Landmark day last Friday here in Spain as was exactly 80 years since the the Spanish Constitution was amended to give women the right to vote.

The Spanish suffragettes’ movement, led by the country’s answer to Emily Pankhurst – Clara Campoamor – finally had their voices heard on October 1 of that year when the change in the law was approved in Parliament by 161 votes against 121 dissenters.

The Prime Minister has been discussing with the Swedish Prime Minister the handover to Spain on 1st January

The Prime Minister was in Sweden this Monday to discuss with his Swedish counterpart, Fredrik Reinfeldt, the transition of presidency of the European Union’s Council of Ministers. It passes from Sweden to Spain on 1st January next year.

Spain’s former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar has filed a lawsuit against a Moroccan internet news site that claimed he was the father of French politician Rachida Dati’s baby, a spokesman said Monday.

Moroccan newspaper Le Soir reported that Aznar had filed the defamation suit at a Madrid court against the L’Observateur website, which reported in September that he was the father of Dati’s baby girl Zohra, born in January.

The grandson of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco could face legal charges after he allegedly struck and hurled a stream of racist invectives at a female Argentine railway guard.

Francisco Franco Martinez Bordiu, the son of Franco’s only daughter, was allegedly angry after a failed attempt to board a departing train in the Spanish city of Zaragoza. He then hit and insulted the female guard.

India and Spain Wednesday signed cooperation agreements in the fields of renewable energy, tourism and agriculture that will give Asia’s third largest economy greater access to Spanish technology and expertise.

The deals were signed in the presence of visiting Indian President Pratibha Patil and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who held talks on the global financial crisis, cooperation in the fight against terrorism and trade relations, Zapatero’s office said.

Spain’s attorney general has rejected an attempt to bring a criminal case against six former US officials over torture allegations at Guantanamo Bay.

The officials, including former US attorney general Alberto Gonzalez, were accused of giving a legal justification for torture at the US detention centre.

But Candido Conde-Pumpido said the case had “no merit” as they were not present when the alleged abuse took place.
Spanish courts can prosecute people for crimes committed outside Spain.

Spain’s top anti-terrorism judge has asked five nations, including the United States, for leads on the whereabouts of a suspected Al-Qaeda leader reportedly held in a secret US jail, a court official said Monday.

Judge Baltasar Garzon wants to extradite Syrian-born Spaniard Mustafa Setmarian, accused of involvement in the attacks of 11 September 2001 and planning the 2004 Madrid train bombings, to Spain, the court official said.

Basque separatist group ETA considered using a surface-to-air missile to assassinate Spain’s King Juan Carlos five years ago, the Spanish government said Monday.

“It’s true that there was a theoretical study, which was never more than that, there was never any concrete plan” by ETA, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told journalists.

He was responding to a report in the Basque newspaper El Correo Digital Sunday which said that ETA plotted to blow up a helicopter or airplane carrying the Spanish king with a surface-to-air missile.

An alleged mastermind of the March 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people escaped arrest three months after the attacks because Spanish police failed to recognise him, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Monday.

“They did not recognise him, otherwise he would have been arrested,” he told reporters, confirming a report published in daily newspaper El Mundo.

Spain’s conservative opposition has increased its lead over the governing Socialists amid the country’s worst recession in a generation, a poll published Sunday suggested.

The opposition Popular Party registered 43.4 percent of eligible voters, compared to 39 percent support for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialists, said the poll published in left-wing daily Publico.

The telephone poll suggested a net improvement in the opposition’s position, with the June European parliament elections approaching.

Elena Salgado, named Spain’s new economy minister Tuesday, is known for her strong work ethic, but her lack of economic experience compared to her predecessor has raised questions over her appointment.

Seen as one of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s most reliable cabinet members, she has served as health minister and since 2007 as public administration minister.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero replaced his economy minister Tuesday in a reshuffle seen as a bid to boost his government’s flagging support in Spain’s worst recession in a generation.

Economy Minister Pedro Solbes, a European commissioner between 1999 and 2004, was replaced by Elena Salgado, the minister for public administration, in the long-awaited reshuffle and will leave the government.

Spain said Friday it has not yet decided whether to boost its military contingent in Afghanistan ahead of elections due there in August, as sought by Washington.

Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Madrid is about to provide a “small number” of additional troops to boost its 778-member force there, part of the 62,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from 42 countries.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose socialist government is suffering in the polls, is to shuffle his cabinet later this week, reports said Monday.

As the recession tightens its grip in Spain, the reshuffle will officially be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday, say newspaper reports.

Heavyweight Economy Minister Pedro Solbes will leave the government and be replaced by Minister for Public Administration Elena Salgado, all three major daily newspapers reported, citing unnamed sources close to the ruling party.

The survey, in the Publico newspaper, puts the conservative Popular Party (PP) on 40.7 percent, up five percent since January and the PP’s best score since the general election of 2008.

Support for the Socialists dropped by one percent from January to 39.2 percent.

Publico says the boost for the PP can be explained by its victory in elections in the northwest region of Galicia on 1 March in which it won an absolute majority in the local assembly.

A privately-run office opened in Madrid on Wednesday offering legal and psychological help to victims of Spain’s 1936-39 civil war and the ensuing right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

“The goal is to help the victims and their families, for example by helping them with a search for a parent that went missing or with legal issues regarding their rights,” the head of the office, Carlos Aguero, told AFP.

Spain’s Economy Minister Pedro Solbes on Wednesday dismissed media speculation that he would leave his job in a cabinet reshuffle later this year, saying he wanted to stay on in the post.

“I have no desire to lose my job. I am comfortable and satisfied as economy minister,” he told parliament in response to a question from a lawmaker from the conservative opposition Popular Party.

David Cameron has come a step closer to fulfilling his pledge that the Tories will leave the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament.

The Conservatives earlier informed the European People’s Party (EPP) that they intend to leave it.

The BBC understands they are likely to leave in May and seek to form a new grouping after the European elections.

Labour and the Lib Dems said the decision put the Conservatives on the “fringe” of European politics.

A graft scandal affecting Spain’s main opposition party deepened Friday as two mayors from the Madrid region resigned over allegations of involvement.

The mayors of Arganda del Rey and Pozuelo de Alarcon, Gines Lopez and Jesus Sepulveda, said they were innocent but were stepping down and temporarily retiring from the conservative Popular Party until the probe was through.

The resignations came after top judge Baltasar Garzon said the two were suspected of having received EUR 523,427 and EUR 422,000 respectively in payments from a communications company.

Regional authorities in Spain Wednesday slapped former Spanish justice minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo, who resigned last week, with a fine of EUR 2,000 for hunting without a licence.

Bermejo stepped down on 23 February amid a political uproar that erupted when it was reported that the boar-hunting trip’s party included top judge Baltazar Garzon who is investigating members of the opposition Popular Party (PP) for corruption.