For the first time, someone has been infected with Ebola outside the African continent.
A Spanish nurse who treated a missionary and priest returned from West Africa after contracting the virus has been confirmed to have the same strain of Ebola as the priest.
“We are working in coordination to give the best care to the patient and to guarantee the safety of all citizens,” Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato told reporters on Monday. The nurse, whose name was not released, is reportedly in stable condition.
The woman’s husband and two others have been placed in isolation and at least two dozen others who had close contact with the woman are under observation by health officials. The hospital where she worked is also examining any other health care workers that had contact with the priest.
Worldwide, at least 370 health care workers have been infected with the disease while treating patients connected to this outbreak.
Journalist Ashoka Mukpo, the fifth American known to have the virus, has arrived in Nebraska and is receiving treatment. Mukpo said that he believes he was infected when he was splashed while spray-washing a vehicle where someone had died from Ebola.
The Dallas area infected patient, Eric Duncan, is in critical condition.
A poster that promoted what it termed “abuse free” child pornography has been removed from a bus stop outside a major cathedral in Barcelona, Spain.
The advertising firm that manages the bus stops said the poster promoted “abuse-free child pornography,” bearing the word “freedom” in large letters over a picture of a half dressed underage girl.
The ad asked people to send them photos of themselves as children for posting on a website that promoted what they termed the abuse free images.
A spokesman for the advertising agency said the ad was placed inside one of the company’s glass display cases that can only be opened by employees of the company. The company did not say who purchased the ad or who placed the posters in the display case near the Sagrada Familiia cathedral.
No one knows how long the poster was displayed before a local reporter called city council officials about the poster’s content. The council had to ask the ad agency to remove the poster.
The European Commission is warning the Spanish and Italian governments that their draft budgets for 2014 do not comply with new debt and deficit rules. The Commission also said that France and the Netherlands barely qualified for the new standards.
According to the European Union’s charter, countries that do not comply will likely have to revise their tax and spending plans before they can be submitted to national parliaments. The warning marks the first time the EC has taken this step.
Eurozone members states are required to cut deficits until they reach a balanced budget. They also have to reduce levels of public debt. The Commission usually gives countries flexibility if their deficit is below the EU ceiling of 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product.
The Commission said that France, while just below the 3% threshold, was making only “limited progress” in reforms.
The Eurozone economy grew by .1% from July to September in data released Thursday, down from .3% growth in the previous quarter.
Spain showed growth during the third quarter of the year. The rise of 0.1% is the first gain in the country’s GDP since 2011.
The report from the country’s National Statistucs agency confirmed a report released last week from the Bank of Spain predicting an end to the country’s economic slide.
The report from the statistics agency cited a number of reasons for the growth including a boost in tourism due to the instability in north Africa and the Middle East.
The country’s banks needed a bailout from European nations last year to survive the recession sparked by the country’s 2008 property bubble collapse. The country’s unemployment level is still hovering around 26%.
A budget proposal submitted to the Spanish Parliament Monday shows the country’s debt in 2014 will reach almost 100 percent of the country’s production output.
The debt-to-gross domestic product ratio will reach 99.8 percent by the end of 2014. This will rise from 94.2 percent by the end of 2013. Continue reading →
Spain’s record unemployment rate finally fell in the second quarter of the year although one in four Spaniards are still without a job.
The unemployment rate of 26.3% is almost a percentage point below the record high of 27.2% The rate fell amid news of an increase in tourism in the second quarter. Tourism accounts for about 10% of the Spanish GDP. Continue reading →
Unemployment rates in France and Spain have hit new record highs, sending shockwaves through the European economy.
Over 3.2 million people in France are seeking jobs, an increase of 11.5% from one year ago. The increase more than a full percentage point from February. The level is the highest since unemployment records began in 1996. Continue reading →
Spain, in the midst of a massive recession, saw a 6.5% decrease in industrial output in February 2013 versus a year earlier. That followed a 4.9% decline in January.
The bad news further complicates an economic meltdown that includes bank failures, massive company debuts and austerity measures forced on the government as part of bailouts from the EU. Continue reading →
Heavy losses to investors at nationalized banks are on the horizon in Spain.
The Spanish government also announced that they will be hiring external financial advisers to work with the country’s Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring to get the nation’s banking system solvent. Continue reading →
Unemployment in Spain has topped 5 million citizens for the first time in the nation’s history.
Over 59,000 people were added to the unemployment roll in February raising the nation’s total to 5.04 million. Continue reading →