Canaries volcano lava gushes towards sea, eruption goes on

LA PALMA - Lava poured from an erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma for a fourth day on Wednesday, blanketing houses and fields, a day after people with homes on the path of the molten rock were allowed back briefly to recover belongings.

Towers of magma burst high into the air overnight, painting the night sky red and spraying fiery debris onto the flanks of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

Drone footage earlier showed lava flowing westwards to the coast in three huge tongues, incinerating everything in their path, including a school.

During the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the Canary Islands' volcanology institute said the amplitude of the volcano's seismic activity intensified.

That seismic activity is "an indicator of the intensity of the strombolian explosive activity," the institute said late on Tuesday. Strombolian is an adjective describing volcanic eruptions with violent explosions ejecting incandescent dust.

The report was issued as the lava pouring from the flanks of the volcano had spread to cover 154 hectares (0.59 square mile) in the towns of El Paso and Los Llanos de Aridane, according to Copernicus Emergency Management Service.

The unstoppable lava has been slowly burning and covering houses as well as fields since the Cumbre Vieja volcano has erupted on Sunday afternoon.

About 6,000 people of the 80,000 people living on the island have been evacuated since Sunday and those living on the path of the lava were allowed back into their homes for brief moments to recover belongings.

No fatalities or injuries have been reported, but drone footage captured two tongues of black lava cutting a devastating swathe through the landscape as they advanced down the volcano's western flank towards the sea.

Experts say that if and when the lava reaches the sea, it could trigger more explosions and clouds of toxic gases. Marine authorities are keeping a two nautical mile area in the sea around the area closed as a precaution.

The lava flow was initially expected to reach the shore on Monday evening, but its speed has fallen. 

-reuters

Some 25,000 Spanish students hold 'macro-botellon' drinking party

MADRID - About 25,000 people took part in the biggest illegal drinking party in Madrid since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, police said on Saturday.

The "macro-botellon," as these outside drinking parties are called, started at the Complutense University in Madrid on Friday.

Madrid's Municipal Police said because of the large numbers involved in the party, they were unable to clear the drinkers until 7 a.m. Saturday.

Video of the party showed thousands of revelers not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.

"It is the biggest botellon that we have seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic," a police spokesman told Reuters.

Madrid's regional government will relax restrictions from Monday so that bars and clubs can stay open until 6 a.m., from the 2 a.m. close currently. People must still wear masks indoors and maintain a distance of 1.5 meters if social distancing is not possible.

However, mass drinking parties are still illegal and punishable with fines for taking part between 500 euros ($586.25) for minors and 600 euros ($703.50) for adults. Organizers face fines of up to 600,000 euros ($703,500.00) if a court judges it is an activity which puts public health at risk.

There were other mass drinking parties in Barcelona and the northern Spanish city of Logroño on Friday night, authorities said. 

-reuters

Europe steps up reopening, unveils plans for summer travel

Europe moved ahead with its emergence from coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday and laid out plans for summer tourism, but the pandemic gathered pace elsewhere.

Britain followed France, Italy and Spain in easing its lockdown but only in England, where people were given more freedom to leave their homes and return to their jobs if they cannot work remotely.

Austria said its borders with Germany would reopen from mid-June and Berlin said it aimed to end virus checks at its land borders in about a month.

Desperate to save millions of tourism jobs, the European Union set out plans for a phased restart of travel this summer, with EU border controls eventually lifted and measures to minimise the risks of infection, like wearing face masks on shared transport.

"Today's guidance can be the chance of a better season for the many Europeans whose livelihood depends on tourism and, of course, for those who would like to travel this summer," EU Commission executive vice president Margrethe Vestager told reporters.

- Second wave fears -

But with the global death toll from the coronavirus exceeding 292,000, the picture was grim in other parts of the world.

Russia, now the country with the second-highest number of virus cases, recorded more than 10,000 new infections after authorities this week eased restrictions to allow some people back to work.

Brazil registered its highest virus death toll in a single day, with 881 new fatalities bringing the total to 12,400, and the country was emerging as a new global hotspot despite President Jair Bolsonaro dismissing the pandemic as a "little flu".

Fears were growing of a second wave of infections in China, with the northeastern city of Jilin put in partial lockdown and Wuhan, where the virus was first reported last year, planning to test its entire population after clusters of new cases.

- 'Risk of uncontrollable outbreak' -

And the United States, which has confirmed more than 1.36 million cases, saw a sharp rise in fatalities, with 1,894 new deaths reported on Tuesday after daily tolls fell below 1,000.

The country's top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci issued a stark warning about the dangers of resuming normal life too soon, saying a run of 14 days with falling cases was a vital first step.

"If a community or a state or region doesn't go by those guidelines and reopens... the consequences could be really serious," he said Tuesday.


"There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control."

Fauci said the true number killed by the epidemic in the US is likely greater than the official toll of over 82,000 -- the world's highest.

Facing a re-election campaign later this year, President Donald Trump is pressing for rapid steps to get the US economy moving again, despite warnings from health officials.

Washington has increasingly blamed China for the global outbreak and on Wednesday authorities warned healthcare and scientific researchers that Chinese-backed hackers were attempting to steal research and intellectual property related to treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus.

"China's efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation's response to COVID-19," a statement from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said.

- Moves to reboot economies -

Countries around the world are grappling with how to reopen businesses after the pandemic forced half of the planet into some form of lockdown and ground the global economy to a near-halt.


Dire economic data from March and April have pointed to the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s after millions of people were thrown out of work.

Figures from Britain on Wednesday showed its economy shrinking by two percent in January-March, its fastest slump since 2008 and with a far worse contraction to come.

The Bank of England last week warned that the economic paralysis could lead to Britain's worst recession in centuries, with output forecast to crash 14 percent this year.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said shutdowns in the United States would do "lasting damage" but "the economy should substantially recover once the virus is under control".

He said crisis measures, including spending beyond the nearly $3 trillion already approved in the United States, would be crucial to ensuring a strong recovery.

Health experts have warned of the potentially devastating consequences as the virus spreads through the developing world, where healthcare systems are under-funded and isolation regimes are often not possible.

- 'Tough old lady' -

In northern Nigeria, surging death tolls have sparked fears that the virus is spreading, with a team of government investigators saying hundreds of deaths were suspected to be linked to the pandemic.

Making the problem worse, hospitals have shut their doors to the sick out of fears over the virus -- meaning treatment for a raft of ailments has stopped.

Civil servant Binta Mohammed said she had to watch her husband die from "diabetic complications" after he was turned away for treatment.

"The four private hospitals we took him to refused to admit him for fear he had the virus," she said.

But there were stories of hope amid the gloom, including two centenarians who survived the virus.

In Spain, 113-year-old Maria Branyas fought off the illness during weeks of isolation at a retirement home where several other residents died from the disease.

And in Russia, 100-year-old Pelageya Poyarkova was discharged from a Moscow hospital after having recovered.

Russian television showed Poyarkova wearing a face mask and clutching a bouquet of red roses as she exited in a wheelchair, surrounded by doctors and journalists.

"She turned out to be a tough old lady," the hospital's acting director Vsevolod Belousov said.

burs-mm/jv

Agence France-Presse

Spain’s PM says may use constitution to block Catalan independence

MADRID/BARCELONA – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday he would not rule out using the constitutional powers to remove Catalonia’s autonomous status if it claimed independence as tens of thousands took to the streets to call for talks.

The wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia, with its own language and culture, held a referendum on Oct. 1 on independence, in defiance of the Spanish constitutional court which had ruled the vote illegal.

Until now, Rajoy has remained vague on whether he would use article 155, the so-called nuclear option, of the constitution which enables him to sack the regional government and call a fresh local election.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais on Saturday Rajoy was asked if he was ready to trigger the article 155 of the constitution, and said: “I don’t rule out absolutely anything that is within the law … Ideally, it shouldn’t be necessary to implement extreme solutions but for that not to happen things would have to be changed.”

Tens of thousands of people gathered across Spain earlier on Saturday as Catalonia prepared to declare independence from the rest of the country, many dressed in white and calling for talks to defuse Spain’s worst political crisis for decades.

The Catalan authorities say around 90 percent of those who voted supported a split from Spain. Madrid says secession is illegal under the Spain’s 1978 constitution. Residents of Catalonia who oppose secession largely boycotted the vote.

The crisis is a political test for Rajoy, who has been uncompromising. Some 900 people were injured during the vote when police tried to disrupt voting, firing rubber bullets and charging crowds with truncheons.

The political stand-off has divided the country, pushed banks and companies to move their headquarters outside Catalonia and shaken market confidence in the Spanish economy, prompting calls from the European Commission for Catalan and Spanish leaders to find a political solution.

“I hope that the Catalonia that makes pacts, is moderate and for many years contributed to Spain’s economic growth and improvement in welfare and wealth returns. It can’t be in the hands of extremists, the radicals and the (far-left secessionist party) CUP,” he said.

However, Rajoy ruled out using mediators to resolve the crisis and also said the issue would not force a snap national election.

PEACEFUL PROTESTS

In peaceful protests called across 50 Spanish cities on Saturday morning, thousands gathered dressed in white and carrying banners calling for peace and dialogue between leaders.

In Barcelona, protesters chanted “let’s talk” in Catalan, while many carried signs criticizing political leaders for not finding a diplomatic solution to the impasse.

“This is producing a social rupture in Catalonia and this has to be resolved through dialogue, never via unilateralism,” Jose Manuel Garcia, 61, an economist who attended the protest dressed in white said.

“I‘m very worried. This will end badly and everyone will lose (without dialogue).”
While Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said he is open to mediation, Rajoy has demanded he give up the independence campaign before discussions can be held.

In Madrid thousands gathered beneath the enormous Spanish flag in Colon Plaza waving their own flags, singing and chanting “Viva España” and “Viva Catalonia”.

“I’ve come because I feel very Spanish and makes me very sad what’s happened,” said Rosa Borras, 47, an unemployed secretary who had joined a noisy gathering in central Madrid.

Borras, wearing a “Catalonia, we love you” sticker and surrounded by thousands waving Spanish flags, added: “I wanted to be here for unity, because I also feel very Catalan. My family lives in Catalonia.”

EU CONCERN

Rajoy’s government mobilized thousands of national police to stop Sunday’s vote, leading to clashes with would-be voters as they tried to close polling stations in schools and remove ballot boxes.

In the El Pais interview, Rajoy said the around 4,000 extra police shipped in to the region would stay until the conflict had been resolved.

The police violence drew widespread condemnation and forced the government to issue an apology on Friday, although tensions continued to rise after reports of plans for the Catalan parliament to vote on a unilateral declaration of independence on Tuesday.

The crisis has also caused disquiet among Spain’s European Union partners, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has discussed it with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, an EU official told Reuters.

Concern is growing in EU capitals about the impact of the crisis on the Spanish economy, the fourth largest in the euro zone, and on possible spillovers to other economies.

European finance ministers, gathering in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday for a regular meeting, could discuss the issue, although it is not formally on the agenda, EU officials said.

The support given in public statements by EU leaders to Rajoy is combined with concern expressed in private about how the Spanish government’s use of police to prevent Catalans from voting last week in the independence referendum could backfire.

Some EU states are worried that talk of Catalan independence could fuel secessionist feelings in other parts of Europe.

source: interaksyon.com

Spain searches for military helicopter crew after Atlantic crash

MADRID, Spain - Spain's defence ministry was Saturday searching for three crew members of a military helicopter that crashed in the Atlantic off the Canary Islands after initially reporting that they had been rescued by a Moroccan patrol boat.

"The people are missing, we do not know in what circumstances they disappeared. We have not been able to reach the cabin" of the helicopter, Defence Minister Pedro Morenes said late on Friday after meeting family members of the disappeared on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria.

"We can't lose hope but we are working on all possibilities," he added at a press conference at the Gando air base.

The governments of Spain and Morocco "were deploying all means" needed to help in the search, the defence ministry said in a Twitter message.

The helicopter went down Thursday, about 280 nautical miles (519 kilometres) from Gando, its destination on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, the defence ministry said in a statement at the time.

It had set off from Mauritania after refuelling there following two weeks of military exercises in Senegal.

The defence ministry said on Twitter later Thursday that a Moroccan rescue helicopter sent to the scene spotted the aircraft floating and saw flares fired from a life raft before the patrol boat picked the crew up and took them to Dakhla, a town in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara.

The minister said the defence ministry had originally been told by Moroccan authorities that the three crew members had been found but that the information turned out to be wrong.

"Yesterday we were officially informed that they were rescued by a fishing boat that would arrive at around 4 am at Dakhla but the boat did not appear," Francisco Ojeda, father of one of the missing crew members, told Spanish public radio.

"After we were told they might be on a kayack that was adrift," he added.

The defence ministry did not say what may have caused the helicopter to go down.

source: interaksyon.com

Duchess of Alba, the world's most titled aristocrat, dies

MADRID - Spain's 18th Duchess of Alba, who died on Thursday aged 88, was one of Europe's wealthiest and most titled aristocrats, the owner of fabulous palaces and priceless works of art.

She died after a short illness, surrounded by family in the 14th century Palacio de Duenas in Seville, famous for its lemon-tree-filled courtyards and her favorite of her many properties.

Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, known to friends as 'Cayetana', was named by Guinness World Records as the world's most titled person.

She was 14 times a Spanish grandee, five times a duchess, once a countess-duchess, 18 times a marchioness, 18 times a countess and once a viscountess, according to the entry.

With her cloud of white hair and face moulded by plastic surgery, she was rarely out of the Spanish gossip magazines, most recently on the arm of her third husband, 24 years her junior.

Head of one of Spain's oldest aristocratic families dating back to the 1400s, and the third woman to hold the title of Duchess of Alba in her own right, her wealth is estimated at between 600 million and 3.5 billion euros.

"I don't like to talk about money. Many people confuse having cash with having assets - we've never had a lot of cash," she wrote in her autobiography.

Many of the palaces, castles and works of art belonging to the House of Alba have restrictions placed on their sale because of their historic importance for Spain.

The 13th Duchess of Alba was a muse of artist Francisco Goya in the 18th century and is rumored to be the subject of 'La Maja Desnuda', his famous portrait of a reclining nude which hangs in Madrid's Prado gallery.

The duchess tells in her autobiography of how Spanish artist Pablo Picasso asked her to pose nude to recreate the painting, but her conservative first husband forbade it.

Born in 1926 in a neoclassical palace in Madrid, she spent much of her childhood in London when her father was ambassador to Britain and where she dined with Winston Churchill and played with Princess Margaret.

Her father, an Anglophile and royalist, sided with dictator Francisco Franco at the beginning of Spain's Civil War but relations grew frosty as it became clear Franco would not reinstate a king as head of Spain.

The twice-widowed duchess first married aged 21 in 1947 to fellow aristocrat Luis Martinez de Irujo in a wedding on a scale to rival that of Britain's Princess Elizabeth later that year.

Wearing a pearl and diamond crown, she rode to Seville Cathedral in a horse-drawn carriage with thousands of well-wishers lining the streets to cheer her. The couple had six children.

She became a fixture of the international jet-set, hosting Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy on their visits to Spain and turning her Madrid palace over to French designer Yves Saint Laurent to stage a Dior fashion show in 1959.

An aficionado of bull-fighting and flamenco, she often took place of honor at bull-fights in her beloved Seville, usually sporting a magnificent 'mantilla' - the traditional Spanish lace veil worn over a high comb.

The duchess, who favored an eccentric clothing style, sporting beaded anklets and fishnet tights well into her eighties, married former Catholic priest Jesus Aguirre Ortiz de Zarate six years after the death of her first husband.

Her second husband died in 2001. Her courtship with dashing civil servant Alfonso Diez gripped the nation, aroused disapproval from Queen Sofia and was openly opposed by her six children.

Before tying the knot with 61-year-old Diez in 2011, the duchess divided her fortune between her offspring to silence their protests.

Although ill health kept her out of the public eye in later months, her most memorable recent image was when she flung off her shoes to perform an impromptu flamenco dance before a forest of cameras and well-wishers at her third wedding.

"Together we have a wonderful time. She's always asking: What shall we do next? She's unstoppable," said husband Diez in an interview in Vanity Fair magazine shortly before their marriage. "It often seems that I'm the older of the two."

source: interaksyon.com

Flags and cheers greet Spain's new King Felipe VI

MADRID - Spain's new King Felipe VI swore to serve the crisis-stricken nation as he launched his reign on Thursday, cheered on by crowds of revellers in a sea of red and yellow flags.

Thousands of Spaniards put aside their World Cup misery to line the sun-splashed streets, yelling "Long live the king!" as the newly-proclaimed Felipe, 46, and his glamorous Queen Letizia, 41, waved from an open-topped, black Rolls Royce.

A tall, former Olympic yachtsman, Felipe faces the task of polishing the image of a monarchy tarnished by scandals and winning over a country wearied by recession and political corruption.

Swearing his oath in parliament in a dark blue military uniform, Felipe promised "a renewed monarchy for new times", after scandals that tainted the reign of his abdicated father, Juan Carlos.

Felipe pledged his "faith in the unity of Spain", where separatist tensions are high in the northeastern region of Catalonia.

Applause and cries of "Long live the King!" filled the chamber as he finished his speech and turned to kiss Letizia, who wore a white knee-length dress and coat.

After the swearing-in the king stood and waved from the car, flanked by guards on horseback with silver helmets and breastplates winking in the sun, during a drive with his wife through central Madrid to the old Royal Palace where a crowd of thousands was waiting.

Felipe and Letizia -- a former television newsreader -- appeared on the balcony of the Royal Palace with their blonde, blue-eyed daughters eight-year-old Leonor, who is now heiress to the throne, and Sofia, seven, and waved to cheering crowds below.

The celebrations offered a distraction from the national gloom of Spain's humiliating exit from the football World Cup on Wednesday in a 2-0 beating by Chile.

"We have lost the World Cup but that doesn't matter. It is a new day and a new king. We have to celebrate," said Eduardo Chaperon, a 24-year-old economist waving a Spanish flag and wearing a novelty inflatable crown in the street.

Not everyone joined in the party though.

Protests by campaigners who want Spain to be a republic broke out after Juan Carlos announced his abdication on June 2. Police banned a similar protest called by activists for Thursday.

Juana Leon, a 69-year-old retiree wrapped in the red, yellow and purple Spanish republican flag, complained that she and her friends were blocked from demonstrating.

"It is shameful. It is a breach of our freedoms. What kind of democracy is this?" she said. "We spend a lot of money on all this but it doesn't serve Spain at all," she said of the royal family.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Brokeback Mountain’, the opera, makes world premiere this month

MADRID | “Brokeback Mountain”, the Oscar-winning epic about the relationship between two cowboys in the American West, is coming to the stage as an opera, with a world premiere in Madrid this month.

The opera, brought to the screen in 2005 and based on the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, opens January 28 at the Teatro Real in the Spanish capital, some six years after it was commissioned.

“The whole opera is about a typical kind of impossible situation, a tragic situation,” said the opera’s 75-year-old American composer, Charles Wuorinen, who was supervising rehearsals in Madrid this week.

“In this case, it is two people who in some way want to have a relationship, which in their time is forbidden by society,” he told AFP in an interview.

Wuorinen said he worked closely with Proulx, whose original short story was published in The New Yorker before being transported to the screen by Taiwanese director Ang Lee.

Depicting the tormented love story of two young cowboys, Jack and Ennis, who meet in the spectacular yet hostile mountainous region in Wyoming, won three Oscars.

“The importance of Annie Proulx’s novel is that great love is great love even if social reflections and conventions are opposed to it,” said the Teatro Real’s departing director, the Belgian Gerard Mortier, who commissioned the adaption to opera in 2008 from the American composer and Proulx.

Mortier said he deliberately scheduled “Brokeback Mountain” to open straight after the performances of Wagner’s opera of the adulterous love tragedy, “Tristan und Isolde”.

“Tristan, Isolde, Jack, Ennis; they all don’t understand what’s happening to them but are all prepared to die for the love they feel,” Mortier said in a statement.





The author of more than 260 orchestral, choral, piano and percussion compositions, as well as of electronic music and ballets, Wuorinen, a New Yorker, denies creating “Brokeback Mountain”, in which the two heros kiss on stage, as a message in favor of homosexual rights.

“If that helps, that’s good. But I’m more interested in the fundamental human problem because I would not want the opera to be thought as an ideological or propaganda piece for a particular point of view,” he said.

Composed in two acts over two hours, with dialogues in simple English with some swearing, “Brokeback Mountain” is scheduled to run at the Teatro Real until February 11.

source: interaksyon.com

Without injured Gareth Bale, Real Madrid maintains chase of leaders Barcelona, Atletico

MADRID – Real Madrid shrugged off the loss of the injured Gareth Bale as they beat Valencia 3-2 on Sunday to move back to within five points of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Barcelona were also victors as an eight-minute hat-trick from Pedro Rodriguez helped them come from 2-0 down to win 5-2 away at Getafe.

Bale’s replacement Angel di Maria put Madrid in front with a fine left-footed drive on 28 minutes, but Pablo Piatti headed home an equaliser for the hosts six minutes later.

Cristiano Ronaldo then headed home Di Maria’s free-kick to put Madrid back in front five minutes before half-time, only for Valencia to level once more when Jeremy Mathieu met Dani Parejo’s corner.

However, Madrid were not to be denied as substitute Jese Rodriguez grabbed the winner with a low drive that beat Vicente Guaita at his near post 10 minutes from time to condemn Nico Estevez to defeat in his first league game in temporary charge of Valencia.

“When a team changes its coach they always play with a lot of desire so it was a difficult game,” said Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.

“In general I thought we did very well. We maybe needed to maintain a higher tempo after the first goal, but we had the will to win until the last minute and the result is a very important one.”

With Bale sidelined for a second consecutive game by a calf injury, Di Maria made his presence felt in style as he controlled Marcelo’s cross-field pass before firing past Guaita into the far corner.

Valencia, buoyed by the news earlier in the day that Singaporean businessman Peter Lim may be on the verge of taking over the club, responded almost immediately as the diminutive Piatti found space inside the area to head home Juan Bernat’s cross.

Madrid were back in front six minutes later in somewhat controversial circumstances as Ronaldo’s goal was allowed to stand despite the Portuguese appearing to be slightly offside as Di Maria delivered a free-kick from wide on the right.

The hosts were level once again, though, just after the hour mark when Mathieu outjumped Sergio Ramos to flick home Parejo’s corner.

However, Madrid found the goal they desperately needed to keep their title hopes alive as Luka Modric picked out Jese inside the area and his fiercely driven effort slipped through the grasp of Guaita.

Barcelona were also made to work for their victory as goals from Sergio Escudero and Lisandro Lopez had given Getafe a 2-0 lead inside 14 minutes.

However, the Catalans responded like champions as Pedro scored three times in quick succession before the break.

Cesc Fabregas then gave Barca breathing space when he volleyed home Pedro’s cross and the former Arsenal captain doubled his tally from the penalty spot moments later.

“I am just happy for the victory, the goals and to help the team,” said Pedro, who also overtook Lionel Messi and Alexis Sanchez to become Barca’s top scorer in La Liga with 10.

“It was important to finish the year well. It is always difficult coming here due to the way they play, the pitch and the fans.

“We didn’t start how we would have hoped, but we turned the game around which is the most important thing.”

Without the suspended Neymar and injured Messi, the spotlight was on the Catalans’ fringe players in attack to make their claim for a regular starting spot.

Barca boss Gerardo Martino hailed Pedro’s impact having previously seen his opportunities limited this season.

“Pedro has a great eye for goal, everyone in Spain knows that,” said the coach.

“He has a great attitude, he never gives up and he understands that he is an important player, even if he does play in an area of the field where Barcelona have other great players.”

The Barca revival began 10 minutes before half-time when Fabregas released Pedro in behind the defence and his chipped finish had just enough elevation to take it past Miguel Angel Moya.

Pedro then curled home into the top corner from the edge of the area and pounced on a defensive error by Juan Valera to give his side the lead at half-time.

Fabregas made the game safe 22 minutes from time when he finished off a wonderful team move involving Pedro and Sergio Busquets.

Pedro was also involved in Barca’s fifth as was clipped inside the area by Borja Fernandez and Fabregas sent Moya the wrong way from the resultant spot-kick.

source: interaksyon.com

Deadly train crash derails Spain's bid to win new markets abroad

MADRID—The horrific train crash in Spain that killed 78 people comes at the worst time for the recession-hit nation's railway sector, which is pushing to win new markets for its high-speed trains.

Spain is in the running for a contract worth $16.4 billion (12.7 billion euros) for a high-speed rail network in Brazil linking the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas which will be awarded in September.

The country, which two years ago won a contract to build and operate a high-speed rail link in Saudi Arabia, is also eyeing new markets in the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.

"Technologically Spain is a pioneer in high-speed rail," Alejandro Lago, a logistics professor at the Iese business school in Barcelona, told AFP.

Since the 1960s, the country has had trains made by its Talgo train maker that could circulate at speeds of up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour, he added.

Spain has invested heavily in road and rail links over the past decade and it now has the second-largest high-speed train network in the world, spanning 3,100 kilometres. Only China's is larger.

The train derailed about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the station in northwestern Santiago de Compostela Wednesday, on the eve of a famed religious festival held annually in the city, where St. James, one of Jesus' apostles, is believed to be buried.

A dramatic 10-second video from a railway security camera, seen around the world, shows the train rocketing around a curve, slamming into a concrete wall at the side of the track as the engine overturns.

Daily newspaper El Pais reported that one of the two drivers on board said he was doing 190 kilometres per hour (118 mph) as he took the bend, where the speed limit is just 80 kph.

The investigation is trying to find out why the train was going so fast and why security devices to keep speed within permitted limits did not slow the train.

Spanish state railway company Renfe said the train -- a model able to adapt between high-speed and normal tracks -- had no technical problems and had just passed an inspection on the morning of the accident.

The crash -- Spain's deadliest rail disaster in decades -- is a huge blow for the country's bid for the deal in Brazil.

Brazil's bidding process for the country's lucrative infrastructure project specifies that firms in the run cannot have had an accident that caused deaths in their high-speed rail network in the last five years, El Pais reported.

That would appear to disqualify Renfe, according to the newspaper.

The rule -- which applies only if an accident is due to "operational causes" -- has already disqualified China's Communications Company Limited from the running due to an accident in June 2011 that killed 33 people.

The private and public Spanish companies that make up the consortium in the running for the contract have been reluctant to speak publicly about the impact of the accident on their bid.

But several unnamed sources close to the consortium, which includes Renfe and Spanish rail network administrator Adif, told Spanish business daily El Economista that they felt the contract was "lost".

This would be a major setback for Spain, which has been hoping to bank on its recent deal with Saudi Arabia to obtain similar projects.

"It's important because we're talking about high-speed rail and we want to show that we are world leaders in this area," Spanish secretary of state for transport, Rafael Catala, said in an interview with AFP earlier this month.

In 2011, a Spanish consortium won a 6.7-billion-euro contract to build and operate a 450-kilometre (280-mile) high-speed rail link in the desert between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Spain's first big foreign rail contract was signed with Turkey. A Spanish consortium built the high-speed rail link between Ankara and Istanbul which was inaugurated in 2009.

"During an economic downturn, the railway sector tries to compensate with activity abroad, with exports," said Pedro Fortea, the head of Spanish railway company association Mafex, which helps promote 73 firms abroad.

"Spain has experience which is transferable to other countries," he added.

source: interaksyon.com

Test your Design IQ

MANILA, Philippines - Who is the 20th century Spanish architect and city planner whose groundbreaking works include the Miro Foundation Building and the Spanish Pavilion in the 1937 Paris International Exhibition?

He was born in Barcelona in 1902. After graduating from the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arqutectura in 1929 he  worked with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in Paris.

Returning to Barcelona in 1930, he continued his practice there until 1937.  There, he created several outstanding pieces of modern architecture like the the weekend house at Garraf Catalonia, the Central Dispensary of Barcelona, and the Master Plan of the City of Barcelona (1933-35).

During that time, he also helped organize the first group of architects affiliated with Congres International d’Architecture Modern or CIAM.

From 1937 through 1939 he lived in Paris where he designed the Spanish Republic’s pavilion at the World’s Fair, the Paris Exposition 1937.  The Spanish Pavilion was built right beside the Nazi Germany Pavilion, while in Spain the Civil War was going on, and the Nazis had just bombed the town of Guernica.

For the artistic content of the building, he called on his Spanish artist friends Picasso, Miro, and Calder. Picasso’s contribution was Guernica, which became the focal point of its design.



After the Civil War, he went into exile in the US, where he worked with the Town Planning Associates, carrying out numerous urban plans for the cities in South America.

After a one year visiting professorship at Yale University in 1952, he became dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design from 1953 to 1969.

There, he initiated the world’s first degree program in urban design, integrated the programs of architecture, planning, landscape, and urban design, and taught many of today’s leading architects.

In 1955, he founded a studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which in 1958 became a partnership with Huson Jackson and Ronald Gourney.  The studio designed many well-known projects including the Maeght Foundation in southern france, the Fundacio Miro in Bacelona, and a few buildings for Harvard University include the Holyoke Center, the Harvard Science Center, Peabody Terrace Apartments.

His other memorable works include the US Embassy in Baghdad, Motor City in Brazil, and his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Through his architecture, he hoped to achieve a balance of contrasting elements.  He worked to effectively and successfully combine people with machines, urban density and support services, and community spaces with private spaces.

In 1981, he was awarded the AIA Gold Medal.  He died in Barcelona in 1983.

source: philstar.com

First Firefox smartphone launches in Spain

MADRID — The world’s first consumer sales of a smartphone powered by the Firefox operating system have launched in Spain.

The new phone, ZTE Open, went on sale Tuesday at 69 euros ($90) and runs on a Firefox system developed by the Mozilla Foundation, which campaigns for open development of the online world.

Mozilla, a non-profit community of developers and users, enters as a minnow into a market dominated by the mighty duopoly of Apple and Google whose iOS and Android programmes are in 90 percent of smartphones.

Mozilla joined with Spain’s Telefonica and Chinese handset maker ZTE to launch the new handset, which uses the Internet as the platform for all its functions and applications.

“We believe that smartphones need to be more open and that the web is the platform for making this possible,” Telefonica Espana chief executive Luis Miguel Gilperez said in a statement.

Telefonica said it planned to sell Firefox OS devices in other markets including Colombia and Venezuela in the “coming weeks”.

Mozilla chief operating officer Jay Sullivan predicted the new phone would stimulate a “new wave of innovation for the web”.

The ZTE Open has a 3.5-inch screen, 265 MB RAM, a 3.2 MP camera and comes with a 4GB microSD memory card. It has messaging, email, calendar, FM radio, camera, Nokia mapping and the Firefox browser.

First online reviews of the phone were mixed, though almost all admired the low price.

Online technology review site engadget.com said there was a “significant amount of lag” in the user interface when scrolling web pages or navigating applications. But a reviewer on pcworld.com said he noticed no lag in a short test.

Telefonica said the ZTE Open was the first of a series of Firefox OS devices to be launched this year, noting support by other manufacturers including Alcatel OneTouch, LG, Huawei and Sony.

Mozilla, which aims to take third place behind Android and iOS, announced its plans for Firefox OS at a mobile telephone fair in Barcelona in February last year.

Google’s Android ran 69 percent of all handsets sold last year and Apple’s iOS 22 percent, said a study by independent analysts Canalys.

Analysts say the two leaders will still dominate the market in 2013 although there could be room for a third player.

There are several operating systems vying for that number-three spot, however, including Microsoft’s Windows Phone, Blackberry, Firefox and Samsung’s open-source project Tizen.

source: interaksyon.com

Samsung Galaxy S4 due out in February

(CNN) -- Days after the iPhone 5 was announced, Samsung is reportedly prepared to roll out a new version of its Samsung Galaxy S, the phone that has established itself as Apple's chief smartphone rival.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be introduced in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, according to The Korea Times.

The report from the Times, the oldest English-language newspaper in South Korea, where Samsung is based, cites unnamed company officials and parts suppliers in the region.

Among the Galaxy S4's features will be a 5-inch screen, slightly larger than the display on the popular Galaxy S III and a full inch bigger than the iPhone 5, the report said.

It will have more powerful hardware and software and will "definitely use" 4G LTE networks, a parts supplier told the paper.

Phones running Google's Android operating system have been outselling the iPhone for some time. But that's a fragmented field that includes dozens of phones of varying quality. No single handset has established itself as a serious rival to Apple's phone.

The Galaxy S III has made perhaps the best claim. Last month, the company announced it had sold more than 20 million units in three months, making September the first month since the release of the iPhone 4S that it wasn't the world's top-selling smartphone.

Snap reviews of the iPhone 5 have been somewhat mixed, at least among the tech media. Many who got a hands-on demo at Apple's Wednesday announcement praised its slimmer, lighter design, bigger display and faster processor. Others said the device failed to produce groundbreaking advances at a moment when Apple, perhaps for the first time ever, finds itself needing to catch up with features available on other phones.

Customer response, however, has been overwhelming.

Pre-orders of the iPhone 5 "sold out" almost instantly (an admittedly arbitrary feat considering Apple controls the supply), with orders topping 2 million in the first 24 hours. That's double the 1 million for last year's iPhone 4S in the same time period.

The phone hits stores Friday in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It rolls out in 22 other countries on September 28.

The S4's release would mark Samsung's biggest salvo since a federal court in California ruled that Samsung violated multiple Apple patents in the release of its own products. After the ruling, Apple asked the court to add the Galaxy S III to the list of products that are in violation.

The case was just one of roughly 50 patent disputes in different countries. Some of the other courts have ruled in favor of Samsung.

According to the South Korean news report, Samsung is working with U.S. carriers on modified designs the company said will eliminate any questions about patents.

The report said Samsung plans to fire back in another way, too. Samsung is asking Apple to pay more for the processors it produces at an Austin, Texas, plant and is promoting itself as "the only firm that can guarantee on-time delivery, output commitment and better pricing for mobile application processors," one executive told The Korea Times.

source: CNN

Spain recession deepens as austerity weighs

MADRID - Spain's economy shrank further in the second quarter of the year and a slump in domestic spending accelerated, signaling a protracted recession as the country presses on with efforts to slash its public deficit.

Gross domestic product fell by 0.4 percent in the second quarter of the year, according to final data that confirmed a preliminary reading. But on an annual basis it dropped by 1.3 percent, worse than initial estimates of 1.0 percent.

Spain's economy fell back into recession in the first quarter of the year, when output fell 0.3 percent, and government estimates show GDP will probably fall for this year and next year as it pushes through further measures aimed at slashing a bloated deficit.

The data came a day after Spain said its economy performed less well than expected in both of the last two years.

On Tuesday, the National Statistics Institute, INE, also revised down 2011 fourth quarter GDP to -0.5 percent from -0.3 percent.

Close to record high borrowing costs and an economy showing little sign of picking up any time soon is nudging Spain closer to calling for a European bailout, which analysts say is only a matter of time.

"With much more fiscal austerity in the pipeline and unemployment at astronomic highs, the risks are clearly tilted towards a more protracted recession," said Martin van Vliet, economist at ING.

He expected Spain to make a formal request for additional external financing in mid-September or October. Spain has already negotiated up to 100 billion euros in aid for its ailing banks.

Tuesday's data showed exports provided a degree of support for the economy, growing by 3.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. That compared with a fall of 3.9 percent in national demand, after a revised fall of 3.2 percent in the first quarter.

Spain's government is hoping that exports will put the economy on the road to recovery. But a slowdown in the wider euro zone, where most of the country's goods are shipped, could test that theory.

The country desperately needs to stimulate growth to help it meet the public deficit targets agreed with the European Union.

source: interaksyon.com

Spain PM says difficult for Spain to refinance debt

MADRID - Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy reiterated on Friday that it has become increasingly difficult for the state to refinance its debts.

"The biggest problem for our country is that we owe a great deal and we must repay that money and, right now, it's very difficult that anyone would lend to us, or would refinance the debts that we have," he said.

Spain paid the second highest rate since the launch of the euro in 1999 to auction 10-year bonds on Thursday as investors become increasingly concerned the country may need to apply for a sovereign bailout.

source: interaksyon.com

Three UP students win IT competition in Madrid

Three students from the University of the Philippines (UP) won first place in “Indra Future Minds Competition,” an international Information Technology (IT) contest held in Madrid, Spain on April 26.

According to a report of Bloomsberg Businessweek on Tuesday, the UP team beat participants from:

• the Universidad Politcnica de Madrid's (UPM) School of Telecommunications in Spain, who came in second,
• the Sao Paulo Faculty of Technology in Brazil, and the UPM's School of Industrial Engineers who both shared the third place.

The UP team is composed of:

• Erwin Soleta, a Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering (BS ECE) student;
• Maria Katrina Volante, also a BS ECE student, and
• Benedict Ivan Andrade, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering student.

UP’s Assistant Vice-President for Public Affairs Danilo Arao congratulated the winners.

“The recent achievement of our students in the Indra Future Minds Competition shows that UP can compete with the best and the brightest globally,” Arao told GMA News Online.

“This achievement, together with UP topping the recent licensure examinations for electrical engineers and teachers proves the students’ adherence to their values of honor and excellence in the service of the people,” he added.

The second edition of the “Indra Future Minds Competition” is launched by an IT multinational in Spain aiming to have students compete with the challenges that are faced in the current business world, such as globalization, multiculturalism or collaborative networking.

The UP team earned their victory by resolving the final Smart Cities case based on actual Indra projects for the Barcelona City government such as the design of a cloud computing solution, a simulator to optimize water management, and unmanned vehicles (UAVs) project, the report said.

Winners of the competition will join the IT multinational company in the subsidiary of the office of the students’ choice, upon completing their studies, the report added.

They will also be given monthly travel allowance for one year. - with Jon Lindley Agustin, VVP, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com