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Europe's largest whorehouse raided after just nine days: "Five Brazilian women were found in the Paradise club in La Jonquera were in the country illegally
What has been described as Europe’s largest knocking shop, the Paradise club near the border with France at La Jonquera, has been raided by police after being open no more than nine days.
Police arrested five Brazilian girls for not having their papers in order, and identified the 125 prostitutes and 188 clients who were in the building at the time.
The local town hall in La Jonquera says that it did all it could to stop the 2,700 square metre club from opening, but the regional courts finally obliged them to issue the opening licence.
The owner of the club, José Moreno, has two others in Girona, and has been arrested on previous occasions related to the exploitation of immigrant women."
Spanish police on trial in San Sebastian, Spain over alleged torture of two ETA Members: "Spanish police on trial in San Sebastian, Spain over alleged torture of two ETA Suspected Members
15 Spanish police charged over alleged torture of ETA suspected Members Fifteen Spanish policemen went on trial in Spain's northern Basque region San Sebastian charged with torturing two ETA separatists while they were in custody.
The newspaper El Pais said that the accused denied the charges at the start of trial, in the city of San Sebastian, saying the two suspects were injured as they were trying to escape arrest.
The 15 officers from Spain's paramilitary Guardia Civil police force are accused of torturing and injuring the two, Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola, following their arrest in January 2008 in the Basque Country."
Costa gang rape: 3 held - mirror.co.uk: "Three men have been arrested over the gang rape of a British tourist nine years ago on the Costa del Sol.
The men were linked through DNA samples to the knifepoint attack in Torremolinos in 2001.
The victim was 33 when she was drugged and raped.
Two Spanish brothers, aged 31 and 32, and their cousin are being held on remand.
Police said: 'The arrests were possible thanks to a biological profile obtained following the arrest of two of the three men for other criminal offences.'"
UK Chancellor George Osborne met with his Swiss counterpart Hans-Rudolf Merz
The UK and Switzerland have signed a declaration to begin negotiations on tax issues in a step towards making Britons with Swiss bank accounts pay tax on the interest they earn.
Switzerland has strict secrecy laws and has long attracted the very wealthy as a place to save their money.
Treasury sources said negotiations were in the early stages and no details of tax rates had been agreed.
An agreement between Liechtenstein and the UK is expected to raise about £1bn.
Any agreement between the UK and Switzerland may raise more than that as there are more accounts in Switzerland.
Withholding tax
The declaration followed talks between UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz in London.
Formal negotiations will cover the possibility of implementing a withholding tax, which would see Swiss authorities levying a tax on interest earned in their accounts on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs. The UK would push for this to be a retrospective tax.
The UK is also expected to push the Swiss authorities to provide more information on accounts held by UK taxpayers
.An airplane carrying some 176 kilograms of cocaine crashed Sunday morning by the Torres river, west of the Costa Rican capital of San José, police said.
The plane was believed to be heading to Guatemala after taking off from Tobías Bolaños Airport in Pavas, also west of San José.
The crash came after a week of major drug busts in other Central American countries.
The Honduran Police seized 460 kilograms of cocaine in the country's Caribbean region last week.
The seizure took place Wednesday night in Brus Laguna district of Gracias a Dios province, police spokesman Leonel Sauceda told EFE on Thursday.
The drug traffickers were preparing to load the drugs onto three speedboats when a police and National Drug Enforcement Agency (DNLCN) team arrived at the scene, he said.
The drugs were seized after a gun battle, but no one was hurt, Sauceda said. The speedboats and two jet skis that belonged to the drug traffickers were destroyed by the authorities. Police have launched a search for the small plane that brought the drug to Brus Laguna from South America.
