Portuguese police have always thought and still do to this day believe the McCanns fabricated 'an abduction' to conceal the death of their daughter. The police also seem certain that the McCanns disposed of Madeleine's body in Heulva....it was always thought strange that cadaver dogs would indicate to a car that was hired after Madeleine disappeared.... even stranger that the McCanns had explanations for ' the smell of death' in the car...dirty nappies and rotting meat. Stranger still, it never occurred to them that this hire car may have been rented by the abductor... a long shot but possible !

Madeleine McCann case - Portuguese and Spanish Police are meeting in Huelva
larger | smaller
By h.b. - Oct 2, 2007 - 12:28 PM

Photo of Kate McCann and the twins taken in the U.K. - Photo EFE

The Portuguese press say the police think that the McCann's may have used a trip to Huelva, which they consider as suspicious, to move the child's body.


Portuguese Judicial Police from Portimao are meeting with Spanish colleagues in the Spanish city of Huelva today, according to the Spanish agency Europa Press in order to verify the details of the trip to the city which the McCann parents made on August 3, three months after the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine McCann.


The trip was taken in the company of a ‘reduced number of journalists’ according to reports, but police note that there was a two hour period when the parents were alone. The journey was made in the Renault Scenic car which later was found to have DNA remains.


Police think the trip may have been linked to the disposal of the body of Madeleine, and note that businesses in Huelva were closed on the day because it was a local fiesta. They say they parents may have been visiting a previously made grave for the child.


The Portuguese police admit that the body could have been moved to somewhere close to Huelva, which is 50 kms over the border into Spain, according to the Portuguese newspaper ‘Correio da Manha’.


It comes as the Portuguese paper says the police have dismissed the reports that the child may have been kidnapped in some sort of revenge against the holiday complex Ocean Club, and they have added that the parents are ‘trying to distract and interrupt the investigation’.


Another Portuguese paper, ‘Diario de Noticias’, has reported today that the Judicial police in Portugal have accused the British police of showing favouritism to the McCann’s – ‘They investigate the rumours created by the McCann’s, forgetting that the couple are suspects in the death of their daughter’, is a reported quote from the case coordinator, Gonçalo Amaral.


He said example of this was an anonymous email sent to Prince Charles’s webpage, which accused an ex employee of the Ocean Club of having kidnapped the four year old in revenge for being sacked. This had, he is reported to have said ‘no credibility’ for the Portuguese police who consider that the McCann’s have started a campaign to discredit them.




Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_12799.shtml#ixzz1HyLWG5vc

Portugals crisis deepens

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/portugal-crisis-deepens-even-as-eu-agrees-new-eurozone-fund-2253450.html

Portugal fund 'could cost UK £3bn'

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h3jvFtoJu8ish5Wii2hh7ef0Re8A?docId=N0186311300918840166A

Englands shame. Three year old Madeleine has been dead now for almost four years. Those who know the truth, continue to lie about the events that took place My 3rd 2007. The McCanns continue to beg the public for money on the pretext it is to search for their daughter, a child they know is dead, in any other land this is known as fraud , you go to prison. But it seems in England fraud is allowed for certain cases.

http://goncaloamaraltruthofthelie.blogspot.com/

Portugal Prime Minister resigns...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/jose-socrates-resignation-_n_839814.html

Giant Rabbit fossil found in Spain...

http://www.ablogabouthistory.com/2011/03/23/giant-rabbit-fossil-found-in-spain/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ablogabouthistory+%28A+Blog+About+History%29&utm_content=Twitter

McCanns' appeal against lifting of ban on Gonçalo Amaral's book turned down by Portugal's Supreme Court of Justice

http://frommybigdesk.blogspot.com/2011/03/mccanns-appeal-against-lifting-of-ban.html

The Cancer Cure Foundation

http://www.cancure.org/directory_clinics_outside%20US.htm

Spain

J. Buxalleu Font in Barcelona treats solid tumors using self-vaccination with gamma globulin. He has used this therapy since 1965. 0034-93-792-0489 
Las Mariposas Clinic in Malaga, Spain - treats any problem with chronic diseases and degeneration, especially cancer. Their clinic, as far as we know, is the only clinic in the world that offers a full refund of all clinical consultation fees to any cancer patient that is treated by them that does not see any noticeable improvements within ninety days after following their therapy. Their program uses HLB - high blood resolution analysis to allow them to tailor their approach to your specific endogenic (immune) status and hormonal needs , EAP (Electro-Acupuncture) treatment, and Dr. Budwig's protocol.

Las Mariposas Clinic  Malaga, Spain http://www.mariposasclinic.com/  (+34) 619 966 281 or (+34) 952 057 171  Fax - (+34) 952 050 277  Email: health@mariposasclinic.com

Their clinic, as far as we know, is the only clinic in the world that offers a full refund of all clinical consultation fees to any cancer patient that is treated by them that does not see any noticeable improvements within ninety days after following their therapy. Their fee for cancer therapy and counseling is 10,000 Euros, which provides all homeopathic medicine that could be needed, consultation and treatment, HLB - high blood resolution analysis to allow them to tailor their approach to your specific endogenic (immune) status and hormonal needs , EAP (Electro-Acupuncture) treatment, and Dr. Budwig's protocol (They claim to be the only ones in the world to be trained and authorized by Dr. Johanna Budwig). This is a once in a life time payment. However, additional herbs, vitamins and minerals that are needed are not included in the consultation fee.   Depending on the type of cancer and how advanced it is, it could cost an additional $200 to $300 the first month. The recommended stay is a minimum of two weeks. They also treat any problem with chronic diseases and degeneration - all kinds of infections, allergies, asthma, arthritis, intestinal diseases, different forms of sclerosis, circulation troubles, heart diseases, general cancer, blood cancer and specific organ cancer, Tremens epilepsy, acute illnesses, and more. They have recently opened a second clinic in Barcelona called the Centro de Medicinas Alternativas. Tel: +34 95 2057171 ******************************************************* The information on this page is provided by The Cancer Cure Foundation based on information we have received from a variety of sources, including the clinic itself, feedback from people who have gone to the clinic, and in some cases from clinic tours. The listing of a doctor or clinic here does not signify an endorsement by the Cancer Cure Foundation, unless we have indicated it. We encourage you to check out each clinic by visiting the clinic if possible, talking to people who have gone to the clinic (ask the clinic for contact information of people who have gone to the clinic), and by checking with other organizations as to what they know about the clinic. There are also someforums you can join to get feedback from others. We would also be happy to tell you what we know about any of these clinics. If you do go to any of these clinics for treatment, be sure to mention you heard about them through The Cancer Cure Foundation, and be sure to let us know about your experience, positive or negative. Any feedback you can offer may help others who are trying to decide which clinic to go to or which therapy to use.

The funeral of Irene Cortés has taken place, her husband who the family believe arranged her murder did not attend.

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_29626.shtml

Acupuncture: Hans Kleer

http://acupunturashou.wordpress.com/

Acupuncture therapy

http://www.britishbusinesspagesinspain.es/info2.cfm?info_id=111611

Missing Americans abroad : Forum discussing the sad and tragic death of a young man who maybe drank just a little too much while in Spain . The problem in Spain ,they do not work on an optic system, if you ask for a barcardi and coke, the barcardi is poured until you say stop.....

http://missingamericans.ning.com/group/austintaylorbicesdustudentmissinginspain

FACEBOOK: Austin Taylor Bice...last words on his facebook page. R.I.P.

FACEBOOK: Austin Taylor Bice...last words on his facebook page. R.I.P.

March 6, 2011 (San Diego) – On February 25, San Diego State University student Austin Taylor Bice posted on his Facebook page about his plans for the evening. “It’s in Madrid and it should be a fun night,” he wrote.

Bice, 22, an exchange student studying at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain, disappeared hours later and hasn’t been seen since.

US. Exchange student Austin Taylor Brice death by drowning.

The preliminary results of the autopsy on the body of Austin Taylor Bice show water in his lungs and no signs of violence

Austin Taylor Bice

The preliminary results of the autopsy carried out on the body of Austin Taylor Bice, the 22 year old US exchange student who was found dead in the Manzanares River this Tuesday, have shown that drowning was the cause of death after he fell backwards into the river.

El País said the water in his lungs and the lack of any signs of violence on his body points to an accidental death.

The paper indicates that the full post-mortem report will not be drawn up for another month, as toxicology analyses, to determine the presence of any alcohol or drugs in the 22 year old’s body, have yet to be carried out.

Austin’s body was formally identified by a cousin on Wednesday morning, El País said.

The student from California arrived in Spain in January as part of an exchange programme between San Diego State University and the Carlos III University in Getafe. He disappeared on February 25, after being refused entry to a nightclub as the doormen thought he had already had enough to drink.

It’s understood that the procedure to repatriate Austin’s home for burial is already underway, although the judge has prohibited a cremation.


Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_29553.shtml#ixzz1GCK8ooiC

PORTUGAL: Cliff concealed baby bones

PORTUGAL: This one day will be how Madeleine McCann will be found and the cadaver dogs who detected cadaver in the apartment, on the mothers clothes also IN THE TRUNK of a car rented by the parents weeks after Madeleine disappeared will prove to have been right all along.

http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2011/03/cliff-concealed-baby-bones.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JoanaMorais+%28Joana+Morais%29&utm_content=Twitter

Spain asks America to clear up nuclear mess

THE Spanish government is demanding that America pays to remove 50,000 cubic metres of contaminated plutonium from a site in Almeria.

It comes after waiting over four decades since a series of nuclear bombs accidentally fell near Palomares in 1966 when US air force planes collided with a refuelling aircraft.

The worst nuclear accident of its time, it provoked worries that it would destroy tourism in Andalucia.

Spain is now demanding that the contaminated soil is removed “without delay.”

Spain does not have anywhere to store the soil, which will take thousands of years to lose its radioactivity.

Experts say that by sifting the soil it could be reduced to 6,000 cubic metres, but it will cost 31m euros.

Tests on local people have shown the plutonium has had little impact on the population.

But the four areas that are contaminated have no agriculture permitted.

Doctor implicated in 2 major doping investigations in Spain hired by 3rd-tier club

Doctor implicated in 2 major doping investigations in Spain hired by 3rd-tier club

 Doctor implicated in 2 major doping investigations in Spain hired by 3rd-tier club: "The doctor implicated in two major anti-doping investigations in Spain has joined the medical team of third-tier Spanish football club Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The club confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that Eufemiano Fuentes has been hired. No more details were available.

Fuentes was the main figure in the 2006 Operation Puerto investigation into the use of illegal performance-enhancing substances in cycling. He has also been implicated in the ongoing Operation Galgo by Spain's Civil Guard.

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is currently in second place in Spain's third division"

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more: http://costadelcrime.blogspot.com/2011/03/canadian-press-doctor-implicated-in-2.html#ixzz1G772eryr

Linda Bellingham linked to Turkish property fraudTHE

THE turbulent past of the OXO mum’s lover refuses to go away.

Advert star Linda Bellingham’s convict partner Michael Pattemore, 54, has been drawn into the Royal Resorts Turkey property scandal, uncovered by the Olive Press.

It has emerged that Pattemore – who Bellingham calls ‘Mr Spain’ – was a business partner of New Zealander Lionel Andrews, who was arrested last month on suspicions of fraud.

google_protectAndRun("render_ads.js::google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);

As exclusively reported in the Olive Press, Lionel was picked up by police in Alicante for his role in the Europe-wide investment scam.

Along with his brother Nigel and his wife Margaret, Andrews sold flats in a non-existent Turkish Mediterranean resort.

Prior to setting up the scam, Lionel had a real estate business with Pattemore in Calpe.

Now it seems the Kiwi could soon be going down the way of his former pal.

In the late 90s, Pattemore served two years in prison for fraud, according to the Daily Mail.

Bellingham, who now stars on the UK’s popular daytime show Loose Women, previously said: “Michael has done his stint and it should be left to rest.”
http://www.theolivepress.es/2011/01/13/oxo-mum-linked-to-turkish-property-fraud/

Dolores Vázquez in new battle for compensation

 

THE woman wrongly convicted of the murder of Mijas teenager Rocío Wanninkof is battling against the state over compensation.

Dolores Vázquez, is claiming four million euros for the time she spent in jail after being wrongfully convicted in 2001.

She was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for the teenager’s murder, and served 17 months before the Andalucía High Court ordered a second trial and quashed the conviction.

The British man, Tony King, was later arrested and confessed to the killings of Rocio Wanninkhof and Sonia Carabantes.

And Vázquez had her criminal record for the case erased in 2009.

But while the Interior Ministry had initially proposed damages of 120,000 euros, in a later ruling the General Council for Judicial Power and Interior Ministry unanimously agreed there had been no miscarriage of justice and ruled out any compensation.

Vazquez has now brought a suit against the state and it is up to Spain’s National Court to decide whether she should indeed be paid damages.

Cat woman in court

March 2, 2011  

A BRITISH pensioner has been taken to court in a bid to save a dozen stray cats she has been caring for.

Retired school teacher Valerie June Strahinja, 68, is being sued over her care of the street cats for the past two years.

Working with local charity ADANA, she has even had many of them sterilized at a great cost to herself.

But the animal lover, who has lived in Estepona for 15 years, has faced opposition from other residents in the Ronda en el Mar urbanization, who have repeatedly reported the cats to the authorities.

In the latest clash she has been forced to hide the animals after the local authorities sent in an agency to kill them.

“It is a horror story,” said Strahinja. “They were going to take them away even though they have been sterilized. It didn’t stop them killing the last remaining cat who I found this weekend next to a bag of rat poison. The animal was in severe and terrible pain and although I took it immediately to the vet, the young cat couldn’t be saved and died a horrible death.”

Spanish airports summer strikes threat

March 9, 2011  • 

UNIONS are threatening a summer of strikes to protest against the partial privatisation of airports operator AENA.

No less that twenty-two strikes are planned between April 20 and end of August.
This would be a huge blow to hotels, airlines, car rental companies and the services sector, who now fear a ‘black summer’.

Unions claim that they have tried to negotiate with AENA and that they have not received a reply.

Minutes after the announcement, the president of AENA, Juan Motto,  tried to calm tempers and announced a meeting with the UGT, Comisiones Obreras and USO unions next Thursday.

He said, “We are ready to talk to reach an agreement, which would have to be quick, because a strike at that time could adversely affect the economic interests of Spain.”

A STAGGERING 11,000 houses are to be legalised in one fell swoop.

Off the hook

March 9, 2011  •  Andalucia, Lead  •  1 Comments

(Be the first to rate it)

 

The plan, which has been announced by the Junta, will give the thumbs up for the vast majority of illegally-built homes around the Axarquia.

While described by environmentalists as ‘giving a free reign to build on rustic land’, it comes as a major boost for homeowners, hundreds of them expats.

Announced at a meeting of the region’s mayors, the Junta’s head of public works, Josefina Cruz, revealed that only 1,500 of the 12,760 homes investigated are now facing demolition.
“It is fantastic news” said Phillip Smalley, head of the English-run residents group Save Our Homes Axarquia (SOHA).

“At the moment it is just words but we are really hoping it will come to pass.

“When a figure as senior as Cruz says this we have to take it seriously, it sounds very promising.”

The British embassy also welcomed the news, after having to step in to help mediate for hundreds of expats in the area.

Ambassador Giles Paxman said: “This is a real step forward for owners of illegally built properties in Andalucia. 

“The announcement will bring relief and hope to many people whose lives have been blighted by planning irregularities.”

At the meeting on Friday, Cruz explained that the decree was being made out of a necessity to calm the situation down.

“This is not an amnesty, but recognition of a reality, and responding to it, but with conditions,” explained Cruz. “What we are doing is recognising the existence of 11,025 homes which can start a process of legalisation.”

However, of the remaining 1,735 properties, 976 are less than four years old, while 859 are deemed to have been illegally built on ‘specially-protected land’ and cannot be made legal.
This is despite many of the homeowners claiming to have bought them in good faith with construction initially approved by their local town halls.

The amnesty also excludes the two areas of Alcaucin and
La Vinuela, where thousands more illegal homes have been built and the mayors are facing corruption charges. These will be dealt with separately.

One English owner Paul Blowes believes he is still facing the demolition of his home despite getting the correct licences.

“Before we began building we were given a licence by the Town Hall with all the correct stamps and signatures, and the Junta even came down to inspect the land.

“Then four years later the Junta deemed the house illegal and said that it was built on land with special protection.

“Now they want to demolish it, but no one ever mentions compensation. It is a big issue.
“If they want to knock it down because the mayor was corrupt. Where is the recourse? I could lose everything but no one ever takes the blame.”

Smalley added: “We do have to accept some houses were built in places they shouldn’t have been, but if you built a property believing it to be legal, with the proper licence then the owner has to be compensated before their home is demolished.”

The move has attracted criticism from environmentalists, with GENA – Ecologists in Action, in particular, warning of the serious consequences of the ‘urban amnesty’.

GENA president, Rafael Yus, told the Olive Press that it allowed people to “break the law”.

“It sets a very dangerous precedent and gives people a free reign to build on land listed as protected land,” he said. “It is a bad day for the environment.”

Cave murals in Spain 'show man may have used magic mushrooms 6,000 years ago'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:44 PM on 8th March 2011

• Comments (5)
• Add to My Stories

For all those who thought hallucinogenic drugs took off in the 1960s, think again: scientists believe they have found evidence of magic mushroom use 6,000 years ago.
Cave murals found in Spain appear to depict them in religious rituals - which would be the oldest evidence of their use in Europe.
The Selva Pascuala cave mural near the town of Villar del Humo has a bull in the centre, but researchers from America and Mexico are focussing on a row of 13 small mushroom-like objects.

Intriguing: The Selva Pascuala mural has a bull in the centre, but researchers from America and Mexico are focussing on a row of 13 small mushroom-like objects

Brian Akers at Pasco-Hernando Community College in Florida, and Gaston Guzman at the Ecological Institute of Xalapa in Mexico say they believe the objects are Psilocybe hispanica, a local funghi with hallucinogenic properties.
The mushroom has a bell-shaped cap with a dome and lacks a ring around the stalk, just like the objects in the 6,000 year-old mural, they say.

 

More...

• U.S. charity pays female drug addicts in Britain to be fitted with contraceptive coils
• 'Free at last': Machete-wielding Charlie Sheen's bizarre rooftop stunt after being sacked from sitcom

It also has stalks which vary from straight to sinuous - the same as those drawn thousands of years ago, they add in the latest issue of New Scientist.
But, even though it is several millennia old, it is not thought to be the oldest painting showing hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Messages from another world: The Chauvet-Pont-d¿Arc Cave signs and paintings cover 25,000 years of prehistory from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago

A mural in Algeria that may show Psilocybe mairei is 7,000 to 9,000 years old, according to NewScientist.com.
Just last month, it was revealed the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in southern France is to be the subject of a 3D documentary by German filmmaker Werner Herzog, as it is thought to be where man made his first attempts to write.
Since its (re)discovery in 1994, the cave in southern France has offered scientists a veritable treasure trove of perfectly preserved paintings.
Alongside these are evidence of attempts at communication 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1364259/Selva-Pascuala-cave-murals-man-used-magic-mushrooms-6-000-years-ago.html#ixzz1G32B8388

Writing the wrongs of Spains traditional blood sport...

http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-not-just-whalers-that-i-could-kick.html

Spanish airport unions warn of strikes

Spanish airport workers threatened Tuesday to call strikes over the next few months, including the Easter holiday weekend, to protest government plans to privatise airport operator AENA.

The first walkouts would take place over five days in April and others on various days over the subsequent three months, said a spokeswoman for the UGT union, which has organised the protests along with two other unions, the CCOO and the USO.

The strikes are in protest at the government's plan announced on December 3 to sell off 49 percent of AENA as part of measures to slash the public deficit.

"We want the transport ministry to become involved and ensure that there will not be any layoffs," the spokeswoman said.
But she added that "the unions are open to negotiation."
Under the plan announced Tuesday, AENA workers would strike on April 20, 21, 24, 25 and 30, on May 2, 14, 15, 19 and 20, on June 13, 23 and 30 and on July 1, 2, 3, 4, 15 and 31.

AENA employs 11,000 workers at 47 Spanish airports,
On December 3, Spanish air traffic controllers staged a wildcat strike over pay and working conditions, disrupting travel for more than 200,000 people on a holiday weekend.

Spain's government forced the controllers to return to work the following day by declaring a state of alert, putting the military in command and threatening jail for those who refused.

Barclays to close 100 branches in Spain:

British bank Barclays will close more than 100 branches and lay off 700 staff in Spain to cut costs and stem losses, the financial daily Expansion said Tuesday.

The cuts, amounting to 17 percent of the staff and almost 20 percent of the branch network, would be announced this week as part of a global plan to reduce costs and open up new markets, it said.
Barclays officials in London and Madrid declined to comment.
The decision coincided with the arrival one month ago of a new head of Barclays' retail banking business in Spain, Jaime Echegoyen, who was formerly the chief executive of Bankinter, it said.
Barclays wanted to re-focus its business in Spain on medium- and high-earning customers.
The 2008 collapse of the Spanish property bubble hit Barclays bank hard, leaving it exposed to bad loans. It was forced to make provisions of 900 million pounds (1.062 billion euros) last year, it said.
Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond had described the group's losses in Spain in 2010 as being unacceptable, the paper said.

Spanish police find body of missing American student

Police in Madrid Tuesday found the body of an American student who had been missing for almost two weeks, after draining part of the city's river, a police source said.
The cause of death was not yet known but there were "no signs of violence" on the body of 22-year-old Austin Bice which was found in the Manzanares river, the source said.
Bice, a student at San Diego State University who was on an exchange programme in Madrid, was reported missing after heading home alone early on February 26 after a night out with friends, according to Spanish media.
Police had drained a section of the river in the west of the city near where Bice was last seen before finding his body there, the source said.

Thieves snatch 1.5 million euros from Spanish nuns:

Spanish police said Tuesday they are investigating the theft of 1.5 million euros ($2.08 million) in cash that was kept in plastic bags by nuns at a convent.

"The sisters called us on February 28 to say that several doors in the convent had been broken and that a large amount of cash had disappeared," a police spokeswoman in the northern city of Zaragoza said.
He said the nuns kept the 1.5 million euros in cash in plastic bags.
"The sisters said that it was money that they had saved over several years," she said.
The sisters at the Santa Lucia convent in Zaragoza live largely in seclusion and spend much of their time working on book-binding, according to their website.
One of them sells paintings, which could partly explain the cash, the spokeswoman said.
The regional newspaper Periodico de Aragon said the paintings by the nun, Isabel Guerra, are highly valued and can sell for up to 48,000 euros ($67,000).

Military intervention in Libya must be 'last resort': Spain

Any military intervention in Libya should be the "last resort" and with the approval of the United Nations, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday.
"Before any possible intervention in Libya, we must note the principles to follow, firstly the (approval of the UN) Security Council," he said.
"Any intervention should be a last resort," he told a joint news conference with visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.
Western powers meet in Brussels from Thursday to assess their options for military intervention in Libya as the country slides into civil war.
Top of the talks will be a British-French call for a no-fly zone over Libya which could go before the Security Council as early as this week.
Other options include arming the rebels and strangling Kadhafi financially by tightening sanctions.
The New York Times reported Sunday that US defence planners were preparing a range of land, sea and air military options in Libya in case Washington and its allies decide to intervene there.

Hola Paco amigo mio, bien recuerdo's una brazo Bibi xx

Eribulin Survival Benefit in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Data Published

March 3, 2011 — For the first time, a single agent has shown a significant improvement in survival in women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer. That finding for eribulin (Halaven, Eisai) comes from the pivotal phase 3 EMBRACE trial.

These data were reported at last year's annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), where they stirred up quite a bit of excitement among breast cancer specialists, and they led to the approval of eribulin by the US Food and Drug Administration in November 2010.

The EMBRACE results were published online today in the Lancet. The researchers, headed by Javier Cortes, MD, from the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, in Barcelona, Spain, conclude that "eribulin showed a significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival compared with treatment of physicians' choice [TPC] in women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer."

"Our demonstration of improved overall survival as the primary end point in women with metastatic breast cancer treated with cytotoxic therapy seems unique, and challenges the idea that such an expectation is unreasonable," they write.

"This global phase 3 study establishes a new standard treatment for women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer, for whom there was previously no chemotherapy treatment with proven survival benefit," they add.

Real-World Comparison
Participants in this study had already received 2 to 5 chemotherapy regimens (median, 4; range, 1 to 7), including an anthracycline and a taxane.

They were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either eribulin (1.4 mg/m² intravenously for 2 to 5 minutes on days 1 to 8 of a 21-day cycle) or TPC. This was defined as any single-agent treatment (chemotherapy, hormonal or biological) or radiotherapy or symptomatic therapy alone. Many physicians chose to use vinorelbine, gemcitabine, or capecitabine, and none chose best supportive care, even though this was an option, said coauthor Christopher Twelves, MD, from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, when he presented this trial at the ASCO meeting last year.

This represents "a real-life situation," he noted, because there are no guidelines on which chemotherapy to use after third-line therapy.

At the time, the discussant of the paper, Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, agreed with that description. He makes the same point in an editorial accompanying the study, which he coauthored with his Dana-Farber colleague Nancy Lin, MD.

"Ultimately, the EMBRACE study invited a real-world comparison of best clinical guess versus eribulin," the editorialists write.

The use of TPC is an important strength of this study, say the trialists. Because the results reflect real-life choices made by oncologists and their patients, the benefits of eribulin seen in this trial are "arguably more likely to be generalizable to clinical practice than if the control treatment had been artificially constrained," they write in the paper.

Is Survival Benefit Clinically Meaningful?
The difference between overall survival in the 2 treatment groups was statistically significant; median overall survival was 13.1 months with eribulin and 10.6 months with TPC (hazard ratio, 0.81; P = .041).

This survival benefit is "clinically meaningful," say the trialists, because the median survival benefit of 2.5 months represents an increase of 23% for these women.

This is similar to what has been reported for docetaxel vs mitomycin plus vinblastine (31%), and for capecitabine plus docetaxel vs docetaxel alone (26%).

In addition, they point out that the survival benefit with eribulin was achieved "with a manageable profile of toxic effects." The most common adverse events were asthenia and fatigue (reported by 54% of patients in the eribulin group and 40% in the TPC group) and neutropenia (52% vs 30%). The most common adverse event leading to the discontinuation of eribulin was peripheral neuropathy, occurring in 5% of patients.

However, the editorialists point out that the survival benefit can be measured in weeks, and say that "it is fair to ask whether there is clinical significance."

The outcomes for the TPC group provide "a sobering reminder of the modest results in the nth-line therapy of breast cancer," Dr. Lin and Dr. Burstein note.

Most oncologists participating in a recent survey (Eur J Cancer. 2010;8:77 [abstract 63]) said that they consider prolongation of life by 2 to 6 months to be a "meaningful incremental gain." However, the same survey found that most patients believe that a threshold of 10 months or more is needed to warrant treatment, the editorialists note.

"But surely some survival benefit is better than none at all," they add.

The data from the EMBRACE trial provide "much needed high-level evidence for chemotherapy use in patients with heavily pretreated breast cancer," the editorialists write. "And that evidence suggests that the methods to treat advanced breast cancer are growing, the treatment challenge in refractory disease is a little bit less daunting, and the treatment results are a little bit better than they were before."

The EMBRACE study was funded by Eisai. Several of the study authors report receiving consultancy fees, honoraria, and/or grants from Eisai, as well as from several other pharmaceutical companies; full details are given in the paper. Dr. Lin and Dr. Burstein have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

http://spaineldorado.blogspot.com/2011/03/eribulin-survival-benefit-in-metastatic.html

First map of colon cancer in Spain is published

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100114081710.htm

Spanish scientists test Alzheimer vaccine...

Araclon Biotech, a Spanish company based in Aragon, which has been developing a vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease for several years, has begun clinical trials using humans this week. Twenty four patients will take part in the trials of the vaccine which are taking place in Austria.

Over the next four years Araclon Biotech will be testing patients to make sure that the vaccine has no toxic effects on humans following successful tests carried out on animals.

Manuel Sarasa, a neurologist and the director of the research project, explained that ‘once the first phase, which will last one year, has been completed the efficiency of the vaccine will then be tested’.

Araclon Biotech is hoping to discover whether the vaccine gives immunization against the protein Beta Amiloide which causes Alzheimer’s disease. If the results are positive the vaccine against this degenerative disease could be available to patients within seven years.

http://news-spain.euroresidentes.com/2011/01/spanish-scientists-test-alzheimer.html

MARBELLA: We'll fight them in the hills..

http://www.theolivepress.es/2011/03/04/we%e2%80%99ll-fight-them-in-the-hills/

MARBELLA: We'll fight them in the hills..

http://www.theolivepress.es/2011/03/04/we%e2%80%99ll-fight-them-in-the-hills/

Ex Totana Mayor faces more than 28 years in prison:

Ex Totana Mayor faces more than 28 years in prison: "Juan Morales, the ex Partido Popular Mayor of Totana under investigation in the Operation Totem corruption case, faces more than 28 years in prison for the 10 crimes he is accused of in the written accusation against him presented by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor on Friday.

His alleged crimes include bribery, money laundering, fraud, falsifying documents and misappropriation of funds.

As a member of the regional parliament, the ex Totana Mayor’s case is being dealt with by the Murcia High Court of Justice, which formally charged him in January. Reporting on the case this Monday, El País said the prosecutors have evidence that the illegal commissions Morales allegedly charged for real estate deals amount to more than 15 million €.

Amongst the 12 suspects who are charged with him are the ex Mayor’s former wife, María del Carmen Jordán, and his Brazilian girlfriend, Vaneide Freita. The first faces more than four years in prison for two counts of bribery, while the latter could spend three and a half years in prison on the charge of money laundering."

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

British man arrested after stabbing incident in Orihuela

British man arrested after stabbing incident in Orihuela

British man arrested after stabbing incident in Orihuela: "31 year old British man, a resident of Torrevieja, in connection with the alleged stabbing of two others.

The police were called by the security guards at the Flamenca Beach Commercial Centre and found two men and a woman, one of them injured on his knuckles and cheek, running from a group of Moroccans, but who were indicated to be the aggressors.

The British man was carrying a large knife and the other had a cut to his neck and an ear.

Police say the British woman who was with the arrested man has a record for theft, fraud, falsification of public documents and causing injury."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

Read more: http://costadelcrime.blogspot.com/2011/03/british-man-arrested-after-stabbing.html#ixzz1FzqgVyxl

How every family in Britain is paying to keep alive the barbarism that is bullfighting

By Danny Penman
Last updated at 12:13 AM on 12th July 2008

• Comments (0)
• Add to My Stories

Santanero the fighting bull fell to his knees. Blood poured from his mouth, pooling in the dust. Vicious stab wounds scarred his chest and every breath only caused him more agony.
The bull was close to death but refused to die. He stared defiantly at his opponent, Javier Cortes. He slowly raised himself off the ground and prepared to charge the matador one final time.

 Javier laughed and taunted the bull with his cape as the animal stumbled forward. This was the part Javier loved most of all, a time when a matador is allowed to practice his 'art' by plunging a sword deep into the heart of the bull before twisting it viciously in the shape of a cross. 

To the death: Javier Cortes taunts his prey in Madrid

The matador had already sunk his 2ft long sword three times into Santanero's body. The bull had also been stabbed eight times with barbed knives and his lungs had been punctured with spears by men on horseback - but still the animal refused to die.

 The crowd waited with bated breath for the matador's coup de grace. But then, just as he was poised to stab Santanero, a tiny voice rang out from behind me in Madrid's Las Ventas bullring.

'Leave the bull alone!' screamed a five-year-old American girl who had been taken to the bullfight by her parents. 'Why are you hurting him? You're so cruel!' She stamped her feet and screamed even louder as the crowd looked at her in shock. As far as they were concerned, the girl had disturbed an artist at work.

Her pleas were worthless. The matador plunged his sword into the back of Santanero's neck and then repeated the thrust twice more. The animal bellowed in pain before falling onto his side gasping. He was finished.

 All that remained now was the final indignity to be delivered by a man in a blue and pink suit covered in sequins. He sauntered over and sliced off Santanero's ears and tail before holding them aloft in tribute to the crowd.

 Such shocking brutality is, of course, well known in Spain's bullrings. But what is not known is that our money is being used to finance this ritual slaughter. For I can reveal that the European Union is spending £30million a year to support Spanish bullfights, which this year will kill at least 40,000 bulls.

 The EU has even renovated bullrings and is being pressured by the Spanish into recognising bullfighting as representing Europe's cultural heritage. Such a move would make it virtually impossible to outlaw and indeed would lend it a veneer of respectability in the eyes of the world.

 'We have been trying to stop the EU from subsidising Spanish bullfights, but so far without success,' says Neil Parish, Conservative MEP and chairman of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee. 

Manuel Jesus 'El Cid' performs a pass to a bull during the fifth bullfight of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona yesterday

'British taxpayers' money should not be used to support bullfighting. It's an abhorrent spectacle. I would like to see it banned but if we can't do that then the least the EU should do is stop subsidising it.'

 Subsidies are received through two main routes, both hidden in bureaucracy of Byzantine complexity. The main route is through the Common Agricultural Policy's 'single farm payment' scheme introduced in 2005. This replaced the previous system, tied to food production, which created the infamous butter mountains.

 The new system works by paying landowners a fee - or single farm payment - for farming the land in any manner they choose. It's a way of boosting rural incomes without overproducing food.

 In Britain, for example, it may encourage farmers to grow organic wheat and barley. In Spain, the subsidies have been funnelled into the breeding of fighting bulls.

 On average, each fighting bull breeder receives about £185 per animal per year. In effect, the farmer receives EU subsidies for four to five years for each animal while they are being reared to fighting age.

 Given the 40,000 bulls die in Spanish bullfights every year, the total EU support package for bullfighting has so far amounted to more than £100million.

 But that is only part of the story. The EU also helps build and renovate Spanish bullrings. In the towns of Haro in the province of Rioja and Toro in Zamora, the EU is so proud of its support it has even erected huge signs outside the bullrings highlighting its contribution.
Campaigners believe this is just the tip of an iceberg. They are concerned that a significant proportion of the EU's agricultural support package allocated to Spain - currently £5.6billion per year - is siphoned off to support bullfighting and 'blood fiestas' - where a variety of animals, including chickens and cows, are also slaughtered in local rituals. 

Barbaric: Bullfighter David Fandila 'El Fandi' drives 'banderillas' into a bull at the San Fermin festival yesterday

Another source of funds is the EU's rural development programme. Almost £600million is given to Spain to spend as it sees fit. This filters down to towns and villages where mayors and dignitaries can boost their popularity by renovating bullrings and laying on the blood fiestas.

 'The organisers of bullfights in Spain have told me that they love the EU because they now receive enough subsidies to kill 15 or 16 animals in a fiesta rather than the traditional one or two,' says Tony Moore, veteran campaigner for the welfare group Fight Against Animal Cruelty in Europe.

 'The EU is supporting the torturing to death of bulls in the bullring and countless other animals in village 'blood fiestas'. I find it absolutely disgusting that a proportion of my tax goes to support animal abuse.

 'It makes a mockery of the EU's own animal welfare laws and it has to stop.'

 Perhaps the EU's financial support for bullfighting is not surprising. The Portuguese President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso is a keen supporter. He overturned Portugal's 76-year-old ban on 'death bullfighting' when he was the country's prime minister. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy is known to support the bloodsport.
For its part, the European Commission claims it is powerless to stop its money being used to support bullfighting. 'It's not our wish or intention for our money to go anywhere near bullfighting,' says the European Commission's spokesman for Agriculture and Rural Development.

 'We do not condone the use of EU money to support bullfighting, but we cannot stop it. It is outside our legal competence to do so.'

 The day after I watched Santanero die, I was taken by the European Anti-Bullfighting Committee to visit the farm where he was reared.

 The Cortijo Wellington farm, which lies just outside Madrid, receives more than £120,000 per year in EU subsidies to breed fighting bulls for the ring. Still, for farmer Domingo Gonzales, the money 'is not enough'.

 'Fighting bulls are expensive to rear,' he says. 'People do not understand how much it costs to produce the country's finest fighting bulls. I'm proud of them.'

 A quick glance across his 1,700 acre farm with 700 bulls begs the question, why are they so expensive to rear? The bulls are largely left to fend for themselves in lush pastures.
The farm buildings are decrepit. The handful of Moroccan workers sleep in rough outbuildings attached to the farmer's delightful finca-style farmhouse. It seems the only expensive item is his luxury pick-up truck.

 Mr Gonzales sees himself as a philanthropist as well as a businessman. He sells - or occasionally donates - 'baby bulls' to local fiestas.

 'I rear two-year-old bulls for the children in the local villages,' he says. 'In a few weeks there will be a special festival for the children. They will play and fight with the bulls. They chase them through the streets and pull their tails and ears. They finish by stabbing them with little swords and knives. Children like doing that.'

 Might that not be cruel, I asked? He glared at me. 'Animals do not feel pain,' he said. 'Fighting is what they are for. If we didn't breed and fight them, they would not exist.'

 Sadly, such blood fiestas are common throughout Spain - far more frequent than bullfights - and involve the cruel deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals.

 A favourite fiesta 'sport' involves hanging chickens upside down by their feet on washing lines. The townsfolk then ride underneath and pull their heads off to win prizes.

 Another involves placing chickens in boxes with their heads poking out of the top. Local men and boys then try and chop as many heads off as possible while blindfolded.

 Other fiestas involve 'games' in which cows are chased into the sea where they drown. Others are equally barbaric, such as the infamous 'fire-bull' festivals. In these, burning balls of wax and paraffin are attached to a bull's horns and the terrified animal is then chased through the streets. There are at least 10,000 fire-bull fiestas every year in Valencia province alone.

 Needless to say, many of the animals burn to death. And virtually all of the animals will have been reared with the help of EU subsidies.

 These horrific blood fiestas make bullfights like those I witnessed at Madrid's Las Ventas stadium appear relatively civilised. But even here appearances can be deceptive. Bulls are doctored to weaken them before they get anywhere near the ring.

 A common tactic is to force-feed them 3lb of Epsom salts to induce diarrhoea and dehydration. The animals are then forced to eat salt to cause muscle spasms and cramps once they enter the bullring.

 Another trick is to shave off the top three or four inches of the bull's horns. This ensures that he cannot inflict any significant injuries on a matador but, more importantly, it alters his sense of space and balance.

 To make the fight even more uneven, the bulls are often drugged to slow down their reactions.

 And if all that wasn't enough, men on horseback puncture the bull's lungs with spears as soon as he enters the ring. As well as causing immense pain, it ensures that the bull's lungs fill with blood and start suffocating him. Matadors are rarely, if ever, put at risk.

 The barbarity of bullfighting is beyond question and the Spanish are gradually beginning to shun it. Recent opinion polls indicate that only about a quarter of Spaniards are interested in bullfighting, with only eight per cent actively attending fights.

 Bullfighting also seems to be a generational issue, with older people supporting it and younger people opposing it. This is mirrored in the attendance at the fights.

 At the Las Ventas bullfight I attended - the most famous in the country - the crowd was only about 5,000 (the stadium's capacity is about 22,500). Most of the crowd looked over 45. Virtually all the youngsters were tourists, entranced perhaps, by the 'romance' of bullfighting propagated by Ernest Hemingway's tales of pre-revolutionary Spain.

 So perhaps the little girl who screamed at the matador to spare the bull represents the future. For the sake of the bulls of Spain - and the country's reputation and honour - let us hope so.

 Meanwhile, you and I need to remember that, through the EU, we are subsidising this so-called 'sport'.

H/T HIMSELF


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1034484/How-family-Britain-paying-alive-barbarism-bullfighting.html#ixzz1Fzca0DGy