Costa del Sol cold weather warning

 

THE big freeze which has gripped Europe is due to reach the Costa del Sol tonight (Thursday). Temperatures in Marbella will plummet overnight tonight (Thursday) to 0C with highs on tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday of 7C and 9C. Similar temperatures will be seen on the rest of the coast, as well as Mijas and Coin. Residents further inland in towns including Ronda should prepare for bitter cold, the Spanish Met office AEMET predicts temperatures will plunge to -2C over the weekend. Charity ‘Age UK’ has warned people to wrap up warm as the cold can kill, especially the elderly. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of elderly Expats living inland in Malaga Province which are vulnerable. Michelle Mitchell, charity director general at Age UK said: "Low temperatures raise blood pressure which puts people at a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes as well as increasing the likelihood and severity of flu and other respiratory problems.” People are advised to check local weather forecasts on the radio or via the internet, these can be seen in English on Spain’s met office website www.aemet.es (click on the word ‘welcome’ on the top right). An icy cold weather front originating in Siberia (Russia) has caused thermometers to drop as low as -33C in some parts of Europe where dozens have been killed, mainly Ukraine and Poland. Yesterday (Wednesday) there were severe weather warnings in parts of Britain. Temperatures in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia fell to -20C, the lowest recorded in 50 years.

Brussels gives green light for storage of Olive Oil

 

The European Commission is to give the green light this month for a new storage of olive oil for as much as 100,000 tons for five months. Taking that amount from the marketplace means that prices will be controlled. A similar amount was stored last November and since then only 45,000 tons has been released from cooperatives and some industrial groups. The olive oil sector is in a deep crisis with very low prices over the past year, a lower quality of product and an average 155 € per kilo for normal, and under 2 € for virgin extra. EU aid of between 80cents and 1€ only partially solved the problem and so producers are turning to storing the oil to put up the price. Minister for Agriculture, Arias Cañete, considers storage to be just another measure. Last season 1.4 million tons were produced, an amount expected to be beaten this year.

Demi Moore on road to recovery

. Known for its individualized approach to addiction treatment, the super-posh Cirque Lodge has also helped Lindsay Lohan, Mary-Kate Olsen and Eva Mendes overcome their addictions. Moore's decision to seek treatment comes on the heels of a sad downward spiral for the 'Margin Call' star, who split from husband Ashton Kutcher in November. Friends are relieved that the actress is seeking treatment - more than 20 years after she first went to rehab in 1985. "She knows she's in a bad place and needs help. Rehab is the only thing she can do right now. She needed something serious to get her back on track," a source said. Meanwhile, singer-actress Miley Cyrus has spoken out in support of Moore. The 19-year-old, who stars alongside Moore in the forthcoming film 'LOL' took to her Facebook page to stand by Moore. "Everyone needs to leave Demi alone. She's been through so much the past year. She doesn't need all this. How can you talk about someone you don't know?'," Cyrus wrote. "The media makes everyone in Hollywood seem weak, stupid or unbalanced. Just because she's in Hollywood doesn't mean she's on drugs. NOT EVERYONE IS ON DRUGS!!!.

Gangster 'Mad Dog' in savage beating of murder supergrass

 

A BRUTAL gangland thug was spared even more jail time after he admitted his role in a savage assault on a criminal who became a supergrass in a high profile murder trial. Crumlin gangster Ian 'Mad Dog' Maloney (25) repeatedly kicked Joey O'Brien in the head as he lay semi-conscious in Charlie's Restaurant, Dame Street, on January 4, 2009. sickening Maloney -- who was connected to 'Fat' Freddie Thompson's mob -- is currently serving a 12-year sentence for the €1.2m armed robbery of Paul Sheeran Jewellers in Dundrum Town Centre on September 3, 2008. Just four months after that robbery he subjected Joey O'Brien -- the State's 'star witness' in a murder trial last summer -- to a beating which a judge yesterday described as "sickening". Self-confessed Crumlin drug dealer O'Brien -- who is now in the witness protection programme -- gave the key testimony that helped secure the conviction of gangland killer Peter Kenny (30), from Rialto, for the savage murder of Johnny 'Champagne' Carroll in February, 2009. A source explained: "A lot of people want O'Brien dead -- there is a contract on his head. "Mad Dog hated him because he used to bully him when he was a young fella -- he was delighted to get a chance to batter him. "The beating that O'Brien got was very severe -- Maloney was calling him a rat as he danced on his head." Yesterday, Dublin Circuit Court heard O'Brien woke up the next morning in hospital with a broken jaw, smashed teeth and a broken eye socket. He was badly concussed and could not remember much about the attack. Pieter Le Vert, defending Maloney, submitted that his client has offered a full apology. He said Maloney's brother had died several years ago shortly after been released from garda custody and he blames the authorities for this. He said this led to his client starting to drink and use drugs before becoming involved in crime. Mr Le Vert said Maloney is now drug free and the recent birth of his son has "changed him entirely". Judge Nolan called it a "sickening assault" and said it appears Maloney inflicted most of the injuries. assault However, he said there is some hope he will reform and that he would not extend his prison term. He sentenced Maloney to four years to run alongside his current sentence. Mad Dog's friend, Jonathon Murray (22), was jailed for 18 months for his role in the assault. The court heard that Maloney has 73 previous convictions and Murray has 48, including four for drug dealing.

Canadian woman charged in Gadhafi smuggling plot

 

The Mount Forest, Ont., woman held in a Mexican jail since November in a suspected plot to smuggle Moammar Ghadafi's son and his family out of Libya has been charged with falsifying documents, organized crime and attempted human smuggling. The charges were laid the same day Cyndy Vanier's family released a letter outlining what she calls deplorable conditions endured in the Mexican jail where she is being detained. Vanier, 52, was picked up in Mexico, where she and her husband have a winter home, last Nov. 10 and held without charges until Tuesday when a judge ordered warrants against two women and two men for a suspected plot to whisk Saadi Gadhafi and his family to Mexico. Those four people were Vanier, a mediator specializing aboriginal dispute and president of Vanier Consulting, and three other arrested in the alleged plot. Vanier has been pointed to as the ring leader. The charges were outlined in a press release from Mexico's office of the attorney general, who said its investigation showed a group had attempted to smuggle Gadhafi's son and his family in July but failed. A decision was made to make a second attempt and use another aircraft company to move the Gadhafis. The charges include accusations of falsifying a passport, voter registration card and a birth certificate. A house was bought in Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico, to hide the family. There was also an attempt to buy an apartment in St. Regis hotel in Mexico City. The allegations, unproven in court, were linked to the theft of 4,586 passports in 2009. The charges outlined in the news release are for human smuggling, organized crime and counterfeiting three official documents. Vanier and the other female suspect are being held in a federal prison in Chetumal, Quintana Roo. The men are in a facility in Veracruz. Vanier wrote in the letter released by her family that she has been abused and tortured while in custody. Until Wednesday, she had been held on a judge's order. Under Mexico's preventative arrest law, people can be held up to 90 days without charge as investigators gather enough evidence to charge them. Bail is uncommon and not available at all for people accused of serious crimes. Her Canadian lawyer, Paul Copeland, said there was no coincidence as to why the letter was released early Wednesday when Vanier was finally charged. The family had it in their possession for some time, but waited until the detention order was over "so not to prejudice the situation." A spokesman for Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy confirmed Vanier contacted the Canadian government to allege she'd been abused in Mexican custody. "Officials have received, but have not verified Ms. Vanier's allegations. Canadians officials are reviewing these allegations and will act accordingly," John Babcock said. "Ms. Vanier faces very serious allegations in Mexico including the falsification of documents, human trafficking and participating in organized crime. Canadian officials are providing her with consular assistance, but Canadians travelling abroad are subject to the laws in the countries they visit. "Canada will continue to interact with Mexican authorities on her behalf as required, and our consular officials are ensuring that her medical concerns are being addressed." In a letter to Canada's foreign affairs department obtained by the CBC, Vanier said a dozen officers took her into custody on Nov. 9 and one of them struck her en route to a detention centre as they drove past her co-accused and lawyers. "I tried to yell out the open window ... and as I did, one of the female officers struck me with her elbow on the lower right side over the kidney. I could hardly breathe it hurt so much ... I started to cry ... and they laughed at me," she alleges. Police accused her of being a terrorist and didn't allow her to call a lawyer or the Canadian Embassy, she said. Vanier said she was also denied access to the bathroom for hours and not given medical attention. Mexican authorities allege Vanier was the ringleader who tried to smuggle the slain Libyan dictator's son, Saadi Gadhafi, and his family into the country by falsifying documents, opening bank accounts and purchasing real estate. Vanier, a vacation property owner in Mexico, said she was in the country with her husband looking to buy property. Police questioned her about her real-estate hunting. Further suspicion arose because Vanier travelled to Libya in July for the engineering firm SNC-Lavalin with a former Gadhafi staffer as her bodyguard. Three other people, two from Mexico and a man from Denmark, have been detained as alleged accomplices. "I have suffered physical, mental and emotional abuse and trauma, and my rights as a Canadian citizen have been violated based on my international human rights as well as the Mexican constitution," she wrote.

German nationals face death penalty over drug smuggling charges in Malaysia

 

A district court near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport charged the three men on January 13 with drug trafficking, said a customs official who declined to be named. Airport officials arrested the men arriving from Istanbul on January 1 after finding 10.2 kilogrammes of methamphetamine hidden in the bags they were carrying, the official said on Wednesday. He said no plea had been recorded from the three pending the case's transfer to a high court once a chemist report on the drugs is ready. The two Germans have parents from Afghanistan but were born in Germany, while the Moroccan has lived in Germany for 15 years, the official said. Authorities in the Southeast Asian country went on "red alert" late last year following a surge in arrests and drug seizures, tightening passenger and luggage screening.

Times of London Dragged Into UK's Hacking Scandal - Another Rupert Murdoch newspaper being probed, says lawmaker

 

Police are investigating alleged email interception by Rupert Murdoch's Times of London, a British lawmaker said today—dragging Britain's oldest national newspaper into the broadening scandal over press wrongdoing. Labour Party legislator Tom Watson, who helped lift the lid on tabloid phone hacking, released a letter from police confirming they were investigating alleged email hacking by the Times. The 226-year-old Times has acknowledged that a former reporter tried to intercept emails in 2009 to unmask an anonymous policeman who blogged as NightJack. Editor James Harding told Britain's media ethics inquiry last month that the reporter had acted on his own and had been reprimanded. The paper later published the blogger's name, but Harding insisted it had been obtained by legal means. In the wake of the new development, Harding will be summoned back to give further testimony to the judge-led ethics inquiry.