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...remember to say you saw it in the SOL TIMES
SOLTIMES NOVEMBER 2010
British pubs raided on Costa del Sol Expat bars in Southern Spain have been targeted by a police search for wanted criminals
A police raid on the Costa del Sol for on-the-run criminals has targeted 15 British pubs. Armed officers spent four days searching bars in the popular holiday resort for their most-wanted criminals. Operation Cardhu targeted pubs and bars in the resorts of Marbella, Fuengirola, Calahonda, Torremolinos, Benalmadena and La Cala. National Police arrested four expats with outstanding warrants and a pub owner who was allegedly selling drugs from his premises. During the raid, hundreds of British expats and holidaymakers were ordered to identify themselves to officers.
Most of the detained Brits were wanted over drugs offences. “We know there are still many British fugitives hiding out in the Costa del Sol,” a police source said. “We want those fugitives to know they are not safe from justice here and they will be tracked down and caught.” The south coast of Spain earned the nickname Costa del Crime in the early 1980s. Britain and Spain had no extradition treaty between 1978 and 1985, and crooks took advantage by flocking to the area, which
enjoys 300 days of sunshine a year. A new treaty was signed in 1985 but British criminals have continued to hide out there, mingling easily with the large expat community. Up to one million Brits are thought to earn property in Spain. In recent years there has been increased co-operation between Spanish and British authorities over the issue. A Crimestoppers-backed campaign to track down wanted Brits in Spain, called Operation Captura, has led to at least 34 arrests.
Cameron leads largest trade delegation to China in 200 years
Talks to boost trade between Britain and China were under way in Beijing this morning at the start of three days of intense negotiations by the largest British delegation to go to China in more than 200 years
Sport Christian Pilgrimage Is Booming,
increase their presence in China. Although China is the world’s second largest economy with an enviable 10pc economic growth rate, its trade with Britain remains disappointingly small, with UK exports China totalling just £7.7bn in 2009.
Not Just For The Faithful!
Mr Cable said that Britain was determined improve on the lacklustre figures, capitalising further on business opportunities thrown up by China’s massive program of urbanisation and infrastructure investment as well its growing consumer and services sectors. “China represents the biggest source of demand in the world for many of the products that we in the UK have to offer,” Mr Cable said.
As the Roman Catholic Church suffers paedophile scandals and falling congregations, Pope Benedict XVI will spotlight one centuriesold Christian tradition whose popularity is soaring The Way of St. James pilgrimage route, which ends in the medieval Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, is attracting record numbers. And it’s not just those seeking religious salvation who are embarking on what is known in Spanish as the Camino de Santiago, as has been the case since the Middle Ages, but also growing numbers of non-believers in search of spiritual renewal. “In Western society there is an absence of moral values, people are looking for something, something different, capable of filling this void,” said Father Jenaro Cebrian Franco, who has run Santiago’s pilgrimage centre for the past six years. “People come to the Camino to make sense of their lives,” said the 76-year-old priest. He said he could relate “countless experiences” of people who have had a religious or spiritual awakening on the walk. The Camino is in fact not one route but several, which start at different points in France and Spain and all end in Santiago, where the 12th-century Romanesque cathedral is believed to hold the remains of St. James the Apostle. Considered the third most holy place in the Roman Catholic world in the Middle Ages after Jerusalem and Rome, Santiago, in the rugged northwestern region of Galicia, has drawn pilgrims for more than 1,000 years. A 12th-century French monk and scholar, Aymeric Picaud, even wrote a guide, including descriptions of villages along the way -- and warnings about what he considered some of the unsavoury inhabitants. It is now thought to be one of the world’s first ever tourist guidebooks. Renewed interest in modern times was sparked by visits to Santiago by the late Pope John Paul II in 1982 and 1989, said Father Jenaro. He said the number of pilgrims rocketed from almost 10,000 to some 99,000 from 1992 to 1993, the first real “boom year.” In 2004, the last Holy Year -- which is whenever July 25, the name day of St. James, falls on a Sunday -- some 180,000 people took the Camino. Since January 2010 -- another Holy Year -- the number is already around 260,000. And a new surge is expected from the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, who will say mass in the vast Plaza Obradoiro outside the cathedral’s main
facade in the city’s medieval core. The pilgrims arrive exhausted but exultant at the pilgrimage centre, an old house on one of the city’s narrow cobbled streets, many limping with bandaged feet or carrying heavy backpacks, and swapping stories about their experiences. They stand in line, sometimes for hours, on two flights of stairs to receive their Compostela, or certificate, proving they have walked at least the last 100 kilometres (60 miles) or cycled twice that distance. In the crowded entrance, abandoned walking sticks fashioned from tree branches are piled high. Many pilgrims queue again outside the cathedral to embrace the statue of Saint James. But not all are true believers, or even Christians. From 2004 to 2009, the percentage of those undertaking the Camino for purely non-religious reasons has nearly doubled from 5.61 percent to 9.81 percent. One of those, Julien Jouanolle, a 23-year-old unemployed electrician from France, decided to take the Camino after reading best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho’s book describing his own pilgrimage in 1986. “It was a sort of voyage within myself, a way to sort things out,” said Jouanolle, who walked 777 kilometres over 35 days with a friend. Others see the trip as a sporting challenge, or a chance to share time with friends or to meet likeminded people. Luis Real, 62, a Spanish photographer and an agnostic, said he and 12 friends walked or cycled 267 kilometres to Santiago, just “because we like sport.” On the Camino, “people are ready to share and help each other, in a society in which there is a great lack of solidarity, a great lack of communication,” said Father Jenaro. Be they “believers or non-believers” the Camino leads people “to the mystery of something that is at the heart of all human beings and which only has to be in the right conditions to appear.” He said the visit to Spain by the pope, who is also consecrating Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica on Sunday, “responds to his desire to be a pilgrim at the tomb of St James.”
Vince Cable, the business secretary opened proceedings at the annual Joint Economic Trade Commission, meeting China’s commerce minister Chen Deming ahead of the signing of a number of deals between British and Chinese companies. David Cameron, who departs for Beijing later today for his maiden visit to China as Prime Minister, has said he wants to forge a “much stronger” relationship with China as Britain looks to export its way back into the black. However, so far his achievements are lagging well behind the EU15 billion of trade deals secured by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week. The largest deal announced so far includes a license to export breeding pigs to China, worth £45m over five years. The other major agreement was a £4m contract for the East Midlands architects Benoy which has capitalised on China’s building boom, and is now planning to open a headquarters in Beijing. However, the majority of the deals announced on Monday by UKTI, Britain’s trade promotion, were worth less than £1m. Among them were a deal to provide products for Guangzhou’s metro worth £35,000 and a deal to make a promotional film for Shanghai’s government worth £200,000 to £500,000. However, sources at the British delegation insisted that a number of bigger deals were in the pipeline. More than 40 executives from Britain’s biggest companies, including Alliance Boots, Virgin, Shell and Barclays will accompany the ministers in the hope of leveraging high-level political backing to
“This brings a huge increase in opportunities for UK firms given that they are globally competitive in services, advanced manufacturing and engineering, life sciences and creative industries.” Sources in Beijing said the three days of official meetings would focus primarily on trade issues, including breaking down China’s trade barriers, however Mr Cameron will also have to decide how to address growing international concerns over China’s human rights record. The award last month of the Nobel peace prize to an imprisoned Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, has focused attention on China’s repression of those who challenge its ruling one-party state, with rights groups reporting more than 50 dissidents arrested since the award. Mr Cameron will meet both China’s premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao but away from the high politics of state, will find time for a brief trip to the Great Wall and a visit to a Chinese school. Other ministers in Beijing this week include the Chancellor George Osborne, who will hold an economic and financial dialogue with Wang Qishan, China’s point-man on international economic affairs, covering issues including the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan and market access problems. Two other ministers will also be in Beijing; the Education Secretary Michael Gove who hopes increase exchanges between British and Chinese students and Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, who opens a new UK-China energy dialogue aimed at helping British companies capture a slice of China’s burgeoning green tech market.
Hospitals facing closer scrutiny of death rates All deaths in hospital and within a month of discharge are to be monitored under a new system in England
The scheme is being introduced in April following the Stafford Hospital scandal when the NHS was accused of being slow to react to the high number of deaths. There are currently a variety of tracking systems which are used, but only about 80% of deaths are recorded. The new system - Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicators - aims to ensure concerns are responded to quickly. It is being dubbed a “smoke alarm” in that an alert does not guarantee there is definitely something wrong, but that it should be investigated Monthly data will be published and rises in deaths or a consistently high rate will have to be investigated by the individual trust in conjunction with the regulator. The system will take into account local factors, such as how ill the patients are, and judge whether
the death rate it is within an expected range or above or below it. It was designed by an expert panel including representatives from leading think-tanks, senior doctors, the health regulator and Dr Foster Intelligence, a private body which tracks death rates. Ian Dalton, a senior NHS manager who helped design the new system, said: “This is a huge achievement. “A high SHMI on its owns is not an indication of poor standards of care but it is a trigger to take action. “Hospital boards across the country have a responsibility to pursue questions and quick action will help to ensure safe care for patients at all times.”