Police warn they may not be able to afford Tesco's £3m riot compensation bill

 In total, the retailer has asked for nearly £3m in compensation from police forces around the country, following the riots that tore through some high streets in August. It is likely that this is the biggest request from a single retailer. The company is claiming under the Riot Damages Act, a piece of Victorian legislation that allows businesses and individuals affected by riot damage to claim directly from the police, rather than their own insurer. In the immediate aftermath of the civil disturbances, the British Retail Consortium urged...

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Brussels threatens to sue Britain to let in 'benefit tourists'

 Ministers fear the move could leave taxpayers handing out as much as £2.5  billion to EU nationals, including out-of-work “benefit tourists”, a new cost that could wreck Coalition plans for welfare reform. The commission’s threat, on the eve of the Conservative Party conference, has raised the political temperature on Europe still further. In an outspoken attack today, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, says the commission’s move is part of a “wider movement” by the “unelected and unaccountable” European authorities to extend...

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Legal warning to UK over benefits for EU nationals

 The European Commission has threatened legal action against the UK, saying a test of eligibility for benefits discriminates against foreigners. It says it is easier for UK citizens to prove their "right to reside" - a test imposed by the UK for certain benefits - than EU nationals. The commission says it may refer the case to the European Court of Justice. Ministers say it is a "fundamental challenge" to the UK's right to decide its own social security arrangements. The Commission says it has been in talks with the UK for several years...

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Spanish sailors to be decorated after rescuing French woman taken hostage by pirates

 The Defence Minister, Carme Chacón, announced that Spanish forces from the amphibious assault ship, ‘Galicia’, are to be decorated for rescuing a French woman who was taken hostage with her husband by Somali pirates off the coast of Yemen earlier this month. Evelyne Colombo was rescued on September 10 two days after the catamaran she and her husband were sailing had been attacked by pirates. Her husband, Christian Colombo, was murdered and his body thrown into the sea during the pirates’ assault. The Galicia was on patrol with the EU anti-piracy...

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El Hierro still on yellow alert, but no fears of an imminent eruption

 UME Emergency Military Unit was deployed to El Hierro on Wednesday as the island remained on yellow alert amid fears of a volcanic eruption. The Defence Minister, Carme Chacón, was also due to travel there on Wednesday afternoon to supervise their work, and spoke of the UME’s deployment as a preventive measure to assist emergency services in any evacuation over the increased seismic activity on the island. EFE indicates that there is a 15 percent probability of an imminent eruption, but the island’s government has ruled out any need to...

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Wanted Belgian fugitive arrested in Alhaurín El Grande

 wanted Belgian fugitive has been arrested in Alhaurín El Grande after a marijuana plantation was discovered at a property in the town. He was found there with a man and a woman, and all three are believed to have been part of an organisation which cultivated the drug for distribution in Europe. The Civil Guard found 55 marijuana plants on the property plus a 9 calibre revolver. One of the group was identified as F.V.B., who was wanted on a warrant for extradition to Belgium to serve a prison sentence of four and a half years for armed robbery....

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Franco mass grave found in Jerez

 It has been a local rumour for many years, that the El Marrufo estate in Jerez de la Frontera had been used to bury hundreds of people shot under Franco. The rumour was well known in nearby Cortes de la Frontera, Jimena de la Frontera and Ubrique. But the investigations made by archaeologists over the summer have confirmed the site, the size of ten football pitches, filled with bones and bullet casings. There were so many casings the archaeologists said they were like seeds, labelled ‘Piritécnica Sevilla 1936’. Jesús Román, one of the archaeologists...

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Ferronats, a company formed by Spanish construction firm, Ferrovial and British air traffic controllers, Nats, has won 10 of the 13 tenders to run control towers at Spanish airports

 Ferronats, a company formed by Spanish construction firm, Ferrovial and British air traffic controllers, Nats, has won 10 of the 13 tenders to run control towers at Spanish airports as AENA privatises 49% of the company. It will control Alicante, Valencia, Ibiza, Sabadell, Sevilla, Jerez, Melilla, Cuatro Vientos, Vigo and A Coruña. The remaining three towers on the Canary Islands at Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma have been awarded to the Sacerco company. AENA estimates savings of 46.6% as a result, with Ferronats bidding 70.4 million,...

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Iberia to launch new low cost airline next week

 Iberia is planning to launch a new low cost airline next week. The Iberia board is expected to approve the project on Tuesday 4 October, to launch the low cost airline for the company’s short and medium distance services. The new airline is expected to take up 37 of the 69 A-320 aircraft the airline currently has in service. Iberia is now merged with British Airways to create the IAG, the International Airline Group, and the IAG board would have to ratify the decision on Thursday. Iberia has been holding talks with the pilots’ union SEPLA...

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Irish expat charged with prostitutes' murder in Spain

 The 42-year-old man, who is believed to be Irish, was arrested near his home in the resort of Mijas Costa, near Marbella on Spain's southern coast on Friday. The suspect's girlfriend and her mother were also being held over possible involvement in the serial slayings. Police suspect him of stabbing two prostitutes to death, the first in August and the second a month later. The killer was dubbed the "10 murderer" because both women were killed on the tenth of the month. The first woman, said to be 45 years old and of Argentine origin, was...

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Blasts hit ex-home of Franco-era politician

 A Spanish official says two homemade explosive devices detonated outside the childhood home of Manuel Fraga, the last surviving member of the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco. No one was hurt. An official with the Interior Ministry office in Lugo province in northwest Spain says Monday's blasts broke windows and damaged the facade of the house, which is being turned into a museum by the conservative Popular Party, which Fraga founded. The devices were composed of explosive power of the kind used to make fireworks and butane gas canisters...

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Spanish police hold suspected 'Irish serial murderer'

 SPANISH police were last night reported to be holding an Irishman on suspicion of stabbing two women to death in their Costa del Sol homes. Leading Spanish TV station Telecinco described the suspect as Irish. Last night speculation was mounting that detectives were treating him as a suspected serial killer and looking to link him to a series of other unsolved murders across the country. Detectives established a link between the deaths of two women reported to have worked as prostitutes advertising their services through papers. A 45-year-old...

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Saudi women given right to vote

 Saudi Arabia will allow women to stand for election and vote, the king announced on Sunday, in a significant policy shift in the conservative Islamic kingdowm. In a five-minute speech, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud said women will also take part in the next session of the unelected, advisory Shura Council, which vets legislation but has no binding powers. "Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others... to involve...

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Spain 'a Top Choice' For Those Thinking Of Moving Abroad

 Spain has been named among the top five destinations that people would consider moving to if they were going to leave the UK, new research has found. A survey conducted by Post Office International Payments revealed that the European nation, which was the fourth most popular location named in the poll, was a possible choice for ten per cent of those questioned. The firm also pointed out that it was the highest-placed nation where English...

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Settling in Britain is a privilege not a right

 THE following is the summary of a speech delivered on September 15, 2011, by Britain’s Immigration Minister Damian Green at the Centre for Policy Studies [see full speech]. The speech is an indicator of the possible policy changes that will come out of the consultation currently underway into the reform of family migration. The consultation opened on July 13, 2011, and will close on October 6, 2011. It is important that as migrants to this country, we take time out to respond to this consultation as judging from Green’s speech it will have...

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Costa del Sol’s oldest magazine shuts its doors

 The Costa del Sol’s oldest magazine is reported to have closed down after running its final edition on Friday. The Friday-Ad – which continues to run a UK operation boasting over 1 million readers a week – had produced a Costa del Sol edition out of its Gibraltar offices since 1975. The reason behind the decision to close remains unclear. When the Olive Press attempted to contact the publication’s office, the number failed to connect. However, a member of staff in the UK office confirmed that it was their understanding that the Costa del...

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Barcelona's last bullfight marks end of an era in Spain

 When Spanish bullfighter Serafin Marin plunges his sword into the back of a bull's neck in Barcelona on Sunday, he will be marking the end of an era. The bull will not only be the last of six killed in the bullfight, but the last-ever to be killed in Barcelona's Monumental bullring, which is nearly a century old. The closure of the Monumental - in keeping with a bullfighting ban in the north-eastern region of Catalonia - reflects the decline...

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Spain fears pain as Ratón the killer bull prepares to enter ring for last time

Ratón the bull at a festival in Sueca, Spain. Photograph: Alberto Saiz/APIt is the end of a long career, deemed venerable by those who admire Spanish fighting bulls.In the early hours of Sunday morning, the half-tonne 11-year-old killer bull known as Ratón, or Mouse, will feel a bullring's sand under his hooves and sniff the scent of commingled human adrenaline and fear for the last time.Those who pay their €2.50 (£2.20) in Canals, eastern Spain,...

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This is the buff soldier who exchanged numbers with Cheryl Cole.

Andy Baker plans to meet up with the former X Factor judge after the pair met during her morale-boosting trip to Afghanistan.The pair were introduced at an award presentation at Camp Bastion and met again a barracks dinner.New man? Soldier Andy Baker caught Cheryl Cole's eye during her moral-boosting trip to Afghanistan and he hopes to take her out for dinnerThey posed for several photos together and once Cheryl returned home, she said she planned...

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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas makes UN statehood bid

 Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has submitted his bid to the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state. To rapturous applause in the General Assembly, he urged the Security Council to back a state with pre-1967 borders. He said the Palestinians had entered negotiations with Israel with sincere intentions, but blamed the building of Jewish settlements for their failure. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he was reaching out to Palestinians...

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Europe leaves Bulgaria, Romania out in Schengen cold

 Europe left Bulgaria and Romania out in the cold Thursday, when Finland and the Netherlands blocked their entry into the passport-free Schengen travel area. The Dutch and the Finns refused to let them in, at a meeting of EU interior ministers dogged by concerns about illegal migration, citing poor progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime. "Two member states today made it impossible for us to make a decision on Schengen enlargement," Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency,...

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French court fines women for wearing veils

 France's fines on women for wearing the full-face covering niqab veil, imposed for the first time by a court on Thursday, are a "travesty of justice," Amnesty International says. Police have issued several on-the-spot fines since the ban came into force in April but the hearing saw the first two court-issued fines, and the Muslim women vowed to appeal their case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. "This is a travesty of justice...

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Muammar Gaddafi has fled Sabha

 The National Transitional Council are investigating an unconfirmed report that Muammar Gaddafi has fled from Sabha, NTC spokesman reports.  NTC spokesman also states that Libyan government forces now control most of Sabha with small pockets of resistance from pro-Gaddafi snipe...

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Elizabeth Taylor's designer clothes to be auctioned

 Designer clothes owned by Hollywood legend and fashion icon Elizabeth Taylor, including haute couture by Chanel, Yves St. Laurent and Dior, will be sold at auction in New York, Christie's said on Wednesday. The silk chiffon dress that the Academy Award winning actress wore for her first wedding to actor Richard Burton will be among the nearly 400 times included in the four-day series of sales in December. "One of the many great treasures...

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Ernest Hemingway’s final visits to Spain are remembered at a new exhibition in Rioja.

Ernest Hemingway’s final visits to Spain are remembered at a new exhibition in Rioja.Hosted and created by Bodegas Paternina at its Conde de los Andes winery in Ollauri, the exhibition entitled “Tinta, Sangre y Vino” – “Ink, Blood and Wine” – celebrates the writer’s visit to the winery 55 years ago and marks 50 years since his death.However, the exhibition does not focus solely on Hemingway’s visit to Paternina in 1956.Making use of never-before-seen...

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A top surfer has been killed after a quick and brutal shark attack on the French-owned island of Reunion.

   Mathieu Schiller, 32, was dragged off his surfboard on Boucan Canot beach in the Indian Ocean by a man-eating tiger shark and quickly killed in an attack that lasted less than 30 seconds.Schiller, who was a European team body boarding champion in 1995, was one of a large group surfing in the area when the attack happened.Fellow surfers searched for the Frenchman's body but police later said it had been carried away by the waves."There...

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Gunmen Dump 35 Bodies on Avenue

 Suspected drug traffickers dumped 35 bodies at rush hour beneath a busy overpass in the heart of a major Gulf coast city as gunmen pointed weapons at frightened drivers. Mexican authorities said Wednesday they are examining surveillance video for clues to who committed the crime. Horrified motorists grabbed cell phones and sent Twitter messages warning others to avoid the area near the biggest shopping mall in Boca del Rio, part of the metropolitan...

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Manchester airport reopens after bomb scare

 Manchester Airport’s main terminal has reopened after bomb disposal experts were called in to check a suspicious package on Wednesday, police said. A man was being questioned, although police said earlier reports that he was being held under the Terrorism Act were inaccurate. The package, a bag, was found to be safe. The airport’s operators had earlier said 11 flights leaving Terminal 1 would be affected. Incoming flights are operating normally and the airport’s two other terminals remained open. Manchester Airport is Britain’s fourth...

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Cheryl Cole 'Falls For Hunky Soldier' In Afghanistan | Cheryl Cole

 It seems Cheryl Cole has finally put her failed marriage to footballer Ashley Cole behind her, after apparently falling for a "gorgeous" solider in Afghanistan. The Girls Aloud beauty, who visited Camp Bastion in Helmand Province to boost troops morale, claims to have swapped numbers with the hunky young corporal after taking a shine to him during her trip last week. Chezza confessed to The Mirror: "Not only are the soldiers incredibly brave, a few were also incredibly cute. I actually came back with a phone number from one lad." "He started...

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Briton dies in Cannes after brawl 'over cost of drinks at lapdancing club'

 Thirty-seven-year-old Lee Elton Fischer, a trade delegate from London, was visiting the French Riviera city, home of the world-famous Cannes Film Festival, with two friends. It has been claimed that Mr Fischer sparked a fight in the belief that he had been 'ripped off' during a night out with colleagues on Sunday. A spokesperson for the local police confirmed that Mr Fischer appeared to have been hit several times in the face, before dying after his head struck the pavement. Police have arrested three French nationals in connection with...

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Jonathan Dimbleby has admitted he tried cocaine and marijuana in his 20s.

 Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the GuardianVeteran broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has admitted that he tried cocaine once and called on middle-class people dabbling in drugs to think again about the misery they are causing in south America. The host of long-running BBC Radio 4 show Any Questions? said he has a "contempt for cocaine sniffers in this country who are intelligent middle-class people but do not realise...

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Brits arrested for drug trafficking on the Baleares

  The Organised Crime Squad ECO of the Guardia Civil based on Mallorca completed the second part of an operation against drug trafficking on Sunday. The first part of the operation had been started at the end of August. At that time ten Britons were arrested and on Sunday the ECO agents picked up another ten youngsters of the same nationality. Judicial sources say that seven of the ten were sent to prison in Eivissa, on remand, while two...

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British man breaks his hip in new 'balconing' incident

 British man has broken his hip in yet another case of ‘balconing’ on the Baleares. The 29 year old, who was said to be very drunk, fell from the first floor of his hotel when trying to cross to the neighbouring balcony. It was a fall of some 3 metres and happened in Avenida Isidor Macabich in Sant Antoni. He was taken to the Can Misses Hospital where he is expected to stay for a few days. The Guardia Civil is in charge of the investigation, although the Local Police also attended the incide...

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Ibiza fire brought under control

 Some 1,200 people were evacuated overnight as their homes in the Roca Llisa urbanisation in the town of Santa Eulàra des Riu were threatened by the fire. The fire was declared at 8pm on Sunday afternoon in Cala Llonga, but given the size of the blaze in the early hours of Monday, 16 men from the Emergency Military Units UME were scrambled to the scene to reinforce the fire crews already working. They arrived on the island overnight on two helicopters. 160 fire fighters brought the fire under control on Monday morning, and there are no...

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Marrakesh bomb trial to resume

 The trial in Morocco of nine suspects in a bomb attack in April that killed 17 people, mainly European tourists, is set to resume on Thursday with bereaved relatives in attendance. The main suspect, 25-year-old Adil El-Atmani, and his accomplices face the death penalty if proven guilty. The trial opened on June 30 but was then adjourned to August 18 and further postponed to September 22 in order to allow the plaintiffs to prepare their case. "So far the trial is taking place in normal conditions. The judicial guarantees are there and personally,...

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Gadhafi spotted as rebels capture parts of south Libya town

 Fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi was spotted in the southern city of Sabha a few days ago, the regional daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday, citing an eyewitness. The witness claimed that Gadhafi was living in the city, located around 750 kilometers south of the capital Tripoli. Anti-Gadhafi fighters firing a cannon near Sirte, the hometown of deposed leader Muammar Gadhafi, September 17, 2011. Photo by: Reuters Gadhafi's...

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Iran arrests six 'BBC Persian film-makers'

 The Iranian authorities have arrested a group of film-makers and accused them of working for the BBC Persian service, which is banned in the country. State TV reports that the group of six were paid to make secret reports for the Farsi-language service. The BBC says no-one works for the Persian service inside the country - either formally or informally. The arrests came a day after the service showed a documentary on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The BBC's James Reynolds says the channel's signal, which is sometimes accessible...

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UK Home Office considering gender-neutral passports

 The Home Office has said it is considering the possibility of not displaying gender on passports. The proposals follow changes to Australian passport rules, which mean that intersex people who identify as neither gender can be listed as ‘X’, rather than having to choose between male or female. A Home Office spokesman said: “We are exploring with international partners and relevant stakeholders the security implications of gender not being displayed on the passport.” Currently, transgender people can obtain passports in their new gender....

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66 year-old Daniel Healy was found by police to have 100kg of cannabis resin, said to be worth £500,000, hidden in the water tank of the campervan he was driving

 66 year-old Daniel Healy – or ‘Mad Danny’ as he is known in Ardfern in Mid Argyll – was arrested last week, as he went to drive across the border between Morocco and Ceuta, a Spanish owned city enclave. Healy was travelling under the false name of John McLeish and was found by police to have 100kg of cannabis resin, said to be worth £500,000, hidden in the water tank of the campervan he was driving, protected in metal containers. Since his arrest he has been held in the Moroccan prison of Tetouan, said to be worse than Guantana...

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Dale Farm Eviction: Clashes Expected Between Bailiffs And Residents As Eviction Begins

 Hundreds of travellers have said they will barricade themselves inside the UK's biggest illegal camp as angry clashes are expected between bailiffs, residents and activists. Residents at Dale Farm in Basildon, Essex, and their supporters are set to be evicted after losing a decade-long legal fight over unauthorised development. Teams of bailiffs are expected at the former scrapyard's front gate to begin forcibly ejecting them. Essex Police and riot-trained colleagues from across the country are also expected, to ensure the eviction of some...

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Manchester dad could be facing the death penalty after being arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in Indonesia.

  Jack Walker, 53, is being held in jail after being stopped at the airport in the capital Jakarta. It is understood the father of two – who is well known for taking meat around pubs near his home in Wythenshawe – was arrested as he was about to board a flight back to the UK. Officials allegedly found a substantial amount of methylamphetamine – commonly known as crystal meth or ‘ice’. It is believed the drug was found in a concealed compartment of a suitcase. Mr Walker, who is a diabetic, collapsed after he was  stopped.  It...

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Another shipment of cocaine inside plastic bananas seized in Spain

 National Police have seized almost half a ton of cocaine which had been smuggled into Spain hidden inside plastic bananas transported in a normal cargo of the fruit. It’s a method which has been used by drug smugglers before, leading to four arrests after 162 kilos of cocaine were seized at Algeciras Port this January. The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Thursday that the drugs were imported from Ecuador in containers of bananas by an import company which was set up for that purpose in San Roque, Cádiz province. The group is...

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11 of the 54 prisoners in Menorca jail are British

 11 of the 54 prisoners being held in prison on Menorca are British, according to the prison authorities, who says their presence on the island is dependent on the air connections to the UK, which allows family visits to the inmates. The same sources, quoted by Menorca.info, say that none of the Britons have a ‘conflictive’ profile. The jail on the Carretera de Sant Lluís also currently holds 23 prisoners who are of Menorcan origin or who have links to the island. Another 20 are being held ahead of their appearance in cou...

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Moroccan maids may ‘spell’ trouble, warn some women

 Saudi women have voiced reservations against recruiting domestic helpers from Morocco as suggested by the chairman of the Saudi recruitment committee. This is due to an old belief that Moroccan women use black magic to lure men to marry them. Some Saudi women urged the Shoura Council to intervene, while others threatened to quit their jobs to look after their homes if housemaids from the country were brought in. Najla, a 32-year-old teacher at a private school, said she felt threatened by the news, pointing out that Moroccan women are known...

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