Spain Blogger: Spring is the time to visit the south of Spain!

Spain Blogger: Spring is the time to visit the south of Spain!: After what feels like an endless winter, spring is finally creeping up on us, with some gorgeous warm, sunny days on the way!

Manning Leaked Testimony: US Army a 'child torturing ants with magnifying glass'

A speech freedom advocacy group has released audio of Bradley Manning's testimony about his motives for leaking secret US government documents to WikiLeaks. 

This marks the first time the public has heard Manning's voice since his 2010 arrest.

Manning's full testimony can be heard here. 

Artists Against Fracking: New anthem - "Don't Frack my Mother"

Artists Against Fracking have come up with a new musical video to convince Governor Cuomo of New York State to ensure that the moratorium on fracking passes and continues way past the current two-year mark.

To celebrate the progress made so far in the fight against fracking, with New York State Assembly passing a two-year moratorium on fracking in the state, Sean Lennon has written a little ditty.

"Don't Frack My Mother" is the new anthem of the anti-fracking movement. The fight is not yet over, as the bill still has to pass the State Senate, to then get signed into law by Governor Cuomo, so there is a definite need to keep up the pressure.

Interested parties can tweet Governor Cuomo to remind him why fracking is such a bad idea and share the song with him.

You may recognize a few of the faces in the video - you will see that by sharing the video and sending a tweet to Governor Cuomo, you are in very good company!

Just in case, below is a list of the artists who have contributed: 

Adrian Grenier, Alexa Chung, Ben Lee, Carrie Fisher, Daniel Pinchbeck, Devendra Banhart, Fred Armisen, Ione Skye, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Fox, Liv Tyler, Lindsey Wixson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mark Ronson, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Michael Skolnik, Natasha Lyonne, Penn Badgley, Reggie Watts, Sean Lennon, Susan Sarandon, Yoko Ono, Zoë Kravitz.

Along with band members from:

Au Revoir Simone, Black Lip, Cibo Matto, The Citizens Band, The Like, The Strokes, Wilco, Wild Belle.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/345399

'Operation Helmet' launched against Spanish tomb raiders

While it might sound like something out of the movies, "Operation Helmet" has been launched by the Guardia Civil (civil guard) to recover archaeological pieces from the Celtiberian period in Spain.

As part of "Operation Helmet," the Spanish civil guard has recently recovered more than 4,000 archaeological pieces in the Zaragoza province, which pertain to different cultures, but are particularly from the peninsular Celtiberian period.

 

The latest culprit is 60-year-old Ricardo G. (surname withheld), who is a retired truffle collector from Aragon, who obviously decided to collect rather more valuable objects. The Spanish pensioner has become the unlikely mastermind behind a massive black market sale of plundered Spanish treasure.

 

Following a tip from a German museum, police raided the home of Ricardo G. to discover over 4,000 historical artifacts. It seems that the pensioner has spent the last 20 years, armed with a simple metal detector, hunting for historic artifacts. He has since been selling arrowheads, breastplates, brooches, swords and pieces of helmet discovered in the fields around his home. Many of the pieces found are from the Roman and later Vandal era and mostly date from between the third and first centuries BC.

 

According to researchers, Ricardo G. might have plundered not only the site of Aranda de Moncayo but also Tiermes, which is part of the Sorian territory of Montejo de Tiermes, known by archaeologists as "the Spanish Pompeii". Another site was probably Numancia (Garray).

 

The civil guard were initially given a tip in 2008, when the Romisch Germanisches Zentral Museum in Munich claimed that some of their exhibition pieces had left Spain illegally. The pieces were seized by prosecutors and Spanish authorities were told to reclaim them within three months.

 

Eventually, under the auspices of "Operation Helmet," the pieces have now been traced back to the Aragon region of northern Spain and the infamous Ricardo G. The culprit was arrested but has since been released pending trial for theft.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/345374

Writing, editing and proof-reading service on offer

My name is Anne Sewell.  I have a background in the following fields:

• Legal Secretary
• Word Processing Teacher (Secretarial colleges)
• Software Trainer
• Webmaster in the travel field

I have been self-employed for 16 years, running a series of travel-related websites.  With the current economic crisis, travel is less affordable for people these days, and of course, Google keeps moving the goal posts, making it harder and harder to make a decent living on the Internet.

I currently write news articles for Digital Journal at:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/user/345171

and

http://guardianlv.com/author/sewellanne

But this writing pays extremely little - you can basically compare the payment to Chinese or Indian minimum-wage.

Therefore... I am now offering my services as a writer (preferably in the travel or news field), and also as an editor or proof-reader (in any field).

I have an excellent command of both UK and US English.  My situation is that I have spent most of my life in southern Africa, but now live in southern Spain. For anyone on the Costa del Sol in Spain needing someone to type for them, I can also offer that service.

Please contact me by commenting below if you think I could be of service to you.

Thousands in Portugal protest austerity (videos)

In yet another example of the fact that austerity just doesn't work, hundreds of thousands of Portuguese people took to the streets in around 30 cities all over Portugal on Saturday and protests will continue on Sunday.

The mass protest, probably the largest since September last year, was dubbed 2m, and will continue on Sunday under the name 3m, and is also generally known as "Que Se Lixe a Troika", or "Screw the Troika."

Organizers are estimating numbers at around 500,000 in Lisbon, with many thousands more countrywide. Some protests are also being held in other cities around the world outside Portuguese embassies.

Coinciding with a quarterly review by the EU/IMF bailout inspectors, thousands of people hit the streets, protesting the austerity measures imposed by a government which hopes to avoid the bailout, and lift the country out of recession. 

As with similar ongoing protests in Spain recently, the protests were coordinated with several different groups. In Lisbon, teachers protested outside the Ministry of Education. Healthcare workers demonstrated outside one of the major hospitals which may be closed as a result of government cuts. 

All the various groups joined together for a major protest march through the center of Lisbon in the afternoon and an estimated 200,000 people filled the Lisbon street leading up to the Finance Minister's office. 

People have had enough of the Troika, referring to the lenders from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. Banners and placards seen in the street reading, "It's time for the government to go!" and "Screw the Troika, we want our lives back."

 Other protesters were heard to sing "Grândola Vila Morena", which is a protest song from the 1974 "Carnation revolution" which ousted the fascist dictator Antonio Salazar and brought the end of the military rule in the country. 

Apparently activists have been heckling government ministers throughout the week by singing this song when they make public speeches. The video below shows a speech by the Prime Minister in a recent plenary session, interrupted by activists singing the protest song:



Major reasons for the mass protests countrywide are cuts in public wages and an increase in taxes, which has been imposed by the "Troika" in exchange for the 78 billion euro bailout which was agreed in mid-2011. These measures have effectively pushed unemployment in Portugal to record levels of 17%. 

On Thursday last week, Portugal's Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coehlo, promised yet more spending cuts as part of a deep reform. He says these are necessary to make lower taxes possible in future. 

However, protesters are this weekend demanding a complete change of government policies in an aim to revive Portugal's economy, as the country faces the worse recession since the 1970's. 

Veronica Pereira, is an unemployed mother who has no means to send her daughter to college. She said: "Our people have the habit of letting things happen, but I think this is changing radically now. We need to protest to change things." 

49-year-old journalist and protest organizer, Nuno Almedia told the WSJ, "We want the government out because it is pushing through a program that is only bringing hardship to the population." 

"People are desperate, seeing their incomes fall sharply, their families and friends without jobs." he added.One elderly protester in Lisbon who preferred not to give his name told Reuters, "We are in a new dictatorship. Everything that the revolution achieved is being destroyed." 

Euronews interviewed protesters including a woman, angry at Portugal's prime minister, who said, “I just want to tell Passos Coelho that I have the right to scream and show everyone how revolted I am at his incompetence, mediocrity and dishonesty – at everything.” 

Another man told the news service, “If the government pays attention to what is happening and understands that the people are against them, they should get out. If not, this wont stop.” 

Reuters quoted one of the protesters, Fabio Carvalho, a movie-maker, as saying, "This government has left the people on bread and water, selling off state assets for peanuts to pay back debts that were contracted by corrupt politicians to benefit bankers."

 "If not today, things have to change tomorrow and we need to remain in the streets for the government to fall," he added.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/344711

3 Modern Family cast members get stuck in an elevator for an hour (video)

Three cast members of ABC's popular sitcom, "Modern Family" got trapped in a crowded elevator on Friday night, on their way to a fundraiser in Kansas City, Mo., with much hilarity.

Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News

Seeming like an episode of the ABC sitcom itself, with cries of "Get us out!", actors Julie Bowen, Eric Stonestreet, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson were among 15 people who got stuck in an elevator on the third floor of the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center.

Bowen, Stonestreet and Ferguson were in town to headline a fundraiser, "Kids Night Out 3013", for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City. 

At first they were a little panicky, yelling for rescue workers to "Get us out!", but for the most part they kept their cool, taking photos, making videos and tweeting from the elevator.

“This is us right now. 45 minutes stuck in this elevator,” Jesse Tyler Ferguson tweeted, including a snapshot of the trio to his followers followed by "Finally made it out of the stuck elevator at the one hour mark. At least the firemen in K.C. are cute."

Rescue workers from the Kansas City Fire Department finally made it from the 40th floor to free the trapped people including the three stars.

While the comedy trio were expected to take the stage at 9 pm, they only finally made it after 10 pm. According to the Kansas City Star, many in the audience thought it was a joke at first when they didn't come on, but unfortunately nearly a third of the crowd left before they finally arrived.

Once they did get on stage, Bowen, Stonestreet and Ferguson joked with the audience in true "Modern Family" style, with Stonestreet ending the night with a warning to the audience not to use the hotel’s elevators.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/344713

Syngenta Charged for Covering up Livestock Deaths from GM Corn

Syngenta Charged for Covering up Livestock Deaths from GM Corn

Biotech giant Syngenta has been criminally charged with denying knowledge that its genetically modified (GM) Bt corn kills livestock during a civil court case that ended in 2007.

Read more

If you are planning on a trip to Malta, here's somewhere really great to stay

The Island of Gozo in Malta is a beautiful destination.  A little quieter than the major cities, beautiful scenery and everything is, well, just there and convenient for your holiday pleasure.

If you would like to be just that little bit more independent while vacationing in Malta, consider the Kempinski Residences San Lawrenz on the island of Gozo.

Offering studio, one- and two-bedroom beautiful homes-from-home, there is something to suit any group or family.  Plus not only do you have everything that you need in your residence, you have the facilities of a 5-star hotel available too.

Enjoy a splash in the pool, a massage in the Spa, and a dinner in the restaurant!

Read more about this lovely destination here.