MARBELLA CLUB

In an era before Twitter, paparazzi, gossip websites and the voracious appetite for the scandal and sex lives of the rich and shameless, Hollywood was swinging with the kind of wild sexual liberation that can still seem shocking today. Post-war Hollywood was churning out the family-friendly, conservative-values movies that chimed with the politics and repressed sexuality of the '40s and '50s. But the unacknowledged irony was that these motion pictures were being made by actors, writers, directors and studio chiefs who were engaged in lifestyles that could not have been more different from those they created on screen. Two decades before the sexual revolution of the 1960s, Los Angeles was already a sexual playground for movie stars and the international jet set, who were protected by a powerful studio system that could keep their more outrageous behaviour out of the public eye. Stars such as Noel Coward, Cole Porter, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant -- and non-industry figures like the former King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson -- had a sexually licentious lifestyle within the closed Hollywood community. And where you have rich, sexually voracious movie stars and powerful men, you will also need pimps, procurers and a steady stream of young men and women. Scotty Bowers, a handsome, bi-sexual, former Marine paratrooper, became a part of this underworld when he relocated to Hollywood following service in the Second World War. The ex-Marine became the go-to guy for those who wanted sexual adventure, building up a network of "friends" who traded in sex with the greatest stars of the era. Now, Bowers has revealed all, in Full Service -- My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, an autobiography that claims to tell the true story behind the rumours and scandal that have filtered down from the closeted era of sex and the stars. Written with the collaboration of Emmy-winning writer Lionel Friedberg, Full Service is published as Bowers prepares to celebrate his 89th birthday. In Scotty's own words, he became a Hollywood insider, or at least a fixer of sexual liaisons, almost by accident when he moved to Los Angeles immediately after the war and began working in a gas station. A chance encounter with the actor Walter Pidgeon, who stopped by to have his tank filled, led to an afternoon of sex with the then-happily married Pidgeon and a male friend. Handsome, friendly and totally relaxed when it came to sex (Bowers attributes this to his wartime experiences and his Illinois farm-boy background), the ex-Marine quickly gained a reputation for knowing a lot of young men and women who were prepared to "trick" for as little as $20. However, throughout his memoir, Bowers is at pains to point out that he was neither a pimp nor a prostitute. "When it came to my own sexual liaisons, I was always more than happy to pocket the tip that anyone offered me for a night of sex," he says. "But I never charged for my matchmaking services when hooking-up other people. I would set up the trick and then the two of them went off together and money changed hands between them. "It was only fair. My operation -- if you want to call it that -- was not a prostitution ring. I was only providing a service to those who wanted it and, as recorded history has shown, throughout the ages there has always been a need for high-quality sex". To hear Bowers tell it, the '40s and '50s in Los Angeles were golden decades of sexual experimentation, where stars and their willing acolytes enjoyed never-ending pool parties under the Californian sun. Sex was an obsession and a currency for stars young and old. Mae West, even as she was in her late-60s, kept a string of young bodybuilders on call 24 hours a day. Bowers got to know Rock Hudson, whose homosexuality was an open secret in Hollywood, in the mid-'50s and also knew his wife, Phyllis Gates, a lesbian who had been persuaded to marry Rock to quell the gossip magazine whispers about his sexuality. "This phony marriage must have been hell on them both. Rock had a voracious, almost uncontrollable sexual appetite. In later years he cruised the streets every night, picking up vagabonds, strangers and young men all over town," says Bowers. The Los Angeles police vice squad was a constant threat, with LA Confidential-style shakedowns, blackmail rings and the vicious persecution of gay men in particular (or at least those who couldn't afford high-powered lawyers and the protection of the studio bosses). Pay-offs to the right cops, the activities of studio fixers and the complicity of the media ensured that very little scandal leaked out. Bowers' memoirs read like a roll-call of just about every major star in the studio system of the time and he cheerfully dishes the dirt. He claims Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were never really involved in a great love affair, painting Hepburn as a sexually voracious lesbian who needed Tracy as a cover for her lifestyle. The list of stars who get the Bowers treatment includes Edith Piaf, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Bob Hope and William Holden (to name but a very, very few). Non-industry figures like Edward and Wallis Simpson, FBI boss J Edgar Hoover and Beatles manager Brian Epstein, flit in and out of the picture, indulging in a wild array of pan-sexual activities. Bowers had been friendly with the movie star Tyrone Powers since their days together in the Marine Corps and once they met up again in Los Angeles, they "enjoyed quite a few sexual shenanigans together". "Women swooned over him and he bedded quite a few of them, but he much preferred men," says Bowers. "Some of his sexual tastes were rather odd and offbeat, but none of the guys seemed to mind." The sexual exploits of the golden- era stars still fascinate, and readers may never look at classic movies like The Wizard of Oz or Bringing Up Baby in the same way again. It can't all have been glamorous pool parties in the Hollywood Hills and smiling, handsome film stars driving around in Cadillacs and Bentleys. But to hear Bowers tell it, after surviving the Depression and then World War Two, the young Americans who flocked to California in the '40s and '50s had little concern for the kind of sexual puritanism apparently making a comeback in the US.

The dangers of daily life for modern men are manifold, it seems. Alongside transfats in foods and oestrogen in drinking water, they must also beware 'Piranha Women'. Or so says divorce lawyer Diane Benussi. In her daily life overseeing the unraveling of families' personal lives, she claims to have observed a new breed of avaricious woman. This lady, according to Ms Benussi, is manipulative and devious to the core -- a romantic mercenary in a mini-skirt. Increasingly, Ms Benussi observed to a tabloid newspaper, beautiful young women, disinclined to make an honest living, are targeting vulnerable wealthy men in a bid to win a share of their assets. Their weapon of choice is their fertility. They lure unsuspecting gentlemen into unprotected sex and then fall pregnant, using the resulting progeny as a siphon on the unsuspecting man's bank account. Poor love. As anyone knows, well-off men in middle age represent one of society's most vulnerable minorities. Not only that, but they are, apparently, completely incapable of taking care of something as simple as contraception. I don't know about you, but personally, in my three decades on earth, I've never met a Piranha Woman. This pantomime trope of a scheming madam who uses sex purely as strategy exists for me only in fairytale. There are women, sure, who find an affluent man who can prove his worth as a provider and an alpha male attractive. But I don't know a single female who has used her womb as a honey trap in order to save herself the bother of buying lottery tickets. I have, on the other hand, met plenty of men who are convinced that they must protect themselves against female strategy and acquisitiveness. One, whom I dated briefly in college, told me outright one evening that he knew as a successful, ambitious guy (at this point he was still a student) he had to beware the advances of ladies with alluring eyes and sinister agendas. His mother, he informed me gravely, had warned him that he was exactly the kind of man that women would try and become pregnant by. Thus, he must be extra careful with contraception. Needless to say, that comment was turn off enough to have me on the next bus home to my own bed. Contrary to what he and his mother thought, I was rather less convinced than they were of the value of his precious sperm. It's possible, of course, that there are a few Piranha Women out there. But I'd guess that they are an extremely rare species. There's a cultural precedent for this belief, of course. (Not to mention a great history of paranoia on the part of many men about the dark arts of female sexuality). That precedent is called a WAG. In an era when we have become more than familiar with women winning fame, wealth, and cultural influence on the strength of their association with rich men, it's not a far stretch to create the myth of the Piranha. We know well that the WAG seeks out partnerships with wealthy footballers, within which a transactional trade-off of beauty for lifestyle and luxury is transparently part of the deal. The notional Piranha simply takes this a step further, by, we are told, using her sex appeal to cut out the romance and go straight for the cash, by way of a baby. This, says Ms Benussi, has become an accepted way for a woman to make a living. One could argue that, as a divorce lawyer, she's likely to know. But I don't believe it. There's a huge leap between falling in love with a fit, rich, attractive young footballer and seducing a wealthy singleton with middle-aged spread to get straight to his bank balance. Sure, there are plenty of women who consider affluence to be an attractive attribute in a man. It bespeaks success, competence and a certain capacity for influence and agency in the world -- all sexy qualities, let's be honest. But outside of a pure sex-for-money transaction -- from which, for most women unlucky enough to have to resort to it, pregnancy as a result is usually the least desirable outcome -- I have never met a woman myself who would put it above sexual desire and a genuine emotional bond. The invention of the storybook villain Piranha Woman seems suspiciously like dredging up bitter old cliches in order to further divide the genders around issues of separation and divorce. Relationships are rarely so simple. And perpetuating these kind of tropes and stereotypes serves no one except the divorce lawyers.

Catholics and conservatives have denounced as blasphemous two recent exhibitions in Madrid featuring kinky nuns in lingerie and tattooed and near-naked Christs, demonstrating outside one gallery. Catholic group AES called a demonstration for Friday evening outside the Fresh Gallery in Madrid against its latest exhibition: "Obscenity", a collection of photographs by Canadian artist Bruce LaBruce. The 50 pictures on display include a portrait of Spanish actress Rossy de Palma in a black and white habit and see-through corset with a rosary between her teeth. One shows a well-known singer, Alaska, dressed as a sexy saint with a communion wafer on her tongue, while in another she hugs a tattooed Christ to her breast in a kinky tribute to Michaelangelo's Pieta sculpture. Around 50 protesters demonstrated outside the Fresh gallery Friday evening bearing placards reading "For a unified and Catholic Spain" and "God Exists". LaBruce himself was unrepentant. "How can fascists attempt to assert any sort of moral authority over anything?" he said. LaBruce, 48, whose work has often sparked protests and censorship, wrote on the gallery's website that "the lives of the saints are full of ecstatic acts of sublimated sexuality."

Spain's royal family has long enjoyed a level of privacy and respect that the Windsors could only dream of. But, in an uncomfortable first for the Madrid monarchy, one of their number will face questioning from a judge this week in a scandal which has rocked the royal family and raised questions over the future of the monarchy. Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of King Juan Carlos, is preparing for a court appearance in which he will defend himself in a widening embezzlement scandal. Hearings into the case began last weekend at a court in Palma on the Balearic island of Majorca and will culminate on Saturday with the long anticipated appearance of the Duke of Palma, who received the title when he married Cristina, the King's youngest daughter, in 1997. The Duke, 44, a former professional handball player who won Olympic medals for Spain in the sport, was formally made a suspect in the wide-ranging fraud case that alleges the embezzlement of millions of euros of government funds through a non-profit organization he co-directed between 2004 and 2006. Investigators claim to have discovered a "black hole" in the accounts of the Noos Institute, which organised sporting and tourism events for the regional governments of the Balearic Islands and Valencia.

Morocco has banned the distribution of Thursday’s edition of Spain’s influential El Pais, as a cartoon published by the newspaper allegedly tarnished King Mohammed VI’s name, an official said. “The decision to ban (the paper) was made on the basis of article 29 of the press code” that protects the monarch, the senior communication ministry official told AFP on Saturday. “The caricature contains a deliberate intention to smear the (king’s) image to harm the king personally,” he added. The cartoon, which was picked up by a Moroccan website, accompanied an article by Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero, who knows Morocco well. Contacted by AFP, Cembrero said the Moroccan reaction surprised him as the small cartoon was “friendly and rather likeable”. It seemed to be the first time that a foreign publication was banned for the stated reasons since the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) came to power in Morocco in January, he added. So far Morocco has only banned weeklies that carried images of the Prophet Mohammed, or of God, which is forbidden under Muslim tradition. Earlier this month French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur fell into that category after printing an image of God. And last month the magazine was banned when a cover story on the Arab world included the supposed face of the Prophet Mohammed. Morocco also banned French weekly l’Express in January for publishing a 95-page dossier on Islam including a face meant to represent Mohammed’s.

Evidence that missing aristocrat Lord Lucan was smuggled out of the UK to a secret life abroad has come from two new witnesses. An ex-detective said there was a credible sighting of Lucan in Africa. And a woman who worked for Lucan's friend John Aspinall told the BBC she arranged for his children to fly to Africa where the peer could view them "from a distance". Lucan disappeared in 1974 after the murder of his children's nanny. Sandra Rivett was found dead at Lucan's home in Belgravia, London. The peer's blood-soaked car was later found abandoned in Newhaven, East Sussex. 'Flights to Africa' Lucan, born Richard John Bingham in 1934, was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Instructions were to make arrangements for John Bingham, also known as Lord Lucan, to see his children” Jill Findlay Secretary to John Aspinall In an interview in 2000, Aspinall said Lucan probably committed suicide by scuttling his boat in the English Channel. Since Lucan's disappearance there have been more than 70 alleged sightings of him in countries across the world including South Africa, Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands. Mr Aspinall's secretary, who asked not to be identified and assumed the name Jill Findlay, said she was invited into meetings where the missing aristocrat was discussed by her boss and Sir James Goldsmith, the multi-millionaire businessman. "Instructions were to make arrangements for John Bingham, also known as Lord Lucan, to see his children and to do that I had to book his two eldest children on flights to Africa," she said. "I don't know the exact dates, it was between 1979 and 1981 and it was on two occasions I booked the flights." She said the children would have visited Kenya and Gabon and Lucan would have been able to see them from a distance but he would not meet them or speak to them. Clear conscience Ms Findlay said she had "no idea of the enormity" of the search under way for Lucan who was then the most wanted man in Britain. She also said Mr Aspinall told her to expect him to announce Lucan's death to the press, a statement which came in 2000 and which she took as a signal that he had died in Africa. It took Ms Findlay a further 12 years to break her silence. She said events began to piece themselves together as she reflected on her life during a recent illness and she wanted to talk to the BBC to pass on information to whoever may find it of interest. Ms Findlay said her conscience was clear because she had not helped Lucan escape. She said she was prepared to give Scotland Yard a statement. Mr Aspinall died in June 2000, three years after the death of Sir James Goldsmith. 'Investigation stopped' Bob Polkinghorne, a former detective inspector who worked on the Lucan inquiry when it was being dealt with as a cold case during the 1980s, also said: "The word was he was in Africa. "Lady Lucan, I am quite convinced, didn't think he was dead." Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote I think his gambling fraternity friends spirited him out the country” Bob Polkinghorne He said a further confirmation that Lucan was alive came from a reliable witness who saw one of Lucan's close acquaintances in the early 1980s as he holidayed in Africa. Mr Polkinghorne said: "He was surprised to see this acquaintance standing on a bridge. "After two to three minutes, he was joined by another man who he is adamant was Lord Lucan." The former detective, who now lives in Kent, said permission to pursue this lead was refused by the Metropolitan Police. He said: "I was then later told, a few days later, discontinue the inquiry. You haven't got approval to continue." And he added: "I think his [Lucan's] gambling fraternity friends spirited him out the country."

Luxury has landed in the island's capital, Hanga Roa, with the soft opening of Hangaroa Eco Village & Spa. Situated on the town's main drag and only a kilometre from the airport, the 75-room resort appeals to travellers who want to experience the wonders of Easter Island in eco-friendly style. The overall design is inspired by the ancient dwellings of Rapa Nui, the island's native people, and includes such environmentally sound components as energy-generating solar panels and wind turbines. Rooms have free-standing clay baths, desks made from volcanic rock and terraces overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Check into the spa for a sand sauna or a dip in the outdoor Kneipp pool.

Spain’s stock-market regulator lifted a six-month ban on short-selling of financial stocks, saying the “extreme volatility” that justified the ban had eased. Banking shares plunged, led by Bankia SA. Steps taken by the European Union to tighten budget discipline have helped stabilize markets, as have the European Central Bank’s longer-term financing operations and the Spanish government’s overhaul of the banking industry announced on Feb. 2, the regulator said. “The extreme volatility, continued instability and uncertainty in European markets, particularly financial stocks, that justified temporary restrictions on taking or increasing short positions has eased,” the CNMV regulator said in an e- mailed statement in Madrid. France, Belgium, Spain and Italy moved to ban short-selling in August in an effort to stabilize markets after European banks hit their lowest levels since the credit crisis of 2008. France and Belgium lifted their bans this week. Spain had left the ban open-ended since Sept. 28. Shares in banks plunged today following last night’s announcement. Bankia fell as much as 9.8 percent before closing in Madrid down 7.3 percent at 3.09 euros ($4.04). Banco Popular Espanol SA closed down 6.2 percent at 3.26 euros, paring earlier declines of as much as 8.3 percent. Banco Sabadell SA fell as much as 7.8 percent, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA as much as 5.4 percent and Banco Santander SA as much as 4.9 percent.

While the music industry and millions of fans celebrate the Grammys, sources tell Hollywoodlife.com exclusively that Bobbi Kristina, 18, is so devastated after her mother’s death that she doesn’t want to live. This is just tragedy piling upon tragedy. Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown  ”does not want to live anymore.” Multiple sources tell Hollywoodlife.com her father Bobby Brown and his family members fear for her life. We really hope her family and friends are consoling Bobbi Kristina and getting her the help she needs. “We are afraid for Bobbi Kristina’s life right now,” a family source tells Hollywoodlife.com. “While everyone is celebrating the Grammys, Bobbi Kristina is fighting for her life.” Another source adds, “She is officially on suicide watch.” Whitney Houston‘s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, was released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA this afternoon, and Hollywoodlife.com has learned that she has been taken to an undisclosed location by her father, Bobby Brown, and some of his family members. TMZ reports that family and friends remain deeply concerned that she is suicidal, and sources close to the family say that they are considering getting Bobbi Kristina help. She was rushed to the hospital twice after her mother passed away on Feb 11. Sources told Hollywoodlife.com that Bobbie Kristina had “nervous breakdown” type symptoms and that she “physically couldn’t move.” We can’t imagine the  pain that the 18-year-old must be going through right now. Whitney was found dead on Feb. 11 in the bathtub of her hotel room in the Beverly Hilton Hotel. During an autopsy conducted today, Feb. 12, water was found in Whitney’s lungs and many believe that she drowned in her bathtub after ingesting a mixture of prescription drugs. We really hope her family and friends get her the helps she needs.

Ireland's onetime richest man could face jail after a state bank launched contempt proceedings against him on Friday, saying he was blocking it from seizing hundreds of millions of euros of properties in eastern Europe and Central America. The Irish Banking Resolution Corporation (IBRC) asked the High Court to declare former billionaire Sean Quinn in contempt for violating an order not to interfere with foreign property assets worth an estimated 500 million euros. Quinn, who has come to personify the rapid unravelling of Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy, could be jailed if he is found to have breached the July High Court order. Quinn, 65, turned a rural quarrying operation on his family farm into a 4 billion euro globe-spanning empire. But he lost over 1 billion euros in a disastrous investment in Anglo Irish Bank shortly before the bank collapsed under the weight of failed property loans and he was declared bankrupt in a Dublin court last month. IBRC, which was created from the remains of Anglo Irish Bank, accused Quinn of stripping assets from foreign-based companies to prevent it from securing money it is owed. IBRC faces "a very substantial loss" if it fails to secure assets in Russia, Ukraine and Belize, Paul Gallagher, senior counsel for IBRC said. "The effects of what we say is the contempt, is continuing to happen, happening very quickly and the damage which we are trying to stop will have happened in other jurisdictions," Gallagher said. The application for a contempt order also named Quinn's son Sean Jnr and his nephew Peter Quinn. A barrister representing the Quinn family said they denied breaching the injunction. The judge ordered a full hearing for March 21

Italian anti-mafia prosecutors said they seized a record $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that’s almost half of the U.S.’s public debt. The bonds were found hidden in makeshift compartments of three safety deposit boxes in Zurich, the prosecutors from the southern city of Potenza said in an e-mailed statement. The Italian authorities arrested eight people in connection with the probe, dubbed “Operation Vulcanica,” the prosecutors said. The U.S. embassy in Rome has examined the securities dated 1934, which had a nominal value of $1 billion apiece, they said in the statement. “Thanks to Italian authorities for the seizure of fictitious bonds for $6 trillion,” the embassy said in a message on Twitter. The financial fraud uncovered by the Italian prosecutors in Potenza includes two checks issued through HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) in London for 205,000 pounds ($325,000), checks that weren’t backed by available funds, the prosecutors said. As part of the probe, fake bonds for $2 billion were also seized in Rome. The individuals involved were planning to buy plutonium from Nigerian sources, according to phone conversations monitored by the police. The fraud posed “severe threats” to international financial stability, the prosecutors said in the statement. HSBC spokesman Patrick Humphris in London declined to comment when contacted by telephone. The U.S. Secret Service assisted the Italian authorities, spokesman Edwin Donovan said. Money Laundering Creating fake Treasuries is a “common scam, especially in Italy,” he said. The tipoff was the “astronomical” face value of each bond, he said. Fake bonds in high denominations are more common in Europe, where people are less familiar with the face value of U.S. Treasury bonds than in the U.S., he said. Zurich’s public prosecutor’s office provided material to their Italian counterparts in Potenza in 2011, according to Corinne Bouvard, a spokeswoman for the senior public prosecutor’s office of the canton of Zurich. The Swiss part of the investigation ended on July 22, she said. The Italian investigation initially focused on a Sicilian who was living in Potenza and was “already known for money laundering and exporting currency abroad,” according to the statement from the Potenza prosecutor’s office. Phony U.S. securities have been seized in Italy before and there were at least three cases in 2009. Italian police seized phony U.S. Treasury bonds with a face value of $116 billion in August of 2009 and $134 billion of similar securities in June of that year. The U.S. Secret Service averages about 100 cases a year related to bonds and other fictitious instruments.

Florida deep-sea explorers lost their legal bid to keep a half million silver coins and other treasure raised from a Spanish shipwreck. Now Spain wants to know when and how it will be handed over. Attorneys for Odyssey Marine Exploration and the Spanish government will go before a federal judge Friday to talk about the handover of the treasure. Also at issue, according to court documents, is who is responsible for $185,000 in storage fees accrued since the treasure was flown back to Tampa in May 2007. A U.S. district court and federal appeals courts ruled against Odyssey in its bid to keep most or all of the treasure. Spain contended that it never surrendered ownership of the sunken galleon Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.

Judge Pablo Ruz issued the charges, stating that the alleged drug trafficking group, comprised mainly of Colombians and Ecuadorians, had been operating in Spain since 2007. Spanish officials estimated that up to $270 million may have been laundered until the group was dismantled in October 2010. The majority of its members have been charged with laundering money. However, the group's leaders, Spain's Luis Berho and his Ecuadorian wife Alexandra Fasce, have also been accused of collaborating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Though not all of the $270 million reached South America, over $15 million is thought to have been sent to Colombia with the FARC receiving a significant amount. The primary recipient for the FARC is said to have been Juan Manuel Gomez Buitrago, who is accused of ties to the guerrilla group, reported EFE news agency. A further 12 people registered under Gomez's address also received money which could have been used to finance the FARC's operations, according to the charges. InSight Crime Analysis Though the group's alleged ties to the FARC shows the guerrilla group's reach outside of Colombia, it is important to note that financing appears to have come from, in this instance, sympathizers rather than FARC personnel acting in Spain, as was the case with the arrest of the FARC's alleged co-ordinater of European operations in 2008, Maria Remedios Garcia Albert. This outsourcing could be due to the FARC lacking the requisite skills among their own ranks to carry out a sophisticated laundering operation. As a Brookings Institute report in 2009 noted, armed insurgents who entered the organization at a young age likely lack the operational know-how for complex money laundering schemes schemes such as these. Spain has long been a focus of the FARC -- along with numerous other criminal organizations -- thanks to it serving as a key access point to Europe for cocaine shipments. It seems probable that in exchange for laundering the cash, the FARC may have sent shipments of cocaine to the Spain-based group. If so, these shipments would likely have been moved through Venezuela, a key transit route for cocaine bound for Europe.

Spain’s Cabinet approved new pay limits at public companies and reduced board members before a full overhaul of the sector aimed at curbing spending to meet European Union budget pledges. “The Cabinet will examine in a few weeks the first phase of a restructuring of the state-owned companies,” Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told reporters after the weekly meeting in Madrid today. Spain’s two month-old government is trying to slim down state spending that ballooned during the decade-long property boom amid a surge in tax revenue. The People’s Party government, seeking to reduce the budget gap, is trying to restore investor confidence to tame borrowing costs and shield Spain from debt- crisis contagion. Saenz said Spain expects major savings from restructuring central government-owned companies, which will be downsized, sold or scrapped if their business can be taken over by public administrations. The government will also encourage regions and town halls to restructure their own companies, Saenz said, as this will be a condition to get help from Madrid to meet their funding needs. Public companies linked to the central government have accumulated debt of 32.3 billion euros, according to the Bank of Spain, and European Union rules don’t require that borrowing to be included in public-debt data. Regions and city halls have taken on 24.9 billion euros of debt, Bank of Spain data show. “These kinds of companies and foundations, which in the end aimed to avoid the controls of the central government, have blossomed, to put it nicely, and it’s not good practice,” Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said yesterday said in an interview with RNE.

Spanish banks reduced lending at a record pace and defaults mounted as the country’s recession and rising unemployment took a toll on their ability to make loans to solvent borrowers. Lending fell by 3.3 percent in December from a year before, the biggest drop since Bank of Spain records started half a century ago, the regulator said on its website today. Bad loans as a proportion of total loans rose to 7.61 percent from 7.52 percent in November as borrowing considered “doubtful” jumped to 136 billion euros ($179 billion) from about 11 billion euros five years ago, before Spain’s property crash. The prospect of a protracted recession in Spain is curbing the appetite for loans and making banks more cautious about lending. The economy may shrink 1.5 percent this year, according to central bank forecasts, while unemployment stands at 23 percent. Exane BNP Paribas predicts an economic contraction could stretch through 2013. “You have a credit crunch in Spain,” said Gilles Moec, co-chief European economist at Deutsche Bank AG in London. “It’s another reason for recession this year.”

 The sackings of Naz Malik and Saquib Zia were announced by the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (Awema). The charity has been at the centre of allegations of financial irregularities and bullying. Awema's funding was halted by the Welsh government after a damning report. A statement on the Awema website by its chair Dr Rita Austin said an administrator would also be appointed to take over control of Awema's business and assets from the charity trustees, and close the business. Awema's decision follows the Welsh government internal audit services report from 9 February which terminated all grants of public funds to the charity. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Clearly there have been serious failings in the effectiveness of governance and financial management within Awema” Dr Rita Austin Awema chair Dr Austin said: "The Awema board would like to thank its staff for the dedicated service they have provided to several hundred participants registered with European funded Awema managed projects in Swansea and surrounding local authority areas, and in north Wales, especially in these last difficult weeks. "Staff members are in active contact with participants and will do their best to ensure that support services to them continue through other means. "The Awema board is resolved to provide a proper duty of care towards our staff as Awema moves towards closure, and is taking all necessary steps to do so." "Finally, the Awema board wishes to acknowledge the gravity of the matters brought to public attention in the... internal audit services report. "Clearly there have been serious failings in the effectiveness of governance and financial management within Awema upon which the Welsh government has acted, and upon which, in consequence, the Awema board now act, with all due speed, one week later." 'Lack of oversight' Mr Malik has indicated that he will not be conducting any interviews following his dismissal. Speaking on BBC Radio Wales last Friday, Mr Zia, who had been suspended from the charity, said he had raised concerns about Awema with its board members. The report into Awema had said there was a "complete lack of oversight of the financial processes and controls" by Mr Malik. It said charity funds were used to pay for gym memberships for staff worth £2,120, £800 was spent on rugby and cricket tickets and a £110 parking fine for Mr Malik was paid. It also said there was a "clear conflict of interest" because one of the charity's directors reporting to Mr Malik was his daughter Tegwen. There were "considerable increases" in her salary from £20,469 to £50,052. An earlier report, commissioned by the charity's trustees, had said Mr Malik used funds inappropriately and paid off credit card debts worth £9,340. It also alleged that his salary was increased to £65,719 without approval from the board.

A former Essex county cricketer has been jailed for four months after admitting a corruption charge relating to a 40-over game against Durham. Mervyn Westfield, 23, pleaded guilty to accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to aid spot betting on a match on 5 September 2009. The Old Bailey heard he agreed to bowl an over to let Durham score a set number of runs for a £6,000 payment. He is the first cricketer in England to be prosecuted for spot-fixing. Westfield will serve half the term in prison and a confiscation order was made for £6,000. He has received an interim suspension order from the England and Wales Cricket Board. 'Cricket enjoyment destroyed' Danish Kaneria was arrested but not charged over the scam Passing sentence, Judge Anthony Morris told Westfield he was satisfied he would have known it was a corrupt payment and that he could and should have refused it. He added: "You had an opportunity to mention them to the team captain or management, or if you were nervous of doing so, at least to your friends within the team. You chose not to do so. "If, because of corrupt payments, it cannot be guaranteed that every player will play to the best of his ability, the reality is that the enjoyment of many millions of people around the world who watch cricket, whether on television or at cricket grounds, will be destroyed." On Friday, the Old Bailey heard team-mate and former Pakistan player Danish Kaneria told Westfield that a friend would pay him to concede a certain number of runs off his bowling. Prosecutor Nigel Peters QC told the court that the deal emerged when another Essex player, Tony Palladino, went back to Westfield's Chelmsford flat in September 2009, where the bowler showed him "the most money he had ever seen". Kaneria was arrested in connection with the case but later released without charge. 'Utterly ashamed' Mark Milliken-Smith QC, for Westfield, told the court Kaneria and his associates targeted Westfield, who was "more susceptible" because he was on the verge of the squad and that he "felt pressured". The match was one of the first televised games for Westfield, described as "an Essex cricketer through and through". He said: "He bitterly regrets what he has done, he is utterly ashamed." Mr Milliken-Smith added: "He is a life-long and passionate cricket fan and player. In fact, he knows no other love." Essex Police said there were no plans to interview Kaneria again although the investigation would remain under review. Det Sgt Paul Lopez said it was now a matter for the cricketing authorities to deal with.

The News Corporation boss, 81, offered his support to Sun journalists at News International's offices in Wapping.

Ten current and former senior staff at the paper have been arrested since November in connection with alleged corrupt payments to public officials.

Mr Murdoch lifted all staff suspensions pending police inquiries, a move Labour MP Chris Bryant called "cynical".

The high-profile campaigner against and victim of phone hacking, said the decision to lift the suspensions was hypocritical.

"It is massively premature because one would have thought the Murdoch empire would want to wait until Leveson had completed his inquiry and the police and prosecuting authorities had completed their investigations," he said.

"News International has tirelessly campaigned for people who have been charged to be suspended from public office and yet journalists who have been charged at News International are apparently not going to be suspended."

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Torin Douglas

BBC media correspondent

Rupert Murdoch's decision to go ahead with the Sun on Sunday is a typically bold move, designed to restore journalists' morale and regain the initiative, but many uncertainties remain.

It was widely believed that the replacement for the News of the World had been suspended indefinitely after the fallout from the phone-hacking scandal spread to other Murdoch papers.

The arrest of so many senior Sun journalists seemed to make the launch of a seventh-day Sun impractical.

And the American parent company News Corp was known to be disenchanted with the UK newspaper business.

Will it really want to invest more money in it at a time of such legal and financial uncertainty?

Mr Bryant was awarded £30,000 in damages after his phone was hacked by the now defunct News of the World (NoW). Lord Justice Leveson's ongoing inquiry is examining press standards and ethics.

In an email to staff, Mr Murdoch said: "We will build on the Sun's proud heritage by launching the Sun on Sunday very soon.

"Having a winning paper is the best answer to our critics."

He said he would stay in London for the next several weeks but, describing the recent arrests as a "great source of pain", warned: "Illegal activities simply cannot and will not be tolerated".

But Mr Murdoch praised the "superb work" of Sun journalists and said "the Sun is a part of me".

The company was doing everything it could to assist those who had been arrested, his email said.

Dutch Prince Johan Friso is in a critical condition in hospital after being hit by an avalanche in the Austrian resort of Lech, say officials. Officials said the prince, 43, was buried under the snow for about 15 minutes before being rescued. He was resuscitated at the scene and taken to hospital in Innsbruck, where officials said he was stable but his condition was "still life-threatening". Prince Friso is the second son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Several members of the royal family had been on holiday together in Lech, in the western province of Vorarlberg in the Austrian Alps. Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed that the queen was there but had not been involved in the incident. Deadly season The Austrian Press Agency reported that the prince had been skiing with a small group when the avalanche hit shortly after midday local time, but that no-one else had been injured. "After the emergency call, rescue crews were on the scene with rescue helicopters. He could be located immediately and freed," a police official told Reuters news agency. The Dutch government said in a statement that the prince was in intensive care, saying that "doctors treating him describe the prince's condition as stable, but his life remains at risk". The Austrian Alps have been hit by particularly heavy snow this winter and numerous avalanches. Parts of Voralberg were cut off by the snow this week. Several people have been killed across Europe this year in avalanches. Prince Friso gave up his rights to the Dutch throne in 2004, when he married human rights activist Mabel Wisse Smit. The government had refused to give its support to the marriage, because the couple had given misleading information about the bride's relationship with a dead gangster. Under Dutch law, royals who aspire to the throne must receive permission from the government and parliament to marry as the cabinet will bear responsibility for their actions The couple have two young daughters, Luana and Zaria.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s proposal to force banks to recognize further losses from real estate holdings may backfire by saddling healthy lenders with the bill. “The plan is for a massive effort in provisioning of real estate and consolidation, and that has to be paid for,” said Daragh Quinn, a Madrid-based analyst at Nomura International. By refusing to use public funds to help purge a system burdened with 176 billion euros ($228 billion) of what the Bank of Spain calls “troubled” assets linked to real estate, Rajoy may not do the job properly or he may hurt solvent banks by leaving them with the costs, said David Moss, director of European equities at F&C Investments in London. Rajoy wants to make banks accurately value assets piled up on their books as part of his efforts to lower Spain’s borrowing costs and free up the flow of credit in the economy. Investors demand about 763 basis points more yield to hold Bankia SA (BKIA)’s senior unsecured bonds maturing in 2017 than similar German bunds, up from about 46 basis points when the securities were sold in 2007. Since Rajoy was elected on Nov. 20, the rate on 10-year Spanish debt has declined 124 basis points to 5.45 percent. Rajoy wants to avoid committing public funds as he battles to bring down a deficit that was 8 percent of gross domestic product in 2011, exceeding the 6 percent target from the outgoing Socialist government. He announced 15 billion euros of immediate spending cuts and tax increases last month to narrow the gap. “If the public purse doesn’t get used at all, this can only mean this whole process happens more slowly and it might take longer to make the impact that’s needed,” Moss said.