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The Senate in Madrid yesterday formally approved the amendments to the Valencian Statutes of Autonomy. The measures were passed after agreement had been reached between the Socialists and the conservative parted Popular, and is seen as a personal triumph for Francisco Camps the PP President of the Valencian Community. The passed measures, that will bow be returned to Valencia for final ratification in the Valencian Parliament, will now put the Community ‘at the top of the ladder’ in the scale of importance of the various autonomies of Spain. Serafin Castellano, the PP spokesman in the Valencian Parliament termed the agreement in the Senate as ‘historic’ and ‘one that would place the Community into one of the top spots in importance, both nationally and internationally’, and in the process assure the financial future for all Valencians.
The Ontinyente judge in charge of the investigations of money laundering on the part of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto yesterday stated that she hoped to be able to have the former Prime Minister give her testimony in London. All in all the judge is accusing Mrs. Bhutto, as well as Abdul Reman Malik, the former director of the Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency and businessman Syed Hassan Jafri of taking part in an immense money laundering scheme involving millions of Dollars and UK Pounds. The investigation started in October 2004, when ‘several doubts over the provenance of certain funds’ became evident. The funds were all placed in six accounts in a bank in Ontinyente. The future hearings are probably going to take a considerable time before they become a reality as the judge’s request has to go before the Valencian Superior Court of Justice, then the Madrid Prosecution service and the Foreign Ministry before arriving at the Spanish Embassy in London
A couple living close to Alicante were woken up at 3 am by a gang of intruders armed with iron bars, who beat them up and demanded money. According to the wife, who tried to calm the men down, she witnessed her husband receiving ‘ a tremendous beating’ and then he slumped on the ground. Meanwhile, the gang continually demanded money., beating up the wife as well as her two children of 12 and 17. After eventually getting hold of 3,000 Euros and some jewellery, the gang continued to beat up the husband as they considered the money ‘insufficient’. After about an hour the gang locked the family in a bathroom and took away the door handle, which meant that it took them an hour to find their way out and raise the alarm. First to arrive was the emergency medical service SAMU who immediately cared for the family and took the husband to hospital where he was treated for his contusions as well as for a broken nose, whilst members of the various police forces combed the house in search of clues and forensic evidence.
Just after had had undertaken a trip to Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan, the ground was cut out under Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, by his opposite number in the Defence Ministry, Jose Bono, who announced that some 200 more troops would be joining the Spanish contingent in Afghanistan. The announcement was not viewed well in the Foreign Ministry, as the declarations from the Defence Ministry have now reduced the importance of the other visits by Mr. Moratinos.
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An investigation undertaken by Jose Antonio Abellan, the Sports Director of the Cadena COPE radio chain has revealed that one of the Spanish audience measurement services ‘is a complete farce’ . Mr. Abellan and his team, who began their investigations in September and only concluded them a few days ago, stated that the EGM media study group ‘twisted figures as it saw fit, interviewed people with little or no knowledge of Spanish and on top of that asked another interminable list of questions about consumer products’. He added that the results of his investigations have been undertaken with notarized documents, that in some cases showed that despite EGM affirming the contrary, interviews in certain cities of Spain were never carried out at all.
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After taking over control of the Bank of Spain, the Socialist Government yesterday took over the control of the Madrid Stock Exchange control body with the appointment of Julio Segura to the board. Previously the body had been ruled by supporters of the Partido Popular.
Mohammed El Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Organization yesterday stated that Iran would indeed be brought before the United Nations Security Council for its nuclear programme. He also called for calm after aggressive diplomatic exchanges ensued inside the UN between Iran and the United States over the nuclear enrichment programme.
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At least 50 workers for a security company in Iraq have been kidnapped in Zaiyuna, an area east of Baghdad. The kidnappers all wore Iraqi police uniforms.
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The Mayor of Buenos Aires has been suspended, in a move that was undertaken last November. The suspension follows the deaths of 193 people in a disco fire in 2004 in a location whose license had expired and that was overfilled withy dancers.
Both the Spanish Government’s Cultural department as well as that of Andalucia have sprung into action after the auction house Christie’s revealed yesterday that it was placing on sale some six beams from the Mosque in Cordoba. Both the autonomous as well as national governments want to know how the beams came to be in private hands, and how they were acquired. They have also been in touch with Interpol and have formally asked Christie’s to suspend the auction – that was set for April 4 – until they have carried out their investigations, not the least of which is to establish whether the beams are genuine.
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