News, September 2007

More News

A few more news items and where to find more news about Spain:

Water reserves:

Water reserves mid October 06 (MMA)

At the end of another 'hidrological year', we thank God for water! This year followed two years of drought. Mediterranean basin reserves were still very low in March. Then spring rains brought rain to the neediest regions in abundance. At 24th September the reservoirs had survived the summer well in most regions of the peninsula.

Water reserves September 07 (MMA)

The total reserve was 46% of capacity (mid-October '06 40%) but only 39.3% (up from 31.4%) of drinking water capacity. Reserves, in October at the lowest ever, reached close to average after rainfall in the west filled some river systems to overflowing. However, the Mediterranean coast and Balearics remained in dire straits until Easter.

Despite the spring rain, summer use has again reduced levels to critical in some areas. In particular, the Jucar river reservoirs, feeding the Costa Blanca, has just 6.8% of capacity, the Segura (Mar Menor) ha2 13%, Malaga hads 17% and the upper Tajo area, Spain's largest reservoir system, which could feed many parts of the south and east, had a mere 14.4%. Supplies human use over the summer have been secure, although some areas had to restrict agricultural use and power generation. Spain is one of Europe's top 'green' generators, partly due to the large number of reservoirs. But this green potential remains at the mercy of the weather.

During late September, heavy rain fell in the South and East, even causing major floods in some localities. Let us hope some of this water reaches reservoirs. In the hope that reserves and current rain are now sufficient in most regions to cover the coming months, we now leave this water watch until alarm is once again raised.

In Mallorca, falls of over 200mm in the mountains on 15th April brought the reservoirs (only 2!) to overflowing for the first time in a decade.

Technology

Most of our technology statistics have now been moved to a new page.

Here are some of the key headlines:

Spanish TV across the world: The Spanish national station TVE has an international service with two channels. TVE Internacional and Canal 24 Horas. TVEI includes the evangelical programme Buenas Noticias TV (which runs on Sundays). Programme: at this link. The menu offers programme (2 days in advance) and technological details.

93.9% of population have mobiles (cell phones)

6.4 million Spaniards have Internet access.

El Mundo.es has almost 10 million unique monthly visitors

Annual visits for 2006 to P4S 38,750 (about 212,000 hits). The first half of 2007 saw more growth, with over 55,000 visits in the year to August, itself a poor month by recent standards, but with no day below the August '06 average number of visits.

Old News archive

Past news is not all forgotten by P4S! Such items as can be found on the news pages at the end of every month are being filed in our archives.
News from August 05 to December 06
Older news archives (before summer '05)
Comment on the news and other issues

Your response and concerns are also of interest to us. Don't hesitate to let us know them

Finally, more news from the churches is always available at the Protestante Digital site.

This week on Protestante Digital: (28th September)

Evangelical Alliance wary of conversion code of conduct
First gypsy speaker at Evangelical Congress
Dalai Lama cosies up with the liberals
Making a denomination out of independency
Fast footballers or fit footballers?
Are the Protestants taking over Mallorca?
Christian hip-hop hits the East coast
Learning from the Early Church
Improving the lot of pastors

21st:

Roasting the Royal chestnut
ACPress makes its audio content available for radio
The influence of the Bible on Spanish literature
Donato comes out of retirement to play against drugs
Church wants law to condemn Franco
The real joy of Internet is its content
What´s the point of kissing?
Spanish young people don´t want to become priests, politicians or soldiers

14th:
Radio Mass moved sideways in perceived snub
Beach baptisms hit the sixty mark this year
Major demo planned against Citizenship classes
Protestant readers against Citizenship too
Protestant institutions divided over subject
European Commission investigates more Catholic privileges
ACPress continues to grow
National prize offered for ´poetry and religion´
´Divorce Express´ train derailing marriage

(7th September)

Leading journalist condemns newspaper´s attack on Protestantism
Practising Catholics nearly down to a third of population
Celebration of Spanish Jewish heritage
Madrid churches to present their social integration work to the public
Women are more likely to suffer burnout at work
Ecumenical ´Code of Christian Conduct´ aims to ´cure´ the “obsession for converting others”