or they just don't look 'right', that will raise alarm bells. We will not buy from anybody we're not sure of. There are unscrupulous [dealers] round here. They buy it, they melt it and then you can't prove anything." Many of the dealers have smelting equipment, and it can be done in a matter of minutes. Inevitably, sometimes stolen gold "slips through the net. But we've got the CCTV to give the police. We have cameras trained on the scales, so we film everything we buy, and the people who sell it." He works closely with the police and they are called any time he is suspicious of somebody; he was responsible for 14 arrests one week. If there's a robbery, especially in the Midlands, he will be alerted, "so we know what to look out for". Another jeweller in the area who buys gold says she knows of dealers who don't care if they buy stolen gold. She thinks she has been offered stolen Asian gold in the past, "but I refused to buy it. I don't want to make my money in a dishonest way." But there are numerous ways to easily sell gold with few questions asked. "There are places in shopping centres that will buy gold and pay good prices. Even Tesco now buys it," says one jeweller. There is also a wealth of online scrap gold dealers who will pay upwards of £800 an ounce for the finest quality (usually Asian) gold – simply send the jewellery off in an envelope and wait for money to be sent back. "One of the issues is that gold jewellery is often not traceable," says Paul Uppal, MP for Wolverhampton South West, who has taken an interest in the issue of gold theft. "Constituents had spoken about it, and also coming from an Asian family it was word-of-mouth as well. At the moment, it's easy to smelt the gold down and sell it off." Gold sales aren't covered under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act, which requires dealers to keep detailed records of metal received; many think the act is inadequate. It could be updated later this year if a current six-month pilot scheme is a success, but it isn't clear if precious metals will be included. "Anyone can walk into a jewellers and the gold can be smelted down within 20 minutes," says Uppal. "There needs to be some sort of audit trail. I've mentioned it to ministers whenever I can but the problem is, it seems to be viewed in the grand scheme of metal theft. This is quite nuanced, and very specific to the Asian community as well." In Earley, councillor Maher has helped set up a neighbourhood watch-style group aimed at the Asian community worried about gold burglaries. It is still a new scheme, but he says it is growing. "People are looking out for each other," he says. He is working with the police closely because he says his big fear is that "people may take matters into their own hands in a bad way". The way he talks makes it sound like a community under attack – Maher knows of families who have lost tens of thousands of pounds' worth of gold, including elderly people, a single mother and another woman who miscarried after discovering her house had been broken into. "People are living in fear. Mothers were scared to be at home with their children in the day, and older people were frightened of being attacked in the street or followed home," he says. "There is a lot of mistrust. This has cost the community a lot."

Malaya case hears dramatic statement from Fidel San Román

2012-02-01T09:34:00.001+01:00

The constructor, Fidel San Román, who is now 72, on Monday ratified, one by one, all the payments which the prosecutor considers he made to Juan Antonio Roca, the man who was the Municipal Real Estate Assessor in Marbella Town Hall. As the Malaya case continues in Málaga, the amounts paid by San Román totalled 3.08 million € and were given in exchange for first occupancy licences for the properties he had built in the town. It was a dramatic statement to the court. ‘When the homes were ready to be handed over to the purchasers, the Town Hall told us that the money was needed, and if not paid, things could not move forward’, he said talking about a development of 800 apartments. He told the court that in 2005 alone he paid Roca more than three million € in ‘white physical cash taken out of the accounts of his companies’, and that the payments were normally made in Roca office in Marbella, but sometimes in Madrid. It’s a direct contradiction of claims made by Roca in the case so far. Roca has admitted receiving payments from Fidel San Román, as well as Aifos and Construcciones Salamanca, but said the payments were not made for favours but for ‘advisory work’. Román dismissed this saying his family business had never paid for advisors. The developer is presenting himself now as a victim of blackmail. Not paying would have been ‘business suicide’ and added that he knew that he doing something bad, but that he did not have any other option. The prosecutor is asking for a nine year prison sentence and 48 million € fine for San Román on charges of bribery and money laundering.

Five Britons in court in UK for Mallorca pyramid fraud

2012-02-01T09:28:00.001+01:00

Five British citizens are in court in the United Kingdom shortly for having allegedly set up a pyramid selling fraud which resulted in 70 residents of Calvià on Mallorca being defrauded out of 12 million €. They are alleged to have captured 150 investors in several countries, promising enormous profits on the stock market from a company called Gilher Inc. The accused are charged with massive fraud, money laundering in Panama and the Seychelles, although they are all claiming innocence. The Serious Fraud Office says the operation started in 2001 and has named the main accused as 60 year old John Hirst, from Brighouse, and Richard John Pollet from Poole, both of whom had luxury villas in Calvià with an active social life. They were members of Mallorca Cricket Club and the Rotary Club, and they offered interest of up to 18%. It was 1.5% return per month, making 18% per annum, and a 2% bonus was paid if invested for a year. Police say that they managed to capture as many as 70 British residents of Mallorca, mostly retired people who often handed over their life savings and sums of between 11,000 and 223,000 €. Similar numbers of victims were seen in France and the United States, who paid over some 12 million € in total under the promise of large profits. Problems started at the end of 2009 when the first complaints about fraud were seen. Hirst and Pollet have both denied the charges when they appeared at Bradford Crown Court in a plea and case-management hearing. Hirst pleaded not guilty to money laundering linked to a 33,000 pound transfer from the Bank of Cyprus to Gilher Inc, and a 428,000 pound investment in Last Second Tickets Limited. His wife Linda, pleaded not guilty to various money laundering charges including one related to the purchase of a 552,000 pound house with her daughter Zoe in Send, Surrey in 2008. All five defendants were granted bail until the pre-trial hearing which is expected on April 20, and Judge Durham Hall has confirmed the trial date has been set for June 18. It’s expected to last eight weeks.

Bankrupt Spanish airline halts flights, strands 23,000 passengers

2012-01-31T12:38:00.001+01:00

23,000 passengers of Spanair were left stranded across Europe and Africa or rebooking flights since Friday when the Barcelona, Spain-based airline abruptly stopped operations due to bankruptcy. With its cancellation of 200 flights, Spain’s fourth-largest airline faces $12 million in fine from the national government for abandoning service and violating the rights of its passengers. The Catalan regional government, which has been subsidizing Spanair since 2009, decided to stop supporting the airline and Qatar Airways backed out from buying 49 percent of the airline for $197 million on fears that the European Commission will later charge it the amount of subsidy received by the airline. Budget airlines Ryanair and Easyjet have complained to the EC that the subsidy from the Catalan government was illegal. Spanair has a fleet of 36 leased aircraft and employ 4,000 people. However, the planes are not enough to pay $350 million the airline owes to creditors. Spanair was set up in 1986 by Scandinavian airline SAS, which still holds 11 percent stake in the company. The initial service was between mainland Spain and the Balearic islands. In the 1990s, the airline ventured into trans-Atlantic services to the United States and Mexico but failed to make profit. Financial condition worsened in August 2008 when one of its plane crashed after takeoff killing 154 people. Losses in 2009 reached $243 million and another $152 million in 2010. Meanwhile, Vueling, Air Europa and Iberia airlines offered national and international flights to holders of Spanair tickets for $79 and $131, respectively.

Canada has joined Colombia as a leading exporter of synthetic or designer drugs, flooding the global market on an almost unprecedented scale

2012-01-29T23:48:00.001+01:00

Canada has joined Colombia as a leading exporter of synthetic or designer drugs, flooding the global market on an almost unprecedented scale, police say. The RCMP have seized tonnes of illicit synthetic drugs that include Ecstasy and methamphetamine being shipped abroad after being “cooked” in make-shift labs in apartments, homes and businesses in the GTA. Police are now seizing more chemicals and synthetic drugs, which they say is favoured by young people, at Canadian border checks rather than the traditional cocaine, heroin or hashish that officers call drugs of “a last generation.” Most of the Ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), meth or ketamine, a hallucinogenic used in “drug cocktails,” are smuggled from Canada by trucks, air cargo, human couriers or courier services to a network of traffickers. The U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan are the world-wide targets of these highly organised criminal syndicates, the Mounties said. Two Japanese students were arrested at Vancouver International Airport in 2009 after 47,000 Ecstasy pills with the “Chanel” logo were seized from their luggage. And, in November that year 400,000 tablets and 45 kgs of pot were seized in Michigan as it was being transferred from a small Canadian aircraft to a vehicle. The RCMP is working to stamp out the problem and have created a Chemical Diversion Unit (CDU) to target “rogue chemical brokers” who import and sell chemicals to organized crime cells to “bake” synthetic drugs for export. The force also created a Synthetic Drug Operations (SDO) whose members target clandestine drug labs in the GTA that are operated by crime cells and traffickers. “We execute search warrants once we locate a clandestine lab,” said SDO Sgt. Doug Culver. “These labs are dangerous with toxic chemicals and our members are specially trained to handle them.” His officers use hazardous material suits to enter a suspicious lab to ensure it is safe from corrosive chemicals before uniformed officers can enter. Police said an Ecstasy tablet, that usually features a harmless-looking logo, is sold for up to $15 each at Toronto nightclubs and the potency can last for about 10 hours. The tablets used to sell on the street for about $40 each two years ago. Supt. Rick Penney, who is in charge of an RCMP-GTA Drug Squad, said tonnes of chemicals and synthetic drugs are being seized by his officers. “We are talking tonnes and not kilograms,” Penney said. “This is becoming a matter of routine for us and it concerns me.” Penney said Canadian-made Ecstasy and meth are popular in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the U.S. and some European countries. “Canada is a player on the global market,” he said. “We see a lot of synthetic chemicals passing through the Canadian border or going out of province.” He said some of the chemicals are purchased by criminals on the Internet from suppliers in China or India. “The majority of the drugs we seize in Ontario are for export,” Penney said. “This is a global problem and Canada is a big player.” The drug officers said Canada exports as much Ecstasy and chemical drugs as Colombia ships out cocaine. Police said synthetic drugs are the choice of young people because it is cheap, with a pill being made for 50-cents and sold for up to $15; lasts a long time; can be easily hidden and a tablet appears relatively harmless with a “cute” imprinted logo. Sgt. Brent Hill, of the Chemical Diversion Unit, said rogue brokers use fake names, companies or addresses to import the chemicals into Canada. Some use the name of legitimate companies and give fake delivery addresses, he said. He said the imported chemicals are resold by rogue brokers at exorbitant profits to organized crime groups originating from China, Vietnam and India, including criminal bike gangs in Canada. The chemicals are “cooked” into synthetic drugs. The CDU monitors more than 100 chemicals entering the country. Some are for legitimate industrial uses ranging from industrial cleaners to pharmaceutical products. Others are strictly for “baking” drugs. Hill shows a make-shift laboratory that was seized in a 2007 Scarborough bust in which three people were arrested. Officers seized two million units of Ecstasy and bags of chemicals at a residence on Pipers Green Ave., in the Brimley Rd. and Finch Ave. E. area. Jian Yao Quan, 24, and Yan Shi, 46, both of Scarborough, and Wan Shun Ling, 55, of Brooklyn, New York, were convicted of drug-related offences and will be sentenced on Feb. 14. A warrant has been issued for Wei Quan Ma, 43, of Toronto, who’s believed to have fled to China. During that raid, police found a 22-litre round-bottom heating mantle filled with chemicals being baked as vapors flowed through a hose taped at the top of the container to a large can filled with cat litter, that helps to absorb toxic gases to avoid leaving smells behind, police said. Hill said the mixture leaves a cloud of corrosive chemical hanging over the area that is harmful to people and is the reason why officers wear haz-mat suits to enter drug houses. “These labs pose a serious threat to the safety of the public and emergency first responders such as police, fire and ambulance workers,” Hill said. “Most chemicals in a clandestine drug lab are highly toxic, corrosive, explosive or flammable “ He said some unsafe labs can cause a fire or explosion that can lead to environmental pollution. Police said its common to find an Ecstasy pill containing a combination of controlled substances including methamphetamine or other controlled or non-regulated psychoactive substances. Some doses can be lethal and kill users. Officers point to the deaths of five B.C. young people since last August from Ecstasy laced PMMA, the same lethal chemical linked to deaths in the Calgary area. There have been about 18 Ecstasy-related deaths in B.C. in two years. “Some of these drugs are dangerous cocktails,” Hill said. “Crime groups are putting more addictive chemicals in some of the mixtures to get kids coming back for more. “These brokers are aggressively targeting the legitimate chemical industry. They continue to expand in a highly-lucrative market selling legal chemicals, regulated precursors and non-regulated psychoactive substances.” Officers said some unscrupulous brokers establish fake front companies, or claim to be legitimate companies to import chemicals into Canada. They fill out paperwork required by the Canada Border Services Agency but usually provide false information, police said. “The acquisition of chemicals is the choke point,” Hill said. “We are fully engaged with the legitimate Canadian chemical industry and monitor suspicious chemical transactions.” He said its a crime under Bill C-475 to possess, produce, sell or import “anything” if the person involved knows it will be used to produce methamphetamine or Ecstasy. “Crime groups with links to south-east Asia continue to dominate chemical-brokering operations,” the Mounties said. “There are criminal enterprises including individual operators and semi-legitimate companies that are brokering or procuring chemicals for synthetic drug production.” Police said some chemical shipments imported into Canada for industrial use are stolen by crime gangs to produce drugs. “Global demand for Ecstasy remains high,” Hill said. “Ecstasy continues to be the most sought-after and widely available controlled synthetic drug in the Canadian illicit market.”

Wrecked Italian liner will not be moved for months

2012-01-29T22:02:00.001+01:00

The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Italian island of Giglio until the end of the year or longer before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday. Divers searching for bodies in the hulk, which lies half submerged a few metres from the shore, suspended work on Sunday after heavy seas and strong winds caused the vessel to shift noticeably, authorities said.

In Spain, taxmen snoop about homes rented to sun-seeking vacationers — then visit the owners who neglected to report the income

2012-01-29T15:32:00.001+01:00

In Greece, tax officials fly helicopters over residential areas to spot swimming pools of the alleged poor. In Italy, inspectors raid elite ski resorts to catch the down-and-out in their Ferraris. In Spain, taxmen snoop about homes rented to sun-seeking vacationers — then visit the owners who neglected to report the income. File photo by Virginia Mayo, AP The European Union, whose headquarters are pictured here, has been concerned about the debt crisis in southern Europe. EU officials blame part of the economic mess on a culture of tax evasion.EU officials blame part of the economic mess on a culture of tax evasion. Ads by Google CPD Online, On Time Online CPD - for when your deadline is demanding. Evading taxes is almost a national pastime in European nations such as Greece, Spain and Italy, and for years their governments largely looked the other way. On Monday, the 27 nations of the EU will meet in Brussels to focus on how to boost growth and jobs. But as the southern European nations struggle with a debt crisis that threatens to overwhelm the European Union, their recently installed governments feel they must become more like their more solvent northern neighbors, where the crime of tax evasion is taken seriously. Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and other countries are raising taxes and clamping down on those who have found creative ways not to pay them. Many people admit they cheat, but the wealthy say they are being unfairly singled out to cover for government overspending — and people in the middle class, who have seen their household incomes crumble, are bitter about losing even more to taxes. "In this country, (most of us) are struggling day-to-day in order to make ends meet," said Argiris Eleftheriou, 76, of Athens. "The pensioners and the employed are the only ones that aren't evading taxes. We're paying the taxes of the rich, too." EU officials blame part of the economic mess on a culture of tax evasion in debtor nations that has cost billions in revenue that could be used to shore up their finances. Greece has a projected debt burden of 162% of GDP this year. The amount of taxes past due to the state is $78 billion, according to a 2011 report by the EU's Task Force for Greece. EU officials say that about half of that will never get collected, and the other half is tied up in 165,000 pending court cases. Paying for things in cash is the norm in Greece (and Italy and Spain), making it hard for tax inspectors to track. In Greece, cash transactions accounted for 25% of GDP, according to a 2011 report by Friedrich Schneider, a professor of economics at the University of Linz in Austria. And the EU believes tens of millions of dollars in Greek income has been deposited out of sight in Switzerland banks. Greece is pushing back with a "naming and shaming" campaign. This week, the Greek Economics Ministry published the names of 4,151 individuals who owe a total of more than $19 billion in taxes including a famous singer, a professional basketball player and a former newspaper publisher. "Our sovereignty is being chipped away because some are not paying their taxes," said Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, referring to the strict fiscal oversight imposed by the EU and IMF in return for bailout funds. Meanwhile, new taxes keep coming. In the past two years Greeks have seen a self-employment tax of $390 to $650, a solidarity tax of about 1% to 5% of income and a property tax. More are expected, but locals say they can't pay. "Life has drastically changed; we don't go out anymore; we're locked in our homes and close to depression," said Eleni Benekou, 48, a middle-class housewife in Athens. "(Recently) I went to the flea market to buy some things, but I didn't dare open my wallet." In Italy, the focus is on tax evasion by the super-rich, which ran rampant under the leadership of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi— also accused of tax dodging and who once famously said that evasion of high taxes was a God-given "right." Berlusconi successor, technocrat Mario Monti, has vowed to get Italy's house in order by reducing spending and increasing tax revenue. One of his first actions has been to clamp down on "the pretend poor," as Italian media have dubbed the super-rich tax evaders. While one in four Italians — 15 million — reported no taxable income last year. Italy says that at least 3 million of those own at least three homes. Meanwhile, Italian taxpayers reporting incomes of less than $26,000 owned 188,000 Ferraris and Lamborghinis, more than 500 private airplanes and about 42,000 yachts. Monti has ordered tax police to go to the super-rich wherever they are. In raids on the elite Italian Alps ski resort of Cortina in early January, officials found 42 high-end sports cars belonging to owners who reported less than $26,000 of income annually. The Italian government is also cracking down on money-laundering, lowering the maximum allowed for cash transactions to from $3,200 to $1,275 and putting dogs at the Swiss border to sniff out large sums of cash. (It is common for Italians to drive their money over the Alps to Swiss banks, tax agents say.) So far, Italian officials say this has netted $52,300 on average per day at the border, up from almost zero a year ago. Since Monti took office in November, Italian tax police have identified $65 billion in untaxed money, officials announced Wednesday. Monti is also pushing for a new tax bracket for the super-rich and a financial transaction tax. Even TV commercials appeal to Italians to help find these "parasites of society." And while Italians hang effigies of tax officials at protests, some agree with the push. "Everybody has to do their part, but the rich should do more than their part," said Angela Perin, 56, a school administrator in Rome. "They've had it easy too long, and now everybody is suffering because of that." In Spain, officials also declared "an open season" on tax evasion. They have capped cash transactions at $1,300 and are cracking down on tax havens. Spain has taken hundreds of tax evaders to court, and tax police have caught about 200,000 individuals who had not declared income from rental properties — a large source of income in the sunny tourist destination — and an easy source of under-the-table cash, officials said. One of the first actions of Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy upon taking office in mid-December was to break a main campaign promise by raising taxes: The government has passed measures to raise income and property taxes by more than $7.64 billion a year and has added a new tax bracket for the rich — which increased the cap by 7% to a maximum of 56% in some Spanish federal states for those earning more than $390,000 annually. Some say the zeal for taxes as the solution to a country mired in debt and high unemployment of 21.5% will backfire. "The tax hike is going to have a perverse effect on the Spanish economy," said Miguel Borra, president of CSI-F, the main civil servant union in Spain. "That will include a growing lack of trust among the population (in government) as well as diminishing purchasing power." In crisis-hit but tax-averse Ireland, officials haven't raised income tax but rates on many other things have risen: taxes on pension contributions, property, carbon dioxide emissions and a hated "universal social charge," along with hikes in sales taxes. "They get called stealth taxes, but they're not particularly stealthy as we can see them coming," said Gerard Casey, professor of philosophy at University College Dublin. "They do it so they can say with a relatively straight face, smirking perhaps, 'We've not raised taxes.' " Emeline Callan, who runs a barbershop in Celbridge, County Kildare, says she earns less than minimum wage despite working nine or 10 hours a day — and the cost of her commute has doubled with the gasoline and car tax increases. Her frustration may be a warning to Europe's governing elites that they must find another way to balance the books. "The tax I pay gets me nothing that I need," she said. "The social charge is just a cover to gain more money from us to pay for the government's mistakes. It's loan repayment on a loan we the people didn't take out."

On the 31st May this year, nine men from Paddle4Heroes are going to paddle from Gibraltar to Marbella in Spain by kayak to raise funds for Help for Heroes and a new charity called Families of The Fallen.

2012-01-29T14:11:00.001+01:00

PADDLE4HEROES, RAISING MONEY THROUGH KAYAKING - FOR HELP FOR HEROES AND FAMILIES OF THE FALLEN

On the 31^st May this year, nine men from Paddle4Heroes are going to paddle from Gibraltar to Marbella in Spain by kayak to raise funds for Help for Heroes and a new charity called Families of The Fallen. Both of these charities should touch the heart of anyone British, as they are at the forefront of helping servicemen and women recover from the trauma of war.

Of the nine paddlers (aged between 20 – 58!), six are ex-servicemen (including one from my own regiment) and all live on the Costa del Sol. Several have experienced active service and all know the devastation that war can bring to everyone involved.

Indeed, the consequences of active service can be long lasting, not just for servicemen and women but also for their immediate families. Both parties often need significant help readjusting to normal life (whether the trauma is psychological or physical) and that is where charities like Help for Heroes and Families of The Fallen come into their own.

Needless to say, Britain seems to have been continually at war for years now, with the Iraq wars and Afghanistan being notable. However, our military forces also continually operate in many other areas including often as unsung UN peacekeepers, which can often involve significant risks – and injury.

TRAINING, TRAINING AND...MORE TRAINING!

In fact, whilst deaths in battle always make the news, injuries rarely do and they, of course, far outnumber deaths, despite often being utterly life changing for those hurt. Indeed, I hate to think how many British servicemen and women have sustained terrible injuries over the past twenty years – with their injuries never having made the news or having been ‘hidden’ deep within governmental statistics. Certainly, many more servicemen and women (and their families) need help than most of us realise…

Needless to say, the point of the canoe trip by Paddle4Heroes from Gibraltar to Marbella (90 km) on the 31^stMay is to raise funds for Help for Heroes and Families of the Fallen. It is your money that keeps these charities going and your money that directly helps our servicemen and women in their time of greatest need.

So, please make an effort to spare some money for Paddle4Heroes. What they are doing deserves your support and it would be great to think that any of you Britons, with any connection at all to Spain, could help to make the Paddle4Heroes event an outstanding fund raising success – that does justice to any Briton living or holidaying in Spain!

If you want to know more or wish to contribute to Paddle4Heroes then please see the Paddle4Heroes Facebook page.

Spain takes legal action against Spanair

2012-01-28T18:03:00.001+01:00

Spain's government has launched legal action against the now-defunct airline Spanair for allegedly violating the country's aviation regulations by suddenly ceasing operations, a minister said Saturday. An estimated 22,000 passengers who had booked seats on more than 220 canceled flights have been left looking for alternative arrangements and instructions on how to seek reimbursements. Spanair, owned by a consortium based in the northeastern region of Catalonia, shut down its operations late Friday because of a lack of funding. The legal proceedings begun by Spain's government could lead to Spanair being fined euro9 million ($11.8 million) for two "serious infringements" of aviation security legislation, Development Minister Ana Pastor said. The alleged infractions related to obligations linked to continued service and passenger protection. Chairman Ferran Soriano said the airline had failed to attract inward investment and consequently the regional government of northeastern Catalonia took the decision to stop providing funds. Spanair, whose hub was Barcelona airport, employed around 2,000 people and used the services of about 1,200 ground staff. Spanair's financial woes were exacerbated by a 2008 crash that killed 154 people. Eighteen people survived what was Spain's worst aviation disaster in 25 years. The airline, which also ran a commuter service between Madrid and Barcelona, was in trouble financially before Spanair Flight JK5022 -- an MD-82 jet -- crashed on takeoff on Aug. 20, 2008 as it tried to leave Madrid bound for the Canary Islands. In 2010 Spanair, which was Spain's No. 4 airline, reported an operating loss of euro115 million ($151.2 million) and had survived thanks to finance provided by the Catalan government and some private investors. The Catalan government cited the "current economic climate" and "European legislation concerning competition" as the major factors influencing its decision. In Brussels, the European Low Fares Airline Association said those of its members flying overlapping routes with Spanair would offer specially discounted fares to enable stranded passengers to return home. Offers are subject to seat availability, said the organization of budget airlines -- which includes Ryanair and EasyJet. The association's secretary-general, John Hanlon, said in a statement the aim was to assist Spanair passengers who were experiencing difficulties with travel plans. National carrier Iberia Spanish Airlines SA said it had also offered to help.

News International offices searched as four more men are arrested

2012-01-28T13:36:00.001+01:00

Four men, including a serving police officer, have been arrested in connection with Scotland Yard's investigation into payments to police officers by journalists. Police are also carrying out searches of the News International offices in Wapping, east London, and the homes of the four people. A 29-year-old serving police officer was arrested at his place of work in central London on suspicion of corruption and misconduct in public office. The officer, of the Met's territorial policing unit, is the second police officer to be arrested under the Operation Elveden investigation. A 48-year-old man and a 56-year-old man were arrested at their homes in Essex. Another man, aged 48, was held at his home in north London. All three were arrested on suspicion of corruption and aiding and abetting misconduct in public office. Scotland Yard said the arrests were made following information provided by News Corp's own investigation team. Rupert Murdoch set up the management and standards committee in July following the escalation of the phone-hacking scandal. According to well-placed sources, it has been conducting a forensic analysis of payments by all journalists between 2000 and 2006. A statement from the Met police said: "The arrests were made between 06.00 and 08.00 by officers from Operation Elveden, the MPS [Metropolitan police service] investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police. "The home addresses of those arrested are currently being searched, and officers are also carrying out a number of searches at the offices of News International in Wapping, east London. These searches are expected to conclude this afternoon. "Today's operation is the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management and standards committee. It relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately." All four men were being questioned at police stations in Essex and London, police said. Twelve people have so far been arrested under Operation Elveden. The operation is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and is being run in conjunction with Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone hacking of voicemail boxes. It was launched after officers were handed documents suggesting that News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers. Others questioned as part of the inquiry include the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, the ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, the former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman, the former News of the World crime editor Lucy Panton and the Sun district editor, Jamie Pyatt. Brooks and Coulson are both former editors of the News of the World, which was closed in July at the height of the hacking scandal following revelations that the murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone was hacked. Deborah Glass, the deputy chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said: "It will be clear from today's events that this investigation is following the evidence. "I am satisfied with the strenuous efforts being made by this investigation to identify police officers who may have taken corrupt payments, and I believe the results will speak for themselves."

Spanair applies to stop all its flights

2012-01-27T18:12:00.001+01:00

The decision of Qatar Airways not to take a 49% share means the operation is not viable.Archive Photo EFE Qatar Airways has decided not to invest in Spanair, and the Barcelona Generalitat regional government has announced they will no longer inject funds into the airline. It means the airline will not get the 150 million € which it was expecting from Qatar for a 49% share. It seems Qatar have decided to turn away for fear of sanctions for the airline regarding the Government grants. Since 2009 the Generalitat has given more than 100 million to the airline, and Qatar wanted assurances that the European Commission would not claim that money back at a later date. Latest reports are that the airline is preparing an application to suspend all its flights, given the fact that its financial situation is untenable, with large losses and a large debt. The company gives direct and indirect jobs to some 4,000 people, and says it needs 150 million to face their financial obligations.

Survey reveals expat banking fears

2012-01-26T23:49:00.001+01:00

The Expat Banking Poll was sponsored by Lloyds TSB International and conducted by expat website Just Landed. Expats in Spain were found to have the most problems with banking abroad. Almost two-thirds of those polled – 64 per cent – said that they do not trust local banks at all. Some of the most common problems cited by those who distrust banks abroad include unfair charges, trouble with the language barrier and money that was deducted from their account without any explanation. Briton Graham Hunt, who runs a Spanish property website and has written some hard-hitting blogs on banking in Spain, said: "Two years ago, there was a lot more trust in Spanish banks. "But the past couple of years have seen new charges for cards, account maintenance, transfer fees... this put people into the red in unused accounts, and they were then given an additional overdrawn charge. As a result, trust disappeared." Spain is happiest expat destination 19 Jan 2012 He also claims bank charges have increased "dramatically" recently and that lack of clear communication is the major problem for expats not speaking Spanish, and banks not employing people with language skills. "However my experience is that if you have a good relationship with the bank manager then any charges on the account can usually be got back," Mr Hunt said. "You just threaten to take your business elsewhere." Ali Meehan, who runs the Costa Women community network, said however there were many reasons expats wanted to use Spanish banking services. ""Many expats bank with Spanish financial institutions because they have mortgage products or loans locally," she said. "Some banks also offer special deals if you have your UK pension paid direct to Spain." More than 11,800 expats in total were surveyed for the Lloyds TSB International report. More than half of those, 59 per cent, said that they do trust their banks abroad, while only 22 per cent of respondents said they did not trust their banks "at all". In the United Arab Emirates, 74 per cent polled said they completely trust local banks; in Kuwait, this number is even higher, at 83 per cent. In Europe, German banks receive a similar score, with 68 per cent of expats polled completely trusting their services. UK banks – though facing many problems – are completely trusted by 52 per cent of respondents. And despite uncertainties over the British pound, 36 per cent of expatriates surveyed claim they would invest in sterling over any other currency. "While the poll demonstrated a lot of positivity, there are also some issues to be addressed," said Daniel Tschentscher, managing partner at Just Landed. "In the current climate, one would expect the level of trust to be lower, but that really doesn't seem to be the case at all."

Identity fraud biggest threat as number of scams soars

2012-01-26T23:41:00.001+01:00

UK fraud levels increased by 9% last year, new figures revealed today, with identity scams the biggest contributor. Over 236,500 cases of frauds were identified during 2011– the highest number ever recorded, according to CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service. Nearly half of all cases were incidents of identity fraud, with some 113,000 cases reported to the CIFAS – up 10% on 2010. Facility takeover fraud – where a fraudster gains access to and uses a victim’s bank account or credit card for example – meanwhile has surged by nearly 300% in just five years and now accounts for 18% of all fraud. This means two data driven frauds make up over 58% of all frauds identified, CIFAS said. What’s more, the number of victims of both types of fraud combined has risen by 10% since 2010. Richard Hurley, CIFAS communications manager, said: ‘All organisations must recognise this threat, and review how they try to prevent such frauds: whether that is by reviewing their security procedures and increasing identification requirements when dealing with applications, or by ensuring that individuals regularly change passwords and PIN numbers’. Incidents of misuse facility fraud – where an account has been legitimately obtained but later used fraudulently – also increased some 13%. The number of false insurance claims recorded, however, has fallen 23% from 537 to 396 cases. According to CIFAS, these figures confirm that as austerity bites, economic crime continues to be a stealthy, insidious danger.