Europe Calling

ULTRA-LOW-COST airline Wizz Air has set up a UK subsidiary company based at Luton Airport to deal with the Brexit aftermath. The new company has been granted an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and Operating Licence (OL) by the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority. Wizz Air UK will have eight new Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft in service by the end of 2018 - an investment of £630million - and will create around 300 new management, pilot and cabin crew jobs POLICE have found an injured Brit tourist lying unconscious at the side of the road on Spain’s Costa Blanca after an ambulance crew ‘lost’ him on the way to hospital. It is alleged that the man had been injured in a fight between four British tourists in Benidorm and was being taken by the ambulance crew to hospital. But National Police officers soon discovered he didn’t arrive there when they went to get a statement from the man..........Police launched an immediate search and the man was found unconscious in a roadside gutter approximately 500-metres away from the hospital. The police officers said they detected a ‘strange attitude’ from the two ambulance crew and called in the Guardia Civil to perform alcohol and drug tests. It is reported that both tested positive for ‘at least cocaine and marijuana’. It was Aylan Kurdi who changed their lives. The three-year-old boy had fled the Syrian city of Kobane with his parents and older brother in a bid to reach Canada. His little body, dressed in a red t-shirt and shorts, was found washed up on the shore near Bodrum, Turkey after unsuccessfully trying to reach the Greek island of Kos on a dinghy on September 2, 2015. The image of the drowned child, which made world news, suddenly illustrated the magnitude of the biggest refugee crisis experienced in Europe since World War II. It also moved three Spanish firefighters from Seville into action: Manuel Blanco, 47, Quique Rodríguez, 32, and Julio Latorre, 34, decided they had to do something to help all those people fleeing the war in Syria. As soon as a patient enters a hospital in the region of Madrid, they receive a Welcome Guide. And this is the first recommendation they will read: “Don’t bring money or valuable items to the hospital. If you have these on you, hand them over to a family member for safekeeping. The hospital will not be held responsible for their potential loss.” This stern warning is normally reinforced by doctors who insist that to avoid being robbed, patients must keep all valuables out of sight in their locker and ensure the locker key is with them at all times. It is sound advice. Hospitals have become easy pickings for thieves. Patients and their families are prime targets for robbers – they are in an unknown environment, experiencing high levels of stress and are easily distracted. Doctors at the Fundación Jiménez Díaz hospital in Madrid say that they have seen thieves pretending to be sick, then entering the rooms of sleeping or sedated patients. Nurses also regularly urge patients not to leave their valuables lying around Five people have been shot during a n appalling Bank Holiday weekend in London including a 13-year-old boy who was blasted in the face during a botched drive-by while walking down a high street with his parents. Police investigating the 'senseless and appalling' crime in Harrow, north west London, said the child was an 'innocent bystander' in an attack that also left a 15-year-old in hospital with head injuries. A third person was shot in the arm, but vanished before the emergency services arrived, Scotland Yard has revealed, and a 39-year-old man was arrested and later released under investigation. On Monday, police were called after a 30-year-old man was shot in New Cross, south east London.  Meanwhile, a young man is fighting for his life after being stabbed in east London on Monday.......Elsewhere, two men died in stabbings in Liverpool and Luton over the Bank Holiday weekend. A 19 year-old woman, was in court for shoving a pensio

Protest marches have been held around the world to mark International Workers' Day - and while some remained peaceful parades, others escalated into violent clashes and destruction. Riot police in Paris arrested more than 200 anti-capitalist demonstrators today as they went on the rampage (centre, a car burns in the French capital) to mark May Day.....plus much more......

Angela Merkel has denounced the emergence of 'another form of anti-Semitism' from refugees of Arab origin in Germany. The German Chancellor made the remarks in an interview with Israeli television on Sunday after an alleged anti-Semitic attack in Berlin on Tuesday provoked uproar. Last March the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, used the social network Twitter to announce that Spain had fulfilled the deficit imposed by Brussels . With a "Spain complies", Rajoy announced that it stood at 3.07% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), below the figure of 4.5% registered in 2016. Good times are not going to last forever. It is the message repeated by the International Monetary Fund looking at the most notable vulnerability that the economy and the financial system have at this moment: global debt, both public and private. A congressional committee has recommended new measures to combat the problem of underage drinking on Spanish streets – a practice commonly known as botellón . The report from the Mixed Committee on Drug Problems will serve as the basis for a future law covering alcohol, and has now been passed on to the Spanish Health Ministry. ....... these penalties should “reinforce already-existing punitive mechanisms and be geared toward education.” If, however, parents are negligent and there is “evident risk to the minor,” the existing laws for the protection of minors should be applied. Apparently Spaniards are somewhat confused over the scientific basis of so-called pseudo-therapies, with experts warning of grave consequences. The last Sociological Investigation Center (CIS) survey carried out in February included questions on pseudo-medicine such as homeopathy and reiki for the first time. The Spanish government on Friday reacted positively to ETA’s apology to victims of its decades-long terror campaign. “It is good for the terrorist group to apologize to the victims, because the victims, their memory and their dignity were determining factors in ETA’s defeat,” said the executive. “ETA should have apologized sincerely and unconditionally a long time ago.” The new Prince of Cambridge has become the fifth in line to the throne, pushing Prince Andrew out of the top six for the first time. . Amber Rudd promised Windrush immigrants will be given British citizenship 'quickly and at no cost'. The Home Secretary also said those caught up in the debacle would be due compensation as she described their stories as 'heartbreaking'. In a Commons statement, Ms Rudd said the debacle 'should never have happened' and ministers were 'too slow' to respond - but insisted that 'successive governments' bore responsibility............ Scientist who developed Novichok poison used in Salisbury was run over and seriously injured near his home – days after he suggested Russia was behind nerve agent attack. Vladimir Uglev (was rushed to hospital in his hometown in Russia after he was struck while walking over a pedestrian crossing, suffering injuries to his head, leg and arm. Will the trip to Italy be too much for little Alfie's  degenerative neurological condition? Doctors in Liverpool have said the flight to Italy would be too difficult for him and UK courts, including the Supreme Court, have upheld their decision. The European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in the case. Kids as young as 12 have become victims of revenge porn because they cannot say 'no' to sexting, shock new figures have revealed. School children have been targeted for the crime even though it is illegal for them to engage in sexual relationships and share explicit images in the first place. A grandmother clubbed over the head with a nail-covered plank of wood and left for dead today blasted her teenage attacker's 'joke' sentence of a £20 fine - that he won't have to pay for four years. ......... needed plastic surgery as she suffered horrific head injuries and broken bones in the 'unprovoked' assault during a robbery by a 14-year-old thug....... she hit out at her assailant's 'shameful' sentence after he walked free from court with no more than an order to pay her the paltry sum when he becomes an adult in 2022.

Transport strike, protests at the university and now the traditionalGerman nein to the promises of Emmanuel Macron. The French president appeared before the Eurocmara on Tuesday with a battery of ideas to reinforce the euro once and for all.......... Berlin rejects each and every one of its proposals..a dozen other countries from the North agree with Angela Merkel. ACCORDING to police figures 315,000 people took to the streets of Barcelona Sunday)to demand the release of the Catalan leaders currently in prison in Spain. They also want those who fled the country prior to the arrests to be allowed to return without threat of incarceration although the Spanish government is currently supplying fresh evidence to the German judiciary in its bid to have putative Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont returned under a European arrest warrant. PRESSURE builds on Madrid's Community leader Cristina Cifuentes after her degree scandal toppled another senior university figure.;Enrique Alvarez Conde, the director of the law institute that awarded Cifuentes with her disputed qualification, has been suspended. .......... ;The scandal could be calamitous for the PP's leadership in Madrid, whose minority government relies on support from the centre-right Ciudadanos party, which is now demanding Cigfuentes' resignation as regional leader.anned from leaving Menorca until his court appearance last week. ......In the UK Theresa May claimed.......It is in our national interest to prevent the further use of chemical weapons in Syria; and to uphold and defend the global consensus that these weapons should not be used. For we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised Britain's 'depressing' array of ageing ships and fighter jets unable to fire cruise missiles meant that France took the lead in striking Syria, it was revealed today. The Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan played second fiddle to the French ship The Languedoc who fired missiles at Syrian targets while the British type-23 frigate was moved away. .......HMS Duncan set up station south-east of Cyprus as an 'air defence' ship against any threat against RAF Akrotiri from Moscow, while four French frigate warships went into the attack zone. The Government has approved a new cash injection for the Madeleine McCann search fund.But the total is being kept under wraps amid fears of a public backlash. .......Government funding for the investigation has historically been agreed every six months, with 154,000 being granted from October last year. Police have charged a teenager with a string of offences after a car was driven into pedestrians in Blackpool town centre as they enjoyed a Saturday night out. The 19 year-old driver from Todmorden in West Yorkshire, will appear in court on Monday morning charged with driving dangerously, while drunk and without a licence or insurance

German police have made six arrests in relation to a planned knife attack at Sunday's Berlin Half Marathon. Newspaper Die Welt reported six men were detained - one of whom they suspected of planning the attack. Die Welt said the suspects were linked to Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist ties, who hijacked a truck in December 2016. Amri killed the driver and then ploughed into a crowded marketplace killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others. Police said before the sporting event today there had been "isolated evidence that the detainees between 18 and 21 years of age might have been involved in the preparation of a crime related to the event". Die Welt quoted a "senior police leader" as saying: "We are still evaluating. But it was probably close." Spain’s Royal Family has long been plagued by rumours of tension between Queen Letizia and her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia. Now, a video of the pair appearing to clash over a family photo following Easter Mass has ignited claims of a matriarchal feud at the heart of the House of Bourbon. The royals were making their way out of Palma Cathedral in Mallorca on Sunday when Queen Sofia attempted to pose for the cameras with her two grandchildren, Princess Leonor and the Infant Sofia. Queen Letizia was seen repeatedly walking in front of the trio in an apparent bid to block the shot before approaching Princess Leonor and seemingly trying to dislodge her mother-in-law’s hand from her daughter’s shoulder. Princess Leonor then appears to become frustrated with the tussling and thrusts both of their hands away.  As the Catalan crisis rolls on Barcelona has become one of the EU's best-loved city-break destinations, famed for its 1992 Summer Olympics, trade fairs, football and tourism. Catalonia is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, making up 16% of the national population and accounting for almost 19% of Spanish GDP. Generations of people from poorer parts of Spain have moved there for work, forming strong family bonds with regions such as Andalusia. During this crisis, the Catalan economy has suffered. Thousands of businesses, including major banks and energy firms, have moved their headquarters out of the region. However, the EU has treated the crisis as an internal matter for Spain, deaf to the separatists' pleas for support. There have been warnings that the issue is damaging Spain's democratic credentials. The Economist Intelligence Unit, which compiles an influential annual democracy ranking, said Spain risked being downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed" one over its handling of the situation. The UK Home Secretary has insisted that police have enough resources to tackle crime despite claims that government cuts are contributing to a spate of violence.  Emergency plans to extend stop and search are in a tough package of measures the Home Secretary Amber Rudd is announcing following a string of fatal stabbings and shootings in London in recent weeks.  Meanwhile a former police officer said that younger officers were 'afraid' to use stop and search, as figures showed its use has fallen.  ..... New ‘Offensive Weapons’ laws to be introduced within weeks will make it illegal to own so-called ‘zombie killer’ knives and knuckle dusters used by gangs – and allow police to raid homes to seize them.  The latest move reflects a change of direction for Mrs May, who has introduced a series of curbs on stop and search since 2010, claiming they are unfair to young black men, damaging to community relations and do not cut crime. Nearly two-thirds of ‘child’ refugees who were questioned about their real age after coming to Britain were found to be adults, an official report has found. In one year, 65 per cent of asylum seekers assessed after claiming to be juveniles were judged to be over 18. The report, by immigration watchdog David Bolt, revealed that the Home Office received 2,952 asylum applications from unaccompanied children in the year to June last year. Out of these there were 705 age disputes – around a quarter of the total – where officials suspected the individual was lying about their age. Of these, 618 cases were resolved and 402 – or 65 per cent – were found to be adults. If these asylum seekers had been treated as children it would have left councils and local taxpayers facing a care bill of millions of pounds a year. In the UK Donors and entrepreneurs have been secretly developing plans for a new political party frustrated with polarisation and grabbing for the centre ground. Up to £50million has been pumped into the project with a former Labour benefactor at the helm hoping to 'break the Westminster mould'. The movement believes in borrowing from the left and right for its policies and was set up by multi-millionaire LoveFilm founder Simon Franks, who says he is frustrated with political division in light of the Brexit vote. He has had full-time staff on the project for about year, The Observer revealed today, after starting initial discussion in 2016.  His company - Project One Movement for the UK - is said to be a probable vehicle for the scheme, which has the support of a number of former Tory donors.   A pensioner cleared of blame after killing an armed burglar may never be able to return home amid fears of a vendetta against him, police have told residents. Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, and his disabled wife Maureen have not been seen at their £500,000 property since Henry Vincent died after a break-in last week. With the couple believed to be staying at an undisclosed location in fear of their lives, their house has been fitted with security grilles – and a police surveillance camera has been mounted on a nearby lamppost. According to residents, Vincent was part of a tight-knit community whose members have a reputation for violence. One of the extended Vincent clan shamelessly declared on social media a few years ago: ‘An OAP a day keeps ur bank balance at bay. The old b******s deserve everything they get.’ Maureen Lipman joined hundreds of furious protesters outside Labour HQ, saying said she could never return to the party with an 'anti-Semite at its head'. The Jewish actress said she was attending 'as a disenfranchised socialist' and agreed with a placard reading 'Corbyn made me a Tory'. Some 250 demonstrators gathered in Westminster today to criticise the Labour leader's approach to tackling anti-Semitism in the party.  Lipman joined their pleas for change at the protest, saying Mr Corbyn's conduct was 'appalling' and calling for him to resign. The 71-year-old, best known for her roles in Educating Rita, The Pianist and Oklahoma!, made a speech which was met with swathes of applause. 'He is standing with elements who are against everything that we stand for; hardworking, decent Jewish people of whom I am incredibly proud,' she said.  'By doing nothing he is telling us the same thing he has been telling us for the last 30 years.   'He wants a Marxist party. Because it's worked so well in the rest of the world!' She added: ‘Everything you have heard today points to the fact that we have an anti-Semite at the head of the British Labour Party.’ Lipman also attacked the Labour leader for attending a Seder organised by left-wing Jewish group Jewdas, saying it was 'the absolute cherry on the top' of his behaviour. These days sport is all about money. Gone are the glorious days of true sportsmen and women who competed against each other out of pure pride and sporting rivalry.  During the amateur days of yore, apart from a couple of countries who used events as propaganda exercises, I can’t recall any accusations of cheating by the competitors or officials. Nowadays they are all at it. Doping, drugging, betting and game throwing are now regular features on the back pages of the nationals. Hardly any corner of the sporting world has not been infected by this greedy virus that leads to the ‘win at any cost’ attitude that prevails among the athletes of today.  And you know what really sticks in my craw. Sooner or later they all seem to wheedle their way back in.  Even those who commit, what are to my mind unforgivable offences, are, after the authorities have considered their wrists have been slapped hard enough, allowed back in to carry on as though nothing has happened! 

The true meaning of Easter was expressed on the streets of many major Spanish towns and cities. I was fortunate enough to visit the city of Alicante and witness the sheer euphoria of Semana Santa expressed through the efforts of the Alicantinos both on the streets and in the churches SALES of new cars in Spain were up 2.1 per cent in March compared to the same period last year according to data released on Monday. The Spanish Association of Car Manufacturers (ANFAC), the Association of Dealers of the Automotive sector (FACONAUTO) and the Association of Car Dealers (GANVAM) recorded a total of 128,175 cars sold in March. FORMER Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said those seeking independence for the region needed to continue doing so in a “non-violent and civilised” way as he remains in custody in Germany. Shocking footage has emerged of a British tourist being pinned down by police after allegedly trying to steal a delivery van while drunk - and then crashing it into a parked car. The man can be heard shouting in English while he is pinned to the ground as passersby look on near the scene in Benidorm. He was arrested at around 5pm after he allegedly sped off in the Coca-Cola van while wearing his shorts and flip flops after the driver left the keys in the ignition during his delivery. The truck driver filmed the incident and gave a running commentary as the tourist was apprehended by authorities. NEW amendments to animal protection laws in Spain now mean that owners who abandon or beat their pets could face fines of up to €30,000. With an estimated 140,000 dogs alone being abandoned on the street every year in Spain the legislations are designed to give authorities teeth in their battle against animal cruelty. Holidaymakers planning trips for the Easter weekend faced chaos as all flights from Stansted were cancelled, after a fire broke out on a car park shuttle bus at the airport near London.  Dramatic footage from the scene showed flames rising from buildings of the Essex airport and thick smoke shrouding the area after the bus caught fire on the forecourt of the terminal, with much of the front of the building suffering smoke damage. Some passengers were evacuated with others reporting they were stuck outside the airport and pictures showing long queues inside the terminal. A Stansted statement on Twitter said all flights until midnight had been cancelled, and said passengers were 'politely asked to leave the airport'.   Brits were taking full advantage of the Easter weekend last night by hitting the clubs for the third night in a row without the fear of having to tackle a hangover at work. Clubbers lined the streets of Blackpool while waiting for cabs or a boozy takeaway treat after dancing the night away. Several hardy party-goers braved the wet and windy weather without coats or tights, with some opting for fancy dress - including a pair dressed up as watermelons. Others donned plastic bags or ponchos to keep their hair and outfits perfectly dry in the light drizzles. Plenty of revellers found themselves brawling in the streets of the seaside town after a night of heavy drinking. Super-rich Russians were able to enter the UK through investor visas that didn't carry out proper checks on the source of their income and possible criminal backgrounds. The gold-plated visas are a way for the wealthy to fast-track their residency and citizenship in Britain. A quarter of all those visas granted by the UK between 2008 and 2015 - a 'blind faith' period in which almost no checks were carried out - were to Russians.  Concerns have been raised that it was open to abuse and allowed corrupt individuals and illicit funds into the country.  A killer who savagely murdered a mother-of-three in an alleyway has been pictured in designer clothes buying a car after serving half of his life sentence.  Christopher Jones and his brother Stuart killed Shirley Oliver, 42, after she accepted a lift back from a night out in Cardiff in 2005.  Stuart, from Roath in Cardiff, attacked her from behind as she sat in the front. Ms Oliver was dragged from the car, hit with a lock, stamped on, strangled and had her hair pulled out before being left for dead in a side alley. There was 'not a bone left unbroken' after the attack and Ms Oliver's injuries were so bad experts were unable to give an exact cause of death.  The use of 'snus' tobacco in English football is 'big' according to Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam. Adam's opinion came on the day the Football Association reiterated its commitment to warning players of the dangers of legal highs amid reports of the growing use of 'snus'. The nicotine, which comes in pouches and is ingested by placing it between the top lip and the gum, is not a banned substance, though it is illegal to buy in the United Kingdom.

The cold front that hit Spain last Thursday is continuing to cause traffic problems throughout the country, with snow and frost affecting 350 roads and delaying the high-speed AVE train service. The Renfe train service has also been interrupted on the León-Oviedo line and between Rodalies and Catalonia. The “Catalonia effect” has left one of Spain’s new parties, Ciudadanos, in a stronger position than ever in the political scene, according to the latest poll by Metroscopia for EL PAÍS. The party led by Albert Rivera would be the most voted option were an election to be held today, with 28.3% support from Spanish voters. This represents a lead of more than six points over the governing Popular Party (PP) and over eight points more than the Socialist Party (PSOE), which would remain in third place. A majority of Spanish voters – including many of those who support the governing Popular Party (PP) – feel that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy should hand the leadership to someone else, according to a recent opinion poll. There had to be a gutter somewhere, and it looks like they chose La Línea.” Juan Franco, the mayor of the town, speaks these words with a combination of weariness, anger and sadness. His mood can be summed up by three events that made news headlines in under 24 hours. First, on Tuesday afternoon, 20 masked individuals stormed the ER at the local hospital and “rescued” a drug trafficker who’d been taken there by the police following a car chase. At 8am the next morning, 10 people were arrested, but not before assaulting the police officers who had caught them unloading a hashish shipment.......3 An investigation into unfair competition that the US government launched last summer into Spanish black-olive producers continues this week, with a visit from a group United States Department of Commerce inspectors to verify the information that Spanish companies have been supplying over recent months. The trip by the so-called “men in black,” which starts this week in Brussels and Madrid and will continue next week in Seville...... Girls are playing soccer against boys – and winning. Every weekend, Valencia’s FC junior women’s soccer team is beating its male rivals at official competitions. The team stands out for its discipline, ball skill and fierce competitiveness. The girls of Valencia FC are the top team in a league of all boys, kicking back at stereotypes that say soccer is a male sport, and winning the admiration of both parents and rivals. These 11-year-old girls are focused and continuing to prove wrong the clichés about women in sport. It is nearly 11pm as snow falls on the narrow streets of Amsterdam.  Two young men wearing hoodies swagger up to one of the full-length windows in the most famous sex district in the world. Bathed in eerie red light are three women wearing only lace underwear. One plays nonchalantly with her phone, not bothering to look up at the men leering at her.  ........ Brussels s preparing to improve its Brexit trade offer amid disarray at Michel Barnier's hardline approach.EU chiefs said there was pressure from EU capitals to scrap its chief negotiator's strategy. They want to 'leave the door open' to Theresa May but only if she reveals what she wants from a future relationship. Boasting a 25ft swimming pool and a charming sun terrace, this is the luxury apartment block in Haiti where Oxfam aid workers cavorted with young prostitutes at a sex party likened to a 'Caligula orgy'. Terracotta walls, palm trees and floral arrangements give the gated complex the feel of a Mediterranean holiday villa. The six-bedroom serviced complex, which can sleep 12, was rented to Oxfam for around £1,200 a month – an astronomical sum by Haitian standards. The Oxfam scandal widened dramatically last night after claims of sex abuse spread to its charity shops. A whistle-blower revealed that the beleaguered charity has faced multiple allegations, including alleged abuse of children by its volunteers. And it emerged t

With local and regional elections coming up in mid-2019, the Popular Party (PP) is hoping that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will make Cabinet changes to appoint members with a higher political profile. THE number of applications made by refugees for asylum status in Spain was around 31,700 last year, almost twice as much as 2016 levels. An average of around 2,700 people per month applied for the status nationally. A tip-off three years ago launched “Operation Mastín,” a police operation that led to 41 arrests last year. Twenty of the suspects are now in pre-trial detention; all of them are Chinese men between 25 and 35, except for a Spanish electrician. .......The involvement of Chinese mafias in the marijuana business “has led to a boom in its production in Spain in the last four years,” say investigators. THE suffering of many animals should end with new protection laws that have come into effect in Spain from last Thursday. The amputation (docking) of tails, cutting of ears, removal of teeth and claws, and the sectioning the vocal chords have all been banned. It will also be against the law to offer pets as prizes. POLICE in Spain have arrested an 85-year-old man at a hospital in Valencia for throwing ‘acid’ in the face of a retired doctor. Screaming ‘Murderer, you have killed my son’ the pensioner threw a liquid in the face of the 72-year-old doctor. A SPANISH union has appealed to Ryanair to change its members working conditions. The Spanish Union of Airline Pilots (SEPLA) has taken issue with what they said was the “abnormal” situation of its members, with many of them working under Irish employment status. Dozens of EU laws could be imposed on Britain during a two-year transition period after Brexit, it was claimed today. A leaked Whitehall document revealed the UK could be forced to accept 37 controversial EU directives.  One of the rulings could make people take out insurance for all off-road vehicles including tractors, golf buggies and mobility scooters. Nick Clegg has launched a searing attack on the Brussels elite - blaming their 'sneering' attitude for Brexit. The former deputy prime minister, a prominent Europhile, complained that the drive for 'ever-closer integration' had been a 'terrible misreading' of public opinion. A British man with Aspergers accused of hacking into the FBI's computers will not be extradited to the US after a High Court ruling today. US authorities have been fighting for Lauri Love to face trial on charges of cyber-hacking after he allegedly stole data from agencies including the Federal Reserve, the US Army, the Defence Department, Nasa and the FBI.  The student could have faced solitary confinement in the US and a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if found guilty. The 33-year-old, who lives with his parents near Newmarket in Suffolk, suffers from Asperger syndrome, a depressive illness and severe eczema and his lawyers said he was at risk of suicide if sent to the US.  Two burglars who raided an 83-year-old woman's home were caught in clear ......They spotted two CCTV cameras installed inside the home and grabbed them, but police managed to download the images recorded from a central database. A white supremacist has been convicted of terrorism after planning to carry out a machete attack at a gay pride event. Ethan Stables, 20, planned to kill people attending a LBGT meeting at the New Empire pub in Barrow, Cumbria. Armed police stopped him on the way to the pub after a tip-off from a member of a far-right Facebook group, where he had posted a message saying he was 'going to war'. We've had prosecco flavoured crisps and even a gin and tonic version. Now Doritos is making ‘lady-friendly’ tortilla chips that are quieter to eat, less messy and come in a packet designed to fit in handbags. The company says women do not like to crunch loudly or lick their fingers in public while eating the snacks – unlike men.

KING FELIPE VI OF SPAIN has turned 50 on Tuesday.As the monarch reached his half century, he presented 12-year-old daughter Crown Princess Leonor – who is first in line to the throne – with the Order of the Golden Fleece at The Royal Palace of Madrid.......The Order of the Golden Fleece dates back to 1430, when Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good founded it to commemorate his marriage to Princess Isabella of Portugal.While the future of Catalonia hangs in the political balaance there is other news. POLICE have arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly starting a fire that gutted the frontage of a Carrefour store on the Costa del Sol. A 13-year-old boy was also questioned about the fire at the Malaga Alameda supermarket but cannot be charged because of his age...... POLICE in Spain have warned a British mother that she could face charges after her three-year-son went missing on the Costa Blanca. THREE people have died and one person has been left seriously injured in a crash involving four cars on the AP-7 Autopista de la Mediterrania in Spain. The accident happened just before midnight last Friday at km626.5 near Benissa heading in the direction of Alicante. It is understood after one vehicle stopped in the middle of the carriageway after suffering some sort of problem. The driver and occupant of a second car stopped to help the first. To most people, he is simply shameless. To others, he is just a worker who has been sick. There are even those who talk about him with mixed tones of admiration and envy.“He” is a government worker at the Alicante provincial authority, who has made media headlines after it emerged that was on sick leave for a total of 4,453 days between 2001 and 2016. In other words, he has been away from his post as a nursing assistant at the Doctor Esquerdo psychiatric hospital for 12 years out of 15, as revealed by a report drafted by the provincial authority. THE OLDEST man in the world, Francisco Nuñe, from Spain has died aged 113-years-old.Francisco, a supercentenarian, and who was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, passed away last Monday. Brexit. Brexit. Brexit! Baffled Brexiteers slammed the German ambassador today after he claimed Britain voted to quit the EU because it was obsessed with World War Two. Tory MP Henry Smith told MailOnline he had never heard anyone who campaigned for Brexit mention the war. Germany's outgoing ambassador Peter Ammon, who leaves his post in London this week, made the bizarre claim in a newspaper interview. Mr Ammon claimed Brexit was fuelled by the image of the British standing alone against the Nazis during the Second World War.Mr Ammon said the decision to leave the EU was 'a tragedy' – and warned that Britain had 'illusions' about what could be achieved in negotiations with Brussels..........as......... Nine demonstrators burst into the Blighty UK Cafe in North London on Saturday and told customers to boycott the place for ‘celebrating colonialism’ and called Britain's wartime leader 'a racist'..............and.........Furious locals have compared a headteacher at one of Britain's top primary schools to Adolf Hitler after she tried to ban young girls from wearing a hijab in class. Neena Lall, 50, banned the Islamic headscarf and fasting for pupils aged under eight who attend St Stephen's Primary in Newham, east London. New laws in Poland make it a criminal offence to suggest the country had anything to do with crimes committed by Nazi Germany. Polish lawmakers approved the bill on Friday, making it punishable by up to three years in jail to use suggestive statements like 'Polish death camps'. Poles have fought for years against the use of phrases which suggest Poland was at least partly responsible for the camps where millions of people, mostly Jews, were killed by Nazi Germany. Collapsed construction giant Carillion ran up huge debts and sold assets so it could keep paying out millions of pounds of dividends to shareholders.It paid out £376m between 2012 and 2016

Spanish Tourism industry estimates over that around 82 million visitors arrived in 2017, setting a new record, while the forecast for next 12 months is also very positive Spain's prime minister warned Monday that Madrid would maintain unpopular direct control of Catalonia if the former regional leader Carles Puigdemont tries to govern again from exile in Belgium. A Barcelona court finds CDC, the predecessor of Carles Puigdemont’s PDeCAT, guilty of taking kickbacks for contracts over the course of a decade Five Spanish women who were secretly filmed stealing products from their workplace have been awarded €4,500 in compensation by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The women launched the case after they were dismissed after being caught on hidden cameras robbing or helping other employees rob products from the supermarket where they worked as cashiers. The court ruled that while the women received a fair trial and were dismissed on fair grounds, an employer cannot secretly film their employees in the workplace Two women carrying goods between Morocco and Spain's Ceuta enclave were killed on Monday in a stampede at the border between the two countries, a rights group and officials said. Forty years ago, Spanish wine was precisely nowhere on the global map. Now, it has almost legendary status among connoisseurs the world over. An official investigation has been launched into top bosses at Carillion who changed the rules so they could keep their bonuses as the firm collapsed and put 23,000 jobs at risk. The watering down of so-called 'clawback conditions', which would have allowed investors to demand the return of bonuses in the event of company failure, came in 2016 when the firm was already showing signs of financial stress. A UK supermarket will be the first in the world to remove plastic packaging from all of its own-label products. Iceland's landmark move puts pressure on its rivals to follow suit amid public demands to turn back the tide of plastic pollution. Calais Hospital, ran in partnership with health chiefs in south Kent, is able to offer 'fast care to any NHS patient' - as hospitals in England reach crisis point. Surgeon Simon Bramhall, 53, resigned from his job at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2014 after another surgeon found "SB" branded on a failed donor liver, A psychologist said to have recommended the release if the black cab rapist has spent 30 years calling for softer sentences for sex offenders, it has been revealed. John Worboys is set to be freed from prison nine years after he was jailed indefinitely following his conviction for sexually assaulting 12 female passengers. His release was signed off by the Parole Board following a report by Dr Jackie Craissati, a renowned clinical psychologist hired by Worboys' defence team. A woman who ran out of petrol on a motorway before a fatal smash has been put on trial accused of causing death by dangerous driving. Tammy Langton, 32, was charged after her passenger Laura Cooper, 35, was killed in the M25 crash. The case is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK.

Inés Arrimadas, 36, is enjoying her last days of rest in her home town of Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). The more than 1,000 kilometers separating her from Barcelona provide the kind of perspective that she needs to resist the pressure coming in from all sides: after her pro-unity Ciudadanos became the most-voted party at the Catalan election of December 21, many voices are demanding that she take the initiative and try to form a government. In a rare outing, former Spanish King Juan Carlos was seen at Epiphany Day celebrations just days after complaining bitterly, and publicly, about feeling sidelined by the royal family. The Spanish government is investigating Iberpistas, the operator of the AP-6 tollway northwest of Madrid, after thousands of vehicles were trapped for up to 18 hours in the snow over the weekend. Many drivers complained about a lack of information about the situation SPAIN'S El Niño lottery has officially been drawn, with first prize going entirely to Bilbao. A GIANT €35 million hotel is to be built near La Fossa beach, Calpe, dominating the skyline as the area’s tallest building. MORE THAN 200 African Migrants have entered Spain after storming over a double fence between Morocco and Melilla. In total, 209 people reported In a chaotic Theresa May cabinet reshuffle... Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Theresa May he would rather quit than accept a move to the business department and Justine Greening refused to move to work and pensions. In an open letter signed by 20 MEPs - including Tories Julie Girling and Richard Ashworth (pictured) - the Prime Minister was urged to keep Britain in the single market following Brexit. A figure of 24,473 averages out at around 160 requests a day from computers and other devices connected to the parliamentary network, which is used by MPs, peers and staff----to download pornography.......is there a link to the following....?.....Nearly half of paedophiles found guilty of grooming a child online before trying to meet them for sex are let off jail by 'lenient' judges, new figures show. Criminals who have been spared time behind bars include a 56-year-old man who attempted to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl for sex before being arrested by police, who then found 1,673 indecent images of children at his home. MPs accused of sexual harassment could be let off with making an apology or completing a training course, a leaked Commons report has suggested. The draft proposals come from a group of cross-party MPs set up by the Prime Minister to create a new complaints system to tackle sexual harassment in Westminster. Other formal sanctions against sex-pest MPs, following a string of serious allegations last year, include suspension or even a recall in which they could lose their parliamentary seat Journalist Carrie Gracie says she doesn't trust her BBC bosses and believes they lied to her about why men get paid more following her resignation from the broadcaster. In an interview that was aired on Channel 4 News tonight, the former China editor revealed her bosses have not contacted her since the story broke. The 55-year-old, who has worked at the BBC for 30 years, said she doesn't trust the corporation and doesn't buy their excuses about the gender pay gap. The National Union of Students has been forced to apologise after omitting Judaism from a survey on religion - just months after making the same mistake. he form - which was sent out across the UK - offered 11 options including 'Muslim', 'Christian' and 'Spiritual' but failed to mention the country's fifth-largest faith.It has sparked a furious backlash with Twitter users accusing the NUS of 'forgetting Jewish students again' after it emerged that the organisation made the same error just months ago. In July it sent out a religious survey which missed out Judaism sparking a series of complaints from furious students.

SPAIN'S car manufacturers expect to produce 3 million vehicles in 2018, at level last seen ten years ago, just before the 2008 financial crisis in Europe hit the sector. Overall, 2017 has seen significant improvement in the Spanish job market with the number of people signed on with the country’s social security scheme – a key indicator of net job creation – up by over 630,000, a rise of 3.58%. And the unemployment rate is down more than 10 percentage points since the peak of the country’s economic crisis. Spain welcomed 4.4 million foreign tourists in November, 7.4% up on last year. Though December figures are not yet available, the 2016 record of 75.3 million was already broken by mid-November. By the end of November, a total of 77.8 million foreign tourists had arrived, 9.1% more than in the first eleven months of 2016, according to figures from the Spanish statistics office (INE). “Freedom for Tabarnia. Catalonia robs Tabarnia. Catalonia has never done anything to win Tabarnia over. The corruption of Catalan politicians has left Tabarnia in misery. That’s why the citizens of Tabarnia have the right to decide their future. The people of Tabarnia just want to vote. Tabarnia is not pro-independence, Tabarnia is pro-democracy. If Tabarnia declared itself independent, it would be assured its place in the European Union. Tabarnia, Catalonia’s Crimea.” Theresa May's defiant New Year message was undermined by reports that David Davis told a private meeting it was still possible the decision to leave the EU could be reversed. MPs have raged over the decision to hand Nick Clegg a knighthood for his time in government, as confirmed by the honours list released tonight. The former Lib Dem leader was recognised for his time as deputy prime minister in the Coalition Government from 2010 to 2015. But a Labour MP quipped the honour must be for 'services to breaking up communities', while Brexiteers claimed he only received the gong for 'services to the European Union'. UK aid to corrupt countries soared by 10 per cent last year. Almost £1.39billion was sent to the world's 20 most crooked states last year – up from £1.26billion in 2015. The money was handed over despite warnings that some of it would be wasted, stolen or even handed to terrorists. The Department for International Development insists it operates a 'zero tolerance' approach to corruption. Thousands more police officers would still not be enough to stem the epidemic of child sexual abuse, Britain's top officer on child protection warned yesterday. Chief Constable Simon Bailey, who leads the National Police Chiefs' Council on child protection, admitted that officers would never have enough capacity to solve what he described as the 'wicked problem' as he estimated that the number of British men interested in sexually abusing children stands more than 20,000. That figure is comparable to the total number of all current and former terrorism suspects in the UK, he said. A ‘Dad's Army’ of unpaid border guards is set to be Britain’s first line of defence against terrorists, people smugglers and organised crime gangs at hundreds of vulnerable air and sea ports

As the aftermath of Cataluya unfurls...If there is one thing that hasn’t changed in the self-styled “ayuntamientos of change” – city councils in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and other places where Podemos has been in power with a variety of partners since the 2015 local elections – that is the turbulent relationships that have always defined the Spanish political left. Gas and Electricity Bills are set to rise in Spaindespitr Governmental efforts to contain the rises.....as the Government prepares to raide the minimum wage by 2.5% A national policeman has been caught on camera slapping a female to the ground in the Valencian community causing outrage after the video circulated on social media. FOUR members of the same family have been injured after a lift plunged four floors in an apartment block in Spain. The accident happened at the Travesía de Conde Duque building in the Centro district of Madrid.. A COLLISION between a stolen car and a van early Sunday morning in Murcia has resulted in the death of three and the serious injury of another two people. Emergency Service 112 received a call about the accident on the Avenida Miguel Indurain and dispatched fire engines to the scene as well as ambulances and officers from the Local and National Police. If there is one thing that hasn’t changed in the self-styled “ayuntamientos of change” – city councils in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and other places where Podemos has been in power with a variety of partners since the 2015 local elections – that is the turbulent relationships that have always defined the Spanish political left. More than 250 hunts have met for the annual Boxing Day event after Prime Minister Theresa May U-turned over plans for a vote on scrapping the ban. Alcoholic Christopher Ward burgled his parents' home in Leicester after leaving a family funeral. But he avoided jail following an emotional courtroom intervention from his father. Suspects charged with killing four children in Salford house fire 'attacked with boiling water and left with broken fingers after being targeted by other inmates in prison'.........and........More than 320 prisoners have been wrongly released from jail over the past six years according to new figures released by the Ministry of Justice. Among those released, are suspects awaiting trial for murder, armed robbers and those guilty of grievous bodily harm. More than one person is incorrectly released from custody due to a range of excuses - from prisoners getting mixed up with people sharing the same surname to others who saw court officials misfiling the sentence in custody records......AND....New figures reveal that prisoners have been paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation for lost or damaged property since 2013 for items including toothbrushes and trainers. Nearly 10,000 council staff have been suspended on full pay during the past five years over allegations that include sexual harassment and fraud, it has been reported. About 2,000 local authority employees have been suspended while still receiving their full salary each year since 2012. A woman took to Mumsnet to share her distaste for the song 'Baby It's Cold Outside' . She shared feeling uncomfortable with the lyrics as others agreed they're 'rapey'. Others told her she is overreacting.

IRELAND/BASED pilots for low-cost airline Ryanair have suspended their one-day pre-Christmas strike action on Wednesday. A policeman in Catalonia is charged with sabotage against trucks. The sabotage took place on the 1st and 5th of December . The detainee placed a kind of plate with spikes on the AP-7 highway and caused some fifty trucks to change the wheels, according to the Catalan police. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has rejected Spain's appeal against the fine of 19 million euros imposed by the European Commission (EC) in July 2015 for falsifying the figures of debt and public deficit of the Community Valenciana Brussels considered that the Generalitat had misrepresented and falsified health expenditure figures between 1988 and 2011 without paying attention to the warnings from the Valencia Audit Office, which it considers a serious negligence on the part of Spain. ANDALUCIA and the Canary Islands have the worst quality of life indicators in Spain according to a new study......capita income, long-term unemployment, inequality, poverty, life expectancy, the percentage of the population that enjoys good health, obesity, smoking, the population that has passed at least upper secondary education, the years of waiting for schooling and early school leaving.Both Andalucia and the Canary Island obtain a total score of 17  out of a minimum of 12 points and a maximum of 48. The average of all the Spanish communities is 31 points.Valencia scores 27 points and La Rioja and the Basque Country (43 points), which are the territories with the highest welfare index .DRAMATIC scenes continue to emerge from a prison in Archidona, where the Spanish government have been holding hundreds of migrants since mid-November...Amid accusations of the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, batons and riot police on prisoners protesting against a lack of food last week, Spanish authorities say they have now taken two children from the group into their care In the UK, Brexit has been dealt a fresh blow after the majority of Britons want now to remain in the European Union, a new poll by BMG Research has revealed......even as an average of 200  cases come before the courts every year, typically costing the taxpayer 163;4.5 million in compensation payouts and making a mockery of Home Office pledges to deport foreign nationals who commit serious crimes....... most of these compensation claims have their roots in the highly controversial 1998 Human Rights Act which has fuelled an apparently never-ending merry-go-round of ;unlawful detention claims, often pursued by no-win, no-fee solicitors on behalf of immigrants and refugees with criminal records. Scotland Yard will review hundreds of rape, child abuse and sexual assault cases after a second prosecution collapsed because police again sat on texts that proved a suspect's innocence. Specialist counter terrorism police officers arrested three men, aged 22, 36 and 41, at addresses in Sheffield and a 31-year-old man at an address in Chesterfield. Arthur Collins, 25, has been jailed for 20 years. He had hurled the corrosive liquid across the club in east London during a tit-for-tat gang war and later branded the crime 'a silly little mistake' An investigation has found that growing numbers of doctors earn six-figure sums for working overtime on top of their annual salaries. At least 126 received £100,000 last year for extra work. According to a group of Santas...not only are we tarnishing Christmas, but we are seriously damaging our children in the process. The report states the obvious. Children-s demands are now far too excessive.... Soap actor Joe McFadden won Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday night, lifting the Glitterball trophy with his professional partner, Katya Jones......and Sir Mo Farah has been named BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2017

With the regional elections in Catalonia just around the corner, Spain’s security chiefs are well aware that their focus must be on the internet. While the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, will be in charge of ensuring the smooth running of the December 21 vote on the ground, Spanish authorities are very concerned about the possible effects of fake news stories, bots, and hackers, all of which could influence the campaign and the vote itself. Officers with Catalonia’s regional police force on Monday morning clashed with pro-independence demonstrators who were protesting the transfer of 44 artworks from the region’s Lleida Museum to neighboring Aragon. The medieval artworks, originally from Aragon’s Monastery of Santa María de Sijena, are being returned to Aragon after a court recently upheld a 2015 ruling that the original sale of the treasures by nuns at the convent to the Catalan government had been illegal Catalonia’s public health system is feeling the effects of political instability in a region that has held three early elections since 2012. A new study by the State Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services shows that Catalonia is the region that experienced the deepest cuts to social spending during the economic recession, between 2005 and 2015. Faced with political and social opposition, the Catalan government was forced to backtrack on some of its decisions The ups and downs of the pro-independence drive have affected the quality of healthcare: the system was first hit by budget cuts enacted by former premier Artur Mas in the middle of the economic crisis; later it was unable to implement necessary structural changes because of governmental delays. Madrid municipal police officers have begun enforcing controversial new regulations for pedestrians in a popular downtown shopping district. Mayor Manuela Carmena, of the leftist Ahora Madrid coalition, has made two major pedestrian thoroughfares – Preciados street and del Carmen street – into one-way routes over the Christmas holidays. The measures will be in place until January 7 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays during peak times for human traffic in the popular commercial area. The Sol Metro stop is also affected, with some doors to be used exclusively for exiting the high-volume transit hub. City officials say that the measure will enhance security and improve mobility in the area. But the initiative has drawn widespread criticism and become an endless source of humor on social media, where comparisons have been drawn to cattle trails and even to the North Korean regime Ryanair Pilots are set to strike over the Christmas period in support of their colleagues based in Germany and Italy. The strike is planned for Wednesday 20th and is pushing for better working conditions. Chris Froome has been asked to explain a possible doping violation during La Vuelta de España. In the UK Britain is facing demands to push back the ‘cut-off date’ for new EU migrants to 2021 in return for a two-year transition deal, it emerged last night. Documents show that EU negotiators plan to issue the demand during the next phase of negotiations in return for the ‘transition deal’ wanted by the Prime Minister. The ultimatum risks infuriating Brexiteers who insist that Brexit should be capitalised on by the Government to regain control of the country’s immigration system. The Brexit divorce deal agreed by Theresa May last week proposes a ‘cut-off date’ of March 2019, after which new EU migrants would lose the automatic right to reside in the UK on a long-term basis. A gang who murdered three young children after pouring fuel down a chimney in Walkden, Greater Manchester, reportedly ran to a nearby house to watch the devastating blaze. Nearly 40 per cent of those receiving jail sentences in 2016 for violent offences – including murder, grievous bodily harm, assault, kidnapping, stalking and harassment – already had 15 or more convictions The North Sea’s m