Three unidentified men forced their way into a home in the 4600 block of 10th Avenue West this morning , put the occupants into a bathroom and stole $2,000 cash and electronics, according to a Manatee County Sheriff s Office report

Only 2,500 properties for residential tourists have been sold this year |Sales of holiday homes on the Costa del Sol have plummeted in the last year, down 89 per cent. In fact we have to go back 25 years to find figures similar to this year?s thanks to the economic crisis that is affecting not just in Spain, but also the other countries whose citizens once flocked to the Costa del Sol to buy a holiday home.According to the President of the Malaga Builders and Developers Association (ACP)

Jose Oliveira e Costa, Former chief of Spain's BPN bank Banco Portugal de Negocios (BPN) between 1997 and early 2008, was arrested Thursday on charges of suspected tax fraud, money laundering, forgery, abuse of credit and illegal gains. Portuguese judicial authorities have detained the former president of financially troubled small commercial bank BPN on charges including alleged tax fraud and money laundering, local media reported Thursday. The Central Criminal Tribunal in Lisbon sentenced Costa to three months of preventive detention Friday after an eight-hour hearing, the Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias reported. The detention aims to prevent the suspect from escaping and destroying documents that may contain incriminating evidence, the paper said, quoting court officials. The court will decide whether to extend Costa's detention after the three-month period expires, said the report. The government said earlier this month that BPN had suffered losses worth about 700 million euros (880 million U.S. dollars) due to bad management and malpractice. It also decided to nationalize the bank in a bid to prevent a financial crisis chain reaction in Portugal. Following the government's announcement, local media revealed that police had long started investigations into BPN, which is suspected of being involved in money laundering. Portugal's banks have weathered the financial crisis relatively well as they hold no U.S. subprime assets and have relatively conservative lending practices.

Judge at Fuengirola court has indicted twenty individuals of different nationalities with conspiring to defraud around 200, mostly British, foreign property investors in a scam estimated to have netted the gang more than €65 million euros. They are accused of selling shares in fictitious construction properties on the Costa del Sol and face charges including fraud, falsifying documents, money-laundering, and tax evasion. Two of the suspects were arrested last Wednesday in a series of raids across Málaga province.

Spanish and British journalists kidnapped in northern Somalia refused a police escort and arranged for their own security through their translators, who are suspected of having abducted them, officials said on Thursday.
Spanish freelance photographer José Cendón and British journalist Colin Freeman, who were working on a report on piracy for Britain's Daily Telegraph, were kidnapped on Wednesday in the port of Bosasso, the capital of the semi-autonomous Somali state of Puntland.
"On arrival, the authorities warned them to take a police escort, but they turned this down and hired their own security from an unknown militia group hired by their translators, who we suspect of being the kidnappers," Puntland Information Minister Abdirahman Mohamed Bankah said in a press conference.
Puntland's authorities "are doing everything possible to obtain information on their whereabouts and taking the necessary measures to free them," Bankah said.
The journalists' driver, Liban Said Omar, told Efe that the two journalists had been in Bosasso for a week working on a story about piracy when they were abducted.
In recent months, pirates from Puntland have become more active, seizing several dozen ships, including the Saudi-owned supertanker MV Sirius Star and the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina, which was carrying arms.
The pirates are still holding the two vessels, along with about 15 other ships, and demanding the payment of ransom.
There are reports that the kidnappers have taken the journalists to a mountainous area north of Bosasso.
Puntland presidential spokesman Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, meanwhile, said the journalists were in the region illegally.
"They were not here legally because they did not report their identity to police on arrival," Mohamoud Qabowsade told Shabelle Radio.
Mohamoud Qabowsade told Efe on Thursday by telephone that the three translators and facilitators hired by the journalists were behind the kidnapping, but he did not provide any evidence to back up his allegations.
"I have warned journalists who come here that they should not make contact with independent press facilitators because they have links to armed gangs and could kidnap them. If they come here, they should have police escorts," the presidential spokesman said.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said on Thursday in Brussels that Spain and Britain had created a "crisis group" to deal with the journalists' kidnappings.
Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, meanwhile, said Spain had not yet received any ransom demands from the kidnappers.
The Venezuela-born Cendón has won several awards for his work covering conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, including the 2007 Oskar Barnack Leica Prize for the story "Fear in the Great Lakes," which took him to psychiatric hospitals in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo.
The 34-year-old Cendón currently works out of Addis Ababa.
The Spanish photojournalist's family is anxiously awaiting word from the kidnappers, Cendón's brother-in-law, Manuel Canedo, told Efe from the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.
"Up to now, we knew wherever he was, he was fine, because every few days he would call or send an e-mail ... but the situation is different now. You don't know anything," Canedo said.
Two other Western journalists are still missing in Somalia, where they were abducted in August along with a Somali cameraman, and they have reportedly been taken to a hideout in the country's southern region by an armed group.
Last December, a Spanish doctor and an Argentine nurse working for Doctors Without Borders were kidnapped in Puntland.
Spanish Dr. Mercedes García and Argentine nurse Pilar Bauza were released in January after $200,000 in ransom, according to Somali officials, was paid.

The European Commission has decided to take Spain to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for not taking measures to stop the amount of advertising shown on TV screens here. Advertising on Spanish channels regularly breaks the 12 minute per hour limit fixed by European legislation, often by several minutes.EU Commissioner for the Information Society, Viviane Reding, described the situation in Spain as ‘saturation’, and said that previous EU warnings, starting in July 2007, had been ignored.

fifth largest real estate company in Spain, Habitat, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Habitat has a reported debt of 2.3 billion €.
The company is thought to have over-extended itself when it purchased Ferrovial Inmobiliaria, before the real estate bubble burst, and can no longer sustain such a high level of debt. A statement from the company said the objective was to preserve, in the best way possible, the rights of all the creditors and to proceed to a restructuring of the financial situation, which will allow the continuation of the business.It’s the second largest company failure in Spain, behind only that of the Martinsa-Fadesa last summer. The Tremón Group also declared itself insolvent just over a week ago with a debt of 900 million.Meanwhile another large real estate company, Colonial, has warned that it too could declare itself insolvent. The company is trying to disinvest itself from its investments in FCC, SLF, and Riofisa, otherwise it too says in a statement published today that it will be unable to restructure its debt in the long term.Staying with real estate companies, Metrovacesa has proposed the sale of the HSBC head offices in London for 1 billion €. The operation would mean a loss of 97.9 million for the Spanish firm. Metrovacesa has asked HSBC to consider ‘any refinancing proposal that comes along’.
It comes as, on November 27, Metrovacesa is faced with the refinancing of a 1billion € debt it took on to buy the building.The cabinet on Friday approved as expected the new 11 billion € plan to stimulate the Spanish economy. The plan is intended to create 300,000 jobs, and most of the money, 8 billion €, goes to the local town and city halls.The fall in the Euribor rate which ends November at a monthly rate of 4.35% means that mortgages are to be cheaper for the first time in three years. The number will be confirmed by the Bank of Spain on December 10.
The daily Euribor rate has fallen in just six weeks from 5.512% to 3.951%.Spain has once again recorded the largest increase in the unemployment rate in all of the European Union. The country remains with the highest rate of men out of work, but it is the youngsters who are most affected by the labour market. In October 12.8% of the active population was on the dole, up 4.3% over the year, according to the data from Eurosat.Inflation in Spain has fallen to 2.4% for the harmonized rate, its lowest since August 2007. The fall in November is 1.2%, the largest monthly fall since 2001. Oil prices an foodstuffs led the price reductions. It’s not all good news however, experts are now warning of the very real risk of deflation in Spain.
The number in November is used to set the pensions level for next year and it means the state will have to find 624 million more than forecast for pensioners.
Car sales for November in Spain will be the second worst month of all time, with early data indicating a fall of 48.2% compared to November 2007 at just 64,800 units.
Meanwhile lorry drivers are demonstrating that diesel prices are still 11% more expensive than before the petrol price bubble and they have called on the government to force the oil companies to pass on the lower price of crude.The National Court is investigating the ex Chairman of Real Madrid, Lorenzo Sanz, for an alleged fraudulent sale. He has been called to make a statement on December 3, in a case where he faces charges of money laundering and the falsification of documents.
The National Energy Commission in Spain is proposing a price rise for domestic Natural Gas in the first three months of next year of less than 2 percent. Over tariffs will be up by 2.02%Leader of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy, has said he is to ask for a parliamentary commission to be established to investigate the Lukoil petrol company. The PP leader said he wanted to know who Lukoil are, and what is their past, ahead of their possible purchase of Repsol shares.The European Commission has decided to take Spain to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for not taking measures to stop the amount of advertising shown on TV screens here. Advertising on Spanish channels regularly breaks the 12 minute per hour limit fixed by European legislation, often by several minutes.

Armed robbers escaped with millions of rands worth of watches in Pretoria, South Africa, during the weekend, Pretoria News reported. The seven-member gang reportedly hit the Brooklyn Mall taking an estimated ZAR 2 million (about $198,000) in watches from Grieg and Meinke jewelry store. They were wearing motorbike helmets and carried an assault rifle and hammers to smash through the store. The theft came shortly after another gang attacked RSA Diamonds at Woodlands Boulevard in Garsfontein, holding up staff before fleeing with cell phones, jewelry and personal belongings, Pretoria News said. The two, possibly unrelated, attacks are believed to have collectively netted the gangs nearly ZAR 3 million ($298,000) in jewelry, it added.A gang of heavily armed robbers on motorbikes on Sunday made off with millions of rands worth of watches and jewellery in one of Pretoria's most daring robberies.The theft of an estimated R2-million in jewellery from Grieg and Meinke jewellery store in Brooklyn Mall by the gang early in the morning has left shopping centre management and police shocked by the audacity of the attack.The attack saw seven men wearing motorbike helmets and carrying an assault rifle and hammers, smash their way into the store just before 10am.The theft came shortly after another gang attacked RSA Diamonds at Woodlands Boulevard in Garsfontein, holding up staff before fleeing off with cellphones, jewellery and personal belongings.The attacks are believed to have collectively netted the gangs nearly R3-million in jewellery.While the thugs who attacked Brooklyn Mall were able to get into the centre, break into the store and then get away scot-free within 10 minutes, security guards swarmed around a Pretoria News team in less than three minutes of the photographer and reporter entering the shopping centre in an effort to speak to shoppers, staff and to photograph the smashed windows.Guards were unable to explain why reporters were stopped within minutes of arriving at the mall, yet the robbers got away unchallenged.The Pretoria News team eventually went back into the centre and took pictures with a cellphone camera and got away undetected while a security guard stationed near the barricaded-off crime scene, spoke to someone on a cellphone for about 10 minutes. Shoppers, who notified the Pretoria News about the robbery, said the attack had been like a whirlwind.Said a centre employee: "They came rushing in. They were everywhere all at once. Some were smashing at the shop windows while others were standing guard."They were wearing helmets so you could not see their faces. They grabbed jewellery in the windows and then fled on their motorbikes.
"It was over within minutes."More than 30 jewellery stores are believed to have been hit in Gauteng's malls this year, including Fourways Mall, Sandton City, East Rand Mall and Eastgate, with a number of attacks also occurring in Brooklyn and Garsfontein.One of the year's biggest jewellery robberies occurred in September at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, where an estimated R4-million in jewellery was stolen.According to police the sudden spiral in attacks on jewellery stores across Gauteng over the past couple of months show that gangs are now turning their attention to "softer targets" such as jewellery stores, especially as the festive season approached.The gangs are believed to be linked to international crime syndicates which put out special "shopping lists" for highly sought after items such as watches. The Jewellery Council and the Diamond Council, according to earlier media reports, believe that the attacks are showing similarities to the highly organised cash-in-transit heists. Inspector Klaas van der Kooi, confirming Sunday's two attacks, said the robbery at Woodlands Boulevard took place first."A gang of four gunmen entered RSA Diamonds and held up staff, taking cellphones and personal belongings along with a large amount of jewellery which they snatched from the showcases," he said.He added that the men fled in a Green Toyota Cressida which was found abandoned close to the centre."The car was stolen in Sunnyside earlier in November," he said.Commenting on the robbery at Brooklyn Mall, Van der Kooi said the gang arrived at the centre on "superbikes"."With their helmets still on, the robbers, who were armed with a rifle and hammers, rushed to the store and smashed open windows before they grabbed jewellery, the majority of which were watches.
"The robbers then put their loot into bags and fled from the centre on their motorbikes," he said, adding that the bikes were last seen travelling at "high speed" on the N1 towards Johannesburg.

Santa Barbara County sheriff's detectives arrest a Carpinteria man accused of selling heroin. Investigators searched the home of 26-year-old Matthew Reimel last Thursday. They said they found more than three ounces of heroin, drug paraphernalia, and $10,000 in cash. The department said the drugs have a street value of $9,600.
Reimel was booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail.

Two Israelis convicted of drug trafficking were sentenced to death by a Thai court. The two men plan to appeal the sentence. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirmed the report. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced that she may intervene in the affair should the sentences not be changed. Ministry officials noted that similar sentences were annulled in the past.The two Israelis, 34-year-old Vladimir Akronik and 37-year-old Alon Mahluf, were detained in the vicinity of Bangkok's Kao San Road in possession of 23,000 ecstasy pills about a year ago. Thai media reported that the two arrived in Thailand from Europe and were detained after authorities received information about them from American officials.Mahluf's family told Ynet that news of the dire sentence had shocked them. Y, a friend of Mahluf, called on the Israeli authorities to help him. "I call on the prime minister and the foreign minister to prevent this horrid deed. Bring him to Israel," he said.Y added that he had visited Mahluf in the Thai prison, and that its conditions were inhumane. "Every day of imprisonment there is like life in prison. There are diseases, 200 people in a room, it's suffocating and smelly. You can't describe it, it's every Israeli's worst nightmare," he said."He has a family, a wife and two kids. His wife gave birth two months ago. It's a disaster, we have to bring him back," Y pleaded. He said his friend was innocent, and that the Thai authorities had arrested him because he had stumbled into the vicinity of a drug dealer.Alex Avidan, who maintains contact with Israeli prisoners in Thailand, attested to Akronik's innocence. He told Ynet: "Vladimir arrived in Thailand as an innocent backpacker, and a week later found himself imprisoned on drug trafficking charges. He told me he was entrapped. He said he arrived in Thailand in order to backpack, and someone asked him to hand over a key to someone else. He admitted that he was foolish."Avidan said that the death penalty in Thailand is very rare, noting that the gravest offence in the country is the rape of minors, followed by drug trafficking.

Three tornados have been filmed off the coast of the mediterranean Island of Mallorca. The eyes of the storms had winds in excess of 100kmh. Fortunately the twisters remained at sea and no damage was done.

A song off of Forte's 1998 album: Grammy Award-winning rapper and music producer originally sentenced to 14 years in prison for smuggling cocaine is one of 16 people receiving pardons or reduced sentences from President Bush.John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school who later became a producer for the rap group The Fugees and released two albums on his own, was caught in 2000 at Newark International Airport with two briefcases filled with $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to court documents.Forte, 33, a first-time offender, was convicted of possessing the 31 pounds of cocaine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years at Fort Dix, N.J. With the commutation, Forte will be released Dec. 22, after serving just over seven years. He still faces five years of supervised probation.Among vocal advocates on Forte's behalf have been singer Carly Simon, along with her son James, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
"Now is the perfect opportunity for John to be given the chance to provide positive benefits to society through his considerable musical talents," Hatch wrote to Bush in a January 2007 letter.Forte was one of two inmates who received reduced sentences.

Jermaine Grant of the 1500 block of Washington and Bilal Gordon of the 600 block of Ferry Street were sent to Northampton County Court following their preliminary hearings this morning before District Judge Michael Koury Jr.Grant is charged with two counts each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. He was arrested Sept. 5 when police executed a search warrant on his Wilson Borough home.Gordon is charged with delivery of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of a communication facility.Gordon is accused of selling heroin Aug. 14 to a source who was cooperating with police, court records said. He was arrested Sept. 5 along with Grant and 15 others who were believed to be involved in the heroin distribution operation, police said.Gordon was not arrested sooner because police were trying to protect their larger investigation into the accused dealers, Easton police Detective Tom Beiser testified today.Attorney Christopher Shipman represented both Grant and Gordon. Shipman presented no argument on Grant's charges, but argued the charges against Gordon should be dismissed.Shipman said because police did not witness the exchange of drugs between Gordon and their cooperating source, the evidence does not support the charges. Koury said he would have agreed, but a memo from Northampton County Court President Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden said the hearsay evidence is admissible.

British Olympic boxer Bradley Saunders has been questioned by police on suspicion of dealing cocaine, it emerged on Tuesday.Saunders, 22, who was a big medal hope at the Beijing Games, was held after a police sniffer dog found what was believed to be £12,000 of the drug in his back garden.A warrant was executed at his semi-detached home in Cragside, Sedgefield, County Durham, at 1pm on Monday. The boxer was taken away for questioning with his girlfriend Stephanie Elliott, also 22, and the couple were held overnight at Spennymoor Police Station. A Durham Police spokesman said the couple were later released on police bail.The dog alerted officers to a tin which contained more than 300g of white powder. It was sent away for analysis.Saunders was tipped to bring back a gold medal from the summer games and was criticised after he said he was relieved to be going home to his young family after a shock defeat in his second fight.

|Human skeleton has been found in a dry river bed next to the MA-387 road in Mijas. Pathologists at the Institute of Legal Medicine are analysing the skeleton in an attempt to identify it. Whilst a preliminary examination suggests it is that of a large, middle-aged man who died about one year ago, existing environmental conditions may have delayed or accelerated the putrefaction of the body. Investigators have found what appears to be a bullet hole in the back of the skull and are investigating all disappearances reported up to one year ago. In recent years, no fewer than five bodies have been found inside suitcases in the province of Malaga.

Instruction Judge, number 13, has denounced 19 Guardia Civil officers for alleged bribery offences. The officers are alleged to have taken money from Malaga airport passengers to speed up or skip the customs process. An Asian passenger has also been accused of paying the officers to allow him to take food through customs.The defendants were all arrested in February, 2006. Some of the officers are charged with allowing the transit of foodstuffs which are banned due to security measures implemented to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease and bird flu.It has been revealed that some passengers, especially members of the Chinese community, were told by friends and family to carry a 50-euro note in their hand in order to avoid possible problems with their luggage at the airport.

Local Police officers have arrested eleven young men, aged between 16 and 23 years, who assaulted a 25-year-old Moroccan passenger on a bus travelling from Malaga to Torremolinos. When the gang, who have been described as skinheads, wearing jackets emblazoned with nazi emblems and military boots, threatened the victim, he got off the bus at the next stop and started to run, but ten of the eleven young men chased him, assaulted him and attempted to stab him with a pocket knife.Meanwhile, the bus was hijacked by another of the gang members, who threatened the driver and forced him to wait. When the gang re-boarded the bus and it was on its way once again, the gang broke the seals of the emergency hammers and removed them. They also sprayed tear gas inside the bus, forcing passengers to move to the front of the vehicle.
Local Police from Malaga eventually intercepted the bus and, having identified and searched the gang members, took them all into custody.

Syrian arms dealer argued Wednesday that he was merely helping Spanish intelligence when he explored a deal to sell weapons to Colombian terrorists for use against the United States.The attorney for Monzer al-Kassar, 62, told a Southern District of New York jury in closing argument that his client never intended to sell weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC and was only continuing his long history as an intelligence asset to Spain."There is no case here," attorney Ira Sorkin told the jury in Judge Jed Rakoff's courtroom. "This was a sting against an individual in Spain created out of whole cloth by the [Drug Enforcement Administration] using paid informants to get al-Kassar."But prosecutor Brendan McGuire came back in rebuttal to call the defense of aiding Spanish intelligence a "cat-and-mouse claim.""Al-Kassar and Moreno are guilty of all the charges in the indictment," McGuire said. "This is not a close case. The evidence is overwhelming."McGuire and Boyd Johnson, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District, have spent 2 1/2 weeks trying to prove that al-Kassar and co-defendant Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, 59, conspired to provide support to foreign terrorists and kill Americans. The pair allegedly agreed to sell millions of dollars in weapons to two undercover informants posing as rebels with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC.According to the government, they agreed to arrange the delivery of weapons purchased in Eastern Europe and shipped to Suriname for transport overland to Colombia. The weapons in the alleged deal included anti-aircraft missiles to be used by FARC against U.S. helicopters in Colombia as well as grenade launchers, machine guns and millions of rounds of ammunition.Their cover was a purportedly legitimate sale of arms brokered between Romania and Nicaragua.During the sting, more than $400,000 was wired from New York to Spain as down payment, but no weapons ever changed hands.Al-Kassar has been described by prosecutors as one of the world's most prolific and shadowy arms dealers. The government says that since the 1970s he has provided military equipment to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.The alleged conspiracy took place between February 2006 and May 2007, and culminated with al-Kassar's arrest in Spain and the arrest of Godoy in Romania on June 7, 2007.The evidence at trial included a tape recording by an informant of a December 2006 meeting in a Beirut hotel room and accounts of three days of meetings in February 2007 with the two purported FARC representatives, Carlos and Luis, at al-Kassar's house in Marbella, Spain. The Marbella meetings were not recorded -- a fact the defense tried to exploit as a hole in the prosecution.The evidence also included conversations between al-Kassar and his high-level contact with Spanish intelligence in the first three months of 2007 and two recorded phone calls on June 7, 2007, the day he was arrested with a briefcase full of incriminating materials.The conversations and the calls were painted by the defense as evidence that al-Kassar was keeping the intelligence officer informed as to the progress of a deal he never intended to complete.But the prosecutors said that testimony and the recordings show al-Kassar was lying to the official because he never mentioned FARC and continued to present the deal as a legitimate one between Romania and Nicaragua."It's about al-Kassar protecting himself," McGuire said Wednesday, adding that the calls were all "about his risk of arrest."Johnson, in his closing on Tuesday, said the "cat-and-mouse" defense, in which the defendants say "they were trying to investigate the informants themselves for Spanish intelligence, is a defense that makes absolutely no sense.""Al-Kassar lied to the very intelligence officer he claims was working on the deal," Johnson said. "They were working for themselves."The motive, Johnson said, was that the two men "were obsessed with the money" -- more than 3 million euros in exchange for providing missiles, rifles, explosives and other material.And the two men, he said, "knew that the weapons were going to be used to shoot down the Apaches, the Hawks" -- U.S. helicopters in Colombia.Sorkin, of Dickstein Shapiro, tried to turn it around in his closing, saying the materials in al-Kassar's briefcase were so extensive that his client must have been planning to turn them over to his intelligence contact on the day he was arrested, for there was no reason he would otherwise be carrying them.The materials included end user certificates for the shipment of materials, correspondence with the Romanian arms maker and a company brochure, photographs of the alleged arsenal, a map showing Suriname and Colombia, and a schematic of the ship that would carry the arms and even a picture of the ship."The government would have you believe he would be running off to show pictures of the ship to the No. 2 FARC guy" in Bucharest, Sorkin said."We know also that this whole thing was developed by the DEA," he said. "It was a sting operation. It wasn't real and, at no time in this case ... did Godoy or Kassar ever say they were out to kill Americans or blow up Americans or harm Americans."Roger Stavis of Gallet, Dreyer & Berkey represents Godoy. In his closing on Tuesday, Stavis said that "al-Kassar was not an informant and Moreno was not an informant doing the bidding of Spanish intelligence -- they were assets. They provided information over the years."By contrast, Stavis said, the government informants were former narcotics traffickers themselves who "were paid millions of dollars over the years" to do the DEA's bidding, including "hundreds of thousands of dollars in this case.""The DEA's investigation of this case was an absolute disgrace," Stavis said. "You can't trust it and if it's the foundation for this prosecution, then their case is crumbling."The two men are charged with money laundering, and four conspiracies: conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals; conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees; and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.
If convicted the pair face possible life sentences. After being charged by Judge Rakoff, the jury began its deliberations and had yet to reach a verdict by the end of the day.

The Córdoba builder and businessman, Rafael Gómez Sánchez, known as Sandokán, told the court on Saturday that he has no links to Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor in Marbella. Gómez is implicated himself in the Malaya case, facing charges of bribery, and last week some 410 works of art were found on his premises in Marbella, which investigators think belong to Roca or the businessmen Carlos Sánchez or Andrés Liétor.Sandokán claimed he has collected the artworks so he could face the debts of his Arenal 2000 construction company has with the taxman. He had been paying 1.5 million € a month to Hacienda, but El País reports those payments stopped in September.The raid took place on the outskirts of Cordoba city, in Parque Joyero de Córdoba, where police officers discovered around 410 paintings in warehouses belonging to Rafael Gómez, who known as 'Sandokán' and is the owner of the construction company Arenal 2000. Gómez is involved in the 'Malaya' case and is a partner in Marbella Airways of Juan Antonio Roca, alleged ring leader of the corruption.

According to the president of the Malaga Provincial Court, Francisco Javier Arroyo, 80 per cent of money laundering cases uncovered in Europe are linked to the town of Marbella. Speaking at the inauguration of the new term at the Escuela de Seguridad in that municipality, he told the press that the number of cases of money laundering in the town requires judges to “establish greater links with foreign authorities” and demonstrate a level of complete professionalism in their duties. “Money is laundered in places where the benefits are greatest, and because of its services, climate and proximity to Gibraltar, Marbella is seen as an ideal location,” said Arroyo, who called for greater collaboration between authorities to combat corruption. He also explained that since March this year, judges in Marbella have been able to specialise in dealing with this type of corruption, something which does not occur anywhere else in the country.

Anthony Kearney, 43, and his partner Donna McCafferty, were held after an anonymous call from a neighbour.Both are wanted for a string of fraud offences.
Nabbed: Anthony Kearney and his partner Donna McCafferty have been arrested in Spain just hours after Crimestoppers issued the above photographs.They were held in the Costa Blanca town of Benissa, 45 miles north east of Alicante, on Thursday evening.
Kearney was carrying false documents in the name of James Murray, one of nine aliases police knew him to use, when he was detained at 5.30pm.
His partner McCafferty was held two hours later.Armed officers swooped on the town after the Civil Guard received an phone call on Thursday lunchtime.

Two fishermen from Galicia are under arrest in the Falkland Islands after nearly 30kg of cocaine with a street value of around €1.3 million euros, was found hidden on board the British-registered 'Venturer' during a search in Port Stanley harbour last Friday. Three other Spaniards and a Chilean national, who were arrested at the same time, have since been released after questioning. 'Venturer', which is adapted for squid fishing, has a total crew of forty, around half of whom are from Galicia. It had been due to return to Spain some time this week.The identities of the two men that remain in custody have been confirmed as Rogelio CP (41) and Jaime CM (26), both of whom are from Cangas (Pontevedra).

Jury was picked on Monday for a trial of a suspected Syrian arms dealer extradited from Spain on charges of planning to supply arms including surface-to-air missile systems to Colombian rebels.Opening arguments in the trial of Monzer al-Kassar, 62, a longtime Spanish resident known as the "prince of Marbella" for his rich lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town, are due to start on Wednesday.He is accused of planning to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to protect a cocaine-trafficking business and attack U.S. interests.
Kassar, whom U.S. prosecutors call one of the most prolific arms dealers in the world, sat in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday as his lawyers and prosecutors picked a jury of twelve from a pool of more than 120 people.He has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiring to kill American nationals and officers, conspiring to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and providing support to a terrorist organization.Kassar was extradited from Spain in June after Spain received assurances from U.S. authorities he would face neither the death penalty nor a life sentence without chance of parole.He was arrested at the Madrid airport in June 2007 after his U.S. indictment said he knew the FARC kidnapped U.S. citizens to dissuade American efforts to disrupt the cocaine trade.The U.S. government has designated the FARC as a foreign terrorist organization. The rebels have been fighting for socialist revolution since 1964 and have at times run large swathes of Colombia.
At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Kassar had met with two confidential sources working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at his home in Marbella and discussed the sale of weapons, including assault and sniper rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers, to the FARC.Kassar also offered to send 1,000 men to fight with the FARC against U.S. military officers, prosecutors allege.
The U.S. Embassy in Madrid said Kassar has been selling weapons since the 1970s to the Palestinian Liberation Front and clients in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq and Somalia.Questions asked to the jurors included what concerns they had about terrorism, if they had ever heard of the FARC and whether they could give a fair trial to people whose business involved the sale of military weapons.Two other men charged in the same case, Tareq Mousa al Ghazi, 61, of Lebanon and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, 59, of Marbella, pleaded innocent in October 2007 to terrorism charges.
They were arrested in Bucharest, Romania but only Moreno Godoy will be prosecuted with Kassar after Ghazi's case was moved to a later date due to medical reasons.

41 year old British man, named with the initials G.P.F. spent an entire night next to the body of his wife after their car came off the windy A-7207 road between Cómpeta and Torrox in heavy rain around midnight. The car fell down a drop of some 70 metres and was completely destroyed. The husband was seriously injured and had to be rescued by the fire service, and taken by helicopter to the district hospital in Torre del Mar.There was another fatality on the roads of the province on Sunday in Casabermeja, where a car carrying three men came off the A45 road close to the first tunnel and crashed into a barrier. The man who died had been sitting in the back of the car, without a seat belt. Two other occupants in the car were only slightly hurt.
Nationally there were 17 deaths on Spain’s roads over the weekend, seven more than seen this weekend last year, with the weather playing its part in many of the accidents.

David and Victoria Beckham can't sell their mansion in Madrid. The Beckhams have been trying to sell their luxury villa for 17 months but have yet to find a buyer.
The Beckhams' five bedroom villa in Madrid was put on the market last year when they left Spain for the US, according to the Daily Star.Posh and Becks were asking £5m for their property, dubbed 'Casa Beckham', but there have been no offers. As a result they have dropped the asking price to £3m."The house is incredible, but the market is in such a terrible state right now and the Beckhams have had no offers....They're going to have to take a lot less than the original price to have a realistic chance of selling the house," a source told the paper.The Madrid mansion is set in two acres and has an outdoor heated swimming pool, tennis courts, a small football pitch and a play area. The property is located in the suburb of La Moraleja.
The Beckhams paid £4.5m for the villa in May 2005 and spent £500,000 refurbishing it. The home was put up for sale when David signed a £125m contract with football team LA Galaxy."It's a lovely place with lots of charm, beautifully and tastefully decorated," the source continued."But even the super rich have been hit hard by the credit crunch."