Spanish fighter planes in Libyan skies

LIBYA (Agencies) Two Spanish F18 Hornet fighters flew their first sortie over Libya on Monday morning, to enforce the no-fly zone decreed by the international coalition to prevent Muammar Gaddafi's forces from crushing a rebel uprising. Spain has contributed a total of four F18s from its air force to the military effort by the international coalition, which began air strikes in the North African country on Saturday. The two planes left their base in Sardinia accompanied by a Boeing 707 re-fuelling carrier, which also belongs to the Spanish army, and were back on the Italian island by the early afternoon.>

Defence fences off a building in ruins

TARIFA (Photo: EuropaSur) The Ministry of Defence has fenced off the old NCOs residence that is attached to the old Moorish walls in the Jesús area of the town and right next to the church of the same name. Empty, and neglected for some twenty years, the building is slowly crumbling into dust, according to Mayor Miguel Manella. The Army made the decision to avoid danger to unauthorised people who frequent the place.  It is also hoped that the state of this building will not affect others nearby that have been restored recently. Manella says that the ministry is offering the building and land, which originally belonged to the town but to which the Army now has squatters' rights, for €3 million, a sum that cannot be raised in the present financial climate, adding that the town would then also have to raise the money to restore it. The Ministry of Defense owns inumerable such properties throughout the country in similar if not worse condition.

New Commander British Forces, Gibraltar

GIBRALTAR (Agencies) Commodore Tom Karsten (photo of his days as Royal Navy Hudson Fellow at Oxford University) received an 11 Gun Salute on Tuesday to mark his arrival as the new Commander British Forces, Gibraltar. Following the retirement of Commodore Bell who left the Rock on Tuesday at the end of his Navy career, Commander Karsten takes over the post. He is acompanied by his wife, Sarah, while their three children remain at school in the UK. Born in 1961, Commander Karsten joined the RN in 1979 and began his seagoing career after years of training and study at Dartmouth, Exeter Univesity, among others. A number of warfare appointments include his first command , the Hunt class mine hunter HMS BICESTER (1993-94), following an appointemnt as Naval Assistant to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet during the First Gulf War. Before taking over as CBF Gibraltar, Commander Karsten spent two terms at Oxford University as the Royal Navy's Senior Hudson Fellow researching Arctic geopolitics.