According to the report published in the international financial newspaper, La TribuneA said, “The EADS was seriously considering canceling most of the orders that have already been signed, worth about 400 million euros, in the framework of a partnership with (South African) industry (notably with the Denel and Aerosud groups) and which were linked to the contract to purchase eight A400Ms.”

Earlier, South Africa confirmed that it had cancelled its order for eight A400M military transporters, citing cost escalations. The A400M program was already three years behind schedule.

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Famous Hollywood actress Penelope Cruz is ready to tie the knot with her Oscar-winning beau Javier Bardem by December.

According to the reports, the Spanish actress who was recently at the centre of a pregnancy rumors, wishes a Christmas wedding and has already started looking for a bridal dress.

The Magazine said, “They will marry very soon, maybe even over the holidays. Since she and Javier are from Spain, she'd love to have a Spanish designer create her dream gown.”

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The National Automobile Manufacture Association (Anfac) has announced that the production at automotive plants in Spain surged 5.7 percent during the last month as compared to October 2008.

Output during the last month totaled 218,721 units along with private passenger vehicles stood at 184,119 units, up by 16.7 percent from October 2008.

However, production remained down by 14.5 percent year-to-date due to the fact that the local and European markets contracted sharply as the recession captured the markets all over the world in the year.

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Luxembourg-headquartered closure producer ProCap has acquired the Sofiplast plastics caps and closures business from Spanish industrial group Vemsa.

It is expected that the deal would be finalized till the end of this year, and it is ProCap’s third acquisition in the closure sector in the last 12 months.

The acquisition will include around €4.5 million of sales to ProCap’s business and will reach €90 million this year.

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According to the data revealed by the government, Spanish retail sales dropped 3.9 percent year-on-year in inflation-adjusted terms in October.

The numbers compared with a 3.4% year-on-year decline in Sep 2009, but was still well away from near double digit falls witnessed at the starting of the year.

While talking to reporters, Etefania Ponte from BNP Paribas Fortis said," Against a negative background, this confirms that private consumption touched bottom in the second quarter. With unemployment at around 17 percent it's difficult for private consumption to pick up."

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Repsol, Spain’s largest oil company, has announced that its board has sanctioned a huge interim dividend of 0.425 euros per share, which is less than the 0.525 euros awarded last year.

While talking to reporters, chairman of Repsol, Antonio Brufau said, “This dividend balances an adequate return for shareholders with the investment plan aimed at putting the company on track for growth.”

Further, a spokesperson from the company told reporters that the dividend cut was backed by all board members of the company.

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Spain's Telefonica has announced that it will acquire 21 percent of Digital+, which is the pay television business of indebted media group Prisa, for 470 million Euros.

But, according to the statement issued by Europe's largest telecom, only 240 million euros will exchange hands while the remaining 230 million Euros correspond to debt owned to Telefonica by Prisa.

Further, the statement also revealed that the acquisition is dependent on regulatory approval.

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The US auto maker General Motors has announced that it will keep all four plants of its European subsidiary Opel in Germany, but may shed 9,500 jobs in Europe as part of its restructuring.

While talking to reporters, the head of GM's European operations Nick Reilly confirmed that the state premier of Thuringia in eastern Germany Christine Lieberknecht that Opel's Eisenach facility in her state will remain open.

Further he said, "Opel needs to restructure the company and to reduce its capacity by 20 per cent to make it profitable again and to remain globally competitive."

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Michelin & Cie. sets up a new 3-star restaurant and promotes four establishments to 2-stars in the fresh guide to Spain & Portugal, which goes on sale today.

Moreover, EI Celler de Can Roca, the Girona venue operated by head chef Joan Roca and his brothers Josep and Jordi, is Spain's latest to capture top ranking in the French dining guide. Seven now hold coveted third star which includes Ferran Adria's EI Bulli.

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Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has told in an interview that his government will reveal its reforms this week designed to wean the economy from dependence on the construction sector and announce a more suitable growth model.

Further, the prime minister said that after five straight quarters of contraction, the Spanish economy is on the verge of posting positive quarterly figures.

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French carmaker Renault SA has expressed its plans to manufacture electric automobiles based on the Twizy Z.E. concept cars at its Valladolid plant in northern Spain, from 2011.

The company said in a statement that it has selected Spain as its proximity to key Western European sales markets and to simplify logistics for the eclectic car project.

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Spanish government has approved a 3.7 billion Euros aid package for the country’s aeronautical industry to steer it through the economic downturn.

In a statement, the Industry Ministry said, “The aeronautical sector is strategic for Spain because it develops products with added value and it creates high-skilled jobs.”

With a huge increment of 25 percent, the consolidated turnover in the Spanish aeronautical sector in 2008 totalled to 5.1 billion Euros.

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Spain's Criteria Caixacorp declared that it has decided to launch a bond issue of 1 billion euros ($1.49 billion).

However, the group failed to offer further details.

Criteria is the investment division of Spain's biggest savings bank La Caixa.

In a declaration to Spain's stock market regulator, Criteria stated that its top management would decide the conditions of the issue and that it was booking the right to not carry through with the deal if market conditions were not favourable.

Spain has recorded a sudden rise in the number of A/H1N1 flue cases in the week between October 25 and October 31.

As per the facts issued by the Spanish Health Ministry, around 126,999 new cases of A/H1N1 flu have been recorded during the last week as compared with 80,981 new flu cases in a week earlier.

The ratio of newly affected H1N1 cases last week stood at 292.45 in every 100,000 inhabitants, whereas it was just 182.45 during the last week.

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According to the latest reports issued by the European Union’s Drug agency, Spain is the largest consumer of cocaine in European Union. Around 3.1% of the national population of Spain has admitted that they had taken cocaine in the past year.

However, there is slight decrease in the consumption of the marijuana. 1.1% of people have accepted that they had consumed cocaine in the past month.

According to the report, “This is small progress, there is still much to do”.

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Barry Callebaut, the world's largest chocolate maker, announced that it is going to buy its Spanish rival Chocovic from Nederland Group.

The details regarding the acquisition were not disclosed yet, but, the deal is expected to occur by the end of 2009.

Barry Callebaut said in a statement that the acquisition is a part of its plan to expand core business with industry and with artisans, and to increase its geographical reach.

Chocovic possess a specialization in chocolate and other products for industry and for artisanal customers.

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Telefónica, the largest telecommunications company in Spain, announced on Thursday that it has agreed to buy Telecom Italia’s German broadband unit, Hansenet.

Telefónica, in its filing to the Spanish market regulator, said that it would purchase Hansenet from Telecom Italia for $1.34 billion, and the deal would be carried out in cash.

According to the company, the acquisition would help it to improve its standings in the German telecommunications market, which has become highly competitive in the past few years.

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According to a report by Spain’s automotive industry association Anfac, new car sales rose significantly year-on-year in October 2009 by 26.4% from 77,686 units sold earlier to 98,202 units this year.

Out of total sale during Oct 2009, diesel powered cars held a major share of 71%, as compared to a 21% share of gasoline powered cars. The figure remained the same as in September 2009.

The few brands, which recorded year on year sales growth to date, were Chevrolet, Dacia and TATA motors with hike of 0.3%, 13.1%, 15.3% respectively for a ten month period.

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Spain has decided to lend 500 million euros to Angola, in order to strengthen trade between the two countries, said Silvia Iranzo, Spanish Secretary for State on Wednesday.

In comments broadcast over Radio National De Angola, Iranzo further declared that Spain has planned to go ahead with a separate 200 million euro loan to Angola, which has been agreed two years back.

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Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has told in an interview that Spain’s economy would begin emerging from recession at the end of this year or the beginning of the next year. However, PM accepted that the rate of unemployment would remain high for some more time.

Presently, the rate of unemployment stood at 18 percent.

The Socialist leaders talked about the actions taken by the government, noting that they served to “alleviate the crisis” but had not yet yielded net employment gains.

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