...National news | Back to news section
Fires under control on La Palma
Fire fighters have at last mastered the second of two forest blazes that have burned on La Palma, officials say.
Cooler weather, lighter winds and some rainfall meant the second fire was brought under control just a day after the first was tamed.
The two blazes forced 4,000 people from their homes, ravaged swathes of pine forest and destroyed dozens of houses. Some 600 firemen, rangers and soldiers from across Spain fought the flames.
Nine water-carrying planes helped to contain the fires, which tore through some 2,600 hectares of pine forest on La Palma, one of the greenest of the Canary Islands.
The Canary Islands' Justice Minister Jose Miguel Ruano has confirmed that the second front, which had been threatening the southeastern town of Mazo, had been brought under control.
He added that efforts to extinguish the fire completely were ongoing and may take a further week.
The fires were fanned by strong winds and gutted several dozen homes in the town of Fuencaliente.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, visited the island and pledged compensation for those who were forced to evacuate.
"We have a very tough fight this summer," Zapatero said. "All of our collaboration amounts to little because the meteorological conditions in many parts of our country mean serious risk."
Flames were raging on steep hillsides south east of the island's dormant San Antonio volcano and engulfed several houses and damaged fragile wildlife habitats, environmental worker Narciso Lorenzo said.
Regional government spokeswoman Ana Vidal said that most of the several thousand residents that were evacuated had returned to their homes.
“More than 6,000 acres have been affected by the fire, but not all of that area has been burned,” Vidal said. It seems the hilly topography of the lush green island means that some valleys may have burned while others could have escaped harm.
The cause of the fire is unknown, although there have been suggestions that a stray firework from a local celebration could have sparked the flames. However, there is no question that several days of high temperatures contributed to the dry conditions on the normally verdant island – the greenest and least developed of the Canary Islands. Pop singer Madonna praised La Palma by its local name in her song “La Isla Bonita.”
The fires come exactly two years since Tenerife was devastated at the beginning of August 2007 by massive fires that forced over 12,000 residents to be evacuated. Authorities at that time called the effects of the blaze “an environmental catastrophe.”
A hotter, drier summer this year has contributed to an increase in fires in Spain, according to Spain's Environment Ministry. Spanish fire fighters are battling four other forest fires around Spain, with help from the national government. But the largest blaze appeared to be on the island of La Palma.
There have been 9,915 forest fires in Spain during the first seven months of the year, which have scorched more than 170,000 acres (69,186 hectares) of land, according to the Environment Ministry.
That is a 26 per cent increase in fires, and a 98 per cent increase in forest burned from the same period last
Now, as the embers still smoulder, La Palma must count the cost.
Polls show Spanish and Portuguese favour federation
A significant minority in Spain and Portugal back the formation of a federation between their two nations, a poll published last week has shown.
Apparently, just under one-third of all Spaniards, 30.3 per cent, and 39.9 per cent of all Portuguese, are in favour of the idea, according to the survey by Spain's Salamanca University, which was presented in Madrid.
On the flip-side, more than 30 per cent in both nations reject the idea of a federation. About 29 per cent of Spaniards are indifferent to it compared to just 17.7 percent of Portuguese, whose average incomes are lower than those of their neighbours.
Portugal's only Noble laureate for literature, Jose Saramago, sparked controversy among his fellow Portuguese in 2007 when he said it was "inevitable" that the country would end up joining with Spain.
Spain, which was formed out of a patchwork of warring kingdoms, already consists of various nationalities and languages that coexist, he told Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias.
Saramago added Portugal could become another Spanish autonomous region like Catalonia or the Basque Country.
Portugal's Foreign Minister Luis Amado, (pictured) swiftly rejected the idea, telling reporters that while he respected Saramago, his own "vision of the relationship between Portugal and Spain over the coming decades is completely different".
Any attempt to unite Portugal with Spain would run into considerable opposition and commentators complain loudly whenever a Spanish firm buys up a Portuguese peer.
A poll published in weekly Portuguese newspaper Sol in 2007 found 28 per cent of all Portuguese were in favour of a union with Spain, whose population of 46 million is more than four times greater than Portugal's.
Portugal marks as a national holiday the day in 1640 when the country regained independence from Spain after a 60-year period of rule by Madrid.
Ryanair facing fines in Spain?
Budget Irish airline Ryanair is no stranger to the news and in just the past week its name has hit the headlines on several occasions.
The good news for the Canaries is the announcement that Ryanair will be opening 39 new routes from starting in October of this year. There will be sixteen routes to Gran Canaria, fifteen to Lanzarote and eight to Tenerife. In order to promote this new initiative, Ryanair released twenty thousand fare free seats, (only paying tourist taxes and airport charges) to fly to and from the Canary Islands between 26th October 2009 and 27th March 2010. These were only available until August 5th.
According to the Spanish language news agency (EFE), twenty thousand jobs will be created, and the tourist expenditure will reach three hundred and thirty-three million euros.
The reason that the airline, which is cutting drastically down on routes in Ireland and England, is investing in the Canary Islands is twofold. Unlike England and Ireland, who have high airport charges, the Canary Islands have two clear advantages: first, the tourist taxes are non-existent; and second, one hundred percent of airport charges will be removed during this coming winter.
But it is not all good news for Ryanair in Spain. The airline is reportedly facing “heavy fines in Spain for charging passengers, who have booked flights on the web, extra for checking in luggage”.
According to a report by The Herald, the regional government in the Balearic Islands has started legal proceedings against the airline for making the “hidden” charges, alleging a breach of consumer protection regulations.
It reported that the government’s consumer protection department visited airports in Mallorca, Ibiza and Minorca. At each, Ryanair was charging passengers who had bought tickets online £17 extra for a boarding card and £17 for each item of luggage checked in. The regional government argues the airline should either state on its website that such charges will be made or stop charging. The authority also argues that extra charges for luggage cannot be imposed below a certain weight.
The local government is taking similar action against the Spanish cheap-flight airline Clickair.
Already, Ryanair has agreed to make the “hidden costs” of its flights clearer following action by the consumer watchdog Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
The airline said it has made “minor adjustments” recommended by the OFT to improve its website and advertising. The steps are described as voluntary and designed to “increase clarity and transparency” of the Ryanair website and adverts.
Meanwhile, the airline stated that its June traffic increased by 13 per cent to 5.8 million passengers, a new monthly record, smashing the 5.7 million passenger record set in August 2008. Ryanair also carried over 60 million passengers in the 12 months to the end of June, a new annual traffic record.
Eta’s bloody 50th anniversary
When Eta took up arms 50 years ago in pursuit of an independent Basque homeland, Spain was an international pariah in the grip of Franco's dictatorship, the Basque language was banned and political parties were illegal.
Many considered it reasonable, even inevitable, that Basque political opposition should take the form of armed attacks on military targets. Eta's first armed action was the derailment of a troop train near Bilbao.
Exactly half a century on, Spain is a sturdy democracy and the Basque country enjoys more autonomy than any other region in Europe, but for the armed separatists little has changed. They still want to be free of Spain and to achieve full independence.
They are still planting bombs and firing pistols, and funerals of civil guardsmen are still being held, like that at Palma Cathedral in Majorca for Carlos Saenz de Tejadá, 28, and Diego Salva de Lezaun, 27, who were killed by a car bomb at the end of July in the island's tourist town of Palmanova.
Europe's last armed separatist organisation survived Spain's social and political transformation with its military structure, its armed tactics and revolutionary ideology intact. To the bafflement of the rest of Europe, and the grief of those who continue to mourn their dead, Eta dismisses Spain's democratic institutions as the mere window-dressing of an eternally oppressive state.
But more baffling than the separatists' unresponsiveness to changing times is the inability of Spain's security services to defeat or seriously weaken them, despite superior intelligence and vital co-operation from France.
Spaniards have been assured for decades that Eta was on the brink of surrender or defeat. Such statements have come to be an essential part of the anti-terrorist rhetoric. But every time a top Eta leader is arrested (four in the past year) the organisation seems able to mount a spectacular armed riposte.
Security forces on the island remained on maximum alert yesterday. Police say they believe the terrorists are still "holed up in an apartment" on Majorca. Photographs of six suspects were circulated. For tourists, "maximum alert" translates into maximum inconvenience at airports.
This latest bomb attack came a day after another blast injured scores of people in Burgos, in the north of the Spanish mainland, and this double-whammy was the most dramatic show of Eta force for years. Officials suspect the operation was designed as a violent celebration of the organisation's anniversary. Unusually, no warning was given before the attack, signalling a steelier approach.
Whatever the motivation, the attacks reveal how Eta's tactics have evolved over the decades: not only did terrorists target armed agents of the Spanish state, they also chose their place and time – one of Europe's top tourist destinations – with an eye to the maximum propaganda effect. Eta's summer terror campaigns in Spanish resorts have become a regular feature of recent years, focusing international attention, and highlighting the authorities' helplessness.
Once again, tourists across Europe will be worrying if their Mediterranean break will be safe. Eta warned recently that it would resume a campaign against coastal holiday targets.
The Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, insists every effort is being made to catch "these vile murderers" but his words will fail to convince a traumatised nation. Every time Eta has been thrown on to the defensive it has come back with a violent response.
Mr Zapatero's socialist government which, like its predecessors, has tried everything from the carrot to the cosh to solve the separatist conflict. Yet, socially isolated but for a fanatical hard core, commanded by younger, less experienced and harder-line militants, Eta at 50 remains fully operative.
Dolphin ‘body language’ gives glimpse of communication skills
As a general rule, the most frequently used words in human languages tend to be the shortest, according to the experts.
The same law applies to dolphins slapping their tails, diving, flopping sideways, and performing other movements when surface swimming, say Spanish and British researchers.
“Patterns of dolphin behaviour at the surface obey the same law of brevity as human language, with both seeking out the simplest and most efficient codes," said Dr Ramon Ferrer i Cancho, from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain.
The "law of brevity" proposed by linguists holds that the most frequently used words – such as "the" and "but" - are also the shortest.
Dolphins appear to use the same "linguistic economy" in their swimming movements, say the researchers. The creatures have a complex language that scientists are still far from understanding.
Although dolphins communicate mostly by means of audible clicks and whistles, experts believe they also employ body language when swimming close to one another.
Working with British colleague Dr David Lusseau, from the University of Aberdeen, Dr Ferrer i Cancho studied bottlenose dolphins. The scientists found that each movement pattern made by the creatures could be broken down into one or more of four basic units.
For example, the "tail slap" pattern could be divided up into three sub-movements given the names "slap", "tail" and "two".
A pattern called "spy hop" was made up of the units "stop", "expose", and "head". In contrast, the "side flop" pattern only comprised "leap" and "side", while a movement dubbed "tailstock dive" consisted of only one unit, the "dorsal arch".
In total the researchers counted more than 30 patterns of behaviour and their related units. Dolphins were seen to execute many behaviour patterns made up of just one unit, and far fewer composed of four units.
The findings are reported in the journal Complexity.
"The results show that the simple and efficient behaviour strategies of dolphins are similar to those used by humans with words, and are the same as those used, for example, when we reduce the size of a photographic or video image in order to save space," Dr Ferrer i Cancho said.
