Buddha NET

Pilot Strike Affects Scores Of Travelers

Ten thousands travelers were left stranded at Spanish airports Friday due to a new strike by pilots of Iberia, the flag carrier of Spain. The strike, part of protest activities that started on Wednesday against the airline’s plan launch a branch for low-cost flights, forced rescheduling 93 out of 277 domestic and international flights, according to a statement by the company. The company affirmed that its new branch “Iberia Express” would affect neither the working conditions or the pay of pilots. The branch, meant to cover the costs of short and medium routes, would generate more revenues and create new jobs, it added. Meanwhile, the airline’s pilot association said it would stage another strike on Monday unless their employer scrapped the low-cost flight plan which would turn the company into a mere provider of cheap service. The pilots staged similar strikes on December 18 and 29, 2011, and on January 9 and 11, 2012, thus forcing some 55,000 passengers of 422 Iberia flights to find alternatives to airline.

Pilot Strike Affects Scores Of Travelers

Ten thousands travelers were left stranded at Spanish airports Friday due to a new strike by pilots of Iberia, the flag carrier of Spain. ...

Spain's 4th largest airliner goes broke

Spain's fourth largest airliner, Spanair, has stopped operations after failing to seal a last minute deal aimed at rescuing the company from financial bankruptcy. Spanair ceased operations on Friday night after failing to negotiate a deal with Qatar Airways who sought to buy a stake in the airline, according to the Catalan regional government in Spain. Over 3,500 employees have lost their jobs as a result of the decision. Moreover, at least 22,000 passengers have been affected as 380 domestic and international flights have been cancelled this weekend alone. Experts report that Spanish regional governments which hold a controlling stake in Spanair have been under pressure to cut costs to help the central government reach budget cut goals this year. Spanair has tried for some years to compete with low-cost carriers operating in the country. Since the economic crisis in Europe began, Persian Gulf oil-producing states have been investing in eurozone companies. There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

Spain's 4th largest airliner goes broke

Spain's fourth largest airliner, Spanair, has stopped operations after failing to seal a last minute deal aimed at rescuing the compan...

Thousands of passengers faced massive travel disruptions across Spain

Thousands of passengers faced massive travel disruptions across Spain on Saturday after domestic carrier Spanair cancelled all of its flights Friday night and prepared to file for bankruptcy. The abrupt collapse of the Barcelona-based carrier took place shortly after Qatar Airways walked away from talks to take over the money-losing airline after months of negotiations. "Due to a lack of financial visibility for the coming months, the company has had no option but to cease flying out of a duty of care for the safety of its operation and the well being of all concerned," Spanair said in a statement late Friday. "The appropriate next steps will be taken as soon as possible." More than 200 Spanair flights have been cancelled, affecting over 22,000 passengers. Spain's Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said on Saturday that the government may slap Spanair with about EUR9 million in fines and cancel its airline license due to the sudden cancellation of flights and failure to assist passengers. The Public Works ministry, which supervises the transport sector, said Spanair is required to assist customers and reimburse cancelled tickets. Many affected passengers complained on local television stations that Spanair was struggling to provide flight alternatives or even return the luggage from passengers who checked in shortly before all flights were abruptly cancelled on Friday night. A Spanair spokeswoman declined to comment on specific complaints from customers. The company said it has set up a customer service hotline, while Spain's airport authority AENA is providing passenger support services at the country's main airports. Flagship carrier Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA said it was accepting affected Spanair passengers in its flights and offering lower airfares. Other domestic carriers are also assisting Spanair customers. "The Company would like to apologize to everyone affected by this announcement and thanks the aviation authorities for their help and support," as well as other airlines that assisting affected passengers, Spanair said on Friday night. A company spokesman didn't immediately return calls seeking comment on Saturday. The government of Spain's Catalonia region is Spanair's main shareholder with a stake of 85.6%, while Spanair's former owner, Scandinavian airline SAS AB (SAS.SK), holds a stake of 10.9% of the troubled carrier. SAS issued a profit warning on Friday night. It said that following the decision of Spanair's board to apply for bankruptcy, it will write down EUR165 million of the outstanding debt and receivables on Spanair and set aside another EUR28 million in guarantees and costs linked to Spanair's bankruptcy. "SAS Group will follow customary procedures as a creditor in the upcoming bankruptcy process," the Scandinavian company said in a press release late Friday, adding that it had already reduced the value of its shareholding in Spanair to zero. Created in 1986 with SAS as top shareholder, Spanair was purchased in 2009 by a group of local investors led by Catalonia's regional government, moving Spanair's headquarters from the Balearic Islands to Barcelona. The company, which has more than 2,000 employees, struggled financially in recent years, particularly after the crash of one of its aircraft during takeoff in Madrid almost four years ago, killing more than 150 passengers. As the economic crisis intensified in Spain, the Catalan government sought to keep the Barcelona-based airline afloat as part of an effort to develop Barcelona's El Prat Airport as a regional hub. However, it decided months ago that it couldn't keep supporting the company at a time when the government itself is facing serious financial headwinds, with the Spanish economy mired in its worst crisis in decades amid a deep property bust. Catalonia's financial support also sparked complaints from rivals on grounds that Spanair was getting unfair government support, in violation of European Union rules. In addition to an unprecedented economic crisis with record high unemployment rates, Spanair faced cutthroat competition from discount carriers and the expansion of Spain's high-speed rail network.

Thousands of passengers faced massive travel disruptions across Spain

Thousands of passengers faced massive travel disruptions across Spain on Saturday after domestic carrier Spanair cancelled all of its flig...

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. B...

Two arrested after headless burnt body is found in 'suspected gangland execution'

Two men have been arrested after a man was beheaded and set on fire in a suspected gangland execution. Firefighters discovered the headless body on fire after being called to a wooded area off a car park in Wellington Street, Stockport, in the early hours of this morning. After extinguishing the blaze they found man's head nearby. Forensic officers remove the body in a covered body bag at the murder scene where the body of a decapitated man was found on fire at 5am this morning Two suspects, aged 29 and 31, were arrested prior to the body being found - on suspicion of possessing shotgun cartridges - following an incident at a Stockport flat. On the way to the police station, about 5.10am, officers were alerted to a fire following a call from a nearby casino and the body was discovered. It is feared the victim - a man in his 20s - was killed during a 5am rendezvous at the flat before being wrapped in a duvet and dumped. The scene of the grisly discovery is just 150 yards from the town's magistrates' court and a police station. Forensic officers and the tent where the body of a decapitated man was found on fire at 5am this morning Today, as a police cordon was put up around the murder scene, tests were being carried out on the body to establish where he was killed. It is believed the man was decapitated with some kind of bladed instrument, either a sword or a knife. Further tests will be undertaken to establish whether petrol was used in an attempt to destroy the body. The suspects were arrested at a first floor flat where the 29-year old jobless suspect was believed to live alone. Police questioned two female relatives who are believed to live in Wales. One neighbour said: 'There were always shenanigans going on inside that flat - so much so I would switch a fan on inside my place to drown out the noise so I could go to sleep. 'In the early hours of the morning before the body was found I had heard one such rumpus with lots of shouting going on so I put my fan on as normal.

Two arrested after headless burnt body is found in 'suspected gangland execution'

Two men have been arrested after a man was beheaded and set on fire in a suspected gangland execution. Firefighters discovered the headle...

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.

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 i...

Spain’s Two Finance Ministers Clash on Budget Amid Recession

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Spain is sticking to its deficit goal even as the economy shrinks, underlining a rift in the month-old Cabinet over whether the nation can halve its shortfall during a recession. De Guindos said the government’s commitment to budget cuts is “total” and there’s “no change” to this year’s target. His comments in Brussels today came after reporters asked him about Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro’s call on Jan. 22 for the European Union to ease Spain’s 2012 deficit goal to take its shrinking economy into account. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy divided the Finance Ministry in two after coming to power in December, putting People’s Party veteran Montoro in charge of the budget and giving de Guindos, a former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. banker, responsibility for the economy. Rajoy didn’t make either of them deputy prime minister, as the last two finance chiefs were, saying he would oversee economic issues himself. “It’s a trial of strength to see who’s really in charge of economic issues, and Rajoy will just let it happen,” said Ismael Crespo, a political scientist at the Fundacion Ortega- Maranon research institute in Madrid, who was head of the state polling unit when the PP was last in power. “Montoro is speaking more to the public and Guindos is speaking more to the foreigners,” he said in a telephone interview. Economy Contracting Spain’s government needs to rein in its borrowing costs and convince investors it can cut the euro region’s third-largest budget deficit even as the economy enters its second recession in two years. The Bank of Spain said yesterday the economy contracted in the fourth quarter and may shrink 1.5 percent in 2012, adding to pressure on Rajoy, who won the Nov. 20 election on a pledge of creating jobs. Budget Minister Montoro, a 61-year-old public-finance professor and lawmaker for Seville, said on Jan. 22 the EU should ease Spain’s budget target of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product this year as the goal was set by the previous government, which expected the economy to grow 2.3 percent. The deficit amounted to 8 percent of GDP last year, overshooting the 6 percent target. “If Brussels doesn’t adapt the stability program to the new scenario of a recession, it won’t be realistic and not only will Spain sink but the whole of Europe,” Montoro said in an interview with La Vanguardia newspaper in comments confirmed by a Budget Ministry spokeswoman. Austerity Commitment EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn rejected Montoro’s comments today after a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels, saying it’s “essential” that Spain meets the target, and must take more measures to do so. De Guindos, 52, who described Montoro in December as his “mentor” and “friend,” said Spain would keep its promises. The task of attending the European meetings falls to de Guindos, who speaks fluent English, while Montoro stays in Spain. “The government’s deficit target is 4.4 percent and there is no change in this respect,” de Guindos said after the meeting today. It isn’t the first time the pair has given differing messages in the past week. De Guindos, who is not a member of parliament, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 19 that budget cuts were “not a choice.” The same day Montoro was quoted as telling the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper that the nation may miss its budget goal. The two gave conflicting reports of the 2011 deficit on Jan. 2, as de Guindos said the overshoot may have been even greater than the government’s first estimate. De Guindos’ position on this year’s shortfall is backed up by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, who said on Jan. 20 that the government was “determined” to meet the existing target. Rajoy holds a news conference later today after meeting Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho at 5 p.m. in Lisbon.

Spain’s Two Finance Ministers Clash on Budget Amid Recession

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Spain is sticking to its deficit goal even as the economy shrinks, underlining a rift in the month-o...

Cannabis taxation: a win-win all round, Richard Branson tells MPs

The market for cannabis in Britain should be regulated and taxed, and responsibility for drug policy moved from the Home Office to the health department, Sir Richard Branson has told MPs. The Virgin Group head said the 20% of police time and £200m spent on giving criminal sentences to 70,000 young people for possession of illegal drugs in Britain each year would be better spent going after the criminal gangs at the centre of the drugs trade. "It's win-win all round,'' he told the Commons home affairs select committee. Asked about his personal history of drug use, Branson replied: "I would say 50% of my generation has smoked cannabis. I would say 75% of my children's generation has smoked cannabis … If I was smoking cigarettes, I would be very worried." He said that in his own Virgin companies he did not think staff who were found to be taking drugs should be dismissed but instead treated as having a problem, and helped. "There are many people in companies with drink problems or smoking problems," he said. Branson was part of a global commission on drug policy, which includes five ex-presidents and Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general. The body concluded last year that the war on drugs had failed and called for experiments in decriminalisation. He was the first witness at the Commons home affairs inquiry into drug policy. Branson argued that the policy of switching responsibilty for drug policy from the Home Office to the health department had worked in Portugal, where nobody had been jailed for using or possessing drugs in the last 10 years. Portugal was the only country that had decriminalised all drugs. As a result of treating drug users rather than imprisoning them, he said, heroin use and heroin-related deaths had fallen by more than 50%. In Britain, 100,000 young people a year were arrested for drug offences, and 75,000 of them were given criminal records, which meant they had problems in later life in travelling to some countries, he said. "If next year those 100,000 people are not prosecuted for taking drugs, but they are helped, I think the commission would welcome Britain doing that." He said if the sale of cannabis and other drugs were regulated and taxed, then the quality of what was being taken could be controlled. He contrasted the lack of deaths in Portugal with the recent deaths of three teenagers in Britain from taking tablets they wrongly thought were ecstasy, citing the fatalities as an example of the consequences of failing to regulate the illegal market. The Virgin chief admitted he had not read the UK Home Office drug policy statement, which emphasises diverting drug users from prison, but said the 100,000 arrests each year were evidence the policy was not working in practice. Pressed by some Conservative MPs on the committee to come down on one side or the other in the debate over methadone maintenance versus abstinence, Branson said he was no expert, and it was for the MPs to establish what worked best.

Cannabis taxation: a win-win all round, Richard Branson tells MPs

The market for cannabis in Britain should be regulated and taxed, and responsibility for drug policy moved from the Home Office to the hea...

Drugs mule sentences cut in new sentencing guidelines

People who smuggle drugs will face more lenient sentences if they have been exploited, under new guidelines. The change in approach on "drug mules" is in the first comprehensive rules on drugs offences from the Sentencing Council for England and Wales. The council said judges should distinguish between those who have been exploited by gangs and criminals heavily involved in the drugs trade. But it said large-scale drugs producers should expect longer jail terms. The council's role is to provide judges and magistrates with a set of broad guidelines so that sentencing is more consistent across England and Wales. Last year the council carried out research into 12 women convicted of drug mule offences, all of whom received sentences of between 15 months and 15 years. The majority of the women said they did not know that they had been carrying drugs when they arrived in the UK, although some admitted being suspicious. In most cases they had carried the drugs for someone they trusted or feared what would happen if they did not do so. Continue reading the main story DRUGS SUPPLY SCENARIOS Guidelines on sentencing for supply vary due to circumstances Example one: Student club-goer guilty of supply of 20 ecstasy tablets to himself and a friend. He buys off a regular dealer recreation and there is no financial gain. Sentencing starting point is 18 months - but can be as low as a community order or as high as three years. Example two: Police stop man in a car who is carrying cocaine worth up to £6,500. They find more drugs trade evidence at home and incriminating messages on a mobile phone. Suspect is involved in commercial-scale selling for profit. Sentencing starting point is eight and a half years. Under the new guideline, which comes into force on 27 February, the starting point for sentencing drug mules guilty of carrying crack, heroin and cocaine will be six years, before judges take into account aggravating and mitigating factors. Those found guilty of a much higher level of involvement in the drugs trade will face longer sentences. Those coerced into smuggling small amounts of Class C drugs, such as ketamine, could be given a community order. The councils said there would be no change in sentences for the key offences of possession and supply, but dealers who provide drugs to under-18s should receive longer sentences. Class A drug street dealers should expect a starting point of four and a half years. Lord Justice Hughes, deputy chairman of the Sentencing Council, said: "Drug offending has to be taken seriously. Drug abuse underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime and dealing can blight communities. "Offending and offenders vary widely so we have developed this guideline to ensure there is effective guidance for sentencers and clear information for victims, witnesses and the public on how drug offenders are sentenced. "This guideline reinforces current sentencing practice. Drug dealers can expect substantial jail sentences." The guidelines, which applies to magistrates and the crown courts, covers the most common drugs offences - importing, production, supply, possession and allowing a premises to be used for these offences. Chief Constable Tim Hollis, in charge of drugs policy for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "The Council has clearly given a good deal of consideration to the new guidelines and has produced a document which provides the police and our criminal justice partners with consistent guidance yet still provides the courts with flexibility to deal with each case on its own merits where appropriate." Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust campaign group, said in the light of the guidelines it "calls on the government to review the sentences of all those who have been trafficked into acting as drug mules and are currently languishing for long years in British jails".

Drugs mule sentences cut in new sentencing guidelines

People who smuggle drugs will face more lenient sentences if they have been exploited, under new guidelines. The change in approach on ...

Caught with six kilos of cannabis and you could still avoid jail

Sentencing guidelines issued today say that offenders who play a “limited” role in gangs could face community orders for intent to supply ...

Drug Users Could Avoid Jail Under New Guidelines Published By The Sentencing Council For Judges

Friends socially sharing drugs and those using cannabis for medicinal purposes could escape jail under new guidelines for judges. Drug runners and small-time dealers caught with heroin, cocaine or thousands of pounds worth of cannabis could also avoid prison. Instead, low-level operatives caught with 6kg of cannabis, 20 ecstasy tablets, or five grams of heroin or cocaine are likely to receive a community sentence. The guidelines, which come into force on February 27, are expected to be met with mixed reaction. They state a prison sentence may not be necessary for people who supply small amounts of narcotics to share with their friends for no personal gain. They also urge judges for the first time to reduce sentences for cannabis possession if it is being used "to help with a diagnosed medical condition". It is the first time all courts in England and Wales have been given a comprehensive guideline setting out how the role of the offender and the quantity of drugs should influence sentencing. So-called drug "mules", often women forced or tricked into the crime, could face a starting point of six years if deemed to be playing a "lesser role" in bringing up to 1kg of heroin or cocaine into the country. This is compared to the 11-year starting point if the offender was one of the leading figures. Those caught with small amounts of cannabis could avoid jail But the Sentencing Council said offenders who were employed by someone else to import or export drugs regularly for profit would still face tough sentences of up to life in prison. It said tougher sentences could also be handed down to key players guilty of producing drugs on a large scale. Offenders in a leading role in the production or cultivation of 11lb (5kg) of heroin or cocaine or tens of thousands of ecstasy tablets could face up to 16 years in prison. Those producing industrial quantities of cannabis for commercial purposes could also face up to 10 years in jail. Anyone dealing to those aged under 18 would also face tougher penalties. Under the guidelines, street dealers will still face jail, with those playing a key role in selling class A drugs facing a starting point of four and a half years, with up to 16 years for a single incident, depending on the quantity of drugs involved.

Drug Users Could Avoid Jail Under New Guidelines Published By The Sentencing Council For Judges

Friends socially sharing drugs and those using cannabis for medicinal purposes could escape jail under new guidelines for judges. Drug ru...

A grisly event in South East Asia highlights the region's developing meth-driven drug war

The Mekong River in Thailand Photo via By Jed Bickman 10/11/11 | Share Uppers Rock the World New Life for Asia’s Golden Triangle China Unveils Radical New Approach to Drug Treatment Vietnam's Rehab Gulag Revealed Spinning to Cambodia! In one of the grisliest incidents of the drug war in South East Asia in recent memory, the corpses of thirteen Chinese sailors have been found by Thai authorities on the Mekong River. The victims, including two female cooks, were blindfolded, bound, and shot dead. They're believed to be the crew members of two Chinese cargo ships that were hijacked last week by Thai drug gangs—the boats were recaptured in a firefight with Thai police and 950,000 methamphetamine pills were discovered on board. It's unclear whether the meth was loaded onto the boats by the Thai gangs, or whether it was already being shipped from China. Thai military officials blame a drug trafficking ring led by 40-year-old kingpin Nor Kham—who operates out of northeast Burma and is a wanted man in both Burma and Thailand—for the attacks. Authorities speculate that the Chinese ships neglected to hand over protection money and paid the price. The Chinese government has reacted defensively, suspending cargo and passenger trips along the Mekong river. The region along the border of Burma, Laos, and Thailand—known as the “golden triangle”—is the center of methamphetamine production in Asia, although China has also produced vast amounts of meth since the 1990s. Ephedrine, the base of methamphetamine, is derived from a native Chinese herb—“mao,” AKA "yaba"—which has an important role in Chinese medicine. The UN estimates there are between 3.5 million and 20 million methamphetamine users in South East Asia: such a broad range only serves to illustrate how badly understood the problem is. In 2009, countries in South East Asia collectively reported a 250% jump in methamphetamine arrests, as well as an increasing trend of injecting methamphetamine, which leads to a corresponding jump in HIV and other diseases among users.

A grisly event in South East Asia highlights the region's developing meth-driven drug war

The Mekong River in Thailand Photo via By Jed Bickman 10/11/11 | Share Uppers Rock the World New Life for Asia’s Golden Triangle China Unv...

Arrested businessman had ‘double life’

A MAN, 36, was arrested in Albacete, southeast Spain, accused of the abduction and rape of several women. In Albacete, he was a respected businessman, with a wife and children, but in Madrid, he was wanted for the abduction of one woman, raping another and several robberies. His criminal ‘other life’ allegedly began in 2010 when he began to carry out burglaries when on business trips, mainly to obtain jewellery and cash, although he also kept ‘trophies’ from his victims. With time, he began to commit other crimes and in October he allegedly pointed a gun at a woman in the Chamartin district and kept her captive for 12 hours, threatening her to obtain her credit card numbers and sexually abusing her before letting her go. In November, wearing a balaclava he approached a woman at Barajas Airport, threatening her with a gun and forcing her into the boot of a car. She was able to alert a colleague and her husband with her mobile phone, and was rescued in the Madrid area of Torrejon de Ardoz. The attacker escaped but left behind a shotgun, an airgun and a machete. He was traced to a farmhouse he used to carry out his criminal activity which was guarded by six dogs. Police are now studying the ‘trophies’ he took to determine whether he was involved in other crimes. He has been remanded to prison charged with rape, illegal detention, robbery, illegal weapons possession, causing bodily harm and car theft. On the way to prison, he attempted to escape but was caught by police.

Arrested businessman had ‘double life’

A MAN, 36, was arrested in Albacete, southeast Spain, accused of the abduction and rape of several women. In Albacete, he was a respected ...

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).<div class="relatedItemsTopBorder" style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"></div> 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).<div class="artSplitter" style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><img alt="San Sebastian" class="blkBorder" height="425" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/17/article-2087943-0F06706200000578-776_634x425.jpg" style="border-image: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 1px solid black;" width="634" />Saints alive: San Sebastian can boast beaches - such as Concha Beach - every bit as inviting as the southern Costas</div>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...<h2 style="min-height: 1px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">1. Paradors</h2>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.<h2 style="min-height: 1px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">2. Seaside delights</h2>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.<h2 style="min-height: 1px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">3. Great attractions</h2>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.<h2 style="min-height: 1px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">4. Take the train</h2>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.<div class="artSplitter" style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Altamira cave" class="blkBorder" height="712" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/17/article-2087943-0F066F6200000578-415_634x712.jpg" style="border-image: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 1px solid black;" width="634" />A load of old bull: Ancient paintings adorn the Altamira cave near Santander</div><h2 style="min-height: 1px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">5. Wonderful history</h2>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.<h2 style="min-height: 1px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">Travel Facts </h2>Brittany Ferries (<span class="skype_pnh_container" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; white-space: nowrap !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; color: #49535a !important; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important; font-weight: bold !important; height: 14px !important; line-height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;" dir="ltr"> <span class="skype_pnh_highlighting_inactive_common" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;" title="Call this phone number in United Kingdom with Skype: +448712441400" dir="ltr"><span class="skype_pnh_left_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(../lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 6px !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;" title="Skype actions">  <span class="skype_pnh_dropart_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(../lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 27px !important; background-position: -11px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;" title="Skype actions"><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_flag_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(../lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/flags.gif) !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 18px !important; background-position: -2001px 1px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;">         <span class="skype_pnh_textarea_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(../lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; background-position: -125px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;"><span class="skype_pnh_text_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(../lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; background-position: -125px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;">0871 244 1400<span class="skype_pnh_right_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(../lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; border-image: initial !important; border-collapse: separate !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style-image: none !important; list-style-position: outside !important; list-style-type: disc !important; overflow-x: hidden !important; overflow-y: hidden !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; text-decoration: none !important; top: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important; height: 14px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 15px !important; background-position: -62px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border: 0px !important none !important #000000 !important;">      , <a href="http://www.brittanyferries.co.uk/" style="min-height: 1px; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; color: #003580; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" target="_blank">www.brittanyferries.co.uk</a>) 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.

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 hug...

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.

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, refu...

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 ...

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.

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 aut...

Pasquale Mazzarella and Clemente Amodio arrested in Marbella

TWO Italians belonging to the Mazzarella mafia family were arrested in Malaga for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking activities...

Home builds Marbella Mansions

UKTV-owned pay channel Home has commissioned a 10×60’ series that follows British ex-pat property workers in Spain’s Costa Del Sol. UK in...

Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country's supreme court

Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country's supreme court on Tuesday morning to face charges that may bring his career to an abrupt and dramatic end. Garzón, who ordered the arrest in London of Chile's General Pinochet, entered the court wearing his judge's gown for what may be one of the last times, as he faces being struck off as a magistrate for up to 17 years. He told the Guardian he was in good spirits, though he has privately said he believes his fellow judges are determined to find him guilty in this case or one of the two others he must face in the coming weeks and months. "I'm fine," he said before entering a courtroom decorated with a massive glass chandelier and large crucifix. A panel of seven judges was set to hear evidence over two or three days. In the first of three separate cases against him at Madrid's supreme court, Garzón is accused of breaking rules by approving police taps on conversations between defence lawyers and their clients in a corruption investigation focusing on the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy's People's party (PP). Crowds of protesters gathered outside the court to support the judge, whose supporters claim is the subject of a campaign of persecution triggered by his decision to investigate human rights crimes committed under Franco. A second, even more controversial, trial is to start next week. It will see Garzón accused of twisting the law in order to open a formal investigation into the death or disappearance of 110,000 people allegedly killed under Franco's regime. Garzón has pledged to fight, but privately believes he will be found guilty because he has made too many enemies. He was suspended because of the Franco case in May 2010, but denies all the allegations. Court sources said the hearing that starts on Tuesday will last two or three days. Rajoy was a ferocious critic of Garzón as he helped uncover a network of corruption involving PP regional governments in Valencia and Madrid. "Just because a judge is investigating a crime doesn't mean that he can do whatever he wants," said Ignacio Peláez, one of the lawyers whose prison conversations with clients were recorded. "Even criminals have certain rights." His defence is expected to argue that, since another judge backed Garzón's move to tape the defence lawyers' conversations, he cannot be accused of deliberately dictating measures generally known to be against the law. Both Garzón's supporters and the rightwing Clean Hands trade union, which brought the case against him for investigating Franco's crimes, believe the supreme court has programmed the corruption case first in order to draw attention away from the Franco case. "It is the only thing we agree on," said Miguel Bernad of Clean Hands. "He wants the Franco trial first so he can make out he is the victim of pro-Francoists. We want it first because we lodged our writ long before the others." Relatives of those killed by Franco's regime will be among the protesters. Argentinian Manoli Labrador, whose father, two brothers and sister-in-law were killed by the military juntas in Argentina, will join them. "He has always listened to the victims," she said. "That is why we must support him." Garzón made use of international human rights laws to bring groundbreaking cases against Argentinian junta thugs in Madrid, forcing Argentinian courts to eventually open their own investigations. The arrest of Pinochet brought two sentences from the law lords in the UK allowing for his extradition to Spain. That sparked a similar round of cases in Chile. A third case, involving allegations that Garzón should have ruled himself out of investigating a complaint against the Santander bank, has not yet been scheduled. Prosecutors claim Garzón had received money from Santander while on a year's sabbatical at New York University – something the university denies.

Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country's supreme court

Spain's most famous judge, the charismatic and controversial investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón, sat in the dock at the country...

'Neurology time bomb' on the cards for NHS

The NHS could find itself facing a "neurology time bomb" as more people develop conditions such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson's disease. According to the Neurological Alliance, which represents 70 groups and charities, the rising number of cases is being compounded by the poor quality of services. The alliance's criticisms follow a report by the National Audit Office, which questioned the level of care on offer, bringing particular attention to delays in diagnosis and muddled follow-up care. In response, the government has acknowledged that more needs to be done. Steve Ford, chair of the alliance and chief executive of Parkinson's UK, said: "The situation can only get worse. A crisis is looming but the government has its head in the sand. "When it comes to helping vulnerable people with a neurological condition, the government is floundering around in a fog of its own making." It is estimated that more than 200,000 people in the UK have long-term progressive neurological conditions, according to the BBC.

'Neurology time bomb' on the cards for NHS

The NHS could find itself facing a "neurology time bomb" as more people develop conditions such as motor neurone disease and Par...

An unflinching look at drugs

From the farm fields and jungle labs where drugs such as crack cocaine, ecstasy and hashish get their start to the front-door steps where recreational users and addicts alike have their drugs delivered, National Geographic Channel (channel 260) explores the world of Drugs Inc. The series premieres on the channel at 9pm today and includes eight unflinching new episodes that examine the business of illegal narcotics production. Drugs Inc goes inside the world of producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors and cops with first-person perspectives on what keeps this business in motion. It also investigates relative newcomers such as ketamine and oxycontin – designer drugs for the 21st century – and the covert industry of grand theft auto, which provides cartels with stolen vehicles customised for smuggling. Worth an estimated R1.28 trillion, the business of Drugs Inc fuels crime and violence like no other substance on the planet, turning cartel leaders into billionaires. The illegal drug industry also provides vital income to hundreds of thousands of poor workers across the globe. While some users sacrifice their lives to an addiction they can’t escape, others find drugs to be their only saving grace from physical or emotional pain almost impossible to overcome. Where should the lines be drawn in this hugely lucrative industry? The series looks at hallucinogens, once hailed as a panacea. Psychedelic drugs are at the centre of an underground movement experimenting with mind-altering substances as they explore a possible new medical frontier. Deep in the Amazon, Rob, a Wall Street broker-turned-healer, has created a free clinic of sorts, administering a highly potent narcotic known as ayahuasca to patients desperate to escape powerful trauma. Taking on others’ stress releases Rob’s own demons and a shaman must step in as Rob’s trip spirals dangerously out of control. Dimitri, a former heroin addict, helps drug users to overcome addiction by using a controversial hallucinogen called ibogaine, and encounters dangerous side effects in the process. Turning to the power of mushrooms, one family man suffering from cluster headaches contemplated suicide before finding relief in this psychedelic trip, and a Swiss physician uses LSD to help ease terminal patients’ fear of death. The deadly and addictive drug crack cocaine is the subject of another episode in which users will do anything to get their hands on it. Addicts Jeff and Alexis are desperate for its intense high – turning to burglary, drug dealing and even prostitution. Smuggling hashish from the remote Moroccan Riff Mountains to the streets of Europe is a dirty, dangerous and deadly business. A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains. The smugglers use everything from hidden car compartments to donkeys, skis and drug mules. Their aim is to be as inconspicuous as possible – and to make it out alive. Facing off at the front line of Europe’s war on drugs, customs agents near Gibraltar seize 100kg of hashish, but the huge haul barely scratches the surface. From Spain, smugglers like “Billy” strap blocks of hash to their bodies and board flights to London and European cities. While smugglers take great risks, for some users, getting the drugs is as easy as walking into a coffee shop. But despite this easy access, users still pay a heavy price – as seen at a local youth psychiatric clinic in Holland. Ecstasy marks another trail. Dubbed as Christmas morning in a pill and penicillin for the soul, ecstasy’s euphoric high is said to come with major lows. Ravers have died from it and organised crime gangs will kill for it. One of the biggest ecstasy traffickers shares how he dominated the ecstasy smuggling world, and a high-level ecstasy distributor in California outlines smuggling strategies for the 21st century. Drugs Inc joins all the dots in this fascinating and disturbing network.

An unflinching look at drugs

From the farm fields and jungle labs where drugs such as crack cocaine, ecstasy and hashish get their start to the front-door steps where ...

Huaxi: The socialist village where everyone is wealthy

The sort of oxen you expect to see in Chinese villages tend to be pulling carts or tilling fields, not a beasts made of a ton of gold. This precious cow is located on the 60th floor of a 328m-tall skyscraper in Huaxi, China's richest village, and building that juts out of the eastern landscape like a giant tripod topped by a golden ball. Huaxi is a "model socialist village", according to local officials, and was founded by local Communist Party secretary Wu Renbao in 1961. His foresight was to transform a poor farming community into a super wealthy community, built on its clever adaptations of modern agribusiness methods, then its diversification into steel mills, its logistics firms, and its textile businesses. The commune listed on the stock exchange in 1998 and is now a major corporation in its own right. Its subsidiary companies, built into something that resembles a modern-day conglomerate, exports to more than 40 countries around the world. Huaxi is where Chinese people come to learn how to get rich. At a time when the rest of the world, and indeed much of China, is trying to absorb an economic slowdown, Huaxi is like a parallel universe. "This cow cost 300 million yuan (£31m), but now it's worth 500 million yuan," says our guide, Tina Yao, as she steers us from floor to floor in the Zengdi Kongzhong New Village Tower, which is taller than anything in London. "Zengdi" translates as "increase the land" and the skyscraper cost three billion yuan (£310m). Other floors have giant animals of solid silver. Fearsomely bejewelled chandeliers hang over your head in banquet halls that hold thousands of people. You approach these glittering sites walking on gold-leaf marble, passing aquariums with sharks and stingrays. Far below, you see the villas and theluxury cars. Every villager gets a share of the corporation's profits and is entitled to a car, a house, free healthcare and free cooking oil. The village feels a little like Dubai. It is not big on charm – the replicas of the Arc de Triomphe and the Sydney Opera House – are of questionable taste, but where it is widely different is in how well it is able to meet its people's needs. Mr Wu is keen that Huaxi should showcase China's achievements and now some two million visitors come to Huaxi every year to gaze upon its splendour. The original founding families, who are known as "stakeholders", number around 1,600 and the average household income is around £100,000 a year, once all the bonuses, pensions and wages are factored in. White BMWs are ubiquitous and the murals, instead of depicting socialist realist muscled workers in overalls, have pictures of happy families living in wealthy villas. This is where Huaxi stands apart from so many other villages in China. While the rest of the country suffers from a yawning wealth gap between the rich cities of the eastern seaboard and southern coasts and the rural hamlets, Huaxi took the initiative, driven by Mr Wu's pragmatism, and headed its own way. It behaved like a city, even importing migrant labour. "We only ever wanted what was good for our people," is a dictum of Mr Wu, who is now 86 years old and retired. His son has taken over as party secretary, but the father still gives lectures on socialism every day. He avoids allying himself too closely with either capitalism or communism, though his pragmatism has strong elements of the Chinese Communist Party about it. No one doubts the wisdom of Mr Wu, and looking at the village's wealth, why would they? He broke up the collective system of farming and encouraged people to grow their own crops. Below the stakeholders in the hierarchy come the residents from neighbouring villages that have been absorbed into Huaxi, and then tens of thousands of migrant workers who perform most of the rest of the work. Work and wealth are the crowning ideologies. No one takes weekend breaks, and the streets tend to be deserted of residents because they are all off working. The hard work has clearly paid off and the money raised has helped the villagers diversify into other industry. One of those areas is tourism – wealth tourism – and some of the locals help to meet and greet the two million tourists that come every year to see the village. A new reason to come is to see the skyscraper, which is impressive, although as there is nothing even remotely as tall in the surrounding countryside, it looks strangely incongruous. The reason it is so tall is a useful insight into the mindset of the people here. It is, as Mr Wu said in a recent interview, because the people Huaxi can compete with anyone in the country. "Beijing's tallest building is the 328m-tall World Trade Centre. Huaxi wants to maintain the same height with the Central Committee of the Communist Party," he said. The village's total square area is a little less than one square kilometre, and there are barrack-style dormitories, factories, and pagoda style-buildings for local residents. The skyscraper houses the Longxi International Hotel, which has 2,000 beds and will employ 3,000 people eager to learn how to become wealthy, Huaxi-style. Intriguingly, in the central village park, there are the statutes of five of the true icons of Communism in China, some more controversial than others. The panoply includes the former mayor of Beijing, Liu Shaoqi, who was purged in the period of ideological frenzy that was the Cultural Revolution and whom many believed Mao had murdered. He has never really been rehabilitated and remains outside the pantheon of true revolutionary heroes. But then Mr Wu himself suffered during the Cultural Revolution. He set up factories but the Red Guards paraded him in the village as a "capitalist roader" and locked him up, much in the same way as Liu Shaoqi. Like Deng Xiaoping, who also suffered during the Cultural Revolution, Mr Wu bided his time and soon was back on his capitalist track after Mao died in 1976, except that these ideas became formulated as socialism with Chinese characteristics. All over the village are megaphones blasting out the village anthem, which tells of how communist skies shine down Huaxi, a village of everyday miracles. "I have heard about Huaxi for many years. I have wanted to see it for many years," said one octogenarian visitor from Chengzhou. Two men, both of them employed in security and not stakeholders in the village, say they love what is going on in Huaxi, but they admit they are a bit jealous of the shareholders who get a stake in the village's profits every year. Certainly, there is a lot of bluster in the way Huaxi markets itself. The divisions between the stakeholders and the migrants on the streets are large. But no one in China doubts its importance as a model for the success of the nation. And deny at your peril the wisdom of Mr Wu and of the wider Chinese psyche: The song from the public address system says it proud: "Socialism is best."

Huaxi: The socialist village where everyone is wealthy

The sort of oxen you expect to see in Chinese villages tend to be pulling carts or tilling fields, not a beasts made of a ton of gold. Thi...

Facebook, Twitter addict? Too much Internet may alter your brain

This is your brain. This is your brain on Facebook, Twitter, or Match.com. A recent Chinese study found that the brains of people addicted to the Internet may see similar changes to the brains of those addicted to alcohol or drugs. Yahoo News reported that brain scans were conducted of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21, and 17 of them were identified with Internet addiction disorder. Brain scans of those classified as addicted showed disruptions in the part of the brain that contains nerve fibers, and changes in the brain areas that are used in emotions, decision-making, and self-control. Some of the questions people needed to ask themselves to determine whether they were addicted were, according to the BBC: Do you feel the need to use the Internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction? Do you use the Internet as an escape from feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety and depression? Have you put a relationship, job, or career opportunity at risk because of the Internet? Have you lied to people to hide the amount of time you spend on the Internet? According to safetyweb.com, an Internet monitoring service for parents, teenagers and young adults are the age groups that are more likely to be addicted to the Internet, and they are more likely to neglect work or school than older addicted adults. The Executive director of an Internet addiction recovery center known as restart says overexposure to the Internet can cause these symptoms in anyone’s brain. Hilarie Cash said to technewsworld.com, "We do a combination of psychotherapy and helping these people figure out the skills they need to function in the world. The road to recovery could include plenty of hiking and backpacking to get them both physically fit and reconnected to the world."

Facebook, Twitter addict? Too much Internet may alter your brain

This is your brain. This is your brain on Facebook, Twitter, or Match.com. A recent Chinese study found that the brains of people addicte...

To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book

<h3 class="spotlight" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff;">Alcoholics Anonymous - Our primary purpose.</h3>"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."  page 60 We must be ever vigilant to maintain the purity of our message, "if AA is ever destroyed, it will be from within."  Bill Wilson <h3 class="spotlight" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff;">Do you to want to want to stop?</h3>"If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer."  page 44 <h3 class="spotlight" style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff;">We are sober because of the steps we take, not the meetings we make!.</h3>"We, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book"<img align="right" alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://www.theprimarypurposegroup.com/images/1stedition.gif" style="font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #ffffff;" width="228" />Forward   <a class="mlink" href="http://www.theprimarypurposegroup.com/articles/whathappened.htm" style="color: #000000; text-decoration: none; font-family: tahoma, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #ffffff;">what happened To the program of recovery That worked so well (a minimum 75% rate of recovery) when AA first started?</a>

To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book

Alcoholics Anonymous - Our primary purpose. "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this mess...

12 step organizations working the steps directly from the Big Book :

<table style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; width: 760px;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tbody><tr><td style="color: #002435;"> </td><td style="color: #002435;" width="60"> </td></tr><tr><td style="color: #002435;" height="40"> </td><td style="color: #002435;">All Addictions Anonymous: <a href="http://www.alladdictionsanonymous.com/" style="font-size: 10pt; color: #003853;" target="_blank">http://www.alladdictionsanonymous.com/</a> </td><td style="color: #002435;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="color: #002435;" height="40"> </td><td style="color: #002435;">Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous: <a href="http://www.slaafws.org/" style="font-size: 10pt; color: #003853;" target="_blank">http://www.slaafws.org/</a> </td><td style="color: #002435;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="color: #002435;" height="40"> </td><td style="color: #002435;"><a class="style3" href="http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org/index.cfm?Fuseaction=ArticleDisplay&ArticleID=480&SectionID=131" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: #003853;" target="_blank">The Big Book Muckers</a> </td><td style="color: #002435;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="color: #002435;" height="40"> </td><td style="color: #002435;">AA Primary Purpose: <a href="http://www.theprimarypurposegroup.com/" style="font-size: 10pt; color: #003853;" target="_blank">http://www.theprimarypurposegroup.com/</a> </td><td style="color: #002435;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="color: #002435;" height="40"> </td><td style="color: #002435;">AA Back To Basics: <a href="http://www.aabacktobasics.org/" style="font-size: 10pt; color: #003853;" target="_blank">http://www.aabacktobasics.org/</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

12 step organizations working the steps directly from the Big Book :

All Addictions Anonymous: http://www.alladdictionsanonymous.com/ Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous: http://www.slaafws.org/ The...

Elton John’s husband attacks Madonna after Golden Globes win, calling her ‘embarrassing’ and ‘desperate’

David Furnish was one angry man following last night’s Golden Globes in Hollywood, attacking Madonna for her ‘embarrassing’ speech (watch ...

Shark attack at South Africa's deadliest beach

Mr Msungubana was swimming with a group of friends in shallow water off Second Beach in Port St Johns, a town on the country’s southeastern coast, when the attack took place. John Costello, local station commander for the National Sea Rescue Institute, said he sustained “multiple traumatic lacerations to his torso, arms and legs” where the shark bit him repeatedly. His death marks the sixth in just over five years at the beach, making it the most dangerous in the world for fatal shark attacks. In South Africa, one in five attacks by the ocean predators ends in the death but every single attack at Second Beach has proved fatal. Zambezi or bull sharks, known as the “pitbulls of the ocean” for their ferocity, have been blamed for most of the incidents. Experts from the nearby Natal Sharks Board have been brought in to investigate the phenomenon and the town authorities have closed the beach to swimmers. Pictures taken on Sunday show lifeguards wading nervously into the sea to pull the badly-injured Mr Msungubana to safety. They placed him on a surfboard to bring him to shore where, Mr Costello said, he was treated by a doctor who had been on the beach before paramedics arrived.

Shark attack at South Africa's deadliest beach

Mr Msungubana was swimming with a group of friends in shallow water off Second Beach in Port St Johns, a town on the country’s southeaster...

Tax adviser guilty of fraud scheme

A professional tax adviser from Bedfordshire has been convicted of trying to defraud honest taxpayers of £70 million, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said. David Perrin spent his cut of the stolen cash on expensive second homes, exotic holidays, works of art and luxury cars, a spokeswoman said. The 46-year-old, of Leagrave, Luton, Bedfordshire, was found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court and will be sentenced next month, she added. Perrin, deputy managing director at Vantis Tax Ltd, devised and operated a tax avoidance scheme which he sold to wealthy taxpayers in order to exploit the law on giving shares to charity, she said. The scheme allowed him to pocket more than £2 million in fees from unsuspecting clients. He used a network of finance professionals to advise more than 600 wealthy clients to buy shares, worth a few pence each, in four new companies he had set up, the spokeswoman said. He then listed the companies on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange and paid people money from an offshore account to buy and sell the shares simply to inflate their price. The share owners then donated 329 million shares to various unsuspecting registered charities and tried to claim £70 million tax relief on a total of £213 million of income and company profits. This was based on the shares being worth up to £1 each, rather than the pennies they were originally bought for. Perrin also used the bogus scheme to claim money back, the spokeswoman said. The scheme proved so popular that Vantis employees performed a smug celebratory song at their annual conference, to the tune of I will Survive, she said. It included the verse: "They should have changed that stupid law, they should have buggered charity, but they have left that lovely tax relief, for folks to pay to me." Jim Graham, HMRC criminal investigator, said: "With his knowledge of the tax system, Perrin thought that he was one step ahead of both HMRC and the law. "This cynical fraud not only stole millions of pounds from taxpayers, but also conned innocent charities into accepting gifts of virtually worthless shares, just so Perrin could inflate his own criminal earnings." Perrin was charged with cheating the revenue by dishonestly submitting and dishonestly facilitating and inducing others to submit claims for tax relief which falsely stated values of shares which were gifted to charities. He will be sentenced on February 9 and confiscation proceedings are under way, the spokeswoman said.

Tax adviser guilty of fraud scheme

A professional tax adviser from Bedfordshire has been convicted of trying to defraud honest taxpayers of £70 million, HM Revenue & Cus...

Top former art dealer faces 87 charges after fraud probe

One of Australia's former leading art dealers, Ronald Coles, faces up to 10 years in jail after being charged today with 87 offences relating to an alleged multimillion-dollar investment art fraud scheme. Mr Coles, 64, was ordered to appear at Gosford police station at 10am today. Fraud Squad detectives formally charged him following an "extremely protracted and legally intricate" two-year investigation into his business affairs. Under the Crimes Act, Mr Coles was charged with 77 counts of "larceny as a bailee" and a further 10 counts of "director/officer cheat or defraud". For more than 30 years, Mr Coles specialised in fine art by some of Australia's most celebrated artists, including Sir Arthur Streeton, Eugene von Guerard, Brett Whiteley and Norman Lyndsay. Advertising on national radio and television, he offered clients an opportunity to boost their life savings through the purchase of investment art, which he bought and sold on their behalf, using their superannuation funds. NSW Police launched Strike Force Glasson in January 2009 after a Fairfax investigation unearthed dozens of investors who were missing millions of dollars in lost art and money, all allegedly retained by Mr Coles. Today's police charges relate to more than $8 million in financial loss to a total of 43 clients nationwide. Mr Coles failed to make conditional bail of $50,000. It is understood he offered a car and paintings as surety but they were refused. He is due to appear at Gosford Local Court shortly.

Top former art dealer faces 87 charges after fraud probe

One of Australia's former leading art dealers, Ronald Coles, faces up to 10 years in jail after being charged today with 87 offences r...