Spain Declares War on Online Pirates

 

As 2012 began—and less than two months after winning control over the Spanish parliament—the right-leaning Partido Popular passed a controversial new anti-Internet-piracy law that will impose strict penalties on website owners who fail to remove copyrighted material from their sites. Sound familiar? The law, named after the former culture minister, Ángeles González‑Sinde [above], gives the Spanish government nearly the same broad-ranging authority found in the equally controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) now wending its way through the U.S. Congress. Owners of the material can now complain to a government commission that can issue an order to block a website's service. The Spanish law was initially brought up for consideration and rejected in 2010. Evidence obtained by the Spanish paper El País suggests that the United States has been pushing hard for a reevaluation of the measure ever since, using trade agreements as leverage to prod the Spanish government to resurrect it. It's no surprise that the United States has shown such interest. Piracy is epidemic in Spain. Thirty percent of the population uses file-sharing sites, often to download Hollywood movies. But there are good reasons to think that the Sinde law will only encourage more of this behavior. Because the law goes after only the content provider and leaves intact an individual's right to a digital copy, it may actually encourage Spanish citizens to use peer-to-peer file sharing, says Rosa María Garcia Sanz, a professor in the department of communication law at the Complutense University of Madrid. In fact, there is little evidence to suggest that the enforcement strategies called for by the new law actually work to stop illegal downloading. France passed a law in 2009, known as Hadopi, or the "three strikes" law. It gives the government the authority to interrupt service for individuals who are caught downloading illegal content after they've received two warnings. Plenty of people took the legislation more as a challenge than a threat; many immediately began avoiding detection, thereby sidestepping the regulation, with the aid of virtual private network servers. The Sinde law will be just as tough to enforce, according to Professor Sanz: "Even blocking domain name system [DNS] sites," she says, "would just encourage users to use alternative and unregulated DNS servers. In other words, there is a real problem of applying the law because it [is] so easy to circumvent the technical barriers used to block users from reaching the websites." The same will likely be true in the United States, where SOPA has been held up in the House Judiciary Committee since last year, and a far-flung group of individuals and organizations have targeted companies that have come out in support of the antipiracy measure. Even the Obama administration has suddenly taken an under-the radar position against SOPA. Developers are already providing tools to circumvent the legislation. The Firefox add-on DeSopa was written as a proof of concept, but if the law is implemented, the add-on would allow users to resolve blocked domains by obtaining an IP address through foreign DNS servers. But these kinds of solutions, which would certainly become popular if SOPA is enacted, carry serious security concerns. They would most likely increase the incidence of DNS hijacking, whereby an attacker redirects queries to a faulty, and potentially malicious, IP address. Security analysts at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, raised these concerns in response to both the Senate and House versions of the bill, calling the DNS filtering mandate a fruitless " 'whack-a‑mole' approach that would only encourage users and offending websites to resort to low-cost work-arounds." It's unclear how seriously members of Congress are taking this advice. Indeed, the Obama administration's opposition may make SOPA moot. As U.S. lawmakers pause to catch their breaths after the first rounds of this battle, they might consider taking an even bigger step back to watch how the Spanish effort plays out—to see whether legislation actually brings about the hoped-for result.

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How clothes retailer Peacocks ran up £750m debts

 

The retailer Peacocks is the biggest company in Wales to have collapsed in recent years. There are not many firms with a headquarters in Wales with a turnover of more than £700m. A number of reasons have been cited for the failure, including the role of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) during talks to restructure its debts. But the reality is that Peacocks was brought down by the deal that allowed a management buyout in 2006. The context is important here, in 2005 Peacocks was a plc and expanding strongly. A few years earlier it had bought the Yorkshire-based retailer Bonmarche, which had 350 outlets. There were already 418 Peacocks stores at the time. But the chief executive Richard Kirk felt it was not being taken seriously enough by investors in London and he led a management buy-out so the firm could expand at a faster rate. In order to do it, the company borrowed £460m. Heavily criticised The last official company accounts we have date from 2010, and they show that by then the company's overall borrowings had risen to £596m. The administrators KPMG now say the overall debt stands at £750m. That debt is around the same as the overall sales of the group. It means that every pound being taken at the tills is ultimately owed to someone else. The debts became too much for Peacocks which went into administration last week after talks on restructuring part of the debt collapsed. Administrators KPMG say the overall debt stands at £750m The taxpayer-owned RBS was one of the lenders which refused to pump any more cash into the business. Despite being heavily criticised by some local MPs and many of the staff, RBS insists it was not alone in refusing to invest any more. The reason Peacocks' debt rose so much was because of part of its borrowings called Payment in Kind or Pik notes. These have high interest rates, in this case 17% charged on a compound basis, but the interest is deferred and rolled over for repayment later on. When the times are good, they allow companies to grow quickly by putting off repayment. But eventually they have to be dealt with. At the time of the management buyout in 2006, Peacocks owed £150m pounds in Pik notes. In 2010, that debt had risen to £300m. 'Mountain of debt' Before the company went into administration, those Pik notes were said to be worth close to £400m. In a business selling relatively cheap clothing where there are tight profit margins, the banks could not see a way where Peacocks could get close to paying off this debt. In defence of Peacocks' directors, the management buy-out which saddled the company with so much debt was a deal done at the height of the buy-out boom when many similar deals were being signed off. The model works if the company is sold off after a few years at a higher price but in this case the credit crunch and the recession made that difficult. Sadly, it shows that in recent years, the success of one of Wales' most high profile and biggest companies was built on a mountain of ever-increasing debt.

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UBS trader denies gambling £1.5 billion in Britain's biggest banking fraud

 

Mr Adoboli, 31, east London, will go on trial accused of losing the cash while working for Swiss banking giant UBS. He spoke only to enter not guilty pleas to two counts of fraud and two counts of false accounting as he appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court. Adoboli, wearing a tailored grey suit and dark blue tie, sat forward in his seat and took notes as pre-trial arrangements were made. He said "Thank you, your honour" as Judge Alistair McCreath set a provisional trial date of September 3. "I remand you in custody," the judge told Adoboli. "I or some other judge will hear some application for bail."

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Britain's banks slashed $50 billion (£31.8 billion) from their exposure to France, Italy and Spain during the summer as financial institutions ran scared

 

Britain's banks slashed $50 billion (£31.8 billion) from their exposure to France, Italy and Spain during the summer as financial institutions ran scared from Europe's debt crisis, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The latest figures from the Basel-based BIS, "the central banker's bank", revealed that UK banks' total exposure to the three European strugglers had fallen to $430.4 billion at the end of September, against $479.9 billion at the end of June. UK banks' stocks of French, Spanish and Italian sovereign bonds were unceremoniously dumped as bond markets turned on vulnerable European nations. The BIS figures revealed UK bank holdings of French, Italian and Spanish sovereign debt dived 32% to $55.5 billion over the quarter, with holdings of Italian bonds suffering the biggest sell-off. Banks sought safety in German bunds, boosting their holdings by more than $40 billion during the period. The European Central Bank's December move to pump nearly €500 billion (£420 billion) into ailing financial institutions for three years eased the immediate threat of a damaging credit crunch. However, France was stripped of its triple-A credit rating this month, Italy's debt-laden economy is heading into recession and Spanish unemployment broke through five million.

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Spain seen heading for recession as economy shrinks

 

Spain's economy looks set to slip into recession after contracting for the first time in two years in the last quarter of 2011, highlighting the challenge for EU leaders as they meet to find ways to boost growth while cutting budgets. The leaders are meeting in Brussels on Monday with the goal of helping Europe's economy but they have to balance austerity with the need to help countries struggling with dismal economic performance. The finances of neighboring Portugal faced fresh scrutiny by markets on Monday and Spain's prime minister said this year's official growth goal would be missed. Gross domestic product in Spain shrank 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter from zero growth the previous quarter, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute showed, in line with forecasts in a Reuters poll. Spain has massive unemployment -- around a third of the euro zone's unemployed are Spanish -- and a banking sector that has been hobbled by a collapsed property sector.

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Wrecked Italian liner will not be moved for months

 

The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Italian island of Giglio until the end of the year or longer before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday. Divers searching for bodies in the hulk, which lies half submerged a few metres from the shore, suspended work on Sunday after heavy seas and strong winds caused the vessel to shift noticeably, authorities said.

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In Spain, taxmen snoop about homes rented to sun-seeking vacationers — then visit the owners who neglected to report the income

 

In Greece, tax officials fly helicopters over residential areas to spot swimming pools of the alleged poor. In Italy, inspectors raid elite ski resorts to catch the down-and-out in their Ferraris. In Spain, taxmen snoop about homes rented to sun-seeking vacationers — then visit the owners who neglected to report the income. File photo by Virginia Mayo, AP The European Union, whose headquarters are pictured here, has been concerned about the debt crisis in southern Europe. EU officials blame part of the economic mess on a culture of tax evasion.EU officials blame part of the economic mess on a culture of tax evasion. Ads by Google CPD Online, On Time Online CPD - for when your deadline is demanding.  Evading taxes is almost a national pastime in European nations such as Greece, Spain and Italy, and for years their governments largely looked the other way. On Monday, the 27 nations of the EU will meet in Brussels to focus on how to boost growth and jobs. But as the southern European nations struggle with a debt crisis that threatens to overwhelm the European Union, their recently installed governments feel they must become more like their more solvent northern neighbors, where the crime of tax evasion is taken seriously. Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and other countries are raising taxes and clamping down on those who have found creative ways not to pay them. Many people admit they cheat, but the wealthy say they are being unfairly singled out to cover for government overspending — and people in the middle class, who have seen their household incomes crumble, are bitter about losing even more to taxes. "In this country, (most of us) are struggling day-to-day in order to make ends meet," said Argiris Eleftheriou, 76, of Athens. "The pensioners and the employed are the only ones that aren't evading taxes. We're paying the taxes of the rich, too." EU officials blame part of the economic mess on a culture of tax evasion in debtor nations that has cost billions in revenue that could be used to shore up their finances. Greece has a projected debt burden of 162% of GDP this year. The amount of taxes past due to the state is $78 billion, according to a 2011 report by the EU's Task Force for Greece. EU officials say that about half of that will never get collected, and the other half is tied up in 165,000 pending court cases. Paying for things in cash is the norm in Greece (and Italy and Spain), making it hard for tax inspectors to track. In Greece, cash transactions accounted for 25% of GDP, according to a 2011 report by Friedrich Schneider, a professor of economics at the University of Linz in Austria. And the EU believes tens of millions of dollars in Greek income has been deposited out of sight in Switzerland banks. Greece is pushing back with a "naming and shaming" campaign. This week, the Greek Economics Ministry published the names of 4,151 individuals who owe a total of more than $19 billion in taxes including a famous singer, a professional basketball player and a former newspaper publisher. "Our sovereignty is being chipped away because some are not paying their taxes," said Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, referring to the strict fiscal oversight imposed by the EU and IMF in return for bailout funds. Meanwhile, new taxes keep coming. In the past two years Greeks have seen a self-employment tax of $390 to $650, a solidarity tax of about 1% to 5% of income and a property tax. More are expected, but locals say they can't pay. "Life has drastically changed; we don't go out anymore; we're locked in our homes and close to depression," said Eleni Benekou, 48, a middle-class housewife in Athens. "(Recently) I went to the flea market to buy some things, but I didn't dare open my wallet." In Italy, the focus is on tax evasion by the super-rich, which ran rampant under the leadership of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi— also accused of tax dodging and who once famously said that evasion of high taxes was a God-given "right." Berlusconi successor, technocrat Mario Monti, has vowed to get Italy's house in order by reducing spending and increasing tax revenue. One of his first actions has been to clamp down on "the pretend poor," as Italian media have dubbed the super-rich tax evaders. While one in four Italians — 15 million — reported no taxable income last year. Italy says that at least 3 million of those own at least three homes. Meanwhile, Italian taxpayers reporting incomes of less than $26,000 owned 188,000 Ferraris and Lamborghinis, more than 500 private airplanes and about 42,000 yachts. Monti has ordered tax police to go to the super-rich wherever they are. In raids on the elite Italian Alps ski resort of Cortina in early January, officials found 42 high-end sports cars belonging to owners who reported less than $26,000 of income annually. The Italian government is also cracking down on money-laundering, lowering the maximum allowed for cash transactions to from $3,200 to $1,275 and putting dogs at the Swiss border to sniff out large sums of cash. (It is common for Italians to drive their money over the Alps to Swiss banks, tax agents say.) So far, Italian officials say this has netted $52,300 on average per day at the border, up from almost zero a year ago. Since Monti took office in November, Italian tax police have identified $65 billion in untaxed money, officials announced Wednesday. Monti is also pushing for a new tax bracket for the super-rich and a financial transaction tax. Even TV commercials appeal to Italians to help find these "parasites of society." And while Italians hang effigies of tax officials at protests, some agree with the push. "Everybody has to do their part, but the rich should do more than their part," said Angela Perin, 56, a school administrator in Rome. "They've had it easy too long, and now everybody is suffering because of that." In Spain, officials also declared "an open season" on tax evasion. They have capped cash transactions at $1,300 and are cracking down on tax havens. Spain has taken hundreds of tax evaders to court, and tax police have caught about 200,000 individuals who had not declared income from rental properties — a large source of income in the sunny tourist destination — and an easy source of under-the-table cash, officials said. One of the first actions of Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy upon taking office in mid-December was to break a main campaign promise by raising taxes: The government has passed measures to raise income and property taxes by more than $7.64 billion a year and has added a new tax bracket for the rich — which increased the cap by 7% to a maximum of 56% in some Spanish federal states for those earning more than $390,000 annually. Some say the zeal for taxes as the solution to a country mired in debt and high unemployment of 21.5% will backfire. "The tax hike is going to have a perverse effect on the Spanish economy," said Miguel Borra, president of CSI-F, the main civil servant union in Spain. "That will include a growing lack of trust among the population (in government) as well as diminishing purchasing power." In crisis-hit but tax-averse Ireland, officials haven't raised income tax but rates on many other things have risen: taxes on pension contributions, property, carbon dioxide emissions and a hated "universal social charge," along with hikes in sales taxes. "They get called stealth taxes, but they're not particularly stealthy as we can see them coming," said Gerard Casey, professor of philosophy at University College Dublin. "They do it so they can say with a relatively straight face, smirking perhaps, 'We've not raised taxes.' " Emeline Callan, who runs a barbershop in Celbridge, County Kildare, says she earns less than minimum wage despite working nine or 10 hours a day — and the cost of her commute has doubled with the gasoline and car tax increases. Her frustration may be a warning to Europe's governing elites that they must find another way to balance the books. "The tax I pay gets me nothing that I need," she said. "The social charge is just a cover to gain more money from us to pay for the government's mistakes. It's loan repayment on a loan we the people didn't take out."

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On the 31st May this year, nine men from Paddle4Heroes are going to paddle from Gibraltar to Marbella in Spain by kayak to raise funds for Help for Heroes and a new charity called Families of The Fallen.

PADDLE4HEROES, RAISING MONEY THROUGH KAYAKING - FOR HELP FOR HEROES AND FAMILIES OF THE FALLEN

On the 31^st May this year, nine men from Paddle4Heroes are going to paddle from Gibraltar to Marbella in Spain by kayak to raise funds for Help for Heroes and a new charity called Families of The Fallen.  Both of these charities should touch the heart of anyone British, as they are at the forefront of helping servicemen and women recover from the trauma of war.

Of the nine paddlers (aged between 20 – 58!), six are ex-servicemen (including one from my own regiment) and all live on the Costa del Sol.  Several have experienced active service and all know the devastation that war can bring to everyone involved.

Indeed, the consequences of active service can be long lasting, not just for servicemen and women but also for their immediate families.  Both parties often need significant help readjusting to normal life (whether the trauma is psychological or physical) and that is where charities like Help for Heroes and Families of The Fallen come into their own.

Needless to say, Britain seems to have been continually at war for years now, with the Iraq wars and Afghanistan being notable.  However, our military forces also continually operate in many other areas including often as unsung UN peacekeepers, which can often involve significant risks – and injury.

TRAINING, TRAINING AND...MORE TRAINING!

In fact, whilst deaths in battle always make the news, injuries rarely do and they, of course, far outnumber deaths, despite often being utterly life changing for those hurt.  Indeed, I hate to think how many British servicemen and women have sustained terrible injuries over the past twenty years – with their injuries never having made the news or having been ‘hidden’ deep within governmental statistics.   Certainly, many more servicemen and women (and their families) need help than most of us realise…

Needless to say, the point of the canoe trip by Paddle4Heroes from Gibraltar to Marbella (90 km) on the 31^stMay is to raise funds for Help for Heroes and Families of the Fallen.  It is your money that keeps these charities going and your money that directly helps our servicemen and women in their time of greatest need.

So, please make an effort to spare some money for Paddle4Heroes.  What they are doing deserves your support and it would be great to think that any of you Britons, with any connection at all to Spain, could help to make the Paddle4Heroes event an outstanding fund raising success – that does justice to any Briton living or holidaying in Spain!

If you want to know more or wish to contribute to Paddle4Heroes then please see the Paddle4Heroes Facebook page.

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Market traders told to be quiet in Málaga

 

There is upset in the fruit, vegetable and fish markets in Málaga, following a new Town Hall bylaw which prohibits stall holders singing out their prices. The Town Hall says it will be issuing 300 € fines. In fact there has been a regulation in force since 1985, although ignored since then, which prohibits ‘crying the nature or price of the merchandise, or calling purchasers to buy’. New regulations also demand that 65% of stalls in all the city’s markets sell fresh produce, and the opening hours must be 0830-1430, although that can be extended voluntarily by half an hour before and after. Traders are complaining mainly about not being able to sign out their products ‘That’s been something very normal in the markets of Spain’, said one.

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Prostitute in French footballer sex scandal launches own underwear range

The prostitute at the centre of the French footballer sex scandal has transformed from call girl to cover girl with a new underwear range. Zahia Dehar made headlines last year when she alleged that top France stars Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou had paid thousands of pounds for sex with her when she was just 17. Now 19, she has launched a new line of lingerie at Paris couture week with none other than designer Karl Lagerfeld shooting her lookbook. Advertisement >> Following the scandal, which ruined the reputations of the three stars involved, demand for Zahia soared and she became a lingerie model appearing on the covers of top fashion magazines. Now she has enlisted the help of top French designers including François Tamarin, Bruno Legeron, and Jean-Pierre Ollier to create the couture pieces for her collection. On her Twitter page, Zahia said that working with Lagerfeld had been a ‘dream come true’ while the designer was quoted as saying: “It was fun to do her.” He reportedly added: “She is very French courtesan, like Liane de Pougy or the Belle Otéro.” Ribery, 28, Benzema, 23, and Govou, 31, all faced three years in prison and fines of up to £40,000 for having underage sex. All three eventually escaped jail. Speaking after the scandal, the former prostitute said that Ribery, Benzema and Govou had all treated her “with utter respect” and should be left alone.

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Protein Rich Diet Good For Losing Weight,

 

A recent research has revealed that a diet rich in proteins can prove helpful in making a woman to lose weight. The research was conducted by the researchers of the Sydney University. It has further been pointed out by the researchers that a change in the diet plan can lead to improved lifestyle. For the research, a number of women were recruited. The participants of the research were divided into two groups. The first group was provided with the rich carbohydrate diet plan and the other with rich protein diet. Moreover, the participants of the study were advised to meet their dietician regularly and were also asked to go for walk for at least 30 minutes a day. During the study, it was found that the women who relied heavily on a protein diet were successful in losing a significant level of body weight. The participants on protein diet reported of experiencing improved self esteem. Moreover, the iron level of the participants was also good as compared to the women relying upon carbohydrate diet. The researchers are of the view that their findings would bring a revolution in the way the women follow certain diet plans to lose weight. A large number of women are said to rely on carbohydrate diet for losing weight. A diet rich in protein can not only help a woman in losing weight but also helps in improving the immune system as the diet is rich in essential mineral, vitamins and nutrition which are essential for the over al growth of the body. These days, obesity has become a graver issue as many countries are struggling to deal with it. In the previous studies, the obesity has been linked with life threatening diseases like diabetes and heart diseases.

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rich Irish still live life with a bang!

 

Not everybody is going broke in Ireland these days. While the bankruptcy courts continue to clog with casualties of the recession, like the Stokes brothers, there still remains a wealthy sector of society flying well above the financial carnage. Preferring to indulge in luxury jaunts outside the country rather than display any largesse at home, they head to places far beyond Irish shores for treasured moments they'll never boast about in the society columns. One such pair headed first class Down Under for a specially organised New Year's Eve treat for two, high atop the Sydney Opera House to view the biggest fireworks display on the planet. It was the ultimate night to remember for the middle-aged couple, and all organised by their personal concierge service -- where discretion comes as part of the package. Though the ranks of Ireland's rich and famous have been severely thinned out by the economic downturn, there are still plenty of low-profile millionaires out there willing to spend big on the finer things in life. Quintessentially, the international concierge service with an office in Dublin, is one such agency facilitating the whims of a wealthy Irish membership -- but nowadays without the flash and brash. The service, opened in Ireland in 2006, is surviving well, despite the downturn. "Our membership numbers in the hundreds," says managing director Wayne Cronin. "Many are entrepreneurs and business executives who travel across different timezones on a weekly basis and want personal assistance at the end of a phone wherever they are." The age demographic runs from 30 to 55 years old, with a 70-30 male-to-female split. The low-profile pleasures of today's rich are a long way from the excess of a 2004 Quintessentially members survey showing the Irish ranked first in the world for spending on property, private jets, cars and the trappings of a luxury lifestyle -- ahead of even the Middle East, Russia, China and the USA. Wishes granted to affluent Celtic tigers in those halcyon days included having a member's prized Aston Martin shipped to South Africa just for a week's holiday. Another client with romance on his mind requested, and got, a private jet painted lurid pink for a unique marriage proposal on a Caribbean island. Quintessentially, started in 2000, is the brain-child of Ben Elliot, a nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles, and film producer Aaron Simpson. Offering "a golden Rolodex capable of lifting velvet ropes worldwide," the operation, built on the personal touch, now has branches in 64 cities around the globe. General annual membership costs up to €1,600 a couple with access to 'all lifestyle requests', with dedicated membership running from €3,250 for a single to €5,200 for a full-time Lifestyle Manager. Elite Membership, costing up to €30,000, is by invitation only and provides an exclusive team of dedicated personal managers in each Quintessentially territory -- a kind of Jeeves for the jaded. Discretion prevents Wayne Cronin from hinting at who Quintessentially's Irish members might be, but stars like Sophie Dahl and Coldplay have been fulsome in their praise over the years. Elton John, David Bowie, J K Rowling and Kate Moss have also been associated with the company. "I rely on Quintessentially mainly in times of crisis. They help me jump the queue," Jemima Khan once observed. Other unusual demands made by wealthy Irish members recently included: sending an entire circus troupe to a client's home for his child's birthday party. And at another kid's party, the company sourced a dozen live penguins to add to the merriment. In the realm of boys' toys, one thirtysomething received the ultimate in high-testosterone gifts taking the controls of an Air Force fighter-jet at 43,000ft. On the other extreme, one couple wanted to celebrate a significant anniversary with a romantic private dinner on an iceberg in New Zealand -- which they got, with first-class tickets out and back. Cronin cites another recent instance where he organised an assistant to travel to Paris to exchange a dress for a client who didn't have the time to go herself. "Time is money to people at this level, and it's clearly worth it to have somebody else do chores like this for them," he said.

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Recession causes 2,000 heart attack deaths

 

Since 2002 the number of people dying from heart attacks in England has dropped by half, the study conducted by Oxford University found. But within that, regional data revealed there was a 'blip' in London that corresponded to the financial crash in 2008 and continued through 2009. Heart attack deaths have dropped due to better prevention of heart attacks in the first place with fewer people smoking and improvements in diet through lower consumption of saturated fat. The treatment of people who do suffer a heart attack has also improved leading to fewer deaths with faster ambulance response times, new procedures to clear blocked arteries and wider use of drugs such as statins and aspirin. The research published in the British Medical Journal showed around 80,000 lives have been saved between 2002 and 2008 as deaths from heart attacks declined.

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News International offices searched as four more men are arrested

 

Four men, including a serving police officer, have been arrested in connection with Scotland Yard's investigation into payments to police officers by journalists. Police are also carrying out searches of the News International offices in Wapping, east London, and the homes of the four people. A 29-year-old serving police officer was arrested at his place of work in central London on suspicion of corruption and misconduct in public office. The officer, of the Met's territorial policing unit, is the second police officer to be arrested under the Operation Elveden investigation. A 48-year-old man and a 56-year-old man were arrested at their homes in Essex. Another man, aged 48, was held at his home in north London. All three were arrested on suspicion of corruption and aiding and abetting misconduct in public office. Scotland Yard said the arrests were made following information provided by News Corp's own investigation team. Rupert Murdoch set up the management and standards committee in July following the escalation of the phone-hacking scandal. According to well-placed sources, it has been conducting a forensic analysis of payments by all journalists between 2000 and 2006. A statement from the Met police said: "The arrests were made between 06.00 and 08.00 by officers from Operation Elveden, the MPS [Metropolitan police service] investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police. "The home addresses of those arrested are currently being searched, and officers are also carrying out a number of searches at the offices of News International in Wapping, east London. These searches are expected to conclude this afternoon. "Today's operation is the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management and standards committee. It relates to suspected payments to police officers and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately." All four men were being questioned at police stations in Essex and London, police said. Twelve people have so far been arrested under Operation Elveden. The operation is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and is being run in conjunction with Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone hacking of voicemail boxes. It was launched after officers were handed documents suggesting that News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers. Others questioned as part of the inquiry include the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, the ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, the former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman, the former News of the World crime editor Lucy Panton and the Sun district editor, Jamie Pyatt. Brooks and Coulson are both former editors of the News of the World, which was closed in July at the height of the hacking scandal following revelations that the murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone was hacked. Deborah Glass, the deputy chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said: "It will be clear from today's events that this investigation is following the evidence. "I am satisfied with the strenuous efforts being made by this investigation to identify police officers who may have taken corrupt payments, and I believe the results will speak for themselves."

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Bulgarian gangster Tihomir Georgiev has contract on his head

 

Tihomir Georgiev — known as the Butcher Of Bulgaria for his reputation for slicing off fingers and ears of his enemies — is due to be extradited this week. He is suspected of two murders in Bulgaria and could face at least 18 years in jail if convicted. But crime bosses — furious he tried to cut a deal by giving evidence against his former paymasters before going on the run — are taking bets that he will not see out the year. They have issued orders Georgiev, 43 — caught at a gym in Bermondsey, South London, after a tip-off from The Sun — must be killed behind bars. A source said: "His chances are slim to say the least."

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Britain, US and France send warships through Strait of Hormuz

 

This deployment defied explicit Iranian threats to close the waterway. It coincided with an escalation in the West's confrontation with Iran over the country's nuclear ambitions. European Union foreign ministers are today expected to announce an embargo on Iranian oil exports, amounting to the most significant package of sanctions yet agreed. They are also likely to impose a partial freeze on assets held by the Iranian Central Bank in the EU. Tehran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation. Tankers carrying 17 million barrels of oil pass through this waterway every day, accounting for 35 per cent of the world's seaborne crude shipments. At its narrowest point, located between Iran and Oman, the Strait is only 21 miles wide. Last month, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, commander of the Iranian navy, claimed that closing the Strait would be "easy," adding: "As Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water." But USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered carrier capable of embarking 90 aircraft, passed through this channel and entered the Gulf without incident yesterday. HMS Argyll, a Type 23 frigate from the Royal Navy, was one of the escort vessels making up the carrier battle-group. A guided missile cruiser and two destroyers from the US Navy completed the flotilla, along with one warship from the French navy.

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The UK could become a hub for smuggling the herbal stimulant khat,

 

European police and politicians have warned. The Netherlands is the latest country to outlaw the sale of the plant, which is now banned in sixteen EU member states and Norway. Khat is freely sold in the UK and observers say the UK's isolated stance could make it the main base for Europe's khat trade. The British government has commissioned a new review of khat use. Until announcing its ban earlier this month, the Netherlands was similar in its stance to the UK where the East African plant is legally imported, sold and consumed. In 2005 the UK Home Office commissioned a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which concluded that "the evidence of harm resulting from khat use is not sufficient to recommend its control." In the UK, the drug is mainly consumed by people of Somali and Yemeni origin and the ACMD report concluded there was "no evidence of its spread to the general population." 'Social harm' Gerd Leers, Immigration and Integration Minister in the Netherlands, says he already has enough evidence of social harm caused by the drug to support a ban, which will come into force from June this year. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Those who argue against a ban don't know about the community and they can't see all the damage it is doing to families and individuals” Muna Hassan Sister of khat user Mark Lancaster, MP for Milton Keynes North, argued that khat should be outlawed in Britain in a speech he made in Parliament earlier this month. But others say that making khat a controlled drug could lead to further problems. "What worries me about the Netherlands is that once these legal Somali traders are criminalised and have their livelihood taken away from them - what are they going to do next?" says Axel Klein, an expert witness for the ACMD's 2005 report. "They have contacts, trading skills, financial acumen so it is very possible that they will start trafficking the khat and then diversify into harder drugs. "This is our main concern when looking at the UK as well. "Do we really want to create the opportunity for an organised crime syndicate to start-up from nowhere with long term consequences by banning khat?" Continue reading the main story Find out more Hear more on The Report on Radio 4 on Thursday, 26 January at 20:00 GMT. You can listen again on the Radio 4 website or by downloading the podcast Listen to The Report on the Radio 4 website Download The Report podcast Explore The Report archive Mr Klein argues that khat is chewed mainly by older men in the Somali diaspora and the practice will die out - rather like snuff has done in the UK. But British-Somali Muna Hassan is not so sure. She blames khat use for inducing her younger brother's paranoid schizophrenia. He has lived in the UK since the age of five and had a bright future ahead of him, studying at university, when he then started chewing khat. "The Somali community has a unified voice on this," she told Radio 4's The Report. "Those who argue against a ban don't know about the community and they can't see all the damage it is doing to families and individuals. We know," she says. 'Dangerous' drug Eleni Palazidou, a psychiatrist who has worked with the Somali community in east London, agrees. "For me it is a drug - no two ways about it. "Every patient that I have seen who chews khat, I have seen them worsening and it is impossible to get their condition under control. Continue reading the main story What is khat? Khat refers to the leaves and shoots of the Catha edulis - a flowering shrub native to the Horn of Africa and Arabian peninsula Khat has many names including 'qat' (Yemen), 'jad' or 'chad' (Ethiopia, Somalia), 'miraa' (Kenya) or 'marungi' (Uganda, Rwanda). Khat leaves are chewed and contain stimulant substances that have amphetamine-like properties. Khat contains cathine and cathinone which, as isolated substances, are banned in the UK, but in khat leaves are not. It is chewed mainly by men in khat houses known as Mafrishes, though there is anecdotal evidence of growing use by teenagers and women. In the UK it is an informal, legal trade so it is impossible to know exactly how much is imported. Estimates range from 10 to 60 tonnes a week. "What khat does to the brain is similar to amphetamines. I think heavy, regular use is dangerous. I have no doubt that khat has a major adverse effect on people's mental health and does cause psychological problems," she told The Report. The Netherlands' ban has been welcomed by Dutch citizens like Dagmar Oudshoorn, mayor of the village of Uithoorn, near Schipol, who says the khat trade has been a blight on her community. "Four times a week 200 cars arrive with people who want to buy khat and they fight - we had stabbing incidents - and they leave rubbish everywhere. "We want to refurbish our business area but because of the bad environment we lose investors and customers," she told the BBC. Neighbouring states, where the drug has long been illegal, have also put pressure on the Dutch government in The Hague because they have seen a sharp increase in khat trafficking from Holland. For Europe's Nordic countries, much of the khat arrives by truck across the Oresund bridge between Denmark and southern Sweden. Swedish police estimate that 200 tonnes is smuggled into the country each year, with a street value of 150 euros (£125/$190) a kilo. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote With the Eurotunnel you can get from London to Malmo in 15 hours. Britain will become the new hub in Europe that is for certain” Detective Stefan Kalman Swedish police After years of lobbying, Swedish MEP Olle Schmidt admits he was pleasantly surprised by the Dutch move to ban khat. "There is a shift in the Netherlands. They no longer want to be seen as a liberal country where tourists can come to smoke pot and buy drugs. "Now, of course, khat will come more extensively to the London airports and then be smuggled to the rest of Europe, because you can earn a lot of money with this drug," warns Mr Schmidt. Stefan Kalman, a senior detective in the Swedish drug squad, says customs officers catch smugglers on the border several times a week. "The couriers often have accidents because they drive so fast", he says. "Sometimes they shoot past the border controls without stopping because they are nervous - khat is quite bulky and you cannot conceal it like other drugs." They are also in a rush because the drug has to be consumed when it is fresh. Cathinone, one of the psychoactive agents in khat leaves, is highly unstable and loses its potency within three days of harvesting. With the door slammed shut in Holland, smugglers will turn to the UK despite the longer distances says Detective Kalman. "With the Eurotunnel you can get from London to Malmo in 15 hours. Britain will become the new hub in Europe that is for certain." The British government has commissioned a new review of khat use - the date of its publication is still to be confirmed.

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3 years after US accident, boat washes up in Spain

 

As he swam toward the coast of Nantucket, Mass. in August 2008, Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee. But yesterday, more than three years after Douglas and his brother-in-law were tossed off the boat by a wave, the U.S. Coast Guard called to say the vessel had washed up on the Spanish coast. It was rusty and covered in barnacles, but intact. "It looks entirely different," Douglas said upon seeing the photos. "That's amazing." Douglas remembers the water was restless on the day he set out to sea, and the fish weren't biting. He tried to keep the boat stationary, bracing himself as huge rollers crashed into it. advertisement "At all times, it's a very sketchy area," Douglas told msnbc.com. "You wouldn't want to be dumped in the ocean there." But that's exactly what happened when a rogue wave knocked Douglas and his brother-in-law, Rich St. Pierre, off the boat and into a sink-or-swim fight for survival. Douglas remembers thinking the water was not too cold. "The only way I was going to survive was just to get started, not tread water," he said. But swimming didn't come as easy to St. Pierre, 68, who had gone through open heart surgery a year earlier. However, a survival kit containing an inflatable device had been knocked off the boat and floated to St. Pierre's side. It was a miracle, Douglas said, noting that the kit was the only item from the boat in the water with them.  Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard Scott Douglas, 58, watched his yellow fishing boat disappear in 2008, carried away by the swelling surf. He thought it would be the last time he'd ever see the Queen Bee. Douglas swam for about an hour and made it to shore on Smith's Point, a beach off the coast of Nantucket. Dripping wet and exhausted, he walked up to a cabin and asked to use the phone to alert the Coast Guard. Not long after, he saw St. Pierre walking on dry land. "At the end of the day, it just wasn't our time," Douglas said.  While that marked the end of their ordeal, the Queen Bee's journey didn't end there.  Lt. Joe Klinker, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said the most likely scenario is that the boat somehow got across the continental shelf and into the Gulf Stream. "From there it may drift north off the coast of northern Canada and then east with the North Atlantic currents," Klinker told msnbc.com. He said it's rare, but not unheard of for an object off the coastline of the United States to drift across the Atlantic to Europe. But a boat? "I've never heard of anything like this," Klinker said. Smith's Point Llanes NRoad 1000 miles1000 miles 2500 km2500 km  It's not uncommon, he said, for the Coast Guard to locate derelict ships from Florida off the coast of Virginia, or vessels from Virginia off the coast of Massachusetts, but never in Europe.  The ability to withstand the hardships of the Atlantic has a lot to do with the make of the boat, Klinker said. The Queen Bee is a 26-foot center console fishing boat made by Regulator.  "It probably could have floated for another three years," Klinker said. The Spanish Coast Guard alerted their U.S. counterpart Tuesday. Based on salvage law, the boat now belongs to Spain. Douglas, who is now retired and lives in New Jersey, said he doesn't want the boat back. But with four grandchildren, he has thought about turning Queen Bee's story into a children's book.    "It's interesting to see what life takes and gives," he said.

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Galicia offers attractive alternatives.

Since the Middle Ages, the Catholic faithful have flocked to Galicia in the far northwest of Spain to worship at the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela.But a new sort of pilgrimage to Galicia is under way, this one prompted by the excellent potential of the region’s vineyards. As travelers along the Way of St. James know, Galicia can be a forbidding place. Before reaching Santiago, they have to cross mountainous badlands where temperatures can dip well below freezing. On the coast, the landscape turns green and fertile — thanks to torrential rains that can roll in off the Atlantic at any time.

But vines are hardy, often producing the best wines in extreme conditions. Those of Galicia are decidedly different from the stereotypical Spanish wines, those that ripen under a powerful Mediterranean sun, which packs them full of fruit and alcohol.

Rather than power, the wines of Galicia display a lively freshness and considerable elegance. They tend to be medium-bodied, with no more than 12 percent or 13 percent alcohol — unusually low at a time when reds with 16 percent are not uncommon and even whites sometimes top 14 percent. And they often contain a streak of what growers call “minerality” — a nebulous term that, to me, means the fruit doesn’t mask a sense of place.

As consumers grow weary of so-called blockbusters — big wines of indeterminate origin that stain your palate and leave you too dazed to drink a second glass — Galicia offers attractive alternatives.

“For people who say there are only blockbuster wines in Spain, this is the answer,” said Wim Van Leuven, an importer in Mol, Belgium, who specializes in Spanish wines. “It’s really the Atlantic side of winemaking in Spain.”

He added: “Galicia is like a laboratory for the new Spanish generation, even though you can’t make these kinds of wines elsewhere in Spain.”

One of the newcomers, Rafael Palacios, is a member of one of the proudest winemaking families in Spain, with its roots in the country’s best-known wine region, Rioja. An older brother, Alvaro, was the key figure in an earlier Spanish winemaking renaissance, in the 1990s, when he started making world-class reds in the Priorat region of Catalonia.

When Rafael Palacios saw the vineyards around O Bolo, a village in the rugged eastern stretches of Galicia, he saw a similar opportunity to raise the profile of the white wines of Spain.

Perched on precipitous slopes at altitudes of 800 meters or so, around 2,600 feet, these are among the most strikingly beautiful vineyards in Europe. They are also extremely difficult to work, requiring the construction and maintenance of an elaborate system of terraces to protect the soil against erosion. Over the years, many growers who were unable to make much of a living from wine had abandoned their vines.

But Mr. Palacios was convinced that he could make great wine here from the godello grape, a variety that is native to the mountains of Galicia. Godello is what is known as a “neutral” variety, without strong fruit flavors. Instead, in the hands of a skilled winemaker, it is a medium for the terroir to express itself.

After overcoming the suspicions of the locals, who saw Mr. Palacios as an outsider, he started buying up vineyards in O Bolo, the highest part of a wine-growing region called Valdeorras. Many of them contain old vines, which produce the most characterful wine; their gnarly beauty seems like a permanent feature of the craggy landscape.

Mr. Palacios set up his bodega, or winery, in 2004, and he now makes three wines, including an entry-level bottling and a premium offering that blends grapes from several top sites. With the 2009 vintage, he added a third wine, called Sorte O Soro, using grapes sourced solely from his favorite vineyard, near the highest point in O Bolo. (Sorte means “lot” in Galician.)

Tasting Sorte O Soro, which will not be available commercially until the spring, was a bit like spending a day in these vineyards. It is intensely flavored, with a structure and breadth reminiscent of good white Burgundy — a bit like the feel of the afternoon sun at these high altitudes.

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UK ticketholder wins £41 Euromillions jackpot

 

Camelot said that the winner scooped the rollover jackpot of £40,627,241 in Friday night's draw although no one has yet come forward to claim the prize. A Camelot spokesman said: "This is fantastic news – we're absolutely delighted to have yet another huge EuroMillions win here in the UK. "We have plenty of champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the lucky ticketholder into The National Lottery millionaires' club. "Over 2,800 people have become millionaires since The National Lottery began and, to date, our players have raised an amazing £27 billion and counting for National Lottery Good Causes." The success is the seventh biggest UK lottery win. The record is held by Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs, Scotland, who won £161 million on EuroMillions last July.

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City drummer Robbie France dies aged 52

 

sheffield-born hard rock drummer Robbie France has died aged 52 at his home in south-east Spain, it has been reported. The Spanish national newsagency EFE quoted ‘family sources’ as saying that the musician, who played with such groups as Diamond Head, Alphaville, UFO, Skunk Anansie and Wishbone Ash, died on Saturday. It said he was buried on Wednesday at Puerto de Mazarron, in the province of Murcia, south of Alicante. Mr France had lived in the Costa Blanca resort for the past three years. He was born in Sheffield in 1959. In the 1970s he emigrated to Australia, returning to the UK in 1982 and joining the hard rock band Diamond Head. Three years later he became drummer with the UFO, replacing Andy Parker. He settled in Puerto Mazaron in 1998 after stints with Skunk Anansie and the German group Alphaville. Last year he published a novel, Six Degrees South, partly set in Mazarron. The report said that the family did not give the cause of death.

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Pound Falls Versus Euro, Gilts Drop as France, Spain Sell Debt

 

The pound posted its biggest weekly decline against the euro in almost three months and gilts dropped as French and Spanish borrowing costs fell at their first debt auctions after their credit ratings were cut. The yield on 10-year gilts rose the most in four months as demand for the relative safety of AAA government bonds eased amid signs global growth hasn’t lost momentum. Reports this week showed U.K. retail sales rebounded in December while U.S. initial jobless claims fell to the least in almost four years. Further advances in gilt yields may be limited next week before a report predicted to show the U.K. economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year. “There are worries that the U.K. economy is heading back into recession,” said Michael Derks, chief strategist at FXPro Financial Services Ltd. in London. “It would not be surprising to see further weakness of the pound against euro in the near term.”

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Salvage crews are trying to secure the Costa Concordia to rocks with heavy cables as the cruise ship slips at a rate of 1.5cm per hour.

Coastguards fear big waves forecast for the next 36 hours could push the ship off its perch, sending it to the bottom of the sea.

The ship's movements are being carefully monitored - and had halted divers' attempts to find the 21 passengers still unaccounted for.

The search has now resumed after being suspended at midnight when laser technology detected the ship was moving, putting search teams at risk.

 

Firefighters have been working around the clock to find the missing

Authorities said earlier it was too dangerous for divers to enter the vessel and that the search would only resume when it was deemed safe.

The threat of the ship sinking has also raised further concerns of an environmental disaster with the 2,400 tonnes of fuel in the ship expected to pollute the Mediterranean maritime reserve.

As teams try and use heavy-duty cables to secure the Concordia to rocks on Giglio island, a remote-controlled surveillance camera robot has been sent into the ship to continue efforts to find any trace of life.

The movement comes after the stricken ship initially slid by around 5ft (1.5m) deeper into the sea on Wednesday.

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Judge orders search of News of the World executives' computers in bid to find out if key hacking evidence was destroyed

 

A judge overseeing the settling of hacking claims by victims of News of the World has ordered executives' computers be searched. Senior managers at News Group Newspapers – the parent company of the News of the World – were criticised by Mr Justice Vos, the judge supervising the settlements. Jeremy Reed, who is acting on behalf of several victims of phone hacking, said that when the News of The World moved offices in 2010, computers used by journalists accused of hacking were destroyed. He disparaged their reaction to a request in 2010 from lawyers for the actress Sienna Miller to retain emails that might be relevant to a phone hacking claim. Within three days, the judge said, ‘a carefully conceived plan to delete emails was put into effect at the behest of senior management’. He said the evidence raised ‘compelling questions about whether you concealed, told lies, actively tried to get off scot free’. He ordered the company to search a number of computers, adding that there was evidence that management had a ‘startling approach to the email record’.

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Spain is happiest expat destination

 

The research, from Lloyds TSB International, asked over 1,000 British citizens in the 10 most popular expat destinations to rate their new homes on factors ranging from quality of life to cost of living. Overall, 68 per cent of those interviewed said they were happier in their adopted country than in Britain, rising to 75.9 per cent in Spain. Other countries which fared well on the happiness index were Canada and Germany, where 72.2 per cent and 71.4 per said they were happier respectively. Interestingly, those countries where expats said they had the highest quality of life or best financial prospects were not necessarily where expats were most happy. New Zealand, for example, offered the highest quality of life according to the survey, but was ranked bottom for contentment, while the country where most expats said they were better off – the UAE – was only the fourth happiest place. John Kramer, a British expat who lives in Andalucia, said that he was unsurprised by the fact most expats were happier in Spain, because its "outdoor lifestyle, traditional family values, and positive outlook on life” made it a very easy place to enjoy.

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News International faces FBI phone hacking probe

 

Yesterday the company paid the actor £130,000 after accepting that it had published stories gleaned from hacking his phone. One of the articles News International accepted had come from phone hacking was a 2003 story in the News of the World which referred to telephone calls Law’s assistant Ben Jackson had made to him when he arrived at an airport. It is believed the airport was John F. Kennedy airport in New York. News International’s admission has led the US authorities to investigate whether a crime took place on American soil. It is thought the possibility that Law’s phone was using an American network at the time could lead to offences having been committed under US law.

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northern Spain is the place to go

Spain ranks as one of the most mountainous countries in Europe because – and this isn't obvious – the heart of the country sits on a huge plateau. Madrid is 2,100ft above sea level (which explains why the Spanish capital is so cold in the winter and roasting-hot in the summer).

 

But for impressive mountains, northern Spain is the place to go. If you're arriving here direct from the UK with Brittany Ferries – when you can bring your car to explore the region far and wide – the first thing to strike you as you approach the coast is the range of huge mountains that rears up behind the port of Santander.

The snow-capped peaks you're looking at are the Picos de Europa, one of the wildest and most unspoilt regions of Europe – superb walking country and a wonderful place for spotting wildlife.

Bears and wolves are said to roam here still, and you will almost certainly spot eagles soaring high in the sky. It's 'secret Spain', a holiday place far from the madding crowds of Benidorm or Torremolinos.

Here the accent is on a gentler-paced rural way of life. This is a Big Country in lots of ways – the coast, which runs from the French border in the east to the frontier with northern Portugal in the west – covers a distance of some 500 miles.

The northern provinces include some of the country's most historic places: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Pais Vasco (Basque Country).

Saints alive: San Sebastian can boast beaches - such as Concha Beach - every bit as inviting as the southern Costas

Together they make up what is known as Green Spain – green thanks to the large amounts of year-round rain. Unlike southern Spain, where good, unspoilt beaches are at a premium, along the northern coast you'll find endless stretches of long sandy ones, many of them hidden down coastal valleys of the sort familiar to anyone who has holidayed in Cornwall.

And inland, you'll be seduced by sweet countryside – small villages with traditional farms on green rolling hills flanked by mist-covered mountains. These are places steeped in Celtic tradition where the local version of the bagpipes provides a soundtrack to festivities, which are further enlivened by the region's potent cider and strong-smelling cheeses.

Northern Spain is also great wine country. This part of the country is, after all, home to the famous rioja grape variety. Rain in Spain actually falls mainly in the north and this helps produce some of the world's finest grapes – Professor Higgins would no doubt have been delighted.

Here are my five tips for a great holiday in northern Spain...

1. Paradors

The Spanish paradors are hotels offering good accommodation, most in buildings of historic or architectural interest, including former castles, palaces, fortresses, convents and monasteries.

Ones particularly worth seeking out in northern Spain include the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos in Santiago de Compostela – the finishing point for those who walk the Pilgrim's Way across northern Spain – and the popular Hostal San Marcos in Leon.

2. Seaside delights

In Santander, the seaside has a delightful Edwardian feel. Further along the coast to the east is San Sebastian, which has a Victorian elegance (it has been a favourite summer-escape destination for the Spanish royal family). All along the coast are a huge variety of small towns and fishing villages with great beaches (many with excellent surfing), lovely restaurants and good-value accommodation.

3. Great attractions

Bilbao has its own extraordinary outpost of the Guggenheim Museum; Santiago de Compostela boasts a cathedral with relics of St James; in the province of Cantabria you'll find arguably the best collection of cave paintings in the whole of Europe, with more than 50 sites, including some of enormous artistic quality and historical importance. They include Altamira, famous for paintings of boars, bison, deer and horses dating from the end of the Ice Age.

4. Take the train

Catch the FEVE narrow-gauge railway, one of the most spectacular lines in Europe. It runs along the coast between Bilbao in the east and El Ferrol in the west, travelling over dramatic viaducts and offering stunning views of the coast. The fares are cheap and travellers can jump off the train at picturesque bays and fishing ports.

A load of old bull: Ancient paintings adorn the Altamira cave near Santander

5. Wonderful history

Discover cities that have fascinating historical connections with the UK.

Charles Wolfe's The Burial Of Sir John Moore After Corunna used to be a poem that British school children learnt by heart: 'Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corpse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried…'

Nowadays Corunna is known as A Coruña. The city is a perfect short-break destination in its own right with great hotels and plenty of good restaurants and bars.

Travel Facts

Brittany Ferries (            0871 244 1400      , www.brittanyferries.co.uk) operates luxurious cruise ferries to Spain with a choice of routes from Portsmouth and Plymouth to Santander and Bilbao. Travel to Spain with a one or two-night cruise on a luxury ferry and enjoy comfortable cabins and plenty of entertainment, including cinemas, swimming pool and quality restaurants.

Return fares for a car plus two people cost from £470 including en suite cabin accommodation.

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Carnival says caring for cruise disaster victims

 

Carnival Corp & plc, whose luxury liner Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy last week, said it was providing lodging, refunds and other support to people affected by the accident, even as some public relations executives criticized the company's handling of the situation. "I give my personal assurance that we will take care of each and every one of our guests, crew and their families affected by this tragic event," Carnival Chief Executive Micky Arison said in a statement late on Wednesday - five days after the incident that left 11 people dead and 22 missing. Costa Cruise Lines, a unit of Carnival and operator of the ship, has been arranging lodging and transportation for passengers and crew members to return home, and has offered assistance and counseling as needed. It has also begun refunding passengers their cruise fares and all costs incurred while on board. The company also said it was contacting every passenger and crew member or their family and will be addressing personal possessions lost on board. Public relations experts have chastised Carnival for being slow to address the disaster and vague about its response and efforts to prevent similar incidents in the future. On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being "outstanding," Carnival's public relations strategy in the immediate wake of the disaster gets a four, said Allyson Stewart-Allen, director of International Marketing Partners, a consulting firm. "It wasn't quick, it wasn't specific, it wasn't reassuring," Stewart-Allen said, noting that Carnival's first statement, released on Saturday nearly 24 hours after the Costa Concordia liner struck rock causing it to capsize, did not quote a specific person. Subsequent statements on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday quoted Arison, who has been in continuous contact with executives in Italy, but has not flown there himself. Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat NBA team, has written six messages on Twitter mentioning the tragedy, but Evan Nierman, founder of Florida public relations firm Red Banyan Group said that was not enough. "If he's the point person, I would want a constant flow of information - Twitter, Facebook, talking to reporters, letting them know what's going on. I would have him out there in a real way. He needs to be in front of cameras, he needs to be meeting with people, he needs to show that he's in charge of the situation." A statement on Wednesday from Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival, said the Italian company commissioned salvage experts in the hours after the accident to draw up a plan to recover the fuel reserves from the ship before they leak into the water.

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Doctors may strike over cuts to their pension pots

 

The British Medical Association, which represents 130,000 doctors and medical students, said two thirds of its members support industrial action which could cripple hospitals and GP surgeries throughout the country. The association rejected cuts to doctor’s pensions despite warning that some hospitals are so financially stretched that patient safety can no longer be guaranteed and that “accidents will happen”. Senior government figures said the reductions in their pensions were “modest” and in line with other public sector staff. A government source said: “It seems a bit rich for doctors to be complaining about cuts and patient care when they leave the NHS as millionaires.” Over the past decade, the average consultant has seen their pay rise by 54 per cent, with less qualified doctors enjoying a rise of 30 per cent. Their pay has recently been frozen, with the average GP now earning about £110,000.

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Meat causes cancer. It’s been said so many times that you’d have to be an idiot not to believe it, right?

 

 The latest confirmation of this apparent common sense was a report published last week in the British Journal of Cancer Research. The authors, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, brought together 11 studies - published between 1993 and 2011 - that assessed the risk of pancreatic cancer from eating red meat and ‘processed’ meat. From this meta-analysis, the authors found that red meat increased the risk of pancreatic cancer for men, but not for women, and that the risk of pancreatic cancer rose by 19 per cent for every 50 grams of processed meat consumed. The simple claim that ‘processed meat causes cancer’ was widely reported after the study was published. However, it would be wrong to assume that such claims about risk are all they are cracked up to be. First, there is the question of whether the association claimed is real. Epidemiological studies like the ones brought together by the Swedish researchers will typically find out what participants ate for a day or a week using a questionnaire or a food diary. Then, the participants will be checked some years later to see who has succumbed to the disease in question. Did people correctly remember what they ate? And did they accurately recall how much they consumed? It would be unusual for anyone to have weighed the food, so the amounts could be inaccurate, too. What else did the participants eat? Did they change their eating habits in subsequent months or years? And what the hell is ‘processed’ meat, anyway? Unless you slaughter your own animals, your meat will have been processed to one degree or another. At what point does meat that has been processed become ‘processed meat’? There are so many ways in which the crude tools of epidemiology could screw up the result of studies like this that it is normal for fairly small risks - like the 19 per cent increase in this case - to be treated with a massive pinch of salt. The authors of this study even note: ‘All studies controlled for age and smoking, but only a few studies adjusted for other potential confounders such as body mass index and history of diabetes.’ Secondly, even if the association is not simply a product of the way in which the study was designed, we still don’t know if correlation equals causation. The best we could say is that the kind of people who like to eat processed meat are a bit more likely to get pancreatic cancer than the kind of people who don’t eat meat at all. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist - or a professor of epidemiology - to realise that vegetarians live, on average, quite different lifestyles from people who tuck into burgers and kebabs. Thirdly, even if this study has somehow managed to be supremely accurate and found a real risk, we have to ask if such an increase is of any practical significance in the real world. Cancer Research UK gives the following statistics on pancreatic cancer: for the UK, the age-standardised rate is 9.3 cases per 100,000 people per year - roughly one person in every 10,000. So even those people who really like processed meat and eat 150g per day would have about a 50 per cent increased risk - or about 15 cases per 100,000. To express that in terms of odds, instead of it being 10,000-to-one that these kebab-and-burger lovers develop pancreatic cancer in any particular year, it would be 6,667-to-one. So, to sum up: the association between processed meat and pancreatic cancer is so weak it might well be a mirage; the increased risk might not be caused by the processed meat itself; and even if it is, the risk is so low that it’s really not worth bothering about. Yet still we are advised to consider cutting down on our red meat and processed meat consumption. Life is, frankly, too short to miss out on such tasty foods on the slim chance that we might lose a few years of life in old age. Still, that won’t stop people being harangued anyway. A particularly unsavoury example of this appeared in Sunday’s Observer. Illiberal Liberal of the Week contender, columnist Barbara Ellen, declared that the bovine attitude of recent governments towards smokers and drinkers should apply to meat-eaters, too. Now that a precedent has been set - that people should be harangued for doing things that are legal but disapproved of by Those Who Know Better - Ellen is simply following through this logic by attacking those who like sausages, bacon and pies. Here’s the argument: people (like smokers and drinkers) who deliberately do things that are bad for them, despite being told time and again that they should not, are now lectured, restricted and even have their basic rights taken away; eating meat - and particularly ‘processed’ meat - increases your risk of getting cancer and is bad for you; therefore, people who eat meat should now be lectured, restricted and even have their basic rights taken away. This is a shocking but perfectly logical argument, if you accept the petty-authoritarian mindset that flourished under New Labour and is still going strong under the Lib-Con coalition (and, indeed, around the world). Given the tone of Ellen’s piece, you might hope that she would end by saying: ‘Of course, telling people not to eat meat is stupid - every bit as stupid as telling them not to drink or smoke or telling them not to be fat. The government should just butt out.’ Sadly, there is no note of irony anywhere. She really does want to stick it to meat-eaters. So, of the supposed risks of eating meat, Ellen declares: ‘This information has popped up regularly for years in all forms of popular media. Indeed, in this era of info overload, if you’ve never come across the “burgers and kebabs are unhealthy” revelation, one would have to presume you’ve been lying in a coma. With this in mind, isn’t it time to ask, exactly how thick, how hard to educate, are meat-eaters and why aren’t they held accountable in the same way everyone else is?’ She continues: ‘Sympathy is in short supply these days. You can’t move for people being blamed for their own miserable situations: smokers who “burden” the NHS; alcoholics who don’t “deserve” liver transplants; obese people who “should” pay more for flights. Even those poor terrified women with the faulty breast implants are said to have “brought it on themselves”. By this logic, people who’ve been regularly informed of the dangers of meat, particularly the cheap processed variety, but who continue to wolf it down should be held just as accountable.’ Now that the precedent has been set for the government to lambast those who engage in unapproved habits, it’s open season on any habit that a campaigner or columnist disapproves of. Ban it! Tax it! Make them get a prescription for it! Deny them medical care! Ellen’s article is objectionable but it only follows the remorseless logic of so many others. There is another lesson from the meat-and-cancer story: at a time when all sorts of dubious claims are made based on junk science and dodgy statistics, only some panics get wide publicity; others just pop up and disappear again in a matter of hours. The difference is that some play to an existing political or media agenda and some do not. The idea that meat causes cancer appeals to health busybodies, politicians scrabbling around for a sense of purpose, vegetarians who can’t win a moral argument about animal rights, and environmentalists who have failed to convince us that increasing the ‘human footprint’ - by wanting to eat more meat, for example - is killing the planet. It’s not quite possessed of the same force as religious fervour - do the ‘right thing’ or live in agony for eternity - but the idea that if you do something naughty like enjoy bacon then you might die in agony before your time, is the best that many such claims-makers have got going for them right now. The only proper response to this junkscience-based illiberalism is to be extremely sceptical of any such claims and to defend everyone’s right to indulge in these petty vices.

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Posted in: Meat causes cancer. It’s been said so many times that you’d have to be an idiot not to believe it,right?