Omar Osama Bin Laden

The fourth of the 19 sons of Osama Bin Laden, Omar, has requested political asylum in Spain immediately after landing on Barajas Airport, in Madrid.

He arrived on Spanish territory on Monday, accompanied by his wife, UK citizen.

After two days of analysing the request, Spanish authorities have decided to reject his petition, as everybody expected.

The Ministry of Interior advised Omar Osama Bin Laden of their decision yesterday, hours after having received an official UN report on his situation.

Both institutions have come to the conclusion that there is no reason for Mr. Osama to live in Spain, since there is no evidence suggesting his life might be endangered if he continues to live in Saudi Arabia, where he was born and raised.

But Osama Bin Laden’s pacifist son can still do something to change this decision; he can make an appeal within the next 24 hours and, if his petition gets denied again, he can appear before an administrative court.

If the request gets rejected again, Omar Osama Bin Laden will have to leave the asylum hall of Terminal 4 and leave Spanish territory.

Omar Osama Bin Laden

One of Osama Bin Laden’s 19 sons has requested political asylum yesterday, on Barajas Airport, in Madrid.

Omar Osama Bin Laden, aged 28, arrived from Cairo on a plane that was headed to Casablanca, and asked to be granted political asylum immediately after his plane landed.Bin Laden’s son lived with his father for the first twenty years of his life but he now says he totally rejects and disapproves his father’s actions and that he is the peaceful member of his family.

The young man, married with a British citizen called Jane Felix Browne, aged 52, is not at his first attempt to obtain political asylum. Earlier this year he tried with UK, but the British Embassy in Cairo rejected his application.

After realising what was happening, the Spanish authorities decided they will analyze Osama’s file, but in the meanwhile he is to remain in the transit hall of Barajas Airport’s Terminal 4.

Map of the Basque Region of Spain

The Basque region of Spain has always been causing problems to the authorities due to their strong desire to get recognition as an independent territory.

Yesterday, the region has witnessed the march of thousands of demonstrators who were demanding the right to independence. The government of the Basque region had initially agreed on allowing the referendum and had set Saturday as a voting day, but the Spanish Supreme Court declared it illegal and denied the proposal, also qualified as unconstitutional.

The referendum was proposed by the Basque Nationalist Party who hoped to obtain a positive result and the region’s independence starting two year from now.

About 20,000 people in six towns gathered to show their discontent, and there have also been reported several violent incidents: there were two explosions at Basque railway stations and several disputes between the demonstrators and a far-right party.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, declared that severe punishments will be applied to the terrorists who organized the petrol bomb attacks at the train stations in the towns of Berriz and Amorebieta.

Ryanair Aircraft

Low-cost company Ryanair had about 70 flights from and for Valencia, Spain. They had 750,000 passengers a year and several hundred people were collaborating with them.

All the flights towards the 10 European destinations will be cancelled starting the 4th of November.

The closing of the Valencia base comes as a result of a lack of agreement between the company and the local authorities. The Irish executives say that the airport did not get enough promotion and neither did the Ryanair routes and flights.

The carrier advised they had invested more than £85 million, consisting of two aircrafts based in Valencia, and have directly employed about 60 persons in Valencia. The good news is that they have the opportunity to keep working for Ryanair, if they accept to relocate to another base.

The airline’s representatives opened the base in August last year, and they were satisfied with how things were going, but they could not go past the local authorities’ refusal to collaborate and to offer them at least part of the privileges and funds they granted the local airline, called Air Nostrum.

Spanish Police Uniform

Apparently, in the world of drugs, imagination is the key to success. Or not?

The Spanish police force have arrested five men who were passing as police officers and doing simulated raids at the homes and hide-outs of cocaine smugglers and confiscated their merchandise. The leader of the group is of Italian origin, while the other four come from Bulgaria, Colombia and Spain.

The five impersonators, who were using police equipment, were arrested in a Madrid warehouse, while they were trying to confiscate about 260 kilos of cocaine from a group of four Colombian drug dealers.

The impostors were very thorough and they would first spend some time studying their targets, using hi-tech equipment and night goggles. When entering the hide-out they would use bullet proof vests with the National Police writings on them, as well as shackles.

This arrest is the result of a three-month long investigation, and apart from the drugs, the Spanish police officers also seized 14,000 euros in cash, cars, weapons, etc.

Prostitute Negotiating with Potential Customer

Next month, the Californians will analyze “Proposition K”, a bill which might make prostitution allowed (but still not legal) in San Francisco.

San Francisco is one of America’s most permissive cities; one can find everything there: marijuana clubs, annual sadomasochism festivals, and many prostitutes who can be seen at street corners, in bus stations, on dark alleys.

If voters agree with Proposition K next month, San Francisco prostitutes will no longer have to fear being arrested and spending time in jail or paying fines. The proposition does not make prostitution fully legal, like in Spain, for example, but it does stop the police from arresting those who sell sexual favors for a living.

The ones who made this proposition say they got the idea after seeing that the police force spends almost $11 million a year only on arresting prostitutes; considering that almost all of them go back to work as soon as they leave the police station, the money and personnel could be used in more important and serious cases.

In the US, other forms of prostitution can be found in rural Nevada brothels and behind closed doors in Rhode Island, but on an individual level, not in brothels.

This proposition is endorsed by the local Democratic Party, but is rejected by almost every other authority: the mayor’s office, the police, the district attorney’s office, etc. But in the end, it is all up to the voters, so anything can happen.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2009

The Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix will be replaced by the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2009, according to a decision made by the World Motor Sport Council. The Emirate authorities have issued a proposal according to which the race should take place on an urban circuit during the night, but the Council has not yet decide upon that.

The celebration of the Grand Prix will take place on the 15th of November 2009 and it will be the last of a season which will start in Australia on the 29th of March and which comprises 18 races. The only race on the American continent will be the one organised in Brazil.

The Grand Prix of Spain is scheduled for the 10th of May, the one of Europe -once more celebrated on the urban circuit of Valencia- on the 23rd of August and the one in Brazil on the 1st of November.

The FIA will be the one in charge of the organization of all the above mentioned events and they are seriously thinking about applying a strategy of cost reduction starting 2010.