Gibraltar marks 40 years of discrimination against its Moroccan community

Gibraltar marks 40 years of discrimination against its Moroccan community: "In a small corner of what was the British Empire, 1,200 Moroccans continue to experience 40 years of multi-layered discrimination at the hands of the Gibraltarian authorities.
The Moroccans, who were invited to Gibraltar to boost the workforce when Spanish dictator Franco closed the border in 1969, continue to be denied such basic human rights as the right to vote and access to affordable public housing.
This is because very few Moroccans have been successful in gaining citizenship rights because of the adoption of an unclear and arbitrary immigration policy by the Gibraltarian government, according to Unite, the largest union in the self-governing territory.
Unite, which is revitalising its campaign for equality of treatment for the Moroccan and other non-dom workers in Gibraltar, has pinpointed five areas of discrimination."

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BILLION EUROS OF COCAINE BOUND FOR COSTA | Costa Blanca | Leader Newspaper - News, Sport, Advertising, Property, Classifieds - Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, Costa de Almeria, Spain

BILLION EUROS OF COCAINE BOUND FOR COSTA | Costa Blanca | Leader Newspaper - News, Sport, Advertising, Property, Classifieds - Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, Costa de Almeria, Spain: "Cocaine ALLEGEDLY bound for the Costa Blanca and with a street value estimated at €1billion has been seized by British detectives and Gambian police and twelve suspected traffickers have been arrested in connection with the stash, thought to be the biggest ever seized in West Africa."

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Málaga football club is being purchased by the Qatar Sheik

Málaga football club is being purchased by the Qatar Sheik

A press conference is to be held at the Rosaleda stadium in Málaga at 5pm tonight as the Qatar Sheik, Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thiani, takes over the club which he has purchased from Fernando Sanz.
He was at the club yesterday to meet with Sanz and other representatives, and was shown the ground for the first time.

La Opinión de Málaga reports that it is his intention to redesign the stadium, and notes the Sheik was dressed in a blue and white shirt and jeans, and not in the typical Arab dress seen in photos of him upto now.

The club’s sale cannot be made official until July 27, when the statutes will be changed, and a current clause which prohibits a foreign owner will be withdrawn.

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high-speed train passing through a Spanish railway station has hit a group of young people crossing the tracks, killing at least 12 people.

high-speed train passing through a Spanish railway station has hit a group of young people crossing the tracks, killing at least 12 people.

The train was travelling through Castelldefels Playa station near Barcelona when the incident occurred.

At least 14 other people were injured, three critically, officials said.

It is believed they were heading to the beach to celebrate a summer festival and were crossing the tracks rather than using a pedestrian underpass.

They had just arrived on a commuter train from Barcelona. The authorities have said the underpass was signposted and open.

'Brutal'
One witness, Fernando Ortega, told Spanish media the train they had arrived on was "very full" and a large group of people "decided to jump across the tracks and cross to the other side of the station" to avoid the crush.

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The euphoria of getting off the train immediately became screams

Marcelo Cardona
Eye-witness
"At that moment a train came from the other direction and ran everyone over."

Another witness, who was not named, said: "The door was closed and we could not get through, so we tried to go through the side of the train, and there was no light and nobody alerted us that the train was coming. We were more than 30 people."

Marcelo Cardona, a Bolivian who was on the commuter train, said the youths had crossed "in a wave" but that he had held back and waited on the platform.

"The euphoria of getting off the train immediately became screams. There were people screaming, 'my daughter, my sister,'" he told the Associated Press.

Mr Cardona said he saw "mutilated people, blood everywhere, blood on the platform".

The owner of a nearby supermarket described the impact between the train and the pedestrians as "brutal".

"The noise was like rocks being crushed," he told El Mundo.

The accident happened at around 2330 local time (2130 GMT), the interior ministry of Catalonia said.

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Spanish Banks Slip on S&P Caution - WSJ.com

Spanish Banks Slip on S&P Caution - WSJ.com: "Shares in Spanish banks were lower Tuesday after credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's warned that more of the country's real-estate developers are likely to fail, leading to higher credit losses on lending to the sector.
Shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA fell 1.7% and Banco Popular Español SA ended down 1.6%."

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Spain to extend smoking ban to bars, restaurants next year < Spanish news | Expatica Spain

Spain to extend smoking ban to bars, restaurants next year < Spanish news | Expatica Spain: "Spain will amend its anti-tobacco law to extend a smoking ban to bars, cafes, restaurants and all other enclosed public spaces in the country next year, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said Wednesday.
The new rules will exempt hotel rooms and private smoking clubs, as well as prisons and psychiatric hospitals because people in these institutions 'do not have the freedom to have private spaces', she told a news conference.
'Smoking will be allowed in terraces, at stadiums, at bullrings, at all open spaces,' the minister added.
Under a law that came into effect in the country of some 47 million people in January 2006, smoking was banned in the workplace as well as at shops, schools, hospitals, cultural centres and on public transport.
Spain's Hotel and Catering Federation has opposed further smoking restrictions. It argues sales would fall by seven percent in restaurants and by 10-15 percent in bars and cafes if a full smoking ban comes into effect.
But the government argues that other European nations have already banned smoking at bars, restaurants and other leisure establishments without harming their economy."

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