The Fred Goodwin story

 

Fred Goodwin's life in the banking premier league was shattered as the taxpayer rescue of his wounded bank turned him into a target for public anger. Fred "the Shred", whose nickname derives from his zealous cost cutting, earned more than £4 million in 2007 in his position as the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was credited with building RBS into an empire, with operations in 54 countries and sponsorship deals with some of the biggest names in sport, including the Williams Formula One racing team, Six Nations Rugby, racing legend Jackie Stewart and tennis star Andy Murray. He boasted of catapulting the bank "to the top of the premier league" with the £49 billion deal to capture Dutch rival ABN Amro in 2007. But Mr Goodwin was also at the helm as RBS crumbled, the ABN acquisition proving disastrous for the bank as markets turned sour in the grip of the credit crunch, exposing a weak balance sheet and bringing the firm to the brink of the abyss. RBS is now 80% owned by the taxpayer and is being propped up with billions of pounds of public money. Mr Goodwin's "assertive and robust" management style was flagged as a potential risk to RBS as early as 2003 in the Financial Services Authority's report into the bank's collapse. The regulator raised concerns about chief executive dominance during its meetings with the bank's chairman over the following three years but was assured that the rest of the board provided an adequate challenge to Mr Goodwin. The report also highlighted the strained relationship between the FSA and Mr Goodwin prior to 2005, in particular RBS's reluctance to allow its non-executive directors to meet the FSA on an individual one-to-one basis. After he left RBS in November 2008, Mr Goodwin's pension deal sparked public outrage, leaving him with a £703,000-a-year package at the age of 50 - including a £2.7 million lump sum - despite leading the bank to the brink of disaster. The Paisley-born former banker saw his house attacked and an artist's effigy of his head on a spike displayed in London as he became a magnet for public fury over fat cat pay amid a financial crisis that helped ferment recession. He bowed to public pressure and offered to hand back more than £210,000 a year of his controversial pension payout. He volunteered to reduce his pension payout from £555,000 to £342,500 a year. Mr Goodwin - who was knighted in 2004 for services to banking - made a habit of daring acquisitions throughout his career and was initially lauded for his success. As a partner in accountancy firm Touche Ross - aged just 32 - he played a lead role in the liquidation of the scandal-hit Bank of Credit and Commerce International. After joining RBS in 1998, he propelled the group into the ranks of the world's elite. First he masterminded a £21 billion takeover of NatWest in March 2000 - the biggest deal in UK banking history. He followed this up in 2004 with the 10.5 billion dollar (£5.3 billion) acquisition of US bank Charter One, which doubled the size of RBS's US business Citizens, elevating a local retail bank to one of the 10 largest commercial banks in the US. Other buys included insurers Direct Line and Churchill, but his takeover tendencies were not universally popular. He also came under pressure from his own shareholders worried by the number of acquisitions made by the bank. Mr Goodwin went to grammar school in Paisley before studying law at Glasgow University, becoming a chartered accountant in 1983, rising to partner at Touche Ross five years later. His subsequent banking career took him to top positions at the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank after which he joined the board of RBS.

Demi Moore’s 911 call released: Star ‘smoked something’

 

The call made to emergency services when Demi Moore was taken to hospital on Monday night has just been obtained and it seems to imply actress was convulsing after smoking a mystery substance. Advertisement >> A friend of Demi can be heard at the beginning of the 911 call on US website TMZ.com trying to get an ambulance to the star’s Beverley Hills home. There is confusion as the phone operator tries to determine which emergency service is needed and where it should be dispatched from. Once paramedics are on their way, the operator asks Demi’s friend what has happened. She replies: “She’s smoked something. It’s not marijuana but it’s similar to incense and she’s been having convulsions of some sort.” After informing the operator that Demi is 49 years old, her friend goes to sit with her, whilst remaining on the phone. She reports that Demi is “semi conscious and barely breathing” and also still convulsing. She is asked if the incident was accidental and she replies: “She smoked something but the reaction was accidental.” The phone is then passed to someone else who is asked about her breathing. “No, it’s not normal, more shaking” the second friend tells the operator. “She’s burning up. She smoked something. She’s been having some issues lately with some other stuff. I don’t know what she’s been taking.” The pal also says that Demi is unable to speak but has squeezed her hand and is still convulsing, so they are holding her down. The operator tells them not to do this, but to hold her head and keep her airways open. When the friend is asked if she has done this before, she replies: “I don’t know, there’s been some stuff recently that we’re all just finding out.” At the end of the call, a male friend comes on the line and reports that Demi is “much calmer” and is now “breathing fine” while sitting up and quietly talking.

Spanair applies to stop all its flights

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.

MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) developed resorts in several countries from its Marbella headquarters and sold furniture packs to clients.

 

 Hugely popular on the holiday market, MRI had hundreds of Irish customers and boasted an annual turnover greater than €100m before the credit crunch. It made the 35-year-old Dubliner, who now owns Peterborough Football Club, a multi-millionaire. However, a group of 51 Irish and British buyers claim that €492,000 worth of furniture, ordered more than five years ago for apartments in Morocco, Bulgaria and Cape Verde, was never delivered. Antonio Flores, the Spanish lawyer acting for the group, claims "many other" MRI customers are affected. He alleges that missing furniture is just one of the irregularities linked to MRI, or related companies. He said that an additional claim, totalling €15m, is being prepared on behalf of 200 Irish and British MRI customers claiming that they lost large sums in upfront fees. MRI has consistently denied any allegations of wrongdoing. The initial complaint regarding furniture was referred to a Marbella court and is being heard by Judge Beatriz Gomez-Escolar at the Court of Instruction. Under Spanish law, individuals can initiate criminal procedures in some cases. The judge will now decide whether Mr MacAnthony and five other defendants should face the charges of "misappropriation of funds and theft by swindle". Among those wielding placards outside the Marbella court were claimants Brendan O'Dell (52), who works for a pharmaceutical company, and his partner Elizabeth Egan (52), from Corofin, Co Clare. The couple paid €14,000 for a furniture pack for their Moroccan apartment which they claim was never delivered. "It's a joke. This has been dragging on for five years. Like everyone else here we are determined to get our money back," Mr O'Dell said. Claimants John and Muriel Andrews, from Ballycarry, Co Antrim, were also at the court. They paid MRI €29,900 in advance for two furniture packs, for apartments in Cape Verde, which they claim have never been delivered. Efforts to contact Mr MacAnthony were unsuccessful last night. But he has previously said: "There are no foundations behind these allegations. I certainly didn't do anything wrong and neither did anyone with MRI when I was there." He also said: "I operated a company which did thousands of sales around the world with many happy clients, but will forever be haunted by the few hundred for which it didn't work out." In relation to undelivered furniture, the company has said the 2008 property crash forced several of its furniture suppliers out of business and it had to engage new ones -- effectively paying twice for the same furniture order. Also accused in the Spanish case are former MRI CEOs Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering, Sarah O'Callaghan, and Nicola Shaw, a former director of MRI Ireland. The defendants face up to eight years in jail if convicted of the charges.

Family of cocaine dealers arrested in Benalmádena

 

Officers from the Málaga National Police have broken up a Colombian drugs gang based in Benalmádena which employed a team of drug mules to deliver cocaine to their Costa del Sol base. The leader is a middle-aged Colombian woman who ran a local shop selling Colombian foodstuffs, which she used as a cover for her criminal activities. Eight people have been arrested, including the woman’s boyfriend, her father, brothers and daughters. The gang bought the cocaine in Madrid, then transported it for cutting to a laboratory in Guadalajara, which has now been located by the police. Nine kilos of cocaine have been recovered in total and eight people have been taken into custody.

Marbella court takes victims' statements in fraud case against Irish real estate firm

 

50 former client of the real estate firm MacAnthony were in Marbella on Wednesday to ratify in court their complaint for fraud and misappropriation against the owner of the business, Darragh Stewart MacAnthony. Most of those affected are British and Irish, and accuse MacAnthony of keeping the 15,000 € each had paid him for the furniture he had undertaken to buy at a low price for the properties they had bought from the company. It amounts to some 600,000 € for homes purchased in Turkey, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Italy, France and Morocco, amongst other locations. Diario Sur reports that lawyers acting for the victims said most of the deals took place in MacAnthony’s offices in Marbella, but the company was left without any assets when it moved its registered address to a ghost office in Madrid. It’s purportedly administered by a 90 year old man with no known business activity.

two tons of cannabis seized in Andalucía

 

Two Moroccan were caught in the act attempting to smuggle more than two tons of cannabis onto shore in San Fernando, Cádiz province, early on Thursday. The Civil Guard were alerted after a suspicious boat was detected by the SIVE electronic surveillance system near the Caños de Gallineras area at around 5am. Officers found 69 bales of the drug on board the boat with a total weight of 2,070 kilos. It came after another drugs boat was intercepted 36 miles off the coast of Torre del Mar, in neighbouring Málaga province, on Wednesday, with 221 kilos of cannabis on board. The original size of the cargo is unknown as a number of packages were dumped overboard after a Civil Guard helicopter spotted the boat from the air. It’s understood that the vessel’s three crew are also Moroccan.

Warrant issued for arrest of ex Marbella councillor

 

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of the former Marbella councillor Esteban Guzmán in connection with the caso ‘Minutas’, relating to irregularities in work invoiced to the Town Hall by the Sevilla lawyer and President of Sevilla FC, José María del Nido. Guzmán was sentenced to 6 years and 1 day in the case, and the decision to issue the warrant was taken after he failed to report to the court after being given an extension for a hearing on its decision on any ‘precautionary measures’ which may be imposed against him. It’s understood that Guzmán was in Cuba visiting his daughter when the original hearing was held earlier this month, at which prosecutors asked that he be remanded to custody or deposit bail of 250,000 €. Del Nido and the ex Mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz, were each sentenced to 7.5 years in the case, but have been allowed to remain free while their appeal their sentences.

THE number of offenders caught smuggling tobacco into Spain from Gibraltar has more than tripled in just three years,

Spanish customs officials stopped a staggering 2,899 people carrying illegal numbers of cigarettes in the first nine months of last year.

This compares to just 985 people stopped on the frontier in the whole of 2008.

The Spanish National Tax Agency (AEAT) statistics show an alarming year-on-year rise, with 1,226 people stopped in 2009 (192,560 packets) and 2,112 people (283,203 packets) in 2010.

By the end of September last year 409,095 packets had been seized.

Many of these are being distributed by gangs around Spain, although a ‘substantial number’ are being sent abroad ‘where profits are higher’, a Spanish police source told the Olive Press.

This week, a 62-year-old man was arrested in Sevilla with 40,000 packets of illegal cigarettes, totalling a value of over 100,000 euros.

In another incident, last week, a car was stopped in Villamartin with 1750 packets, worth 6000 euros.

The trend is widely seen as a consequence of Spain’s chronic unemployment figures.

Catalan police under investigation for murder suspect's suicide

 

Officers from the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra are under investigation after a suspect in custody for a domestic violence murder managed to escape custody and committed suicide by throwing himself down a stairwell. It happened at his parents’ home in Sabadell on Sunday, where the suspect, 40 year old T.P., had fled with the couple’s two children after killing their 33 year old mother in Santa Coloma de Queralt, Tarragona, the day before. She is the sixth victim of domestic violence in Spain so far this year. Her husband had been taken to the Sabadell address in handcuffs, where police were seeking the murder weapon which had been used in the crime. He suddenly pushed the officers who were guarding him and, seconds later, jumped from the third floor into the stairwell, dying almost instantly. A judge opened the investigation into the officers involved on Monday, for the possible crime of involuntary manslaughter by omission.

Costa del Sol opposes drilling for oil and gas

 

IGNORING longstanding local opposition, energy giants will continue the search for gas and oil deposits off the Andalucia coast. The first outcries were heard years ago from the tourist sector, coastal towns and environmentalist groups after the Ministry of Industry granted permits for offshore prospecting. Disapproval has now increased following authorisation for Canadian multinational CNWL to begin prospecting in the Mar de Alboran between Malaga and Granada. No date has been announced but work is expected to begin within a month over an area of 130,000 hectares off Almuñecar, Salobreña and Motril (Granada) and Nerja and Torrox (Malaga). Opponents to the project have intensified calls for the new central government in Madrid to revoke the licences and urged both the PP and PSOE to take action. Last year saw a wave of protests after Repsol YPF’s permits for prospecting off Mijas, Fuengirola and Marbella were extended until August 20, 2013. These initiatives, said Marbella’s lady mayor, Angeles Muñoz, were an attack on tourism “our principal source of income” as well as the environment. Professional fishermen are convinced that fishing grounds will be adversely affected and it would be still worse if gas or oil were eventually located and drilling authorised. This could spell ruin for the eastern Costa de Sol, predicted Jose Luis Guerrero, head of the Caleta de Velez fishing guild. Professor Juan Ignacio Soto of Granada University did not share Guerrero’s view, however. The system that would be used – known in Spanish as “air gun” because it uses compressed air – does not adversely affect marine life, he claimed. And while many Costa del Sol residents were horrified at the vision of oil rigs off the coast, others welcomed the possibility. “Wouldn’t this benefit the Costa del Sol and Spain?” was an often-repeated comment on Internet blogs. Meanwhile, retired engineer with 30 years experience in the offshore oil industry, now living in Axarquia, David M. Ritchie, 69. Ritchie said that in the case above there has been longstanding 'local' opposition. “One has to view this opposition carefully and try to ascertain whether it is well informed through good research or just some people, although dedicated to their cause, simply spouting uninformed hot air. I fear that on the Costa del Sol the latter applies.” “Evidently the tourist sector is to the fore in protest. One must ask why? I have read the comment that oil rigs are unsightly. In fact they are no more unsightly that container ships. ferries, oil/gas tankers and cruise liners.” “ One more different vessel will make no difference or do the tourist sector, coastal towns and environmentalist groups wish to ban all shipping?” he said. Opponents to exploration have evidently intensified their calls for the new government in Madrid to revoke existing licences and urge the two major parties PP and PSOE to take action. “My response to this is simply on what scientifically and engineering research do they base their protests?” he asked. “I suspect they have little or no knowledge of the exploration and exploitation of natural hydrocarbons industry. I fear that they simply feel they must protest without really knowing why.” Would not Spain benefit enormously from any oil and gas found off its coasts? In these days of worldwide recession would it be right for a nation to turn its back on income to benefit its people on the say so of a few noisy pressure groups? The answer must be a resounding no! “Let's really talk of protest groups/organisations. Consider one of the biggest or possibly the best known one, Greenpeace. There was a storage unit called the Brent Spar on the Brent oilfield in the North Sea. When it became redundant, the owner Shell wished to demolish it in situ. Greenpeace mounted a very effective campaign against this and Shell filling stations across the UK Europe were boycotted. Greenpeace told the world that the Brent-Spar contained so many dangerous chemicals which if released would wreak havoc with wildlife and humanity. Their campaign was so successful that Shell capitulated and towed the Brent-Spar to a fjord in Norway where it could be 'safely' demolished under close scientific monitoring and the death dealing chemicals could be identified and safely contained. What did these experts find? Nothing, absolutely nothing! All of Greenpeace's 'scientifically backed' predictions were proved to be nothing more than false and very loud posturing. Did Greenpeace go to any pains at all to tell the world that they had made a mistake? No! Not even the smallest 'oops'. Greenpeace were proved to be loud mouthed ignoramuses.” “I left the British Royal Air Force in 1969 and joined the fledgling offshore industry in early 1970. The offshore expertise in those days was American as they had been operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Within a very short time British expertise had left the Americans behind and British 'oilmen' became the crews of choice. It was in UK offshore operations where the present strict high operational standards were developed and honed. Development of safe practices went hand in hand with operational development and in the 30 years from 1970 to 2000 the whole industry became a safer one. But of course one can never eliminate accidents and the industry suffers from any accident being a major news item providing fodder for pressure groups who chose to ignore any statistics which in a global sense showed the offshore industry as a comparatively safe one. I have never been involved directly in any incident leading to injury or contamination. Likewise I have never seen any fishing adversely affected but have seen the opposite happen and fish stocks around an offshore installation increase. I agree with Juan Ignacio Soto of Granada University when he sees no problem from drilling operations or initial sonar type surveys. As a resident of Spain I welcome any exploration and exploitation of Natural hydrocarbon resources. Oil or gas finds turned into an industry would benefit the country and the people of Spain tremendously. To oppose the exploration for oil or gas is to deny a great source of income for the whole country, so I willingly oppose the opposers.”

Spain Plans Budget Law as Drug Firms Owed $8.4 Billion by States

 

Spain pledged to set spending limits for regional governments in a new law tomorrow as the country’s pharmaceutical lobby said the regions owe companies $8.4 billion for drugs. The People’s Party Cabinet plans the budget-stability law to flesh out a constitutional amendment that the party helped the former Socialist government pass in September. Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said “early warning” and “automatic correction” systems will be set up to prevent overspending and sanctions will be strengthened. “The aim is to guarantee the budget stability of all administrations, boost confidence and strengthen Spain’s commitments to the European Union,” Montoro told a parliamentary committee today in Madrid. Spain’s PP government, in power since December, is trying to convince investors it can reduce its budget deficit by almost half in 2012 even as the economy suffers its second recession in two years. The law aims to increase discipline in the regional governments, which have accumulated unpaid bills after they were shut out of public debt markets and saw their tax revenues collapse. Spain’s 17 regions owed pharmaceutical companies 6.37 billion euros at the end of 2011, lobby group Farmaindustria said today in a statement. That debt has risen 36 percent from a year earlier as payments were delayed by an average of 525 days, according to the group, which has urged Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to sell bonds backed by the unpaid bills in a program that would be guaranteed by the government. Credit Line As regions including Valencia suffer from a liquidity squeeze, Montoro has offered the states a credit line to allow them to pay unpaid bills. The government will seek tighter deficit plans in return, he said. The budget law will prevent spending rising more than projected economic growth, while giving debt redemptions and interest payments priority over other public spending. The ratio of debt to gross domestic product will be limited to 60 percent, Montoro said. The PP or its allies govern in most of Spain’s 17 regions, strengthening the government’s hand to reorder public finances. The regions, which missed their combined budget goals in 2010 and 2011, control about a third of public spending and hire half of the countries’ public workers. “We have seen the willingness of all the regional governments that Spain should have a new budget-stability law,” Montoro said today.

Spain’s de Guindos Says Home Prices to Fall With Bank Cleanup

 

A cleanup of real estate on the books of Spanish banks will contribute to a decline in property prices that will make homes available to more people, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said. Spanish banks are “filling up” with real-estate assets such as apartments that aren’t going to market because they’re not being priced properly, de Guindos said in an interview with state broadcaster TVE today. When they are priced at their real value “we’ll find that the price of housing in Spain will fall more, there’ll be an adjustment and it will be available for a lot more people,” he said. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government has pledged to cleanup real-estate assets such as building land and unfinished apartment complexes that have piled up on the books of the country’s banks as part of its strategy to bolster growth and confidence in the economy. Spanish lenders have 176 billion euros ($228 billion) of “troubled” assets related to real estate on their balance sheets, according to the Bank of Spain. House prices, which more than doubled in the decade through 2007, turned negative in the first quarter of 2008 and have since fallen by about 17 percent, according to the Ministry of Development and Public Works. Prices fell 8.2 percent in 2011, accelerating their slide, and sellers should brace for further declines this year, the property website Idealista.com said last month.

RUSSIAN Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, is not planning to buy a property in Marbella, Benhavis or anywhere else on the Costa del Sol.

This was revealed exclusively to EWN by the Prime Minister’s press office which rubbished widespread reports in the Spanish and at least one local English language newspaper. Citing Spanish gossip magazine Vanitatis, these reports claimed Putin was ‘keen to snap up’ a mansion in La Zagaleta, Benhavis, described as ‘Europe's most exclusive residential development’, according to lazagaleta.com. Several reports said Putin was convinced to buy a property in La Zagaleta by former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov who lives in the urbanization. An official from Putin’s press office laughed off the reports, and revealed EWN was the first to ask them if the story was accurate.

3 years after US accident, boat washes up in Spain

 

As he swam toward the coast of Nantucket, Mass. in August 2008, Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee. But yesterday, more than three years after Douglas and his brother-in-law were tossed off the boat by a wave, the U.S. Coast Guard called to say the vessel had washed up on the Spanish coast. It was rusty and covered in barnacles, but intact. "It looks entirely different," Douglas said upon seeing the photos. "That's amazing." Douglas remembers the water was restless on the day he set out to sea, and the fish weren't biting. He tried to keep the boat stationary, bracing himself as huge rollers crashed into it. advertisement "At all times, it's a very sketchy area," Douglas told msnbc.com. "You wouldn't want to be dumped in the ocean there." But that's exactly what happened when a rogue wave knocked Douglas and his brother-in-law, Rich St. Pierre, off the boat and into a sink-or-swim fight for survival. Douglas remembers thinking the water was not too cold. "The only way I was going to survive was just to get started, not tread water," he said. But swimming didn't come as easy to St. Pierre, 68, who had gone through open heart surgery a year earlier. However, a survival kit containing an inflatable device had been knocked off the boat and floated to St. Pierre's side. It was a miracle, Douglas said, noting that the kit was the only item from the boat in the water with them.  Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear in 2008, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee. Douglas swam for about an hour and made it to shore on Smith's Point, a beach off the coast of Nantucket. Dripping wet and exhausted, he walked up to a cabin and asked to use the phone to alert the Coast Guard. Not long after, he saw St. Pierre walking on dry land. "At the end of the day, it just wasn't our time," Douglas said.  While that marked the end of their ordeal, the Queen Bee's journey didn't end there.  Lt. Joe Klinker, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said the most likely scenario is that the boat somehow got across the continental shelf and into the Gulf Stream. "From there it may drift north off the coast of northern Canada and then east with the North Atlantic currents," Klinker told msnbc.com. He said it's rare, but not unheard of for an object off the coastline of the United States to drift across the Atlantic to Europe. But a boat? "I've never heard of anything like this," Klinker said. Smith's Point Llanes NRoad 1000 miles1000 miles 2500 km2500 km  It's not uncommon, he said, for the Coast Guard to locate derelict ships from Florida off the coast of Virginia, or vessels from Virginia off the coast of Massachusetts, but never in Europe.  The ability to withstand the hardships of the Atlantic has a lot to do with the make of the boat, Klinker said. The Queen Bee is a 26-foot center console fishing boat made by Regulator.  "It probably could have floated for another three years," Klinker said. The Spanish Coast Guard alerted their U.S. counterpart Tuesday. Based on salvage law, the boat now belongs to Spain. Douglas, who is now retired and lives in New Jersey, said he doesn't want the boat back. But with four grandchildren, he has thought about turning Queen Bee's story into a children's book.    "It's interesting to see what life takes and gives," he said.

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet, but the findings are too good to be true for Canadians, experts say.

A study in Wednesday's issue of the British Medical Journal suggests that frying foods in olive and sunflower oils is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or premature death.

The Mediterranean diet favours fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. (iStock)

Prof. Pilar Guallar-Castillón from Autonomous University of Madrid and her co-authors surveyed the cooking methods of 40,757 adults aged 29 to 69 over an 11-year period. None of the participants had heart disease when the study began.

The people were asked in a typical week whether they ate food that was fried, battered, crumbed or sautéed. Their answers were divided into categories based on how much fried food they consumed.

During the follow-up period, there were 606 events linked to heart disease and 1,134 deaths.

"In Spain, a Mediterranean country where olive or sunflower oil is used for frying, the consumption of fried foods was not associated with coronary heart disease," the study's authors concluded.

The results directly apply only to Mediterranean countries where foods are fried in a similar way to Spain, the researchers noted.

Spanish participants more active

"When I look at the group of patients evaluated in Spain 10 years ago, they were much more active and fit than we are as Canadians nowadays," said Dr. Beth Abramson, a cardiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

And overall, people in the study ate a diet that was heart healthier than a typical North American diet.

The Mediterranean regime favours fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and whole grains.

"Occasionally having some fried food now and then isn't going to be harmful probably in the long run, but routinely frying food just adds to the chance that you're going to become overweight and out of shape," Abramson said.

The investigators only questioned participants about their diet at the start of the study, which isn't as reliable as checking in more often, Abramson said.

Floria Aghdamimehr, a wellness and life coach in Halifax who teaches people how to improve their diet, said the study confirms the value of using olive oil, though sparingly.

The nutritional content of foods changes when they are fried, Aghdamimehr said.

Nutritional changes with frying

"Most of the deep-fried foods people eat in North America … [uses] oil [that] is being recycled — reused several times,” Aghdamimehr said.

In Spain, fried food doesn't equal fast food from restaurants the way it often does in North America, the researchers said.

"Frying leads to an increase in trans fats and a decrease in unsaturated fats in foods," said Prof. Michael Leitzmann of the department of the epidemiology and preventive medicine at University of Regensburg in Germany in a journal editorial published with the Spanish study.

"Frying also increases the energy density of food and makes food more palatable, which may lead to the consumption of larger amounts."

The study was funded by the Fund for Health of Spain, five Spanish regional governments and the Catlan Institute of Oncology.

Underworld bankers Daniel Keenan and Andrew Barnett who laundered £17m of drug money are jailed

 

Two underworld bankers who laundered more than £17million in drug money have been jailed for a total of 17 years. Daniel Keenan, 41, and Andrew Barnett, 45, used a stolen identity to clean up proceeds from a massive cocaine and heroin dealing operation by making currency exchanges They were caught out when police stopped Barnett with £500,000 in cash stuffed into a satchel. The pair were subsequently linked to Ian Kiernan, who was jailed for 20 years in 2001 for his key role in one of Britain's biggest-ever drug smuggling plots. Andrew Barnett (left) and Daniel Keenan (right) laundered the vast proceeds from a cocaine and heroin ring by making currency exchanges Barnett was stopped on 26 November 2009 near Marble Arch carrying a satchel found to contain 535,000 euros in 200 euro notes. He also had a receipt from a nearby money service bureau called Interchange. Convicted blackmailer Keenan contacted the police station a few days later, claiming he had asked Barnett to carry out the transaction, and was promptly arrested on suspicion of money laundering. Investigations revealed Keenan used a stolen identity to set up his Interchange account. Since opening the account in April 2008, Keenan and Barnett had made more than 300 transactions totaling more £17million. The money was generally brought in for exchange in £20 notes in large bags. The pair admitted money laundering but initially claimed the cash came from illicit gambling on horse racing. But after a two-day hearing at Southwark Crown Court they admitted knowing that that bundles of cash had come from drug deals. This is some of the money recovered by police from the pair, who were caught when officers stopped Barnett with £500,000 worth of currency stuffed into a satchel Jailing Keenan for 11 years and Barnett for six years, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said the offences were 'hugely successful' and committed while Keenan was on license from prison. He told Keenan: 'Interchange was visited more than 400 times as you or others delivered cash amounting to a total of £17.5million. 'I accept that initially you thought you were being used to launder the proceeds of illegal gambling. 'But eventually the amounts of money involved must have made it clear that they could only come from the most serious of crimes - sale of Class A drugs. 'You yourself signed for 58 deliveries amounting to £12million while your assistant Mr Barnett signed for about £5 million. 'When police detained Mr Barnett you came up with a number of explanations and produced quantities of false paperwork to try and justify your business which included the use of other people's identities.' Daniel Keenan is here seen on CCTV counting out huge piles of banknotes. Keenan and Barnett laundered more than £17million in organised crime profits Barnett had claimed he was simply acting on behalf of Keenan and was paid £200 each time he want to the Interchange. Drug baron Ian Kiernan had been jailed for 20 years and banned from racecourses for 10 years after a Jockey Club investigation found he was involved in corruption in horseracing. The head of the syndicate, Brian Wright - dubbed The Milkman because he always delivered - was jailed for 30 years in 2007. The link between Kiernan, described as the drug ring's storeman, and the launderers was only discovered in December when police investigated Keenan's mobile phone records. Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls said: 'When Mr Keenan's phone records were looked at they showed that that most of the calls were made to his partner, then his mum, and then Kiernan, in that order.' He was found to have been in contact with Kiernan - who was on temporary licence from HMP Latchmere - on all but one of the days on which transactions of more than £400,000 were processed. Keenan was serving a five-year sentence for blackmail and consiring to defraud the clothes shop Monsoon when he met Kiernan in jail. The court heard Barnett visited Kiernan in prison in 2003, Mr Fenhalls said it was 'inconceivable that Barnett... did not know that he was assisting Keenan to launder the proceeds of cocaine dealing on a vast scale. 'No other explanation or inference sensibly arises from the available evidence.' Barnett, of Twickenham, Middlesex and Keenan, of Egham, Surrey, admitted converting criminal property. Keenan also admitted fraud by false representation, having a fake passport and possession of articles used in fraud, a fake bank card.

Drug smugglers and dealers to get law thaw in UK

 

Drug smugglers and street dealers could avoid prison in the UK even if caught with heroin, cocaine or thousands of pounds worth of cannabis, under new guidelines on drug offenses published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales on Tuesday. The new guidelines, to come into force next month, on February 27, were put out following a three-month public consultation. They cover importation, supply, production, permitting premises to be used for drug-related activities, and possession offences. "Drug offending has to be taken seriously. Drug abuse underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime, and dealing can blight communities. Offending and offenders vary widely, so we have developed this guideline to ensure there is effective guidance for sentencers and clear information for victims, witnesses and the public on how drug offenders are sentenced,” said Lord Justice Hughes, deputy chairman of the Sentencing Council, as quoted by the British media. According to the official website of the Council, the guidelines intend to distinguish the leading players in drug smuggling from those in subordinate roles such as drug mules, who may be coerced or misled into carrying drugs. It will mean that sentences are based on a court’s assessment of the offender’s role, and on the quantity of drugs involved, or the scale of the operation. Reports suggest offenders who play a “limited” role in gangs, including low-level dealers and so-called drug mules, who bring narcotics into the country, could now face community orders rather than jail sentences. This particular draft received major support during the consultations. Drug barons playing a leading role in large-scale offences such as smuggling and supply will continue to face long prison sentences, as will those who sell directly to the public, especially to children. Police have suggested that gang leaders would be able to escape jail by claiming that they were lesser members. “How can a court be expected to differentiate between the person who says, I am very low in the chain, and those high up?” questioned Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, as quoted by The Telegraph. “No matter how big a role I played, if I was in their shoes and arrested for drugs I would say I was a low-level player or forced into it. If they can see a loophole, then of course they will go through it.” Under the new guidelines, dealers caught with 6kg of cannabis, valued at thousands of US dollars, or 20 ecstasy tablets, could now avoid prison and receive a community sentence. Heroin and cocaine dealers deemed to have played only a “minimal” role and workers in small cannabis “farms” could also escape custody.

London hospitals write off 'over 90%' owed by foreign patients

 

London hospitals have written off more than 90% of what they are owed by foreign patients not entitled to free NHS care, BBC London has learned. A Freedom of Information request showed Newham Hospital Trust wrote off 96% of what it had invoiced last year. Meanwhile, Basildon and Thurrock wrote off 97% of what it was owed, having previously recovered £68,061 out of £116,561 of its debt. In total, £7.6m was written off by 33 NHS trusts in the region, since 2009. Across the trusts, a total of £26m is owed by patients, of which £18.4m continues to be actively sought. However, hospital trusts said chasing the money was difficult if patients leave the UK. In a statement, Basildon and Thurrock said: "We scrupulously manage our finances and only write off debt after following the full debt collection process." Continue reading the main story Hospital variations in amount written off Newham Hospital wrote off £345,000 out of £358,000 Basildon and Thurrock wrote off £47,000 out of £48,500 Hillingdon hospital wrote off £335,000 out of £660,000 Luton and Dunstable wrote off 2,000 out of 85,000 South London wrote off £29,000 out of £481,000 All figures relate to 2010-11 All hospitals are required to recover money owed for treating these patients.

Suspect held in Spain in killing of Connecticut jeweler

 

A man wanted in connection with the killing and robbery of a Connecticut jeweler has been arrested in Spain, U.S. authorities said Tuesday. Andrew Robert Levene, also known as Robert Thomas, was arrested Monday, said U.S. Attorney David Fein and local and state law enforcement. The 41-year-old Levene was charged with federal murder, robbery and firearm offenses in the Dec. 8 shooting of Yekutiel Zeevi, the owner of YZ Manufacturers LLC in Westport. Levene contacted Zeevi in early December, asking him for several diamonds that were to two to three karats and valued between $45,000 and $75,000, authorities said. The evening before the shooting, Zeevi met Levene, who examined the diamonds and was noncommittal about buying them, authorities said. Levene met with Zeevi again on Dec. 8 on the ruse that he would buy several large diamonds he had arranged to purchase that month, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Connecticut. Instead, Levene shot and killed Zeevi, authorities said. Levene, who had military training in the use of weapons, stole about $300,000 in diamonds, authorities said. Ronen Konfino, an executive at a New York diamond business, also was shot but survived and helped police with the investigation. It wasn't immediately known if Levene had a lawyer. Levene traveled to Amsterdam from Philadelphia on Dec. 11 after missing a flight to Madrid, law enforcement officials said. Police said in mid-December that Levene had been seen in Philadelphia, possibly casing stores. The Connecticut Post reports that Zeevi was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and served as a commando in the Israeli navy.

Spain’s Two Finance Ministers Clash on Budget Amid Recession

 

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Spain is sticking to its deficit goal even as the economy shrinks, underlining a rift in the month-old Cabinet over whether the nation can halve its shortfall during a recession. De Guindos said the government’s commitment to budget cuts is “total” and there’s “no change” to this year’s target. His comments in Brussels today came after reporters asked him about Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro’s call on Jan. 22 for the European Union to ease Spain’s 2012 deficit goal to take its shrinking economy into account. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy divided the Finance Ministry in two after coming to power in December, putting People’s Party veteran Montoro in charge of the budget and giving de Guindos, a former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. banker, responsibility for the economy. Rajoy didn’t make either of them deputy prime minister, as the last two finance chiefs were, saying he would oversee economic issues himself. “It’s a trial of strength to see who’s really in charge of economic issues, and Rajoy will just let it happen,” said Ismael Crespo, a political scientist at the Fundacion Ortega- Maranon research institute in Madrid, who was head of the state polling unit when the PP was last in power. “Montoro is speaking more to the public and Guindos is speaking more to the foreigners,” he said in a telephone interview. Economy Contracting Spain’s government needs to rein in its borrowing costs and convince investors it can cut the euro region’s third-largest budget deficit even as the economy enters its second recession in two years. The Bank of Spain said yesterday the economy contracted in the fourth quarter and may shrink 1.5 percent in 2012, adding to pressure on Rajoy, who won the Nov. 20 election on a pledge of creating jobs. Budget Minister Montoro, a 61-year-old public-finance professor and lawmaker for Seville, said on Jan. 22 the EU should ease Spain’s budget target of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product this year as the goal was set by the previous government, which expected the economy to grow 2.3 percent. The deficit amounted to 8 percent of GDP last year, overshooting the 6 percent target. “If Brussels doesn’t adapt the stability program to the new scenario of a recession, it won’t be realistic and not only will Spain sink but the whole of Europe,” Montoro said in an interview with La Vanguardia newspaper in comments confirmed by a Budget Ministry spokeswoman. Austerity Commitment EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn rejected Montoro’s comments today after a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels, saying it’s “essential” that Spain meets the target, and must take more measures to do so. De Guindos, 52, who described Montoro in December as his “mentor” and “friend,” said Spain would keep its promises. The task of attending the European meetings falls to de Guindos, who speaks fluent English, while Montoro stays in Spain. “The government’s deficit target is 4.4 percent and there is no change in this respect,” de Guindos said after the meeting today. It isn’t the first time the pair has given differing messages in the past week. De Guindos, who is not a member of parliament, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 19 that budget cuts were “not a choice.” The same day Montoro was quoted as telling the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper that the nation may miss its budget goal. The two gave conflicting reports of the 2011 deficit on Jan. 2, as de Guindos said the overshoot may have been even greater than the government’s first estimate. De Guindos’ position on this year’s shortfall is backed up by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, who said on Jan. 20 that the government was “determined” to meet the existing target. Rajoy holds a news conference later today after meeting Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho at 5 p.m. in Lisbon.

Italian fugitive arrested in Almería

 

An Italian fugitive has been arrested in Almería on a European arrest warrant for pending sentences amounting to almost 10 years behind bars. His crimes include drug trafficking, violent robbery, illegal possession of weapons and falsifying documents. It’s understood from EFE that his criminal record goes back for more than 20 years. The man, named as Maurizio R. aged 56, was arrested in Almería City in the early hours of Friday after discovered that he had moved to the province.

Vladimir Putin is moving to Marbella

 

The Russian Prime Minister is currently buying a property in the luxury La Zagaleta urbanisation in Benhavís. Website Vanitatis reports Putin has been convinced of the charms of the area by the ex Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, who already lives in the urbanisation which he describes as ‘my place in the world’, where he has planted fruit trees and install three hives which give ‘a fantastic honey’. Those who live in the urbanisation have the right to vote on whether or not to accept any new neighbour, and Vanitatis reports that some of the people who have been rejected include Julio Iglasias, Shakira and David Beckham. Hugh Grant was accepted however. Other residents are one of the most important leaders of Iran, Ak Kujala, who was indicted in the Ballena Blanca money laundering case, and the British businessman Sean Woodhall who has been found guilty of fraud in the UK linked to car sales. Putin looks likely to be the new Kashogui in Marbella, famous as he was for his luxury finca in Al Baraka with gold taps covered with rubies.

Suspect held in Spain in killing of Conn. jeweler

 

A man wanted in connection with the killing and robbery of a Connecticut jeweler has been arrested in Spain, U.S. authorities said Tuesday. Andrew Robert Levene, also known as Robert Thomas, was arrested Monday, said U.S. Attorney David Fein and local and state law enforcement. The 41-year-old Levene was charged with federal murder, robbery and firearm offenses in the Dec. 8...

Prosecutors urge Spain court to halt judge's trial

 

Spanish prosecutors called Tuesday for the dismissal of charges against top judge Baltasar Garzon on the opening day of his trial for abuse of power in probing Franco-era crimes. Public prosecutors and the defence agreed that Garzon, who won international fame with his attempt to extradite Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from London, had done nothing wrong. They called on the Supreme Court to throw out the case, which was opened following a private complaint filed by two right-wing groups. "We agree with the arguments put forward by the defence. We ask that the trial be shelved," public prosecutor Luis Navajas told the court as Garzon, wearing his black judge's robes, looked on. Judges adjourned the trial until January 31 when they will announce a decision on the motion for dismissal. Garzon is scheduled to testify that day. The 56-year-old judge is being prosecuted for ordering an investigation into the disappearance of 114,000 people during Spain's 1936-39 civil war and General Francisco Franco's subsequent dictatorship. He is charged with exceeding his powers on the grounds that the alleged crimes were covered by an amnesty agreed in 1977 as Spain moved towards democracy two years after Franco's death. Garzon argues that the acts were crimes against humanity and therefore not subject to the amnesty agreed by Spain's main political parties. If convicted he would not go to prison but could be suspended from the legal profession for up to 20 years, putting an end to his career. About 200 supporters rallied outside the Madrid court, many brandishing black-and-white photographs of family members killed during the Franco era. "Garzon, friend, the people are with you," they chanted. "We want memory! We want justice!" The judges detractors, mainly from Spain's right, accuse him of opening old wounds with his bid to probe crimes from the Franco era and of seeking the media spotlight by repeatedly taking on high-profile cases. His backers argue that the trial, along with a separate case heard last week at the Supreme Court over illegal wiretapping in a corruption case, are acts of revenge against the judge for daring to tackle the abuses of the Franco regime. After the civil war the Franco regime routinely rounded up suspected left-wing opponents as it sought to consolidate power. Many faced firing squads and were dumped in unmarked mass graves. British historian Nigel Townson estimates 50,000 people were killed after the conflict had ended in what he has called "the most severe peacetime repression in any country in Europe, barring the Soviet Union." Garzon "is a brave judge," said Mercedes del Vas, 49, whose grandmother and two other relatives were killed by Franco's forces, as she took part in the protest outside the Supreme Court. "He is the only one who has dared to investigate the Franco crimes. He is in court and the killers are in the street." A number of human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticised the trial and top Spanish artists such as Oscar-winning film director Pedro Almodovar have expressed support for Garzon. Garzon came to international prominence in 1998 when he ordered the extradition of Pinochet from Britain to face charges of human rights abuses. The judge has also pursued members of the former dictatorship in Argentina, indicted Osama bin Laden and probed abuses at the US prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Garzon was suspended from his duties at the National Court, Spain's top criminal court, in May 2010 and currently works as a consultant at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Princes William and Harry fly to Spain for secret weekend hunting trip

 

They bagged themselves several brace of pheasant at Sandringham over Christmas. But at the weekend Prince William and Prince Harry set their sights on bigger game. The brothers flew to Spain on Friday for a secret hunting trip to celebrate the end of Harry's advanced helicopter training. The royal pair were staying on an estate in the backwaters of rural Cordoba owned by the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, Britain's third-richest man and one of William's godfathers. Finca La Garganta, near the village of Conquista, on the border of Castilla La Mancha, is one of the largest and most exclusive hunting estates in western Europe. It is teeming with wildlife including wild boar and stag which William and Harry, both crack shots, are said to be keen to bag. Beaters and packs of dogs were brought in to ensure that the princes did not return home without several 'kills' to their name. The brothers have visited the estate before and last time were said to have bagged a staggering 740 partridge on a single day. The second and third in line to the throne arrived in Spain on Friday on separate flights as they are not allowed to travel together in case of an accident. William , 29, who was not believed to be accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, flew into Seville while Harry, 27, arrived on a private jet at Cuidad Real Central later in the afternoon.

British peer calls for abolition of time limit on expat voting

 

Britons who live abroad currently have no voting rights if they have been out of the country for more than 15 years An estimated 5.6 million Britons currently live abroad but, under UK law, those who have been out of the country for more than 15 years have no right to vote in British elections. There has been support for changes to the law in a recent debate on electoral reform in the House of Lords. The Telegraph reports this week on a comment from Lord Lexden, the Conservative Party’s official historian, that the time limit is, ‘a problem which has been allowed to go on for far too long.’ He proposed that the government’s plans to reform the electoral system could provide the ‘perfect vehicle’ to abolish a limit which he said has been ‘chopped and changed’ ‘without rationale.’ It was originally set at five years in 1985, was extended to 20 years in 1989, and was then reduced to 15 in 2002. Brian Cave from the website www.votes-for-expat-brits.com, which campaigns for the right to vote for Britons abroad, told the Telegraph, ‘To have Lord Lexden make such a long speech and make such telling comments was a milestone in our campaign.’ The newspaper however notes a comment by the Labour peer Lord Lipsey during a radio debate last month that there was, ‘no chance’ of the limit being abolished.

British driver arrested after Sevilla hit and run

 

23 year old Briton has been arrested in Campillos, Málaga, by the Guardia Civil in connection with a hit and run accident at a petrol station in Gillena Sevilla last Thursday. A petrol station worker was injured and had to be admitted to the Virgen del Rocio Hospital, and the driver failed to stop. The Briton lives in Campillos and has been named with the initials W.A.F., and has been taken to Sevilla to attend the court which has charge of the case. By chance a member of the public had seen a TV report on the wanted driver and recognised him coincidentally at a petrol station in Campillos.

Bad news for foreign victims of Costa del Sol mortgage scam

 

The National Court will not be investigating the mortgage fraud which was reported last year by twenty foreign residents of the Costa del Sol and which affected victims all along the Spanish coastline. Most of the banks and foreign financial advisors involved were from Denmark who informed their clients that, if they died without a mortgage on their Spanish property, their heirs would be subject to hefty inheritance taxes which they would never be able to pay. They were then offered a mortgage on their property, with the money invested outside Spain, mainly in Luxembourg. El Mundo reports that the investments did not however go well, and the victims are now in danger of losing their homes. The Málaga victims are represented by the Marbella law firm Lawbird, who told El Mundo, ‘This is complete judicial apathy from this court, which considers the complaint as lacking in relevance.’ ‘It contrasts,’ they said, ‘with the rapid response from the Danish government which has announced that it will investigate the manoeuvres which invested the funds from the loans in fiscal paradises.’

Court orders Spanish woman to return her children to her husband in the UK

 

Spanish woman resident in Valencia, named by EFE as Carolina A.G., has been ordered by a local court to return her children to their father in the UK, where the family moved in 2008. Her estranged husband is a Nigerian man who obtained Spanish nationality after they married in Spain in 2003. The couple has three children, now aged 8 and 5 years old and, the youngest, just 4 months. Their mother says she has suffered abuse from her husband throughout her marriage, and she finally reported the abuse last year. She also reported him for rape. She told the EFE news agency, ‘I feared for mine and my children’s lives … he has also mistreated the eldest and he even punched me in the stomach when I was pregnant with my last child.’ She decided to return to Spain after he threatened to take the children to Nigeria and she was advised by the Spanish Consulate in Nottingham that it was better for her children to be in Spain. The mother does not have sole custody, and a Valencia court applied the Hague Convention in its ruling made public on Monday, considering to be responsible for illegal abduction. It also said that she has violated an order from a Nottingham court banning her from taking two of her children outside the jurisdiction of England and Wales. The denuncias against the husband were not taken into account by the Valencia court and the mother’s lawyer has now requested a letter rogatory to the UK justice system for the official complaints to be provided to Spain. It’s understood that he has also lodged a denuncia for rape and abuse at the National Court, as the body which is responsible for safeguarding the rights of any Spanish citizen.

Spanish tourism received a welcome boost last week with UK travel agents reporting a rise in interest and bookings to the country.

 

Spanish tourism received a welcome boost last week with UK travel agents reporting a rise in interest and bookings to the country. The news came when on Friday the Post Office revealed evidence that resort prices have crashed by as much as 40% compared to 5 years ago. That, combined with political unrest in some other popular tourist destinations and the fact that the pound is at a 2 year high against the euro has once again made Spain an affordable and favourite option. The annual survey conducted by the Post Office measured the prices of 8 items in resorts across 33 destinations around the world. Those items included a cup of coffee in a bar or café; a bottle of local beer; a 1.5 litre bottle of water from a supermarket; a can of Coca-Cola; a three course evening meal for two adults; sunscreen; insect repellent and a pack of cigarettes. The results of the survey showed that Spain came out the second cheapest with an average price of £37.72 for the 8 items. It was topped only by Sri Lanka offering the best value at £27.95. With people looking for a cheap way to enjoy fun in the sun and the Post Office currently offering a currency rate of 1.165€ to the pound (prices correct as of Friday 13th Jan.) it is thought a new wave of visitors will be enjoying the delights of Spain this year with the firm’s Holiday Money Report concluding: ‘Resort prices in the Costa del Sol are now 40% lower than 5 years ago, when we conducted the first price barometer. The cheaper cost of travel to Spain will make it a compelling choice for bargain hunters. So does the rising value of the UK pound - up 6.4% against the euro in the past three months.’ Turkey has in recent years been a serious rival to Spain's top status for bargain breaks but this year it proved to be 60% more expensive than Spain. This year, Turkey was17th in terms of the cheapest option according to the Post Office survey. At the other end of the scale the survey showed Australia to be the most expensive country for the 8 items at a staggering £115.69, together with Barbados, Singapore and New Zealand. The biggest rises were recorded in Kenya, where the basket was 52% more expensive than last year and Portugal, where the increase was 39%.

Crash and burn time for Spain's crusading judge?

 

He indicted late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on genocide charges and became an instant hero to many around the world. A decade later he launched a similar crimes-against-humanity probe over atrocities by the right-wing victors of Spain's Civil War. Now Judge Baltasar Garzon is finding himself in the dock. On Tuesday, Garzon goes on trial for allegedly ordering illegal jailhouse wiretaps in a domestic corruption probe. A week later he appears in court to face charges he overstepped his authority in the Civil War case. Supporters say he's the victim of a witchhunt by courthouse colleagues jealous of his fame and of arch-conservatives angered by his attempt to revisit Spain's war-time past. Whatever the motivations, Spain's once high-flying but now-suspended super sleuth may be about to crash and burn definitively. Garzon doesn't face jail time if convicted in either trial. But he can be removed from the bench for up to 20 years, which at his age — 56 — would in effect end his career as an investigating magistrate at the National Court. The judge — who also charged Osama bin Laden and probed abuses at the United States' Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects — is separately under investigation over his dealings with a big Spanish bank. Garzon's lawyer says the precedent set by the trials, plus the probe which could lead to a third trial, will make it virtually impossible for Garzon to take up his post again even if he is acquitted in all three cases. "Judge Garzon is facing the perfect storm," said the attorney, Gonzalo Martinez-Fresneda. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the fact that Garzon was even charged for probing killings and forced disappearances by supporters of Gen. Francisco Franco during and after the 1936-39 war is an outrage. The group's spokesman, Reed Brody, said it is already discouraging judges in other countries from applying the principles of law he championed. Both sides in the Spanish war — the Republican side and Franco's rebel right-wing forces — committed atrocities. But they were addressed by a post-Franco-era amnesty approved by Parliament. Republican atrocities against pro-Franco civilians had already been thoroughly documented by the regime. The specific charge against Garzon is that he knowingly overstepped the bounds of his jurisdiction with his unprecedented albeit abortive probe of crimes committed by the Franco side. Garzon, a workaholic from a modest background in Spain's olive-growing south, certainly never expected to find himself in court as a criminal suspect. Rights advocates in Spain and abroad adore him for his pioneering cross-border justice cases, which apply the principle of universal jurisdiction — the idea that some crimes are so heinous they can be prosecuted anywhere, not just in the country where they are alleged to have been committed. Since Garzon had Pinochet arrested in London in 1998 in an ultimately failed bid to put him on trial in Madrid, Garzon and colleagues at the National Court have issued indictments and arrest warrants over crimes in such far-flung places as Tibet and Rwanda. The effect here in Spain has been largely symbolic. There's been only one conviction — that of an Argentine 'dirty war' suspect who came to Spain voluntarily to testify and ended up charged and convicted in 2005. And there has been one extradition. But the arrest of Pinochet inspired victims of abuses, especially in Latin American countries like Argentina, Chile and Guatemala, to challenge and win the repeal of laws giving amnesty to perpetrators of atrocities committed by military juntas, said Brody. "Garzon changed the world," he said. Spain's decision to put Garzon on trial before the Supreme Court, he added, "leaves Spain open to the charge of double standards: they are willing to work for justice in so many other countries and yet at home they have problems with a judge who seeks justice."

3 ETA suspects arrested in France

 

 

 

 

French police acting alongside Spanish counterparts have arrested three men at a railway station in France on suspicion of belonging to Basque separatist group ETA, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. One of those arrested in Joigny, 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Paris, was identified as 33-year-old Jon Echeverria Oyarbide, for whom there is an international arrest warrant. Police said he was in possession of material used in the manufacture of explosives. Echevarria was found in possession of bomb-making materials. The others were identified as Ruben Rivero Campo, who is wanted for "an election offense" and Inigo Sancho Marco, who is not on a wanted list, the ministry said in a statement, adding the arrests took place Saturday afternoon. The statement said officers had spotted Echeverria at Bercy railway station in Paris and tailed him covertly to Joigny, where an apparent rendezvous with the other men took place. The men were armed and police found a car with false license plates in the station car park in Joigny. The arrests occurred a day after Spain's Interior Minister, Jorge Fernandez, insisted that as long as ETA existed its members would be hunted down. Spanish state broadcaster TVE said the three were being held at Auxerre police station awaiting transport to Paris. ETA has killed 829 people since the late 1960s in bombings and shootings aiming to force the creation of a Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France. It is classified as a terrorist organization by Spain, the United States and the European Union. Waves of arrests in recent years have repeatedly weakened ETA's structure and diminished its ability to perform acts of terror or collect funds.

M&S workers pose nude for charity calendar sold under the counter

A calendar with pictures of scantily clad Marks & Spencer staff has raised £2,500 for charity despite having to be sold under the counter.

The M&S workers were asked to keep the calendar under the counter (Picture: SWNS)

The publication features naked and topless workers in Calendar Girls-type poses involving items for sale such as cakes, newspapers, underwear and marshmallows. 

It was not intended for sale to the public but word got around and copies were bought discreetly.

‘We weren’t really allowed to put it on display in the shop,’ said one member of staff at the store in Barnstaple, Devon.

‘It was a bit of a brown paper bag job, to be honest.’

The saucy calendar is raising money for North Devon District Hospital's Chemotherapy appeal. (Picture: SWNS)

Marks insists only a limited number of calendars were produced, all of which have now been sold.  

A M&S spokesman said: 'M&S supports the Barnstaple store's efforts to raise funds for the North Devon Health Care Chemotherapy Unit. 

'A limited number of calendars were produced by members of staff for sale to friends and family, and were never intended for commercial sale in-store

Three people were found alive on Sunday as rescuer workers continued to search a partly submerged Italian cruise ship

 

Three people were found alive on Sunday as rescuer workers continued to search a partly submerged Italian cruise ship resting just off this small island near the Tuscan coast. Multimedia Map Map of the Area Where the Italian Cruise Ran Aground Photographs Cruise Ship Runs Aground in Italy Cruise Ship Runs Aground Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Enlarge This Image Enzo Russo/European Pressphoto Agency The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, was arrested on Saturday. More Photos » Early Sunday, an Italian fire brigade found a honeymooning couple from Korea alive inside a cabin of the Costa Concordia, which was resting on its side with a gash just below the waterline and a rock stuck in the hull. A brigade spokesman, Luca Cari, said the couple had been taken to a local hospital. Later, an Italian man, who was identified in media reports as a crew member, was taken from the ship by helicopter. The man was thought to have a broken leg. At least three people were killed when the Costa Concordia, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise, slammed into an undetermined object near the island Friday night as passengers for the late seating had just started dinner, tucking into appetizers of grilled mushrooms and scallops. On Sunday, media reports described rescue workers in boats circling the big ship, tapping on the hull, and listening for a response. Divers also combed the ship’s underwater cabins for those still missing, up to 41 people. Shaken survivors spoke of a mad crush to flee a sinking cruise ship off the Tuscan coast, raising questions about the crew’s preparedness, Italian authorities arrested the ship’s captain amid concerns that the megaship had steered dangerously off course. Anxious survivors, many comparing the experience to the movie “Titanic,” recounted a chaotic and terrifying scene in which some crawled through hallways to escape down perilous ladders to lifeboats, while others leapt overboard into the wintry Tyrrhenian Sea. “In a moment, everything was up in the air,” said Alessandra Grasso, 24, a passenger from Sicily. “People, chairs, glasses, food.” Ulrike Schweda, 63, from Germany, was caught in a crowd of people pushing toward a lifeboat, and slipped on the deck. “The most terrible thing was seeing children trying to get down this ladder they had put on the side of the boat,” she said. Two French citizens and a Peruvian crew member were reported dead, according to a hospital official in Grosseto, Tuscany. Divers searched until nightfall Saturday for the missing, perilously probing the 2,000 cabins for survivors while the Leviathan ship lay on its side in the water, a boulder poking through a 160-foot gash in its hull. The Italian Coast Guard said 41 people were still unaccounted for. The coast guard is also monitoring the environmental impact of the accident, but as of Sunday morning, no oil had seeped into the ocean from the ship. “We are optimistic and hope that the ship is not going to slide further down,” Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the coast guard, told reporters. “But the weather conditions are slowly worsening, and that is a cause of concern.” There were conflicting reports about whether the ship was off course in reef-filled waters just miles from the shore or whether an electrical failure had caused the crew to lose control. Passengers spoke of faulty evacuation procedures and unprepared staff who told them nothing was wrong — until the ship began tipping over. After questioning him for several hours, the Italian police detained the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and the first officer, for questioning on charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of ship, the police said. Before his detention, Captain Schettino told Italian television that the ship had hit a reef that was not on its navigation charts. Gianni Onorato, the president of the Costa cruise company, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise lines, said the ship had been sailing its “regularly scheduled itinerary” from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when it struck “a submerged rock.” He said Captain Schettino “immediately understood the severity of the situation” and “performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew.” The Italian coast guard said the captain had tried to turn the ship toward port in Giglio to make an evacuation easier, but it began to tip over as it reached the port.

Anthony Read was found dead in the sea in the port town of Puerto De La Duquesa

Anthony Read was found dead in the sea in the port town of Puerto De La Duquesa – on the country’s Costa del Sol – the morning after a night out drinking with friends in March last year.

Yesterday, at an inquest, mum and dad Jacqueline Jenkins and Martin Read criticised the investigation into the tragedy carried out by the authorities in Spain.

Anthony, 33,  had visited a number of pubs during the evening and took a taxi back to a pal’s home ten minutes’ drive away in the early hours.

But it is thought he may not have had the correct fare when he arrived and was driven back to the port, between Marbella and Gibraltar. Hours later, his body was found in the water.

Spanish authorities said there had been no signs of violence and that Anthony had drowned, concluding that the death may have been the result of an accident.

But at the inquest in Portsmouth, Anthony’s mother Jacqueline Jenkins hit out at the “vague” report drawn up by local officials as she attempted to piece together what had happened.

Dad Martin Read told the inquest he wanted confirmation from Spanish police that they were satisfied the taxi driver had driven away and was not involved in the tragedy. The inquest also heard how Anthony may simply have fallen in.

However, it remains unclear as to how he came to be in the water.

Coroner David Horsley said it was unlikely Anthony had been robbed as he was still in possession of his wallet and mobile phone when his body was discovered.

But he agreed that he had been faced with a lack of evidence in preparing the inquest.

He told Anthony’s parents: “It is possible that he fell in by accident but I cannot say that that is the most likely scenario because it is possible that he was pushed in – it may have been some kind of simple assault or he may have been trying to evade an assault.”

He added: “If there were any witnesses they did not come forward – or were they asked?”

Mrs Jenkins broke down in tears as she read out tributes to her “kind, thoughtful and wonderful son”, who was working as a financial controller in Gibraltar and was enjoying living in Spain.

In the run-up to his death, Anthony had been studying to become a chartered accountant.

Mr Horsley recorded an open verdict.