Spanish master chocolatier's secret ingredient: marijuana

Master chocolatier Paco Torreblanca defends his use of marijuana in the elaboration of some of his chocolate desserts.

Spain's most famous chocolatier, Paco Torreblanca (who with Ferran Adriá and Arzak designed the wedding banquet served to guests at the last royal wedding), presented his latest innovation at the ‘Best of Gastronomy’ conference being held in San Sebastian this week.

He raised a few eyebrows with his presentation in which he proposed using marijuana in baking due to its aromatic and aesthetic qualities. In fact, he used some marijuana leaves in a chocolate dessert which he presented to the conference yesterday.

According to Torreblanca marijuana leaves give off an interesting bouquet of resin and herbs following a process of drying out and are only used for decoration. Torreblanca pointed out that his only aim with working with this product is to investigate and innovate and it was not meant as a provocation.

Torreblanca's chocolate empire is in the province of Alicante, in Petrer, and his presentation yesterday formed part of the delegation of chefs representing the province of Alicante. Other products available for visitors from Alicante were king prawns from Denia, two types of rice dishes prepared by two of the best restaurants in Alicante.

There was also a spirit tasting session followed by icecream tasting presented by the Asociación Empresarial Nacional de Artesanos y Comerciantes de Helados, which surprised some people with unusual flavours such as tomato with garlic and oil icecream.

Spanish students protest against Bologna Declaration

Spanish Vice Chancellors ask for help from government

Spanish Vice Chancellors have asked the government for help in solving the crisis that has arisen around the ‘anti-Bologna movement’ which is growing among Spanish university students. The issue surrounds the ‘Declaration of Bologna’ signed by 29 European countries in 1999 with the objective of facilitating the official recognition of university qualifications on a European wide basis and the free movement of lecturers and students around the European University system.

The Vice Chancellors warn that movement against the Bologna agreement will continue to grow and protests have spread to secondary education. They have asked for government intervention as they believe that it has taken on a state wide dimension and needs tackling with coordinated action from above.

The five universities most affected by the anti-Bologna protests are the University of Barcelona, Autónoma de Barcelona, Complutense, Sevilla and Valencia. These universities have 250,000 students which in total account for a fifth of all public university students in Spain.

The anti-Bologna movement is hard to quantify but in the universities most affected protests are taking place everyday. The protests take the form of blocking the entrance to buildings or to lecture halls or other institutional events. Students clashed with security in Barcelona University last week during one such protest.

In their letter to the government the Vice Chancellors also show their concern that the protests are spreading to other sectors of education – mostly in secondary schools and amongst teachers and families of secondary school students who will take university places in the near future.

In their letter vice chancellors have asked the government to face up to the situation with urgency and look for solutions that will allow for Spanish universities to move forward. This is why they have also asked for a meeting with government officials from the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

One of the main reasons why students are protesting against the declaration of Bologna is that they relieve that it will pave the way for the gradual privatisation of public universities and that study fees will inevitably go up. The university vice chancellors have attempted to deny this, protests continue to grow all over Spain hence this latest letter urging the Government to issue a statement stressing the positive aspects of the declaration of Bologna.

One gesture on the part of the government would be to simplify the process of accreditation for new qualifications.

Video of terrorist threat to Spain

The Taliban threaten Spain in video message

A video message in which the Spanish flag appears and threats are made against Spain has been discovered by Spanish security forces. The video was distributed on 14th November just 5 days following the deaths of 2 Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan in a suicide bomb attack on their convoy and was broadcast on a jihadist television channel.

Spanish security forces have given total credibility to the video. It is the second time that Spanish soldiers have been directly threatened by the Taliban and it is the first time that the Spanish flag has appeared clearly in a video of this type.
The video also threatens the US, Israel, Australia, Denmark, the United Nations and France. The message sends a clear threat to NATO and US forces if they do not withdrawn from Afghanistan.

The video lasts 42 minutes. It is thought that it was produced somewhere in the north of Afghanistan and distributed through Nida, to the Jihad Centre, one of the channels used frequently by the Taliban. The language in the video is darí, which is the official language of Afghanistan. The date it was recorded is unknown.

The authors of the video belong to an ethnically mixed group, directed by the leader of the Taliban - Shaykh Abd al-Basit, which controls border areas of the Afghanistan and has related groups in a number of countries such as Pakistan, Kashmir, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Europe.

According to sources linked to international anti-terrorist operations the authors of the video belong to one of the currently most aggressive and dangerous groups due to their specialist knowledge, their access to weapons and their military potential.

The video begins with the explosion of five flags one of which is Spanish. In the background there is an Islamic white flag. The video is narrated by a Taliban leader whose face is covered surrounded by more Taliban Fighters whose faces are also covered and who are carrying machine guns. Images of NATO and US forces appear as well as video footage of suicide attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Crisis hits Spanish car industry

Government meets car manufacturers and officials from regions affected by the crisis in the car industry in Spain

Almost 50,000 jobs are at risk due to the serious problems the car industry in Spain faces. Not all the jobs at risk are in manufacturing but they are also in sales where it is believed that up to 20,000 jobs could be lost and also in parts manufacturing where up to 14,000 jobs could be lost. According to car manufacturers the sector is facing a critical period.

Due to the looming crisis the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Commerce, Miguel Sebastián, is holding a meeting today in Santiago de Compostela with representatives from the car manufacturing sector and with officials from the 9 regions most affected. The aim of the meeting is to look for possible solutions to the situation the sector now finds itself in.

During today’s meeting it is expected that Miguel Sebastián will urge the sector to ask for help from the European Investment Bank which has up to 40,000 million euros available to help investment in related industries at the request of Spain.

The regions which are most affected by the crisis in the car manufacturing sector are Galicia – the Galician regional government has just approved a 10 million euros aid package for car manufacturers in its region in order to try and avoid a wave of redundancias. Castilla and León, is meeting regularly with representatives from Renault, Nissan and Iveco in order to try and assure the future of these plants in its region and the Catalan regional government minister for Innovation, Josep Huguet, has recently announced that the Catalan government will look at plans to invest in the capital of the companies most affected by the crisis in the car industry.

The car industry is the backbone of Spain’s industrial base and constitutes 8.4% of Spain’s GDP and accounts for 7% of industrial employment and 26% of all exports. There are 18 car manufacturing plants which employ 70,000 workers and suppliers employ another 245,000 workers.

The car industry now faces serious problems in Spain because following property it is the second biggest investment for most families and in times of cutting costs and uncertainty it is also an expense that can be easily put on hold.

In fact if recent figures are analyzed then it appears that sales of cars have come to a virtual standstill. In October sales dropped by 40% which is the third biggest fall in history and the Association of Car Manufacturers, Anfac, believes that overall sales will drop by more than 25% for 2008 – this is 400,000 less cars than in 2007. In the rest of Europe, where 80% of the cars made in Spain are sold, sales dropped by 14.5% in October.

Overall car production in Spain has fallen by 4.7% and Anfac is predicting that production will fall further to over 10% which is almost 300,000 cars less than last year.

Amongst all the companies producing cars in Spain, Nissan is facing the most serious difficulties – it is looking at plans to make 40% of its workforce redundant (1,680 employees) in Barcelona due to the drop in demand for 4X4 vehicles. Fortunately, at present employees have only been temporarily suspended from work.

Meanwhile car dealers have accused the car industry of producing more cars than required and of being responsible for building up a surplus stock of cars. Now that finance is not easily available for clients around 20,000 jobs are at risk in the sales sector.

The future of Spain as a car manufacturer appears to be more uncertain than ever. Experts have warned that if factories are closed down now it will be very hard to reopen new ones in the future given that the influence of Spain in the global sector is very small.

Related: Driving in Spain

Degradation of Spanish coastline

In just 6 years building work on Spanish coastline has increased by 22%

A bird’s eye view of the Spanish coastline from satellite has revealed the true extent of the destruction of natural areas on the Spanish coastline, above all in the Mediterranean. As part of a periodic study carried out by the National Geographic Institute for the Spanish government land changes have been analyzed and compared to the results of the last study carried out in 2000. According to the results of the most recent study the built up area on the Spanish coastline has increased by 21.85% in just 6 years which is twice the rate compared to the period 1987-2000.

Carolina de Carvalho, a reasearcher for the Observatory for Sustainability in Spain for the Ministry for the Environment and the University of Alcalá (Madrid) has announced some of the results of this latest study in an advance report. Although the latest study is not as accurate as other more recent ones the biggest advantage it has is that similar studies were carried out in 1990 and again in 2000. The study called Corine Land Cover, includes the whole of Europe and is the principal source used to measure the rate of construction in areas which previously had no buildings.
The study has found that in the space of just 6 years built up areas have increased by 23% in the Mediterranean and by 19% in the Atlantic (including the Bay of Biscay, Huelva and Cádiz). Figures for the Canary Islands are not available.

The rate of the destruction on the coastline has doubled with respect to the results for 1987-2000 when building work ate up 73,000 square metres a day. Between 2000 and 2005 this figure almost doubled to 140,044 square metres a day. Although there has been less building work in the Atlantic compared to the Mediterranean the amount of building work here has also doubled.

Experts have pointed out that building work literally came to a stand still between 1992 and 1997 which partly explains why the results of the most recent study appear so spectacular. However, the recent property boom is partly to blame for the destruction of one of Spain’s most precious and non renewable resources – its coastline. At present 27.5% of the Mediterranean is covered by buildings when just five years ago only 22% was built on and in 1987 this figures drops further to just 16%.

If the current rate of construction continues until 2071 the whole of Spain’s coastline will consist of built up areas for the first 2 kilometres.
According to the advance report by the Observatory for Sustainability, in Valencia and Huelva the rate of construction along the coastline has increased by 50%, in Murcia built up areas have increased by 58%, in Alicante 32% and in Castellon a massive 134%.

Furthermore, according to Carvalho Spain has created a ‘wall of cement along its coastline which is empty for most of the year’ – referring to the number of second homes along the Spanish coastline.

In a statement Juan López de Uralde, the director de Greenpeace, said that the situation of the Spanish coastline has demonstrated that the ‘Ley de Costas’ passed in 1988 which was intended to protect the it has not worked properly. He added that people said that the Spanish coastline had been destroyed in the 70’s with the construction of La Manga del Mar Menor or Benidorm, but in fact that this was false and that the rate of construction now is much higher than in the past’.

Carlos Peña the sub-Director for Sustainability for the Ministry of the Environment has revealed that one of the government’s plans to rescue the coastline is to buy up all the agricultural area along the first 500 metres of the whole of the Mediterranean coastline. However, the government is only prepared to pay very low prices without taking into account the prospect of revaluation at a price of just 1 or 2 euros per square metre.

The Ministry for the Environment estimates that there are around 1,500 hectares which have not yet been declared suitable for building on and is preparing a plan to buy up the land at a cost of around 150 to 300 million euros – although the government is aware that most land owners are not interested in their offer.
The Ministry for the Environment is also preparing a strategy of sustainability which includes plans to pull down buildings and expropriate land in order to help preserve the coastline. Amongst some of the proposals that regional governments have liked the least are the intentions of the government to put a stop to the construction of more marinas.

According to Greenpeace in 2008 alone there were 137 new plans for new marinas or industrial ports along the Spanish coast.

Airbus suspends production in Spanish factories

The economic slowdown has badly affected the car industry in Spain and now it appears to be having a negative effect on the aeronautical industry too. Airbus, one of the leading companies in this sector is facing problems of liquidity together with a drop in demand for its products. Now it has announced that it has decided to cease production of parts for the superrumbo A380, the biggest passenger aeroplane in the world.

Halting production is only intended as temporary measure. The decision was approved several weeks ago by the directors of the company and workers have been informed.

In Spain production will cease between the 1st and 23rd December and according to information provided by the company workers will be entitled to receive unemployment benefit together with added payments from their employers which means that they will receive around 98% of their salary.

Airbus has three production plants in Spain with around 3000 employees. There is one plant in Getafe (2000 employees) one in Gaditana de Puerto Real (500 employees) and another in Illescas, Toledo (500 employees).

Greenpeace protest at Spanish nuclear station

Greenpeace blockades Spain’s oldest nuclear power station with container full of activists

Greenpeace, the international non-violent direct action ecologist organization, has managed to block access to the main entrance to the Santa María de Garoña nuclear power station near Burgos. At 6.20am it placed a container blocking the entrance to the nuclear power station and secured it to the ground. There are around a dozen activists inside the container and also eight activists who have chained themselves together outside it.

Four security guards from the power station unsuccessfully attempted to stop the container being secured to the ground by Greenpeace. However, the occupants of the container were not deterred and a banner on the container was put up saying ‘close the power station now’.

With this direct action in which around 60 activists have participated Greenpeace hopes to persuade the government to close this nuclear power station which is 37 years old and which is the oldest in Spain. By this method it hopes to get the Spanish government to comply with its electoral promise to close the power station made in 2004. The executive director of Greenpeace, Juan López de Uralde, said that Zapatero would be committing a serious mistake if he ignored the support that the antinuclear movement had amongst ordinary citizens.

Two vans carrying civil guards arrived fifteen minutes after the start of the Greenpeace protest. Although removing the protesters chained to both sides of the bridge leading to the power station should be quite easy removing the container with the activists inside who ‘are prepared to resist’ and who have supplies inside appears to be another matter.

Elías Fernández, a spokesperson for the power station said that at present it was functioning completely normally with all the employees inside and that if it wasn’t secure then it wouldn’t be functioning’. He also said ‘our job is to produce electricity which is what we do’. He also added ‘we do not agree with Greenpeace’s action but we respect it’.

The Garoña nuclear power station began working in 1971. Its permit to carry on working runs out in July 2009. However, the owners of the power station Nuclenor (owned jointly by Endesa 50% and Iberdrola 50%), have applied for an extension to carry on producing electricity for another 10 years. According to information supplied by Greenpeace this power station only produced 1.28% of the net total of electricity generated in 2007 in Spain.

According to Carlos Bravo, the director of Greenpeace’s campaign against nuclear energy Garoña faces serious problems of corrosion and the small amount of electricity it produces is over compensated by the annual increase in renewable energy.

First ever transplant organ grown with patient's stem cells

Landmark trachea transplant in Barcelona performed with a whole organ stem cell
Five months ago 30 year old Claudia Castillo had a damaged wind pipe and collapsed left lung due to suffering from tuberculosis. Now she has been given a new lease of life after being the first person in the world to receive a successful wind pipe transplant. An article published today in the medical journal ‘the Lancet’ outlines the procedure which was carried out by a team of specialists from the Clinic Hospital of Barcelona, the Polytechnic of Milan, and the Universities of Bristol and Padua.

Paolo Macchirini, the head of chest surgery for the Clinic Hospital of Barcelona carried out the transplant on Claudia last June. The transplant was carried out without using immune-suppressant drugs. In order to do this researchers had to use ‘tissue engineering’ which resulted in a hybrid organ between the donor and the patient.

The donor was a 51 year old man who had died from a brain haemorrhage. Following the extraction of his wind pipe it was washed 25 times with an enzymatic detergent in order to rid it of all its active immunologic cells. Following this it was sent to the University of Milan where researchers put it in a tank containing cartilage cells grown in the University of Bristol using stem cells extracted from Claudia's bone marrow.

Claudia has now recovered a large part of her lung function and is not taking any medication. Before the transplant various procedures had been attempted to recover the use of her wind pipe but without success. Preparations had been made to remove the damaged lung if the transplant failed. However, although this procedure would have saved her life it would also have left her with severe respiratory problems.
Now following the success of her transplant operation Claudia can lead an active life and next week she will travel to Columbia to visit the rest of her family.

For the researchers achieving the acceptance of the organ without the use of immune-suppressant drugs represents a significant medical breakthrough in the area of organ transplants. Furthermore, according to Macchirini who headed the team that operated on Claudia, the same system could be used for other tubular organs like the colon or the oesophagus.

The breakthrough is a triumph for European collaboration between scientists and demonstrates the potential of adult stem cells to save lives. The Clinic Hospital of Barcelona has two more patients waiting to receive a similar transplant.

Relations between Spain and the USA visibally thawing

Following the presence of Spanish premier José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the G20 meeting in Washington last weekend, there have been further signs this week that relations between Spain and the USA will continue to improve as soon as the president elect is sworn in. Relations between the two governments have been icy ever since Zapatero withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq.

Yesterday the vice-president elect, Joe Biden, telephoned Zapatero and during their conversation arranged a meeting in January once the Obama and his team are in office. According to the Moncloa, both Biden and Zapatero are anxious to exchange views on how best to tackle the crisis in cooperation with other countries. The Spanish prime minister had a 10-minute long conversation last week with Obama himself on the day after the election result.

US spies helped to locate the ETA suspects arrested yesterday

It has also been revealed this morning that US espionage services were involved in yesterday's successful arrest by Spanish and French police of two key ETA suspects, incluiding its military leader, Garikoitz Aspiazu, Txeroki. They reportedly managed to discover two email accounts used by Txeroki and passed details of these on to the Spanish anti-terrorist detectives. Correspondence contained in the email accounts and also the use by the suspects of a glaringly false numberplate were the two key clues which allowed police to locate the couple yesterday.

Police arrest ETA military leader

Military chief of ETA arrested in France

Two significant arrests have taken place in France in a joint operation between the French police, the Civil Guard and the Spanish national police. One of the people arrested is Garikoitz Aspiazu, Txeroki and the other is a woman who has not been named yet but who, according to reports, could be Leire López Zurutuza.

Txeroki who is believed to be the military chief of ETA was arrested in the early hours of this morning in the southwest of France in Cauterets, near Lourdes. Txeroki has been a top objective for both the Civil Guard and the Spanish national police for a long time.

The other person arrested is a woman whose identity has not been revealed yet. It is believed that Txeroki and the woman had spent time living together in a house near Lourdes.

It is hoped that the arrest of Txeroki will help police clarify events surrounding the assassination of two Civil Guards, Fernando Trapero and Raúl Centeno in Capbreton, Francia a year ago. Two members of the recently disbanded Nafarroa cell have told police that the military chief of ETA was responsible for the crime.

Amongst the most significant arrests that have taken place in France recently have been Francisco Javier López Peña, considered to be the number one in ETA and the presumed members of ETA, Ainhoa Ozaeta Mendikute, Igor Suberbiola and Jon Salaberría (ex member of parliament for Batasuna) who were arrested in May near Bordeaux.

France has played an important part in the fight against ETA since the mid 80’s when the French police began collaborating closely with the Spanish authorities in joint anti-terrorist operations.

Spanish economy entering recession

Drop in consumer spending and investment causes first fall in Spanish GDP in 15 years

According to a report published today by the Spanish National Institute for Statistics (INE) the Spanish economy suffered a 0.2% drop in the third quarter of this year compared to a growth of 0.1% in the previous quarter. The 0.2% fall in the economy is a significant figure because it is the first time that the Spanish economy has shown negative growth in 15 years.

In its report INE confirmed that the 0.2% drop in GDP in the third quarter of this year places the Spanish economy on the border of recession – which is technically defined as two consecutive quarterly falls in GDP. The inter-annual growth in the economy between July and September was just 0.9% which is half the figure registered for the second quarter of 2008 (April – June).

According to the INE these figures demonstrate that the Spanish economy is showing signs of slowing down as indicated by the figures for the 6th consecutive quarter. The slow down in the economy can be partly explained by a clear drop in consumer spending and investment in the economy.

The report which has been published today coincides with forecasts made in the Bank of Spain’s most recent report on the economy which signalled that the negative growth in the Spanish economy was not only due to a significant drop in internal demand but also due to persistent instability in global financial markets.

Links between Spanish ETA and Colombian FARC

Links between ETA and FARC confirmed

Information discovered by the security services in France has confirmed the links between ETA and the Columbian terrorist organisation FARC.

According to this information ETA and FARC had at least three meetings in Columbia. ETA now admits that its members exchanged techniques and procedures with two of the highest ranking members of FARC in 2003. Until now ETA has never confirmed its links with the Columbian terrorist organization.

ETA has confirmed that the contacts with FARC were ‘official’ in which those charged with attending the meetings were chosen - although their names do not appear in the documents discovered in France. However it is known that one of the FARC members attending the meetings with ETA was a member of the national secretariat of FARC.

It is believed that FARC guerrillas offered to hide members of ETA during the length of time required in exchange FARC asked ETA to provide experts in medicine that could help in prisoner camps and information on anti-aircraft missiles.

ETA also recognised that during the week of meetings in Columbia combat techniques were discussed – among which was the way FARC used mobile telephones to detonate bombs or the possibility of using anti-corrosive paint instead of powdered aluminium together with other substances to produce explosive material. FARC also learnt about the construction of ‘zulos’ (hideouts).

In addition FARC asked ETA to carry out bombings and kidnappings in Europe against some of FARC’s objectives. According to information discovered Andrés Pastrana, the Columbian ambassador in Spain since 2002 and the vice president of Columbia Pacho Santos were among these objectives.

The information discovered has been included in a report by the Civil Guard and discussed in a meeting with the Spanish national police and the Columbian authorities.

Catalan government offended by article published by The Economist

The Generalitat demands an apology for "insulting report"

Catalan regional government demands apology for an insulting article in the Economist
The Director of Justice for the Catalan regional government, Montserrat Tura, has demanded an apology and rectification from the well known British weekly journal, the Economist, for including a report which according to Tura makes insulting affirmations about the current situation in Catalonia.

When asked about the report in a press conference Tura said that the level of ignorance displayed in the article about Catalonia was worrying. He also said that the article was not only insulting but also defamatory.

The article in question appears in the current issue of the Economist and is called ‘How much is enough?’ – on the cover there are a number of articles displayed on the Spanish economy under the headline ‘The party is over’.

Following the publication of the article Xavier Solano, the Catalan government delegate based in London has sent a letter to the editor of the Economist explaining the bad feeling the article has created and giving a detailed picture of what Catalonia is today and its role in the world.

In the letter Solana also says that it is both unfortunate and unacceptable to call the ex-president of Catalonia a ‘tyrant’ and rejects the concept of ‘nationalist obsession with the Catalan language.

'The Economist' dedicates a large part of the current issue to analyzing the Spanish economy. It concluded that while the autonomous regions that make up Spain today have made contributions to the country as a whole and have helped to solve some problems they have also created others.

Among these problems outlined in the current issue of the Economist is what it calls ‘the tyrannical provincial political boss’. The examples given are Manuel Chaves (the current president of the Andalucian regional government) and the two former regional presidents Jordi Pujol (Catalunia) and Manuel Fraga (Galicia).

The report also analyzed nationalism in Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country saying that they are not satisfied with decentralization because they never wanted ‘handouts for everybody but just for themselves’. According to the Economist language has become an obsession for the nationalists which practice ’linguistic dogmatism’.
The article goes on to say that bilingualism is practiced in Catalonia as much under the socialists as under the nationalists. However in practice it says that this means that all classes in primary and secondary school are given in Catalan and Spanish is taught as a foreign language.

Santander Bank boosts capital

Santander boosts its capital by 7,200 million euros

Three weeks ago a report by the American investment bank, Merrill Lynch, said that Santander bank needed to boost its capital by 6,600 million euros and its nearest rival, BBVA, could do with boosting its capital by at least 2,400 euros. The Spanish financial sector rejected the report saying that it was one of the strongest in the world.

However, the announcement by Emilio Botín the Chairman of Santander bank that it was planning to boost its capital with 25% more shares appears to justify the claims made in the report by Merrill Lynch. With this Santander bank will boost its capital to more than 7% compared to just 6.31% which was the figure at the end of the last quarter.

Furthermore if this action had not been taken following the purchase of the Brazilian Banco Real, the American bank Sovereign and the British Banks Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, the ratio of capital could have gone down to 5.87% which is quite low compared to its international competitors which have nearly 9% capital.
Santander, one of the most important bank in the Eurozone will issue 1,598,81 million new shares which will cost 4.5 euros each. The period of subscription for buying shares is between 13th – 27th November and the shares will go on sale on 4th December.

The General Director of Finance at Santander bank has denied criticism that he has been over ambitious in carrying out three purchases since the beginning of the financial crisis.

Santander’s decision to boost its capital could force its Spanish competitors to do the same although both BBVA and the Banco Popular denied that they were preparing similar action because their level of capital was sufficient.

Francisco González of BBVA commented that his bank had opted for a more ‘prudent strategy’ compared to Santander and had decided not to carry out any purchases until the beginning of the crisis. He said that Santander’s aggressive strategy had ‘consumed capital at the same time as increasing its assumed risks’.

Spanish soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Two Spanish soldiers killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan

Two Spanish soldiers were killed yesterday in a suicide attack carried out by Taliban insurgents. A convoy consisting of twelve lorries belonging to the Afghan army and six tanks carrying Spanish soldiers was attacked in Herat, a province in the west of Afghanistan.

The attack took place at 12.30 am local time when a van loaded with explosives collided with the last armoured vehicle in the convoy which was returning to its base in Herat. The explosion killed two Spanish soldiers and injured four others, one seriously. The Taliban which had assumed that the convoy consisted of American troops immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on its web page.

After the news of the attack yesterday the Spanish Defence Minister, Carmen Chacon, appeared in a press conference together with the Head of Defence, General José Julio Rodríguez, to give her condolences to the families of the deceased adding that everybody was aware that ‘Spanish soldiers were risking their lives for the well being and freedom of a far away country and also for our own security’.

Following the news of the attack yesterday Chacon confirmed the names of the dead as Rubén Alonso Ríos, born in Galicia in 1978 and Juan Andrés Suárez García, born in Asturias in 1967. Shortly after this she left for Afghanistan to help with the repatriation of the two soldiers killed in yesterday’s attack.

Both UN peace keeping forces, which include Spanish troops, and the anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States operate in the district of Shindand, which is the most conflictive in the Afghan province of Herat.

The first Spanish troops were sent to Afghanistan in 2002. Spain now has a total of 778 military personnel on duty in Afghanistan which are all involved with the UN peacekeeping mission which aims to help stabilize and rebuild the country.

With the news of these latest deaths yesterday the total number of Spanish soldiers killed while on service in Afghanistan now stands at 86.

Surplus wind power could power electric cars in Spain

Renewable energy is creating new challenges in Spain. Given that this type of power is unpredictable there are bound to be times when there is over production of power. This is exactly what happened last Sunday night when the wind from the hurricane that affected some parts of Spain got thousands of wind mills moving in a short space of time.

So much wind power was produced that the Electricity network had to disconnect a third of the wind mills. At 4 am on Sunday morning winds of up to 160 kilometres per hour hit Salou and nearby areas. This got a great number of wind mills moving and produced 1,500 megawatts per hour which is the equivalent to one and half nuclear power stations.

According to Miguel Duvisón, the head of the Spanish Electricity Network Operation (REE) there has never been a similar situation before. He said the problem was that at 7pm on a Sunday evening the demand for electricity was much lower than at other times during the week which meant that there was an oversupply of electricity. At 7.20 pm wind power was supplying 28.9% of the network’s electricity which is a historic high.

Therefore 37% (2,792 megawatts) of wind power installations had to be disconnected – the equivalent to three nuclear power stations - until 9 am the next morning when demand for electricity went up again.

Duvisón regrets having to waste so much clean energy. He said the price of the wasted power was in the region of 200,000 euros and could have supplied two million homes with electricity.

Alberto Ceña, from the Wind Power Business Association has commented that Sunday’s disconnection was the biggest ever. He said that there are 15,000 megawatts of wind power installations which supply 10% of all electricity in Spain. He added that the government is planning to install up to 40,000 megawatts by 2020.

Experts in energy production and the chairman of REE all agree that new strategies are required in order to manage the volume of power being produced by renewable sources. He said new connections to France to transfer excess power and reversible dams were needed. These dams help use up excess power by using it to pump water into higher dams when a surge of power is produced. According to Duvisón without more reversible dams and pumps a great quantity of wind power will be wasted in the future.

The government together with energy experts are looking into the possibility of using wind power to move electric cars. The idea is to have a park of electric cars by wind power installations ready to accumulate excess wind power. The Ministry for Industry is currently working with Renault and Nissan on pilot projects in Spain given that electric cars contaminate less and are not dependant on non renewable sources of power.

British criminals on the loose in Spain

Britain asks for help in finding 10 dangerous criminals in the Costa Blanca

The British authorities have published the name of ten dangerous criminals which they believe could be living in the area around Alicante and ‘Operation Capture’ which began in the Spanish Costa del Sol has now spread to the Costa Blanca.

Lord Ashcroft, the founder of Crimstoppers, has asked anybody with information about the 10 people on the list to contact this organisation immediately and has called on British citizens living in the Costa Blanca to be especially vigilant.

Operation Capture 2 which began in October 2006 is a joint project which includes Crimestoppers, the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), the British Embassy in Madrid and the Spanish authorities. It is a campaign on the internet which works through the section called ‘Most Wanted’ on the Crimestoppers website.www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

In fact 13 fugitives have already been detained out of 30 names published on the list of the ‘Most Wanted’ during the first phase of the operation, thanks to the close collaboration between the Spanish authorities and the British organisations listed above.

According to the British ambassador in Madrid, Denise Holt, both British and Spanish residents living in Spanish coastal resorts did a great job in 2006 in helping to localize several well known criminals. He also praised the good work of all organisations involved in the operation and their close cooperation.

Holt has now called on the public once again to help find the 10 people who have been placed on the ‘Most Wanted’ list.

Spain's reaction to Obama's victory

Spanish press hails Barack Obama's historic victory and acceptance speech in the US Presidential Elections

The Spanish media was unanimous this morning in signalling Barack Obama's victory as a great turning point in America's history. The main television and radio channels ran special election programmes throughout the night and one of Cadena Ser's main reporters attending the victory party in Chicago with his adrenalin at a peak, said he had never heard such a "brilliant" acceptance speech in his long career as a political journalist and that felt honoured and moved to feel to be present at such a historic event.

Spanish Government representatives welcomed the new Presidency in the hope that it will signal a change in the relationship between the USA and Spain which has been very cool ever since José Maria Aznar (a close friend of George Bush) lost the Spanish elections in 2004 and Zapatero pulled the Spanish forces out of Iraq. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero afirmed that Obama¡s victory "opens a new era for dialogue in international relations" and said that Spain stands, and will stand, by him

Here is a selection of headlines from Spain's leading newspapers this morning:

El Pais: Obama fulfills the dream of change: The democratic candidate becomes the first black president in the history of the United States. We are invited to dream.

El Mundo: Obama changes the colour of history. King's (Martin Luther) dream is fulfilled, the American dream is too

Cadena Ser: Obama, Everything is Possible

ABC: Change is here. This is Victory for the Real America

La Vanguardia: The United States opens a new era with Obama, the first black President of its history

Euroresidentes: Contragulations Obama! Congratulations America! And THANK YOU both.

Son of Osama Bin Laden applies for political asylum in Spain

Oma Osama Bin Laden asks for political asylum in Barajas, Madrid.

One of Osama Bin Laden’s 19 children, 28 year old Omar Osama Bin Laden, has asked for political asylum in Barajas airport while making a stop in the Spanish capital on a flight between El Cairo and Casablanca (Morocco). According to sources close to Omar Osama Bin Laden he has declared himself a pacifist and has renounced the terrorism carried out by his father, Osama Bin Laden, the founder and leader of Al Qaeda.

Omar Osama married a British citizen Zaina al Sabah (formerly known as Jane Felix-Browne) in El Cairo in September 2006 and had previously applied for political asylum in the British embassy in El Cairo. However, the British authorities denied this application on the grounds that it would cause considerable ‘public disquiet’. Sources close to the events have indicated that Omar Osama Bin Laden will be dealt with speedily and meanwhile he will remain in the airport in a special area designated for illegal immigrants.

Omar Osama spent 10 years living with his father in exile in Sudan and later in Afghanistan where in 2000 he trained in a camp for terrorists. When the 9-11 attacks took place he was living in Saudi Arabia.

His full name is Omar Bin Osama Bin Muhammad Bin Awad Bin Laden and in public speeches he has been willing to refute western ideas on Arabs and above all that all the children of Osama Bin Laden are terrorists.

Spain still trying to get an invite to the November G-20 Summit

Zapatero due to meet Durao Barroso today to try and get a place in G-20 summit

Today the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is meeting the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso in order to put forward Spain’s case to be included in the next G20 summit in Washington on 15th November which will discuss changes to the international financial system. Zapatero and Barroso will also be looking at ways that EU member states can adopt new measures in a coordinated effort to deal with the global financial crisis.

Zapatero and Durao Barroso are meeting in the Palacio de la Moncloa.in Madrid. Spain already has the support of the European parliament for its case to be present at the G20 summit meeting due to its economic and political weight within the international community. The European Commissioner for Foreign Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has already sent a message of support to Zapatero.

Other important European leaders such as the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, have also publicly demonstrated their support for Spain to be present at the summit. And last week Zapatero took advantage of his trip to the Latin American Summit in El Salvador last week to get the governments of Brasil and Mexico, among others, to express their support for Spain to be present at next month's economic summit.

Political commentators in Spain believe that George Bush's decision not to invite Spain to the meeting is further proof of the cold shoulder approach Bush has shown towards Spain ever since Zapatero fulfilled his pre-electoral promise to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004, something for which both Bush (and Rodriguez Zapatero's predecessor Aznar, one of Bush's most staunch supporters during invasion of Iraq) have never forgiven the Spanish president..

Zapatero stated last week during his visit to El Salvador that coordinated action is the only way to guarantee its effectiveness which is why EU leaders are holding a special meeting on 7^th November to discuss their views before the G20 summit meeting in Washington later this month.