fuel tank exploded in the port of Gibraltar on Tuesday near Independence of the Seas, injuring 10 passengers.

A fuel tank exploded in the port of Gibraltar on Tuesday near Independence of the Seas, injuring 10 passengers.In a statement, Royal Caribbean said that the explosion occurred at 3:37 p.m. local time. Immediately after the blast, the ship retracted the gangway and moved a safe distance from the dock.Royal Caribbean called the passenger injuries "minor," and added that the 10 have received medical treatment onboard. Two passengers were still ashore when the incident took place and were not injured during the explosion. The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that there were also two injuries onshore, one of them serious. The AFP added that dense black smoke could be seen from the city center.Gabrielle Phillips, a Gibraltar resident who was at a playground with her son when the tank exploded, characterized...

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explosion and fire have rocked the port of the British territory of Gibraltar, injuring two people

An explosion and fire have rocked the port of the British territory of Gibraltar, injuring two people, a police spokesman has told the BBC.The blast took place at the territory's main fuel storage facility, close to a cruise ship.One of those hurt received minor burns, while the other suffered more serious injuries, according to reports. Emergency workers are at the scene.Police are investigating the cause of the explosion.The blast took place at a tank containing diesel to refuel ships on the northern part of the harbour."The lid of the tank was blown off by the blast," he told AFP news agency. "Two people were injured, one very seriously, and both are in hospital."He said the possibility of another explosion could not be ruled out.Dense black smoke could be seen from the city centre, according...

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Four of Scott Rothstein’s ex-colleagues face fraud charges in the widening federal investigation into the convicted lawyer’s $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

The cast of characters accused of supporting convicted con artist Scott Rothstein with his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme expanded Friday, when prosecutors brought charges against a lawyer, two computer experts and a former nightclub owner.All four Broward County men face one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud linked to Rothstein’s racket of selling phony legal settlements, which unraveled over Halloween weekend 2009.The disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer’s massive investment scam sparked a wider investigation and shocked dozens of colleagues, investors, politicians and society friends who had flocked to the flashy Rothstein and his law firm before his sensational fall.“The house of cards supporting Scott Rothstein’s elaborate Ponzi scheme continues to crumble,” U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer...

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Spanish National Police, in a joint investigation with City of London Police, have dismantled a ‘boiler room’ financial operation in Palma de Mallorca

Spanish National Police, in a joint investigation with City of London Police, have dismantled a ‘boiler room’ financial operation in Palma de Mallorca which defrauded 50 million pounds,57 million €, from hundreds of British citizens. Investigations have been continuing for 18 months.The group captured funds by aggressive telesales campaigns offering attractive investment products which in reality did not exist, and the victims transferred their money into bank accounts opened in Spain under false names, after which cash was withdrawn or the money was sent overseas.17 Britons have been arrested, 11 bank accounts have been blocked, five homes and the main ‘boiler room’ in Palma de Mallorca searched. British people manned the phones and the company was formed by British people, who also targeted...

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The brother of an IRA woman shot by the SAS in Gibraltar has been given four weeks to find a new legal team

The brother of an IRA woman shot by the SAS in Gibraltar has been given four weeks to find a new legal team after his solicitor came off record.Belfast Crown Court Judge Tom Burgess told 52-year-old Ciaran Anthony Farrell he believed that given the serious nature of the charge he faces, he needed to have legal representation."I suggest that you take very step possible to do that otherwise the court will be in a position to move on and I don't believe that will be in your best interests," said the Recorder of Belfast.Farrell, from Killeaton Park in Dunmurry is charged with providing a Renault Laguna car for the purposes of terrorism on 22 February last year.His solicitor from J.M. Hughes and Co, told the judge earlier that although a defence certificate was granted at Farrell's first appearance...

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HM Customs and the Royal Gibraltar Police seized a car stashed full of cannabis resin worth £3.9million.

The Spanish registered Seat Leon – loaded with 26 bales of drugs weighing 800 kilos –was discovered in an underground car park in Harbour Views after officers used sniffer dogs to conduct a search of the area.Inside the car police also found a vest with the name of a Spanish private security firm and a wallet containing a Guardia civil ID badge.A local man has been arrested and released on bail but the investigation is ongoing to discover how a shipment of this size arrived in Gibraltar.Meanwhile, on the other side of the border the Guardia Civil has arrested 26 members of a Sevilla gang that handled stolen goods and contraband cigarettes from the Rock.The gang was caught distributing cigarettes smuggled into Spa...

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Spain has now joined other European countries such as France, Italy and Estonia, and issued its first online gambling license.

A few weeks ago, Spain’s Congress paved the way for a regulated online gambling market within its own borders and now it has been reported that the first operator to be granted such a licence is the Casino Gran Madrid.The new website will now undergo a period of testing which, when deemed satisfactory, will then be allowed to offer a range of online gaming products including poker, blackjack, roulette and slots.The Casino Gran Madrid’s website will alsobe only available for Madrid residents and be powered by Playtech, which currently maintains the iPoker Network, where such sites as Titan Poker, Betfred Poker, William Hill Poker and Bet365 Poker are currently located.Rather surprisingly, the Casino Gran Madrid received the license a few months in advance of a proposed national online gambling...

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Spain is pushing ahead with a plan to privatise the country’s state lottery

Spain is pushing ahead with a plan to privatise the country’s state lottery in a sell-off that will transform one of its oldest national traditions into the world’s largest stock market listed gambling company worth as much as €25bn ($35.2bn).The planned stock market listing of 30 per cent of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, organiser of the country’s El Gordo, or the Fat One, Christmas lottery, is part of a planned multibillion-euro sale of public assets to slash government borrowing by a third this year.Spain’s socialist government, which suffered its worst defeat in the post-Franco era in this week’s regional elections amid protests in city centres, has also said it will sell 49 per cent of the state airports authority that controls Madrid and Barcelona airports to raise an additional €8bn.The...

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cargo vessel that was loaded with explosives in the UK for Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), developed main engine trouble when about 200 miles off Gibraltar

A cargo vessel that was loaded with explosives in the UK for Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), developed main engine trouble when about 200 miles off Gibraltar, and ended up being towed to the British dependent territory at the western entrance to the Mediterranean."The ship was carrying a mix of ammunition, such as bombs and small arms," said a Gibraltar port spokesman."It loaded explosives in the UK for Jeddah."On arrival in Gibraltar last Wednesday it was berthed in GibDock repair yard within the port of Gibraltar. It was after an inspection by the Gibraltar fire brigade, that the ship was ordered to be towed out to the eastside anchorage, away from it being close to Gibraltar's highly-populated town area on the western littoral. Spares arrived on Saturday but the ship was not repaired in Gibraltar...

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London and Madrid address Spanish incursions into Gibraltar waters

Responding to the crossbench peer Lord Luce, Lord Howell of Guildford, the Conservative Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, referred to “a number of serious incidents” involving Spanish vessels in recent months.“We take these matters very seriously,” Lord Howell said, adding that Britain had protested formally on each occasion.“The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [William Hague] raised the issue directly with his Spanish counterpart on 16 February, 2011.”“The Minister for Europe [David Lidington] also raised it with the Spanish Foreign Minister, in the margins of the Council of Europe meeting on 10 and 11 May 2011.”“The UK remains confident of its sovereignty over British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and will continue to assert this clear legal position...

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Multi-Award winning artist and humanitarian Lionel Richie joins a star studded list of artists from around the globe, including Quincy Jones, who are coming together in Morocco for Festival Mawazine.

As part of Festival Mawazine, placed under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Maroc Cultures Association has organized a special concert on Sunday, May 29th at the Jemma El Fna square in honor of the victims of the April 28th terrorist attack in Marrakech.Festival Mawazine and the participating artists have agreed tocome together in the name of peace and tolerance and in show of their firm opposition to terrorism and obscurantism. Internationally acclaimed icons Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie, who together with Michael Jackson, and others led the nations in musical harmony with the ground-breaking song 'We Are the World', join Marrakech born artist and human rights activist Sapho, India's Bharati Show, Mory Kante from Guinea, Hussein El Jasmi of Egypt, Moroccan based group...

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Betfred Says Tote Bid Is GBP45 Million Better Than Rival Offer

The U.K.'s fourth-largest retail bookmaker Betfred said Monday its bid for state-owned bookmaker Tote would leave the racing industry GBP45 million better off than a bid by Martin Broughton's vehicle, Sports Investment Partners.The company said in a statement its proposal for commercial and charitable payments to the racing industry translate to GBP45 million more over seven years than the bid from SIP.A spokesman for SIP declined to comment.SIP and Betfred have put forward quite different plans to buy the Tote but each puts an enterprise value of around GBP200 million on the Tote, which comprises two separate businesses--an on-racetrack pool betting service and a chain of roughly 500 retail shops together with online and telephone betting operations.Betfred also issued a statement Sunday...

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Ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano could reach northern Scotland by Tuesday and parts of Britain, France and Spain by Thursday

Ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano could reach northern Scotland by Tuesday and parts of Britain, France and Spain by Thursday or Friday if the eruption continues at the same rate, airlines were warned on Sunday. The warning is based on latest 5-day weather forecasts, but must be treated with c aution because of the forecast period and the presence of different air currents from those prevailing at the time of last year's ash crisis, weather officials said.European authorities said on Sunday no disruption was expected to European or transatlantic airspace over the next 24 hours from the eruption of Iceland's most active volcano on Saturd...

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players data being sold openly.

The UK regulatory bodies have called in the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority as part of their investigations into players data being sold openly. The Information Commissioners Office are still refusing to contact the public with full details but it is known that due to the extent of the breach it has become a major investigation.We reported over the weekend how players date including usernames, passwords of 3 million online players had been circulated for sale, which included 315,000 online bingo players from a leading UK online bingo operator. Due to the fact that most players use the same usernames and passwords for a variety of accounts online bingo players are at significant risk of fraud.The ICO initially likened the situation to the investigation at T-Mobile which took nearly a year to...

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RACING is braced for another corruption inquiry after four jockeys were charged with serious breaches of the British Horseracing Authority’s rules yesterday.

RACING is braced for another corruption inquiry after four jockeys were charged with serious breaches of the British Horseracing Authority’s rules yesterday.Ten races in 2009 featuring Greg Fairley, Kirsty Milczarek, Jimmy Quinn and Paul Doe are under the microscope. Paul Fitzsimons, a rider at the time but now a trainer, is also alleged to have communicated directly or indirectly with betting exchange users for material reward and to have “intentionally failed to ensure that a horse was run on its merits”. Eight punters, including registered owners Maurice Sines and James Crickmore, have been charged with breaches relating to inside information.Doe has been charged in relation to five races, Fairley to four, Quinn, two, while Milczarek and Fitzsimons to one race each. Andrew Chalk, acting...

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tobacco from Gibraltar is now being blamed in Spain for the high level of cancer in the Campo area.

Antonio Escolar, public health chief at the Puerta Del Mar Hospital in Cadiz, has come up with a study about cancer in the Campo area.It has taken him two years to write, and concludes that there are other factors which are more responsible for the cancer than the effects of the industrial plant in the Campo.Nobody had considered what happened before the existence of the industrial zone. Is it that there was no cancer then?Reports in Spanish papers quote him as saying that general opinion over the Campo cancer had been linked to the industrial plants in the area. But in their study "we demonstrate something very important", that this emerged before the existence of the industrial zone.He goes on to say that between 25-30 years after the development of the industrial zone, the level of cancer...

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formal investigation by a judge in La Linea into the Easter Sunday incident at sea between the RG Police and the Guardia Civil

GSLP/Libs has declared that the launch of a formal investigation by a judge in La Linea into the Easter Sunday incident at sea between the RG Police and the Guardia Civil “adds insult to injury” and complicates further “an already tense situation.” The Opposition states that it is “absolutely incredible that the RGP should be cast as the villains of the piece when everybody knows that it was the Guardia Civil who were acting outside their jurisdiction.” For the GSLP/Libs it is unacceptable that the actions of the RGP “should now be scrutinised by a foreign judge who has no jurisdiction in our waters.”“We fully back the RGP and the other agencies present during this incident. The Guardia Civil have claimed that one of their officers was injured as well as one of the suspected smugglers....

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LOW cost airline BMI Baby has announced five new routes from East Midlands Airport.

As part of its 2012 summer flying schedule, the Castle Donington-based operator has added Gibraltar, Corfu, Murcia and Naples to its list of destinations. It will also be introducing year-round flights to Cologne.It brings the total number of routes operated by BMI Baby from East Midlands Airport to 31.The airline has also announced three extra routes – Lisbon, Rome and Barcelona – from Birmingham Airport. Tickets for all of the routes have now gone on sale.Last month, BMI Baby announced it was pulling out of Cardiff to focus on other airports where there were more growth opportunities.At the same time, it also announced two extra winter routes from East Midlands.Managing director Julian Carr said: "These latest routes are part of our expansion strategy for the Midlands. We recently announced...

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U.K. government is soon to decide which of two remaining bidders get to buy the Tote

The U.K. government is soon to decide which of two remaining bidders get to buy the Tote, the state-owned bookmaker which has been variously on and off the block for the best part of 20 years.The last two horses in the running are Betfred, the country’s fourth biggest retail bookmaker and Sports Investment Partners, the vehicle run by racing aficionado and former chairman of the British Horseracing Authority, Martin Broughton.Both offer similar financial benefits to the industry–around £120 million of the £200 million the Tote is said to be worth. But politics will undoubtedly play a large part in the final decision process.SIP may well have the advantage with its promise to reserve at least 10% of a newly floated company for the industry and a further 25% for “racing-friendly” investors,...

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On Friday the Spanish Congress endorsed the country’s the new Gambling Law that establishes a regulatory environment through all remote and interactive channels.

On Friday the Spanish Congress endorsed the country’s the new Gambling Law that establishes a regulatory environment through all remote and interactive channels. This effectively ends the legislative process and the new law will become effective upon its publication in the State Official Bulletin (Boletín Oficial del Estado) in the next few days.The new law will establish the regulation of gambling activities in Spain for the first time since it was decriminalised in 1977 and allow the development of online gambling with the exception of games developed by and subject to exclusivity such as those performed by the National Lottery (LAE), and Blind Charity Lottery (ONCE).The process has been fast-tracked by the need for the Spanish Government to open a privatisation process of the national public...

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Inside the shell: drugs, arms and tax scams

He has been known variously as Professor Geoffrey Taylor, Sir Geoffrey and Lord Stubbington. This is the Gold Coast businessman who established shell companies that have since been linked to arms deals, Mexican drug lords and Russia's largest tax fraud. And yet he has committed no crime. Gerard Ryle reports.On December 11, 2009, a former Soviet air force transport plane flying from North Korea to Iran stopped to refuel in Bangkok. The flight listed its cargo as spare parts for oil-drilling equipment. Instead police found 30 tonnes of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles, all being transported in breach of United Nations sanctions.Three months later in a Miami courtroom, the United States Department of Justice revealed the country's largest money-laundering...

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US crackdown on 3 big providers cuts off easy access to potential profits

For Northeastern University student Brendan O’Dowd, online poker was more than a game. He played almost every day, often for hours at a time. He says he turned consistent profits that he relied on to buy books, food, and walking-around money.Like a shift worker punching the clock, he thought of the electronic card games like a regular paycheck.So when federal prosecutors shut down the three most popular online poker sites last month, accusing their owners of defrauding banks to maintain the flow of billions in illegal gambling profits, O’Dowd and legions of players like him were livid.“It was my main source of income over the past few years,’’ O’Dowd said. “It was a livable part-time job where I could be my own boss and make my own hours, as well as have a higher hourly rate than pretty much...

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Sky Vegas Online Casino to Leave Canada June 1st. 2011

Canada is home to many online gamblers and poker players and for the most part Canadians have been able to play online casino games without any real problems. The governments of various provinces in the country have been busy setting up online casinos in order to cash in on the fast growing and lucrative trend.This move has offshore operators looking closely at the bottom line and are considering the repercussions should the Federal Government of Canada decide to go the same route as the Department of Justice in America has gone. Sky Vegas Casino has decided they will no longer offer their gambling services to the Canadian jurisdiction. Customers of Sky Vegas have until June the first 2011 to close all of their accounts associated with the Sky Vegas Casino web site.A statement was sent to...

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‘Illegal’ betting companies cost the state budget €2.5-5-million each year, the Association of Betting Companies said at a press conference on Tuesday, May 3.

‘Illegal’ betting companies cost the state budget €2.5-5-million each year, the Association of Betting Companies said at a press conference on Tuesday, May 3. The briefing took place on the sidelines of the ongoing Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia. It was intended to highlight what the companies claim has been an increase in activities by allegedly illegal betting operations during the tournament. The association announced that it will take legal action against the ‘illegal’ companies and against media that run advertisements for them.According to current legislation, betting companies registered in Slovakia pay deductions amounting to 5 percent of their receipts to the state. Moreover, the companies are subsequently taxed, while ‘illegal’ betting entities don't pay a single euro...

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Ocean Village’s Festival of the Seas

Nothing unites Gibraltar like a good family-friendly event and Ocean Village’s Festival of the Seas certainly proves that to be true. Kicking off last weekend, huge crowds gathered to take part in a wide variety of activities from a Yacht Rally to a Dragon Boat Race and organisers even managed to book spectacular sunny weather.Ros Astengo from Ocean Village comments, “The Festival of the Seas has received much praise from participants and spectators and it’s clear that we’ll have to make it an annual event. We couldn’t be more delighted with the number of people who turned out to offer their support or the spirit in which the local community threw themselves into the various activities. The effort that went into fancy dress, dance costumes, singing performances and the water-based competitions...

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Flights from East Midlands to Gibraltar

Seven new destinations are being added by Bmibaby as part of its summer 2012 flying schedule. Flights from East Midlands to Gibraltar, Corfu, Murcia and Naples, and Birmingham to Lisbon, Rome and Barcelona have been unveiled. The budget airline is also adding year-round flights to Cologne from East Midlands and Prague from Birmingham.The carrier will operate 31 routes from East Midlands and 14 routes from Birmingham.It claims to be only low cost airline to be operating flights from East Midlands to Cologne, Gibraltar and Naples and from Birmingham to Barcelona, Lisbon, Prague and Rome (Fiumicino).Managing director Julian Carr said: “The new routes are part of our expansion strategy for the Midlands. “We recently announced that will be basing two additional aircraft in the Midlands...

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magnitude 5.3 earthquake has toppled several buildings in southern Spain, near the town of Lorca, killing at least seven people

magnitude 5.3 earthquake has toppled several buildings in southern Spain, near the town of Lorca, killing at least seven people, officials say.The quake struck at a depth of just 1km (0.6 miles), some 120km south-west of Alicante, at 1850 (1650 GMT), the US Geological Survey reported.TV shots showed rescue workers rushing through debris-littered streets.Old buildings were badly damaged by the quake, which followed a smaller 4.4-magnitude one about two hours earlier.It is not clear how many people were injured, although Spanish media say there are many.Spanish TV captured dramatic images of a church bell tower crashing to the ground, landing just metres from the cameraman.Shocked residents and workers rushed out of buildings and have gathered in squares, parks and open spaces.The earthquakes...

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Three Moroccan nationals were arrested in last week's deadly bombing at a Marrakech cafe, including the main suspect - a man with loyalties to al-Qaida who had attempted to travel to Iraq and Chechnya

Three Moroccan nationals were arrested in last week's deadly bombing at a Marrakech cafe, including the main suspect - a man with loyalties to al-Qaida who had attempted to travel to Iraq and Chechnya, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.The April 28 explosion that tore through the Argana cafe, a popular tourist hangout in the center of the kingdom's biggest tourist magnet, Marrakech, killed 16 people, most of them tourists. The statement said the suspect it identified as the main perpetrator had targeted the Argana specifically because tourists flocked to it.The man disguised himself as a foreign visitor to plant the explosives, devices that could be detonated remotely, authorities said. He had learned to make the devices on the Internet, the statement said. It added that investigators...

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Spain calls on the U.K. to stop the incidents in Gibraltar Waters

The Spanish Foreign Minister, Trinidad Jiménez, on Wednesday asked the United Kingdom to stop the incidents between the Civil Guard patrols and Gibraltar Police in the waters around the Rock, so as to ‘facilitate cooperation’ against crime.Jiménez made the call when speaking to journalists ahead of appearing before the Foreign Affairs Commission of Congress, where she explained Spain’s policy in the Mediterranean.She underlined the Spanish Government’s full support for the work of the Guardia Civil in Algeciras Bay.It follows a complaint from Gibraltar on Tuesday about a new incident between the Guardia Civil patrol boat, P74- Atalaya, and a merchant vessel in waters which Gibraltar considers to be its jurisdiction.‘We call on the United Kingdom to cease this type of situations, of incidents,...

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Honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani allegedly told hitmen he paid to kill his wife that he wanted her “taken off the scene”, a court was told yesterday.

Honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani allegedly told hitmen he paid to kill his wife that he wanted her “taken off the scene”, a court was told yesterday.The care home boss meticulously planned and outlined exactly how he wanted Anni Hindocha, 28, to be murdered after recruiting contract killers through a South African taxi driver, the court heard.Dewani, 31, appeared at Belmarsh magistrates’ court yesterday to fight extradition to South Africa where he faces charges of plotting to murder his wife. He has consistently denied the claims.Dewani sat in the dock with his head bowed, talking to himself or praying, as the case against him was set out.Hugo Keith QC, for the South African authorities, told the court how on November 9, 2010, Dewani flew into South Africa with his wife.After visiting...

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Honeymoon murder accused Shrien Dewani told a friend he would have to "find a way out" of his engagement to his fiancee, Anni

Appearing for the South African government on the first day of Dewani's extradition hearing in the Belmarsh Magistrate's Court in London yesterday, lawyer Hugo Keith said a witness came forward earlier this year and made an affidavit claiming Dewani was looking for a way out of his impending marriage."He said although she was a nice, lovely girl whom he liked, he could not break off the engagement because he would be disowned by his family. He went on to say to the witness he needed to find a way out of it," said Keith.The witness, whom Keith was not prepared to name, was befriended by Dewani last September. Dewani told the witness of his reluctance to marry the following month.Keith said the witness was also prepared to back up his statement with testimony in court, should Dewani stand trial...

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Spanish naval patrol boat “Atalaya” entered Gibraltar waters and proceeded to harass commercial vessels that were legally anchored in the east side area.

The continuing conflict with Spain over the territorial waters of Gibraltar has now taken on an even more serious dimension following the latest incursion today by the Spanish navy. The incident is intolerable and totally unacceptable and it represents an escalation by Spain which can only be regarded as a hostile act , says the Opposition in a statement released today. Adding that it is inconceivable that a military vessel of this kind would enter our territorial sea and proceed to exercise jurisdiction in it without orders from Madrid. This can no longer be regarded, as some have claimed in the past in order to minimise the seriousness of the incursions, as a case of over-zealous civil guards in the port of Algeciras with an axe to grind or in the pursuit of drugs traffickers.  The...

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following the indictment of 11 senior executives and owners of three of the biggest US-facing poker sites, their European rivals have launched respective marketing drives in an attempt to capitalise on the availability of new players.

following the indictment of 11 senior executives and owners of three of the biggest US-facing poker sites, their European rivals have launched respective marketing drives in an attempt to capitalise on the availability of new players.Since the US Attorney’s Office issued a notice on Friday bringing charges against Pokerstars founder Isai Scheinberg, Full Tilt’s Ray Bitar, and nine others for alleged fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling, traffic on a number of rivals' sites has risen dramatically.According to Pokerscout’s weekly traffic report, all three affected sites have seen their traffic drop significantly, with Full Tilt’s 48% week-on-week decline the most striking. PKR, however has seen a 21% rise (the highest from a non-US site) while PartyPoker (9%), 888Poker (5%) and the iPoker...

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security expects "threats of retaliation" from al Qaeda in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security expects "threats of retaliation" from al Qaeda in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death, a department official told CNN early Monday."We certainly anticipate threats of retaliation -- this is an organization that declared war on the United States more than a decade ago -- threats from al Qaeda are not a new phenomenon," the official said.The development comes as the United States put American diplomatic facilities around the world on high alert and issued a global travel warning for Americans, shortly after President Barack Obama announced that the terrorist leader had been killed in Pakistan."Given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, U.S. citizens in areas where recent events could cause anti-American violence are strongly urged...

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warship Ark Royal is set to end up as a floating tourist attraction in Gibraltar.

An international consortium is planning a bid for Britain's flagship aircraft carrier, which has been decommissioned.The Ministry of Defence has put the 22,000-ton ship up for sale in Portsmouth, where she is currently tied up, and is inviting tenders by the middle of next month.Last night hopes were pinned on the Gibraltar bid succeeding as the most likely other option is for her to be scrapped like her sister ship Invincible.Gibraltar has seven million tourists visiting each year and the 30-year-old carrier, the fifth Royal Navy ship to bear the name, would be a major draw.The Rock has played a huge part in naval history and the third Ark Royal was torpedoed not far offshore in 1941.A spokesman for the Gibraltar-based consortium said: "Having the last Ark here would be a fitting tribute...

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Spanish nuclear plant halted for refuelling

Spain's 460-megawatt Garona nuclear power station was stopped on Sunday for scheduled refuelling, operators said, which left just six of the country's eight reactors up and running.Data from national grid operator REE (REE.MC: Quote) showed nuclear plants were generating 5,985 MW beween them, down from about 7,400 MW when all are working normally.Lack of nuclear power often weighs on wholesale power prices because producers can sell it at a discount to electricity generated from gas or coal.In a statement the operator of the northerly plant said refuelling would take a month.The 1,000 MW Asco I plant in northeastern Spain is due back from refuelling in a matter of days, its operator said.Garona is jointly owned by Spain's two largest power utilities, Iberdrola (IBE.MC: Quote) and Endesa (ELE.MC:...

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WIlliam was close to tears as Prince Harry paid an emotional tribute to their mother Diana in his best man’s speech.

Harry, Master of Ceremonies at William and Kate’s triumphant evening wedding reception, took to his feet in front of 350 of the couple’s closest friends and ­family.And there was barely a dry eye as Harry turned to William and told him: “Our mother would be so very proud of you.”Advertisement >>A guest at the Buckingham Palace celebration revealed: “Harry only said a few words, but it was so emotional. The entire room burst into applause.”Wearing a fez hat Harry had started his speech by standing on the top table and describing the newlyweds as the “Dude and Duchess”.As guests chuckled, he poked fun at William’s ­receding hairline and said he felt sorry for Kate marrying a “bald man”.He handed over to two of William’s oldest pals, who cracked jokes that had him ­laughing hysterically.Double...

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Professional punter Stephen Fletcher has been disqualified over his involvement in a Brisbane racing scandal.

Fletcher, one of Australia's best-known punters, has been banned for 12 months.Racing Queensland stewards handed out the penalty after jockey Bobby El-Issa was earlier disqualified for two years because of his ride on Bold Glance in an Eagle Farm race on February 26.El-Issa was found guilty of not giving Bold Glance every chance to win the Falvelon Quality (1,200m).The subsequent Doncaster Mile placegetter finished second in the race and El-Issa, who stewards said did not show his usual vigour on the horse, is appealing his ban.Fletcher, who rose to prominence as a high-profile punter when he was linked with a 2005 betting sting on a Gold Coast greyhound race, faces the prospect of shutting his gambling operation under the terms of the ban.Under an Australian racing rule, bookmakers are not...

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