Spanish police have published a catalog of high value stolen art and precious objects in the hope of reuniting them with their rightful owners.

Spanish police have published a catalog of high value stolen art and precious objects in the hope of reuniting them with their rightful owners.

Among items retrieved during raids are works by Pablo Picasso, sculpture, rare archaeological objects, watches, coins and medals.

Six Picasso pieces from 1933 entitled "Cardinal Sins" including "Envy" and "Avarice" - each in a silver frame - feature alongside an Etruscan period bronze sculpture estimated by police to be 2,000 years old and jewelry made of gold, diamonds and emeralds.

Other items include Roman coins bearing the garlanded head of Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and a 17th century tapestry depicting Battle of the Granicus, when Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire in 334 B.C.

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Jobless protesters rioted at the offices of state-run phosphate monopoly OCP in the central city of Khouribga, injuring about 10 members of Morocco's security forces, the official MAP news agency said on Tuesday.

Jobless protesters rioted at the offices of state-run phosphate monopoly OCP in the central city of Khouribga, injuring about 10 members of Morocco's security forces, the official MAP news agency said on Tuesday.

Around 100 protesters invaded OCP's administrative offices and damaged the building's facade with stones. They also destroyed 11 vehicles and company documentation, MAP said.

Khouribga is home to the country's biggest phosphate mine.

MAP said several protests have taken place in front of OCP's offices since Feb 21 to demand jobs. Local officials have promised them employment, MAP added.

The riots were led "by some individuals who have no link whatsoever with those (job) demands", MAP said.

A statement from OCP "strongly deplored" the acts.

"Offices, computers and work tools have been ransacked ... The real motives of the troublemakers cannot be justified".

It said registered applicants would be given training courses within few weeks. OCP hired 6,000 people over the past five years, a third of its workforce, and plans to offer 2,000 jobs over the next two years, it added.

Unemployment in Morocco officially stands at around 9 percent, rising to 18 percent among graduates. Independent analysts and opposition parties say the figures are higher.

Morocco is the world's top phosphate reserves holder and a key supplier of fertilisers and phosphoric acid.

Analysts say the country, run by a monarch who advocates reform and an approach to dissent that is tolerant by regional standards, is among the countries least likely to be hit by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world.

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Glenn Hoddle appears to have parted company from his youth project team, Jerez Industrial.

Glenn Hoddle appears to have parted company from his youth project team, Jerez Industrial. The project from the ex England international player saw him take over the third division side and place 22 British players in the squad of 24.

The deal was that the Glenn Hoddle Academy took over the club which was about to vanish last Summer, and supplied a loan, reported to be 150,000 €, as well as the players, while the club provided the ground and the facilities set up at Montecastillo near Jerez.

The plan proved successful at least on the field with the team climbing up the league, but it seems that financial matters off the pitch were not so flourishing, and the loan to Hoddle has not been repaid by the local council by the date agreed in the contract.

Last weekend Jerez Industrial were beaten 5-0 by Pozoblanco after the President of Jerez, Juan Manuel Delgado, refused to guarantee accommodation for 12 players offered in a last minute agreement by Hoddle. Hoddle then refused to let the players travel and the side was forced to field the youth squad. Several in the crowd called for the resignation of Delgado.

La Voz Digital newspaper reports that now the youth team and fans of Jerez Industrial will travel to Sotgrande on Thursday to demonstrate outside the house which Glenn Hoddle has in Sotogrande in an attempt to find a solution to the situation.
The local Spanish press claims that the documents originally drawn up for the deal, may not even be legal.

The Glenn Hoddle Academy meanwhile issued a statement on Sunday saying that it is to return to the U.K. to be closer to its principle market for players and developing facilities at Bisham Abbey. He does however leave the door open to returning to Spain in the winter to take advantage of the weather here, provided that they ‘receive guarantees regarding safety and well-being’.

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suspected Islamic terrorist who was arrested in Benitatxell by the Alicante Civil Guard last August has written to Diario Información from prison, claiming that he has no links with any terrorist groups.

A suspected Islamic terrorist who was arrested in Benitatxell by the Alicante Civil Guard last August has written to Diario Información from prison, claiming that he has no links with any terrorist groups.

He is accused as acting as a recruiting agent and helping to send terrorists to areas in conflict via a website, but 26 year old Faical Errai from Morocco says he is just a computer specialist who sold domain names.

He claims in his letter to the newspaper that he has been mistreated and tortured, and threatened with being sent to the United States and would never be able to see his family again.

Errai said he began buying and selling domain names on the Net in 2009 and, as an analyst of web sites, visited many addresses online and only joined chat rooms to meet people from across the world. There are thousands of Islamist sites online, he said, where thousands of people, either through social networks or Arab forums, state their opposition against corrupt governments.

Errai is accused of carrying out his alleged work as a recruiting agent through one particular website with a forum carrying extremist viewpoints and propaganda from different terrorist groups.

He says he is against violence and condemns any terrorist act in any part of the world.

Faical Errai is currently being held in preventive custody in the prison in Villena.

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The Junta de Andalucía’s former councillor for employment, Antonio Fernández, has been told by Instruction Court No. 6 in Sevilla that he is to be called as a suspect in the ERE early retirement scandal which is under investigation in Andalucía.

The Junta de Andalucía’s former councillor for employment, Antonio Fernández, has been told by Instruction Court No. 6 in Sevilla that he is to be called as a suspect in the ERE early retirement scandal which is under investigation in Andalucía.

He has been told to get himself a lawyer, as he will be called for questioning by the court in the near future.

El País reported on Monday that the judge sees evidence of possible misuse of funds, perversion of the course of justice and influence peddling in the procedure for the ERE claims, where beneficiaries have been detected who never worked for the companies in question.

Fernández was councillor for employment between 2004 and 2010 and said on Monday that he is not worried by the news from the court.

‘I did not know of, authorise or approve any of the questions which are now coming to light’, he told the EFE news agency. He says his management of the department in the years while he was there was completely ‘transparent’.

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Spain is the only country in the EU which has nuclear reactors of the same design as those seen in Fukushima in Japan

Spain is the only country in the EU which has nuclear reactors of the same design as those seen in Fukushima in Japan, now seriously affected by the earthquake and tsunami which hit the NE of the country last Friday.

The boiling water design can be found in Spain at Cofrentes, Valencia, and in Santa María de Garoña in Burgos. The former was opened in 1984 but the latter opened in 1971, the same year as the Japanese plant.

The boiling water design came from General Electric in the 50’s and is an alternative to the pressurised water design, and both are considered to be as safe as each other.

The problems in Japan have re-opened the nuclear debate, and in Spain the Government has already extended the life of the Garoña plant to 2013.

Greenpeace has recently criticised safety at the Cofrentes plant, saying it is showing its age, and claiming it is not even needed if the data of the Spanish electricity supply is studied. Greenpeace has accused the plant’s owner, Iberdrola, of putting profit before investment. The ecologists also note that earthquakes upto 5.1 on the Richter scale have been seen in Spain, in provinces where there are nuclear plants.

The Government is expected to make a decision on whether to extend the working life of the Cofrentes plant later this week.

Meanwhile EU leaders meeting in Brussels today will debate how prepared European infrastructure is should there be a massive failure of the power supply, as seen in Japan following the quake.

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The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has condemned Spain for not respecting the rights of ETA activist and ex head of Batasuna, ETA’s outlawed political wing, Arnaldo Otegi, in the case where he referred to King Juan Carlos ‘Chief of the torturers’.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has condemned Spain for not respecting the rights of ETA activist and ex head of Batasuna, ETA’s outlawed political wing, Arnaldo Otegi, in the case where he referred to King Juan Carlos ‘Chief of the torturers’.

The Batasuna leader referred to the Monarch during a rally in 2003 as ‘responsible for the torturers’ and was first found not guilty by the Basque High Court but then sentenced on appeal by the Supreme Court, and then the Constitutional Court in Spain to a year in prison for his remarks.

Now Spain finds itself having to pay 20,000 € for moral damage, and 3,000 more for costs, after the Strasbourg considered that punishment to be ‘severe and disproportionate’.

The court noted that the words used by Otegi ‘are not a gratuitous personal attack against the King’s person, nor do they question his private life or personal honour. The expressions used by Otegi referred only to the institutional responsibility of the King, in as much as head and symbol of state, and the forces which, according to him, had tortured those responsible for the Basque newspaper 'Egunkaria'’.

The PP’s spokesperson in Congress, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, was one of the first to comment on the EU court’s condemnation of Spain – ‘We have no option but to accept it’, she said, adding ‘I do not agree with this ruling and we will analyse its fundamentals’.

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The Catholic Church in Cataluña has started the process to excommunicate a popular priest in the region, Manel Pousa, known popularly as Pare Manel, who helped a young woman to abort.

The Catholic Church in Cataluña has started the process to excommunicate a popular priest in the region, Manel Pousa, known popularly as Pare Manel, who helped a young woman to abort.

The case came to light when the priest spoke about the episode in a recent biography, justifying his actions as being taken to stop the woman bleeding. 

But the Barcelona Archbishopric is not impressed by the story and have opened an investigation following a meeting of the priest with Cardinal Archbishop, Lluís Martínez Sistach, on Monday.

Canon law says that helping a woman to abort is punishable by excommunication, but says that previously an investigation must be carried out to verify the facts.

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Alicante are concerned that the commercial centre planned for the expansion to the Rabasa area of the city, where the new Ikea store is to be built, will increase traffic flow to such an extent that it will bring the city to a standstill.

Businesses in Alicante are concerned that the commercial centre planned for the expansion to the Rabasa area of the city, where the new Ikea store is to be built, will increase traffic flow to such an extent that it will bring the city to a standstill.

The commercial centre will cover an area of 300,000 square metres, and a report from Alicante University estimates that it will mean an eightfold increase in traffic in that area, at one of the main entrances to the city. Diario Información reports that experts in the University’s planning department consider the proposed traffic plan presented by the developer, with four main access routes to the sector, as insufficient.

Alicante’s Partido Popular Mayor, Sonia Castedo’s, response on Tuesday was that the location of the development had been ‘very well thought out’, with the aim of avoiding bringing traffic to a standstill.

She said City Hall technicians will, however, study any arguments presented by local businesses, as is their obligation, and take any steps they see necessary to cause as little effect as possible on current levels of traffic flow.

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Who'll be crowned the king of bling? - Business Analysis & Features, Business - The Independent

Who'll be crowned the king of bling? - Business Analysis & Features, Business - The Independent: "As jewel heists go, this was the Big One – the richest and shiniest ever. Bernard Arnault, the wealthiest man in Europe, and boss of the world's largest luxury goods empire, LVMH, yesterday smashed and grabbed his way to control of the officially 'unsaleable' Italian jewellery company, Bulgari, bauble-maker to the stars. It was, of course, a perfectly legal raid, which could cost LVMH up to €4bn in shares and cash for a company which has been family-owned since 1884.

Mr Arnault, 61, has had a long rivalry with the second largest luxury goods empire in the world – PPR, built by another French self-made billionaire, François Pinault. The capture of Bulgari signals war on a glittering new front against Richemont, the jewel-laden, third largest global luxury goods empire, based in Switzerland and assembled by South African tycoon, Johann Rupert, 60.

The commercial clout of LVMH – with more than 2,500 shops around the world – will be used to challenge Richemont, and especially its leading jewellery brand, Cartier. This will also be a clash in styles between the urbane, arts-loving socialite Mr Arnault and the reclusive Mr Rupert.

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Puritan's witch trial notebook from Tatton Park online

 Puritan's witch trial notebook from Tatton Park online: "A 17th Century notebook describing how women were tried, tortured, convicted and hanged for witchcraft has been published online.

Puritan writer Nehemiah Wallington describes how Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins found 'a coven of witches' and 19 women were hanged.

Every page of the book, kept at Tatton Park, Cheshire, was photographed by experts from University of Manchester.

The team said they were 'delighted' at being able to preserve the document."

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Duchess Fergie: Sorry for Accepting $24,000 From Pedophile - Celebrity News - UsMagazine.com

Duchess Fergie: Sorry for Accepting $24,000 From Pedophile - Celebrity News -"The Duchess has done it again.

It's another royal flub for Sarah Ferguson.

The disgraced Duchess admitted to taking money from U.S. businessman Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who spent 13 months in prison for soliciting an underage prostitute in 2008"

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Spain's deputy PM hospitalised in intensive care

 Spain's deputy PM hospitalised in intensive care: "Spain's deputy prime minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, is in intensive care in hospital with an infection caused by a prostate biopsy which had ruled out cancer, officials said Tuesday.
Rubalcaba, 59, had gone to Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital Sunday suffering from a high fever, which he believed was caused by a cold, said a government spokeswoman.
Doctors diagnosed a urinary tract infection caused by a prostate biopsy carried out three days earlier and he was transfered to intensive care on Monday because his fever persisted, said the hospital's head of urology, Doctor Carlos Hernandez Fernandez."

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Chávez bid to mediate Libya conflict dims further with official's indictment

Chávez bid to mediate Libya conflict dims further with official's indictment: "n yet another setback to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution to Libyan hostilities, a Spanish court on Monday indicted a high-ranking Venezuelan official, originally from Spain, as one of the leaders of the terrorist organization ETA.
While the court proceedings are unrelated to unrest in Libya, Mr. Chávez's credentials as a possible peace broker are sure to come more into question as evidence mounts that his government is harboring and protecting international terrorists. Indeed, Chávez has personally ruled out extradition of the alleged terrorist leader.
Oil prices last week dropped on news that Chávez’s plan to form an international commission to mediate between the government and the National Libyan Council was being seriously considered by Libyan government, Arab nations, and other developing countries. There were early American, French, and British objections to Chávez’s involvement.
But hostilities increased in Libya over the weekend, even after Chávez’s plan garnered more support from several of his Latin American allies, including Cuba, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The Arab League also joined a growing diplomatic chorus willing to support a United Nations-imposed no-fly zone, undermining the peace plan even further."

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Spain says intervention in Libya should be "last resort" -

Spain says intervention in Libya should be "last resort"  "The international community should intervene militarily in Libya only as a 'last resort,' Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday.
An eventual intervention should be backed by the United Nations, and Spain's possible participation in it must be endorsed by Parliament, Zapatero said.
Media reports had earlier said Madrid was planning to seek Arab and African backing for an eventual military operation. The European Union will hold an emergency summit on Libya on Friday.
Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde also stressed that an eventual military mission should take place 'within the framework of the United Nations.'
However, there were alternatives to such an operation, such as creating a no-fly zone over Libya or international pressure, Garcia Belaunde said during a visit to Spain."

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Spain's new satellite operator reveals its contents | News | Rapid TV News

Spain's new satellite operator reveals its contents | News | Rapid TV News: "Spain's soon to launch satellite pay-TV operator Starmax HD has revealed its content mix with Discovery World HD, BBC Entertainment and FilmBox debuting on the Hispasat 1E satellite-based platform.
Starmax’s portfolio includes content such as films, documentaries, sports, TV shows and children’s programming, many airing in HD. Starmax HD is also set to present a list of the other partners collaborating with the new pre-paid TV platform to provide audiences quality programming content. These are likely to include NBC Universal, Corus Entertainment, Nelvana and Cookie Jar Entertainment who will jointly distribute the children’s focused channel KidsCo. Eurosport HD, MGM HD, XTRM and many others will also be available from the new pay-TV operator.

Starmax HD will premiere a number of prestigious international channels in Spain, such as Discovery World HD, BBC Entertainment and FilmBox."

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Respects paid to US student who died in Spain

Respects paid to US student who died in Spain: "president of San Diego State University expressed sorrow at the news that a 22-year-old student from his school has been found dead in a river in Spain.

Austin Bice, who was participating in a study abroad program, vanished on Feb. 25 after a night out with friends.

Searchers found Bice's body Tuesday in Madrid's Manzanares River. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.

San Diego State University President Stephen Weber says the entire campus has been stricken by the tragic news.

Students had gathered on campus Monday for a candlelight vigil in support of Bice's family.

Weber extended the university's condolences to the family on Tuesday."

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Bankinter to Raise Capital

Bankinter to Raise Capital - WSJ.com: "Bankinter SA said Tuesday it will issue a three-year, €406 million ($567.5 million) mandatory convertible bond, driving its main capital ratio above the 8% minimum set by the country's central bank earlier this year.

Madrid-based Bankinter, believed to be one of the Spanish banks in more urgent need of fresh capital due to mounting bad loans tied to the property sector, said its core capital ratio will rise to 8.23% after the issue, from 6.92%.

The move comes after Spain's government and central bank said last month that all of the country's banks must have regulatory capital of at least 8% of assets, with some unlisted lenders forced to have capital ratios of no less than 10%. The move is intended to reassure foreign investors that Spain's financial sector will remain solvent despite the fallout from the 2008 real-estate crash, including a surge in bad loans and a rise in funding costs amid a fight for scarce deposits.

'Bankinter is moving fast to adjust to additional capital requirements... but this will come at a cost to net profit due to the high financing cost of this issue,' Banca March analysts said in a research note."

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Barclays 'to close 100 branches' in slump-hit Spain | Business

Barclays 'to close 100 branches' in slump-hit Spain | Business: "Barclays plans to shut more than 100 branches in recession-struck Spain as chief executive Bob Diamond refocuses its business there onto wealthier, more profitable customers.

According to local reports, the move will cut nearly a fifth of the bank's branches in the country.

Barclays is Spain's largest foreign bank with more than 590 branches and 920,000 customers. Diamond said he would cut underperforming businesses unable to deliver decent returns and there would be 'no sacred cows' after Barclays' retail and"

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Brit tourists face holiday hell as Spain's airport workers threaten devastating walkouts

Brit tourists face holiday hell as Spain's airport workers threaten devastating walkouts "British tourists face an Easter holiday nightmare after airport workers in Spain threatened crippling walkouts.

In the latest development of a row over airport privatisation, unions have announced 19 strike days in a move aimed at bringing the country's tourism industry to its knees.

The industrial action has been timed to coincide with the peak travel periods of Easter and summer, with strikes starting on April 20 and continuing into May, June and July."

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Ratings agency downgrades Tunisian debt after new unrest, Spanish premier offers aid

 Ratings agency downgrades Tunisian debt after new unrest, Spanish premier offers aid: "Fragile Tunisia suffered a new blow Wednesday as Fitch Ratings downgraded its credit grade, saying renewed political upheaval worsens prospects for reviving the country's post-revolution economy.
Spain's visiting prime minister offered to help boost the economy and help evacuate the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into Tunisia from neighbouring Libya, who are straining Tunisian resources at an already uncertain time.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is the first foreign leader to visit since Tunisia's autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by a popular uprising in January that sparked revolts across the Arab world.
Tunisia's interim government is struggling to restore stability to a country that had a steady, fast-growing economy and attracted waves of European tourists to its Mediterranean shores.
New deadly clashes between police and protesters broke out last Friday and Saturday, and the prime minister resigned Sunday. Six government ministers have since stepped down.
On Wednesday, Fitch Ratings downgraded Tunisia's credit grade to one notch above junk status. The agency says it has cut its rating on Tunisia to BBB- given the uncertainties over stability and economic policy during the political transition.
Fitch said much of the country's outlook depends on elections expected in July."

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Holiday strikes loom for Spanish over Aena dispute

 - Holiday strikes loom for Spanish over Aena dispute: "Travellers heading to Spain for Easter face chaos after the country's main trade unions announced 22 days of planned strikes.

They including four during Easter week and other walkouts have been called for the May bank holiday, and at the height of summer.

Unions are protesting at the government's partial privatisation of the airport management company.

They argue that this will lead to airport closures and job losses.

Transport Minister Jose Blanco has said the government will meet union officials on Thursday for talks to avert the walkout."

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Peseta comeback?

Peseta comeback?: "love the story in today’s Telegraph explaining that the people of Mugardos in North West Spain are encouraging people to find and spend the defunct peseta in local shops. More than 60 shops on the Galician coast have agreed to accept the currency alongside the euro in an effort to boost trade. The only way to change pesetas for euros in Spain is at the Central Bank and the shops are hoping they will collectively receive sufficient amounts as to be able to contrive an exchange deal. It's early days but apparently people are making their way across Spain to exchange long forgotten hordes of notes and coins.

Firstly, anything that helps the local economy must be good and I wish them well. Secondly, I wonder how much worth of legacy European currencies are still sitting in forgotten boxes etc. right across Europe, a tidy sum no doubt. Who forgot, neglected or couldn't be bothered to change their old notes, who lays claim to sitting on a tidy pile of foreign wonga. Let’s hear from you.

"

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