A TRUSTED accountant who fleeced $45 million from financial group ING Holdings has been jailed for at least seven years.

 Rajina Rita Subramaniam splurged the money on lavish products, including jewellery which she never wore, and numerous expensive properties, all of which remained vacant except for one, for which she did not charge rent. In sentencing her in the NSW District Court in Sydney today, Judge Michael Finnane described as "staggering" the sheer size of the amount she stole from ING over a five-year period. The 42-year-old, from Castle Hill in Sydney's northwest, pleaded guilty to 22 counts of obtaining benefits by deception and four counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime. When police went to her workplace, they found 21 boxes stored under her desk and nearby. "When these boxes were searched, police found large quantities of jewellery, fountain pens, champagne, crystal and Michael Jackson...

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Syria bloodshed is outrageous, says Obama

 President Obama has accused Syrian government forces of responsibility for "outrageous" bloodshed and called again for Bashar al-Assad to step down as troops sealed off of a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs and bombarded it using tanks, helicopters and artillery. Speaking after a White House meeting with the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, Obama spoke briefly on Syria. He said: "We both have a great interest in ending the outrageous bloodshed that we've seen and see a transition from the current government that has been assaulting its people." His comments come as the international community struggles to find a common voice with which to confront President Assad. Eyewitnesses said roads in and out of Baba Amr, in the south-east of Homs, were blocked, preventing the evacuation...

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Barclays caps bonuses at £65,000

 Barclays announced on Friday that it was capping cash bonuses at £65,000 as it reported a 3% fall in profits to £5.9bn. The bank also admitted it may miss the targets it had set itself for making returns to shareholders. Providing more detail about bonuses than usual, the bank said that the value of bonus per group employee was down 21% year on year to £15,200, while the average value of bonus per employee at Barclays Capital, its investment banking arm, was down 30% to £64,000 - just below the value of the cap. The bank said that annual bonuses for executives and its eight highest paid employees were down 48%. Chief executive Bob Diamond received a bonus in shares of £1.8m in 2010 so, if he is in line with the average, this might indicate that his bonus would be around £900,000. ...

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Two arrested in connection with Cabopino stabbing

 Two people have been arrested in connection with the stabbing to death of a man whose body was found in Cabopino in the early hours of Tuesday week. The 26 year old received three stab wounds in his back after an argument in a bar. Diario Sur reports that two arrests have been made but that the investigation remains open. Police will have to establish which one of the two arrested men was the main player in the aggression. It seems there was an argument at about 1,20am close to the Bar Mesón 24 horas in Marbella, and it was the waiter there who called the police after finding an injured man on the ground. An ambulance went to the scene, but the medics could do nothing to save the victim who had suffered three stab wounds and a blow to the head. The victim was of Ecuadorian origin but...

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Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.

Eugene Paull heard the beep.In his three-story home east of Brooksville, Paull was lying on his bed that morning last March when the security system sounded. He rolled over and glanced at two nearby TVs wired to a dozen videocameras. Law enforcement officers swarmed across his property.Seconds before the 66-year-old could slip into a secret room he had nicknamed the "worm hole," the SWAT team caught him.Investigators found shotguns and machine guns, inch-wide metal bars guarding doors and windows, the secret room under the floor, and a hidden elevator that led to an underground bunker and an unfinished tunnel.On Tuesday, Hernando County investigators released details of their stunning investigation for the first time. Paull, an international criminal on the run since 1973, had lived under...

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Man stabbed to death in Marbella in the early hours

 33 year old Ecuadorian man has been stabbed to death in Marbella following an argument with two individuals who then made their escape. Police sources said the body of the victim was found on the N-340 at 1.20am today, near the cambio de sentido at Cabopino, after a call to the police from a hotel worker reporting that a man had been injured and was bleeding badly. National and local police and health workers rushed to the scene but could do nothing to save the victim’s life. The police say the victim and the two other men were arguing in an establishment, and then continued their discussion in the street. The police continue to investigate and are still to identify the other two men involv...

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Canadian woman charged in Gadhafi smuggling plot

 The Mount Forest, Ont., woman held in a Mexican jail since November in a suspected plot to smuggle Moammar Ghadafi's son and his family out of Libya has been charged with falsifying documents, organized crime and attempted human smuggling. The charges were laid the same day Cyndy Vanier's family released a letter outlining what she calls deplorable conditions endured in the Mexican jail where she is being detained. Vanier, 52, was picked up in Mexico, where she and her husband have a winter home, last Nov. 10 and held without charges until Tuesday when a judge ordered warrants against two women and two men for a suspected plot to whisk Saadi Gadhafi and his family to Mexico. Those four people were Vanier, a mediator specializing aboriginal dispute and president of Vanier Consulting,...

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Half of Spain “Addicted” to the Internet

 Nearly half of all Spaniards (45%) claim to “be addicted” to the internet, amongst them, the majority are women and youngsters between 18 and 34. The figures come from the “Nestea Study about the Internet and Social Networks”, carried out by the Sondea Institute. 2,618 people were interviewed throughout Spain. According to the study, the autonomous communities with the most “addicted” to the internet are people living in Navarra (65%), Balearic Islands (58%), Cantabria and the Basque country (both 50%). The least “addicted” are in Asturias (35%), Galicia (36%), La Rioja (38%), and Murcia (41%). The study reveals that 43% of all Spaniards spend between four and ten hours per day, actively connected to the internet, while 5% are connected more than ten hours per day. Over 90% of those...

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U.S. court backs Spain over $500M sea treasure

 "With the ruling by the appeals court, the process begins to recover all of the coins taken illegally" from the sunken ship, Spain's Culture Ministry said in a statement. Odyssey, which can still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, said in a statement, "Currently, no final order has been issued in the case and it would be premature to comment at this time." The battle royal began after Odyssey announced in 2007 it had found the sunken treasure. It quickly laid claim to the coins, put them in crates and said it flew them to a discreet, well-guarded location in the United States. Spain soon filed suit in a federal court in Tampa, Florida, also claiming the treasure. Spain claims $500 million sunken treasure Spain says its navy warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was carrying the coins....

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Legionnaires' Disease: Pensioners Hospitalised After Spain Holiday, Benidorm

 nine British pensioners have received hospital treatment for Legionnaires' Disease after a stay at Spanish hotel, it has been reported. A 76-year-old man is in an intensive care unit at the Benidorm Clinic, two more are being treated on regular wards while a fourth has already been allowed home. Dr Delfin Arzua from the clinic said: "Four British holidaymakers were admitted with symptoms of pneumonia and tests have confirmed Legionnaires' disease." Five more pensioners were treated in UK hospitals after suffering symptoms when they returned home from Spain. They all fell ill after holidaying at the four-star AR Diamante Beach hotel in Calpe, on the Costa Blanca, local journalist Tom Worden told Sky News. Legionnaires' disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia most likely to affect...

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