New York: Ratings agency Moody's Investor Service on Monday downgraded its credit ratings on Italy, Portugal and Spain, while France, Britain and Austria kept their top ratings but had their outlooks dropped to "negative" from "stable." Moody's also cut its ratings on the smaller nations of Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta. All nine countries are members of the European Union. The agency said it took the actions due to the uncertainty...
09:39 AM, Feb 14, 2012
Madrid: Rafael Nadal says he underwent a surprise doping test toward the end of a week in which the Spaniard was at the center of jokes made by a French TV programme about his country's alleged ties to doping. Nadal wrote on his Twitter account on Saturday: "8:30 in the morning!!!Just finished passing a surprise antidoping test...it was expected after everything...but I'm happy it's like this!" The Spanish sports ministry...
06:04 PM, Feb 12, 2012
Madrid: Tennis great Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has blamed her parents for losing an estimated 45 million ($60 million) in career earnings through mismanagement. The 40-year-old Sanchez Vicario let loose against her whole family in a book of memoirs published on Tuesday. She says she does not speak to her parents or her three siblings. She says her parents were obsessed with her succeeding in a career which netted four Grand...
03:55 PM, Feb 09, 2012
Madrid: The Spanish tennis federation said it plans to sue a French TV channel for using its logo in a video that poked fun at Rafael Nadal. In the video skit on the satirical programme called The Puppets, a life-size cartoon figure of Nadal is shown urinating into a gas tank before racing off and being pulled over by police for speeding. A message of "Spanish athletes. They don't win...
11:45 AM, Feb 09, 2012
New York: Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on Friday, indicating there was a 1-in-2 chance of further cuts in the next two years. In a statement, the ratings agency said the affected countries were vulnerable in the near-term to monetary and financial shocks. "Consequently, these sovereigns do not, in Fitch's view, accrue the full benefits of the euro's reserve currency status," it...
09:07 AM, Jan 28, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: Visitors were swept off their feet as Kerala Tourism unfolded its mesmerising grandeur at the just-concluded International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) 2012 in Spain, with visitors and trade professionals showing tremendous interest in 'Brand Kerala', an official said here on Tuesday. FITUR 2012 show at Madrid, a meeting point of tourism professionals from all over the world, is considered the second biggest gathering of travel and tourism players with...
04:45 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Barcelona: New Spain captain Alex Corretja is hopeful that Rafael Nadal will be available to the Davis Cup champions despite the second-ranked Spaniard announcing he won't compete in the event in 2012. Corretja said on Wednesday that neither Nadal nor David Ferrer have told him personally that they will be unavailable for the five-time winners, so the newly-appointed captain plans to speak to the pair at the Australian Open to...
12:32 AM, Dec 30, 2011
Madrid: Spain's new conservative Prime Minister was sworn in on Wednesday and he later appointed his Cabinet, including ministers charged with lifting the country out of its severe economic crisis. Mariano Rajoy was sworn in as premier before King Juan Carlos. Rajoy then appointed 12 ministers and said close party colleague Soraya Saenz de Santamaria would be government spokeswoman and deputy premier. Rajoy's Popular Party won a landslide victory in...
04:31 AM, Dec 22, 2011
New York: Fitch Ratings on Friday warned it may downgrade Belgium, Italy, and four other euro zone countries in the absence of a "comprehensive solution" to the region's debt crisis. The ratings agency placed the ratings of Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland and Cyprus in credit watch negative, which means a downgrade is possible within three months. ...
09:37 AM, Dec 17, 2011
Madrid: Spain's center-right opposition stormed to a crushing election victory on Sunday as voters punished the outgoing Socialist government for the worst economic crisis in generations. The People's Party, led by former Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy, won an absolute majority in Parliament and is expected to push through drastic measures to try to prevent Spain being sucked deeper into a debt storm threatening the whole euro zone. Voters vented their...
07:24 AM, Nov 21, 2011
Madrid: Spanish Economy Minister Elena Salgado said on Monday all euro zone countries want Greece to stay in the currency after some European politicians said a Greek rejection of an EU bailout package in a referendum could force Greece out of the euro. "We want a 17-member euro, we want Greece in the euro," Salgado told state radio. "We even want a euro in which other European Union countries may...
10:39 AM, Nov 02, 2011
Asuncion: Spain and Portugal said on Saturday that the euro zone's debt crisis is a global problem, calling on the United States and other G20 powers to help contain the fallout. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged the G20 countries least affected by the crisis to provide "urgent stimulus plans" to shield the global economy. Europe's debt crisis looks set to dominate the summit of Group of 20...
08:48 AM, Oct 30, 2011
Mumbai: Director Onir's 'I AM', a film that strings four different stories, has been selected for screening in the competition section at the ongoing international film festival in Spain. "'I AM' has been selected to be screened at the 56th Valladolid International Film Festival in competition section," Sanjay Suri, who runs production company Anticlock Films with Onir, tweeted Sunday. Released in April, the film has four short films - 'Omar',...
02:22 PM, Oct 24, 2011
Brussels: EU finance ministers outlined a deal on Saturday for recapitalising European banks, and the leaders of Germany and France said they hoped for a breakthrough in tackling the euro zone debt crisis at a summit on Wednesday. After nearly 10 hours of talks, finance ministers overcame strong opposition from Spain, Italy and Portugal and agreed on the need to inject around 100 billion euros into European banks to protect...
10:02 AM, Oct 23, 2011
New York: A double-notch downgrade to Spain's credit ratings has piled more pressure on European leaders to make rapid progress on solving the region's debt crisis or face unbearable borrowing costs. The fresh blow from Moody's Investors Service came just a day after the agency warned France its triple-A rating could be at risk. "If the euro zone can't figure a way to handle the situation, you are going to...
01:12 PM, Oct 19, 2011
Rome: The Fitch agency downgraded its sovereign credit rating for Italy and Spain on Friday and said its long-term outlook for both countries was negative, citing high debt and poor prospects for growth. Separately, Fitch also said it was keeping Portugal's debt rating on watch for a possible downgrade, with a decision due by the end of the year. Portugal was the third and latest eurozone country to receive an...
02:57 AM, Oct 08, 2011
Spain: One of Europe's wealthiest aristocrats, the 85-year-old Duchess of Alba, wedded a civil servant 24 years her junior in a Seville palace on Wednesday after overcoming opposition from her children and Spain's royal family. Hundreds of onlookers gathered outside the palace, waving fans against the hot Andalusian sun, to catch a glimpse of the flamboyant duchess whose colourful clothing and cloud of frizzy white hair are a mainstay of...
12:58 PM, Oct 06, 2011
Barcelona: Spain's powerful northeastern region of Catalonia bids farewell on Sunday to the country's emblematic tradition of bullfighting with a final bash at the Barcelona bullring. The sold-out evening event at the 20,000-seat Monumental ring is the last fight scheduled this season. A regional ban on the bloody pastime takes effect Jan. 1, 2012. Bullfighting's popularity in Catalonia has plunged in recent decades and the Monumental is its last functioning...
07:19 PM, Sep 25, 2011
Madrid: Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to resume their domination in the Spanish league this weekend, as their rivals band together to level the financial playing field against the two giants. Spain's traditional powerhouses recorded lopsided victories in the opening league round and could very well do so again on Saturday, as Barcelona are at Real Sociedad and Madrid welcome Getafe in a Spanish capital derby. With the duo's...
02:12 PM, Sep 09, 2011
