Tag: Spain

Spain’s spectacular solar power plant

Shining like a futuristic lighthouse over a barren desert this is the world's most powerful solar power tower. The 531 foot-tall PS20 tower, located...

Palestinians urge Spain, EU to recognise state

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki on Thursday urged Spain and the rest of the European Union to recognise a Palestinian state with borders from...

Spain arrests ‘Anonymous’ suspects

Three suspected members of the ‘Anonymous’ hacking group have been arrested in Spain. The trio are said to have been involved in coordinating the...

Barcelona’s Spain crop on cusp of near-perfect year

For the eight Spain internationals in Barcelona’s probable starting 11 for Saturday’s Champions League final, victory over Manchester United at Wembley would put a...

Political passion, pragmatism meet in Spain protests

Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, the centre of nationwide protests against mass unemployment, boiled with political passion, gawkers and families on Sunday while Spaniards...

Earthquake rocks Spanish town killing 10 people

A rare earthquake rocked the ancient town of Lorca in southeastern Spain causing homes to collapse, damaging historic churches and killing at least 10...

Spain edges into growth, away from debt crisis

Spain’s battered economy rallied further in the first quarter with 0.2 percent growth as reforms eased market fears it will be the next eurozone...

Spanish jobs a black hole amid black economy

Spain's unemployment rate, already the highest in the industrialised world, soared to a 14-year high just as the government attacked illegal jobs which experts...

Spain won’t ask for Portugal-like bailout

MADRID - Spain strove to distance itself from Portugal's debt woes that have forced it to seek EU assistance, insisting on Thursday it would never ask for a similar bailout of its battered economy.
After insisting for weeks it did not need to go cap-in-hand to Brussels, the Portuguese government threw in the towel on Wednesday, bowing to intense market pressure and paving the way for a third bailout of a eurozone country after Ireland and Greece last year.
Outgoing

Spain poll shows clear opposition win in 2012

MADRID - Spain's centre-right opposition Popular Party would defeat the Socialists, in power for eight years, if elections were held now, El Pais newspaper said. The latest monthly poll results from Metroscopia, published by El Pais on Sunday, shows the PP widening its lead slightly in an election scenario, garnering 44.1 percent of votes compared with 28.3 percent for the Socialists.
The poll comes one day after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he would not seek

Spain detains Pakistani suspect in Al Qaeda probe

BARCELONA - Spanish police have arrested a Pakistani suspected of being part of a ring that forged passports for Al Qaeda-linked groups, a police statement said on Friday. Police said they had hunted for the suspect since Dec 1 when they swooped on gang and arrested seven people - six Pakistanis and a Nigerian - in Barcelona.
According to police, the detained man "participated with the people arrested in December in sending stolen passports to Thailand and collecting money to

Spain okays plan to raise retirement age to 67

MADRID - Spain's government said Friday it had agreed to raise the retirement age to 67 from 65, a bitterly fought reform aimed at repairing public finances and soothing markets. Closely watched by markets as a sign of Madrid's determination to keep long-term spending on track, the outline deal was reached after one-and-a-half months of talks with unions and business chiefs.
An agreement with the country's two major unions was reached in the early hours of the morning ahead of

Spain plans partial nationalisation of banks

MADRID - Spain plans a partial state takeover of its weakest savings banks as it seeks to reassure investors a rescue will not weigh on its deficit. A source familiar with the matter disclosed that the government would force debt-laden regional savings banks to become conventional banks and seek stock market listings to persuade skittish investors that they are good investments.
The state-backed bank restructuring fund (FROB) would then take stakes in the banks - known as cajas -

Rights groups urge Spain to probe Guantanamo boss

MADRID - Human rights groups on Friday said they have asked a Spanish judge to subpoena the former US commander of the Guantanamo detention camp to explain his alleged role in the torture of detainees.
The US-based Center for Constitutional Rights and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights asked a judge probing alleged torture at the US naval base in Cuba to question Major General Geoffrey Miller, who ran the centre from November 2002 until April 2004.

Spain to boost minimum wage and pensions in 2011: PM

MADRID - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Thursday announced a hike in the minimum wage and in pensions for 2011 in a bid to help those worst affected by the country's economic crisis.
"Despite the economic crisis, we continue to make a special effort at solidarity," he told a year-end news conference.
He said the minimum wage will rise by 1.3 percent and pensions by an average of 2.3 percent, and the minimum rate by 1.3 percent.
He said 2010 "has

Spain, Russia in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions: Madrid

MADRID - Spain has expelled two Russian diplomats in a move that triggered a tit-for-tat reaction from Moscow, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The two Russian embassy staffers were asked to leave the country for having "engaged in activities incompatible with their status," the ministry said in a statement.
In diplomatic language, the phrase is usually taken to mean spying.
The statement said the embassy was notified of the decision "about a month ago". "In

Spain offered to host Africom: WikiLeaks

MADRID: The Spanish government offered to host the US military command for Africa (Africom) in southern Spain, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told newly arrived US Ambassador Alan Solomont in January that "Spain was open to an expanded US Government presence" at the US Naval Base in Rota, near the southern port of Cadiz, "for Africom objectives," said one cable published the newspaper El Pais on Wednesday.