Getting a handle on international wanking

Image:  redrockfx.com

SPAIN All sorts of questions arise from those of us who don't know our Libor from our assets. We know that if we're not being impacted by the present financial crisis, which in Spain is already five years old (!), things are bound to get worse long before they get any better. Below we offer an explanation as to how and why this should be. If you are a wanker or a politician, or both more likely, you should probably stop reading here. If you're an international dealer of any kind working for any international wank, you should probably be in prison. If you're just an ordinary person, a Joe or a Jan Bloggs, you should probably reach for the nearest box of tissues. If you like, just read on.>>>

Over 50 arrests in 81 countries and 13,500 web pages closed in massive counterfeit medication operation

(Illustration only: guardian.co.uk)

FRANCE (Agencies) Based in Lyon, Interpol coordinated an enormous operation against false medicines all over the world. Called Pangea IV the operation began deploying between September 20 and 27, and so far there have been 55 arrests in 81 countries, and confiscation of over €7 million in potentially dangerous drugs. Key to the success of the operation was watching over 15,000 websites -of which, 13,500 have been closed down- and online payment methods. Some 8,000 packets of false medicines were seized in 48 countries, containing 2.4 million tablets and pills supposedly for antibiotics, steroids, cancer treatments, against depression and epilepsy, as well as nutrition supplements and slimming products. Included, too, were such well known 'products' as Viagra and Cyalis, which are so often offered on the Internet and through spam e-mails.

Google's Blogger outage makes the case against a cloud-only strategy

INTERNATIONAL (ZDNet/Ed Bott/13/05/11) The same week that Google made its strongest pitch ever for putting your entire business online, one of its flagship services has failed spectacularly.
Earlier this week, Google rolled out a maintenance release for its Blogger service. Something went terribly wrong, and its Blogger customers have been locked out of their accounts for more than a day. Google’s engineers have been frantically working to restore service ever since, although they haven’t shared any details about the problem.>

Fiat buys 16% of Chrysler and now owns 46% of the American car maker

INTERNATIONAL (Agencies) Fiat has taken another step towards becoming one of the world's largest automakers when it took ownership of 46% of the US's Chrysler. The Italian firm reached an agreement to pay €869.3 million for an additional 16% of the US company. The operation is subject to a series of requirements that include payment of Chrysler's debt to the Canadian and US Governments being paid in full, according to the group's MD, Sergio Matchionne. The relationship between both firms goes back to 2009, when the Fiat group, controlled by the Agnelli family, took a 30% interest in the American manufacturer to avoid its full fledged bankruptcy. That holding is now increased to 46%, which caused a 2% upsurge in Fiat stock on the Milan exchange when the deal was announced. The present agreement includes the possibility of the Italian company acquiring a further 5% in Chrysler before the end of 2011, which would cost it nothing.

Microsoft buys Skype for €5.9 billion

INTERNATIONAL (San Francisco Chronicle) Microsoft on Tuesday placed its biggest bet yet - $8.5 billion (€5.9 billion) for Internet voice and video communications company Skype - on a deal the software giant hopes will help it better compete in a world shifting away from desktop computers.
During a news conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced the all-cash deal for Skype and outlined grand plans to bring the technology to a wider audience of consumers and business customers.>

Internatiopnal drug ring imported drugs through Algeciras port

Heroin haul

ALGECIRAS (Agencies) The Guardia Civil in Algeciras took part recently in an internation anti-drug operation that involved police in Romania, Ecuador, Italy and even the DEA in the US. The ring brought in cocaine and heroin through Algeciras port from such distant places as Ecuador and Turkey. The drugs would then find their way north, principally to Romania, then on to other parts of the EU, which accounts for the arrests of five people in Romania. After much investigation, Operation Karpatos discovered that they maintained contacts with Colombian drug lords, as well as others from Ecuador and Turkey, to which last cocaine was delivered via Italy, in exchange for heroin, which travelled by lorry through Hungary and France, among other countries.>

75% of countries perceived as corrupt

INTERNATIONAL Transparency International (TI), a non-profit international watchdog, announced over the weekend that 75 % of countries are perceived as corrupt in its 2010 Corruptions Perceptions Index. "We're not talking about corruption as in breaking the law," said Nancy Boswell, President of TI-USA, "but about how a system is perceived as being corrupt through those practices." The NGO published an interactive map on the subject. On a scale of 0 (Highly Corrupt) to 10 (Very Clean), Spain comes in at 6.1, which is the same as it was last year. The Index concludes that the international financial crisis has influenced corruption all over the world, but significantly, the OECD  countries are almost entirely absent from a list of countries that improved the perception of corruption in them. Have a look for yourself, it's interesting.

Catamaran intercepted in Straits with 3,200 kilos of hashish on board; allegedly organized by Irishman in jail

INTERNATIONAL (Agencies / Photo: Policía Nacional) In a joint operation between the National Police's Grupo Especial de Respuesta al Crimen Organizado (GRECO: Organized Crime Special Response Group) and Britain's corresponding anti-crime agency, a catamaran was intercepted in the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday. The rented boat, the Cariro II (photo), had set sail from Mallorca, according to police intelligence, and picke up 3,200 kilos of hashish near Kenitra in Morocco, and had intended to land its cargo in Helford, in the UK. The gang behind the operation was allegedly run from Málaga jail by an Irish inmate, who heads a group of mainly British criminals on the Costa del Sol, according to the same sources.>

Spain authorises underwater cable to unite three continents

(Agencies) The Spanish Ministry for Environment has accepted as viable the underwater fibre optic cable project that is to unite Europe, Africa and Asia, running from the UK to India along 15,000 kilometres (first reported here). Named the Europe India Gateway (segment 2), the project will not have to go through environmental impact reports at least in its trajectory through Spanish waters, according to the ministry, as "it will not produce significant environmental impact with its corrective measures." Nevertheless, the promoting company, Verizon, will have to obtain all the necessary licenses and permits as established by law.

How did Spanish politician become Bin Laden?

(Agencies) The national spokesperson for Izquierda Unida, Gaspar Llamazares, is livid because the FBI has used his beard and hair to create a picture of what Osama Bin Laden might look like today. Llamazares says that he is not planning to travel to the US any time soon because "My life is in danger, not Bin Laden's." In the meantime he is asking the FBI for an explanation. More pictures>

Spanish Haiti mission sends six planeloads of aid

(Photo: AP) Félix del Amo, head of the fire brigade at Tordesillas, in Castilla y León, is one of several firefighters who has helped rescue five people from the rubble at Port-au-Prince. This is his first humanitarian mission abroad. Spain, one of the first countries to react immediately to the disaster in Haiti, has already sent six planeloads of humanitarian aid to the island. (See also: Cybercriminals use Haiti to profit from well-intended donations)

Haiti: HOW CAN YOU HELP?

(Photo: Red Cross) The moment the world became aware of the magnitude of the tragedy in Haiti, numerous NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) opened special emergency accounts to raise funds not only to help with the purchase of primary need material, but also in the reconstruction of Port au Prince. These are some of the Spanish-based accounts where you can help:>

Pillage and violence in Port au Prince

(Photo: Red Cross) Latest estimates put the dead in the Haiti earthquake at between 30,000 and 50,000. The injured, say some estimates, could amount to a million 'at least'. International rescue and aid organizations, lacking normal communications, have reported widespread pillage and violence in the country's capital, Port au Prince. The injured wander the streets, the only hospital is collapsed ...

Earthquake shatters Haiti: worst in 200 years

(Photo: EFE/Radioteleginenhaiti.com) If you haven't been on another planet this morning, you will have heard about it. The poorest country on the American continent and one of the poorest in the world has been devastated by an earthquake, 7.0 on the Richter scale. Thousands are dead and there is as yet no firm number of injured. Spanish NGOs have already sent advance contingents to help in rescue operations; local aid organizations can't operate as most buildings in the capital Port au Prince are rubble. One quote: "If the President's mansion is destroyed, what could have happened to the adobe shacks?" See more photos on RTVE and about Haiti on Wikipedia). Prospero comment:>