News headlines

SPANISH NEWS

Mariano Rajoy, the President of the conservative Partido Popular stated yesterday during a meeting in Soria that his party is demanding that members of the Government appear bin Parliament next week to answer a battery of questions. Mostly these centre around Judge Fernando Grande Marleska and his decision to remove Telesforo Rubio as his main police liaison, and implying the Commissioner Rubio was acting at the behest of the Socialist Government when he warned members of Eta that a police raid was about to take place. He added: “No normal person would think nothing of it when a Judge removes the head of the police fight against terrorism from his courtroom, and we are now seeing the terrible consequences of this. Everyone is fed up with seeing Batasuna spokesman Arnaldo Otegi on television newscasts, when what they really want is an appearance by the Prime Minister explaining what is going on.”

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Tensions in the Middle East were raised considerably yesterday after Israel blocked the road to Damascus and intensified its attacks on Hezbollah positions south of Beirut. Meanwhile insider sources stated that the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped in Lebanon may have been separated and possibly taken to Iran. Hezbollah yesterday responded by sending two rockets that landed near Haifa – the first time that rockets have hit so deeply into Israeli territory. All this uncertainty has had a very negative effect on the markets, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling by 116 points yesterday – the third day in a row that Wall Street dropped by three figures. Equally, the price of oil has now risen to $78 a barrel due to the uncertainty of the Middle East situation.

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Firefighters in California dug in in blistering heat yesterday in an attempt to stop the current wave of wildfires from spreading to the mountain resort community of Big Bear Lake. The current blazes, that were started by lightning strikes, have already destroyed almost 100 homes, and forced the evacuation of over a thousand people.

SHOWBIZ

Actor John Voight has stated that he ‘very much wants to see’ his granddaughter, despite having an almost inexistent relationship with his daughter Angelina Jolie, whom he accused at one point of having mental problems. Now, he told People Magazine that he ‘has never seen my daughter so happy’ thanks to her relationship with Brad Pitt. However, Mr. Voight as yet has had no reply at all from his daughter, who is now set to star as Minnie Pearl in a new film about the life of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002

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It has been revealed that the film “King Kong’ made by “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson in New Zealand has benefited from a Government Grant of almost $50 million as it was largely shot in Mr. Jackson’s native country. In some quarters the film has been perceived as a failure as it did not live up to expectations in the opening weekend in the united States.

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What definitely did exceed expectations was the release in the united States of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” that seems set to break all the current box office records. However, in interviews, star Johnny Depp, who plays Captain Jack Sparrow in the film, stated that he ‘did not enjoy’ the romance scenes with Keira Knightly – his co-star. The 43 year-old actor stated that the 20-year age difference between him and Miss Knightly ‘meant that I could have been kissing one of my daughters’. Mr. Depp is married to French singer and movie star Vanessa Paradis and the couple have two daughters.

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