News, February, 2007

February 27th, general news roundup

For 2006 roundup click here! 3-11 terrorist Zouhier upsets court room with 'show'; ETA convict Chaos again on force feed due to danger of death; 50 arrested in round-up of villa thieves; Ibex market index drops 3% - worst fall since 3-11; 26th: New statements by Batasuna leader Otegi interpreted as positive but insufficient by Zapatero, 'a trap' by opposition; Spanish-Mexican film Laberinto del Fauno gets 3 lesser Oscars; 24th: Terror victims group AVT leads thousands in demonstration to demand full sentence for hunger striking ETA terrorist Chaos, who killed 25 - right wing politicians joined; leading Batasuna member Permach arrested in illegal demonstration in Bilbao; 23rd: new construction corruption scandal at Aguilas, Murcia; rail services back to normal after beam fell on Madrid-Seville line; terror tops 'problems' list in survey for first time since 3-11 Madrid train bombings; Airbus closures could hit Cadiz days after Delphi announced closure of car parts plant there; 21st: Anti-alcohol law withdrawn due to lack of consensus - first government defeat; lawyers took the Chaos photos; crane with beam falls on AVE high speed line south of Madrid -services to south cancelled affecting 17,000 - AVE's worst ever day apart from after the Madrid bombs; Spanish soldier killed in Afghan terrorist attack on convoy - first female soldier to die on foreign placement; spate of pilot whale deaths in Straits cause contamination alarm; 19th: Andalusian Estatuto - home rule law- approved by 90% of the 35% who voted in referendum - lowest ever electoral participation; Madrid bomber Zougam continues in dock -as with others continues to deny link with bombing; Galicia's Costa Da Morte suffers new ship catastrophe,with presumed toxic fume escape, but all eventually reduced to passing shock; BBVA buys Compassbancshares; Financial Times says Spain is a top job search destination for Europeans.

Other recent news includes: 15th: Trial of Madrid bombers begins - first charged, 'Mohamed the Egyptian' the assumed brains behind the plot, at first refuses to speak; airports and other public places and utilities on high alert; Diario de Mallorca gets praise from EU parliament for uncovering CIA flights; Iberdrola gets EU goahead to buy Scottish Power; EU parliament votes against Commission plans to uproot over a million acres of vines; 14th: Environment minister Narbona reveals plans to tackle climate change as doomsters warn 8º(C) temperature rise and 40% rainfall drop over century; 3-11 trial preparations gather momentum - explosives experts reveal it was different to that previously believed; 12th: Left and right wing 'democratic' parties demonstrated together in Bilbao against ETA for first time since Madrid airport bomb (Dec 30); ETA hunger striker Chaos wins court appeal for cut in sentence; 372 migrants aboard Marine 1, 305 from Kashmir, finally allowed to disembark in Mauritania - Spain agreed to pay repatriation costs; scale 6.1 earthquake felt over half Spain; rockfall in middle of Vielha tunnel closes mid-Pyrenees link for up to a week - new tunnel being built to replace the least safe tunnel in Europe; Telefónica makes move towards possible take-over of Telecom Italia; mobile (cell phone) world meet at Barcelona trade fair.

9th: Justice minister, also reponsible for religious affairs, steps down to fight Canary regional elections, new appointment politically and maybe for religious goups awkward; government to declassify documents relating to CIA flights; immigrant population now confirmed over 4 million, or 9.3% - Alicante (Benidorm) is most foreign province, while Catalonia has 22% of migrants -more; migrant ship awaiting disembarkation off Mauritania has 40 ill - agreed to disambark the worst affected; new Madrid ring road tunnel opened and within hours flooded by rains; Carnival celebrations suspended in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, due to excessive noise 8th: Princess thanks sympathy as sister buried; 7th: Princes Letizia's sister Erika dies, aged 31; King visiting Germany, Queen in Indonesia to deliver aid to Banda Aceh; 50 arrested for illegal archeology trade - 300,000 objects recovered; Lions taken from Granada's Alhambra palace for restoration; CIA flights and terrorism on parliament agenda today; Batasuna back down on independence call and suggest union of the 2 current Basque regions 'within Spain' if the people approve; French police fear ETA has hundreds of arms stored in country; hundreds of Iraquis apply at Spanish embassy in Cairo for asylum; Endesa board favours acceptance of E.On offer; Al Gore visits Madrid; another mayor in Mallorca resigns in corruption scandal; 6th: ETA prisoners (some 600) start protest in call for amnesty and home rule; 2 lawyers arrested in Marbella corruption case; Mauritania refuses to disembark ship with 200 (some reports say 500) Pakistani migrants; 5th: The Times interviews ETA hunger striker Chaos - who calls for peace dialogue, judge investigates how the reporter got in; Explosion in Barakaldo rail station, Basque Country - police investigating if ETA is behind it; Spanish SAR ship tows immigrant boat with 200 Pakistanis to Mauritania and awaits permission to disembark them - sign of new policy; Madrid airport's new terminal T4 celebrates one year and 26 million passengers as it rebuilds carpark after December's ETA bomb; storm brings floods to coast near Gibraltar - 60 rescued from flooded homes.

[Image 53???]3rd: Right wing demonstrate against ETA negotiations in Madrid; Santiago Mainar, arrested on murder charge in Fago mayor case, admits responsibility; E.On makes final bid alone for Endesa; Andalusia campaigns in regional statute referendum - vote on 18th; 2nd: Local man arrested for murder of village mayor in Fago, Aragon; one in four 500 Euro bills can be found in Spain - they are 3 times more numerous here than 5 Euro bills, although most never see the big ones, known here as Bin Ladens, telling us something about the underground economy; Woody Allen to make new film in Barcelona starring Penelope Cruz; 1st: Trial under way of 2 ETA terrorists detained days before 3-11 with vans full of explosive in Cuenca, on way to Madrid, the 'death caravan' team; Gas Natural backs down from power firm Endesa bid as E.On offers more; GNP was 3.8%; Spanish Antarctic base threatened by oil spill from grounded Norwegian cruise ship; Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn), evangelical home for battered wives denounced for abuse of women and their children - news hit TV and national online news services.