King of the Costa Del Sol.... 80s reborn

Bankia's 'huge exposure' to bad loans

2012-05-25T12:02:00.001+01:00

Shares in Bankia have been suspended from trading on the Madrid stock exchange. The bank's boss is expected to tell his board Bankia will need another 15bn euros according to news reports. That is on top of the 4.5bn euros it has already received from Spanish taxpayers. One in ten Spaniards have savings with Bankia but the bank came close to insolvency due to huge losses on home loans. Professor Santiago Carbo Valverde, University of Grenada, told the BBC: "Bankia had huge exposure to real estate and bad loans"

Bankia shares are suspended in Madrid

2012-05-25T08:50:00.001+01:00

Trading in shares in the Spanish lender Bankia have been suspended in Madrid. The market regulator CNMV said it was "due to circumstances that may affect the normal share trading". Bankia is reported to be due to ask the government for a bailout of more than 15bn euros ($19bn; £12bn) after a board meeting later on Friday. Bankia, which is Spain's fourth-largest bank, was part-nationalised two weeks ago because of its problems with bad property debt. Any extra government money would be on top of the 4.5bn euros in state loans that the government had to convert into shares in the group in the part-nationalisation process. Shares in Bankia's parent company Banco Financiero y de Ahorros (BFA) have also been suspended. Bankia was created in 2010 from the merger of seven struggling regional savings banks. It holds 32bn euros in distressed property assets.

Spain to close up to 30 state-run airports

2012-05-24T23:18:00.001+01:00

Some of the airports have no scheduled flights yet are fully staffed and operational in what has come to symbolise the reckless public spending projects that have left Spain crippled with debt. Now the ministry of industry and AENA, the state-run company that controls the nation's airports, are considering plans to reduce operating hours at three quarters of the airports to include only those when flights are due or with a skeleton staff to operate in an emergency. Among the worst performers are Badajoz airport, near the Portuguese border in western Spain, which saw its last commercial flight take-off in January. In Huesca, a town in northern Spain billed as the "gateway to the Pyrenees", local authorities have subsidised the rare passengers flying in, just 2,781 of them in the whole of 2011, spending an estimated €1,600 on each traveller through its terminal last year. The fully staffed terminal in Huesca, including numerous restaurants, are open year-round even though the commercial flights bringing skiers to the region only operate during the winter months. In all, there are 20 airports that handle fewer than 100,000 passengers a year, well below the estimated half a million they need to be profitable.

British police will deploy around 12,500 officers to protect the Olympic Games after facing strong criticism for their lack of manpower and slow response to last year's U.K. riots.

2012-05-23T13:07:00.001+01:00

The Olympic operation, drawing officers from 52 forces across Britain, will bolster the 10,500 army personnel already tasked with securing the July 27-Aug. 12 Games. Planning was reviewed after Britain was stunned by violence last August that left five people dead and a trail of looted stores, torched cars and burned-out buildings in London and a few other cities. Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Chris Allison, who is coordinating Olympic policing, insisted Monday that lessons had been learned from the unexpected rioting. "We are in a different place to where I think we were last summer, a number of sentences have been given by the courts which I think will act as a clear deterrent to people, communities themselves have come out and said, `This is not acceptable,"' Allison told The Associated Press inside Scotland Yard police headquarters in London. He also noted that now "we have command team in place, we have up to 9,500 officers on duty (in London) on peak days, unlike last summer when we didn't." This time the streets of the capital will be flooded with officers in a pre-emptive move to dissuade anyone from causing mayhem as the Olympics return to London after 64 years. "My hope is if anything were to happen ... we have the resources we can quickly assign to try to deal with it and nip it in the bud," Allison said. While insisting that officers on patrol won't be "oppressive," Allison said there will be a robust response from the outset -- unlike during the riots -- with annual leave for officers heavily restricted and non-essential training postponed. "We will follow the approach of intervening when we have the officers," Allison said. "Our challenge last summer is we didn't have those officers." Last month, the public was given a glimpse of what could be in store when police snipers and heavily armed officers intervened to stop an armed siege in London's shopping district. No one was hurt. The army operation will be using surface-to-air missiles systems, typhoon fighter jets, helicopters, two warships and bomb disposal experts. Inside the venues, which can only be entered through airport-style security, Allison assured the public that there will be no risks to their safety. "They are probably some of the securest places anywhere in the country ... and these are people who just want to watch sport, so there are no crime challenges in there," Allison said. "The vast majority of police officers will be out in the public space, in the public transport infrastructure, in the crowded spaces." Police will be deployed heavily in the capital's tourist hotspots -- including Covent Garden and Leicester Square -- as well as at sites across London showing the Olympic action on big outdoor screens. Allison hopes people will embrace the games rather than using them as a platform for anarchy. "I am sure when the games come everyone will be bitten by the Olympic bug," he said.

The 27-year-old, who has been spotted out and about in Marbella with her new blond Joe Penna, may have to give up her weekends for babysitting duty soon if their romance continues to blossom.

2012-05-23T13:05:00.001+01:00

MODEL Georgia Salpa's new man is a separated father-of-one. The 27-year-old, who has been spotted out and about in Marbella with her new blond Joe Penna, may have to give up her weekends for babysitting duty soon if their romance continues to blossom. A spokesperson for Killiney native Georgia has confirmed the AR beauty is dating millionaire businessman Joe, who lives in Spain. "Georga has been on a few dates with Joe who she understands to be separated," the reality star's publicist said. And sources have insisted that the pair have been trying to keep things under wraps. An insider close to the Celebrity Big Brother star admitted that the half-Greek catwalk queen couldn't be happier with the Prince Harry lookalike. "They got together a few months ago following her public split with Calum Best after meeting him when she was out in London. But at the very start of the relationship they were forced to keep things quiet. "She wouldn't have minded it being out there, but with his story he really didn't want too many people to know who he was dating. Now it's going to be tough for them both." The good looking couple drew attention from onlookers as they strolled the streets of the sunny Spanish resort earlier this week, with leggy Georgia showing off her toned pins in a short white dress and wedges.

British ex-pats flee the continent to get away from eurozone turmoil

2012-05-22T05:25:00.001+01:00

British expats in Spain and Greece are selling up to escape the Euro crisis, it has emerged. Research shows that 39 per cent of Brits who own property in Greece are trying to sell, while 34 per cent who live in Spain have put their houses on the market. The findings, from the foreign exchange broker HiFX, comes after separate research last week revealed that the number of UK owners making enquiries about selling eurozone homes this year is up 191 per cent on the same period in 2008. Idyllic: The view might be spectacular and the weather warm but the euro crisis is causing ex-pat Brits to think of leaving Spain HiFX's marketing director Mark Bodega said: 'If Greece were to exit the Euro and return to the drachma, we would expect their property to immediately devalue by anything up to 50 per cent.' Britons who have already agreed a sale could also lose out when the sale value of their property in Euros is converted to sterling, Mr Bodega said. More... Britons rush to ditch euros...but some will buy a half-price holiday home Chillax with Dave: G8 leaders Cameron, Obama and Merkel relax by watching Chelsea victory (but aren't they supposed to be saving the economy?) Side by side on a gym treadmill, Obama and Cameron race to stop final euro catastrophe Growing eurozone crisis threatens to shatter Britain's stock market and crush hopes for economic recovery Britain could be plunged into another credit crunch if Greece leave the euro... and this time we may never recover, warns finance chief Lesley Wilton, 56, lives with her husband Patrick Tetlow, 57, and their children Oscar, 13, and Daisy, 12, near Marbella. The family has lived there for the past 11 years but are now contemplating a return to Britain because they are struggling to make ends meet. Their property is on sale for 300,000 euros (£242,000) - 40,000 euros less than they paid for it nine years ago. Ms Wilton told The Sunday Times: 'Every time the pound strengthens against the euro the potential savings we will have to take back to England go down.' Struggle: Lesley Wilton, 56, and husband Patrick Tetlow, 57, with their children Oscar 13, and Daisy, 12, may have to relocate from Spain to the UK Tara Ghale, 44, has not had a single viewer since her Marbella home went on sale 240,000 euros last year. Ms Ghale, who lives with her daughter Calypso, 15, told the newspaper: 'What's happening with the euro is a worry. 'It will become a real concern the moment I get an offer on the house. 'I need money to have a chance of starting afresh in the UK.' She added: 'The thought I may have to start again with nothing if my pounds pot is diminished is very demoralising. 'I fear for the future.' Fears for the future: Tara Ghale, 44, may be forced to return to Britain because if the harsh economic climate in Spain The credit crunch in 2008 has already force Louise Hynd, 44, to relocate from Dassia in northern Cyprus to London. Ms Hynd, who built the property, said: 'I was set up in my lovely house but I lost all my buyers.' France has not been hit as hard by the euro crisis as Greece or Spain but nevertheless property values are still falling and affecting expats. Mr Bodega said: 'A typical home in France priced at 250,000 euros would have cost £213,000 on February 24 while now, ten weeks later, it would cost just £200,800.' Besides falling property prices, may ex-pats in Spain have been falling behind with their mortgage payments and having their homes repossessed because of the country's economic meltdown. Average property prices have plunged 27per cent across Spain since 2007, but on the Mediterranean coast, home tothousands of Britons, prices have nosedived by up to 70 per cent.

GEORGE BENSON is among a string of stars set to perform at the ‘Starlite Festival’ this summer in Marbella, the town hall has revealed.

2012-05-19T22:45:00.001+01:00

STAR: George Benson

The 10-time Grammy Award American musician will be on stage on July 14.

The Starlite Festival is linked to the annual €1,000 a ticket celebrity-studded ‘Starlite Gala’ arguably Spain’s most recognised and glitzy charity event set for August 4.

Local Mayor Angeles Muñoz prented the initial line-up for the Festival at a press conference held in Madrid on Tuesday.

There will be 14 concerts during the summer festival which runs between July 13 and August 14.

On July 16 former Supertramp founding member Roger Hodgson will be on stage.

British musician and actor of ‘House’ Hugh Laurie will perform blues and jazz on July 29, his first concert in Spain, two days after the appearance by US singer-songwriter Christopher Cross.

Among confirmed artists feature Spanish pop legends Julio Iglesias (August 10), Raphael (August 11) and Miguel Bose (August 2), as well as chart-topping group Estopa (August 14), among others.

The performances will take place at La Cantera de Nagueles, the quarry located to the north of Marbella where much of the stone used to build Puerto Banus was extracted from.

The food for this event will be provided by El Bulli Catering run by Spanish super-chef Paco Roncero.

Roncero was the protégé of Spain’s most famous chef Ferran Adria at the famous restaurant ‘El Bulli’ (now closed) voted best in the world five times by restaurant Magazine.

MIJAS council will allow wild boar to be hunted down with dogs or trapped in cages.

2012-05-19T22:43:00.001+01:00

The boar, which are growing in numbers, have long been devastating private gardens and golf courses as they search for food. The town hall decided that the time had come to seek solutions. Mijas mayor Angel Nozal discussed the matter last November with Elias Bendodo, president of the Malaga Diputacion. Permission has now come through from regional government to flush out the animals with dog packs or lure them into specially constructed cages. Use of firearms will still not be allowed under any circumstances.

British are still flooding to Benidorm

2012-05-19T14:13:00.001+01:00

Despite a fall in numbers generally, Benidorm has reported a 3% increase in reservations for the summer season, (May to October) from British tourists. Hoteliers are more optimistic about May and forecast a good summer. The numbers are in contrast to other parts of Spain where British reservations are 6% down on average. On the Baleares and Canaries the fall is 7%, on the Costa Brava 9%, Costa del Sol 8% and in Salou 15%. In the first two weeks of May there were more foreign tourists in Benidorm than national visitors, with the British making up 45% of the total Antoni Mayor, president of the hoteliers association for Benidorm and the Costa Blanca, HOSBEC, said the numbers in Benidorm were thanks to renovation of local hotels and the opening of new establishments this year. He said prices were low and there was a wide selection on offer. He noted also the stronger pound was a help. ‘Benidorm has always been number one in sales for British tourists’, he said.

The vast majority of expats in Spain are of the opinion that the euro will not collapse.

2012-05-18T13:34:00.001+01:00

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the Spanish economy, the belief by many experts that Spain holds the key to the Eurozone it seems that the vast majority of expats in Spain are of the opinion that the euro will not collapse. Even though when amalgamating all of the individual country votes together there is still a distinct opinion that the euro will not collapse there is worry that many people are adopting a blind faith strategy as opposed to waking up and smelling the coffee. Again, we’re not sure of the breakdown between non-European and European expats currently living in Spain who entered our online poll. However, we can safely assume that there will be a significant number of European expats living in Spain due to its ongoing popularity amongst a whole range of different nationalities. So the question now is whether the experts are reading the economic situation in Spain incorrectly or indeed the growing confidence on the ground regarding the future of the Eurozone’s fourth largest economy is a reflection of the correct situation? We can only take these votes at face value of and despite ongoing economic concerns and funding issues it seems that the vast majority of expats would like the euro to survive and fight another day. This in itself is a useful element to consider from our online poll vote because general opinion prior to this ongoing issue seemed to suggest that many people were not overly concerned about the survival of the euro. Is this renewed confidence a consequence of recently introduced austerity measures which are hitting people hard yet giving the impression they are doing their bit for the Spanish economy? Yes, it would affect my savings back home (17.65%) It appears as though expats living in Spain are least concerned about the short-term future of the euro than their non-European counterparts. The 17.65% share of the vote in relation to a potential impact upon savings back home is less than the overall votes cast for this particular answer. So initially we have fewer people showing any concern about the future of the euro and now we have fewer people concerned about their savings back home. Is the rest of the world reading the European situation wrong? The impact on savings currently denominated in euros would be the same whether you are living in Spain or any other Eurozone country. However, the overall impact of a collapse in the euro could well lead to lower interest rates to try and inject confidence into the markets which would effectively freeze savings accounts at their current levels. When you take into account even the most minimal inflation figure across Europe, even if many are currently in excess of 3%, the real time impact upon savings accounts within the Eurozone is detrimental. If interest rates are set at zero as a means of injecting confidence into the markets, and the cost of living continues to rise, then savings are effectively falling in real terms. Many people forget the fact that while their savings may well stagnate with zero or very little interest earned they are effectively going backwards as the cost of living moves up and up. For those holding savings in non-euro accounts they may well feel protected in the short term from any problems within the Eurozone but as we have mentioned on numerous occasions, if the euro was to collapse then the whole world would be affected. The dream of a federal Europe is now laying in tatters and Eurozone members are now entering a vital phase of the recovery programme. The problem that the euro may have in the future is the fact that a concerted effort by investors to drive the currency lower, despite relatively upbeat statements from Eurozone members, certainly won the day. As a consequence, what is to stop investors targeting the euro in the future? No, I use a FX tool of any kind to make the most of currency volatility (11.76%) It seems as though some expats living in Spain have been looking at the currency markets in great detail and indeed a number have used foreign exchange tools to try and benefit from ongoing market volatility. This is an interesting development because it shows that while in general expats living in Spain do not believe the euro will collapse they are more than happy to benefit from currency volatility. But is this sensible behaviour? The foreign exchange markets are in many cases the tail that wags the dog with the dog being the European wide economy. It is common knowledge that the vast majority of short, medium and long-term economic indicators are reflected in the currency markets prior to their transfer to relevant stock markets. Currencies are more susceptible to news flow, both good and bad, and very often “convenient leaks” can set the markets up for particular news. The idea of using foreign exchange tools to benefit from currency volatility would tend to indicate an interest from speculators looking for short-term gain. But is this the right attitude? If you have moved to Spain to begin a new life then we can possibly understand if you wanted to use foreign exchange tools to insure and protect your existing assets and existing funds. But why on earth would you look to speculate with your financial future in a market which even the most ardent investors are finding very difficult to read. Moving to a new country is a stressful occasion at the best of times but adding market speculation to the mix will not help you settle down in the short term. Have voters ever considered using foreign exchange tools to insure their assets? Hedging or protection strategies are very simple ways of putting a floor under your assets in relation to the exchange rate of the euro. If the euro was to collapse then you would simply activate your hedge/protection strategy and your downside would be limited. If the euro was to recover and go from strength to strength then you may feel as though you have wasted your “insurance premium” in the shape of the hedging/protection strategy but you have given yourself peace of mind during the most volatile and dangerous period that the euro has known. Yes, it would affect my purchasing power (17.65%) Despite the fact that more expats in Spain believe that the euro will not collapse the joint second top answers to our online poll suggests concern about their savings back home as well as their purchasing power. However, if we compare the 17.65% figure associated with expats in Spain against the average for the overall online poll of 25.11% then again we are starting to see signs of support for the currency. If your savings and your income are already held in euros then it is difficult for us to see where your purchasing power might be directly impacted on a collapse. However, it would be impacted if you were looking to spend money overseas and had to exchange your euros, it would be impacted if inflation ran out of control and the cost of goods and services increased and it would be impacted if you’re savings attracted little interest. It is also worthwhile noting that in the event of a Euro collapse it is likely that unemployment would increase dramatically and there would be pressure on wages. This may also reduce your purchasing power in the short to medium term. The worrying sign for many expats is the fact that savings rates have been relatively low for some time now yet inflation continues to cause concern. The net impact of lower savings rates and higher rates of inflation is that for the last few years each and every penny of your savings is reducing in value in real terms. This will have a major impact upon your purchasing power unless you are able to increase your income or increase your savings rate.

AUAN objects to proposals to deal with illegal houses under the Regularisation Decree

2012-05-18T00:08:00.001+01:00

AUAN, the homeowners association, has submitted a formal objection to the planning documents published by Albox Town Council on the 2nd of May because they could result in the initiation of proceedings against 295 buildings situated in the town. In addition the association claims that a further 278 houses are placed in a “legal limbo” by the town halls proposals. The planning documents, published under the terms of the recent Regularisation Decree for houses on non urban land, consist of an Advance Plan of Inspection which could result in the initiation of proceedings against some 295 buildings (many in foreign ownership) located in or near waterways, on rights of way, near roads or subject to some other form of protection. “We believe that the council should properly define and map these protected areas before they select homes for inclusion in the Inspection Plan. The current list is not based on accurate criteria and could result in unnecessary worry and expense for homeowners” said an AUAN spokesperson. This document further identifies some 278 houses (the majority foreign owned) that are located on illegal land divisions know as ‘parcelaciones urbanisticas’. “These houses are placed in a sort of legal limbo and we have raised a number of issues with this designation including the fact that the town hall may have issued segregation licences for many of them” the spokesperson continued. “We also note with some concern that the homeowner has been listed as the promoter in a number of cases when this is clearly not true”. The association also expressed its surprise at the selection of properties included in the second planning document, the Advance of Urban Settlements, highlighting that only two urban settlements had been identified in the Aljambra area of Albox, the location of a number of illegal urbanisations, whilst others, constructed by the same promoter and other promoters, containing numerous houses have been excluded. “This only goes to show why we do not believe that the decree is the solution that the homeowners and the property industry needs. In practice, it just makes matters worse as time will tell”. “Our members feel that having been defrauded by our promoters and let down by a slow legal system, we are now being held to ransom by the government of Andalucía who demands expensive paperwork, difficult legal contortions and in some cases the funding of infrastructure projects to fix problems caused by others, including, it must be said, the Junta de Andalucía.” the spokesperson concluded.

Spain’s Latin America Assets Threatened by Back-to-Back Seizures

2012-05-17T22:39:00.001+01:00

Grupo Ezentis (EZE) is a Spanish engineering company that builds and runs phone and power-cable networks in Spain and Latin America. “About two-thirds of the company’s revenue comes from Latin America, and it keeps on growing,” said Chairman Manuel Garcia-Duran. Without Latin America, Ezentis would be trapped inside the moribund Spanish market, where it’s losing money. Seville-based Ezentis is one of hundreds of Spanish companies with heavy exposure to the economies of Latin America. Since 1992, Spanish corporations have spent $117 billion on Latin American deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The acquisitions have been pretty constant, especially over the last 10 years, prompting journalists to dub the phenomenon the Reconquista, in reference to the conquistadors of the 16th century, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its May 21-27 issue. Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA’s (REP) $15.5 billion purchase of Argentina’s YPF was the biggest deal, while Telefonica (TEF) was the most acquisitive company, spending $41 billion on 40 deals. Spanish executives wagered that the region had left behind the instability that saw Venezuela nationalize its oil industry and Chile seize its copper mines in the 1970s. On the whole, the bet has paid off, even if the Spanish did have to ride out Argentina’s 2001-2002 debt default and devaluation. Telefonica and Banco Santander SA (SAN), Spain’s two biggest companies, generate almost half their sales in Latin America: Madrid-based Telefonica’s first-quarter profits from the region outstripped domestic profits for the first time ever. Spain’s 200 listed companies generate 18 percent of their revenue in Latin America according to data compiled by Bloomberg -- a vital prop to these companies as Spain struggles to grow.

€1billion run on a recently nationalised Spanish bank has sparked further fears that the 17-nation eurozone is about to implode.

2012-05-17T22:38:00.001+01:00

European markets fell as fears of a continent-wide contagion from goverment-less Greece's economic crisis also spread.

Shares in Bankia, Spain's fourth biggest bank formed in 2010 through a merger of seven struggling regional savings institutions, today plummeted by 27 per cent.

Worry: A ¿1billion run on recently nationalised Spanish bank Bankia has sparked further fears that the 17-nation eurozone is about to implode

The pan-European FTSE 300 index was down 0.9 per cent at 984.22 points by 10.26.am, close to a four-and-a-half-month low of 983.95 points reached yesterday.

Spain's benchmark IBEX index fell nearly 2 per cent to its lowest level since mid-2003.

It came following a report in El Mundo newspaper that its customers had withdrawn more than €1billion from their accounts over the past week.

It added to losses incurred yesterday after the European Central Bank said it had stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks because they had not been successfully recapitalised.

Greece is set to hold fresh elections on June 17 after voters rejected austerity measures imposed on it by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which has heightened fears it will have to leave the eurozone.

Investors are also worried by the possibility of contagion from a Greek exit from the euro spreading to other countries such as Spain or Italy.

Change: French President Francois Hollande (right) has given his ministers a 30 per cent pay cut to mark a difference with Nicolas Sarkozy's (left) administration

'It's not Greece leaving the euro that is the major issue, it's the domino effect,' said John Bearman, chief investment officer at British firm Thomas Miller Investment, which manages roughly €3billion worth of assets.

Greece today held a swearing-in ceremony of Coalition of the Radical Left party leader Alexis Tsipras and former Prime Minister George Papandreou.

But their leadership will be short-lived, as their parliament will be dissolved tomorrow so they can arrange new elections.

The developments came as panicked savers in Greece also started to vote with their wallets, withdrawing a staggering £650million per day - more than eight times more than usual.

It has led to the European Central Bank cutting off lending to at least four Greek banks, sparking fears they could collapse within days.

And it has also seen rumours that Greece is about to limit the amount of money that can be taken from cashpoints.

To add further pressure, credit ratings agency Moody's said it was reviewing 114 European institutions, which could result in widespread downgrades.

Some banks may lose business, a smaller number could gain. Client exposures and risk may become even further concentrated amongst a limited number of market participants.

On Monday, Moody's downgraded the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 26 Italian banks, prompting the Italian Banking Association to call the move an 'assault against Italy, its companies and its families'.

Concerns over Spain were highlighted by data showing the country had slipped back into recession during the first quarter, while the country's medium-term borrowing costs rose sharply during a bond auction.

Tensions within the European banking system were also exposed by the fact that key eurozone three-month bank-to-bank lending rates had edged higher today for the first time since the European Central Bank pumped in ultra-cheap, three-year funds in December.

Royal London Asset Management's European equities fund manager Neil Wilkinson said he had reduced his exposure to financial stocks in recent weeks, as a result of the worsening European debt crisis.

Wilkinson, who manages around £425million worth of assets, said his portfolio was 70 per cent invested in northern European equities markets such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, with a small amount in Italy and Spain.

Wilkinson said he owned Italian bank Intesa and Spanish pharmaceuticals group Grifols, but was otherwise shying away from stocks in countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.

'The selling pressure is going to continue,' he said. News of the run came as France's new President marked his first official day in the office by slashing his ministers' pay by 30 per cent.

Short-lived: Greece's Coalition of the Radical Left party leader Alexis Tsipras (second right) and former Prime Minister George Papandreou (right) are sworn-in at the Greek Parliament today. The parliament will be dissolved tomorrow

Francois Hollande's new Socialist government said it was 'setting an example' with the symbolic move, aimed at drawing a clear distinction with the previous administration.

Nicolas Sarkozy, voted out of power earlier this month, famously hiked up his pay 170 per cent to €19,000 per month on taking office in 2007.

Senior ministers then said their first concern was tackling the European sovereign debt crisis - and promoting their new boss's view of shifting the focus from austerity to growth.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told news channel BFMTV: 'The priority is to disentangle the crisis in Europe.

'I am profoundly European but we need a different Europe, a Europe that is much more focused on jobs.'

Euro crisis ensnares Spain

2012-05-17T22:32:00.001+01:00

Moody's slashed the ratings of 16 Spanish banks on Thursday evening, as it questioned the Spanish government's ability to provide further support to the sector, and cited the "adverse operating conditions" characterised by a renewed recession. The rating agency also downgraded Santander UK, although, at "A2," it is still rated one notch above its parent bank. Moody's highlighted that Santander UK has "no direct exposure to the Spanish government (or regional governments)". Earlier in the day, shares in Bankia, the country’s fourth biggest bank, plunged by as much as 29pc amid reports that depositors had pulled out €1bn in the past week. Madrid was then forced to pay 50pc more than in March to drum up interest in a €2.5bn (£2bn) bond. By then end of the day, borrowing costs for benchmark 10-year sovereign debt in Spain rose 2 basis points to 6.21pc, while gilts and German bunds dropped to fresh lows of 1.834pc and 1.41pc respectively. Britain’s debt management office was swamped with record demand for a 'safe haven’ £1.5bn gilt auction. As pandemonium struck Spain, Fitch slashed Greece’s credit rating deeper into junk, from B- to CCC, to “reflect the heightened risk that [it] may not be able to sustain membership of the monetary union” and warned that all eurozone members would be at risk of a downgrade if Greece exited.

Brink's Mat the reason that Great Train Robber was shot dead in Marbella

2012-05-06T11:44:00.001+01:00

The Brink’s-Mat curse even touched on the Great Train Robbery gang of 1963. One of them, Charlie Wilson, found himself in trouble when £3 million of Brink’s-Mat investors’ money went missing in a drug deal. In April 1990, he paid the price when a young British hood knocked on the front door of his hacienda north of Marbella and shot Wilson and his pet husky dog before coolly riding off down the hill on a yellow bicycle.

British tourist falls to her death from hotel balcony in Magalluf

2012-05-05T16:29:00.001+01:00

23 year old British tourist has fallen to her death from the third floor balcony of her hotel in Magalluf, Mallorca. Emergency sources said it happened at 4.25am Saturday morning at the Hotel Teix in Calle Pinada. Local police and emergency health services went to scene. After 20 minutes of an attempt to re-animate her heart, the woman was pronounced dead. Online descriptions for the Hotel say it is the best place to stay of you are looking for non-stop partying, adding it not suitable for families.

Four of the last reporters and photographers willing to cover crime stories have been slain in less than a week in violence-torn Veracruz state

2012-05-05T00:46:00.001+01:00

Four of the last reporters and photographers willing to cover crime stories have been slain in less than a week in violence-torn Veracruz state, where two Mexican drug cartels are warring over control of smuggling routes and targeting sources of independent information. The brutal campaign is bleeding the media and threatening to turn Veracruz into the latest state in Mexico where fear snuffs out reporting on the drug war. Three photojournalists who worked the perilous crime beat in the port city of Veracruz were found dismembered and dumped in plastic bags in a canal Thursday, less than a week after a reporter for an investigative newsmagazine was beaten and strangled in her home in the state capital of Xalapa. Press freedom groups said all three photographers had temporarily fled the state after receiving threats last year. The organizations called for immediate government action to halt a wave of attacks that has killed at least seven current and former reporters and photographers in Veracruz over the last 18 months. Like most of those, the men found Thursday were among the few journalists left working on crime-related stories in the state. Threats and killings have spawned an atmosphere of terror and self-censorship, and most local media are too intimidated to report on drug-related violence. Social media and blogs are often the only outlets reporting on serious crime. Veracruz isn't the only battleground for Mexican media. In at least three northeastern states, journalists are under siege from assailants throwing grenades inside newsrooms and gunmen firing into newspaper and TV station buildings. In the state of Tamaulipas, on the border with Texas, local media stopped covering drug trafficking violence, mentioning drug cartels or reporting on organized crime shortly after two gangs began fighting for control of Nuevo Laredo in 2004. As part of that war, reporters were targeted to keep them silent or because they had links to gangs. Mexico has become one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists in recent years, amid a government offensive against drug cartels and fighting among gangs that have brought tens of thousands of deaths, kidnappings and extortion cases. Prosecutions in journalist killings are almost nonxistent, although that is widely true of all homicides and other serious crimes in Mexico. The latest killings came in Boca del Rio, a town near the port city of Veracruz where police found the bodies. The victims bore signs of torture and had been dismembered, the state prosecutors' office said. One victim was identified as Guillermo Luna Varela, a crime-news photographer for the website http://www.veracruznews.com.mx who was last seen by local reporters covering a car accident Wednesday afternoon. According to a fellow journalist, who insisted on speaking anonymously out of fear, Luna was in his 20s and had begun his career working for the local newspaper Notiver. The journalist said Luna was the nephew of another of the men found dead, Gabriel Huge. Huge was in his early 30s and worked as a photojournalist for Notiver until last summer, when he fled the state soon after two of the paper's reporters were slain in still-unsolved killings. He had returned to the state to work as a reporter, but it was not immediately clear what kind of stories he was covering recently. State officials said the third victim was Esteban Rodriguez, who was a photographer for the local newspaper AZ until last summer, when he too quit and fled the state. He later came back, but took up work as a welder. The London-based press freedom group Article 19 said he, like the other two, had been a crime photographer. The fourth victim was Luna's girlfriend, Irasema Becerra, state prosecutors said. Article 19 said in a report last year that Luna, Varela and Rodriguez were among 13 Veracruz journalists who had fled their homes because of crime-related threats and official unwillingness to protect them or investigate the danger. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in 2008 that Huge had been detained and beaten by federal police as he tried to cover a fatal auto accident involving officers. Last June, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, a columnist and editorial director for Notiver, was shot to death in Veracruz along with his wife and one of his children. Authorities that month also found the body of journalist Noel Lopez buried in a clandestine grave in the town of Chinameca. Lopez, who disappeared three months earlier, had worked for the weeklies Horizonte and Noticias de Acayucan and for the daily newspaper La Verdad. The following month, Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, a police reporter for Notiver, was found with her throat cut in the state. Lopez was found after a suspect in another case confessed to killing him, but the other two murders have not been resolved. The cartel war in Veracruz reached a bloody peak in September when 35 bodies were dumped on a main highway in rush-hour traffic. Local law enforcement in the state was considered so corrupt and infiltrated by the Zetas and other gangs that Mexico's federal government fired 800 officers and 300 administrative personnel in the city of Veracruz-Boca del Rio in December and sent in about 800 marines to patrol. Mike O'Connor, the Committee to Protect Journalists' representative for Mexico, said journalists in Veracruz were exercising an unusual degree of self-censorship even before Ordaz and Lopez were killed. He said media avoided much coverage of crime and corruption. "Important news was not covered because it might upset the Zetas. Then these guys were killed and self-censorship cracked down even more," O'Connor said. "Almost all of the police beat reporters left town after those killings." Regina Martinez, a correspondent for the national magazine Proceso, continued to cover crime-related stories along with a handful of other journalists, however. On Saturday, authorities went to her home in Xalapa, the state capital, after a neighbor reported it to be suspiciously quiet. They found the reporter dead in her bathroom with signs she had been beaten and strangled. "Self-censorship was extraordinarily strong but whoever killed these journalists wanted more," O'Connor said. "It still wasn't enough to satisfy whoever killed these journalists." Mexico's human rights commission says 74 media workers were slain from 2000 to 2011. The Committee to Protect Journalists says 51 were killed in that time. It noted in a statement on the Mexico killings that Thursday was World Press Freedom Day.

Lightning Strikes Man's Scrotum

2012-05-04T16:59:00.001+01:00

lightning struck a 53-year-old man's scrotum and then exited his body through one of his feet in Madrid, Spain. The good news: he survived. The bad news: his testicles were burned. A lucky man. Or maybe not. The man was walking on Avenida de La Ilustración—a street in Madrid's suburb Tres Cantos—when the lightning struck his scrotum through his pants, travelled down one of his legs and went to the sidewalk through his foot. He fell unconscious. His son called the emergency services, who treated the burns on his scrotum and feet. They moved him to the Hospital de la Paz, where he got under several tests. Luckily, his heart and brain were not affected by the lightning, said the doctors.

Greek far-right parties could end up with as much as 20 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has intensified the xenophobic atmosphere in the country.

2012-05-04T09:45:00.001+01:00

At night, the streets leading to Omonoia Square are empty. That wasn't always the case. The area was the premier multicultural neighborhood of Athens and one of the first quarters to be gentrified. Jazz bars and Indian restaurants lined the streets, separated by the occasional rooms-by-the-hour hotel. It was a quarter full of immigrants, drug addicts and African prostitutes, but also of journalists, ambitious young artists and teenagers from private schools. Today, the immigrants stay home once night falls. They are afraid of groups belonging to the "angry citizens," a kind of militia that beats up foreigners and claims to help the elderly withdraw money from cash machines without being robbed. Such groups are the product of an initiative started by the neo-Nazi Chrysi Avgi -- Golden Dawn -- the party which has perpetrated pogroms in Agios Panteleimon, another Athens neighborhood with a large immigrant population. There are now three outwardly xenophobic parties in Greece. According to recent surveys, together they could garner up to 20 percent of the vote in elections on Sunday: the anti-Semitic party LAOS stands to win 4 percent; the nationalist party Independent Greeks -- a splinter group of the conservative Nea Dimokratia party -- is forecast to win 11 percent; and the right extremists of Golden Dawn could end up with between 5 and 7 percent. My name is Xenia, the hospitable. Greece itself should really be called Xenia: Tourism, emigration and immigration are important elements of our history. But hospitality is no longer a priority in our country, a fact which the ugly presence of Golden Dawn makes clear. A Personal Attack Shaved heads, military uniforms, Nazi chants, Hitler greetings: How should a Greek journalist deal with such people? Should one just ignore them and leave them unmentioned? Should one denounce them and demand that they be banned? One shouldn't forget that they are violent and have perpetrated several attacks against foreigners and leftists. I thought long and hard about how to write about Golden Dawn so that my article was in no way beneficial to the party. On April 12, the daily Kathimerini ran my story under the headline "Banality of Evil." In the piece, I carefully explained why it was impossible to carry on a dialogue with such people and why I thought the neo-Nazi party should disappear from media coverage and be banned. Five days later, an anonymous reply to my article appeared on the Golden Dawn website. It was a 2,500-word-long personal attack in which the fascists recounted my entire career, mocked my alleged foreign roots (I was born in Hamburg) and even, for no apparent reason, mentioned my 13-year-old daughter. The unnamed authors indirectly threatened me as well: "To put it in the mother tongue of foreign Xenia: 'Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat, kommt Attentat!'" In other words, watch your back. Most Greeks believe that Golden Dawn has connections to both the police and to the country's secret service. Nevertheless, I went to the authorities to ask what I should do. I was told that I should be careful. They told me that party thugs could harass me, beat me or terrorize me over the phone. It would be better, they said, if I stopped writing about them. If I wished to react to the threats, they suggested I file a complaint against Golden Dawn's service provider. That, however, would be difficult given that the domain is based somewhere in the United States. Like Weimar Germany A friend told me that I should avoid wearing headphones on the street so that I can hear what is going on around me. My daughter now has nightmares about being confronted by members of Golden Dawn. Three of her classmates belong to the party. The three boys have posted pictures of party events on their Facebook pages. For their profile image, they have chosen the ancient Greek Meandros symbol, which, in the red-on-black manifestation used by Golden Dawn, resembles a swastika. The group's slogans include "Foreigners Out!" and "The Garbage Should Leave the Country!" The fact that immigration has become such an issue in the worst year of the ongoing economic crisis in the country can be blamed on the two parties in government. The Socialist PASOK and the conservative Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy, or ND) are running xenophobic campaigns. ND has said it intends to repeal a law which grants Greek citizenship to children born in Greece to immigrant parents. And cabinet member Michalis Chrysochoidis, of PASOK, has announced "clean up operations" whereby illegal immigrants are to be rounded up in encampments and then deported. When he recently took a stroll through the center of Athens to collect accolades for his commitment to the cause, some called out to him: "Golden Dawn has cleaned up Athens!" Yet, Chrysochoidis is the best loved PASOK politician in his Athens district, in part because of his xenophobic sentiments. His party comrade, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos, is just as popular. Loverdos has warned Greek men not to sleep with foreign prostitutes for fear of contracting HIV and thus endangering the Greek family. High unemployment of roughly 22 percent, a lack of hope, a tendency toward violence and the search for scapegoats: Analyses in the Greek press compare today's Greece with Germany at the end of the Weimar Republic. "We didn't know," said many Germans when confronted with the truth of the Holocaust after Nazi rule came to an end. After elections on May 6, no Greeks should be able to make the same claim.

Locked Up Abroad is different.

2012-05-04T05:55:00.001+01:00

Reality TV is, at its core, about letting viewers revel in the bad decision-making of others: those who speak without thinking, who backstab, who have sex without condoms, who cheat. Frustratingly, though, reality shows—to which I am unapologetically addicted—tend to reward bad behavior, by giving its villains notoriety, spinoffs, opportunities to endorse weight-loss products, a nice sideline in paid interviews with supermarket tabloids, and other D-list rewards.

Locked Up Abroad is different. The National Geographic show, the sixth season of which premiered last week, gives its stars something they wouldn’t get on other reality shows: their comeuppance.

Having debuted in the U.K. (under the title Banged Up Abroad), Locked Up Abroad showcases one person (sometimes a couple) who ends up in prison overseas. Participants fit into one of two categories. The first group are the (largely) innocent: the married missionary couple who were kidnapped in the Philippines by the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf, for instance, or the seemingly goodhearted duo who wanted to help children in Chechnya, but ended up held hostage. These tales of the altruistic and naive can be difficult to watch.

But then there are those who rather deserve what happens to them. Typically these are drug smugglers, and their episodes follow a familiar arc. A young person—they’re almost always young—is bored or in need of cash (usually both). She is desperate or feels invincible (usually both). Someone approaches her and offers a seemingly great deal: an all-expenses-paid, luxurious overseas trip in exchange for a small favor. Sometimes the would-be employer is upfront and admits he needs a drug mule, but downplays the risk; other times, he hints at harmless-sounding illegalities, like bringing back legal goods to beat the export tax. In a few cases, the cover story is painfully thin: Come with me to check out this cool new nail polish technology only available in Thailand, for example. (That woman was in a vulnerable place: She had just been released on bail after killing her partner’s former husband—in self-defense, she claimed.)

The drug smugglers are caught, of course, usually at the airport, and brought to prison. And while a few episodes have taken place in developed countries—Spain, Japan, South Korea—the majority of our anti-heroes end up incarcerated in places with some of the dirtiest and most dangerous penitentiaries in the world.

Take last week’s episode, “From Hollywood to Hell.” (And pardon my spoilers, but this installment is too good not to describe in detail.) In 2001, actor Erik Aude was living the marginal Hollywood dream. An ür-bro, he had played bit parts in Dude, Where’s My Car?(credited as “Musclehead”) and 7^th Heaven (“Boyfriend”) when a gym buddy asked him to go to Turkey to bring back “leather goods.” Aude makes the trip, and though a drug-sniffing dog alerts authorities at the Turkish airport, they find nothing—so Aude feels sure the whole thing is legit. He even recommends that one of his brothers start couriering for his friend. Then, when his brother backs out of a planned trip to Pakistan in 2002, Aude steps in, and shit gets real.

It is difficult to feel sorry for Aude. After his escort dumps him in an Islamabad hotel and warns him not to leave because the area is unsafe for Americans, he doesn’t head to the embassy or the airport. Instead, he goes jogging—and even tries to flirt with girls in headscarves on the street (with disastrous results). And when he is taken to the airport with just one suitcase, he is (he claims) not the least bit suspicious that he might be a drug mule. When a customs official asks him whether his trip was for business or pleasure, he cheeses, “Pleasure is my business.”

Aude’s episode is mind-bogglingly watchable, not least because he—of course!—plays himself in the re-enactment. In his telling, he was a virtual action star: On at least three occasions, he single-handedly fights back dozens of Pakistanis. After he takes out a prison bully, he is hailed a hero. He rejects a reduced sentence because it would require him to plead guilty—and his pride is more valuable than his freedom, he says.

Aside from those truly in the wrong place at the wrong time, the most sympathetic characters of Locked Up Abroad may be the embassy employees called in to assist the suspected smugglers. Inevitably, Locked Up Abroad participants are horrified that the embassies of their homelands—usually English-speaking countries like the U.S., the U.K., or Australia—can’t do more for them. I can just imagine U.S. Embassy workers calling “not it” every time they get word from local authorities about some young American knucklehead who thought he could sneak past security with a bag full of cocaine.

Tonight’s episode is called “The Juggler Smuggler,” and its “hero” is Mark Greening, a “party-loving” drug-runner who knows his latest trip is “doomed” when he doesn’t get his fortune told by “his favorite Gypsy woman.” I can’t wait.

Low fare airline bmibaby to close

2012-05-04T05:42:00.001+01:00

Low fare carrier bmibaby is set to close later this year, threatening the loss of hundreds of jobs and the ending of its flights. The carrier transferred to International Airlines Group, the owners of British Airways, last month, but consultations have now started with unions about its closure in September. The GMB union said it was "devastating" news, especially for the East Midlands, where hundreds of jobs are now threatened with the axe. With bmi Regional, bmibaby transferred to International Airlines Group ownership on completion of the purchase from Lufthansa. IAG has consistently said that bmibaby and bmi Regional are not part of its long-term plans. A statement said: "Progress has been made with a potential buyer for bmi Regional, but so far this has not been possible for bmibaby, despite attempts over many months by both Lufthansa and IAG. Bmibaby has therefore started consultation to look at future options including, subject to that consultation, a proposal to close in September this year." Peter Simpson, bmi interim managing director, said: "We recognise that these are unsettling times for bmibaby employees, who have worked tirelessly during a long period of uncertainty. Bmibaby has delivered high levels of operational performance and customer service, but has continued to struggle financially, losing more than £100 million in the last four years. In the consultation process, we will need to be realistic about our options. "To help stem losses as quickly as possible and as a preliminary measure, we will be making reductions to bmibaby's flying programme from June. We sincerely apologise to all customers affected and will be providing full refunds and doing all we can with other airlines to mitigate the impact of these changes." Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the pilots' union Balpa, said: "This is bad news for jobs. Bmibaby pilots are disappointed and frustrated that, even though there appears to be potential buyers, we are prevented from speaking with them to explore how we can contribute to developing a successful business plan. "The frustration has now turned to anger following the news that Flybe (which is part owned by BA) has moved onto many of these bmibaby routes without any opportunity for staff to look at options and alternatives. Balpa's priority is to protect jobs; and we will use whatever means we can to do so." The changes mean that all bmibaby flights to and from Belfast will cease from June 11, although this will not affect bmi mainline's services to London Heathrow. Bmibaby services from East Midlands to Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Nice, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newquay, and from Birmingham to Knock and Amsterdam, will end on the same date.

Fashion for marble kitchen work tops results in increased cases of Silicosis

2012-04-28T14:51:00.001+01:00

15% of the workers in the marble and wood industries are suffering from silicosis. What is perhaps the oldest professional illness hit the mining communities of the past century very hard, but cases are up again following the fashion to use quartz agglomerates for kitchen and bathroom worktops. A study from CCOO says that 15% of the workers in the industry in Andalucía are suffering, some 700 people. It results from the breathing the silica dust for several years. The CCOO study looks also at workers who have been exposed for less than five years. There are marble companies in Loja Granada and in the Sierra Sur in Sevilla, while the risk to woodworkers is mostly in the province of Jaén. The lack of preventative measures has resulted in the illness becoming more common again, and 64% of the workers say their plants have no plans against risks in the workplace. That number reaches 82% in the quartz industry. The inhalation of the dust irritates the nose, throat and respiratory tract and when the particles enter the lungs the silicosis is produced.

Reopen Madeleine case, police urge

2012-04-25T15:38:00.001+01:00

Scotland Yard has urged Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine McCann as detectives said there are 195 potential leads to finding her alive. The detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case can still be solved before officers released a picture of what she might now look like as a nine-year-old. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believes her disappearance was a stranger abduction, as he said there are 195 "investigative opportunities". Police refused to say what evidence they had uncovered to suggest Madeleine is alive. Mr Redwood confirmed that his team of more than 30 officers involved in the case had been out to Portugal seven times, including a visit to the family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz. It will be five years ago next week since the three-year-old went missing as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined with friends nearby. A spokesman for the McCanns said the family was pleased with the image. Mr Redwood said his 37 officers had dealt with 40,000 pieces of information but the "primacy still sits in Portugal" in the attempt to find her. Commander Simon Foy said: "Most significantly, the message we want to bring to you is that, on the evidence, there is a possibility that she is alive and we desperately need your help today to appeal directly to the public for information to support our investigation." Mr Redwood said "evidence that she is alive stems from the forensic view of the timeline" that there was the opportunity for her to be taken. Investigations show "there do appear to be gaps", he added. Detectives in Portugal are also understood to want the case reopened but must gain judicial approval via the courts.

Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks

2012-04-25T15:27:00.001+01:00

Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security. The list of good and bad sites will be published regularly by the non-profit Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM). A survey carried out to launch the group found that more than 52% of sites tested were using versions of security protocols known to be compromised. The group will test websites to see how well they have implemented basic security software. Security fundamentals The group has been set up by security experts and entrepreneurs frustrated by the slow pace of improvements in online safety. "We want to stimulate some initiatives and get something done," said TIM's founder Philippe Courtot, serial entrepreneur and chief executive of security firm Qualys. He has bankrolled the group with his own money. TIM has initially focused on a widely used technology known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Experts recruited to help with the initiative include SSL's inventor Dr Taher Elgamal; "white hat" hacker Moxie Marlinspike who has written extensively about attacking the protocol; and Michael Barrett, chief security officer at Paypal. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade” Philippe Courtot Many websites use SSL to encrypt communications between them and their users. It is used to protect credit card numbers and other valuable data as it travels across the web. "SSL is one of the fundamental parts of the internet," said Mr Courtot. "It's what makes it trustworthy and right now it's not as secure as you think." Compromised certificates TIM plans a two-pronged attack on SSL. The first part would be to run automated tools against websites to test how well they had implemented SSL, said Mr Courtot. "We'll be making it public," he added. "Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade." Early tests suggest that about 52% of sites checked ran a version of SSL known to be compromised. Companies who have done a bad job will be encouraged to improve and upgrade their implementations so it gets safer to use those sites. The second part of the initiative concerns the running of the bodies, known as certificate authorities, which guarantee that a website is what it claims to be. TIM said it would work with governments, industry bodies and companies to check that CAs are well run and had not been compromised. "It's a much more complex problem," said Mr Courtot. In 2011, two certificate authorities, DigiNotar and GlobalSign were found to have been compromised. In some cases this meant attackers eavesdropped on what should have been a secure communications channel. Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum which represents security specialists working in large corporations, said many of its members took responsibility for making sure sites were secure. "You cannot just say 'buyer beware'," he said. "That's not good enough anymore. They have a real a duty of care." He said corporations were also increasingly conscious of their reputation for providing safe and secure services to customers. Data breaches, hack attacks and poor security were all likely to hit share prices and could mean they lose customers, he noted.

Anti-depressants likely do more harm than good, study suggests

2012-04-25T13:44:00.001+01:00

Commonly prescribed anti-depressants appear to be doing patients more harm than good, say researchers who have published a paper examining the impact of the medications on the entire body. See Also: Health & Medicine Pharmacology Birth Defects Mental Health Research Mind & Brain Depression Disorders and Syndromes Psychiatry Reference COX-2 inhibitor Psychoactive drug Seasonal affective disorder Anti-obesity drug "We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs," says Paul Andrews, an evolutionary biologist at McMaster University and lead author of the article, published recently in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology. "It's important because millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they're safe and effective." Andrews and his colleagues examined previous patient studies into the effects of anti-depressants and determined that the benefits of most anti-depressants, even taken at their best, compare poorly to the risks, which include premature death in elderly patients. Anti-depressants are designed to relieve the symptoms of depression by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain, where it regulates mood. The vast majority of serotonin that the body produces, though, is used for other purposes, including digestion, forming blood clots at wound sites, reproduction and development. What the researchers found is that anti-depressants have negative health effects on all processes normally regulated by serotonin. The findings include these elevated risks: developmental problems in infants problems with sexual stimulation and function and sperm development in adults digestive problems such as diarrhea, constipation, indigestion and bloating abnormal bleeding and stroke in the elderly The authors reviewed three recent studies showing that elderly anti-depressant users are more likely to die than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. The higher death rates indicate that the overall effect of these drugs on the body is more harmful than beneficial. "Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It's intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it's going to cause some harm," Andrews says. Millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants every year, and while the conclusions may seem surprising, Andrews says much of the evidence has long been apparent and available. "The thing that's been missing in the debates about anti-depressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects," he says. "Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue." In previous research, Andrews and his colleagues had questioned the effectiveness of anti-depressants even for their prescribed function, finding that patients were more likely to suffer relapse after going off their medications as their brains worked to re-establish equilibrium. With even the intended function of anti-depressants in question, Andrews says it is important to look critically at their continuing use. "It could change the way we think about such major pharmaceutical drugs," he says. "You've got a minimal benefit, a laundry list of negative effects -- some small, some rare and some not so rare. The issue is: does the list of negative effects outweigh the minimal benefit?"