Hacker suspects arrested in Spain

This weekend Spanish police arrested five people suspected of hacking into or completely disabling thousands of Internet pages including some run by government agencies in the U.S., Latin America and Asia. According to the Spanish authorities two of the suspects are just 16 years old. The five were arrested this week in Barcelona, Burgos, Malaga and Valencia.

Spain's National Police said the suspects belonged to the D.O.M Team, one of the most active hacker groups on the Internet. One of the group's techniques was to infiltrate Web sites and insert a page of its own, police said.

The group attacked some 21,000 Web pages over the last two years, police said in a statement which did not identify which government Web sites the suspects are accused of tampering with. In March El Mundo reported that D.O.M had infiltrated NASA's Web page aswell as the websites of the Venezuelan national telephone company and Spanish telephone operator Jazztel, but this was not confirmed by Spanish police this weekend.

The Spanish investigation began in March after the Web page of a Spanish political party, Izquierda Unida, was disabled shortly after Spain's general election March 9.
The five suspects did not know one another personally.

Study in Spain underlines therapeutic use of cannabis

Recent study carried out by the Catalan Department of Health and Spanish Health Ministery endorses the efficiency of cannabis in combatting the effects of chemotherapy

A pioneering study carried out by the Catalan Department of Health has demonstrated the efficiency of a medicine which contains cannabis in treating sickness and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy. At present cannabis is available in a medicine form throughout the Spanish health service for patients being treated with chemotherapy if other drugs fail to be effective.

Yesterday, Marina Geli, the head of the Catalan health service said that a pilot programme using cannabis to treat those with multiple sclerosis, cancer and other illnesses had shown that sickness in 67% of the patients in the study had decreased. There were 207 patients in the study suffering from various illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, neuralgic pain and other serious conditions associated with chronic pain.

The study which cost 500,000 euros and was carried out in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Health is the first to respond to public opinion which supports the therapeutic use of cannabis.

In the case of patients suffering from anorexia-caquexia associated with Aids up to 53% of these regained their appetites. The number of patients in the study suffering from multiple sclerosis who went from having unbearable pain to suffering tolerable pain went down from 66% to 35% and the number of patients who suffered almost no pain at all increased from 11.40% to 27.70%.

The drug containing cannabis called Sativex comes in the form of a spray. Each container has 50 sprays which covers one course of chemotherapy. In the case of patients suffering chronic illness being treated with Sativex costs around 300 euros per year. Sativex is owned by GW Pharmaceuticals, and will be commercialised in the rest of Europe by Almirall laboratories.

Region in Spain with highest total personal income

Inhabitants in the Basque Country the richest in Spain

The Basque Country has overtaken Madrid as the area of Spain with the highest capita per inhabitant. Figures published yesterday by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) showed that GDP per inhabitant in Madrid was 29,965 euros compared to 30,599 for inhabitants in the Basque Country. Extremadura and Andalucía remained at the bottom of the list although figures show that the difference in GDP between parts of Spain is going down year by year. The average income per inhabitant in Spain is now estimated at 23,396 euros.

This is the first time that Madrid has lost its place at the top of the list since 1995 when the INE began to publish these figures although this change has been put down to more to changes in the Basque Country’s demography to its economic growth. In fact, the economy in the Basque Country has grown less than the national average over recent years. However, the population has hardly grown at all. Since 1995 it has only grown by 2.3% while the population of Madrid has increased by a massive 21%.
Income per inhabitant has fallen in the Balearic islands. Figures for 1995 showed that income per inhabitant was equivalent to 120% that of the national average while now it is just 108%. However, the population in this part of Spain has also grown by 37% over the last 12 years. Furthermore, the incorporation of more workers in its economy has not led to economic growth. The Canary islands is also a similar case.

The figures just published for 2007 show that Catalonia has the highest GDP in Spain valued at 196,000 euros, followed by Madrid, Andalucía, Valencia and the Basque Country. Aragón showed the biggest growth at 4.5% compared to an average growth in GDP of 3.8% for the rest of Spain. The INE showed that Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia all had thriving economies with strong manufacturing sectors. Economic growth in Aragon was attributed mostly to building work in preparation for the Expo which starts in June.

Since 2000 average annual growth in Murcia has been the most intense at 3.9%, followed by Andalucía at 3,7%, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha (both at 3.6%). These four communities together with Galicia which has experienced renewed growth over the last 2 years are all at the bottom of the list in terms of income per inhabitant. However, it is also clear that regional differences are decreasing. For example, GDP in Extremadura has gone from 64% of the national average to almost 69%.

Finally, figures published yesterday show that there are six regions in Spain with income per inhabitant above the EU average of 24,700 euros.

Spanish judge tries to protect girl from genital mutilation

Judge in Lleida prevents a girl from being taken to Gambia for fear she may be subjected to female genital mutilation

A Judge in the locality of Cervera in Lleida has taken measures to protect a girl aged 7 years old. Her parents have been forbidden from taking her to Gambia where it is feared that she could be subject to female circumcision.

According to the Catalan high court cautionary measures such as withholding her residency permit and forbidding a passport being issued in her name and forbidding her parents from taking her out of Spanish territory have been taken following suspicions raised by neighbours of the family who alerted Catalan police of the possibility that the parents of the girl were planning a lengthy trip to Gambia.

The judge decided to prevent the girl from being taken out of Spanish territory following the appearance of her parents in court.

This decision also coincides with another controversial case last December in which a court in Barcelona decided to take away the custody of two Gambian girls aged 6 and 13 from their parents resident in Premià de Dalt based on fears that they could also be subjected to female circumcision following suspicions raised by the school attended by the girls.

However, last week another court decided to return the custody of the girls to their parents although this time they will share custoday with the Catalan department for the care of children. Further cautionary measures have been imposed under which no member of the family is allowed to leave Spain or apply for new passports and they must allow their daughters have regular medical examinations.

Spanish abortion laws debated in parliament

Izquierda Unida, the Spanish communist party, is due to present a motion in parliament today calling for reform in Spanish abortion laws. This move comes at a time when the debate over Spanish abortion laws has been reopened due to the controversy over the investigations into illegal abortions being carried out in a number of clinics in Madrid in Barcelona. Gaspar Llamazares, leader of Izquierda Unida, has accused the government of not fulfilling its electoral promises over this issue.

The present law Spain only legally allow abortion in 3 cases – when the woman has been raped and has reported it to the police then an abortion is allowed during the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy, if serious physical abnormalities have been detected in the foetus then an abortion can be carried out up to 22 weeks into the pregnancy or the pregnant woman faces serious risks to her health or possible negative psychological problems due to the pregnancy (no time limit is in place under these circumstances).

Yesterday José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish president admitted that this issue would have to be addressed in time, but he did not specify whether or not decriminalisation of abortion would be included in their election manifesto. It is understood that the women members of Zapatero's Gabinet are pushing for reform.

Maribel Montaño the PSOE secretary in charge of Equality said in an radio interview broadcast on Cadena Ser that the present laws governing abortion in Spain were made 25 years ago and that now was the time to modify the law and adapt it to the new social reality of today’s Spain. She confirmed that any supposed changes to the law would be included in PSOE’s next electoral programme. She said the double objective of this would be to defend the rights of women to control their maternity and give more legal backing and clarification on this issue.

Cost of a funeral in Spain

According to a study released this week by Funespaña and Mémora, two of Spain's largest undertakers, the average price of funeral costs in Spain is 2500 euros. The Spanish Consumers’ Union puts the cost a little lower at 2,200 euros. Obviously prices can vary according to the type of burial and coffin and depending on whether the services used are public or private.

For the average price of 2500 you need to add a further 6000 euros if you want a luxury coffin made out of good quality wood, lined with white satin.

The price of a funeral also depends on where you live. In Alicante or Palma a funeral can cost around 3000 euros while in Badajoz it costs just 1000 euros. According to Mémora the average cost of a funeral in Italy or Portugal is 3500 euros while in the US this figure rises to around 6000. Despite these figures Mémora said that 900 euros would pay for a funeral in Spain.

Many retired foreigners from other European countries who have decided to settle in Spain have taken out special policies with the insurance company Mapfre to cover the costs of their funerals. However, the Consumers’ Association in Spain says that these types of polices are often excessively expensive and people are better off paying for funeral costs out of savings or by signing up to a life insurance policy.

There are many different types of funeral services. For example you can now get a coffin in the shape of a boat or made exclusively from biodegradable material without varnish or metal handles. Another curiosity is an urn made from salt so that it dissolves shortly after being thrown into water and one company in Andalusia even claims that it can turn the hair of the deceased in to a diamond – something which costs between 1200 and 1700 euros.

There are even mobile undertakers in mobile homes with a room for wakes incorporated which travel around some rural areas in northern Spain. Although according to Funespaña towns with a population of 50,000 inhabitants are obliged to have a chapel of rest or crematorium.

However cremation still isn’t a popular option in Spain. In 1973 only 44 Spaniards were cremated while in 1983 this figure rose to 500. Now ten years later the number of cremations that take place is 5000 which accounts for 21% of funerals and according to PANASEF in 2010 this percentage will rise to 30%. Nevertheless these figures are far below countries like Sweden or Norway where the percentage of cremations are between 80% and 90%.

Spanish soldier faces sanctions for nude photos

Spanish Army Considering whether to prosecute female solder for posing nude for Interviu magazine

The Military court is considering whether a female soldier who appeared naked in the latest edition of Interviu magazine has done anything which can be disciplined under military law. According to military sources they are analyzing the report which features several nude photos of the soldier "very carefully".

Pilar Pacheco declares in the article that she is a soldier in uniform and without uniform. She goes on to say that she respects the military and that is why she has posed without any badges or military emblems. She says that civil life is worse than military life and that she has always been treated correctly by her military bosses. She says that life in the barracks is disciplined something which she did not experience in jobs outside the army. She declared that in the military everybody knows their place and knows how to behave correctly.

She also said that she had decided to appear in Interviu magazine because ‘this type of opportunity only occurs once in a lifetime’. She said that ‘she wasn’t afraid to take the bull by the horns’.

It has not yet been decided whether a military case will be brought against Pilar Pacheco.

Phone helpline for victims of domestic violence

016 - New Confidential Telephone Helpline in Spain

This weekend the Spanish government presented a new confidential 24 hour telephone helpline for victims of domestic violence. The helpline has actually been up and running since the 3rd September and has already received 445 calls. The number to call is 016 and it won’t appear on the telephone’s last dialled number or on the bill.

Soledad Murillo, the General Secretary of the government’s Equality Policy team and Encarnación Orozco who represents the government in its campaign against violence against women both said that victims of gender violence needed a 24 hour helpline operating 365 days a year. Murillo pointed out that battered women often don’t want to go through the lengthy process of filing a formal complaint and that the new 016 helpline was aimed a assisting these women by assessing their situation and informing them of their rights.

Murillo also emphasised that it would always be the decision of the victim whether to file an official compliant or not. She also said that the helpline was not only aimed at the victims of gender violence but also at friends, neighbours or relatives so that they could be informed about how best to help such people.

The government advertisement for the new 016 helpline shows a black screen with a cardiogram on it showing a heartbeat which suddenly stops and then you can hear a dialling tone followed by a voice saying ‘For this never to happen again call 016 at the first sign of abuse. The telephone number 016 can change lives.

Spanish village tries to attract young couples with payment

A Village in Asturias offers to pay 6000 euros to each couple who move there and have a child

Ponga, is the town with the oldest population in the Principality of Asturias. In order to try to reverse this trend the town hall has decided to offer each couple who move there to live and who have a child a payment of 6000 euros. It is hoped that this measure will help to bring the average age of the population down.

Currently Ponga has 851 inhabitants of which less than 50 are under 18 years old.
Each couple who move to Ponga to live will receive 3000 euros and then the same amount again for each child they have there. The only requirement is for the couple to remain in Ponga for a minimum of 5 years.

The initiative is the result of a proposal of the Partido Popular and is expected to be approved by the local council today. This means that if a couple who are expecting a child move to Ponga they could receive 9000 euros. Firstly the 6000 euros which will be offered by this locality and then 500 which is offered by the Principality of Asturias for each child born and then finally the 2500 euros offered by the Spanish government. Having children in Spain is becoming quite a lucrative business!

Related: Guide to Asturias ## Pregnant in Spain ## Ageing

Drug network in Ibiza disbanded

The Civil Guard disband an important drug trafficking network in Ibiza

The Spanish Civil Guard have announced that 18 people have been detained following the disbanding of a significant drug trafficking ring on the island of Ibiza. Those arrested are different nationalities - nine are Moroccan, seven are Columbian, one is Slovakian and one is Spanish. They have all been detained on charges of damaging public health, drug dealing and illicit association.

The Civil Guard started their investigations into the widespread drug dealing in Ibiza’s discos and clubs in the middle of June. As part of the operation up to thirty members of the Civil Guard went undercover and passes themselves off as members of the public.

As a result of their investigations and undercover work all the members of the drug trafficking ring in San Antonio and San José and the eleven addresses used by the gang were identified by the Civil Guard.

The head of the drug dealing ring was Columbian. It was discovered that he used to distribute drugs to each drug dealer who would then work on their own so that two members of the same gang never coincided in the same disco or club.

In one of the flats belonging to members of the ring the Civil Guard found a laboratory for preparing cocaine for sale and in the boot of one of the cars that was seized during the operation 10,700 ecstasy pills were found prepared and ready to be sold.

The Civil Guard also discovered 90,000 euros, 2700 dollars, four cars, a motorbike, 1807 grams of cocaine, 4518 grams of hashish and 9000 grams of substances for mixing with cocaine as well as precision scales and material for packaging drugs.

Related: Guide to Ibiza ## Drugs in Spain ## Teenagers and drugs in Spain

Cervical Cancer Vaccine will be available in Spain by the end of 2007

Last week, the Spanish Health Minister, Bernat Soria, presented an informative document to the Spanish parliament which gave details on the process for the authorisation of the Gardasil® vaccine by Sanofi Pasteur MSD.

The vaccine protects against a virus that has been found to be present in 70% of women diagnosed with cervical cancer and could help to save the lives of thousands of women each year. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer suffered by women.

In an interview with Cadena SER Spain's Health Minister said that the vaccine had no side effects and should be given to girls between the ages of 11 and 15 years old as long as they haven’t experienced any sexual contact.

Bernard Soria said that the vaccine could be in Spanish chemists by November or December this year. This is almost the same time that the vaccine will be made available in other European countries such as France, Germany or the United Kingdom.

New payment for mothers of newly born children

As from this week parents in Spain can apply for 2500 euros per child born since 3rd July

Applications opened yesterday for the new payment of 2,500 euros to be paid by the Spanish state to mothers for each child born since 3rd July. Applications can be made in local tax offices or by internet by going to the website for the Ministry of Work, Finance and Economics. A free telephone information service will also soon be available.

Last Friday the Spanish cabinet approved a bill for the new law which gives 2,500 euros to mothers for each child born. The bill was passed to parliament for processing. It is expected to become law as from next December.

The new law allows for a one off payment of 2.500 euros to be made to mothers for children born since 0.00 hours on 3rd July 2007, the date on which the Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced the new measure. The payment will be made to mothers who have legal residence in Spain and in the case of foreign residentes, those who have been living legally in Spain for at least 2 years.

It is expected that the bill will become law in November and the government hopes that the first payments will be made the following month in December.

Related: Child maintenance in Spain

Cocaine consumption in Spain on the rise

Cocaine Consumption in Spain is now higher than in the USA

For the first time in history, the rate of cocaine use in Spain for citizens between 15 to 64 years old is more than that recorded in the US. It is also 4 times the average for the rest of Europe according to the results of the World Report into Drugs 2007 carried out by the UN department against Drugs and Crime.

Thomas Pietschmann, director of the report, told the press yesterday that while cannabis use has stabilized in Spain, cocaine use has shot up and is now a serious problem given that 1 out of every 5 European users are in Spain.

The report was published to coincide with the World Day Against Drugs yesterday. The investigation found that the consumption and production of illegal drugs in the world has stabilized. However, in Spain illegal drug use has doubled since 1999 (1.6% of the population between 15 to 64 years old) to 3% in 2005 - a percentage that none of the other hundred countries included in the UN study reached.

The Spanish percentage is 4 times higher than in the rest of Europe where the average is 0.75% and more than double the average for Western Europe which is 1.2%. The report also found that in Secondary Schools illegal drug use has gone up from 1.8% over a decade ago to 7.2% in 2005 (in 2002 it was 6.2%).

Pietschmann also highlighted that in the results from another independent study based on the residue from cocaine production found in rivers, between 2005 and 2006 in Miranda de Ebro (Burgos) on average 97 lines were consumed everyday for every thousand inhabitants between 15 and 64 years old.

Out of all the cities included in that study only New York came out higher with an average of 134 lines of cocaine consumed while Washington only registered 56, San Francisco 31, London and Zúrich 20, and París 11. In contrast only 5 lines were found to be consumed per thousand inhabitants in Aranda de Duero, the other Spanish locality included in the study.

Voting trends in Spanish elections

Spanish Voting Tendencies

Less than two weeks to go for local and regional elections in Spain, el País published an interesting article with the results of a study carried out to describe voting trends in Spain over the past few years. According to the study, rural and industrial areas vote in favour of PSOE (the Spanish Socialist Party) while urban areas tend to vote for the PP (the Peoples’ Party). This political map has remained virtually unchanged since 1995, when there was a large swing in favour of the PP in the local elections.

These voting patterns have recently been examined by electoral experts because it wasn’t always like this. PSOE’s downfall in large urban areas came in 1995. The following year they were defeated in the General elections. This fall in popularity came after a number of national scandals involving the Socialist government of the day. Many Socialist mayors were the first victims of this electoral revolt.

In fact in the local elections of 1995 PSOE only retained power in 5 provincial capitals out of a total of 52. They improved their position in 1999 and again in 2003 but have never recovered from the huge loss of votes in 1995.

Álvaro Cuesta, a leading member of PSOE has been working with a group of experts who have looked into voting behaviour over the last 3 years. The findings show that voting patterns have been affected by an ageing population, higher incomes, and the fact that young people have been forced to move out of cities because of the constant rise in property prices. In addition to these causes other PSOE leaders have also highlighted disenchantment and lack of political activity in certain sectors of the urban population.

The study found that PSOE leads in areas where there are up to 5000 inhabitants. In this group PSOE received a total of 86,000 more votes than the PP. This represents 6390 Town Halls or just 6.57% of the population. PSOE also dominates in places where the population is between 5000 and 20,000 inhabitants – this represents 882 Town Halls which is 19.7% of the population and just 10.87% of all Town Halls. This works out as 250,000 more votes than the PP.

PSOE leads in populations consisting of 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitants which is 14.82% of the total Spanish population, a total of 126,000 more votes.

Out of 123 Town Halls for areas with more than 50,000 inhabitants PSOE is in charge of 61 as oppose to the 50 which are governed by the PP. The other 12 that remain are in the hands of regional parties or nationalists.

However, when it comes to provincial capital cities where the PP is the clearly in the lead in charge of almost double the number of Town Halls . However, in large industrial areas where there is a large working class population most votes are in favour of PSOE.

The study also demonstrated that in populations with between 50,000 and 250,000 inhabitants, which account for 25.1% of the Spanish population, PSOE governs in 54 cities as oppose to 41 cities governed by the PP.

Out of 12 cities consisting of 250,000 to 500,000 inhabitants the PP has 6 Town Halls and PSOE just 4 with the others being governed by Izquierda Unida and the the PNV, the Basque Nationalist Party.

Finally in populations of more than 500,000 both the PP and PSOE are in charge of 3 Town Halls each. Barcelona, Sevilla and Zaragoza are governed by PSOE and Madrid, Valencia and Malaga by the PP.

Spaniards prefer to work fewer hours and earn less

Three out of four Spaniards prepared to earn less in exchange for more free time

Accouring to a study published last week by the European Head Hunting firm, Cátenon, three out of four Spanish citizens are prepared to earn less in exchange for more free time. And a similar proportion believe that to be successful at work you need to be prepared to give up part of your private life according to a study.

The Director of Marketing for Cátenon, Cristina Villanova, said on Europa Press Television that the study showed a growing tendency for Spaniards to value their free time more and more in order to spend more time with the family or on hobbies and that the long working day was one of the main burdens for professionals in Spain.

She went on to say that there was high work satisfaction but that this did not mean that professionals in Spain would not be prepared to give up part of their salary in exchange for a better work life balance. Villanova highlighted that Spaniards valued the atmosphere at work and their work colleagues very highly and that gaining a higher salary and flexible working hours were the biggest incentive to changing jobs.

The study also discovered that 67% of those questioned would be prepared to live abroad as long as it was for a period of less than 3 years on condition that it was for a well paid post. Villanova said that while Spaniards had in the past been reluctant to move for work reasons that this was now changing.

On the other hand, the study also reveals that 75% of those who took part in the study thought that it was necessary to make certain sacrifices in order to have a good career and that this percentage was equally divided between men and women.
Lastly, Villanova said that those questioned also proposed increasing the number of nurseries for workers with children and improving flexible working hours.

Radioactivity in Huelva, Spain

Radioactivity found to be 25 times above permitted levels in Huelva

According to news reports today, the environmental pressure group Greenpeace will ask the European Parliament to force Spain to officially recognise that two rubbish dumps in Huelva (Fertiberia and Foret) are radioactive areas.

Members of Greenpeace and David Hammerstein, a member of the European Parliament have carried out tests on both sites which demonstrated that levels of radioactivity are more than 25 times above the maximum permitted levels by law.

Julio Barea, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, confirmed that radioactivity levels in Huelva are not comparable to anywhere else in Spain or the rest of Europe. According to Greenpeace prolonged exposure to radiation provokes cancer - Huelva has the highest number of cases of cancer in Spain.

This is bad news for Huelva, as tourism plays a key role in the province's economy and if the local authorities do not act swiftly to correct the situation, the radioactivity could prove to be very detrimental not only to the health of local people, but also to the health of the local economy. Furthermore the Doñana natural reserve is located in Huelva, and is one of the richest natural reserves in the whole of Europe. It is not clear whether or not the radioactivity extends to Doñana.

Related:
Measures to tackle air pollution in Spain

Equality of sexes in Spain

Spanish Congress passes new equality laws

The Spanish parliament passed the Law on Equality between men and women yesterday. This new law gives fathers the right to 15 days paternity leave and equality between men and women on electoral lists which according to Zapatero, the Spanish president will radically transform society for ever.

The president took it upon himself to present the law on equality in the Spanish Congress today with the support of 192 members of parliament but with the notable abstention of the 119 PP members of parliament. When the law was passed there was a standing ovation by members of parliament and representatives of women’s groups that had been following the debate in the Congress.

The Law on Equality also forces companies with more than 250 employees to negotiate plans on equality within the workplace and for larger companies to incorporate 40% of women in their Board of Directors within 8 years.

It also gives parents the rights to reduce their working day from an eighth to half in order to look after children under eight years old. In the case of premature births, maternity leave starts when the baby leaves the hospital. Paternity leave will be extended from 15 days to one month within a timescale of 6 years.

One of the most controversial changes that the new law will bring about is to electoral lists. In districts of 5000 or more inhabitants political parties must have at least 40% of women for every 5 posts. From 2011 this measure will be applied to districts of 3000 or more inhabitants.

Susana Camarero, a member of PP, accused Zapatero of being an armchair feminist who does not listen to women (even though he is the only president in Spanish history to have an equal number of men and women ministers in his government). She said that this was a law for elites and that it did not address the needs of real people. She also said it was not very ambitious and that it would not be very effective.

Zapatero highlighted that the most important objective was to do justice to women. He dedicated the 15th March 2007 to Clara Campoamor, the member of parliament who defended women’s rights 75 years ago. According to Jesús Caldera, the Minister for Work and Social affairs this new law could come into effect next Monday.

Spanish woman wins the right to die

Euthanasia in Spain

Inmaculada Echevarría, a 51 year old woman who suffered from the degenerative disease, muscular distrophy, finally won her battle to be allowed to die yesteray. She died last night at 9pm in the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Andalucia. According to the Andalucian Health Service, the medical team that attended her made sure that she was in no pain when she died.

Inmaculada Echevarría had been transferred the same day from the San Rafael hospital in Granada, run by a religious order to the San Juan de Dios hospital run by the Andalucian Health Service in order to fulfil her final wish, to die with dignity.
Although the religious order that ran the hospital where she had been for the last 10 years accepted Inmaculada Echevarría’s desire to die as reasonable her transfer to another hospital was requested due to conflicting opinions in some religious sectors.

Echevarría had received the authorization to be allowed to die from the Andalucian Ethics Commitee. The Andalucian Government assured that following the ruling supporting the patient’s wishes, that Echevarria had received medical from the same medical team that had treated her in San Rafael Hospital until her final moments of life. In accordance with the Ethic Committee’s ruling Echevarria had been sedated in order to avoid any suffering on the patient’s part.

Before she was disconnected from her artificial respiratory machine doctors and psychologists informed the patient of the process and confirmed once again the patient’s desire to die.

During her last days alive Echevarria was visited by her biological son, who she had given up for adoption when he was just a few months old following the death of her partner in a traffic accident. She also said goodbye to her close friends. However, she refused to speak to the media who had been following her case since it had become public.

Inmaculada had been suffering a degenerative disease since she was a child. She first noted the effects when she was just 11 years old. She had out lived both her parents and had survived her sister who had died from a broken neck in an accident. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, Inmaculada said that she had wanted to die for 27 years, since she had given up her son for adoption.
Inmaculada will be cremated on Friday. Her closest friend will attend the crematorium and has asked for respect and privacy.

Related:
Euthanasia in Spain
Son challenges Spanish euthanasia group
Spanish film The Sea Inside

Women executives in Spain

Women occupy 1 in 5 high level posts in Spanish companies

A study by Axesor Grupo Infotel has found that there are 925,944 women in high level jobs in Spanish companies. This figure means that women occupy only 1 in 5 high level posts.

According to information in the Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil (BORME) there are more than 4.6 million high level posts in Spanish companies out of which 19% are carried out by women.

Out of the 925,000 women who carry out high level jobs in Spain around 622,401 women occupy the post of company administrator, 167,353 are directors or managers, 84,780 are company advisors and 6,718 are vice-presidents. These figures make up around 20 – 19% of the actual number of such posts that exist in Spain.

However this figure drops to just 14% when looking at the number of women who occupy the post of president of the company (32, 118).

Santiago Martín, the general director of Axesor, concludes that despite advances in recent years a lot still needs to be done in order to bridge the gap between men and women’s employment opportunities.

Related:
Women in Spain

Wealthiest areas of Spain

Navarra has the highest income per family

According to an article in El Pais, Madrid once again topped the 2006 table in the annual Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorros (Funcas) study which looks at economic growth within all the Spanish regions. According to their most recent survey Spanish GDP grew by 4.2% (3 tenths above that predicted by the National Institute for Statistics). The Comunidad de Madrid’s economy grew the most by 4.5%. However, Navarra came top of the table for disposable income per household (14,967 euros) compared to Madrid (14,852 euros) and the Basque Country (14,538 euros).

Madrid, the Pais Vasco and Navarra, are also the regoins with the highest GDP. Cataluña comes fourth in the table while Andalucía and Extremadura remain at the bottom of the list in terms of disposable income and GDP.

The study was carried out by Julio Alcaide, a leading economist. He indicated that the construction industry in Spain was the most dynamic making up 5.4% of the country’s economy. He also says that the economy in 7 regions saw above average growth in 2006. These regions were Murcia (4.4%), Andalucía (4.4%), Extremadura (4.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (4.3%), País Vasco (4,3%) and the Comunidad Valenciana (4.2%) as well as Madrid whose economy also experienced above average growth.

The Funcas study also looked at the evolution of regional economies throughout Spain over the last 7 years and according to the results Murcia saw the highest growth in GDP per inhabitant at 4.14%. With the average growth in GDP per inhabitant at 3.2% in Spain other regions which experienced above average growth were Andalucía (3.6% ), Madrid (3.5%), Cantabria (3.5%) and the Comunidad Valenciana (3.3%).

The Spanish economy performed well in comparison with the rest of Europe. Average Spanish income reached 94% of the average GDP per inhabitant in the Euro zone and 100% of the average for the European Union’s 27 members.

Funcas also pointed out that GDP per inhabitant in the region with the weakest economy, Extremadura, grew from 48% of Madrid’s average in 2000 to 53% in 2006.

Sexist advertising in Spain

Domenico Dolce y Stefano Gabbana (Dolce & Gabbana) say they don’t understand accusations from Spain that their latest advertising campaign is sexist and encourages violence against women.

According to several Spanish organisations, including a department of the Spanish Women's Institute (Observatorio de la Imagen del Instituto español de la Mujer) the advert encourages violence against women. Because of the controversy the advert has created here and the protest that has been registered in different areas of Spanish politics and society, the designers have decided to withdraw the advert, but only from Spain.

On announcing their decision, the designers Dolce and Gabbana accused Spain of being "in the dark ages". They defended the advert by saying that the artistic photo had nothing to do with real life. The advertisement in question shows a woman being held down by her wrists by a man with 4 other men watching. Various other Spanish organisations have complained about the advert and requested its withdrawal. Spain has one of the most worrying records of domestic violence in Europe, and despite the attempts of this government and previous PP governments to stem the growing tide of domestic abuse, the number of crimes committed by men against women continues to rise.

Dolce and Gabbana said that the advert was a work of art and that if the Spaniards were right in their interpretation of the photo, then both the Louvre and the works of Caravaggio would also have to be destroyed.

At present the advert is on display in an exhibition which opened yesterday in Milan showing other photos from their new advertising campaign. The exhibition is called Secret Ceremony and shows photos of nude bodies and erotic scenes taken by the photographer Steven Klein. According to the designers the images explore the thin line between morality and immorality. The question remains whether or not the advert withdrawn by the designers today has crossed that line.