SELECT A PUBLICATION FOR THE LATEST SPANISH LANGUAGE NEWS FROM SPAIN
| Welcome to our weekly review of the Spanish media. Our reviewer and translatorCristina Marquez A de Camihort has selected a wide range of articles covering general news about Spain, politics, business and culture. We invite you to view the latest news from Spain (in Spanish) at the web sites of El Pais, El Mundo, ABC and El Periodico |
SELECT A PUBLICATION FOR THE LATEST SPANISH LANGUAGE NEWS FROM SPAIN |
NEWS REVIEW 17 - 21 June, 1996NATIONAL NEWSPamplona, Wednesday, June 19, 1996JAVIER OTANO RESIGNS IN CORRUPTION SCANDAL... Javier Otano, a socialist, yesterday presented his resignation as President of the Autonomous Government of Navarra, after his name was discovered in a Swiss Bank Account. Otano, who will also resign to his positions as Representative in the House of Autonomies and General Secretary of the Socialist Party in Navarra, admitted that at the end of 1991 he accepted to have his name included as a joint holder of a Bank Account opened in Switzerland at the request of Gabriel Urralburu, who was then General Secretary of the Socialist Party,. The Ex-President of the Government of Navarra, who spoke to Felipe Gonzales before his resignation, denied the existence of any transfer from this particular account to his family assets. Tarragona. KING AWARDED MEDAL... His Majesty, King Juan Carlos, affirmed in Tarragona that as Spaniards, we are all committed to the process of adjustment of structures and resources which will allow us to live together in generosity and solidarity as well as taking pride in our diversity of cultures. Don Juan Carlos spoke in Catalonian, after the Municipal Government of this city awarded him the Gold Medal in recognition of his contribution to domestic peace, his emphatic commitment to democracy and his role in the change of image of Spain worldwide. Later, their Majesties continued their visit to the city with a tour of the Cathedral in the company of Monsignor Torrella. Madrid ELKARRI IN PEACE CONFERENCE MOVE... The Elkarri movement is now trying to call a new Peace conference in the Basque Country, according to ABC, with the purpose of internationalising the conflict by involving the Carter Foundation of Spain. Elkarri expects that the political parties, at Parliament level, will meet the members of the Foundation. NEWS INDEX Madrid. GOVERNMENT WINS FIRST ABORTION BATTLE... The Congress, in plenary session, refused yesterday to debate the proposed bill by Socialist and IU groups on the regulation of voluntary interruption of pregnancy. Out of the 343 representatives in the chamber, 166 voted in favour and 176 against it. Lasagabaster Olazabal protested her own abstention, arguing that she had voted in favour of the proposal. Madrid VENEZUELA AGREES TO EXTRADITE ETA TERRORIST... The Government of Venezuela is willing to grant, according to National Radio of Spain, the extradition of Eugenio Barrutiabengoa, member of the terrorist organisation ETA, which was requested by the Office of the Prosecutor of the National High Court. The request was made when he was found by ABC in the South American country after the accusation presented by the AVT. The Spanish authorities have also requested the extradition of Arriaran and Aldana, both members of ETA Madrid SUPREME COURT IN ETA CONSPIRACY RULING... The Supreme Court has accepted its competence to investigate if the members of the National Council of the Proetarrean Coalition Herri Batasuna committed the crime of conspiracy when they intended to broadcast a video by ETA during the last electoral campaign, and also when they justified and supported the murder of Francisco Tomas y Valiente, ex-president of the Constitutional Tribunal. Madrid GARZON TAKES OVER IN GARCIA GOENA CASE... Rafael Vera y Julen Elgorriaga will appear in the National High Court next Friday (21st) facing charges in the case of Garcia Goena , after Judge Garzon took over the case's preliminary investigation in criminal proceedings for the second time, as the challenge presented by Vera was rejected by Judge Javier Gomes de Liano. Both testimonies could end up in a confrontation with Luis Roldan. Michel Dominguez has been also subpoenaed, but only as a witness. Madrid JUDICIAL POWER COUNCIL DATE SET... The Spokesman of the Parliament has reserved an entry in the order of business on June 27, the last Plenary Session of the current legislative term, for the election of the new vocals of the General Council of the Judicial Power. Pascual Sala, spokesman for the parliamentary groups and current President of the Council, considers that the definite agreement among all parties for the renovation of the GCJP is a fait accomplit. Madrid EXPO ´92 /AGESA REPORT HUGE LOSSES... The state agency Expo 92, launched as Agesa after the closing of the World Fair in Seville, continued making huge losses during the years of 1993 and 1994, according to the pre-report issued by the Government Auditing Office on the patrimony and results of the historic event. The auditors condemn the rehabilitation of Expo 92 into Agesa, when Cartuja 93 had been already set up to that purpose. NEWS INDEXFINANCEWednesday, June 19, 1996Madrid SPAIN DEFICIT REDUCTION... The reduction of the non financial cash deficit of the State by 22.2 percent during the first five months of this year compared to the same period of last year, places Spain closer to Maastricht's criteria and its acceptance in the leading group of the Monetary Union. According to the last report of the Department of Economy, this reduction, which sets the deficit in 1.08 billion pesetas, is due to the improvement in the collection of non financial revenues and the decrease in the payment rate. Madrid PRIVATISATION PROFITS TO REDUCE DEBT... The government will assign all the resources obtained through privatisations to reduce its debt and to infrastructure's investments. The privatisation plan prepared by the Executive Power will be approved during the Cabinet meeting to be held on June 28. Madrid AZNAR: NO TO CONTRIBUTIONS INCREASE... The President of the Government, Jose Maria Aznar, stated yesterday that his Government had not considered at all to increase the National Insurance contributions from workers, as mentioned by Jose Barea, Director of the Budget Office. On the other hand, the Government and the Unions started yesterday their negotiations on the future of the public pension plan, trying to reach social consensus on its reform. Luxembourg MADRID-BARCELONA AVE GOES PRIVATE... The high speed AVE Madrid-Barcelona railway will be privately financed, according to Rafael Arias-Salgado, minister of Public Works. The Department is already drafting the order in council that will allow a mixed initiative, combining private and public contributions. Mr. Arias-Salgado stated that the parliamentary procedure could take place during July or September. Bilbao BASQUE TAXES CUT... The Basque Inland Revenue will reduce Corporation taxes from 35 to 32.5 percent, as proposed by an statutory rule to be passed by the House Business Committee on June 26 in Vizcaya and subsequently in Guipuzcoa and Alava NEWS INDEXCULTUREWednesday, June 19, 1996Tarragona QUEEN PRESENTS EUROPA NOSTRA AWARD... Her Majesty, Queen Sofia, as Honorary President of Hispania Nostra, presented the Europa Nostra award to Tarragona, a city that aims to be proclaimed as Patrimony of Mankind by the UNESCO. The award was presented as a reward to the efforts made by the Catalan Autonomous Government and Municipality to restore the splendour of the Roman Tarraco through an ambitious project. Don Juan Carlos reminded the audience that "our romanisation has been a milestone in our identity" Madrid EDUCATION MINISTER BRIEFS COMMITTEE... The minister of Education and Culture appeared yesterday before the Committee of Education at the House of Representatives. During her speech, Ms. Esperanza Aguirre explained the guidelines to be implemented by her Department. A brief summary of this guidelines includes issues related to the Royal Theatre, the Patronage, the Salamanca Archives, Museum policies, Theatre, Music, Spanish Literature and Cinema grants. Madrid PULITZER WRITER TOURS SPAIN... Born in Chicago, but a resident of Winnipeg (Canada) since 1957, Carol Shields is currently touring Spain for the first time with the purpose of presenting her latest novel, "La memoria de las piedras (Tusquets)", which has been awarded several important prizes in the US, including the National Book Critics Circle (1994) and the Pulitzer (1995). More an autobiography than a biography of the protagonist, Daisy Goodwill, the novel starts with her birth and the death of her mother without realising that she was pregnant. It's a description of Daisy's life, a permanent struggle to survive the drama of her birth. She does not embark in any guilty trip, however, her most loyal companion through all her life is a non expected nor desired feeling of disconnection, a sense of not having agreed with her mother even at the moment of birth. Madrid AZNAR OPENS MIDIA ´96... The President of the Government, Jose Maria Aznar, who yesterday opened the Midia 96 exhibition, Iberoamerican Market for the Audio-visual Industry, stated that communications is an area under development withthe potential to generate employment and wealth. Viability will be achieved through nationwide alliances amongst groups that share similar cultures. Aznar emphasised the relevancy of the Spanish language, which is not only an element of cultural encounter, but a economic factor of the first magnitude that will help to consolidate a unique audio-visual market if managed intelligently. Madrid. TVE DIRECTOR QUITS... Ramon Colom is no longer the Director of Television Espaņola. The man in charge of the Public Network presented his resignation yesterday to the General Director of RTVE due to differences in the management style. Additionally, three news editors and the correspondents in New York, Moscow and London quit their positions after the cancellation of their contracts. To complete the scenario, the changes have reached also four territory offices. NEWS INDEXNATIONAL NEWSFriday, June 21, 1996GASOLINE PRICE INCREASE... The Department of Industry announced an increase of 70 to 80 cents in the top prices of gasoline which will be effective as of next Saturday (June 22). This will be the second week with no price ceiling on gasoline products, after the Government abolished price controls on June 13. As a result of the increases applied by the Department of Industry, the price of the Super will increase by 70 cents, reaching the amount of 117.7 pesetas/litre, while the Regular will reach the 114.3 pesetas/litre price, with a rise of 80 cents. The Unleaded gasoline, which is experiencing an incredible consumption growth rate, will be priced at 110.8 pesetas/litre, with an increment of 70 cents. WOMEN IN GOYA PROTEST... When Francisco de Goya y Lucientes painted the frescos that embellished some of the walls of the Cartuja de Aula Dei, in Saragossa, the rules of the religious order were as severe as they were when dictated by their Founder, Saint Bruno. Amongst he sufferings that the monks had to endure in order to fulfil their vows of ora et labora, they did not even consider imposing an strict impediment for any woman to set foot in the place. The genial Aragonese painter nor the women of those days could realise that after two centuries, and ignoring evolution completely, things would remain the same, only men's eyes are allowed to contemplate the brush-strokes that the immortal deaf of Fuendetodos left behind him for mankind. Currently, with private and public organisations and institutions celebrating the occasion of the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the distinguished artist, some citizens and feminist groups are screaming blue murder over the issue. They can't accept that because they are women, they should deprived of viewing and admiring the legacy of Goya. 190 ACRES DESTROYED IN ALICANTE FOREST FIRE... Crews from the Spanish air force were this morning helping ground firefighters extinguish a forest fire which started at 8pm last night at the Natural Reserve of Montigo, Jesus Pobre, Alicante. According to a spokesman for the Centre of Emergency Co-ordination, the fire has already affected 190 acres. Three helicopters from the province of Alicante have been deployed to the area of disaster, as well as two from Valencia, four light 'dromader' aircraft, an Air Tractor-803 and a seaplane based in Manises (Valencia). Part of these resources started work yesterday in the evening, working up to 9:30 PM. As soon as the fire was spotted, six forest brigades, two forest fire-trucks, six Dania-Alicante based fire-trucks, two fire units in charge of co-ordination, four fire-trucks from Benidorm, three air-transported brigades and volunteer firemen and the Civil Guard attended the scene. More than 500 residents in the nearby development of Los Lagos had to be evacuated along with the development of Cova Blanca and the residents of the Santa Lucia Nursing Home. The cause of the fire is still being investigated but arson is suspected. |Welcome | Learning Spanish |Spanish Real Estate | Arts & Culture | Spanish News | Travel |Embassies & Consulates of Spain | Spanish Web Sites | Living in Spain | Business & Commerce |Point of View | A Nation´s Heritage | Galería de Arte | Craft Gifts | Language Services | Classified Ads. | Environment | Guestbook | Search | Your Letters | Write to usNEWS INDEX
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