WikiLeaks: How U.S. Tried To Stop Spain's Torture Probe :: Uncensored News For Real People

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Free Internet Press :: WikiLeaks: How U.S. Tried To Stop Spain's Torture Probe :: Uncensored News For Real People: "It was three months into Barack Obama's presidency, and the administration -- under pressure to do something about alleged abuses in Bush-era interrogation policies -- turned to a Florida senator to deliver a sensitive message to Spain:
Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.

Rather than a resolution, though, a senior Spanish diplomat gave the former Republican party chairman and housing secretary a lesson in Spain's separation of powers. 'The independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected,' then-acting Foreign Minister Angel Lossada replied on April 15, 2009. Then for emphasis, 'Lossada reiterated to Martinez that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case not affect the overall relationship.'

The case is still open, on the desk of a Spanish magistrate, awaiting a reply from the Obama administration on whether it will pursue a probe of its own."

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Peter Christley, 58,who is on a ventilator, is thought to have been renting his house for six years

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Was Brit gunned down in Spain victim of mistaken identity? - mirror.co.uk: "Peter Christley, 58, was blasted four times at point-blank range on his doorstep in what police believe was a bungled gangland hit.

Neighbours near the Benalmadena ­resort on the Costa del Sol found Mr Christley slumped in a pool of blood. He was taken to ­hospital in Malaga where doctors ­had to remove two ­bullets from his ­intestines.

Mr Christley, who is on a ventilator, is thought to have been renting his house for six years."

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BRITONS Holly Winter, 19, Nigel Jones, 47, and Jeremy Thorton, 50, were arrested at a house near Marbella

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Was Brit gunned down in Spain victim of mistaken identity? - mirror.co.uk: "BRITONS Holly Winter, 19, Nigel Jones, 47, and Jeremy Thorton, 50, were arrested at a house near Marbella after police found a Moroccan man who had been kidnapped at gunpoint"

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Man sought by Spain remanded

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Man sought by Spain remanded - The Irish Times - Sat, Jan 29, 2011: "Dermot McArdle, who was convicted of manslaughter by a Spanish court in 2008, appeared before a special sitting of the court today following his arrest arrest under a European arrest warrant.

Consent to bail was granted to McArdle, and a court hearing was fixed for February 9th.

Spain is seeking McArdle's extradition to serve a two year sentence he received for causing the death of Kelly-Ann Corcoran. Last October, a Spanish judge signed off on an EU arrest warrant for McArdle after he failed to hand himself in for the start of a two-year jail sentence for manslaughter.

McArdle, from Brookfield, Heynestown, Dundalk, had been asked to turn himself in by September 15th, 2010, to start his jail sentence. The court order followed a series of failed appeals against his October 2008 conviction for the manslaughter of his wife.

Ms Corcoran (29) died in February 2000, two days after falling from room 421 of Marbella’s Melia Don Pepe Hotel.

Mr Justice Barry White was today informed that McArdle was arrested on Saturday on foot of a European arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge that was subsequently endorsed by the High Court in Dublin last Friday afternoon."

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Mike, who runs a chain of boutiques and lives in Marbella: Andy Gray stole my wife and ruined me.. he deserves what he got - mirror.co.uk

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TV sexism scandal: Andy Gray stole my wife and ruined me.. he deserves what he got - mirror.co.uk: "THE former best friend of Andy Gray has told how the shamed football pundit stole his wife.

Womaniser Gray, 54, gave a speech at the 2001 wedding of lifelong pal Mike Lewis, now 61, and new wife Rachel.

Five years later, Mike was left “broken” when Gray ran off with her.

Mike, who runs a chain of boutiques and lives in Marbella, told the Sunday Mirror: “After what he did to me, he deserves all the grief he’s getting.”"

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Juan Antonio Roca had absolute power at Marbella Town Hall

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Juan Antonio Roca had absolute power at Marbella Town Hall: "The main suspect in Marbella’s Malaya corruption case, the former municipal real estate advisor, Juan Antonio, had ‘absolute power’ in every way and in every area of the Town Hall, three of the investigating officers have said.

The officers are from the Costa del Sol’s Organised Crime and Drugs Squad, UDYCO, and were in court on Tuesday as the Malaya hearings continue in Málaga. The proceedings are currently centring on the real estate deal, ‘Crucero Banús’, and the answer from the three witnesses came to questions from the lawyer acting for Marbella Town Hall on whether Roca had a decisive role in the viability of real estate projects.

They also said that building work on the project continued despite halt orders issued by the Andalucía High Court, and warnings from the municipal architect that it did not meet local development plan regulations.

EFE notes that two points the witnesses brought up as deficiencies in the project were that the land had been reclassified from commercial to residential and that there had been an increase in the project’s buildable area."

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Monarch sale sees Spain take top spot

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Monarch sale sees Spain take top spot: "Spain could see an increase in passengers arriving for villa holidays with increased demand in a New Year sale.

Spain and the Spanish islands were the most popular choices for holidaymakers booking deals in the New Year sale, according to Monarch Holidays.

More passengers may be heading for golf holidays in Tenerife or travelling to Mallorca after the two islands came top for January sale bookings.

Hugh Morgan, managing director of tour operations for the Monarch Group, said: 'Bookings for Spain and the Spanish Islands were strong in summer 2010, so the increased demand that we are seeing this year is phenomenal and proof that the Brits' love affair with all things Spanish continues.'

Monarch's sale offers scheduled and charter flights from a number of UK airports, with flights to Spain starting from £33 one way.

The airline recently announced the launch of flights to Paphos, Cyprus, which will begin flying passengers to villa holidays in April."

42 arrested as large-scale mortgage scam uncovered in Seville

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42 arrested as large-scale mortgage scam uncovered in Seville: "40 people have been arrested in Seville for an extensive mortgage fraud which used false documents to obtain loans amounting to some 2 million €.

The suspects include local business owners and bank managers, and it’s understood from El Mundo that a notary who signed the majority of the transactions is also under investigation by police. Police give the number of victims identified so far as 60, 15 of whom were also taken into custody.

Fernando Sevillano, Chief of the Seville Police Fraud Squad, said in a press release on Thursday that the network was run through a company based in the city’s Edificio Forúm. The name of the company concerned has not been released, but Sevillano indicated that it is involved in real estate and private equity loans.

The EFE news agency notes that, while all the suspects are from Seville itself, the organisation also operated in Cádiz and Córdoba.

The mortgages were arranged on the back of false sales contracts for properties owned by the network’s victims, generally people with limited income and little education who, in exchange, had all their outstanding debts paid off by the network."

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Uncovering Spain’s Dirty Banking Secrets

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Uncovering Spain’s Dirty Banking Secrets - Advisor Intelligence - - Forbes: "Only a few weeks ago Ireland said its banks were “Just fine thank you,” and that it didn’t need a bailout. Days later the Emerald Isle got a $90 billion bailout from the European Union and the IMF, of which $60 billion went directly into their banks.
Estimates of how much capital the so-called 'cajas' need to remain solvent ranges from 20 to 120 billion euros.
Now, Spain, after saying its banks were able to dance out of harm’s way is admitting it has to pour billions into mismanaged, secretive savings banks known as cajas, which literally means “boxes”.


Cajas, almost two thirds of which were forced to merge with help from the country’s bank-rescue fund last year, resemble regional development banks."But as Spain’s property-fueled expansion mushroomed over the past decade so did the reach of these “regional” lenders. By 2008 cajas branches had increased 50% to over 25,000. It’s estimated that cajas hold over 1.3 trillion euros in assets, over 40% of all bank assets in Spain, and have outstanding real estate loans exceeding 240 billion euros.

It’s a dangerous enough proposition when lenders grow their balance sheets exponentially, but what’s worse is that owners and managers of the cajas are usually local politicians, developers and other self-interested borrowers, labor and religious leaders.

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Barcelona wants to make wearing a swimsuit in the street an offence

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Barcelona wants to make wearing a swimsuit in the street an offence: "From next summer, it could be an offence in Barcelona to walk through the streets in your swimsuit, under a by-law amendment which was being debated in committee at City Hall on Thursday.

If it’s passed, fines of up to 500 € could be imposed for those who refuse to put on their clothes if they are caught naked or semi-naked in the street.

20 minutos indicates that the ICV party, which governs Barcelona City Hall in coalition with PSC, are however strongly against the move. Their leader, Ricard Gomà, has described it as ‘ridiculous’.
20 minutos indicates that, if passed by the committee, the measure could go to the vote at City Hall next month.

It follows a City Hall campaign last summer to advise pedestrians to cover up their top half while travelling on the buses or using public facilities."

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Three Britons, two men and a woman, have been arrested in Benahavis on the Costa del Sol

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Three Britons, two men and a woman, have been arrested in Benahavis on the Costa del Sol, in connection with the kidnap of a man and the demand of a 104,000 € ransom for his release.

Agents from the UDYCO Drugs and Organised Crime Unit of the National Police in Marbella say that the man was kidnapped last Saturday whilst shopping in a commercial centre in Málaga.

Two unknown men bundled him into a vehicle at gunpoint and took him to a shed next to a house in Benahavis, demanding 104,000 € for his release.

The police made their arrests later the same day, but news has only now been given to the press. As well as the pistol, a large amount of documentation was taken for study.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28803.shtml#ixzz1BbsuLqtDDISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Several factors that have triggered Tunisians' rebellion are also present in Morocco

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Moroccans are keeping abreast of the recent uprising that toppled Tunisia's president-for-life Ben Ali. Several factors that have triggered Tunisians' rebellion are also present in Morocco: Soaring unemployment among educated youth, sweeping corruption, nepotism and monopolization of the country's wealth by a minority.

In Morocco too, if your family name is not of significance it is very difficult to ascend the social and the political ladder. It will hinder you from gaining, among other things, an academic degrees or acquiring a professional skill. Many past and current politicians, militants and businessmen reached their rank by taking advantage of a member of their extended family. They benefited as sons, grandsons, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law, nephews of a well placed kin. Some seized the chance and obtained valuable jobs, others boosted their businesses and some wielded their political power.
The Fasi families, the Benise(s), the Benani(s), the Benchakroun(s), the Elmarnisi(s), the Bensouda(s), the Iraqi(s), the Skali(s), the Tazi(s) … are all of Fez origins and most of them were/are members of the ruling Independence party (Istiklal) and they made their fortunes thanks to the privileges offered by French colonial authorities during the colonization and extended them under the independence.
The case of the "fasi" family is a vivid example of how crucial familial ties are to social and political ascension in contemporary Morocco. The current government consists of three ministers from the Fasi family: Abbas Elfasi, the Prime Minister; who is [former head of Istiklal Party] Alal Elfasi's son-in-law. Tayb Elfasi Alfihri, the minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also Abass Elfasi's nephew and Yassmina Baddou, the minister of Health, whose father Abd Rahmane Badou, was a minister in the 70s. The other Fasis occupy no less sensitive positions. Yassmina Badou's husband, Ali Elfasi Elfihri, is both the General Director of the “Office National de l'Eau Potable“, "Office Nationale de l'Electricité" and the President of the “Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football“; he is also the brother of Tayb Elfasi Elfihri and Othman Fasi Elfihri, the General Director of the “Société Nationale des Autoroutes du Maroc“. And all the three lucky men are current prime minister Abass Elfasi's nephews. The Fasi family tree is intricately interwoven through marriages whose aims is to secure continuity, inheritance and fortune.

Morocco's economy will not attain competitiveness unless productive, qualified and talented citizens are given fair chance and allowed to serve their country and give Morocco a chance to catch up with the rest of the world. However, nowadays, if a competent candidate does not have a "prominent" Family name, they are likely to have their hopes dashed and end up protesting in front of the parliament with ever larger hordes of fellow unemployed graduates.

The Moroccans who are lucky to immigrate overseas and get an education are currently running some of the most prosperous companies and organizations in US and Europe, where their capacities are valued and their dignity is respected.

Luckily, Moroccans have not lived under a tunisian style tyranny and dictatorship, However the high unemployment among the educated and inequitably of how opportunities are provided, and unless credible reforms are implement in a timely manner, Moroccan disenfranchised youth may, one day, rise up against the 'fassi' the same way the Tunisians have done it against the "trabelsi"



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'Sun cream caused vitamin D deficiency'

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 'Sun cream caused vitamin D deficiency': "A 12-year-old girl with vitamin D deficiency has been told that her condition could have been caused by using strong sun cream.

Tyler Attrill used factor 50 cream which, according to her consultant, could have deprived her of the essential vitamin and caused the bone disease rickets."

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Britons can obtain medical treatment across EU

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Britons can obtain medical treatment across EU - Telegraph: "The directive, which comes into force in 2013, enables EU patients to have treatment in another member state, which will be paid for by the health service in their own country.
Liz Lynne, a Liberal Democrat MEP, yesterday (WED) hailed the decision as 'a milestone for cross-border health care in Europe' but health campaigners say the move could lead to NHS trusts chasing higher paying 'health tourists'.
The ruling requires patients to get the approval of a doctor and funding approval from a health authority in their home country before obtaining treatment abroad. They will then pay for the treatment up-front before claiming the cost back.
Ms Lynne said: 'I think we have found the right balance between protecting national health systems and strengthening patients' rights.'
But John Lister, of the campaign group Health Emergency, said: 'Overseas patients could become the sought-after patients for NHS trusts, exactly like foreign students are for universities.'
RELATED ARTICLES"

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Spain's National Competition Commission said it would rule within 18 months on whether Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange were setting wholesale prices too high for SMS and MMS

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Spain's largest three telecoms operators, which own mobile networks throughout the country, rent to both non-telecoms firms such as department store El Corte Ingles as well as to rival telecoms operators such as Jazztel (JAZ.MC).

Renting allows those companies to then offer services to their customers, either adding mobile services to marketing deals for other products or through targeting niche markets such as immigrants who call or text particular countries frequently.

Spain's National Competition Commission said it would rule within 18 months on whether Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange were setting wholesale prices too high for SMS and MMS."

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Whistleblower hands over Swiss bank secrets to Wikileaks | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 17.01.2011

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Whistleblower hands over Swiss bank secrets to Wikileaks | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 17.01.2011: "former banker on Monday handed over confidential details of over 2,000 Swiss bank accounts to the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks.

At a news conference in London, Rudolf Elmer presented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange with the data that allegedly contains proof that prominent individuals have been involved in 'mass tax evasion.'

Elmer refused to name the individuals or companies involved though he said they included some 40 politicians, as well as businessmen and multinational conglomerates from Germany, Britain, America, Austria, Asia and 'all over.'

He told reporters that he has decided to hand further information to WikiLeaks 'to educate society.'

'I have been there, I have done the job, I know what the day-to-day business is, I know how much is documented there and how much is not,' Elmer said."

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Regulator Won’t Force Santander CEO to Quit, Confidencial Says - Bloomberg

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Regulator Won’t Force Santander CEO to Quit, Confidencial Says - Bloomberg: "Bank of Spain Governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez won’t force Banco Santander SA Chief Executive Officer Alfredo Saenz to step down, El Confidencial reported.

El Mundo newspaper said yesterday that the Supreme Court would bar Saenz from working at a bank after ruling against him in a case in which he was accused of making a false accusation when he was chairman of Banco Espanol de Credito SA in 1994.

Saenz has no intention of leaving his post and Ordonez won’t demand that he does, El Confidencial said, citing unidentified people in the financial sector."

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Illegal immigration to Spain fell in 2010, says government - Monsters and Critics

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Illegal immigration to Spain fell in 2010, says government - Monsters and Critics: "The number of undocumented immigrants arriving in Spain by boat fell by half - to 3,632 detained persons - in 2010, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Tuesday.
Arrivals in the Canary Islands - the most popular route for African illegal immigration in recent years - dropped by about 90 per cent to only 196 people, the minister said.
The number of people crossing over clandestinely from Africa have declined by 80 per cent in a decade, according to figures given by Rubalcaba, while the numbers of migrants trying to enter illegally by road or air also went down in 2010."

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Spanish court suspends town's burka ban | Herald Sun

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Spanish court suspends town's burka ban | Herald Sun: "Lerida, a Catalan town of 120,000 inhabitants, last month imposed Spain's first ban on wearing the Islamic full-face veil in municipal buildings.

But that decision was 'provisionally suspended on Monday pending a definitive judicial decision,' a spokesman for the Catalan upper court in Barcelona said.

Ten thousand Muslims, half of them Moroccan, are registered residents of Lerida.

Immigration from Muslim countries has grown in Spain since the 1990s, with Catalonia in particular being home to a large community of Pakistani origin.

There are now about one million Muslims among Spain's population of 47 million.

An Islamic group, the Watani Association for Freedom and Justice, lodged a legal complaint against the Lerida ban, saying that it breached fundamental rights."

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Model charged with murder in death of Portuguese journalist - CNN.com

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Model charged with murder in death of Portuguese journalist - CNN.com: "A male model has been charged with second degree murder in the killing of a prominent Portuguese journalist in his posh Manhattan hotel room, a New York Police spokesman said Monday.
The model, Renton Sea bra, 20, who is also Portuguese, is still undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital, according to NY PD spokesman Detective Nell, who refused to give his first name.
The victim, Carlos Antonio De Castro, 65, was found dead in his room at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York on Friday, according to police. He was a Portuguese reporter and columnist."

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ETA announces permanent cease-fire in Spain - CNN.com

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ETA announces permanent cease-fire in Spain - CNN.com: "The Basque separatist group ETA said Monday it was declaring a permanent cease-fire.
In a statement released to the Basque newspaper Gara -- where it typically releases information -- ETA said it declares a permanent general and verifiable cease-fire as a 'firm commitment towards a process to achieve a lasting resolution and toward an end to the armed confrontation.'
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said that the statement that the government wants to see is one where ETA calls for a definitive end, which he said the statement does not do
'Am I more tranquil today than before? Yes,' Perez said. 'Is this the end? I would say no.'"

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Basque militants call permanent Spain cease-fire | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

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Basque militants call permanent Spain cease-fire | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "The militant Basque separatist group ETA declared a permanent cease-fire Monday in what it called a firm step toward ending a decades-long independence fight. But Spain's government quickly dismissed the announcement as not going far enough, and demanded ETA disband and lay down its arms.
Masked ETA members wearing berets traditional for the Basque region in this northern corner of Spain announced the cease-fire in a video distributed to Spanish media. ETA's statement also appeared on the website of the pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for the militants.
The group, however, did not mention dissolving or giving up weapons — key demands from successive Spanish governments. And a previous cease-fire that ETA declared in 2006 and called permanent ended with violence after only nine months."

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You can hear the children from the other side of the village square. Their excited voices bounce off the medieval stone walls and archways.

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You can hear the children from the other side of the village square. Their excited voices bounce off the medieval stone walls and archways.

The sound comes from the newly restored Palazzo Pinnaro, a handsome building with views over the rooftops and the Ionian Sea.

Inside the classroom, boys and girls from Somalia, Albania, Iraq and elsewhere are reciting something from the blackboard. It is a poem about friendship. Some falter over the unfamiliar Italian, some are already fluent.

Domenico Lucano stands in the corner watching the class. "Kids are very quick. It only takes them five or six months to become proficient," he says.

"They make me proud and they give me hope that this place has a future. In 2000 our school was shut because we had so few pupils. Now it's flourishing."

Virtuous circle

Yet Mr Lucano, a stocky man with quick brown eyes and a firm handshake, has pulled off an extraordinary trick. He has managed simultaneously to create employment, stop a mass exodus from his village and to find a solution to the controversial issue of asylum seekers.

The local school was able to reopen, and stay open, because of the immigrants' children

Even more striking is that this experiment has worked in Calabria - one of Italy's poorest regions, which recently witnessed race riots. Dozens of demonstrators and police were injured last January in the nearby town of Rosarno after white youths fired air rifles at a group of Africans working as fruit pickers.

But immigrants are actively encouraged to come to Riace, where the mayor has created a special scheme for them.

Today more than 200 refugees from a dozen countries work and live side by side with locals.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This was a ghost town before the boat arrived... there was the perception our destiny had already been written”

Domenico LucanoMayor of Riace

Riace is just a few miles from the coast, perched on top of a hill above fields full of sheep and groves of orange trees.

It is a beautiful village of 1,700 people but for decades several houses have lain empty. The occupants left to build new lives elsewhere, in the north of Italy or travelling as far as New Zealand, Argentina and the US.

Mayor Lucano has put the new arrivals into some of these abandoned homes and turned others into craft workshops.

Down a narrow side street we enter a room with lemon-coloured walls where a young woman called Lubaba is making glass ornaments. Separated from her parents during the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, she suffered abuse as a maid in Addis Ababa and eventually escaped to Italy.

Lubaba arrived pregnant in a small boat carrying 250 people. "The journey was awful," she recalls. "We were squashed like sardines and the sea was rough. I was desperately thirsty but there was nothing to drink."

Now she says her life is transformed.

Local jobs

She is grateful to Mr Lucano, whom she calls Mimmo - the nickname by which he is known to everyone in Riace.

Continue reading the main story

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAMMES

• Lucy Ash's series Europeans on the Edge is on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 10 January to Friday 14 January at 1545 GMT
• The episode about Riace airs on Tuesday 11 January

• Listen on the iPlayer

Mayor Lucano's scheme has also stopped some local people from leaving.

At the other end of the table, Irena, a local woman with long brown hair, is blowing glass over a flame. She says most of her friends and relatives had to go north to get a job.

But she found part-time employment in the workshop and in the shop where the handicrafts are sold to tourists.

Irena is one of 13 villagers in Riace receiving a salary of 700 euros (£582) a month from the integration programme.

Local woman Irena will now not need to leave Riace to find work

The Italian state provides around 20 euros per day for each refugee, to cover their accommodation, food, medical expenses, training and children's education.

Mayor Lucano argues that in these cash-strapped times, the government is getting a bargain. He calculates that per person per day his scheme is nearly four times cheaper than keeping asylum seekers in a detention centre.

The grandson of a cobbler and son of a local schoolteacher, Domenico Lucano has attracted global attention. Recently he came third in a contest for the world's best mayor. He has given his global village a grand title - la Citta Futura or City of the Future.

It all began one morning 12 years ago when Mr Lucano, himself a teacher, saw some refugees from Kurdistan landing on the beach below his village.

Initially he helped to organise shelter for them. Six years later, when he was elected mayor, he was in a position to do more for the asylum seekers and to save his dying village.

Mafia 'intimidation'

"This was a ghost town before the boat arrived," he says over a plate of steaming pasta in his office. "Psychologically speaking, everyone had already packed their bags, ready to leave."

Riace was facing a gloomy future before the arrival of the asylum seekers

But his project has not met with everyone's approval. After lunch, he stops at a door and shows me two bullet holes in the glass. Mr Lucano believes it is evidence of intimidation by the Calabrian mafia, the notorious 'Ndrangheta.

Mr Lucano says the mob dislike his integration model because they can see that it works and because it challenges their grip on the region.

"We will not be intimidated," he adds. "There is too much at stake."DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Arrests in Spain: no ruling yet, Ocaña links Juliá to PAMI - BuenosAiresHerald.com

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Arrests in Spain: no ruling yet, Ocaña links Juliá to PAMI - BuenosAiresHerald.com: "Former Health Minister and head of PAMI Graciela Ocaña insisted yesterday on the “deplorable” links between the pensioners healthcare scheme and Gustavo Juliá, one of the three men arrested in Spain for drug-trafficking after authorities seized nearly a ton of cocaine from a jet from his medical transportation company, Medical Jet.

The Spanish judiciary was expected to rule on the legal situation of Juliá, his brother Eduardo — both of them the sons of late former Air Force Chief-of-Staff José Antonio Juliá — and Gastón Miret, the son of brigadier-general José Miret, who worked as Planning Secretary under the military government of Jorge Videla during the last dictatorship. The three were arrested on January 2 when they landed at the El Prat international airport in Barcelona and the Spanish Civil Guard seized over 900 kilos of cocaine from the aircraft they were flying."

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Brit shot in face at his Costa villa - mirror.co.uk

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Brit shot in face at his Costa villa - mirror.co.uk: "Thomas Farrell, 54, director of a fitness company, was blasted at close range as he got his car out of his garage.

He was found by his wife and taken to hospital by ambulance where he underwent emergency surgery.


Police were yesterday still hunting the gunman following the shooting in Mijas Costa, near Malaga.

Mr Farrell's condition was said to be 'serious but improving'.

Police say the attack bore the hallmarks of an underworld hit and are exploring the possibility he was shot in a case of mistaken identity."

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Germany, France push Portugal on bailout | EU | European debt crisis

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Germany, France push Portugal on bailout | EU | European debt crisis: "Germany and France want to press Portugal to seek a bailout in order to stop Spain and Belgium becoming the next euro crisis casualties, German weekly Spiegel reported on Sunday.

Paris and Berlin also want members of the 17-country eurozone to state that they are ready to do whatever it takes to save the currency union, including expanding a 750 billion euros ($A982.64 billion) rescue fund, Spiegel said citing sources in Berlin."

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Matadors and fans outraged as Spanish state TV bans live bullfights | World news | The Guardian

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Matadors and fans outraged as Spanish state TV bans live bullfights | World news | The Guardian: "Spain's state broadcaster, TVE, has banned live bullfighting from its schedule, angering matadors and bullfighting fans who are already smarting over a ban in the eastern region of Catalonia.

The broadcaster has decided bullfighting contravenes its code of conduct for programmes before Spain's 10pm watershed hour, when children are no longer expected to be in front of the television.

Most bullfights start at 6pm or 7pm, and the TVE director general, Alberto Oliart, said that meant they fall into children's viewing hours – when violence to animals cannot be shown."

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China is prepared to buy €6bn of Spanish government bonds as part of its commitment to help the eurozone

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China: a Marshall Plan for Spain? | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com: "Beijing to the rescue! China is prepared to buy €6bn of Spanish government bonds as part of its commitment to help the eurozone out of its sovereign debt crisis, according to Spanish government sources quoted by El País, the pro-government newspaper.

The report was published as Li Keqiang, China’s deputy premier, is on a visit to Spain, Germany and the UK. There was no official confirmation of the figure, but Victor Mallet, the FT’s Madrid bureau chief, says that Spanish media have likened the bond buying to the Marshall Plan, through which the US financed the rebuilding of Europe after the second world war."

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Freddie Thompson is understood to be relocating to the Philippines after rivals vowed to have him killed in 2011.

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Thompson is understood to be relocating to the Philippines after rivals vowed to have him killed in 2011.

The drug boss, who has been living between Holland and the UK since he was forced to flee Spain last summer, has reportedly started looking at luxury properties in Manila.

'Fat' Freddie fears a new assassination attempt following a failed truce in the Crumlin-Drimnagh gangland feud.

The Filipino capital is the top choice for Thompson as it has no extradition treaty with Ireland and the mobster already has drug smuggling contacts in the city.

He is making the move after his biggest supplier - Christy ‘Dapper Don' Kinahan - dropped him when Spanish police issued an arrest warrant for the Coombe criminal.

It is understood that Thompson has been warned by Kinahan's associates not to return to Spain, where he is wanted on the warrant for questioning over Christy Kinahan's billion euro drug and money laundering syndicate.

A source said: “The word is that Thompson is relocating to avoid the warrant.

“He has not been arrested by any police force since it was issued but his paranoia is such that he wants out of Europe altogether.”

The Herald exclusively revealed last month how Thompson had been living it up in Alicante, as well as spending time in Liverpool, Birmingham, Amsterdam and Dublin.DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Circle confirms Morocco gas find | Stock Market Wire

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Circle confirms Morocco gas find | Stock Market Wire: "Circle Oil has confirmed a further gas discovery in Morocco.

The oil and gas explorer, developer and producer said the KSR-10 exploration well had been drilled, logged and successfully tested in the Sebou Permit, Rharb Basin.

Circle confirmed a gas discovery in both the main hoot target and a secondary mid hoot target.

The well first tested gas at a sustained rate of 10.6 mmscf/d on a 26/64-inch choke from the main hoot.

The perforated main hoot zone of 8.4 metres at 1,736.6-1,728.2 metres MD plus a 1.5 metre zone at 1,720.0-1,718.5 metres MD has a calculated net gas pay of 9.9 metres.

The mid hoot zone was then perforated and flowed gas at a sustained rate of 2.39 mmscf/d on a 16/64-inch choke.

The perforated mid hoot zone of 1,650.5-1,649.7 metres MD plus 1,647.6-1,646.8 metres MD has a calculated net gas pay of 1.6 metres."

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Asylum seeker Rashid Ali sues Britain for trying to stop him returning to Morocco | Mail Online

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Asylum seeker Rashid Ali sues Britain for trying to stop him returning to Morocco | Mail Online: "A failed asylum seeker is suing the UK Border Agency for locking him up for five years – even though all he wanted to do was go home to Morocco.

In an extraordinary case that exposes the immigration system to ridicule, Rashid Ali is seeking a six-figure compensation payout after being detained following his six attempts to stow away on ships leaving Britain.

Although UKBA has spent five years trying to deport him, officers did not want him to be freed from detention in case he escaped Britain illegally.

Now the 32-year-old has gone to the High Court for compensation after being freed on bail from the detention centre – where his stay was costing taxpayers £100 a night.

The Moroccan has been given a room in a shared house in Ilford, East London, and food vouchers worth £140 a month pending a court hearing to determine whether he should receive damages."

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Financial services commission obtains £6.2m judgement against rock directors - Postonline

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Financial services commission obtains £6.2m judgement against rock directors - Postonline: "In what is claimed to be a first of its kind judgement in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, the Financial Services Commission has obtained £6.3m judgement against former directors of Rock Financial Services.
At the hearning the Supreme Court heard an application by the FSC for the assessment of damages against Michael Whitting, Anthony Whitting and Stephen Putnam who were formally directors of Rock Financial Services. RFS had been wound up by the Supreme Court on the application of the FSC in 2003.
The FSC had waited before taking action to allow the liquidators to undertake the pursuit and collection of assets and for a criminal investigation to be undertaken.
However, in the face of what it describes as the 'difficulties' encountered by the liquidators the FSC issued proceedings for regulatory breaches seeking a civil restitution order, among other orders, against the directors of RFS."

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Rent The Happy Hooker's Marbella Hideaway

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Rent The Happy Hooker's Marbella Hideaway: "In the 1970s Xaviera Hollander rose to fame as the author of The Happy Hooker but now she's an innkeeper of sorts. She owns a bed and breakfast in Amsterdam and is also the owner of Villa Caprice, a bohemian style Bed & Breakfast in the classic part of Marbella, Spain close to the Golden Mile, the beach and all amenities. The villa has a garden with a lovely lawn, swimming pool with fountains and a sun terrace with 8 loungers. There is a large living room, well-equipped kitchen, a bar and terraces for outside dining. The villa's bedrooms include several suites with king-sized beds as well as multiple rooms with twin beds for kids."

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Marbella restaurant warned that it must comply with anti-smoking law

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Marbella restaurant warned that it must comply with anti-smoking law: "Marbella restaurant, the Asador Guadalmina in San Pedro de Alcántara, which has flouted the new anti-smoking legislation and is allowing smoking on the premises, has been warned by the regional government that it must comply with the law.

The restaurant has a sign posted at the entrance informing customers that it is taking up its rights as a private business and will not be applying the law. The restaurant was reported by the local police on Monday."

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Ex-Bahrain DJ Roy Silverthorne 'critical' in Spain

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Gulf Daily News » Local News » Ex-Bahrain DJ Roy Silverthorne 'critical' in Spain: "POPULAR Bahrain DJ and long time resident was said to be in a critical condition in Spain, it emerged yesterday.

Former Radio Bahrain DJ and Dilmun Club general manager Roy Silverthorne was in a poor condition that stemmed from a recurring kidney ailment, sources told the GDN.

He was also in hospital a few months ago because of the ailment, they added.

The 64-year-old Briton, who is currently based in Marbella, Spain, came to Bahrain in July 1984 and worked at Radio Bahrain from September that year.

He originally worked as an advertising sales manager but the opportunity came about when he did a voice-over for one of the advertising company's clients.

Mr Silverthorne became the breakfast show presenter in 1988 and stayed in the job for the next 10 years, during which he took up his post with the Dilmun Club in 1996.

He broadcast shows until December 2001 and left Bahrain in June the following year after living here with his wife Gillian for 18 years.

The couple have a married daughter, Lisa, who runs a floating barge restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon, England."

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Fernando Alonso upsets the Portuguese

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Fernando Alonso upsets the Portuguese: "Fernando Alonso has been getting some bad press from the journalists in Portugal. The driver from Asturias spent New Year on Porto Santo, an island close to Madeira.

The Formula One driver arrived there with his wife, Raquel del Rosario, on the 29th and immediately got off on the wrong foot.

‘To the first photographer or camera I see during these days, I will leave the next day, and I will tell the whole world that Porto Santo is a disaster.
Is that OK? Please, leave me alone. If you don’t tomorrow I will leave and everyone will know about Porto Santo – ok?’."

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satanic sect of grave robbers steal 7 bodies from a Tenerife cemetery

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Grave robbers steal 7 bodies from a Tenerife cemetery: "local Mayor believes it may be the work of a satanic sect
The Civil Guard are searching for grave robbers who looted five graves at the cemetery in Arico, Tenerife, and stole seven bodies.

The desecration was discovered on New Year’s Day when a local woman went to the cemetery to lay flowers at her relatives’ graves.

The local Mayor, Eladio Morales, told Europa Press that the graves which were opened are the oldest in the cemetery. One is that of two brothers who died after a flu epidemic in 1920, while the remainder are from the 1930s.

He believes it’s the work of a satanic sect based elsewhere on the island and noted another incident four years ago when grave robbers stole ‘parts’ of bodies. The Mayor added that hens and other dead animals have, on occasion, been found outside the cemetery.

The local Town Hall does not have the funds to employ permanent security at the cemetery, but is understood to be negotiating with private security firms for video cameras to be installed."

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Fuengirola youngster dies at electronic music festival in Madrid

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Fuengirola youngster dies at electronic music festival in Madrid: "Analyses have confirmed that the 20 year old had taken drug.An autopsy has determined that a youngster from Fuengirola who died after being taken ill at a music event in Madrid on Saturday had taken drugs.

20 year old Jonathan Jiménez Serrano was at the Day One electronic music festival in the Spanish capital’s Palacio de Vistalegre and began to feel ill at around 10 o’clock that night. He went into cardiac arrest, but was brought round by doctors from the mobile ICU which had been contracted for the event.

He was rushed to the nearby Gómez Ulla Hospital, but died shortly after he was admitted.

According to sources quoted by El Páis, analyses carried out at the hospital determined that he had taken amphetamines, and it’s understood that an autopsy has now confirmed the presence of drugs in his body."

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Carrie Fisher Outed John Travolta. Good. | Movieline

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Carrie Fisher Outed John Travolta. Good. | Movieline: "About a year ago, Carrie Fisher off-handedly outed John Travolta in an interview with the Advocate and recently circled back around in the same publication to underscore what already is an open secret: John Travolta is gay. And frankly it’s about damn time someone said it so blatantly.

There’s been a fair amount of hand-wringing online about the outing, with most of the vitriol directed at Fisher, claiming she overstepped her bounds, invaded her friend’s privacy, and betrayed his trust. The argument goes that, if Travolta truly is gay, it’s up to him when to decide to come out, not Carrie Fisher.

Which is a fair argument if Travolta A.)Wasn’t married to a woman and B.)Wasn’t a prominent member of a notorious cult that claims that homosexuality is a perverse illness that can be cured. There are plenty of movie and television stars who are gay but simply don’t talk about it; that’s not what Travolta is doing. He’s actively participating in a sham, a fraud that further perpetuates the idea that being gay is shameful and should be kept secret and tamped down."

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Marbella Town Hall hands over property to help clear debt

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Marbella Town Hall hands over property to help clear debt: "Marbella is to repay part of its debt for a loan from the Junta de Andalucía by handing over property.

The town planning offices of Marbella Town Hall, on Avenida Ricardo Soriano in the town centre were where Juan Antonio Roca had his office, and was from where the corrupt Malaya case was allegedly controlled.

The building is a symbol of the excesses of the GIL era and now the Town Hall hands it to the Junta as part payment for a 106 million € loan granted to the management committee who took over the running of the Town Hall in 2006 before new local elections were held in 2007.

The building has been valued at 5.2 million €."

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Presumed guilty: a personal plea for my cousin Shrien Dewani - Telegraph

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Presumed guilty: a personal plea for my cousin Shrien Dewani - Telegraph: "Imagine being Shrien Dewani. No, really: imagine it. In a period of eight weeks, Shrien has been married, widowed, accused of murder, imprisoned and released on bail pending an application for his extradition to South Africa. Mercifully, that’s more than most people will experience in a lifetime.
But in reporting on events surrounding the murder of Shrien’s wife, Anni, on honeymoon in Cape Town, one guesses at how many commentators have imagined – even for a moment – what it is like to be Shrien, or a member of Shrien’s or Anni’s families at this time. Not many."

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Presumed guilty: a personal plea for my cousin Shrien Dewani - Telegraph

Presumed guilty: a personal plea for my cousin Shrien Dewani - Telegraph: "Imagine being Shrien Dewani. No, really: imagine it. In a period of eight weeks, Shrien has been married, widowed, accused of murder, imprisoned and released on bail pending an application for his extradition to South Africa. Mercifully, that’s more than most people will experience in a lifetime.
But in reporting on events surrounding the murder of Shrien’s wife, Anni, on honeymoon in Cape Town, one guesses at how many commentators have imagined – even for a moment – what it is like to be Shrien, or a member of Shrien’s or Anni’s families at this time. Not many."

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