SCOTLAND'S failure to tackle the scandal of sex trafficking is exposed in a damning report today.

Baroness Helena Kennedy believes sex-trafficking victims are being let down by Scots law The report demands a crackdown on the organised crime gangs behind the vile trade and lifts the lid on how the victims of trafficking and exploitation have been let down.Leading human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy, who wrote the report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is critical of the Scottish government, the police and other law enforcement agencies.The report looks into all aspects of human trafficking but focuses explicitly on "commercial sexual exploitation".A source close to the inquiry said last night: "This is Scotland's...

Read More

Marvel character, Erik Lensherr a.k.a. Magneto, has apparently infringed the copyright of the King of Spain

Marvel character, Erik Lensherr a.k.a. Magneto, has apparently infringed the copyright of the King of Spain in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, with the Zarzuela Palace claiming the X-Men villain's alternate costume is identical to the military uniform worn by King Juan Carlos.Representitives for the Zazuela Palace have contacted the Spanish distributor of the game in the region, Koch Media, to warn them of possible copyright infringement.This isn't the first time the Spanish Royal's has stamped their feet over the strong resemblences, as Marvel faced a similar dispute when Magneto first donned the uniform in The Pulse: House of M Special X-Men ...

Read More

Why has Morocco’s king survived the Arab Spring?

 Morocco's ruling elite thinks it has skilfully sidestepped the revolutionary fervour sweeping the Arab world by offering a milder, more peaceful vision of change. Following Friday's elections, King Mohamed VI is for the first time obliged to choose the prime minister from the largest party, rather than naming whoever he pleases. However, many of the protesters who took to the streets in February feel the reforms still fall far short of their demands for a democratic, constitutional monarchy, and have called for a boycott. A low turnout in the parliamentary poll would detract from the legitimacy of King Mohamed VI's reforms and could hint at future problems. Ahead of the poll, the sleepy calm of the capital, Rabat, was occasionally punctuated by the marches of unemployed graduates....

Read More

Moroccans prepare to for parliamentary poll

 Moroccans are preparing to vote in a parliamentary election. The poll in the north African kingdom has been brought forward in response to the Arab Spring uprisings. It is the first since the introduction of a new constitution, proposed by King Mohammed VI, was approved by a referendum in July. It is expected to be a close contest between a moderate Islamist opposition party and a new coalition of liberals with close ties to the royal palace. Both parliament and the prime minister will have greater powers under the new constitution. The prime minister must now be appointed by the king from the party which wins the most seats in the assembly. However, the king still has the final say on issues of defence, security and religion. Polling stations are due to open at 0800 (0800 GMT)...

Read More

Public sector strike could see Heathrow 'grind to halt'

 There are fears Heathrow airport could "grind to a halt" when immigration officers go on strike next week over pensions, sources have told the BBC. Heathrow operator BAA has been holding talks with airlines and the UK Border Agency to try to minimise the impact of Wednesday's public sector strike. A source close to the talks said more government action was needed to prevent huge queues at immigration. The Home Office said it was exploring all options to minimise disruption. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph quoted a Heathrow airport official as saying travellers arriving at the London airport could be held on aircraft for up to 12 hours while immigration queues cleared. On Wednesday it emerged that civil servants are being asked to act as airport border staff during the strike action,...

Read More

Corrosion caused fatal fuel tanks explosion at Gibraltar Port

 The roofs of both tanks were scattered with corrosion perforations which allowed flammable vapour to escape An independent report commissioned by the Gibraltar government into the fuel tanks explosion at the port at the end of May gives the direct cause as corrosion perforations in the roofs of the two tanks. A Spanish worker died from the serious burns he suffered in the explosion. The report by Capita Symonds reveals more than 20 perforations in Tank No. 1 and more than 40 in Tank No. 2, ‘all of which had been caused by long term corrosion, wastage of the steel.’ The Gibraltar government said in a press release on Thursday that these holes allowed flammable vapour to escape from the tank and into the atmosphere. The escaping vapour ignited when the welder struck an arc while welding...

Read More

U.K. tax falls on overseas property investors

 Overseas property owners based in the UK are about to be targeted by a new HM Revenue & Customs "affluent unit", which has been set up by the British government to address what it sees as tax avoidance by the rich.Photo 20minutos.es What next I wonder?? A new team of 200 taxation investigators and specialists has been established by HMRC to identify wealthy individuals who, amongst other things, own land and property abroad … such as a holiday home. OPP understands that the tax attack unit will concentrate on overseas property assets first, and then switch its attention to UK-based commodity traders (who have been accused of helping to drive up food prices,) before looking into the number of UK residents who hold offshore investment accounts. HMRC says that it will be using...

Read More

TWO MILLION EUROS CLAIMED AFTER CANCELLED STONES CONCERT

The PP mayor of El Ejido in Almería, Francisco Góngora, has criticized the "negligence" of the former government team and announced that the city council are to begin legal proceedings against the promotions company who were to stage a concert by the Rolling Stones in 2006.Following the findings of "many irregularities" in the case, the council are now seeking to claim a total of 2,251,000€, which they feel they are owed, in view of the cancellation.The announcement was made at a press conference in which Francisco Góngora claimed that there was a “contractual obligation” by the promoter to ensure that the concert went ahead and that even if...

Read More

GANG of British “fuel thieves” are suspected of selling thousands of pounds of diesel stolen from a pipeline in Spain

 British Gangsters “fuel thieves” are suspected of selling thousands of pounds of diesel stolen from a pipeline in Spain. Detectives believe they sold more than 120,000 litres door-to-door after allegedly drilling a hole in a pipe near a house on the Costa del Sol. One of the suspects was “caught red-handed”, police in Malaga said. Many of those under arrest are related. Police said: “We haven’t ruled out the existence of a criminal organisation financing the action...

Read More

Jeffrey Lewis dies after 2008 Gibraltar attack

 A man from Hampshire died three years after he was attacked in a robbery in Gibraltar, police said. Security guard Jeffrey Lewis, 59, was left with serious head injuries during the raid on a cigarette container at Gibraltar port in November 2008. Royal Gibraltar Police said three men local to the enclave have been arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail until January. Mr Lewis died at his home in Waterlooville on 5 Octob...

Read More

Gibraltar's Tax Sovereignty 'Unaffected' By EU Ruling

 A recent ruling from the European Court of Justice has been welcomed by the Gibraltar government as confirming the territory's right to have a tax regime different from that of the United Kingdom's. The case relates to proposals notified to the Commission by the United Kingdom in August 2002 for a new corporate tax regime for Gibraltar. Under the plans, the government proposed to implement a new tax system setting a zero rate of corporation tax for all companies. The proposal would have removed corporation tax replacing it with new taxes targeted at company personnel and property occupation - which would have been capped at 15% of profits. The ECJ said in its November 15 ruling that while in most cases the treatment of property and payroll taxes would not be subject to such corporate...

Read More

SIX people have been arrested for their involvement with a gang which stole jewellery from elderly people

 SIX people have been arrested for their involvement with a gang which stole jewellery from elderly people. They are believed to be responsible for more than 120 robberies in 19 provinces throughout Spain, including Almeria, where some of the members were based. Around 450 pieces of jewellery have been recovered and will be exhibited at the Almeria Guardia Civil station for owners to identify. The way they operated was by one of them asking people over the age of 65 for directions to distract them while taking their belongings, or in other cases, they would offer to sell them cheap jewellery which they put on them while removing the valuable items they were wearing. They travelled in high-range vehicles all over Spain and chose small towns, isolated areas, and locations surrounding...

Read More

ONE of Europe’s most powerful hashish smugglers was arrested in Estepona

 ONE of Europe’s most powerful hashish smugglers was arrested in Estepona, National Police said. The arrest of the 33-year-old man was part of an operation against drug traffickers based in Huelva in which more than 3,620 kilos of hashish were seized from a pneumatic boat at a shipyard in Isla Christina, Huelva. The two men on board were dressed as Guardia Civil officers so as not to arouse suspicion. They were arrested along with eight others. The criminal organization smuggled drugs to Spain via Malaga and Huelva from Morocco. Two days later, National Police the leader of the organization, who had a prison order against him from 2010 for drug-related crimes, was arrested in Estepona. He is considered by police to be one of Europe’s most powerful...

Read More

The World Bank today approved $297 million in loans to Morocco to help finance the Ouarzazate Concentrated Solar Power Plant Project

The World Bank today approved $297 million in loans to Morocco to help finance the Ouarzazate Concentrated Solar Power Plant Project, taking a historic step toward realizing one of the first large-scale plants of this kind in North Africa to exploit the region's vast solar energy resources. With this approval from the Bank's Board of Executive Directors, Morocco takes the lead with the first project in the low-carbon development plan under the ambitious Middle East and North Africa Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Scale-up Program. A $200 million loan will be provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the part of the Bank that lends to developing country governments, and another $97 million loan will come from the Clean Technology Fund. "The World Bank is proud...

Read More

FIVE members of a British family have been arrested for stealing 156,700 litres of diesel oil from a Malaga pipeline.

 FIVE members of a British family have been arrested for stealing 156,700 litres of diesel oil from a Malaga pipeline. The highly-organised team are alleged to have used their plumbing knowledge to puncture the pipe and set up hidden hoses leading to their rented finca in nearby Campanillas. In early October oil company CLH noticed a drop in pressure in the pipe supplying Malaga airport and filed a complaint with the Guardia Civil, who immediately launched operation ‘Rudolf 2011’ to catch the thieves. Police located the leak and discovered a hut hiding the extracting devices. They traced the pipes to the Campanillas house where they arrested a man who was controlling the device. They also discovered a 500-litre capacity van connected to the supply with a hose. Later they...

Read More

UK will have to adopt the euro 'faster than people think', despite the ongoing crisis in the single currency.

A top German official predicted today that the UK will have to adopt the euro 'faster than people think', despite the ongoing crisis in the single currency.The extraordinary comments by finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble come on the day that Germany's Chancellor said the eurozone crisis would be resolved without a referendum in Britain.Angela Merkel called for a 'limited treaty change' for further eurozone integration - exactly as spelled out in a leaked German memo which outlines an attempt to prevent a UK referendum that could lead to powers being clawed back from Brussels.Germany's attempts to impose EU control on Britain will have increased...

Read More

Marbella Property Prices likely To Fall Further

 The value of homes in Marbella is expected to drop  further, with one real estate organisation predicting that the market has now reached its lowest point. According to International Property Success, a rising number of overseas buyers based in the UK, Russia and the Middle East are targeting the Spanish destination. The organisation added that Marbella's warm year-round climate and its reputation as one of the top resorts in the country enhance its appeal among those seeking a property in Spain. It stressed that any potential investors in the Spanish real estate market need to choose the location of the house or flat they buy carefully, due to the current volatility in the sector. However, the firm concluded "there are few better places to look in Spain than Marbella". Earlier...

Read More

Virgin buys Northern Rock for £747m

 Northern Rock has been sold to Virgin Money, for £747m, marking the first return to the private sector of a UK government-backed bank since the financial crisis. Virgin, the retail banking arm of Sir Richard Branson, will pay £747m in cash upfront – roughly half of the £1.4bn of government equity that was injected into Northern Rock following its collapse in 2007. The taxpayer could receive up to an additional £250m if the business is sold or floated in future. The sale of the “good” part of the bank marks a £400m loss for the government. The bulk of the funding for Virgin’s bid was provided by Wilbur Ross, the US billionaire investor, who owns a 20 per cent stake in the group. More ON THIS STORY Q&A How the deal affects you Lombard Branson risks Northern exposure Metro Bank has...

Read More

Hundreds of kilos of cocaine were stolen from Málaga port

The impounded drugs were taken over the weekend from a warehouse in Málaga port.Cocaine - Archive Photo EFE Hundreds of kilos of cocaine were stolen from Málaga port last weekend, and some reports speak of as much as 600 kilos.The drug had been impounded by the courts and the thieves took down the security camera system and forced the locks on the door with a thermal lance to obtain access to the warehouse where it was stored. The store contained drugs from several police operations on the Costa del Sol and from elsewhere in Andalucía.La Opinion de Málaga reports that the warehouse in the port was top secret, and located just 300m from the...

Read More

EasyJet pays maiden dividend after profit soars

 EasyJet said on Tuesday it would pay a special dividend of 34.9 pence on top of an ordinary dividend of 10.5 pence, making a total payout of 195 million pounds. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet's founder and largest shareholder with 112.55 million shares, according to Reuters data, will get 51 million pounds. The company's shares were down 2.6 percent at 356.5 pence at 1110 GMT. The carrier had said in September it would return around 190 million pounds after "a robust" second half. The payout comes after Haji-Ioannou criticised plans to buy new aircraft. Sources close to Haji-Ioannou said he was still concerned about capital expenditure, which fell 1 percent to 478 million pounds, and may pile more pressure on the airline's board. The Luton, southern England-based company reported...

Read More

private jets waved through customs and immigration checks

Home Secretary Theresa May (Pic:PA)THERESA May was fighting for her job last night after damning new documents fuelled the scandal of lax security at our borders.Advertisement >>Leaked emails showed that thousands of private jet passengers were allowed into the UK without going through immigration or customs.They also revealed the Home Secretary relaxed checks at airports on at least 2,500 occasions this summer.And the Mirror can reveal passport applications are being secretly subjected to a controversial new “postcode lottery” trial scheme.The High Risk Applications scheme is based on fraud statistics. Staff were given a list of postcodes...

Read More

THE mother of missing Madeleine McCann said yesterday she still wished she could “stop time”.

03:44 | THE mother of missing Madeleine McCann said yesterday she still wished she could “stop time”. Poignant: Kate McCann Kate McCann, who marked the fourth anniversary of Maddy’s disappearance in May, said she and husband Gerry would not give up on finding their little girl.In a poignant message on the Maddy search website, she wrote: “My grandparents always said the years pass more quickly the older you get. It certainly feels that way. I still dream of being able to stop time.“Our only alternative however is to continue doing as much as we can to the best of our ability to enhance the search for Madeleine. So that is...

Read More

Foreign Office is urging Britons to remember that its services are reserved for people in real difficultly

 Foreign Office is urging Britons to remember that its services are reserved for people in real difficultly, and not for finding out Prince Charles' shoe size The Foreign Office has issued a reminder to Britons travelling and living abroad that embassies, high commissions and consulates exist to offer assistance to those in real difficultly, and are not 'concierge services'. To demonstrate their point the Foreign Office decided to reveal some of the odd requests they have received over the last six months. One man in Sofia asked if the Consulate would sell his house for him, whilst another rang the Consulate in Sydney to find out what he should pack for his holiday. A lady in Moscow called the embassy complaining about a buzzing noise in her apartment, a caller in Spain wondered the...

Read More

The King of Spain’s son-in-law was at the centre of a corruption storm today as he came under investigation for siphoning off public money.

Inaki Urdangarin - the husband of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's youngest daughter Infanta Cristina - is suspected of misappropriating cash paid into an NGO.The former handball player now faces a possible interrogation by investigating judge Jose Castro  and risks causing huge embarrassment for the royals.It is claimed that his non-profit company, Instituto Noos, was given an enormous 2.3million euros (just under £2million) by the Balearic Islands’ regional government to organise two conferences on tourism and sport in 2005 and 2006. The judicial investigation is looking into whether the bills for the events were...

Read More