Posts Tagged ‘Madrid’
Written by admin on 27 October 2011
Madrid, Oct 27 (IANS/EFE) A consortium of 12 Spanish firms won a contract worth 6.7 billion euros ($9.3 billion) to build a high-speed rail service linking the Saudi cities of Medina and Mecca, the governments of Saudi Arabia and Spain said Wednesday.
The line will be built by the Al-Shoula Consortium, which includes Spanish state rail operator Renfe and the Saudi companies Al Shoula and Al Rosan, the Saudi Railways Organization announced.
Al-Shoula prevailed over a consortium led by France’s Alstom.
King Juan Carlos telephoned Saudi monarch Abdullah to express appreciation for the decision to award the contract to the Spanish consortium.
The project comprises the design and construction of the railway, the provision of 35 high-speed trains and maintaining the system for 12 years.
The contract includes an option for the Saudis to buy an additional 12 trains.
Known as the pilgrim route because it will link Medina and Mecca, the railway is expected to carry more than 150,000 passengers a day at speeds of up to 320 kph.
It will take the high-speed trains less than 2 1/2 hours to cover the 450 km between the two cities.
Besides Renfe and the two Saudi firms, the Al-Shoula Consortium comprises OHL, Adif, Talgo, Indra, ACS subsidiary Cobra, Copasa, Dimetronic, Inabensa, Imathia, Consulstrans and Ineco.
Talgo’s president, Carlos Palacio Oriol, said winning the Saudi contract represents a ‘milestone for the Spanish railway industry and technology (and) a platform for future international tenders for high-speed projects’.
Tags: Madrid, Spain
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Written by admin on 26 October 2011
Madrid, Oct 26 (IANS) Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez celebrated his 392nd La Liga appearance for the football club with the only goal of the game as his side defeated Granada away from home at the El Carmines Stadium.
The game was the first time Barcelona had played in Granada for 35 years and it saw Xavi replace Migueli as the player who had made the most league appearances for the club.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola reacted to last Saturday’s draw at home to Sevilla by giving a first start to B-team player Isaac Cuenca, while Cesc Fabrigas and Maxwell Scherer also came into his starting 11, Xinhua said.
The league champions had struggled to break down a packed Sevilla defence at the weekend. It soon became clear that the game would serve as practice for the match in Los Carmines as Granada played defensively with at times 10 players behind the ball.
Lionel Messi curled a shot wide, Pedro Rodriguez headed past the wrong side of the post and Granada keeper Roberto Fernandez parried a shot from Eric Abidal as the game threatened to become a carbon copy of what happened at the weekend.
However, the script changed after 32 minutes when Xavi opened the scoring with a magnificent free kick, which he curled home from over 25 yards. It was the perfect way to celebrate his appearance record.
Granada were reduced to 10 men eight minutes into the second half after Jaime Romero was shown his second yellow card of the night for a high challenge which saw him catch Maxwell in the face.
In the previous action Pedro fell badly and had to be replaced by David Villa, suffering what looked like a twisted left ankle.
Villa’s first action was to set up Messi, whose chip over Roberto looked to be heading into the net but was hooked clear by a defender just before it crossed the line.
It was not proving to be Messi’s night and the striker looked to be suffering after his penalty miss at the weekend as he lacked his usual sharpness.
Granada, however, didn’t have one single chance all game and the home side were left with just nine players in injury time when referee Muniz Fernandez showed a second yellow card to Dani Benitez for complaining about a tight offside decision that went against him.
Tags: Madrid, Spain
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Written by admin on 26 October 2011
Madrid, Oct 26 (IANS) Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon has said all of Spain’s troops on the Libyan mission would return home by the end of October.
The decision came a week after four Spanish F-18 fighter planes arrived home, accomplishing their combat mission as part of the NATO operation, Xinhua reported.
The fighters were based in Italy along with two tanker planes, which will be back in Spain before the start of next week together with 60 air force personnel.
They will be joined by the 235 crew onboard the frigate Alvaro de Bazan, which has been on duty off the Libyan coast.
Spain also had a submarine on permanent duty off the coast which will return home soon.
Chacon said the objectives of the military operation had been fulfilled and that Spain had played a ‘relevant, exemplary and determining role’.
The Spanish tanker planes carried out 250 missions, with a total of 700 flight hours, he said.
Spain spent an average of 14.4 million euros (around $20 million) a month in the seven-month-long mission.
Tags: Madrid, Spain
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Written by admin on 25 October 2011
Madrid, Oct 25 (IANS) Real Madrid football club look to continue their incredible scoring record as they entertain Villarreal in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium Wednesday night.
Jose Mourinho’s men have scored four goals in each of their last four matches and are currently second in the Primera Liga with an average of 3.5 goals per game.
Villarreal meanwhile travel to the Bernabeu on the back of a poor start to the season and following a 0-3 home defeat against league leaders Levante, Xinhua reports.
The pressure is mounting on coach Juan Carlos Garrido whose side has also lost its first three matches in the Champions League and needs a minor miracle to remain in Europe this season.
Villarreal are still without striker Nilmar, who is recovering from a knee operation and have former Real Madrid duo, Borja Valero and Diego Lopez in their starting 11.
Mourinho faces the continued dilemma as to whether he should start with Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain. Higuain started in the 4-0 thrashing of Malaga Saturday and repaid Mourinho’s faith by scoring the first goal of the game.
He has scored seven goals in his last three appearances, while Benzema also scored when he was given the chance in Europe last week.
One player who could be rested is Xabi Alonso, who so far has played every minute this season. Alonso could start the game on the bench as next Saturday sees Real Madrid travel to San Sebastian to face his former club, Real Sociedad.
Sami Khedira will continue in the middle and either Mesut Ozil or Esteban Granero could take Alonso’s place in the side.
Elsewhere there will be few changes in the Madrid defence, with Raul Albiol still out of action with a broken bone in his face.
Madrid have the advantage of playing 24 hours after Barcelona face Granada and will know what they need to do in order to either keep up with their rivals or perhaps open up a wider lead.
Tags: Madrid, Spain
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Written by admin on 25 October 2011
Madrid, Oct 25 (IANS/EFE) Spain welcomed 6 million international tourists in September, an increase of 9.2 percent over the same month last year, the government said Monday.
Industry, Tourism and Trade Minister Miguel Sebastian told a press conference that similarly positive results have been recorded since June 1 with an accumulated 20.9 million arrivals, 8.5 percent more than in the same period of 2010.
The 2011 summer season was the third best in the entire history of Spanish tourism. ‘We’re seeing historic growth,’ Sebastian said.
In the first nine months of the year, Spain received 45.8 million visitors, an increase of 8 percent over the same period last year, figures that point to a projected 57 million tourists by the end of 2011, some 4 million more than in 2010.
This year’s growth is not only due to the unsettled situation in North African countries that compete in the area of Mediterranean tourism, Sebastian said, but also because ‘things have been done well here’ and the country is offering ‘something more’ than sea, sun and sand.
The minister also said that promotional campaigns rolled out in target countries plus the economic recovery of nations that supply the largest number of visitors to Spain, especially Britain and Germany, and the improved granting of visas in Russia, have contributed to this growth.
Britain and Germany have consolidated their position, both in September and in the accumulated number of visitors this year, as the countries from which the greatest number of tourists come to Spain, followed by France and the Netherlands.
Tags: Madrid, Spain
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Written by admin on 23 October 2011
Madrid, Oct 23 (IANS) Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was delighted with his side’s clinical performance against Malaga in the Spanish league.
The Saturday night game in Malaga’s La Rosaleda Stadium had been billed as the chance for the big spending home side to show their prowess against one of the favorites for the BBVA Primera Liga title.
However, the contest was more or less over within 38 minutes into the game as Real Madrid raced to a 4-0 lead thanks to an opening goal from Gonzalo Higuain and a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick.
Madrid had to defend in the second half, but some good saves from Iker Casillas and the woodwork meant that Malaga never looked like getting back into the game.
‘It was a fantastic first half, we played a very complete performance, but the first half was the best,’ said Mourinho in the pages of Sunday’s edition of the sports paper Diario AS.
‘It was impossible for the second half to be as good as the first. It looked as if Malaga were a poor team, but that was down to our good work, although they could have made the final score closer in the second period. The result was due to our fantastic first half,’ said the Real Madrid coach, who added he had liked everything about the first 45 minutes.
Mourinho also praised Ronaldo for his hat-trick.
‘Cristiano’s backheel for his third goal was the sort of goal that the fans like to see, but his collective play is also excellent while he is not losing his ability to score goals. I am very happy and the players are now going to a enjoy a day off work,’ he said.
Real Madrid will, however, return to work Monday as they entertain Villarreal in another league match this Wednesday.
Tags: Madrid, Spain
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