BRENDAN TREMBATH: An Australian man accused of blasphemy in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to 75 lashes is on his way home. Mansour Almaribe was detained during a pilgrimage last month. He was alleged to have insulted companions of the Prophet Mohammed. They were the prophet's early disciples. There are now questions about how much the Australian Government did to help in this case.
A Moroccan rapper who has become one of the monarchy's boldest critics on Wednesday awaited a verdict after a trial on assault charges which his lawyers and right activists said were a ploy to muzzle the popular singer. Mouad Belrhouat, better known as El-Haqed, or "The Sullen One", has become the singing voice of a protest movement inspired by Arab uprisings, demanding a constitutional monarchy, an independent judiciary and a crackdown on corruption. The judge adjourned the case on Wednesday after an all-night hearing to consider his verdict, expected on Thursday. The 24-year-old rapper has been in jail since his arrest in September after a brawl with a monarchist. Bail requests by his defence team have been rejected and the trial has been adjourned six times. "The charges are a farce. El Haqed is being persecuted for his critical songs. The state is keeping him in jail and repeatedly adjourning his trial to silence him," said Khadija Ryadi, who chairs Morocco's main human rights group, AMDH. The rapper's cutting lyrics telling Moroccans to "wise up" have angered many monarchists. In one song he raps that the king spends so much time giving orders that he has little time to count his money in Switzerland. However, he has struck a chord with young Moroccans who are disenchanted with poor or non-existent jobs and one song "Bite just as much as you can chew" has received more than 600,000 hits on Youtube. ALL-NIGHT SESSION Belrhouat's trial is a test for the Justice and Development Party PJD.L, which like its Tunisian peers is a moderate Islamist party leading a government for the first time after it won elections in November. In a Casablanca court packed with Belrhouat supporters, the judge begun to hear the case in an unusually late session on Tuesday which continued through the night. Mohamed Bouawine, one of the 24 lawyers who have volunteered to defend the rapper, said his client faces up to three years in jail if found guilty. AMDH's Ryadi says Belrhouat has become yet another case among "dozens of prisoners of conscience" in Morocco. Local and international right groups say hundreds of Islamists have been jailed in what they said were politically-motivated trials rushed through after suicide attacks in Casablanca in 2003, that killed 45 people. Morocco's judiciary is meant to be given more independence under reforms crafted last year by the Arab world's longest-serving monarchy as it sought to preempt a popular revolt. The man whom Belrhouat is alleged to have assaulted said the injury left him incapacitated for 45 days but defence lawyers produced evidence suggesting he recovered far more quickly and was being used as a political pawn. Belrhouat's father Mohamed told Reuters he would not be supporting his son in court had the rapper done anything wrong. "My son was set up. The police and the ambulance turned up five minutes after the incident: This never happens here."
Harley Medical Group (HMG), responsible for one in three operations using the French-made implants, said it would go out of business if made to meet the full cost of removal. HMG's position makes it more likely the other two main players, Transform Cosmetic Surgery and The Hospital Group, will also ignore pleas for private clinics to pay for surgery. Should they follow HMG's lead, the bill to taxpayers could feasibly top £100 million as the NHS will be forced to perform the corrective surgery.The big three firms are likely to have performed around two thirds of enlargement operations using faulty implants in Britain. There are around 40,000 women in the UK who have been fitted with the controversial implants and operations to remove them cost around £3,000. Mel Braham, chairman of HMG, claimed the Government had the "moral responsibility" to pay for removal operations, as the regulator meant to ensure the safety of medical devices had failed in its duty.
BBC's Mohsen Asgari: "It seems a motor cyclist pasted a bomb to his car which he was in with two other passengers Continue reading the main story Iran nuclear crisis Undeclared pursuit? Q&A: Nuclear issue Key nuclear sites Sanctions' impact Watch A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, an academic who also worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, and the driver of the car were killed in the attack. The blast happened after a motorcyclist stuck an apparent bomb to the car. Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years, with Iran blaming Israel and the US. Both countries deny the accusations. Continue reading the main story Analysis Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent The assassination on Wednesday of another Iranian nuclear scientist may now prompt Iran to try to respond in kind. The murder in Tehran of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan comes on top of a sophisticated cyber sabotage programme and two mysterious explosions at Iranian military bases, one of which in November killed the general known as 'the godfather' of Iran's ballistic missile programme. No-one is claiming responsibility for these attacks but Iran blames its longstanding enemy, Israel, and occasionally the US. Whoever is behind them, Iran is clearly being subjected to an undeclared campaign to slow down its nuclear programme. Frank Gardner's analysis in full Iran's Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi told state television that the attack against Mr Ahmadi-Roshan would not stop "progress" in the country's nuclear programme. He called the killing "evidence of [foreign] government-sponsored terrorism". Local sources said Wednesday's blast took place at a faculty of Iran's Allameh Tabatai university. Two others were reportedly also injured in the blast, which took place near Gol Nabi Street, in the north of the capital
Indian households should completely switch to olive oil as a cooking medium as its nutritional value is very high, it is rich in monounsaturated 'good' fats and, when used daily, can bring instant and easy wellness to a family's diet, celebrity chef and noted cookery expert Nita Mehta says. "Even though we have such a wide range of olive oils in our market, people don't seem to use them because of their mental block that the flavour of olive oil doesn't gel with Indian flavors," Mehta said at the launch here Satuday her latest book, "Indian Cooking With Olive Oil".
top Spanish former official went on trial Monday at the start of legal proceedings into a raft of corruption scandals in which King Juan Carlos' son-in-law is also accused. Jaume Matas, the ex-head of the regional government of the Balearic islands who had also served as environment minister, appeared at a court in Palma de Majorca alongside three other suspects. They have been charged with embezzlement, fraud, falsifying documents and influence peddling. Matas was charged in March 2010 and was released after paying a record bail of 3.0 million euros ($3.8 million). Prosecutors are demanding an eight and a half years jail term. Matas served as president of the government of the Balearic Islands between 1996-1999 and then between 2003-2007. He was environment minister between 2000-2003. The so-called "Palma Arena affair" as the Spanish press has dubbed the corruption scandal centres on the suspected embezzlement of public funds during the construction of a velodrome in Palma de Majorca between 2005-2007. An investigation concluded that the cycling track had an unjustified cost overrun of 41 million euros. That led authorities on the archipelago to uncover other cases of suspected embezzlement of public funds, including one allegedly involving royal son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin. The 43-year-old ex-Olympic handball player is scheduled to appear in court on February 25 as part of a probe into corruption at a non-profit organisation, Instituto Noos, which he headed between 2004 and 2006. The probe centres notably on a payment of 2.3 million euros to Instituto Noos for organising a tourism and sports conference in 2005 and 2006. Urdangarin, who has the title Duke of Palma and is married to the king's youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, has denied any wrongdoing. Last month the royal family suspended the the duke from official engagements and the palace's highest official, Rafael Spottorno, gave an unprecedented rebuke, telling Spanish media his behaviour "does not seem exemplary".
He is suspected of operating a £300million empire built on smuggling cocaine, heroin and cannabis in deals with criminal cartels in Latin America, the Middle East and Spain. And all from his jail cell.
But 48-year-old Warren faces the biggest challenge yet to his evil enterprise as police launch a double assault in the courts on his fortune.
Authorities in Jersey are set to haul him before a judge next month to face a £200million Confiscation Order after he was convicted of drug smuggling on the Channel Island in 2009.
And in a second attack the Serious Organised Crime Agency, in a rare move, is asking judges to impose a Serious Crime Prevention Order in the High Court in London to stop him in his tracks when he is released in 2015. Yesterday Warren’s legal team won an adjournment in the High Court to delay a hearing scheduled for this week so they can prepare the crime lord’s defence.
With typical arrogance he told his lawyers to fight the bid on the grounds it breaches his “human rights”.
The SCP order, signed by Alun Milford, the Chief Crown Prosecutor and director of the Serious Organised Crime Division, seeks to restrict Warren’s use of communication devices and public phones.
It demands that he never has more than £1,000 in cash, to “make it harder for him to buy drugs or reward criminal associates”. And a financial reporting requirement will “deter him from acquisitive crime and give law enforcement authorities the opportunity to investigate any wealth he comes into”.
A source said: “Curtis is almost untouchable. A mobile is vital to him. It’s all he needs to operate. There are thousands of mobiles smuggled into the prison system and he has the means to get one.”
Curtis Warren, from Liverpool, leaves The Royal Court in St Hellier
Warren is the only convicted criminal ever to appear on The Sunday Times rich list, which in 2005 described him as a “property developer” with an estimated fortune of £76million. But according to underworld sources his real wealth is four times that.
He appointed himself chairman and chief operating officer of a global operation to flood Britain with cocaine and heroin.
His criminal associates say Warren’s business philosophy was simple and effective – drugs are a product to buy and sell like oil and gold. He is a meticulous planner whose organisation resembles the layers of executives and managers you find in a City institution, said a police source who has followed Warren’s career.
Before the euro was introduced, he was said to be putting £1million a week in money-laundering scams after trusted couriers changed cash into German marks and Dutch guilders and moved it abroad.
Paul Grimes, a gangster turned supergrass after his son died from a heroin overdose, said: “Warren wanted to be the cock everyone looks up to. He loves the status.”
Even behind bars it is feared Warren still handles deals and keeps phone numbers in his head as he links supplies to smugglers.
Detectives believe he has villas in Spain, Turkey and Gambia, owned through an intricate web of associates who also operate a Spanish casino, Turkish petrol stations and 250 rental properties in the North West of England.
Warren says the claims are “ridiculous”, alleging that he only has a flat in Liverpool’s Albert Dock and a house on the Wirral.
Softly-spoken Warren started his criminal career at the bottom when he was just nine and living at home with his dad, sailor Curtis Aloysius, and mum Sylvia, a shipyard boiler attendant. He was recruited by a gang to climb through small windows and burgle homes. By 11 he was carrying out muggings and armed robberies in the tough estates of Toxteth, Liverpool.
At 18, he was sent to borstal for assaulting police. In an adult jail eh honed his talent for crime.
Warren started selling drugs on the street and rubbing shoulders with Liverpool’s biggest villains, who underwrote huge cocaine consignments with Columbia’s Cali mobsters worth millions.
GRAFTING
He does not drink or take drugs, allowing his photographic memory to be razor-sharp at all times – especially in jail. On the outside, he has always shunned flash cars and big houses and wears tracksuits instead of Armani suits so as not to attract attention.
“Cocky takes no unnecessary risks,” said an ex-associate.
Paul Grimes added: “Unlike me and my crew, he wasn’t out till all hours in the pubs and clubs. He wasn’t flash. If he was grafting it was all VW Golfs and Passats or a low-key Rover.” Streetwise Warren gave contacts nicknames, including The Vampire, The Egg On Legs and Cracker to throw eavesdropping police off the scent.
His methods developed a business worth hundreds of millions as the drug trade exploded in the 1980s. He became a trusted client of Colombian cocaine cartels, Turkish heroin producers and Spanish cannabis suppliers.
It enabled him to get huge quantities of drugs on credit.
As he left court on a technicality during a 1993 trial for smuggling cocaine worth £250million, he is said to have told Customs officers he was “off to spend my £87million from the first shipment and you can’t f****** touch me”. Grimes, who will be under witness protection for the rest of his life, said: “Warren is a parasite.”
As Merseyside turf wars worsened in the mid-1990s, Warren moved to Sassenheim in Holland.
When Dutch police intercepted 400kg of cocaine, the game was up – for the time being.
At other addresses controlled by Warren, officers discovered a £150million haul containing 1,500kg of cannabis, 60kg of heroin, 50kg of ecstasy, 960 CS gas canisters, three guns, ammunition and £400,000 in Dutch guilders. The bust put Warren behind bars for 12 years in 1997.
In 2005, Dutch police charged him with running a drug smuggling cartel from his cell but the case was dropped because of insufficient evidence.
On his release, Warren returned to his manor in Merseyside to take up his mantle as the King of Coke.
But within weeks he was busted plotting what he described as “just a little starter” to get himself re-established as the No1 drugs baron in Europe.
PROPERTIES
He was jailed again in 2009 for 13 years for trying to smuggle £1million of cannabis into Jersey – for which he is still behind bars at Full Sutton Prison near York.
Following his sentence at Jersey’s Royal Court, SOCA said Warren was on its Lifetime Offender Management List.
However, Warren could now have his vast fortune seized. After he was jailed, Jersey authorities said they were determined to force Warren to hand over his assets and are seeking a Confiscation Order for more than £200million.
Warren is determined to take his fight against the Confiscation Order – which could see police seize his properties purchased with proceeds of crime – all the way to the European courts.
His solicitor said his client will “fight it all the way”.
Last week, in a similar case that will strike fear into the London underworld, kingpin Terry Adams, 57, was jailed for eight weeks, for breaching a Financial Reporting Order, after authorities demanded details on his spending.
Officers are determined that this week’s application in the High Court will finally nail Warren’s sinister organisation.
It is understood that this is the first SCPO to be applied for through the High Court.
Breaching any SCPO can lead to five years in jail and an unlimited fine. But in true Cocky fashion, Warren laughs off the order as “a mere irritant” in his bid to remain the drug trade’s Numero Uno.
WARREN once killed a fellow prisoner in a fight.
Cemal Guclu, a Turk serving 20 years for murder, attacked him at Hoorn Prison, Holland, in 1999.
Warren punched Guclu to the ground and kicked him in the head four times. Incredibly, Guclu got up but Warren struck him again. He hit his head on the ground and later died.
Warren was convicted of manslaughter and had four years added to his sentence.
The Spanish government Friday said it has approved a decree that will make banks more than double their contribution to the Spanish deposit guarantee fund, a measure aimed at getting lenders to shoulder a bigger part of the cost of financial sector restructuring. Under the new legislation, banks will have to pay an annual fee of 0.2% of the deposits they hold into the deposit guarantee fund, up from between 0.06% and 0.1% now. Finance Minister Elena Salgado said she expects banks to contribute EUR1.5 billion to EUR1.6 billion to the fund per year after the change. "The restructuring of the financial system will have zero cost for the tax contributor, and today's law reinforces that idea," Salgado said at a press conference following the outgoing Socialist government's weekly cabinet meeting. The move follows a recent government initiative to merge the deposit guarantee fund of the commercial banks with that of the savings banks, and use its funds to cover losses resulting from sector cleanup, part of a wider plan to slash a gaping government budget deficit. The deposit guarantee fund currently holds a total of EUR6.59 billion. The move didn't go down well with bankers. The AEB, a banking association which represents Spain's commercial banks and not the savings banks, said it is "surprising and unfair" that the banks are being forced to pay more to the fund. Until now, none of the listed banks has taken state aid, while several savings banks have been bailed out. Economists and analysts are concerned that the mounting cost of the cleanup of Spain's ailing banks will undermine Spain's efforts to bring down the deficit. Spain's state-backed Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring injected EUR7.55 billion in its banks to help them meet new minimum capital requirements the government set earlier this year. This comes on top of around EUR10 billion the FROB earlier provided to banks. But the total amount falls far short of the capital needs estimated by many independent analysts. Just last month, the Bank of Spain seized Banco de Valencia SA (BVA.MC), a lender with EUR24 billion in assets that like many Spanish lenders had made big and ultimately fatal bets on lending to real-estate developers. That took the tally of nationalized banks to seven since 2008, after a massive real-estate bubble burst. Only two of these have so far been auctioned off. The Bank of Spain next week is expected to finalize the auction of Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (CAM.MC), by handing it over to midsized lender Banco de Sabadell SA (SAB.MC). Central bank Governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez recently called CAM "the worst of the worst" of the country's ailing banks, and is offering the buyer sweeping guarantees against future loan losses resulting from its exposure to the real-estate sector. The prime minister elect, Mariano Rajoy of the conservative Popular Party, has said cleaning up the banking sector is one of his main priorities when he assumes power later this month, though he has yet to spell out how he plans to conduct this cleanup
109 million euro plan to expand Marbella’s fishing port has finally been given the green light. The long planned transformation of La Bajadilla into one of the most luxurious marinas on the Mediterranean can now take shape after the Junta de Andalucia, Marbella town hall and The Nasir Bin Abdullah & Sons Consortium signed a contract allowing construction to begin. The move comes just weeks after the Andalucian High Court overruled objections to the scheme – submitted by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Tani, a member of the Quatari Royal family and owner of Malaga CF – that it would cause irreversible damage to Marbella. Work will now being within six months and will see the port undergo intense renovation and rescaling to make it ready to receive cruise liners and other large ships. In particular the plan, which is expected to take four years to complete and will create 750 jobs, includes a commercial area of 23,000 square meters, car parking with around 250 spaces, a five star hotel and three times the current number of moorings. It marks the first public private partnership to finance a sports marina in Spain and will give the contractor development rights for 40 years. According to the mayor of Marbella, Angeles Munoz, the scheme will also attract other projects to the Costa del Sol town and is particularly welcome in the current economic climate. “It is a great opportunity not to be missed,” she said.
Eighteen thousand homes were built illegally by developers during the boom years up to 2006 and thousands of people bought them in good faith. The Marbella administration has sought to resolve the issue by fining the developers and devising a plan that effectively legalises 17,500 homes. Where developers cannot be found, homeowners pay the fine.
Until now, the Andalucia regional council, within whose jurisdiction Marbella lies, had opposed the town council’s policy of legalising illegally built homes. However, the Andalucian authorities have announced they will issue a decree before the end of December agreeing to allow illegally built homes to remain standing.
However, Marbella and Andalucia agree that 500 homes remain illegal because they break multiple laws. The courts want them demolished, but Marbella’s town council is reluctant to destroy them.
“The politicians don’t want to be seen putting people out of their homes,” says Campbell Ferguson, director of Survey Spain Network of Chartered Surveyors. He advises buyers to consult a lawyer before putting in an offer on a property to find out whether it was licensed or has any fines attached to it.
Laurent Coulée, sales director at Fine & Country estate agents, says; “While nothing was built for the last five years, in the last few months we have seen some villas being constructed.”
Sierra Blanca Estates is building 36 apartments at its Reserva de Sierra Blanca scheme in the north of the town. Prices start at €1.15m for the three-bedroom apartments which are scheduled for completion in 2013. Half have been sold off-plan, with Russians the biggest buyers. Coulée says developers are gaining confidence from five infrastructure projects, three of which are under way.
First, the San Pedro Bypass, which is scheduled for completion in early 2012, will divert traffic from Marbella city centre, relieving congestion during busy summer months. Second, Marbella’s beach promenade, the Paseo Maritimo, is undergoing €10m of upgrades and extensions. Third, Malaga Airport, where a third terminal opened in March 2010, is scheduled to have a second runway completed in the first three months of 2012.
Other infrastructure schemes include the redevelopment of Marbella’s La Bajadilla marina and fishing port. Qatari developer Nasir Bin Abdullah & Sons wants to build a €400m marina with 858 moorings, including six for super-yachts, and a 200-metre pier for cruise liners. It will build shops, bars, restaurants and a five-star hotel to line the quayside and at least four blocks of apartments, by 2015. The town hall is an enthusiastic supporter of this project because it believes it will help Marbella compete with rival tourist destinations, the Côte d’Azur and Sardinia.
Also in the pipeline is a plan to extend Malaga’s commuter railway from Malaga Airport to Marbella, giving visitors and residents an alternative to travelling by road.
Assuming all five schemes are completed, Coulée says their effect on the town’s property market will be transformative. The transport schemes would make it easier for holiday homeowners to access Marbella, while the new marina would draw tourists, providing opportunities to rent out properties, he says.
Despite renewed demand, Marbella remains a buyers’ market. In prime areas, such as the city centre and along the Golden Mile, a stretch of dual carriageway lined by hotels, luxury homes and businesses, property prices need to be 40 per cent below 2006 valuations to make them saleable, says Barbara Wood of buying agency The Property Finders. If the market continues to follow the pattern of previous downturns, prices will flatline in 2012 and 2013 before rising in 2014, she forecasts.
Kristina Szekely, owner of Kristina Szekely Sotheby’s International Realty, says the eurozone crisis, coupled with Spain’s economic and debt problems, is having a negative effect on the Marbella market, but that some buyers are taking advantage of this to buy properties at relatively low prices.
Coulée says Swiss and Scandinavians are buying Marbella homes to take advantage of the fall in value of the euro relative to their national currencies. Other buyers come from Spain, Britain, Russia, Qatar and Dubai, and tend to be cash buyers who do not need a mortgage.
Buyers have some interesting properties to choose from. Fine & Country is marketing what it says is Spain’s most expensive home, the €50m La Casa Loriana which overlooks the Marbella beach and promenade. The main house, guest house, beach house and staff villa provide 4,000 sq m of accommodation, including 10 bedroom suites. Features include two swimming pools, a cinema and sweeping driveway.
Marbella’s developers and estate agents are celebrating the Popular party’s general election success in November because they believe the conservatives will support the town’s infrastructural improvements and that they may extend the previous Socialist administration’s temporary VAT cut on newly built homes. Whether that will keep housebuilders at work while the eurozone debt crisis takes its toll on Spain’s economy remains to be seen.
