Immigrant gives birth during crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar

The immigrants stopped on the Isle of Alborán so the woman could give birth on the beach

A new patera small boat has been intercepted by the Spanish authorities in Motril, found to be carrying 37 Sub-Saharan immigrants, one of which gave birth during the crossing of the Strait.

The small boat had landed on the Isle of Alborán for the birth to take place on Sunday afternoon, as it was there it was intercepted by the Maritime Guardia Civil and Coastguard after an anonymous phone call from Morocco at 3pm.

The small inflatable craft was carrying 19 men, 13 women, seven of which were pregnant, and 6 young children. All were taken to Motril port on board the customs ship ‘Hamal’ with one of the Guardia, Carlos Puche, holding the baby close to his body as the mother was not in conditions to do so. He told the press afterwards that every time he heard the baby cry he was happy as it was a sign it was alive.

Mother and child were attended to in Motril first by the Red Cross and then taken to the Santa Ana Hospital where they were admitted and said to be doing well.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28277.shtml#ixzz180WSxSik

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6 million € in deposits in the years 2005 and 2006 for 350 apartments in the Estepona Beach and Country Club, via the British real estate company, Ocean View Properties

The case relates to deposits and monies paid for 350 apartments in the Estepona Beach and Country Club

El Mundo reports today on the case of a hundred or so purchasers from Northern Ireland who between them paid 6 million € in deposits in the years 2005 and 2006 for 350 apartments in the Estepona Beach and Country Club, via the British real estate company, Ocean View Properties.

The newspaper brought some 70 families of those affected to a meeting in Belfast where the Marbella lawyer, Antonio Flores, from the company lawbird.com explained that the urbanisation was promoted by the Spanish company Sun Golf Desarrollos Inmobiliarios S.L.

The lawyer explained that there was a ‘commercialisation agreement’ between Sun Golf and Ocean View, under which the latter was to pay commissions to the former for the collection of deposits. Ocean View also found lawyers in both Spain and the U.K. to represent them and recommend the promotion.

Lawbird now has the idea of starting legal action in the Estepona courts, although they have not ruled out starting proceedings in the National Court because the single administrator of Sun Golf, Ricardo Miranda Miret, has his headquarters in Madrid, and the Ocean View representatives are based in Britain.

Similar frauds to the Estepona development are alleged to have been carried out in Morocco and the Dominican Republic.

The Northern Ireland victims have called for a meeting with the N.I Prime Minister, Peter Robinson, over the matter, and have also lamented the lack of coverage of the case in the Ulster media.

El Mundo prints statements from many of those defrauded, who say they were told the LTA British Tennis Federation were to invest, and that they were told that Disney World was going to Estepona.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28281.shtml#ixzz180TZeBaX

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Drugs And Kidnaping Finance Terrorist Groups In The Sahel Region

Drugs And Kidnaping Finance Terrorist Groups In The Sahel Region: "Suspicion of several western intelligence agencies of links between AQIM, the Western Sahara Separatist Polisario sympathizers, and networks of guns and drugs trafficking in the Sahel region are being confirmed with the latest incident.
The arrest, on December 9, by the Malian security forces of six major drug traffickers, all 'drawn from the ranks of the Western sahara Separatist Polisario Group, has confirmed the apprehensions of intelligence services.
A Malian security source confirmed to (AFP) the presence among the six captured smugglers of an individual by the name of Sultan Ould Bady. He is a “Sahrawi”, affiliated with western Sahara Separatists, “a very big drug dealer who is wanted by several law enforcement agencies in the sub-region,' the source added. Besides drug trafficking, Sultan Ould Bady had 'kidnapped and ransomed several European hostages in the Sahara before joining the ranks of AQIM'.
Pending the outcome of investigations into the enigmatic Sultan Ould Bady, the Malian security forces are closely collaborating with their counterparts in neighboring Mauritania.
The services of the two countries who are at war against the terrorist group AQIM said that the six traffickers recently arrested by the Malian belonged to the same network of those that were arrested by the Mauritanian police, two days earlier.

"

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Royal Air Maroc: Flying with Cockroaches

Royal Air Maroc: Flying with Cockroaches: "Royal Air Maroc deteriorating customer service has resulted in some unexpected types of passengers on board lately, cockroaches.
These critters do intermingle with passengers in search for food, as shown in this video, and customers were forced to play exterminators.
Customers have complained for some time that unless Royal Air Maroc recruits its personnel based on merit and not on nepotism, and works to instill work ethics in its work force, where good work is rewarded and mediocrity is punished, it will not realize its potential and become a trusted international airline with Casablanca as a major hub.
An analyst, M. Zakaria, said 'Royal Air Maroc prices keep going up while its service continues to go down. on the topic of high fares, Royal Air Maroc management's Mistakes are causing the high fares and accentuating bad service.
RAM made four major mistakes. The labor agreement with their pilots, the bad investment especially when they purchased Air Senegal and also starting low budget airline, Air Atlas (A flagship airline should not be in low cost business) and lastly the high price of Fuel (RAM pre-payed for the fuel back when the barrel was almost $100), , So the customers are paying for RAM mistakes.
RAM pilots are amongst the highest paid pilots in the industry. They average is about $100K/Yr where as EasyJet, Jet4U and Air Arabia pilots make less than $40K/Yr. It's not just the pilots that are burdening Royal Air Maroc overall payroll, their higher Managers are also getting paid higher than average. So RAM need to charge more to pay the high salaries/benefits. Shipping with Royal Air Maroc is also problematic, their Cargo business has been in the red for many years."

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Reluctance by banks to lend to households and businesses could dampen the recovery, according to a new report by the Bank of England

ShareCast - News you can use: "Reluctance by banks to lend to households and businesses could dampen the recovery, according to a new report by the Bank of England (BoE).

The report found that banks have cut their lending to a level that does not reflect waning demand for loans in the wake of the economic crisis.

Banks have also been able to increase the profits they make by raising the ‘mark-up’ that they charge customers, exploiting the credit shortage, the BoE says.

‘Overall, the evidence suggests that the cost of credit rose sharply during the financial crisis, and that there was a reduction in the availability of credit, both for households and companies,’ the bank’s report says.

‘It is likely that tight credit supply played a role in driving up the cost of credit"

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Spain reopens airspace after controllers' strike | Reuters

Spain reopens airspace after controllers' strike Reuters: "Spanish airspace reopened on Saturday after a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers paralyzed airports for a second day and the government declared its first state of emergency in the post-Franco era.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba vowed there would be no repeat of the strike, which stranded passengers, hurt companies and damaged Spain's image.
The government is pushing through tough reforms and spending cuts to rein in a deficit and ward off market fears it may need a bailout similar to that of Ireland.
'We will not allow a repeat of a situation like this. There will not be any problems over the Christmas holidays or after the Christmas holidays. That is the government's promise,' Rubalcaba told a press conference.
More than 90 percent of the controllers had returned to work by Saturday evening, but it could still take up to 48 hours for air traffic to return to normal after Spanish airspace was reopened during the afternoon, he added."

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Airport staff fight the snow - Local News - News - Gazette Live

Airport staff fight the snow - Local News - News - Gazette Live: "FOUR industrial runway sweepers, two snow ploughs, two huge de-icing rigs, one snow blower and an entire crew dedicated to clearing up around the clock.
And still the snow continues to play havoc with flight schedules at Durham Tees Valley Airport which was still closed earlier today!
“It’s frustrating for everybody,” said Shaun Woods, airport manager and deputy airport director. “We try not to say the weather will beat us but you can’t have any contamination of a runway. It’s not like a road, it needs to be in 100% condition.”
Contingency plans were being made for snowfall as far back - as it now seems - as the summer."

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Get offline and grab some sleep

Cambridge News Latest News From In & Around Cambridge City Latest Sports, Jobs & Business News in Cambridge Newspaper Get offline and grab some sleep: "More and more people are losing valuable sleep each night because they are addicted to social networking, new research shows.

A study commissioned by hotel giant Travelodge shows that enjoying a mug of cocoa or a good book before they nod off is a thing of the past for most adults.

Many people are logging onto social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter instead.

Out of the 6,000 adults surveyed, a staggering 72 per cent admitted they spend their time in bed either updating or checking their friends’ status updates on Facebook before falling asleep."

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JP Morgan revealed as mystery trader that bought £1bn-worth of copper on LME - Telegraph

JP Morgan revealed as mystery trader that bought £1bn-worth of copper on LME - Telegraph: "The $1.5bn (£1bn) trade was described in the LME's daily update as 'between 50pc and 80pc' of the 350,000 tonnes in reserves. This pushed up the price for the immediate delivery of copper to $8,700 – its highest level since the financial crisis in October 2008.
A high premium on the spot copper price normally reflects fear of a shortage of the metal, which is in hot demand across the world as a vital component in a mass of products from electrical gadgets to wiring.
A source close to the situation said that JP Morgan had bought the copper contracts, adding that amount is closer to the 'lower portion of the range' disclosed by the LME."

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Spain unveils new round of budget cuts - latimes.com

Spain Europe budget austerity: Spain unveils new round of budget cuts - latimes.com: "Spain unveiled a new round of austerity measures Friday to help bring its massive budget deficit under control and to convince nervous investors that it is not in need of an international bailout.

The government announced that it would sell off part of its popular national lottery, partially privatize several of the country's biggest airports and raise the tobacco tax to bring in billions of dollars to the state's coffers.

A monthly subsidy for the long-term unemployed is also to be scrapped, and taxes for small and medium-sized businesses will be eased in a bid to stimulate economic activity."

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Spain threatens 'state of alert' over walk-out | Reuters

Spain threatens 'state of alert' over walk-out | Reuters: "Spain's government said on Saturday it considered declaring a 'state of alert' if air traffic controllers did not return to their posts following a mass walk-out.
'If the situation doesn't normalise, the government will declare a state of alert,' Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba told an emergency cabinet meeting.
'The controllers will be mobilised and if they don't get back to work, their cases will be passed immediately to the judiciary and they will be accused of a crime which could mean a prison sentence.'
The Spanish army took over air control towers on Friday after unofficial strike action by controllers grounded planes and disrupted travel for around 250,000 people on one of Spain's busiest holiday weekends."

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Investors 'outraged' by FSA's refusal to release RBS report - Telegraph

Investors 'outraged' by FSA's refusal to release RBS report - Telegraph: "Shareholders voiced their dismay at the Financial Service Authority's (FSA) decision not to publish the report, which exonerated senior RBS executives of any wrongdoing.
'The FSA's decision raises a number of serious questions. If you compare this case with Equitable Life it is clear that the amount of transparency being afforded is dramatically different,' said one of the top 10 shareholders in RBS.
The shareholders' anger came a day after Lord Oakeshott, a Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, filed a parliamentary question demanding the FSA make the report available to Parliament."

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British sailor dies in stormy seas off Morocco - Telegraph

British sailor dies in stormy seas off Morocco - Telegraph: "Jonathan Farrar, 64, from Harleston in Norfolk, perished before rescuers could haul him aboard a Norwegian tanker after answering the mayday call of his stricken yacht, 75 nautical miles off the north African coast.
His companion, Timothy Hall, 43, survived but was under medical supervision aboard the Tordis Knutsen and would be transferred to a hospital in the Canary Islands when the ship docked on Tuesday evening.
The pair had set sail from Lisbon bound for the island of Lanzarote last Thursday. It is understood they were to stop in the Canary Islands on route to the Caribbean."

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Algeria Arrests Citizens for Converting to Christianity

Algeria Arrests Citizens for Converting to Christianity: "Unlike Morocco who expelled foreign christian fundamentalists that were accused of proselytizing, Algeria is going beyond that and is arresting algerian citizens who have converted to christianity.
In the latest incident, Algerian prosecutors have asked a court, last Sunday, to sentence four Algerian converts to Christianity to one year in jail each for opening a church without permission, their lawyer said. The defendants, aged between 35 and 45 years, are accused of opening a Protestant church 90 miles east of the capital Algiers.
One of them has also been charged with accommodating a French pastor who had travelled to Algeria to address a Christian community, the defense lawyer said.
The practice of religion in Algeria, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, requires authorities to authorize the place of worship.
Over the past months, several trials have opened in Algeria, where Islam is the state religion, for violation of Islamic precepts and converting to Christianity."

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Wikileaks Cable on Morocco's Military Released

Wikileaks Cable on Morocco's Military Released: "MOROCCO'S MILITARY: ADEQUATE, MODERNIZING, BUT 
FACING BIG CHALLENGES'.
'The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces (FAR) are modernizing but remain weighed down by long-standing problems. King Mohammed VI, who in 1999 inherited a military in need of professionalization, has implemented some needed reforms, but much remains to be done. Civilian control, if ascribed to the person of the King, is complete, but there is no real Defense Ministry. Outside the FAR, there is only a small administration. The military remains plagued by corruption,
an inefficient bureaucracy, low levels of education in the ranks, periodic threats of radicalization of some of its soldiers, political
Marginalization, and the deployment of most of its forces in the Western Sahara.
There have been some indications of pending changes in the leadership. In general, the U.S. and Morocco share a robust military relationship with prospects for even closer ties in the future. The health of the relationship is evident by increased U.S.-Moroccan military training exercises and Morocco's purchase of sophisticated weapons from the U.S. to include 24 F-16s this year. We anticipate that the U.S.-Moroccan military relationship will continue to flourish but Morocco's ability to absorb its new high-end military purchases and restrictions on high quality Moroccan
information sharing with our attaches represent two challenges ahead. This mission-coordinated report draws heavily on valuable reporting and analysis from the embassy's military components, the Defense Attache Office and the Office of Security Cooperation'"

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Morocco's lower house calls for review of Morocco-Spain relations

Home: Morocco's lower house calls for review of Morocco-Spain relations: "Rabat - Morocco's House of Representatives (lower house) on Friday called on the government to make a thorough reassessment and review of relations with Spain.
The house deemed, in a statement issued at the end of a plenary session to examine the Spanish house of deputies' position over Morocco's territorial integrity, that the motion of the Spanish house of deputies is part of pointless manoeuvres and plots targeting Morocco.
The house noted that the motion 'is biased and hostile to Morocco' and its legitimate sovereign and historical rights to the recovered southern provinces and runs counter to the Moroccan nation’s best interests.
It added that the motion seriously undermines the Kingdom's national cause and hurts the feelings of all the Moroccan people, as expressed through the Casablanca march.
The statement deplored the fact that the motion “did not only request
the Spanish government to reinforce relations with polisario, but went as far as to consider it the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi populations.”"

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Eva Mendes brings some Hollywood magic to Morocco in backless gown | Mail Online

Eva Mendes brings some Hollywood magic to Morocco in backless gown | Mail Online: "Eva Mendes brought a touch of Hollywood glamour to Morocco last night as she attended the opening night of the Marrakech film festival.Dressed in a backless violet satin dress, embellished with beads and diamanté, the actress dazzled on the red carpet.The 36-year-old took advantage of the warm night in a strapless gown, which highlighted her slender shoulders."

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Spanish military has taken control of the nation's airspace after mass absentations by traffic controllers

Staff no-show hits Spain air travel - Europe - Al Jazeera English: "Spanish military has taken control of the nation's airspace after mass absentations by traffic controllers grounded planes and disrupted travel for around 250,000 people.

The controllers gave no warning before the walkout and started claiming sick leave and leaving their posts en masse around 1600 GMT on Friday, effectively closing the whole of Spanish airspace, except for Andalucia, the airport authority said.
About six hours after the nation descended into total travel chaos, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the deputy prime minister, announced that the defence ministry had 'taken control of air traffic in all the national territory'. He said the army would make all decisions on air traffic control, organisation, planning and supervision."

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Staff no-show hits Spain air travel - Europe - Al Jazeera English

Staff no-show hits Spain air travel - Europe - Al Jazeera English: "Spanish military has taken control of the nation's airspace after mass absentations by traffic controllers grounded planes and disrupted travel for around 250,000 people.

The controllers gave no warning before the walkout and started claiming sick leave and leaving their posts en masse around 1600 GMT on Friday, effectively closing the whole of Spanish airspace, except for Andalucia, the airport authority said.
About six hours after the nation descended into total travel chaos, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the deputy prime minister, announced that the defence ministry had 'taken control of air traffic in all the national territory'. He said the army would make all decisions on air traffic control, organisation, planning and supervision.
If enough controllers do not show up for work on Saturday to restore normal flight operations, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero plans to declare a national emergency that would force them to do so, Rubalcaba said.

Camilo Cela, head of the USCA air traffic controllers' union, told Reuters news agency that the workers were not on strike, but that they had had enough.

'This is a popular revolt,' he said."

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