New York police officers accused in alleged ticket-fixing operation

Sixteen members of the New York Police Department have been indicted on charges they were involved in "highly organized, systematic" misconduct that included a large-scale ticket-fixing operation, among other allegations, city and police officials announced Friday.

The scandal is the second in a week to hit the department. On Tuesday, five active and three retired officers were among 12 people charged with conspiring to transport and distribute firearms and stolen goods across state lines.

The ticket-fixing operation allegedly involved summonses to people closely acquainted with the officers, including family members and friends. The indictments allege that some officers tampered with the tickets to result in them being thrown out, according to a press release from the Bronx District Attorney's Office.

"It's difficult to have to announce for the second time this week that police officers have been arrested for misconduct," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a press conference Friday afternoon. "Their misdeeds tarnish the good name and reputation of the vast majority of police officers who perform their duties honestly and often at great risk to their own personal safety."

Five civilians were also named in the indictments, unsealed Friday by the New York Supreme Court.

The indictments are the culmination of a nearly three-year investigation by the police department's Internal Affairs Bureau. The probe began in December 2008 with an anonymous tip about a police officer in the Bronx allegedly "engaged in various illegal business activities with a reputed drug dealer," the district attorney's office said.

Fraud claim thrown out in 'Happy Days' lawsuit

A California judge Wednesday threw out a claim by cast members of the hit television show "Happy Days" that CBS committed fraud by not paying them for merchandising sales.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White ruled in favor of CBS on the fraud claim, meaning the case will proceed only with a breach of contract suit. The cast had sued CBS for $10 million, alleging fraud.

The decision means the actors cannot receive punitive damages at the trial, which is scheduled for June 26, 2012.

The actors claim they never received revenue statements related to merchandising, and that CBS intentionally never intended to pay them anyway.

"The exact details of this alleged promise to provide periodic revenue statements when merchandising revenue had been generated have not been pled with the requisite level of specificity required, such as, who said exactly what to whom and they those representations were known to be false when made," according to the court ruling.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the CBS Consumer Products Division said, "We are thrilled that the court has thrown out all claims for punitive damages and significantly narrowed this to a case of contract interpretation."

Jon Pfeiffer, attorney for the actors, told CNN they were disappointed. "But we intend to press forward with the lawsuit. If we can't punish the defendants, we certainly intend to expose their practices," he said

Wall Street protests swell in New York, Boston.

 A group of union-backed organizations joined the loosely defined Occupy Wall Street movement again Tuesday, leaving behind the confines of New York's financial district for the posh neighborhoods that dot Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to multiple group representatives.

Crowds also swelled in Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, where demonstrators waved placards and chanted slogans attacking corporate greed and social inequality.

The union-organized march, meanwhile, took protesters past the homes of well-to-do residents like billionaire David Koch, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Organizations such as UnitedNY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, and New York Communities for Change were accompanied by protesters typically based in Zuccotti Park, a privately owned park in New York's financial district.

The Upper East Side march was "in support" of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but was not organized by it, said T.J. Helmstetter, a spokesman for Working Families Party, a coalition of New York community and labor groups.

Protesters hopped on the subway, emerging at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street near Central Park, where organizers held a press conference that addressed both New York-centric themes, such as state taxes, and the movement's broader concerns of social inequity.

"We are the 99%," the group chanted, a reference to their insistence that most Americans lack the influence in their country's political and financial affairs enjoyed by the elite 1%.

"I think it's time that these people realize that people are hurting in this country and it's time to reform what's going on in Washington," said New York resident Lenore Silverstein, who attended Tuesday's march.

Spain Business Brief - Thursday October 6 2011

Spain Business Brief - Thursday October 6 2011


The European Central Bank has ignored the markets and kept interest rates today at 1.5%. The concern about increasing inflation in the Eurozone has led to the decision adopted on Thursday.
The International Monetary Fund was among those who had asked for a reduction in interest rates to favour growth, and other experts think that the rate should have been cut to zero to stimulate investment.
Other experts have described the decision as bad news and going against the tide as the United States is doing the opposite.
The European Central Bank is however going to lend to banks all the liquidity which they need.

Brussels has ruled out the creation of a European public ratings agency. The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, ruled out the idea, but has said that they continue to work on legislation ‘which will reduce the dependency to three or four agencies’. Barroso has said that he wants to see a joint EU action to recapitalise European banks. It comes after the EU has already invested at least 500 billion directly to save the banks. Barroso says that Europe will emerge stronger from the economic crisis.

Steve Jobs praised as Apple's visionary, creative genius

 Steve Jobs, the visionary who led a mobile computer revolution with the creation of wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, was mourned Thursday by admirers and competitors as much of the world awoke to news of his death.

Jobs' death was announced Wednesday by Apple, the Silicon Valley company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak. He was 56.

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," Apple said in a statement on its website.

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor."

Suspended

José Mourinho suspended two games for Supercup finger poke

Real Madrid manager, José Mourinho, has been suspended for two games for poking Barcelona’s deputy trainer, Tito Vilanova, in the eye when the two sides met in the Supercup on August 17. Meanwhile Tito has been finally fined one game for responding with a slap.

The incident had more the following day when in a press conference the following day Mourinho mocked that he did not know who ‘Pito’ Vilanova is.

The judge in the Spanish Competition Federation, after examining the images, decided to take extraordinary disciplinary procedures against both men for breaking article 123 of the disciplinary code which makes reference to violence in the game.

The baby born by Caesarean section after his mother was shot dead in a Madrid church has died

The baby born by Caesarean section after his mother was shot dead in a Madrid church has died


The baby who was born by Caesarean section in a Madrid church after his 36 year old mother, Rocio Piñeiro, was killed in a shooting has died. The child had undergone a heart attack just after the procedure.

Last Thursday a gunmen, since found to be a vagrant, entered in the Santa María del Pinar church and started to fire at random, hitting the pregnant women.

Although the mother died at the scene, health professionals from Samur managed to carry out a caesarean to save the child, but despite being rushed to hospital and an incubator the baby lost his fight for life on Monday.

The shooting ended when the man, 34 year old Iván Berrel, shot himself in the mouth. Another 52 year old woman who was injured was allowed home from hospital on Monday.

Tiger Woods not one of golf's top 50 players for first time in 15 years

Tiger Woods is no longer officially considered one of golf's top 50 players, ending a streak that extended back 15 years.

According to the official World Golf Ranking, the 35-year-old Woods entered the weekend as the sport's 50th best player. But he lost that standing when Louis Oosthuizen finished tied for fifth at this weekend's Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, earning him a place in the standings and ousting Woods.

The rankings are endorsed by Professional Golf Association tours in the United States, Europe, Australia, Asia and elsewhere, according to the World Golf Ranking website. An updated ranking comes out every Monday.

The last time Woods was not among the top 50 was on October 13, 1996. Since then, he won 14 major championships -- a distinction used for the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA championship -- and, for much of the next 778 weeks, ranked as the game's best player.

SPA- Such a small World we live in.

Photo - http://poetas-amigos.blogspot.com/2009/08/postal.html

Belgian couple spot the men who stole their car in Belgium on a Spanish beach

Sometimes it a very small world. A Belgian couple who had their car stolen at gunpoint in Belgium some months ago could not believe it when they recognised their attackers when on holiday in Alicante. They saw them on the beach in Guardamar, Alicante last Monday, and made no hesitation in calling the Spanish police.

While they were waiting for the police to arrive, the couple found their own car parked nearby, and the owner decided to puncture the tyres to ensure that the thieves could not take it again.
After the police arrived a search of the car revealed a simulated pistol.

The two men, 47 year old L.J. and 20 year old G.C.D., were taken into custody and it’s now known that there was an international search and capture order in force against them. One of them has served time for serious sexual crimes against children. They have now both been passed to the National Court ahead of being extradited to Belgium.

SPA- Arthur Mas said nothing but good

Andalucia politicians take offence at Catalan president's comments

President Artur Mas has offended politicians from across the country by saying ‘They speak Castellano in Sevilla, Málaga or Coruña, but sometimes they can’t be understood’. 

The matter quickly became the trending hashtag #arturmasnoentiende as Javier Arenas the PP leader in Andalucía accused him of ‘offending the Andalucian people’. Government spokesman, José Blanco, demanded an apology and said he himself felt offended because of his Galician roots.

Following the protests Mas has apologised and lamented that his words were misunderstood. In a statement he said, 
‘It’s a shame that the legitimate demands of Cataluña and the calls for a basic understanding in the judiciary get far less response than a ‘casual statement’ made with no intention to offend anybody’
.

Murder suspect gunned down in California woods

 Three law enforcement officers patrolling a remote stretch of northern California woods shot dead a double-murder suspect whom authorities had been hunting for 36 days, a sheriff said.

Aaron Bassler was wearing black clothing and carrying a large backpack, a fanny-pack and assault rifle when three Sacramento sheriffs spotted him early Saturday, Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said.

From about 40 yards away and at an elevation 25 feet higher, they 

fired about seven rounds into his upper torso.

Allman said Bassler didn't fire a shot, and there was no verbal exchange between the parties. The suspect raised his weapon -- which was loaded and not on safety -- from the ground toward law enforcement officers.

It is believed to be the same weapon used to kill one of his victims, officials said.

The suspect was considered "armed and dangerous," and was believed to have engaged in a gunfight with three other law enforcement officers from Alameda County two days earlier.