Banco Santander, Spain’s largest bank, has offered to pay 1.38 billion euros, or $1.8 billion, to reimburse private banking clients who had invested with the disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff, a settlement that could prompt other financial institutions to follow suit. The offer, which does not apply to institutional investors, was announced Tuesday as investors brought a class-action suit against the Spanish bank in Federal District Court in Miami. They accused the bank of not adequately scrutinizing the Madoff investments, according to Bloomberg. The offer is an indication of Santander’s desire to preserve its image as a conservative institution that prides itself on having avoided the troubles plaguing other big banks because it shunned exotic financial instruments. Santander said in December that it had an exposure of $3 billion to Mr. Madoff’s firm, the largest of any commercial bank. The money was invested through a Geneva-based hedge fund unit, Optimal Investment Services. Mr. Madoff was arrested Dec. 11 and accused of running his investment business as a Ponzi scheme that paid generous returns to investors using money fed into it by new victims. Santander said in a statement Tuesday that the bank had acted “at all times with the due diligence” and “in accordance with all applicable laws and sound banking practices.” The bank’s offer to reimburse clients was “based exclusively on business considerations, namely the group’s interest in maintaining its business relationships with those clients,” the statement said.
Santander said clients would receive a quantity of preferred shares in the bank equal to their initial investment. They would receive a coupon of 2 percent a year on the shares. A spokesman for the bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the bank’s rules, said the shares could be traded. The bank would have the option to buy the shares back after 10 years. The bank also announced Tuesday that Optimal would close seven of its funds because clients had been withdrawing money from them.

Richard Keogh was shot seven times after leaving a meeting in a bar with a South American drug dealer.Keogh’s killer stood over him discharging shots into his body and head as he lay on the pavement outside a hotel and casino complex on the Costa del Sol.The drug-dealing contact he had just met, who is believed to be from Venezuela, was interviewed by the police about Keogh’s last movements. He was then detained on foot of an outstanding warrant for drugs charges.Police are hopeful an examination of the Honda Civic getaway car will yield fingerprint evidence that would have been destroyed if efforts by the gunman to set the car on fire had been successful.It is understood that a pair of gloves and a spent magazine from a handgun were also found in the car.The vehicle was seized by police less than a half a mile from the spot where Keogh was murdered late on Saturday night outside the Torrequebrada hotel and casino at Benalmadena Costa.The Honda Civic pulled up alongside Keogh – a father of four and a known gangland figure – and his wife as they were walking along a pavement just after 11pm. Keogh tried to escape after being shot at twice. However, he fell injured and the killer fired a number of rounds into his body from close range.A postmortem examination identified two shots to his back, two to his head and one each to his thigh, leg and arm. At least 12 bullet casings were found at the scene.Gardaí believe Keogh had been a significant player in the drugs trade in Ireland for at least six years. Detectives suspect that over the past year he was sourcing large quantities of cocaine from international gangs in Spain for export to Ireland.It is unclear if Keogh was shot as part of a dispute with international dealers based on the Costa del Sol, or if he was targeted by an Irish drugs gang with whom he was in dispute before he left Ireland with his wife and children just over a year ago.Gardaí are assisting the Spanish investigating team to build a profile of Keogh’s movements in recent times and his associates both here and in Spain.The dead man was originally from Carnlough Road, Cabra, but had settled in the Belfry estate in Duleek, Co Meath. He was shot and wounded outside his house in November 2007 and decided to move from Ireland to Spain.
Gardaí believe the attempted murder in 2007 was carried out by a drugs gang based in Louth and Meath, supported by a Tallaght gang. The suspected gunman is from Belfast and is a dissident republican.Keogh had an elaborate system of CCTV cameras concealed in the eaves of his house, with viewing screens hidden in the attic. The gun attack was clearly captured by the cameras.However, when the suspected gunman was put in an identification parade by gardaí, Keogh refused to pick him out. Gardaí believe he had secret talks with his attackers and thought the drug dispute had been resolved. Keogh had a number of properties here and a part share in a car garage in Dublin’s north inner city. Those assets are being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Alan Dickson fled following his Christmas holiday release from Castle Huntly open prison at Longforgan in 2006.He lived in Malaga where he took on a job and cared for his ailing mother before coming to the attention of Spanish police.Dickson had been jailed for 10 years in March 2002 after being “shopped” by one of his drug couriers.
The 38-year-old, formerly of Falkland, sent the couriers back to Scotland laden with cannabis resin-laden suitcases from his flat in Torremolinos, Spain.He was in business for over nine months before he and four accomplices were trapped in an undercover operation led by Fife Police and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.
It was estimated that the drugs involved in the enterprise could have had a street value of over £1 million.Three of his assistants were jailed for a total of 13 years at the High Court in Edinburgh, while a fourth walked free in return for giving evidence.He appeared from custody at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, where depute fiscal Alan Kempton told the court that Dickson had been faced with at least 22 months’ further imprisonment when he took the decision to flee.He explained that Dickson had been serving the latter part of his sentence at Castle Huntly, having been transferred from HMP Perth on June 20, 2006.“On December 23, 2006, the accused was released from Castle Huntly on temporary licence,” Mr Kempton said.“He was to return no later that 4pm on December 28, but by 7pm on the 28th he has still not returned and a warrant was issued for his arrest.“The accused was subsequently arrested in Spain, having been living in Malaga, on October 13, 2008.”Solicitor Michelle Renton told the court that her client had surrendered himself to the police in Spain after he became aware that they were looking for him.She said, “He was given his release from Castle Huntly for the Christmas holidays.“He decided to abscond because his mother—who along with his father lived in Malaga in Spain—had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.“He absconded to care for her and he did so until she died on May 8, 2008.“While in Spain, together with attending to his mother’s needs, he rented a property and was working.“He was a law-abiding citizen in Spain, for what that is worth.”Miss Renton said her client’s extradition warrant had later come to the attention of the Spanish authorities.She said, “After handing himself in, he co-operated fully with the extradition procedure.”The accused spent two months in a Spanish cell before being extradited back to Scotland and Perth Prison.Dickson, described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted absconding from HMP Castle Huntly, Longforgan, on December 28, 2006 having been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment at Edinburgh High Court on March 5, 2002 in relation to drugs offences.
Sheriff William Gilchrist said, “To abscond from open prison is a serious offence, whatever the motivation.”The sheriff sentenced Dickson to an additional 12 months’ imprisonment.He will also have to serve out the remaining 22 months of his original sentence.

Banco Santander SA, one of the largest banks in Spain, has been caught up in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal. And now, Spanish authorities want to know what officials at Banco Santander knew about Madoff’s alleged fraud, and when they knew it.

Numerous individuals, institutions and hedge funds lost money because of Madoff’s alleged scheme. But according to the Associated Press, losses for Banco Santander’s clients were among th highest of any bank linked to Madoff’s invesment advisory business. Those clients were invested in the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund, which is managed by a unit of Banco Santander. That fund has lost more than $3.1 billion as a result of investing with Madoff, the Associated Press said.

Shortly after the U.S. FBI arrested Madoff for securities fraud last December, Spain’s anticorruption prosecutor began investigating the relationship between Banco Santander and the accused swindler. The prosecutor wants to know whether managers of the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund knew of problems at Madoff’s operations when they marketed the vehicle to investors. A key question is why Santander Chairman Emilio Botín sent one of his chief lieutenants to see Madoff in New York just weeks before the alleged Ponzi scheme collapsed.
They are also looking at the timing of the resignation of Manuel Echeverría, who The Wall Street Journal said presided over the Optimal fund while it built its relationship with Madoff. He left the bank on June 30, 2008 after 19 years there. Five colleagues also quit at the same time.Others have questioned the methods Banco Santander used to recruit investors for the Optimal fund, and some lawyers representing Santander clients claim the bank made a practice of steering unqualified investors to Optimal.According to a report on Bloomberg.com, Santander branch managers channeled customers with money from property sales or inheritances to private banking salespeople, who convinced them to sink their money into the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund. These investors reportedly included a retired school teacher who put $388,000 - half her savings - in the fund. In another case, a street vendor was convinced to invest more than $400,000 in lottery winnings in the fund. That client had to return to street vending after Santander lost his winnings.So far, Banco Santander has maintained that because the Optimal funds losses were the result of fraud, it will not be compensating its clients.

European Parliament is threatening to freeze funding to Spain unless real estate abuses are brought to an end.Attack on the Spanish judicial system contained in the report from Danish M.P. Margarete Auken, was not welcomed by the Spanish.

Spanish Euro MP’s from both the Socialists PSOE, and the Partido Popular, say they will add amendments to the draft of the report on the land grab and other alleged real estate abuse carried out in Spain, which was presented yesterday by the Danish parliamentarian, Margarete Auken, to the Petitions Commission of the European Parliament. They have until the 27th of this month to present their amendments. The proposed modifications will be voted on February 11.

The Green Danish MP suggests a moratorium on all town planning in the Valencia region unless that water supplies for the new properties are guaranteed, and wants a reform of the town planning legislation in the region. She says that European funding could be withdrawn from Spain if the abuse does not end, and criticises the Spanish Constitutional Court for not protecting the rights of purchasers by not firmly applying article 33 of the Spanish Constitution which refers to private property.That attack on the Spanish Constitution brought the response from the PP Euro deputy, José Manuel García Margallo, who said the text was barbaric.
Socialist Euro deputy, Maruja Sornosa, said the text could be improved and announced amendments against the part of the text which attacked the Spanish Judicial System. She also wanted to see the moratorium removed, with a grand new town planning agreement put in its place and also wanted the threat to remove European funding removed from the text.The draft was approved however by the Green Euro MP, David Hammerstein.The presentation of the draft in Brussels has caused great effect in the Valencia region where most of the town planning abuses are based, although both Andalucía and Murcia are included. President of the Generalitat regional government in Valencia, Francisco Camps, called on the Socialists to apologise for their behaviour and allegations made, he said, to damage town planning in the Valencia region, blaming them for job losses in the construction sector. Government delegate, Ricardo Peralta, responded to that by saying the problems in Valencia came from the economic crisis and not from the reports from Brussels.The Auken report is the third EU report about building in Spain and comes after reports in 2005 and 2007, all highly critical of building law in the country. The Valencia region is at the centre of them all.

The fourth section of the Penal Hall of the National Court is to make public the sentence against the ex Real Estate Assessor of the Marbella Town Hall, Juan Antonio Roca, and the five others accused in the Saqueo money laundering corruption case, on Friday.The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor has asked for a ten year prison sentence for Roca, for allegedly diverting public funds away from the Marbella Town Hall to private companies over the years 1991 to 1995.

"I wish we could leave the eurozone. That way we could devalue."

Spain was last week one of three eurozone countries warned over its public finances in the space of three days, underlining the parlous state of the single currency economies. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's said Spain could face a downgrade after entering recession in the fourth quarter, citing concerns about its high private sector debt as well as its deteriorating public finances. Greece and Ireland were also put on notice by S&P - with a downgrade driving up their borrowing costs. S&P said Spain had to cut public spending to match falling government revenues.
million newly built properties now remain unsold. Prices have plummeted and construction has ground to a halt

."This is different to anything we have experienced before," finance minister Pedro Solbes admitted in El País newspaper, and warned of a nightmare 2009.

The economy will shrink by 1.6%. The budget deficit will come close to 6%. "We have used up the margin we had in public spending," he said. Solbes's predictions reveal the depth of suffering to come. By the end of this year, 16% will be unemployed.
By that measure Spain has far-and-away the most troubled economy in Europe. It shed a million jobs last year, a feat not managed by any other European country since the 1930s, according to El Mundo newspaper. Another million jobs are expected to go this year. Spain already has as many unemployed workers as Germany, a country with almost double its population. Spain's savings banks predict unemployment of 18%. "That is surely impossible. It is the stuff of social revolution," commented one senior trade unionist."The real problems will come in the second half of this year," said Victor Renes of the charity Caritas - when the first wave of jobless will be reduced to minimal aid from one of western Europe's less generous welfare systems. Caritas has already seen demand for help leap 75% in 2008.Immigration has increased eightfold in a decade. It is so new that Spaniards have never competed for jobs with foreigners in a recession before. "I am worried that we will see racism and xenophobia," said Renes.With almost a third of the workforce on short-term contracts, sending workers to the dole queue has been relatively easy. Getting them back into work may not be so simple. An emergency €11bn (£10bn) public works programme will keep some in work this year. Javier Morillas of San Pablo-CEU university warns: "These are merely temporary measures. They have no long-term impact." Spain trails Europe's other leading economies in areas such as productivity, education and research and those who left school early for well-paid jobs on building sites are poorly prepared.
Spain may start to pull itself out of recession by the end of the year but meaningful growth will be harder to achieve, said José Carlos Diez of Intermoney.
Tight regulation means Spain's banking sector escaped the credit crunch without government rescues. Some, like Banco Santander, have gone shopping - snatching up Sovereign in the US and adding Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford and Bingley to the business.The building bust, however, will still hurt them. The banks' problem is not mortgages, but money owed by builders and developers. This accounts for 40% of loans and a majority of bad ones. Socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is blaming Spain's problems on external factors such as the credit crunch. "This is a national emergency," said shadow finance minister Cristóbal Montoro. "Trying to solve our problems with public spending is a huge error."

Developer has shut his sales shop, halted building and handed 2,000 homes over to the banks. In his hardware store Barrios proposed a solution. "I wish we could leave the eurozone," he said. "That way we could devalue."

Woman was shot in the leg by a man who tried to steal her car on Avenida Juan Carlos I in Estepona. On Tuesday a Mercamálaga employee was jumped and mugged of more than one thousand euros takings which he was on his way to bankTwo thieves armed with a gun and a knife jumped a man as he was about to leave for work in Vélez-Málaga on Friday morning, and stole a case he was carrying which contained 60,000 euros worth of jewellery. The victim, a jewellery sales representative, was overpowered by his assailants but managed to scream for help. At that moment, the victim's cousin, who happened to be passing by, came to his aid but was stabbed in the hand by one of the thieves. He was later taken to the Vélez-Málaga hospital with a serious injury.Witnesses say that the two thieves fled the scene in a getaway car, in which two other men were waiting, and drove off towards Malaga city. The victim told the police that the suspects had a foreign accent.

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Estepona Town Hall's outstanding debt with Telefónica has forced the company to cut off the council's telephones. The telephone company decided to bar outgoing calls from the Town Hall as a result of the local authority's outstanding debt of more than 200,000 euros. A few days ago a payment of 50,000 euros was made to the company to ensure that the telephones at the Local Police, fire station and Mayor's office weren't cut off too.

British residents of Almería, demonstrated on Friday in Almeria and marched to the offices of the Regional Government Housing Delegate in the city.The march was organized by AULAN, Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora, No, and came a year to the day that the house belonging to the British couple, Len and Helen Prior was knocked down. Luis Caparrós, the Housing and Town Planning delegate met representatives from the march, including the Priors. He gave an undertaking to find a solution for the couple and this week will see a technical meeting with their lawyers. The Priors are demanding compensation for the loss of their home, they have spent the last year living in a caravan on the site.Many of the demonstrators arrived in Almería city on buses fleeted from the areas of Los Gallardos, Albox, Vera and Cantoria. As well as compensation for the Priors the British are demanding stable water and power supplies, and a final plan to regularize the homes. They consider the current census being carried out by the Junta, reported to be 60% complete over the estimated 5,000 illegal homes in the area, a step in the right direction, but want to know what will happen next. On that point the Housing and Town Planning Delegate made a call for calm.AULAN and Ciudadanos Europeos spokesman, Lenox Napier, said that the British wanted to a buy a home and continue to live in it, without worrying if someone is coming along to knock it down, expropriate it, or to say it is illegal. He said that there were many forms of corruption, fraud and swindle in the province.

ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor, Juan Antonio Roca, has a job to go to when he is released from prison. He has a placed reserved for him in Marbella Town Hall and they say that legally they are unable to sack him.Roca was promised a place in a local municipal body when the department he worked in, the Gerencia de Obras, was dissolved in 2006. At that time his wage was 9,000 € a month, and even though he was suspended from employment by the commission which ran the Town Hall when the scandal broke, according to El País he still conserves his place.The Partido Popular controlled Marbella Town Hall spokesman, Felix Romero, are waiting to see whether Roca decides to take up the post or not when he comes out of prison and say they will act as a consequence of his decision then. The Socialist opposition in the town considers however that Roca can be sacked now as a disciplinary matter.

Sean Woodhall, had links to a suspected £100million property scam and was due to settle his divorce within days. Born Sean Lovelock in London in 1965, he grew up in Cambridgeshire but made his business career in the Birmingham area. At 30 he changed his name to his mother’s surname, Woodhall, after a row with his father, Ron.In 1999 he married Victoria McLeod, now 39, and two years later was given an 18-month suspended sentence for his part in a fraud with franchising 

venture Advan.Following that conviction, Woodhall took his heavily pregnant wife to the Costa del Sol where he tapped into Spain’s booming property market.For the next few years he worked closely with Staffordshire-based Ocean View Properties, a company run by his friend Colin Thomas.It sold “off-plan” luxury Spanish apartments to British investors, including star sportsmen such as Aston 

Villa’s Gareth Barry, ex-Leicester City captain Matt Elliott and former 

England cricketer Paul Nixon.The company, which owes more than £100million, is being investigated by the police and the Insolvency Service. According to former business associates, charming Woodhall, who was a serial adulterer, mingled with ruthless Serbian gangsters on the “Costa del Crime” and became one of the area’s most well-known faces.A Spanish lifestyle magazine even featured him as one of the region’s model businessmen. He also became friends with Prince Albert of Monaco and dealt with controversial Spanish developer Ricardo Miranda, who was named by the Sunday Express last month as being a central figure in the alleged Ocean View scam.As funds from Ocean View customers went missing, Miranda and Woodhall, who lived in the same Marbella complex as Sir Mark Thatcher, eyed 

Caribbean business opportunities.The pair pinpointed coastline in the Dominican Republic and planned a £3billion golf resort called Punta Perla.Miranda’s company Paraiso Tropical bought the land while Ocean View and Woodhall’s new organisation, Punta Perla Caribbean Ltd, became UK sales agents. Newcastle United’s Alan Smith is thought to be an investor there.However, Miranda, who performed a ground-breaking ceremony at Punta Perla with Prince Albert and Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernandez on Tuesday, succeeded in squeezing Woodhall out of his project.The Briton then turned his attention to potential luxury resorts in Egypt and Brazil. He replicated Ocean View’s business model by controlling sales, mortgage broking, conveyancing and cash flow through a “one-stop shop” operation, Worldwide Destinations.While in Brazil he engaged businessman Ricky Every to find development sites on the north-east coast which he could market as “eco resorts”.He hoped that would appeal to environmentally aware Prince Albert. Woodhall had met the prince several times after being introduced by Costa del Sol mortgage broker Mark Tout, a former British 

Olympic bobsleigh number one, discredited after admitting taking steroids in 1996.Tout, 47, coached Prince Albert during the royal’s own lengthy Olympic bobsleigh career.Woodhall apparently hoped the donation would trigger an investment appraisal by the foundation’s committee. Among the other potential investors were Kempson, from Cambridgeshire, and Hodges, from Somerset.Together with Woodhall and Every they chartered a plane from Brazilian company Aero Star to fly over the 

potential Barra Nova Pearl eco-resort on May 2 last year.It took off from Salvador in north-east Brazil and the 40-minute flight was due to arrive in the coastal town of Ilheus at 5.43pm local time.Brazilian investigators are still trying to piece together what happened next but the plane apparently lost contact with air traffic controllers eight miles out to sea, nine minutes before its scheduled landing. The pilots had just announced they were switching from flying by instruments to visual observation.Ellen Duarte, business manager for charter company Aero Star, said: “It was flying perfectly. The pilot said he was making a visual approach to the airport, and that was the last we heard.” Eyewitness reports then vary. One said the plane was flying unusually low, while another described it as “a bit out of control” and that it “swung out 

towards the sea and then back towards the forest”.“Not long after, it disappeared,” said student Caliana Mesquita.

Rescue teams searched 400km of sea and rainforest for five days but the search was called off after small pieces of wreckage washed up 60 miles north of Ilheus. No bodies were recovered.

Many of Woodhall’s former associates spoken to by the Sunday Express asked not to be named for fear of 

reprisals. One who knew him from his time in Sutton Coldfield and Solihull described him as “mercenary” and “certainly capable” of faking his death.Others said he had threatened 
with guns people who owed him money on the Costa del Sol.Property internet forums are awash with people also claiming that Woodhall owed them cash and that he is alive. Conspiracy theories range from the outlandish to the more feasible.Some have suggested that all six crew and passengers bailed out before the crash, while others believe that Woodhall, a man so terrified of flying he had to take Valium, never even boarded the Cessna. Aero Star in Brazil has declined to say whether there is proof that the group boarded the plane. However, Woodhall’s former wife Victoria, who returned to Walsall with their two young children in 2006 when she discovered he had been having affairs, is disgusted at the conspiracy theories.Even though she was left without a penny in maintenance because her decree nisi failed to materialise, she is convinced he is dead.She said: “I’ve been told that the plane went down into the sea from 4,000ft. That would be like hitting a brick wall. Everything would just disintegrate.” Victoria added: “I’ve never thought for one second it could be anything more than an accident. When you know the man the way I do, there’s no way he’d jump out in a parachute.“He loved being the centre of attention, he’d never give up his lifestyle and his friends, which is what you’d have to do if you’d faked it.”Ricardo Miranda, Ocean View Properties and Colin Thomas have all strongly denied any wrongdoing. Mr Tout declined to comment and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation could not be contacted.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/82370/Vanished-conman-faked-death-

peaceful protest march in Almeria
City this Friday, January 9th 2009 - a year exactly after Len and Helen Prior's house
was demolished by the Junta de Andalucía. It's being organised by AULAN, AUAN (both anti-property abuse associations in Almeria), Ciudadanos Europeos and others. This is our first big opportunity to showthat the arbitrary treatment towards property owners must be stopped.

Barclays has settled a legal claim raised by a senior member of the Qatari ruling family over an alleged €50m (£48m) fraud. The settlement, which has been secretly thrashed out over the past few weeks, related to claims from Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Thani, brother of the Emir of Qatar, that €50m had been stolen from his account at Barclays in Marbella between 2001 and 2003. The sheikh's wife Princess Kasia Al-Thani, who first discovered the fraud and has been spearheading the legal action,
The case was a cause of embarrassment for Barclays, headed by John Varley, which had been battling the sheikh's claims while raising billions of pounds from Qatar's state investment funds. The bank recently turned to Qatar for the bulk of its £7bn capital raising. Qatar also backed a £4bn fund-raising by the bank earlier this year. Last month Barclays was reportedly ordered to post €20m as security with a Spanish court as part of a legal battle. At the time a settlement was said to be still some way off after a letter from the sheikh in the summer which vowed he would pursue every legal route possible to recover his money. The sheikh, who is now a minister attached to the embassy in Paris and who was Qatar's Opec representative, accused Barclays of gross negligence for allowing an employee of his to take about €4m a month from a personal account in Marbella. The sheikh claims a former employee set up a bank account at Barclays' Marbella branch, using his own name and the sheikh's. The sheikh claims he had no knowledge of this and his signature was forged. It is alleged money from another of his accounts was siphoned to the joint account, and later withdrawn or transferred to Monaco, the British Virgin Islands and Switzerland. Despite the sums allegedly involved, the billionaire sheikh did not notice until his wife spotted the irregularities. Princess Kasia said: "I just saw some papers on my husband's desk and noticed something was wrong. We added the figures and found all the money we thought had been going into the bank had been going straight back out again." She said: "People said I was mad. But I strongly believe there is a gap in the market for an easy and efficient service with a range of gifts you would want yourself. We've been taking sales for a month and already we've had 95,000 hits and strong sales. Of course people are being more cautious but this is a long-term business." Barclays declined to comment about the claim.

The 50-year-old man was arrested by officers from Strike Force Gamut this afternoon at a home at Ashfield in Sydney's inner west. alleged multi-million dollar identity fraud and money-laundering syndicate have charged a man after a raid on a Sydney house. He was taken to Burwood Police Station where he was questioned and later charged with participating in a criminal group, dealing in the proceeds of crime and fraud-related offences. He has been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday. Strike Force Gamut has been investigating the alleged activities of an organised crime group, which steals cheques and personal banking details from mailboxes. The personal details are then used to produce high quality counterfeit identity documents, including drivers' licences and Medicare cards, police said.
It's alleged the gang uses the documents to open bank accounts used to launder money and send it offshore. Investigators have released images of four men and three women they believe are involved and are appealing for the public's help in identifying and locating them.

Anchorage man who got into a lover’s spat with his girlfriend after allegedly kissing another woman outside his Spenard home early New Year’s Day wound up hospitalized after he pulled a gun on his girlfriend and she fought back, Anchorage police said Friday. Asipeli Vatuvei, 28, has been charged with felony assault and reckless endangerment following the dispute at about 5:30 a.m. New Year’s Day, police said.Police say that’s when they were summoned to the apartment at 1406 West 47th Ave. to the report of a man shot once in the back. Vatuvei and his girlfriend had been drinking, according to police, when he was spotted by the girlfriend smooching another woman. Vatuvei’s girlfriend confronted him and the pair began arguing, police said. During the spat, Vatuvei allegedly pulled a gun on his girlfriend and fired a shot at her, missing her, police said. His girlfriend then charged him, trying get wrest control of the weapon away, according to police. During the struggle, the weapon discharged and grazed Vatuvei in the back, police said. Vatuvei was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated for his injury and released, police said. He has since been arrested on charges of third-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He was booked at the Anchorage jail with bail set at $40,000, police said.

Police in southern Italy have arrested three men suspected of beating and setting fire to a rival as part of a local feud in the Calabrian town of Filadelfia. Investigators said the prime suspect, Santino Accetta, 34, had a conviction for drug dealing and was linked to the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian version of the Mafia notorious for its ferocity.The victim, Cristian Galati, 24, was found in a field by a farmer on New Year's Day. He had allegedly been picked up by the three suspects in Filadelfia the previous night and driven out into the countryside, where he was severely beaten, tied up and then set alight. Italian television news yesterday showed pictures of bloodstains and charred clothes.Investigators said Mr Accetta organised the beating because he suspected Mr Galati of setting fire to his car, a Volkswagen Golf, some months ago. Mr Galati is said to have been tricked into confessing while chatting on the internet. Police said two of the three suspects had admitted responsibility for the attack, which has left Mr Galati in a critical condition.Mr Galati's brother, Valentino, 19, . There have been six cases involving men under 29 in the Filadelfia area over the past 10 years, and there had been speculation that Mr Galati may have been attacked to discourage him from investigating his brother's disappearance.Antonio Sisca, an Italian journalist who has written about the disappearances for the local Gazzetta del Sud, said he did not believe that was the case. "He was a soft-hearted lad. I don't think he would have had the ability or the character to investigate that murder," Sisca said in a telephone interview. He said the motive for the attack was more likely to be connected to local rivalries.

Islamic administration in Burhakaba town southern Somalia which is 190 KM away from the Somali capital of Mogadishu had Friday morning executed two men who have committed banditry, as an Islamic officer stated. Osman Barur, a spokesman for the Islamists told local media that the execution of the two men was carried out according to Islamic law, and he has also warned any body commits any evil thing against Islamic law. These people were arrested from the outskirt of the city as they were looting the travelers and other innocent people" said the spokesperson.
Somali Islamists now control most of southern and central regions where they impose strict rules which drawn the world criticism on the way they practice the Islamic Sharia like execution remarkably the recent killing of 14-year old girl in Kismayo, the southern part of Somalia where the Islamists accused her of adultery.
The Islamic militants vowed to continue the fighting even if the Ethiopian troops withdraw the country and indicated to face against the secular government to put an effect the Islamic Sharia law on all corners of the country. Meanwhile three Ethiopian soldiers were killed in a road side bomb in southern Mogadishu on Friday, inhabitants stated. Muse Ali a dweller said, after the blast the Ethiopians fired pullets to all directions and they have killed 7 people, including people passing near the area. Ethiopia said before it will be pulling its troops out from Somalia in first days of this month.

Two men and two teens have been arrested on suspicion of gang-raping a woman last month in the San Francisco Bay area while allegedly taunting her for being a lesbian, police said Thursday.Officers arrested Humberto Hernandez Salvador at his Richmond home Wednesday night, Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan said. The 31-year-old is being held without bail on gang rape, kidnapping and carjacking charges.Police on Wednesday also arrested a 15-year-old Richmond boy and a 16-year-old Hercules boy, who were being held at a juvenile detention center on similar charges. Their names were not released.Josue Gonzalez, 21, turned himself in Thursday after police announced they were searching for him. He was wanted on charges of gang rape, kidnapping and carjacking.Gagan said Gonzalez asked for an attorney when he turned himself in but said nothing about his alleged role in the attack."We feel that while these four suspects were at large, a large cross-section of our population felt unsafe," Gagan said. "Now that the fourth one is behind bars, we can all breathe a sigh of relief."Police would not detail each person's alleged involvement. Tips from local residents led to the arrests.Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked on Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The alleged attackers made comments indicating they knew she was a lesbian, police said.Authorities have characterized the case as a hate crime. Police said the victim lives openly with a female partner.The 45-minute attack started when one of the men approached the woman in the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her with the help of the others, according to detectives.When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building. She was raped again inside and outside the vehicle and left naked outside the building while the alleged assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car, police said.

Authorities say a Gardnerville man awaiting court proceedings on a drug charge was back in custody after he tested positive for cocaine.20-year-old Iqbal Singh was arrested Wednesday after he was accused of using cocaine in violation of terms of his release.He was arrested in July on a charge of sales of a controlled substance after allegedly selling cocaine in an undercover sting. East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl set a Jan. 30 preliminary hearing on the sales charge. EnEarl said Singh would be under house arrest with electronic monitoring if he posts $25,000 bail.

Leighton Richardson arrested in Tenerife after his girlfriend was found dying in a pool of blood at her apartment has been released from custody after being held since Christmas Eve.Before making his bail decision the judge studied police information which – despite earlier reports – said no baseball bat had been found at her flat.
But while investigations continue Leighton Richardson, born in Wrexham and who grew up in Mold, remains a suspect.He has been ordered to report daily to the court at Arona, on the holiday island’s south coast, where the investigating judge in charge of the case is based.Richardson has also had to surrender his passport to the court.
He was arrested in the early hours of Christmas Eve after Lisa McConway, 28, from Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland, was found by police at her flat in the brash resort of Playa de las Americas.She was in a critical condition and had severe bruising to much of her body.She was rushed to hospital but died at 1pm that day.
Reports said police had gone to the flat after neighbours telephoned just after 3am to report a violent row was taking place.The investigating judge decided to grant Richardson “provisional liberty” – the Spanish term for bail – after studying a written report by pathologists following an autopsy.
The experts were reported as concluding Miss McConway, who had a British passport, could have died either as the result of a beating or following a fall, it was reported yesterdayAlthough her injuries were consistent with an attack the autopsy revealed she suffered from a blood clotting condition which could cause extensive bruising as the result of a fall, court sources told local journalists.
Before making his bail decision the judge had also studied a police report which despite earlier reports said that no baseball bat had been found at Miss McConway’s flat.Nor had any witnesses been found to back-up the claim reportedly made by the initial caller a serious row had taken place.But two witnesses had said earlier Miss McConway had been “drinking a lot” and they had seen her “drunk”. The witnesses said she had fallen down opening a gash in her head.For his part Richardson had emphatically denied throughout his time in police custody and later at a closed door hearing in front of the investigating judge he had beaten Miss McConway.
Following Miss McConway’s death Jose Antonio Batista, the Spanish Interior Ministry representative in Tenerife, described the scene which greeted officers at her apartment as a “Dantesque spectacle”.He was quoted as telling local reporters: “All the furniture was overturned and there was blood on the floor and the walls.”
The official also said Miss McConway had telephoned Richardson, who lived elsewhere, at 3am last Wednesday to say she felt unwell. The boyfriend arrived shortly afterwards at her flat.Reports yesterday said the couple’s young son would be handed over to Richardson on his release.

Leighton Richardson has been arrested following the brutal murder of Lisa McConway, 28, from Dublin, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat in Tenerife on Christmas Eve.Richardson was arrested yesterday morning by Spanish police and is to appear at a closed hearing before a magistrate will decide whether or not to press charges.He is understood to be the father of Lisa McConway's three-year old son. It's believed the boy was in the apartment when his mother was attacked. Police were called when neighbours heard a violent row.McConway was taken to a local hospital where she died at around midday on Christmas Day.

Spanish anti-Corruption prosecutor is to investigate who sold funds organised by the disgraced New York broker, Bernard Madoff, in Spain. The prosecutor wants to establish if the agents acting here took an active part in the fraud which has been carried out, and it means that the Optimal and Banif funds from Santander will be under inspection along with all those who distributed the funds.

Army Major Arturo Gonzalez, who was arrested this week, allegedly received $100,000 a month to track the president for powerful Mexican drug gang leaders and is suspected of selling weapons to drug gangs and training their hit men, said the official, who asked not to be identified.army officer in the Mexican presidential guard is accused of selling secrets about the movements of President Felipe Calderon to drug cartels, a government official said."The major was part of the presidential guard and a protected witness said he received money to pass information about (the president's) official visits," the official said.Local media reported the drug gang leaders wanted information on Calderon's movements to ensure they were never in the same location as the president and his heavily armed guard.Gonzalez, whose arrest was announced on Friday, was detained as part of "Operation Clean-up," which has netted several high-ranking officials accused of collaborating with the Beltran Leyva brothers, who split off from the Sinaloa cartel run by Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.
Most of the officials arrested recently are senior policemen, including Mexico's liaison to Interpol and the head of the country's organised crime unit.
The presidential guard is a specialized army unit responsible for protecting the president and his family. Gonzalez's suspected collaboration with drug traffickers was revealed by a protected witness who was a member of the Beltran Leyva cartel, the government official said.Since taking office in 2006, Calderon has deployed thousands of troops and federal police to drug hot spots to take on the powerful cartels.The offensive by the government has failed to curb soaring drug violence. More than 5,300 people have been killed this year, more than twice as many as 2007, as traffickers fight each other and the government over drug smuggling routes.
Calderon deployed the army to fight organized crime partly because soldiers have traditionally been seen as less corrupt than police.Military men across the ranks have said they too are being offered thousands of dollars to ignore drug shipments or tip off cartels. Last weekend, in the worst attack yet against the army, police found the beheaded and tortured bodies of eight soldiers in a town near Acapulco, their heads stuffed in a black plastic bag and tossed outside a shopping centre.

Notorious gangster Pappu Ganjeri, 25, was shot dead at Shivaji Nagar in Chandpur Bela locality under the Jakkanpur police station on Saturday
evening.Police said criminals opened fire at Ganjeri when he was loitering near a pond close to his residence at Shivaji Nagar. Before the locals could react, the assailants escaped. Ganjeri was taken to PMCH where he succumbed to his injuries.
Patna DIG Amit Kumar said Ganjeri was involved in over 20 cases of murder, extortion, loot, dacoity and Arms Act lodged in different police stations of Patna.
Police said Ganjeri had differences with his old friends, and they might have killed him. Sources said there was no Section left in the Indian Penal Code under which he was not booked. "His killing has brought relief to people and police," said a police officer.

The new owners of the Hotel Los Monteros, the Russian petrol group, North West Oil, are reported by El País to have sacked 72 of the hotel’s 180 workers, some 40%.
Gonzalo Fuentes, the Regional Secretary of the Commerce Federation of the Union Comisones Obreras, said that the workers are to take legal action, and say they have not been paid any compensation for the sackings or three months back pay which is owed. They are planning strike action on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and say the stoppage could become indefinite. A final decision on strike action will be taken by the workers on Friday.A statement from the hotel said the decision was taken for economic reasons.

Spain’s government is to help home-seekers buy or rent one million homes in the next four years, it said on Friday, as it seeks fiscal catalysts as well as props for the hard-hit housing sector.

Under the plan, which was approved by the cabinet on Friday, Spain will spend 10.1 billion euros ($13.4 billion) to help the poorest families, the elderly, young people, the disabled and victims of domestic violence find a home through a system of subsidies to developers.

It also throws a lifeline to Spain’s struggling builders who have seen revenues crumble following a shuddering halt to a decade-long boom.That, added to a lack of credit, could see many more go the way of Martinsa Fadesa — at one time Spain’s biggest builder — which filed for administration earlier this year.The Housing Ministry said in a statement that the plan dedicated a third more than the plan’s previous draft and would increase the number of homes available by roughly 380,000 as Spain looks to infrastructure projects to head off what analysts forecast will be its worst recession in 50 years during 2009.Spain has announced fiscal stimulus totalling over 50 billion euros of tax breaks, low-cost loans and public works spending.

75-year-old woman was killed last night when the bedroom roof of her cave house collapsed in on top of her as she was sleeping. The incident occurred at around 2.30am at number 19, calle Castellana, Rojales (Alicante), a small town with a population of just over 7,000 inhabitants some 4km inland from Guardamar del Segura.
The rest of the property was unaffected. Emergency medics were unable to revive the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

legal firm in Murcia, acting under instruction from several banks and almost bankrupt real estate developers, is offering properties for sale at really bargain basement prices. Some of the deals on offer are the result of property being embargoed, whilst others are due to an excessive building programme.

For example: a brand new home with three bedrooms and all the attendant services, set on the coast and near a golf course, is being priced at just one hundred thousand euros.

Agents of the National Police Corps, assigned to the Special Response Group against Organized Crime in Ibiza, have proceeded to the dismantling of a complex criminal organization composed of Ibiza citizens who were very much related to the world of the night. It is the largest network of introduction and distribution of narcotic substances by residents on the island, according to the police stressed in a statement. investigation, which began in mid-May, found that detainees introduced and distributed the goods among traffickers involved in sales at bars and nightclubs on the island. The head of the organization, PPR, was in charge of making contacts with the mainland to stock up on drugs. The ringleader had numerous rented in the name of third parties in order to avoid such as leaseholder appear. Distributed the goods among all the homes, located in spots strategically placed to detect police presence This subject was traveling in rented vehicles, also on behalf of third parties, to avoid being detected. To provide this infrastructure was in charge of other detainees, TIT, who gained a certain amount of money held by each administration. December 8 players GRECO detected how the organization had anticipated the arrival in the island of a significant quantity of drugs, which sought to distribute at Christmas. After ascertaining that the goods were in Ibiza led to the arrest of those surveyed. Once the ruling was timely house searches and a half intervened four kilos of cocaine in rock of high purity, three cars (a BMW 330, a Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Polo), 4,000 euros in cash, precision scales, numerous mobile phones and 18,000 euros were frozen in several bank accounts.

Football great John Barnes, tennis legend Pat Cash, cricket's Darren Gough and rugby's Martin Corry and Martin Offiah are just some of the high profile figures who were promised luxury apartments if their names could be used to promote overseas developments that many fear will never be built.The promises were made by a Spanish company, which was closely involved with Sean Woodhall, a 43-year-old fraudster who disappeared after a light aircraft carrying him and other debt-ridden businessmen crashed in a Brazilian forest in May.The sportsmen have been offered holiday homes at the proposed "five-star" resort in Tafedna Bay, Morocco, which does not have planning permission, where not a spade has been turned and yet on which sales agents have already been taking cash from British customers.Former England rugby captain Corry this week cancelled his involvement in the project after police warned him about the potential fraud."He no longer wants anything to do with it," his spokesman said. Pat Cash is also reconsidering his contract. In another closely related suspected scam, a group of well-known footballers, including one ex-England international, are preparing to sue Midlands-based Ocean View Properties, which the as having left hundreds of customers millions out of pocket.The company is also believed to have conned two serving police officers. Ocean View, which has debts of more than £100million, this week took down its website "for maintenance". Both police and Government fraud agencies are now investigating the company and a multimillion-pound black hole. The suspected swindles involve four central characters and their cross-border labyrinth of companies, which lured people to invest in "off-plan" holiday-homes in Spain, Morocco and the Dominican Republic.
Buy-to-let millionaire Colin Thomas is the owner of Ocean View Properties; Woodhall, whose body has never been recovered, was Mr Thomas's dealmaker in Spain; Adam Sargent was Mr Thomas's expert salesman in the sports world; and Spaniard Ricardo Miranda was the supposed developer in all three countries.Mr Thomas formed Ocean View in 2001, the year that Woodhall moved to Spain after being convicted for a franchise fraud in Birmingham.Woodhall found sites in the Costa del Sol, while in Britain Mr Thomas created a network of franchise agents to sell off-plan apartments.
These agents were part of Ocean View's "one-stop shop" property service, which allowed it to control cashflows and direct customers to its own recommended mortgage brokers, travel agents and Spanish conveyancing lawyers-a practice criticised by the buy-to-let industry's own trade body.
Among these agents was Mr Sargent, a financial adviser to star footballers. He helped Ocean View sponsor Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, and Leicester City.
They told cash rich footballers there were guaranteed rental yields and high capital profits abroad. Among the many footballers to invest in discount deals were Villa's Gareth Barry, Newcastle United's Alan Smith and Shola Ameobi, and ex-Liverpool midfielder Steve Staunton.In return they allowed their names to be used on promotional material. Similar deals were also struck with England cricketers Duggie Brown and Paul Nixon, who still advertise their involvement with Ocean View on the Professional Cricketers' Association website.Customers would exchange contracts with a Spanish developer and hand over typical deposits of £70,000 to Ocean View in Britain.Mr Thomas said he would then transfer the bulk of the deposit to the developer. Many of the properties were built, but some were sub-standard, according to customers. However, cracks surfaced when the Costa del Sol property market collapsed amid a widespread corruption scandal in 2006. It then emerged that Ocean View and Mr Miranda's development company, Sungolf, had been taking deposits for the proposed Estepona Beach and Country Club near Malaga, a site that did not have planning permission and which has yet to be built.That was not allowed under Spanish law, legal sources have said.They have also said that Ocean View's practice of charging customers Spanish VAT on the full purchase price rather than on just the initial deposit was also illegal.Customers, many of them preparing legal cases, are now claiming they were deliberately duped. Last week, Ocean View's owner Colin Thomas said because Sungolf had all the cash, it would be starting a refund scheme in February.However, Mr Miranda's spokeswoman denied that was the case, claiming they had "proof" the money had already been "returned" to Ocean View.Meanwhile, Ocean View has also been telling unhappy customers they can transfer their contracts to another of Mr Miranda's developments-Morocco's Tafedna Bay, a site where Mr Sargent has been touting for business through his new company, Zenith Overseas Investments.The links between the businessmen can also be traced to Mr Miranda's Punta Perla development in the Dominican Republic, an empty site where Newcastle's Alan Smith has also invested.Last week, Ocean View's Mr Thomas said he had no involvement there, but the Sunday Express has obtained a sales document, which states that cheques for deposits in Punta Perla should be sent to his company in Staffordshire.Mr Thomas also said last week that he had severed relations with conman Woodhall in 2004. However, Ocean View was acting as agents for Woodhall's now-defunct Punta Perla Caribbean company from late 2005. Two weeks ago Woodhall's other company, Worldwide Destinations, was expelled from the industry's trade body, the Association of International Property Professionals, for allegedly selling non-existent mortgages in Egypt.Mr Thomas, Mr Sargent, and Mr Miranda have all strongly denied any wrongdoing. Mr Sargent said: "I took on an Ocean View franchise for five years and recommended it as a pension replacement and pension supplement scheme to my clients."The idea was to get people to buy properties, then get them built, and put them into a rental programme with its own travel arm."Generally, they've done that to a degree. The travel arm wasn't as successful as everybody had hoped, but we've managed to put people into a long term rental contract and I've been a lot more hands on than most in the sense that I've tried to manage the clients expectations."

Spain's top-selling newspaper El Pais on Sunday revealed details of CIA secret flights taking prisoners to Guantanamo bay using Spain as a stop-over. According to the paper, the National Court of Spain is investigating the false names given by crews of several CIA-operated civilian flights that stopped over in Palma de Mallorca in 2003 and 2005.Egyptian Mustafa Osama Nasr and German-Lebanese Hamed Al Masri, who were kidnapped and tortured by CIA agents in Milan and Macedonia, respectively, were in those airplanes, together with others prisoners, says El Pais.
It also reports crews in those flights used false identities during stopovers in Spain, as stated in evidences given by the British organization Reprieve to Spain Justice. If the false identity crime is finally proved, National Court of Spain will demand CIA agents be taken to court, judicial sources affirmed.El País paper talks about eight of the passengers, who made phone calls to US from Royal Plaza Hotel, Ibiza, on February 6-12, 2005, and describes them as a team that participated in seven kidnappings and illegal traffic of people. The two pilots of CIA planes were registered as James Richard Fairing and Eric Matthew Fair, but their real names are James Kovalesky and Eric R. Hume, according to Reprieve’s investigator Olivier Minkwitz.

Jürgen Sauer is the co-founder of the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona and the owner of the Sauer real estate company. He has real estate interests in Mallorca, Tenerife, Sotogrande, Mijas and Marbella. His current offices are in the annexe of the Laguna Beach Hotel. Judicial sources have told El País that he is accused of money laundering and has been granted bail at 150,000 €.German businessman has been arrested in connection with the Hidalgo money laundering case in Marbella. Eighteen months after the case, based in the lawyers Cruz Conde, broke, police have now arrested a German businessman based on the Costa del Sol and have once again searched the offices of the Marbella lawyers Cruz Conde.The Anti-Corruption prosecutor is investigating the creation of 800 companies in the Cruz Conde offices, allegedly used to launder money from illicit origins.

Parliamentary investigation into fuel poverty is to investigate £12 million a year of winter fuel payments made to British pensioners living abroad. Michael Jack, chairman of the Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said the issue had emerged as a “key” area of concern in their inquiry. He said: “For many pensioners in the UK at the moment the winter fuel payment is the difference between turning on the heating or not. With the sharp rise in fuel bills we wish to check the deployment of this benefit and how effective it is. “It certainly seems very unusual that this remains a universal benefit, payable to every pensioner at 60 and is not even means-tested.” The select committee is expected to make recommendations about possible changes to the winter fuel payment scheme in a report to Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, in the new year. Under official rules the £200 winter fuel allowance is paid to anyone living in Britain on their 60th birthday on a state pension, even if that person intends to retire or spend winter months in wamer countries. The payments rise to more than £300 for the over-80s. There is not even a requirement for the money to be used for heating bills. The payment is only made if British citizens move to one of the 29 countries in the European Economic Area. It is part of the European Union portable allowances scheme and cash is paid into overseas bank accounts. It does not apply to anyone moving to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand or Canada, who have their pension and fuel payments frozen once they leave Britain. A coalition of pensioners’ groups is lobbying for these payments to some 50,000 Britons living abroad to be switched to help those at home struggling to pay bills to combat the cold. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) claims that gas and electricity bills in Cyprus, for example, which enjoys some 300 days of sunshine a year, are £500 cheaper than in Britain. Derek Lickorish, chairman of the group, is angry about the inequity of the payments and is to speak against them when he gives evidence to the MPs’ inquiry on Monday.
“We are urging the Government to review its policy. Many of these countries do not even get cold in the winter months yet the payments are automatic. And many of the pensioners who receive this cash are higher rate taxpayers - the wealthy - and they have less need for them.” He added: “Obviously there will always be extreme circumstances in which some pensioners living abroad will be in need of funds for winter fuel but there is an overwhelming case for the payments to be better targetted.” Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, called for these payments to expatriates to be scrapped immediately. “It is ludicrous that people on the Costa del Sol are getting winter fuel payments,” he said. “These benefits are meant to help hard-up pensioners in Britain get through the winter, so they shouldn’t be paid to expats. It beggars belief that the taxpayer is forking out for all these people living it up overseas, who are taking us all for a ride.”
Pensioner couples such as Jim and Hilary Ross, of Rochester, Kent, have seen their own fuel bills rocket an extra £360 a year. This has effectively cancelled out the winter fuel payment sending them into fuel poverty. Any household spending 10 per cent or more of its income on gas and electricity is defined as fuel poor. Mrs Ross said: “The winter fuel payments do not help us as much as they could - they should be means-tested because clearly pensioners living in Cyprus or Spain are not going to be as cold as us. It just doesn’t seem fair.” Any change will have to win the backing of Gordon Brown. The issue is a cross-departmental matter between Ed Miliband responsible for energy and James Purnell, Work and Pensions Secretary, whose staff make the payments to pensioners.
A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: “It is a universal benefit. The majority of people receiving the payment need and appreciate the financial assistance. There are strict eligibility rules and people must be 60 to qualify. It cannot be claimed by anyone aged 58 or 59 who takes early retirement and goes to live abroad. It is also only paid to former UK residents living in the European Economic Area or Switzerland if they qualified for it before leaving the UK.”

Teenage boy is under arrest after police say he took a loaded handgun to Valley High School. Staff received word that a student may bring a gun to school. Police and staff located the suspect near the cafeteria, but he ran away. A school resource officer followed him and Metro Police took him into custody. Police said the teen had a .22 caliber Derringer. Jefferson County Public Schools representative Lauren Roberts said the boy is charged with unlawful possession on school property. He also faces a long-term suspension. No injuries were reported.

Jason Alexander who was married to Britney Spears for 55 hours in 2004 - was arrested in L.A. Wednesday on a probation violation.As part of his parole stemming from a 2006 DUI arrest, Alexander, 27, was ordered to complete an alcohol education program. According to court papers, a judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail Wednesday after he blew off a second appointment visiting the county morgue.The judge also ordered him to readmit to a six-month alcohol program.
He's currently being detained at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, California.

Yadkinville police officer's hunch about the comings and goings from the parking lot of the Days Inn motel last year led to one of the largest drug busts in the town's history.And one of the larger drug money seizures in the state last year, authorities said.
Not only did the arrest take a major drug trafficker off the street, but it helped to dismantle a drug smuggling operation based in Mexico with ties to North Carolina.
The arrest of Alejandro Alvarron Alvarado on Dec. 12, 2007, netted more than $2 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine and $401,880 in cash, said Delbert Richburg, an assistant special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Richburg presented a commemorative check for $400,000 today to officers in Yadkin, Iredell, Forsyth counties as well as the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. The presentation at 11 a.m. was at the Yadkinville Police Department. The agencies will share the drug money based on their level of participation in the investigation.
"Many times the public is not made aware of significant achievements made by law enforcement agencies," Richburg said. He added that many of the details of the case were kept low key during the investigation.
The Yadkinville police officer was watching the motel parking lot the night before the arrest. First, a woman got out of a Jeep Liberty and into a Dodge Durango. Then, a group of men outside the hotel got into the Jeep and left, according to a search warrant. When they returned, they switched vehicles again and drove away.
The officer found that suspicious and called for backup from Yadkin County's drug-interdiction team.
And with that call local officers also got help with surveillance from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's El Paso Intelligence Center.
The Durango made stops in Hamptonville, North Wilkesboro, Hayes and Winston-Salem before returning to a house at 4428 Wiles Road in Hamptonville, where Alvarado lived.
Within hours, the team raided the house and seized 8 kilograms of cocaine as well as methamphetamine.
Alvarado, 36, was charged with trafficking cocaine, trafficking methamphetamine, and maintaining a vehicle for drug purposes. As part of a plea bargain with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty Aug. 27 in Yadkin Superior Court to attempted trafficking in cocaine and was sentenced to 61 to 83 months in prison. Alvarado is an illegal immigrant and will be deported to Mexico after the sentence.
Large-scale drug organizations depend on nation's highways to reach varied communities, authorities say. Alvarado worked for a drug organization that focused in the Yadkinville area but had transportation routes up and down the East Coast.
Alvarado had been in the Yadkinville area for some time, Richburg said. He would take cash back to Mexico, and on his return, would bring drugs into Yadkin.
The Durango and the Jeep were equipped with non-factory installed hidden compartments to hide money and drugs.
Yadkin Sheriff Mike Cain said sometimes drug dealers do big deals in rural counties because there is less law enforcement. But Yadkin was able to get a hold of Alvarado because they were working with other agencies, he said.
Yadkinville and Yadkin County are expected to receive about $80,000 each of the drug money that was seized.
ICE will receive $100,000, the SBI $100,000, Iredell $20,000 and Forsyth $20,000.
The money will be used to purchase equipment and help with future investigations.
"It's about saving the taxpayer money by getting things to help fight crime that they don't have to pay for," Parks said.

Former Rome businessman Mario Armas was in court again on Thursday, this time pleading guilty to masterminding a home invasion that occurred in 2004.The home invasion reportedly was an attempt to steal nearly 1.5 million dollars and recoup losses in incurred in drug smuggling.Armas was sentenced to 20 years in which 10 will be served. The sentence will be served concurrently with the federal sentence he received last year for drug smuggling and money laundering.

Brazil City Police Captain Terry Harrison confirmed to The Brazil Times that preliminary charges are in the process of being filed against William E. Baugh, 45, Terre Haute. Officials believe Baugh is one of two suspects using a 4-door bronze-colored vehicle to follow a local elderly lady as she went shopping around town and then robbed her of her groceries and purse when she arrived home around 2 p.m.
Currently incarcerated at the Vigo County Jail, Baugh was taken into custody Monday evening after a high-speed pursuit with law enforcement that started in Paris, Ill., and ended in West Terre Haute. Vigo County Jail officials confirmed Baugh is currently charged with two preliminary counts of residential entry and one count each of criminal mischief, resisting law enforcement, driving while never licensed and a parole violation. There is also a court-ordered arrest warrant issued from Clark County Illinois. Although facing two $50,000 cash bonds, officials said Baugh would not be released due to the hold issued by Clark County Illinois. Harrison confirmed an arrest warrant was being issued for a second unidentified suspect in the case.

It was a quick response by Richmond County Investigators. Within minutes of two suspects robbing the Georgia Bank & Trust, authorities set up an intense perimeter blocks from the crime scene. Witnesses at the bank say they saw two guys get into this green Chevy. Investigators say the getaway car was found between Parnell and Emmett Street. That is where authorities set up and searched the area with k-9’s.Lieutenant Scott Pebble, Richmond County Sheriffs Office: “We are searching under peoples houses looking for signs of any fresh disturbance around the houses.”
Investigators tell us red dye from the stolen money pack exploded inside the car. Authorities believe the suspects fled on foot leaving a trial of money behind. Some in the neighborhood watched as the operation unfolded.Tommie Stacy, Augusta: ‘’It’s just amazing to me how some people are.”Fraendy Clervaud, Reporting: “With the perimeter set, investigators checked several cars coming in and out of the area to make sure none of the suspects were hiding out in them.”Three schools were placed on lockdown including Tubman Middle.Tommie Stacy, Augusta: “I feel that was the right thing to do to keep the kids safe and all you never know these guys are desperate to get away some times. No telling what they might do.”Investigators say the thieves can run but they can’t hide the fact that red dye is all over them. Lieutenant Scott Pebbles, Richmond County Sheriffs Office: “That dye will be very hard to get off. It’s likely if it got on the skin that taking it off the skin will be a bit painful and will probably cause abrasions it’s not something that can be wiped off easily.”

Spanish property developer said Tuesday it will hold a raffle to unload 31 apartments near Spanish property developer said Tuesday it will hold a raffle to unload 31 apartments near Barcelona which have been difficult to sell amid a collapse in the real estate market.Tickets for the raffle cost 50 euros (63 dollars) and they will go on sale on Wednesday, a spokesman for developer Grupo de Empresas Rob told AFP.The company hopes to sell 7,000 raffle tickets for each apartment which will be awarded, meaning it would raise 350,000 euros per dwelling.If the developer does not sell at least 6,500 tickets for a particular apartment, the raffle will not go ahead for that property and participants will receive a refund.The raffle, which will be supervised by a notary, will be held in the coming months, the spokesman said.
All of the apartments -- which are between 50 and 90-square metres (970-square feet) -- are all located on the same street in the Barcelona suburb of Santa Coloma de Gramenet.After a decade-long boom, Spain's property market began to slump last year due to rising interest rates, oversupply and tougher lending conditions introduced in the wake of the global credit crunch.Property sales declined 28.2 percent during the first nine months of this year compared with the same period of 2007, national statistics institute INE said last week.The drop in sales has led developers to come up with innovative promotions to try to sell properties.In October another Spanish developer, Salsa Immobiliaria, offered a one bedroom apartment to anyone who bought one of its four-bedroom townhouses near the beach in Terrazas de Miraflores on the Costa del Sol.In May a man who could not meet mortgage payments on his apartment near Madrid tried to organise a raffle to unload it but he had to call off the contest because he failed to get the proper authorisation.

Spain's police have unveiled the plans of the Georgian-born crime boss Zakhar Kalashov, who was trying to influence the judiciary and free him from the Spanish prison. Spanish newspaper ABC reports that Kalashov has created a whole structure which had to work on his release from prison, just the way he used to do in Russia. Oleg Vorontsov and Alexander Golfshtein were the key figures in this secret plan. Vorontsov was the first advisor of Russia's ex-president Yeltsin years ago.As the author of the article reports, Golfstein brought a very serious amount of money collected from Russian criminal network to Spain, which had to be spent on the release of the crime-boss Kalashov. Kalashov was arrested in Dubai in 2006, as he was returning from a 'congress' of criminal authorities.

Michael Wilks, 34, of Barking is being held along with four others thought to be part of a trafficking ring trying to smuggle drugs into the UK.Amanda Goodwin, 48, from Brighton, David Mead, 45, of Beckenham, Martin James Veryard, 39, and a Romanian man were also arrested.The huge stash of cannabis was found in compressed blocks in the back of a van in Benijofar, south of Alicante in Spain.After discovering the drugs armed officers swooped on an address in El Garrucha in Murcia, a stolen luxury car and a gun were found at the property.Spanish police said the operation, codenamed Rostel, was part of a sting on a common drug trafficking route from north Africa to south Spain.All five suspects are awaiting trial in Spain on crimes against public health; the foreign office was unable to comment.

The fishing vessel, “Venturer”, is currently anchored in Port Williams, outside the capital Stanley, next to another trawler belonging to the same company.

Royal Falkland Islands Police confirmed that they had made a seizure of cocaine worth over one million pounds from a fishing vessel co-owned by Spanish and local company. Falklands’ Chief Police Officer Paul Elliot said that a joint operation involving the Falkland Islands Customs and Immigration Department, the JSPSU Dog Section and the Royal Falkland Islands Police resulted in the arrest of six foreign seamen and the seizure of a large quantity of a class A drug, namely over 30 kilos of cocaine with an estimate street value of over one million pounds (1.6 million US dollars).Apparently the drug was sniffed by a dog which has a previous live find.
Mr. Elliot reported that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are aware of the catch and have informed the appropriate British authorities.A representative from the local Falklands’ company Fortuna, Stuart Wallace made a brief statement on the incident: A number of employees of one of our group companies have been arrested in connection with the possession of an illegal drug.Mr. Wallace said that the Company is of course co-operating fully with the ongoing investigation being carried out by the relevant authorities.Reliable Falklands’ sources have said that as the tightening of routes from cocaine producing areas to Europe via United States and the Caribbean, “we shouldn’t be surprised these things happen, but I believe the Falklands are prepared for such a challenge”.The Falklands main source of income is fisheries, particularly squid most of which is transhipped in the Islands or in the Uruguayan port of Montevideo for export to Europe.Recently Uruguayan authorities working on tips from the US and Spain busted an international organization that sent illegal drugs taking advantage of frozen fish exports from the port of Montevideo to Spain.

It seems that the Police in Spain are investigating $125,000 in missing designer jewelry last seen on Winona Ryder at an event on Sunday. She was loaned an incredible Bulgari bracelet and ring to wear to a Marie Claire event in Spain last weekend. Now the jewelry is apparently missing.Supposedly Winona left the diamond encrusted bracelet and ring in an envelope and handed them to front desk staff at her Madrid hotel. But closed circuit TV doesn’t show her returning anything.
And even though Winona was arrested for shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue in 2001 and there was this incident with a CVS Pharmacy, police are not considering Winona a suspect in the jewelry case at this time.

Aifos, a holiday home developer based in Marbella, has been forced into receivership by one of its creditors , the Spanish press reports.The company is reported to have 850 million Euros of debt, which would make it one of the biggest developers to date to go into administration, after Martinsa-Fadesa and Tremon. Its biggest creditor is Banco Popular, which it reportedly owes 200 million Euros, followed by Banco Pastor, which it owes 150 million Euros, though Banco Pastor claims its exposure to Aifos is only around 30 million Euros.Gestión de Obras y Reformas Ltd, one of Aifos’s suppliers and creditors, started bankruptcy proceedings against Aifos last week in a court in Malaga. Press reports speculate that the failure of the Spanish developer Tremon might have prompted the bankruptcy proceedings against Aifos.Aifos, one of the biggest developers in Andalucia, has been on course for liquidity problems since 2006, when it was caught up in Operation Malaya, a police operation against municipal corruption. Jesús Ruiz Casado, the owner of Aifos, and Jenaro Briales, the then MD, were arrested on the suspicion of paying bribes. Aifos is also accused of unethical conduct by many of its clients, and has serious, unresolved client problems at many of its developments, some of which have been illegally built.
Aifos’s frustrated clients, some of whom made stage payments 7 or more years ago and still have no home to show for their payments, will need to keep a close eye on proceedings if they wish to avoid losing all hope of recovering their money.

Spanish leader General Francisco Franco's daughter has revealed that her father feared that Adolf Hitler would kidnap him to force Spain into the Second World War.
Carmen Franco Polo, 82, said that her father had even nominated three substitutes to assume power at a conference in 1940, just in case he was actually abducted by the Nazi leader. She has written about her life with El Caudillo in her book 'Franco, My Father', published in Spain on Friday. The only daughter of General Franco, who ruled Spain for about four decades, also reveals that her father ordered troop reinforcements to the coast at the end of the Second World War because he believed that the Allies would invade his country. According to her, her father thought that he had a good relationship with British leader Winston Churchill during the war, but did not get on with the then US President Franklin Roosevelt.She even describes Roosevel's wife, Eleanor, in novel terms. The Americans liked my father but not Roosevelt, whose wife was very pro-Communist, Times Online quoted her as writing in the book. Carmen said that the reason why her father liked the British was his belief that they were law-abiding. He admired England a lot, especially the people, because they did what they had to do and obeyed the law. This he found very admirable, she said. She said that when Franco went to meet Hitler in 1940 in Hendaye, a French town on the Spanish border, he was afraid that Hitler could kidnap him just like Napoleon had kidnapped Spanish King Carlos IV in 1808 during peace talks.It was due to that fear, she added, that her father had nominated a general and two others to assume control of the country should he be kidnapped.
She revealed that Franco angered Hitler by refusing to enter the Second World War, and found their meeting a bad-tempered affair. To my father it seemed very, very different. When they talked it didn't have the good atmosphere which happened with a later meeting with Mussolini, she wrote.Carmen's book consists of a series of interviews with the Spanish historian Jesus Palacios and Stanley G. Payne, an American expert on Spain. She has also mixed her own memories about world events with reminiscences about day-to-day life

Former Northumbria Police officer has been found guilty of passing on police information to a murder suspect. Newcastle Crown Court was told that Det Con John Jones became the "eyes and ears" of gangland leader Allan Foster. The court heard his actions meant that Mr Foster, wanted for the killing of a South Tyneside drug dealer, could stay one step ahead of the law. Jones, from Seaham in County Durham, was found guilty of four charges of misconduct in a public office. He will be sentenced on Wednesday. The jury heard that Jones began associating with Mr Foster, who worked out at the same gym. At one point they went to London for a night out in London involving prostitutes and cocaine. After the murder of David "Noddy" Rice in South Shields in 2006, Mr Foster, now 32, was able to stay one step ahead of the authorities and spirit himself out from the country. He is now believed to be hiding in Spain. After he was arrested, Jones told officers he associated with Mr Foster in all innocence, but accepted he had been foolish. Det Supt Ian Daws, head of the Northumbria Police Integrity Unit, said the corruption investigation began soon after Mr Rice was killed. He said: "Witnesses were refusing to speak to detectives because they believed Allan Foster had 'a cop on the payroll'. "Jones' failure to respond to the request for information in the murder investigation severely impaired the progress of that case in its early stages." Det Supt Barbara Franklin said: "We are still actively seeking Allan Foster and would ask anyone with information to contact the police."

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.